Hi. I found this thread that had some great help, too. I also got The Ocean Book and Study Guide and the VanCleave Oceans. I'm in the process of lesson planning to keep us all together, but add to the Middle School workload with all the materials. I'll get VanCleave from the library, as I am only using few chapters from there. Great stuff all around, but I don't want the oceanography focus that VanCleave offers. Just waiting on the The Ocean Book in the mail. I'll post when I have the plan all done. Thanks again for all the suggestions both past and present.

Thank you. We're working on it. Improvements all around, and great tests of patience. I appreciate every prayer!

I should have loads of blogging time this summer :) No school for me! It's so nice to be missed...hee hee. :grouphug:

Monica, thank you so much. That is just what I was hoping for: investigation, drawing, and joy! I'll be researching for certain. In appreciation, Tina

On the yahoo groups, there is a list of additional work for anatomy that really beefs it up. I am hoping for the same kind of increase for swimming creatures. Makes for a nice and easy base, then depth in other places, while keeping dd interested and on the same page as ds. Def. not enough on its own for middle school in our house.

Hi, friends. I miss ya'll so much. I'm getting my ducks in a row for next year and can't imagine that I don't need to get much, muchless have the time to hang out with ya'll! I'm supposed to be glued to the Forum in March! My how time changes things! My extras left me in December so I could go to school full-time and devote all my time to my own family. They are doing well and my kids appreciate the extra mom time. I'm in school full-time and making great grades (even though I know most of the material from home schooling!) I'll have my AA by May and am currently making application for the School of Education. I keep busy at church,too, just not as busy as before. ds16 got accepted into the Early College Program so free books, AA, and high school diploma. He's doing very well in his first 3 classes at the college. He's doing very well in cross country and track at the local high school and looking to be team captain in the fall. He just became a Life Scout and already has his Eagle project planned. He's easy. ds15 tested well and will start dual enrollment this summer. I am looking forward to only having 2 classes to teach him next year. We're getting there. He's running track and growing there. He's been tough for me this year. I pulled him from Boy Scouts b/c of behavioral issues...like I said, he's been a tough one this year. That teenage rebellion can make a mom weary, but I know we'll get through it. I am glad he's at least doing well in school. I NEED him to be a well behaved boy. dd13 is going to take a TOG class online so I can back off her a bit and dig into my studies. She's taking an online math class and jammin'! We'll be down to history discussions and generally oversight next year, as she enters 9th grade. She is wrapped up on sports at a local Christian School and doing very well. Got an award in soccer and is a co-captain for softball. She makes life easy. dd12 and ds9 are doing well with me full time. Still loving the TOG + PR combo. AMAZING results and joy in the classroom (mostly ;) ). I am so blessed to have found our golden zone. Beakman Science was incredible btw. ds9 has watch every episode, taken notes, notebooked, and learned so much. We went on a science field trip and he knew everything in the show. HOW FUN it was and how easy it was for me! We'll move into Apologia Swimming Creatures (beefed up for dd12) and spend as much time as possible at the beach this summer, as we have "summer school" in a few areas. We can't keep a traditional schedule b/c our lifestyle is anything but traditional. Dd is also in sports at the middle school and enjoying the social time tremendously. Ax Man is keeping me less busy as he's in a fundamental league for year round sports that only meets twice per week. We've worked hard and allowed for plenty of time for play this year. The kids keep me running Mom's Taxi Service with sports year round. Our days are long and full, but we are doing well. God is with us and we continue to love the ever-changing journey that is home schooling. I'll check back to see how ya'll are doin'. I really do miss so many of you. We've been friends for a long, long time. xoxoxoxoxo and hope to hear from you. Feel free to EMAIL me anytime. I hardly every come this way to check pms. tmgilbert6@yahoo.com Much love.

Hi, friends. I miss ya'll so much. I'm getting my ducks in a row for next year and can't imagine that I don't need to get much, muchless have the time to hang out with ya'll! I'm supposed to be glued to the Forum in March! My how time changes things! My extras left me in December so I could go to school full-time and devote all my time to my own family. They are doing well and my kids appreciate the extra mom time. I'm in school full-time and making great grades (even though I know most of the material from home schooling!) I'll have my AA by May and am currently making application for the School of Education. I keep busy at church,too, just not as busy as before. ds16 got accepted into the Early College Program so free books, AA, and high school diploma. He's doing very well in his first 3 classes at the college. He's doing very well in cross country and track at the local high school and looking to be team captain in the fall. He just became a Life Scout and already has his Eagle project planned. He's easy. ds15 tested well and will start dual enrollment this summer. I am looking forward to only having 2 classes to teach him next year. We're getting there. He's running track and growing there. He's been tough for me this year. I pulled him from Boy Scouts b/c of behavioral issues...like I said, he's been a tough one this year. That teenage rebellion can make a mom weary, but I know we'll get through it. I am glad he's at least doing well in school. I NEED him to be a well behaved boy. dd13 is going to take a TOG class online so I can back off her a bit and dig into my studies. She's taking an online math class and jammin'! We'll be down to history discussions and generally oversight next year, as she enters 9th grade. She is wrapped up on sports at a local Christian School and doing very well. Got an award in soccer and is a co-captain for softball. She makes life easy. dd12 and ds9 are doing well with me full time. Still loving the TOG + PR combo. AMAZING results and joy in the classroom (mostly ;) ). I am so blessed to have found our golden zone. Beakman Science was incredible btw. ds9 has watch every episode, taken notes, notebooked, and learned so much. We went on a science field trip and he knew everything in the show. HOW FUN it was and how easy it was for me! We'll move into Apologia Swimming Creatures (beefed up for dd12) and spend as much time as possible at the beach this summer, as we have "summer school" in a few areas. We can't keep a traditional schedule b/c our lifestyle is anything but traditional. Dd is also in sports at the middle school and enjoying the social time tremendously. Ax Man is keeping me less busy as he's in a fundamental league for year round sports that only meets twice per week. Our days are long and full, but we are doing well. God is with us and we continue to love the ever-changing journey that is home schooling. I'll check back to see how ya'll are doin'. I really do miss so many of you. We've been friends for a long, long time. xoxoxoxoxo and hope to hear from you. Feel free to EMAIL me anytime. I hardly every come this way to check pms. tmgilbert6@yahoo.com Much love. We've worked hard and allowed for plenty of time for play this year. The kids keep me running Mom's Taxi Service with sports year round.

