You might want to check into LabPaq. I haven't used them but am ordering one to go with our Chemistry.

:iagree:

We're in our seventh year and have always started the day by reading aloud. We usually have one book going for history and one for great books, but sometimes it's all rolled into one. I've found that my kids definitely listen better if they are doing something with their hands. . . they've always colored (often topic appropriate coloring books from Dover), drawn pictures or built models. If they aren't doing something, that's when the attention seems more likely to wander.

As far as vocabulary words, I like what J.R.R. Tolkien said, something about encountering the words in their native environment first. We usually take a guess at them, look them up right away if it's imperative to follow the storyline, otherwise wait until the end of the section, chapter, whatever. Then go back and reread the paragraph after you've read the definition. Don't know enough about how Nook/Kindles work to comment on that!

We have DK World History Atlas: Mapping the Human Journey, which we like!

Although this may not be an issue yet at 19 years old, keep in mind that some homeowners insurance companies won't give you coverage if you own certain breeds of dogs, among them pit bulls. Just a concern for down the road.

If it's any consolation, I found a copy of "How to Use. . . " and was somewhat disappointed in the content. You can definitely figure it out yourself: just read and discuss the chapter, and do the questions and exercises. . . voila!

Read "The Lively Art of Writing" by Lucile Payne.

Also, if you google "Canterbury Tales study guides" you'll fine some free guidelines to help you. I think the most often covered sections are the Prologue, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Knight's Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale, among others. My kids (12 and 15) really enjoyed our Canterbury unit.

Check out this and other articles posted on the New York Times website. There's tons of great stuff if you look around. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/journalism/

I agree with the PP. You could use Foerster's as the base and supplement with AoPS. . . that's what we did. She needed the explanations.

I would highly recommend "The Definitive Visual Guide: Animal" by DK, author David Burnie. You can buy a used copy for less than $20. We have bought the entire series, all tomes: Earth, Human, Universe and Ocean. They are fabulous and have tons of information and beautiful pictures. If you want to look at it first, your library probably has it. Don't get the little paperback version, it's too small!

Not sure I'm much help either, but we scheduled half an hour four days a week and finished about one book in a year, using the workbook as well.

Mine are in 7th and 10th grade and I teach all day except when they are working on math problems. . . that's my planning time. My older is taking some independent courses on Tuesday and Thursday, so she's out of the house, but my younger and I are at it while she's gone. There are several subjects (Latin, Greek and some CW) that we are all working on together. As far as I'm concerned, the most pleasurable part of the homeschooling is the interaction and discussions about history, science, literature, etc. That's why I'm doing this!

We used it last year and will continue to use it sporadically this year. I liked the book a lot. It gives thorough explanations of the term with lots of examples from literature. The girls enjoyed seeing if they could identify the literature. We sometimes did exercises (there were not always exercises that suited us) and sometimes I made up easier exercises. We also had a copy of "Figuratively Speaking" on hand which had some simpler exercises. We did all this while using Literary Lessons from LOR, which had lots of literary terms as well. HTH!

Here's what I think: . . . arrived home. . . Imagine the sentence said arrived at home, so it's an adverbial clause modifying arrived (answers the question "where") You would diagram it like a prep phrase but the line where "at" would sit would be blank. No idea how to do that on the computer! . . . plenty of tracts. . . what your father has in his glove compartment is plenty, not tracts. "Of tracts" modifies plenty. But I may be wrong! Gotta love grammar!

Here's another thought. We have also been using Spielvogel as our spine, but have been supplementing by reading some controversial books like Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, Kenneth Davis' (can't remember title) and also using a series called "Taking Sides: Controversial Topics in . . . history" (there's a zillion of them - check your library.) Then the girls can easily come up with a topic after hearing some alternative view points. I also typed out SWB's questions from her lecture and I keep them in a prominent place for when I'm stumped. Oh, and Bloom's Taxonomy has some good starting points for questions as well.

Zaner Bloser has a nice workbook for calligraphy.

My ninth grader happily read Tindall and Rhoads last year and certainly enjoyed them a lot more than the Spielvogel text book! I certainly would be interested in the study guide you mentioned as well. I just had her read and do three level outlines on certain sections of her choice, and then write back from them. We'll continue with that this year (early Modern for us.)

Latin, Greek and French

We, for different reasons, did not have as many labs completed as I would like for biology this year. We're making up about 5-6 labs this summer. I don't see any reason to call out anything different on the transcript; they are completed and that's that. No need to offer more information than the colleges need to know. I plan on listing the labs completed (both during the year and the summer) as part of my course description addendum, which colleges may or may not look at. HTH!

Years ago I saw references to some website support for Western Civ -- quizzes, review, etc. Does anybody have links or a clue to that? TIA

I'm not sure what you're looking for but I do think it's a good idea to hit on Latin at least 4 days a week. I think 30 minutes is just right, especially at that age. Maybe spend a few minutes reviewing the previous info or chanting the latest verb/noun learned. . . take it slow and get a good foundation. We loved Latin Prep.

:lurk5:

I think I'm jumping off the CW Diogenes boat onto Lost Tools of Writing. Even though I absolutely LOVED Homer, I'm feeling that my lack of confidence and knowledge are hurting the quality of their writing education with Diogenes. . . I feel like I'm in over my head. So I'm planning on using LTOW mostly with my 7th grader, who is already a strong writer, and my 10th grader (who is also taking writing in a coop setting from an excellent teacher.) Has anyone used LTOW with these ages? I've found a few reviews but I guess I'd like a little more info. . . Or maybe I need someone to convince me to stay with CW. . .