For those who use ebay: I'm not getting much sold on the WTM swap board so I am going to list everything on ebay and try and move a bunch of books at the same time. For those who purchase off ebay - do you prefer people to take a picture of each book or are the stock photos an acceptable alternative? It seems so time consuming to take a picture of every book and then have to add them to the listings - all for the dollar or two I might make. But I want this stuff out of my living room. I have an excellent rating on ebay. What else do you consider when making a purchase off ebay?

Or is the student manual necessary as well?

Here is our schedule. We do two history cycles at the same time - American/World history and Classical/Ancient history. I put my older two children together and will put the younger two together. K Intro to American and Fairy Tales 1 Intro to American and Fairy Tales 2 Intro to Ancient (through Greece) and Folk Tales 3 Intro to Ancient (through middle ages) and Folk Tales (begin formal history) 4 1400-1650 and Mythology 5 1650-1800 and Mythology 6 1800-1950 and Prehistory/Creation 7 Modern/Civics and Ancient Near East 8 1100-1400 and Ancient Greece 9 1400-1600 and Ancient Greece 10 1600-1800 and Ancient Rome 11 1800-1900 and Ancient Rome and Early Middle Ages 12 Modern/Civics and Ancient Far East

I have always planned to do two history periods at the same time - American/World and Ancient/Classical. We have only just begun formal history, put it has worked fine. I have recently decided to quit looking for curriculum and just put together my own thing. Here is my dual schedule. The dates are approximate as we just keep moving through history. This is more of a broad outline. I also combine my older two children and plan to combine my younger two (but not all for together.) My older two have just started year 5 and my younger two will start K next year. We do each history two days per week, all year. I tried block scheduling (three weeks of one and then three weeks of the other but it didn't work as well for our family.) K Intro to American and Fairy Tales 1 Intro to American and Fairy Tales 2 Intro to Ancient (through Greece) and Folk Tales 3 Intro to Ancient (through middle ages) and Folk Tales (begin formal history) 4 1400-1650 and Mythology 5 1650-1800 and Mythology 6 1800-1950 and Prehistory/Creation 7 Modern/Civics and Ancient Near East 8 1100-1400 and Ancient Greece 9 1400-1600 and Ancient Greece 10 1600-1800 and Ancient Rome 11 1800-1900 and Ancient Rome and Early Middle Ages 12 Modern/Civics and Ancient Far East

The shipping is a bit expensive. Are there any other alternatives?

We bought one at Costco. It was a Christmas gift from their grandparents to all four kids. It has been wonderful. It is used every day and has held up wonderfully. Well worth the money!

I am registered with the county. We do the yearly standardized test rather than an evaluation. I use the county because I plan to utilize the public schools for after-school activities when the children are older (sports and music) and because I plan to send the children to UF while in high school. I do not know how that works when you are registered with an umbrella school. But I do know I have access to all of these opportunities when I am registered with the county. :)

We work on reading and phonics in first and second grade - no spelling program. My dds are using Calvert Spelling CDs which start in 3rd grade.

We are using The Nibelungenlied translated by William Nanson Lettsom. I have found it to be perfect for copywork. The entire epic poem is written in fairly short four line stanzas (at least my translation.) :)

Our last two houses have had one bathroom and it really isn't a problem. Not only do we have six people in the family, but we often host family for the weekends. There are a few common curtesies. We never lock the door when showering. That leaves the toilet open if needed. Just announce ahead of time that you are coming in to use the bathroom. Dh always gives way to the four ladies of the house when it comes to using the toilet. We keep a robe for each person hanging on the back of the bathroom door and get dressed in our rooms. The person at the sink always gives way to the person needing the toilet. In case of dire emergencies, the shower is in fact a drain. This has only been utilized up to now by our toddlers, but is available to anyone else who feels it truly necessary and is willing to devote time to scrubbing the tub afterward.

Rainbow Resource is (was?) expecting the books tomorrow. You could just add the book to your order. You can call RR tomorrow and see if they came in as anticipated.

We don't try to line them up either. But we use Singapore a level behind Saxon. So, we start Singapore 1 when we start Saxon 2.

I think it looks good! That would probably be too much for my dd4, but it is easy enough to change as needed at that age. I agree that Latin Prep would probably be too much for a soon-to-be eight year old. I use Latin Prep with dd10 and Lively Latin with dd8. DD10 also uses First Start French and that is going very well. The only things I would keep in mind (not necessarily add to the schedule): Art Art Appreciation Music Music Appreciation Physical Education Read Alouds Additional Reading

This book has discussion questions to use after reading the books. It doesn't provide any instruction or answers to the discussion questions. There are no literary terms or vocabulary or questions for each chapter - things in a standard "literature guide." It is great for socratic discussion if that is your intent.