Hi, friends. I miss ya'll so much. I'm getting my ducks in a row for next year and can't imagine that I don't need to get much, muchless have the time to hang out with ya'll! I'm supposed to be glued to the Forum in March! My how time changes things! My extras left me in December so I could go to school full-time and devote all my time to my own family. They are doing well and my kids appreciate the extra mom time. I'm in school full-time and making great grades (even though I know most of the material from home schooling!) I'll have my AA by May and am currently making application for the School of Education. I keep busy at church,too, just not as busy as before. ds16 got accepted into the Early College Program so free books, AA, and high school diploma. He's doing very well in his first 3 classes at the college. He's doing very well in cross country and track at the local high school and looking to be team captain in the fall. He just became a Life Scout and already has his Eagle project planned. He's easy. ds15 tested well and will start dual enrollment this summer. I am looking forward to only having 2 classes to teach him next year. We're getting there. He's running track and growing there. He's been tough for me this year. I pulled him from Boy Scouts b/c of behavioral issues...like I said, he's been a tough one this year. That teenage rebellion can make a mom weary, but I know we'll get through it. I am glad he's at least doing well in school. I NEED him to be a well behaved boy. dd13 is going to take a TOG class online so I can back off her a bit and dig into my studies. She's taking an online math class and jammin'! We'll be down to history discussions and generally oversight next year, as she enters 9th grade. She is wrapped up on sports at a local Christian School and doing very well. Got an award in soccer and is a co-captain for softball. She makes life easy. dd12 and ds9 are doing well with me full time. Still loving the TOG + PR combo. AMAZING results and joy in the classroom (mostly ;) ). I am so blessed to have found our golden zone. Beakman Science was incredible btw. ds9 has watch every episode, taken notes, notebooked, and learned so much. We went on a science field trip and he knew everything in the show. HOW FUN it was and how easy it was for me! We'll move into Apologia Swimming Creatures (beefed up for dd12) and spend as much time as possible at the beach this summer, as we have "summer school" in a few areas. We can't keep a traditional schedule b/c our lifestyle is anything but traditional. Dd is also in sports at the middle school and enjoying the social time tremendously. Ax Man is keeping me less busy as he's in a fundamental league for year round sports that only meets twice per week. Our days are long and full, but we are doing well. God is with us and we continue to love the ever-changing journey that is home schooling. I'll check back to see how ya'll are doin'. I really do miss so many of you. We've been friends for a long, long time. xoxoxoxoxo and hope to hear from you. Feel free to EMAIL me anytime. I hardly every come this way to check pms. tmgilbert6@yahoo.com Much love. We've worked hard and allowed for plenty of time for play this year. The kids keep me running Mom's Taxi Service with sports year round.

I love the Phonics Road series b/c it brings the whole of language arts to life. Phonics doesn't stop...it grows to reading and spelling, doesn't stop...grows to sentences, to paragraphs, etc. Comprehensive and fabulous. LOVE IT after trying many,many, many other things over the years.

You will find the approach in PR and IEW to be quite similar. Take a glance at my blog and you'll find many examples of PRs writing, especially in PR3. GREAT stuff that produces sound paragraphs. The sentence analyzing is a focus early on and teaches children to identify the work of parts of speech, which will later encourage more vibrant sentences. It works. And the style is easily transposed across the board and applied in history, science, and other areas where writing for understanding is appropriate. FWIW, I'm ending PR4 now and very pleased with my dds writing ability. She will easily head into WriteShop's high school level writing program. She will be in 7th grade. If a child balks at spelling with sounds, I'd encourage allowing them to say the letters, but always with marking and identifying sounds. This still gets the daily review and practice of rules in spelling, without the grumpf. This will work in the purpose...that when they misspell they are able to identify the reasons for their mistakes. It takes their mind to the practice of analyzing spelling words, not just memorizing spelling lists (which eventually runs its course). HTH, Tina

PR is completely comprehensive in the language arts. By the end of the program you have handwriting, spelling, grammar, light lit. analysis, vocabulary and word root studies. It's brilliant! Been off the boards b/c I'm in school full time right now, but my blog has a lot to offer about PR, including a great review of just how comprehensive PR really is.

The style of handwriting matters not with PR ;) More hand holding than many others, and great for visual learners b/c of DVDs. No need at all for additional grammar w. PR and always received with more excitement than RS ever was in our home. Love PR.

Hi, friends. I miss ya'll. :grouphug: Did anybody do Swimming Creatures w/ supplements of additional reading? Got a lesson plan? I'm getting the notebook, but would like to beef it up in the same way we beefed up anatomy w/ the free lesson plans at the yahoo group. I checked there first, to no avail. Thanks. Tina

And HHMI is included in my schedule.

Just piping in w/ my experience. Dec. and Sept are the worst months to find a renter. Nobody is looking to spend the $ b/c of Christmas and school.