I chose media mail and it was under $5.00. :) The shipping options are a small drop-down box in the middle of the page and easy to overlook.

We are doing a very odd sort of two-cycle history plan that is more waldorf the first time through and CM the second time. I'm using Core Knowledge and the standard waldorf cycle for our first time through. The second time I plan to use Ambleside's HEO and add some more world history. 1st - Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt (CK) World fairy tales (waldorf) Early American Civilization through colonies (CK) 2nd - Ancient India and China (CK) World legends (waldorf) Making the U.S. Constitution through Civil Rights Leaders (CK) 3rd - Ancient Greece and Rome (CK) Old Testament studies (waldorf) Earliest Americans through colonies (CK) 4th - Vikings and Middle Ages (CK) Norse Myths, Kalevala (waldorf) American Revolution through Early Presidents (CK) 5th - Renaissance and Reformation (CK) Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China and Persia (waldorf) Westward Expansion through Civil War (CK) 6th - Exploration to the present (CK) Ancient Greece and Rome (waldorf) Immigration through American reforms (CK) American History is covered twice in Core Knowledge - 1st through 2nd and again 3rd through 6th. I add in this and that to our American Studies as needed. For 7th-12th American and World history will be studied together 7th - 800-1400's 8th - 1400's - 1600's 9th - 1600's - 1815 10th - 1815 - 1900 11th - 20th Century 12th - Current Events and Ancient History

We will be doing The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter and a nicely illustrated version of Anderson's fairy tales along with a large assortment of picture books.

Thanks for the suggestions! I have A Land Remembered, but didn't realize there was a children's version. That would be good. We've read Strawberry Girl and The Yearling. But, I'm looking into all of the others now.

We have a few books already, but I haven't found one that I really love and haven't been able to pull what I have together. I would like to do a semester long class. Thanks!

We leave them in the house to eat insects. We have quite a few spiders. We kill them if they are running along the floor or on the walls in the kitchen (somehow seems unsanitary.) We also run around and kill any we can find if a family member that dislikes spiders is coming to spend the night.:) The only ones I really dislike are black widows. The just look scary. I've never found one in the house, but we kill them any time we find them outside.

I schedule four twelve week terms with one week off between each term. Another week is given off one day here and there as we move our schedule around to match my dh's work schedule. I plan eleven weeks of material within each twelve week period, so we have one floating week off each term. That is 44 weeks of school. We take additional days here and there and don't always get everything done on any given day. I shoot for 42 weeks of school each year minimum.

Under ten years - Titanium

Tristan et Isault was my favorite book read in French III. It was not a difficult read.

We follow a waldorf type system. After 8th grade the day changes quite a bit. Almost all waldorf high schools have one block class followed by four or five "track classes" usually 50 minutes long. These are regular year long classes. Many of the schools do alternate day classes. So you would have four track classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday of one week and Tuesday, Thursday of the next week. And four more track classes that run opposite days. Sometimes there are fewer track classes and the last class is 1.5 hours and is some sort of fine or practical art class. This class does not necessarily last all year. Not all waldorf high schools work this way, but I would say a majority do.

I haven't finished the book yet, but I have looked through the whole thing. I would say almost no Christian content. There are a few prayers (I think Catholic prayers) as an Appendix at the end of the book. I have not seen them mentioned in the curriculum. I just saw them flipping through the book. There is one song that mentions God twice. But it is not in a Christian context. In fact, I am surprised it was included (although it is a famous French folk song.) The two mentions of God are really slang. I have not seen any other religious material.

I use gifted curriculum with my children although I doubt they are gifted. Based on their test scores they would be in the gifted program in school so I figure the curriculum should apply. But, I have a brother and sister that are truly gifted and the differences in the way they think and see things compared to myself and my children are evident to me. I find gifted curriculum to be more to my liking. It seems to require less busy work and much more thinking and discussion. The questions are much more in depth and tend to help children make connections and really think rather than memorize. I have used Michael Clay Thompson for language arts for a couple of years. I think it is excellent and plan to use his entire curriculum. I found the Center for Gifted Education curriculum recently. We've started using it for history and literature. I have read through several different levels and I find it to be a better fit than any other curriculum I have examined. We use standard curriculum for math and science. I think Singapore Math is a very good program although not a gifted program and science I do not feel I could do justice to at a gifted level. My children will take science outside the home at the upper levels.:)