We have only been homeschooling five years, but I have used these the full five years and plan to use them into the future. Saxon / Singapore math First Language Lessons Hooked on Phonics

We have 48 weeks (four 12-week terms) but we are flexible in taking days off and rolling things into the next term.

My problem comes in wanting to run two lines of history simultaniously. The first line "ancient history" is easy - it begins with prehistory and moves forward. The second line will be modern history. My problem comes in when to begin "modern history." I am debating whether to tack part of the middle ages on to the end of our ancient history cycle or at the beginning of our modern history cycle. If I want to start modern history this year - do I begin at the fall of Rome, or do I begin around 1000 or do I begin around 1400? Does that make sense? So next year we would be doing ancient history beginning with prehistory AND modern history beginning with ??? In separating the middle ages into three separate time periods (as suggested by Michelle B) I think it would make the most sense to begin with the second time period around 1000 leaving the early middle ages (vikings and such) with the ancients. But I am open to suggestions!

I'm not sure where to put the middle ages. Obviously, if you do the four year rotation as in SOTW it is year two between the ancients and modern history. But, if you separate ancient history from "modern history" what is the dividing line? Do yo begin modern history at the fall of Rome, around 1066, during the late 1400's or some other time? I would like to run two history cycles at the same time. Highlands Latin School puts the middle ages with ancient (or classical) history, Ambleside and Mater Amabilis end ancient history with Rome and consider the middle ages to be the start of modern history. Would you add the middle ages at the end of your studies after Rome or would you begin your modern history cycle in the middle ages?

Thanks everyone! It sounds like I'll be writing my own curriculum if I want to combine all of the children. I looked at TOG again, as much as I like the layout - I don't think it would work for us. But the whole thing was written by one homeschool mother that wanted something specific for her children - so it can be done! We're off to go swimming - definitely an activity they can all do together. :)

I started dd 8 and 10 in FSF this past year. French is what I took in school, but they had never had any French before this past year. After two lessons, I stopped with dd8. It just moved too fast for her. I think it is a great program and dd10 is doing fine. The vocabulary overwhelmed dd8, while dd10 was ready to move on each week. If they had had some previous French I do not think it would have been such an issue. With everything being new it was too much. I plan to restart dd8 at age 10 - although she is learning the songs now.

Thanks, I have looked at History Odyssey, but I was hoping for something that allowed me to combine all the children and included some science and geography.

I really like the layout and am considering putting something like that together, but it seems like a lot of work. I'm always flip-flopping on whether or not to do a couple of subjects with all of the kids together. It seems like a good idea until you try and implement it. :) I'm sure there are people who happily use Winterpromise without the religion, but I figure if I have to rewrite and supplement a bunch I might as well just write my own (or not put the kids together.) Thanks for any suggestions!

I have these three in my shopping cart to go with our history and literature studies - unless anyone has found these to be disappointing?? ** High School Level—Early American History: Native Americans through the Forty-Niners ** Vikings ** Ethics of Aristotle

That is an interesting thought. I asked my girls. They said they would prefer to keep working through A and then B. They look forward to the "easier" book of B after all the hard work of A. :)

Hi Laurie, I added spelling because my dd10 struggles with spelling. Dd8 does the Calvert spelling for fun - she likes the stories she can write at the end of each lesson. Sequential Spelling is again for my dd10 but all three of my girls do it together. (Dd 4 was very pleased that she spelled the first four words correct today. It is unlikely that I will assign spelling to her as a required subject.) I consider spelling to be an "as needed" subject. It does not sound like you will need it. The root and stem work done in Caesar's English is an excellent source for spelling without adding any curriculum. If you ordered Caesar's English you will not need to add any further vocabulary. I add writing because both dd10 and dd8 love to write and enjoy working on their writing techniques. I like the Classical Writing program, and I like that I do not feel we need to cover every lesson because our main writing curriculum is MCT and CW is merely supplementary. Many of the assignments and things learned in MCT can be applied to writing in other subjects. (My biggest issue with Classical Writing is that the subject matter really doesn't transfer well to other subjects - at least in the early books.) I consider the MCT writing program to be complete and any additional writing curriculum completely optional.