That sort of behavior sounds like BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). I'm not a psychiatrist...but there was a discussion on this board a while back about symptoms of this disorder and I, myself, had a therapist tell me I showed signs of this. The whole "you weren't there for me and so now you are not my friend PERIOD" is the big tip-off. A lot of BPD people will do stuff like this if a someone does something to hurt, anger or offend them. I could be waaayyyy off on this, but I just have a gut feeling. There are no medications for BPD, only for the depression that often accompanies it. Ask me how I know. :glare: BPD is more a learned set of behaviors. Often people with BPD have been abused. But again...I could be waaayyy off. In your case, if she doesn't want contact I would simply send letters, cards, expressing your care and concern for her. I'm sorry you are dealing with this. :grouphug:

My children do seem to enjoy (or at least tolerate ;) ) the History portion of HOD. It is the ONLY History program that consistently has gotten done in our house. I was going to add that you might want to check out and reconsider starting with Preparing. The skills in HOD really do build on one another and the skill set in CtC is a HUGE jump from Preparing. Preparing sort of "sets the stage" if you will for the higher level skills used in CtC as well as for the greater level of independence expected of the student. My older boys started with Preparing (they were 9, 11 and 12 or 4th, 5th and 7th gr) when they used Preparing and I found that the material was plenty for my 7th grader and a bit much for my 4th grader...even though they were all w/in the age range. Does that make sense? Even if your ds places squarely in CtC I would consider starting in Preparing for those reasons. AND, Preparing is such a fabulous year...I just adore the read-alouds and other books used. :) I think you would both have such a wonderful year with Preparing and the skills your son learns would set him up for a very successful year with CtC. Good luck! We are sold on HOD here.

And you know you love HOD when you are looking into purchasing the new guide, choke at the price-tag and then choke AGAIN even thinking about using something different. Sigh. Must.make.it.work.

That is actually a good idea...buying ahead or in "pieces" through Amazon. AND, if you use Swagbucks as your search engine, you can earn Amazon gift cards. ($5 gc for every 450 swagbucks earned). I also have my local homeschool bookstore owner keep an eye out for books I may need. AND, this will sound horrible, but I take advantage of the "grass is greener" symdromed people and purchase their HOD used! :tongue_smilie:

Don't fix what ain't broke. :D Something I just have to tell myself almost every year. I suffer (chronically) from the "grass is greener" syndrome, abbreviated GGS. :D I wonder every year if there is that highly sought after but extremely elusive "perfect curriculum"...somewhere out there. But I know deep down such a curriculum doesn't exist. So I settle for what works...what gets done...and keep moving forward knowing that there will always be something my dc will "miss" (blasted holes!). If HOD works, don't switch. Why do I use HOD? I could use MFW or something similar and COMBINE like many have suggested. But I remind myself that I tried that. It didn't work quite as well as many think it will. I either "lose" the youngers or bore the olders to tears. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong...but I could never figure out how to successfully combine. It is difficult and exhausting sometimes running 3 guides, keeping an eye on my high schooler and spending enough quality time with my PreKer. But as I said in a previous thread...I don't think that any curriculum will ever change that. Homeschooling 7 kids is exhuasting...period. Somebody mentioned cost. Yep. HOD guides get more expensive as you progress. There's a lot more to a program like RtR than say LHFHG. But as somebody else said, if you have littles following your olders, you will be re-using the guides. I have every guide I will need for my youngers (except CtC) and only have to buy for my olders. I try to buy used. I know it takes away from HOD sales but I have to do what I have to do. I'm also buying high school curriculum. THAT is expensive. :D Anyway, I don't LOVE everything about HOD (in fact I do not care for LHFHG at all), but it gets done! And that's important. My boys don't LOVE every activity or completing the notebooks...but it is what it is. They would find something to hate about just about any program out there. They are teenagers. :D I've found that I have to do what works for ME first. If that sounds selfish and like I'm not "sacrificing" enough..so be it. If it doesn't work for ME, school won't get done. And then everybody loses. Make sense? I can't tell you whether or not to stick with HOD, but I will tell you to stick with what works. Don't make the mistake of coveting the elusive "perfect curriculum" (i.e. the one that you don't have but somebody else does!). B/c once you finally own it...it ceases to be perfect. :D

We were in the same position after doing Preparing. We had already done Ancients ad nauseam. Luckily my boys were 12 and 13 and ready for RtR anyway so we skipped CtC without any problems. Your 4th grader will be on the low end for RtR and unless his skills are right on and he places squarely into RtR...I would NOT recommend skipping CtC. Your goal with HOD is independence. The skills do build on one another and you will likely be doing more hand-holding with a 5th grader in RtR than if he was older. Make sense? If you want to combine (and those ages are difficult to combine b/c of the wide span), HOD wouldn't be the curriculum to use. I would just use SOTW 2 as you mentioned and some of the books from HOD RtR for your 5th grader (The Famous Men of books would be good and if you could get your hands on Diana Waring's What in the World Vol. 2 CDs they would add a lot, too). You could also use some of the historical novels as read-alouds (from HOD). As I said thought, that age span would be rather difficult to teach together unless you are simply hoping to give your 1st grader a "taste" of the Medieval period (which is fine!).

Around here it's "The bunny ate my homework!" We have 6 house rabbits who chew everything and love paper especially...and books. :glare: You won't find a book around here without chew marks on the corners.