I am going to be using Literary Reflections published by the College of William and Mary this year. I hesitate to recommend it since this will be the first year I have used their curriculum. Here are the books it covers (copied from the website.) Student Readings Novels/Books The Secret Garden; Frances H. Bumett (Lessons 3,6,12,19,20) Year of Impossible Goodbyes; Sook Nyul Choi (Lessons 3,19) Underrunners; Margaret Maky (Lessons 3,19,20) Words by Heart; Ouida Sebestyen (Lessons 3,19,20) Taking Sides; Gary Soto (Lessons 3,19,20) Call It Courage; Armstrong Sperry (Lessons 3,19,20) Short Stories "The Power of Light"; Isaac B. Singer (Lessons 1,6) "The Old Man and His Affectionate Son" (Lesson 13) "The Tongue-cut Sparrow" (Lesson 15) "Poor People"; Leo Tolstoy (Lesson 24) Poems "Dream Deferred"; Langston Hughes (Lessons 4,9,17) "We Live by What We See at Night"; Martin Espada (Lesson 7) "Border Towns"; Roberto Durcin (Lesson 7) "The Habit of Movement"; Judith Ortiz Cofer (Lesson 7) "Monument in Black"; Vanessa Howard (Lesson 9) "Good Morning"; Langston Hughes (Lessons 9,17) "I never saw a moor..."; Emily Dickinson (Lesson 12) "Presentiment is..."; Emily Dickinson (Lessons 16,17) "Funny to be..."; Emily Dickinson (Lessons 16,17) "The morns are meeker than..."; Emily Dickinson (Lessons 16,17) "It sifts from leaden..."; Emily Dickinson (Lessons 16,17) "Dear March, come..."; Emily Dickinson (Lessons 16,17) "I'm Nobody!..."; Emily Dickinson (Lesson 17) Resources The Story of Emily Dickinson; Edna Barth (Lesson 17) Emily; Michael Bedard (Lesson 17) Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes; Floyd Cooper (Lessons 9,17) Langston Hughes: Poet of the Harlem Renaissance; Christine M. Hill (Lessons 9,17) Emily Dickinson; Victoria Olsen (Lesson 17) Where the Sun Will Never Go Down; Chanticleer (Lesson 9) Negro Spirituals; Moses Hogan Chorale (Lesson 9) Amazing Grace: American Hymns & Spirituals; Robert Shaw Festival Singers (Lesson 9) The Secret Garden; Original Broadway Recording (Lesson 20) Optional Extensions Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl (Lesson 1) Number the Stars; Lois Lowry (Lesson 1) All the Colors of the Race; Ed. Arnold Adoff (Lesson 9) Bronzeville Boys and Girls; Gwendolyn Brooks (Lesson 9) My Daddy Is a Cool Dude; Karama Fufuka (Lesson 9) Honey, I Love, and Other Love Poems; Eloise Greenfield (Lesson 9) On Our Way: Poems of Pride and Love; Compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Lesson 9) A Little Princess; Frances H. Burnett (Lesson 12) Poor Richard's Almanac; Benjamin Franklin (Lesson 15) http://www.kendallhunt.com/samples/191.html If I like it I will be using the next guide - Patterns of Change next year. I do like the look of next year's book list (again copied from the website.) Student readings NOVELS The Watsons Go to Birmingham A Wrinkle in Time Bridge to Terabithia A Long Way from Chicago Maniac Magee My Daniel SHORT STORIES/ESSAYS The Helpful Badger A Bouquet of Wild Flowers Walking POEMS New feet within my garden go On the Pulse of Morning (excerpt) all ignorance toboggans into know In the Windowsill Frequently the woods are pink As children bid the guest goodnight The Wind Was Blowing West Buffalo Dusk Below When forty winters shall besiege thy brow Little Gidding (excerpt) AUTHOR Christopher Paul Curtis Madeleine L'Engle Katherine Paterson Richard Peck Jerry Spinelli Pam Conrad AUTHOR Laurence Yep Laura Ingalls Wilder Linda Hogan AUTHOR Emily Dickinson Maya Angelou e.e. cummings Mary Pleiss Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson Joseph Ceravolo Carl Sandburg Joseph Bruchac William Shakespeare T. S. Eliot I am also planning to have my children do a couple of their individual novel studies each year. Several are available for free online. http://cfge.wm.edu/curr_language.htm Scroll down to Navigators Available Online for the free literature guides.

http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/ You have to click on the subject heading on the left to see their actual suggestions for each year.

Heather, Sorry, I have never used Beyond Five in a Row. It just popped into my head as a program that uses whole books and fits into that space between First Favorites and Lightning Literature.

Beyond Five in a Row?

We are considering a move to the area and I like the look of a charter school in the area as well. If anyone is familiar with the area or the charter school I would like some additional information. The school is for 10th-12th grade and basically only teaches science and English, leaving the other subjects up to the student to either go through Florida Virtual School or homeschool. Thanks!

