Yes, we use them for literature alongside "real books". I like the daily questions they provide for discussion and comprehension. I also like the variety in the textbooks - a mix of fiction, biography, poetry, etc. We do book reports on the other books.

We are having to squeeze in Algebra 2 over the summer and are using Aleks.com. It goes a little faster than a traditional course because it gives you a pretest to see what you know and starts you where you are. Then, once you master something, you go on. Dd does about an hour a day and will be finished in 50 ish days. I wouldn't want to do this for every math class, but it has been a lifesaver for us this year.

We had a great time with TOG year 4 (classic). Really, the reading list was the best part along with the "Idiot's Guide to 20th Century History". It was nice to have the TOG guides as I was able to buy them used, but using WTM techniques (timelines, outlines, etc.), we could have done fine without them. We also added in "The American Experience" DVD's about the presidents from Netflix along with "1900 House", "1940 House" from PBS. (There might be more of those - been a while...).

She has done one year of Rosetta Stone French - no problems. Anyone have any experience of how this will prepare her for a textbook based French 2? How is Honors Algebra 2 different than regular Algebra 2? She did BJU Algebra 1 and MUS Geometry - did fine with both. BTW, she is going to ps because she wanted the experience of it. Most of her friends (all very nice) go to this school. We have peace about it - and it doesn't hurt that the principal, both counselors, and several teachers go to our church! Thanks in advance! Susan

You can look at sample pages on the BJU website and Christianbook.com.

I'm wading through this myself, and we too, live in the sticks! I can only speak to the ACT, but we registered online and were able to pick our local high school as a test site without a problem. My dd is in 10th and taking it for practice (today!). She will take it at least once more as she has not had Algebra 2 and will do much better on the math portion after that. She will take the PSAT this fall, but we have not registered for that yet. She should be able to take it at the local school as well. I did not think about it in time, but she could have taken the PSAT last fall for practice.

We do - our 10th dd. She was more nervous about not knowing her way around the school than taking the test - ha. Thankfully, there were some ps teachers who go to our church helping out there today. Since we know she will probably take it again a time or two, we are trying not to get too stressed out about this one.

If you just want grammar, you could do Winston Basic and Winston Advanced in one year and really cover a great deal. There are 85 lessons total between the two books. There is also Winston Word Works for usage.

Late in the post, but dibs on the yardwork! Seriously, if you read her blog and see how much effort she puts into the research, how far she travels to get original sources and accurate information, plus the editing process with her publishers, you would find it hard to believe that any obvious or "glaring" errors could make it through all that.

We are using the Literary Analysis course this year. We are not remotely using it as written, however. We watch the scope and sequence DVD to learn about the literary term or subject of the week, read the books, and write either a paragraph or 5 paragraph essay for the "goal" or "challenge question". I would have used more of the program had I not already had the Abeka 10th grade lit course as well (we are doing both). I think most people feel there is not enough explanation in the writing instructions (true), but I have used IEW in the past for writing, so we just incorporate what we know from that into the assignments. Now that I have had a year to get to know it, I feel more comfortable and may use more of the program with my next 2 dd's. The tests are nice, and I like the Biblical application questions as well. This is not a literature guide - so be warned. You have to know the book yourself, or get some Sparknotes in order to discuss the book if you really want it to be a full literature class. The lessons focus on a pretty narrow topic - at least in this course. We also skip the journal writing, writing style tips, peer evaluation and vocabulary. That said, we have had a good year and have a much better grasp of how to pick apart literature.

We dvr from TBN too, and the most recent ones are the American History series.

We are kind of in the same boat. We have used TOG in the past, but wanted a one year American history course. I bought a used copy of Omnibus III - it has quite a bit of American history with concurrent world history alongside. I also have VP history cards for 5th and 6th grades - referenced in Omnibus for additional reading. I also have some nice American history books - BJU, Idiots Guide to American History, half a set of History of US, and Don't Know Much about American History. I have been trying to mishmash these as I will have a 6th, 8th, 10th, and 11th graders and I want to teach this all at once. I think if I center everything around the VP cards it just might work! If I had to plan for a 10th and K'er, I would go with the BJU or Abeka texts along with the student activity/map books, or the History of US. For the K'er, I would raid the library each week for Lynne Cheney's books, American Girl books (for girls, of course), and junior biographys of famous Americans. A good USA puzzle would be great as well. For fun, you could have the 10th grader read the books to the K'er for a double punch.

For us it's not so much that he made a mistake, it is what he does from here on out that counts. There are plenty of fine people who did dumb things as a kid. Lets hope he learns his lesson.

My youngest dd is doing exactly this for 5th. She has finished 1/2 of the CLE units and is now taking a "break" from it by reading chapter books - for the first time! This is the kid I thought would never be weaned from easy readers with lots of photographs (not drawings). Slightly quirky for sure and she too, took longer to learn to read than my other two. I think it was mostly a confidence issue with her since reading did not come easily. Yesterday, she proudly announced she was almost halfway done with the book she started last week - a record for her. We have used Abeka and BJU in the past, but have enjoyed CLE this year. I love the WTM plan of reading, but have always included readers with all my dd's for a mix of short stories and poetry.

If you mean DVD's, yes, we are using them this year for 7th. We have had mixed results. My dd asked to do them because she wanted more independence, so we gave it a try. The BJU program, in all, is great, but it is quite different than TWTM and much more of a traditional school day. That is the part that didn't go over so well. She did not like being the last to finish every day. We ended up dropping the more tedious DVd's that we knew we could do on our own more easily - namely Bible, Math, and English. The science was really great, but it went a little fast for dd and I was ending up reteaching it anyway, so we dropped it as well. We kept the Spanish, World Studies, and Literature. We use Math-U-See instead of the BJU Math 7, Winston Grammar and Writing Strands instead of the English, Usbourne "The Natural World" for science, and Christian Liberty Press for Bible. It was a worthwhile, although expensive, experiment. It really cemented our love for the TWTM style of learning. We don't follow TWTM to the letter, but we love our version of it.