CLARIFICATION: I'm not referring to a public/charter school. I'm referring to a private umbrella school. Sorry for any confusion. :) Each year we re-evaluate whether we want to do it again. For those who opt not to use an umbrella school, can you tell me your reasons? BTW, the only involvement required of us in this umbrella school is that we send them our records each quarter (attendance, course of study, report cards). Thanks!

I wonder if the principal doesn't have enough real issues and problems to have to deal with in his school. Which is a nice problem to have, I guess. But too bad for the kid.

You know, I think there are soooo many reasons we have ALL overeaten (whether we can count it on one hand how many times that was or if it's a daily thing), but I have to say...it never occurred to me that one of those reasons is because of a lack of intelligence. :confused: Were you seriously wondering if this was "justified"? I'm genuinely wondering - you are asking if this thought has merit????:001_huh::001_huh::001_huh::001_huh:

I'm getting to that point, yep! First week of June is our last for this school year. I do a modified year round schedule. We take 6-8 weeks off for summer break which is plenty, and I have them still doing some subjects just to keep it fresh and they don't get completely bored with nothing much to do. Works well because I still get that big block of time off AND I am able to take about one week in every 5-6 weeks off during the year. Helps tremendously with burnout!

I don't recall reading very often from the CLP Exploring book, but what we did read didn't stand out to me as dry (but then again, I have a thread going about Famous Men books being dry so go figure hehe)....

We LOVED MFW Adventures. My girls were 7 and 5. They loved the Pioneers and Patriots book and learning about the states and birds. It was perfect for them and we enjoyed it thoroughly! And JFTR, we did ECC the next year and I didn't care for it. So I'm not biased one way or the other. lol

I think it's reading them aloud that's the problem. It doesn't hold my girls attention. They are used to the Newberry books and historical fiction. If I have them reading it to themselves, I think it would help. The one we're going through currently is the Famous Men of the Renaissance and it's very matter-of-fact. Dates, information. It's because it's not written in a storyteller format that it bogs down. I have loved reading SOTW and the Biblioplan read alouds this year have been great. My girls tell me, "We like stories where the people are talkign to each other." :tongue_smilie:

are surprisingly dry. :001_huh: While I love how well they're written and the great info in them...as read alouds to my grammar age kiddos...I have to fight not slipping into a monotone trance. LOL Am I the only one who thinks so? These ARE great books...maybe something is just wrong with me. lol Or maybe we've been reading too much historical fiction....:tongue_smilie::confused:

*Feverishly copying and pasting everyone's notes to Word doc so I can curl up on the couch and get re-newed motivation!* :D

Although I AM a freak about being prudent!!! ;) When ever we have anything coming up - vacation, fun outing, family visiting....I pull back from stuff. Thankfully we're homebodies most of the time anyhow, but I've been known to skip Sunday School just so the kids won't catch something with an important event looming. :tongue_smilie:

Prudent. I wouldn't do it either.

I love that this was written 10 years ago and that those of you who piloted it and have used it over and over have weighed in! YAY! :D

You are all so knowledgable! :) I couldn't take you up on the challenge because I have to rely on people like you who know Latin! LOL I read the author's credentials earlier today and was very impressed! :)

Very helpful, thank you! :001_smile:

From what I've seen of the samples, read on their website and from reviews here, I'm actually considering taking Latin back up again after 2 failed attempts this year and last. GULP. And WITHOUT DVD's at that (I think I'm nuts)... So anyway...from what I was able to tell, the program was written in 2007...perhaps published in 2008. Being Latin illiterate and not so good at grammar (though my dd is! :)), I'm just wondering if a "new" program like this is a good idea. Likely every new curric goes through an ironing out phase in the initial few years of it's release...so I'm a little nervous about taking the leap into new territory so-to-speak. There is always the possibility that some errors wouldn't manifest themselves until down the road when taking more advanced Latin.... Would love input from those of you who've used GLA and felt it was successful. Particularly those of you who got hives just thinking about teaching Latin before you found it. LOL:lol:

Thanks, Lisa! Glad to hear your son enjoyed it so much! :) Did you read aloud to him or assign him the reading on his own?

Wow - very good to know, thank you!

The reason I don't want to do read alouds is that I'm thinking of having my daughters studying different time periods. We are a read aloud family, so I'll be reading from books, just not those. :) So, is it feasible to have her read them to herself and possibly even spread out the year to two that way?

:lurk5::D

I'm looking a few years ahead for history options for my oldest dd. Sonlight has peaked my interest, but we're far from making any type of decision yet. I'm just enjoying the process! :) When we start the next round of history, my dd will be in either grade 8 or 9, depending on when I decide to start. I'm curious about SL Alt7 because I really like the books and if we can do history in a year or two, she can also do 300, 400 and possibly 530 which all look great IMO. 1) Is it too light being that it covers history from creation to present time in only a year? Can it be spread out over 2 years? If so, are there things I'd want to add to it? 2) Can she do this WITHOUT the read alouds? I'm thinking of having her mostly independent but with my oversight of course, as well as have built in discussion/review together so I know she's progressing and learning. My second dd is 3 grades lower and then there's my little guy whos 4 years younger than her. Trying to figure out a "all in one" history rotation is too much for my brain. I'm almost certain TOG is not an option for us, so no need to suggest it! hehe Also, Core 6 and 7 aren't options because I don't want to use SOTW for the upper grades (plus we're using it now) and many of the scheduled books in Core 6 she's already read. 4) If you've done Alt7, what are your thoughts about it, good and bad? Thanks!! :)

Thank you! :)

GLA sounds fantastic and I'm almost on board with it...but I'm curious to know how much time it takes for me as the teacher? LC has the benefit of having the instructor DVDs teach the material to the child. Since GLA is set up for the parent to do this, how much time would I need to put into prep and teaching it? TIA!

Yes, I know. I was wondering if this was one of those spines. I'm interested in looking into that one. Thanks!

http://rainbowresource.com/product/History+of+the+World/028389/1241372290-1071097 Is this the one she recommends for the logic stage? TIA!

We've used the Veritas Press classically cursive books because I like the content and the style. The only caveat is the way they make their Q's. But when we get to that point, I just show them the "right" way to do it. hehe http://www.veritaspress.com/searchprods.asp I like the Memoria Press one - it's very similar to Veritas but without the wacky Q!