I think it is a nice combination of both. Each lesson has: A. Proverb or Song B. Vocabulary C. Dialogue D. Translation E. Grammar F. Quiz in that order. The vocabulary and dialogue are on the CD for an oral component (as are the songs.) The translation portion is on the page right next to the vocabulary. I would have preferred it to be on the following page. I have my children cover the opposite page so they are not just copying the answers. I think there is quite a bit of translation and grammar for an intro class. The translation exercises are both English to French and French to English. The grammar section covers verb conjugations, proper verb tenses, etc. The quizzes are written exams and have the student writing sentences in French and conjugating verbs. We spend time each day going over the vocabulary and dialogue and spelling the words aloud. There is not enough work in the book to learn all of the grammar and vocabulary without additional reinforcement. I believe it is assumed the students are reviewing the vocabulary and dialogue daily in addition to doing the written work. (The exams are on the website and have to be printed. They are not in the teacher's manual.) I am very pleased with the program and intend to continue with level two - the last I checked level two is supposed to be available this fall.

We are using it. I thought I would use it for both my girls together. But, my dd10 wants to move faster. We are averaging a lesson every 7-10 days. The girls both like it. It follows the same layout every week. I like the simplicity of the program. It allows us to move forward while putting a majority of our effort into Latin. I did have three years of French in high school. I only utilized it for a long weekend in France while still in high school. I hope my girls will move beyond my own level and become comfortable reading (and singing) in French.

Jan, I am really enjoying Google books as well!! To be used this coming year, I purchased: Building a New System: Colonial America 1607 - 1763 The World Turned Upside Down: The American Revolution Literary Reflections I also purchased The 1940's: A Decade of Change even though we won't use that for another two years. I found it at a good price and wanted to see how the curriculum advanced through the years. I have received them all and have been reading through them daily. I am very excited about beginning the program next term.

We are really looking forward to the next school term. I have found a few new (to us) things we are going to try. I would love to see what new and interesting things others have found to implement next year! Any great finds that are rarely discussed on these boards? Here are ours: Peak with Books http://www.amazon.com/Peak-Books-Childhood-Resource-Balanced/dp/0766859487/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207750205&sr=8-1 Certainly not new, but I have never seen it discussed here. It is similar to FIAR or VP's First Favorites (both of which I used to own) but I like it better. I find the discussion questions and activities to be more in-depth and interesting. And each of the 42 lessons (one book each) has poetry suggestions and a list of additional picture books that would work well with the lesson. We will probably spend two weeks on each lesson rather than the suggested one week. We are going to go ahead and start next week. College of William and Mary / Center for Gifted Education http://cfge.wm.edu/Curr_listing.html I have never seen these mentioned here either. We are going to use their guides for both literature and history next year. They say they are for gifted students, but I have read through them and do not see anything that cannot be done by any child. Gifted curriculum simply seem to be much more discussion based with more in-depth analysis than standard curriculum. NOTE: They were written for the classroom. I will be doing the units with two children and myself. It would be more difficult to use them with only one student. The rest of our curriculum is regularly discussed on these boards. I am eagerly awaiting SWB's new Writing with Ease and Andrew Campbell's memory book - as are many others, I'm sure. So, what other great curriculum is out there to explore?? :laugh:

I think some people have gone without the student book. I really don't believe you could go without the teacher's manual. There are no directions in the student book. You would have nothing but the blank lines for all of the dictation lessons. In many of the lessons you would have a list of words, but would have to guess what you are supposed to do with them. ALL of the directions, explanations, enrichment excercises, etc. are in the teacher's manual only.

Dh and spa sound like the ideal way to start each day. :D Sadly, my dh must leave for work at 3am and is happy if I have at least made it to bed before he gets up around 2. We start with preschool for an hour - around 8am or so. Then we walk for an hour. The kids are free to play the rest of the morning - outside if the weather is good. We have lunch at 1:00 and start school around 2:00. The girls usually start with math, but it is not a requirement or anything.

Well, I'm not sure if we have a cheaper electric company or a smaller house. Our electric generally runs right around $200-$225 in the summer. And I run the AC most of the time. We have a wood stove so our electric drops to about $120 in the winter. (I can't get it much lower because of the well pump and washer/dryer.) We have Suwannee Valley Electric. We don't have any other options here. The electric is not all that reliable. It will go on and off even on a sunny, still day. On the up side, the company seems to be very quick to get electric back on again. We have never been without for more than a few hours, even in a storm. Our water is from a well and we don't have trash pick up, so I can't say anything about those. I have noticed rent prices dropping. The housing market is flooded so people are much happier to rent their homes than in days past and at a decent price.

I watch it on Sunday nights and then let the kids watch it later in the week. Here it airs several times throughout the week. I make note of any places that are too inappropriate for our children. It drives the kids crazy when I turn the TV off in the middle of the show, but they are enjoying it enough to watch anyway! They only miss a few minutes of each show. The show inspired me to order a biography of Abigail Adams. And it worked out well as an intro to our history next year. We will be studying the American Revolution in the fall.