For my book-loving 10th grader, WHL is going very well...as did AHL. The only problem she is having is the writing. I had given her a bit too much "rope" at the beginning of the year and she just about "hung" herself (meaning...she got lazy and didn't do some of the tougher assignments :glare:). Bad Mommy...(overwhelmed Mommy). :001_huh: We are a bit behind now, but that's okay. The research paper is a bit daunting for her and so I re-vamped the assignment a bit. She chose to write about "house" rabbits (domesticated rabbits or pet rabbits) as we have 6 of them. I couldn't see her writing a straight research paper on that so I wanted to spice it up a bit. I am having her do the research and then write a manual for prospective rabbit owners. It accomplishes the same goal (I think) and she will also learn how to use a new program on the computer (Publisher). Should be fun. I'm getting a lot more teenage attitude this year and I don't like it. :glare: For example, her assignment today was to write a letter to a friend who was thinking about converting to Islam. You would have thought I asked her to lasso the moon. Her first draft...3 words..."Don't do it." :glare: Obviously, that didn't fly and she re-did it but it's the attitude that really angers me. Science...she hates it. The core issue I believe is that she doesn't want to put forth the effort. Not sure what to do about that. Today wasn't a stellar day for us. I really like MFW for high school. I'm just not liking being the teacher right now.

VERY similar to SOTW1 b/c SWB did write the K12 curriculum for that grade level. We used it when we were in a cyber-academy years ago and really liked it. Online content IS crucial.

:grouphug:

I've just recently had to get used to the idea that no matter what curriculum I use, my days are going to be long, exhausting and sometimes down-right impossible. Encouraging, huh? :D I am teaching 7. We have used so many different "programs" and books and such trying to find that "perfect fit". I don't think it exists. I think it is a pie in the sky. I've had to settle for what GETS DONE! Around here, HOD gets done. I've yet to find my "groove" running 3 guides, keeping up with my 10th grader using MFW WHL and giving enough attention to my 3yo who, bless his heart, doesn't ask for much at all. HOD gets done b/c it is very open and go. I've used MFW and there were things I liked about it and things I didn't like. I still adore MFW K and will use it for ds3 sometime next year...probably starting in the summer to get into a good "rhythm" before everyone else starts up again. Do I recall correctly that you were asking about HOD in another thread? There have been so many HOD threads recently! Are there things I would change about HOD? Sure. Do I still tweak? Yep. Do we get to everything in the guides? Nope, not a chance. :tongue_smilie: But, HOD is the 1st curriculum that we have used where 90% of it gets done consistently. I'm tired of researching, planning, implementing, failing, revamping, reimplementing, researching again, planning again, etc. So, while HOD is not the "perfect fit" it is good enough. And I'm surrendering to "good enough". :D Oh, and I simply adore MFW for high school. If your dc is a reader...MFW for high school rocks!

Dawn, I met Diana and her husband several years ago at Homeschool Week at Sandy Cove, MD. We spoke at great length and are now good friends and she is on my FB. She is not of a reformed theology. Having used her curriculum in the past (and am currently using her What in the World? CDs with HOD curriculum), I can say that there isn't any particular "slant" at all. I will say she favors a literal interpretation of Scripture. She is a young-Earth creationist (literal 6 days of creation). Her materials are now being published by AiG...that should tell you something! LOL. :) Diana is a precious woman of God. She doesn't have any "agenda" except to promote HISstory and share her passion for it. I've learned more amazing facts about History from her materials than any others. Her passion is contagious. I can say with confidence that whatever your Christian theology is (whatever doctrine or denomination), Diana's materials shouldn't conflict. Unless you do not want to teach your children a literal interpretation of Scripture and Creation especially (and some don't, so no judgement call there :tongue_smilie:), nothing in her material should cause you any concern. :D

I seem to recall their being some sort of "schedule" on the MFW board for people using K and 1st concurrently. I was in your EXACT situation several years back, in fact. Using ECC, 1st and K. I only did the crafts, science, art, etc. from ONE of the younger guides, not both. And we ended up dropping ECC after 3 months anyway. :tongue_smilie: Check out the MFW board (either the one on their website or the Yahoo! group for the sched that combines K and 1st). It was very helpful. HTH

A law against them? Are you kidding me? Do that, and you would have to legislate those baggy pants that some teens wear that show their underwear or any other fashion no-no that irritates somebody. Pretty soon we'll all be dressing in uniform. :D I personally wouldn't wear them in public (unless going to the Amish farm around the corner where nobody will see me). And I chuckle to myself when others do. But a law against it? Please. Don't our politicians have better things to be doing with their time?

I don't "think" that there is any sort of specific theology presented at all. I've done LHFHG and Preparing and am doing Beyond, Bigger and RtR right now. The only "hint" of any reformed theology came in one of the devotions used in LHFHG. I didn't prefer that devotion anyway and so we quickly ditched/replaced it. And then we ditched LHFHG b/c it wasn't really our cup of tea. Funny, but it was the ONLY HOD guide I haven't really enjoyed so far. :D

I just purchased it, in fact. I am still trying to wrap my brain around it...the spelling and everything...but I like what I see. It is a bit easier since we had previously used PR but had to sell it due to financial reasons.

Thanks everyone. I think I just needed the confidence that I could teach w/out a book. :D I printed some sheets today using one of the worksheet creators that a PP mentioned. I started with a and will do c, d and g next week and have them try connecting those 4 letters. I also have WRTR which I know teaches cursive in a sequence (thanks for the reminder). My dc did well with it today...ds8 a bit better than dd6 (she couldn't quite "get" the connections). I love Jan Bret's pages...I think dd6 will enjoy those b/c of the pictures. :D

Carrie actually posted on the HOD board in answer to this question. She had many suggestions, but the one I liked was combining them all in Beyond with the exception of science and the 3Rs. Use Science and the 3Rs from Bigger for ds10. The following year combine all in Bigger and use the extentions and follow the Science and 3Rs in Preparing for ds10. I like it, but I'm not sure about it yet. Still thinking about trying to somehow make it all work. :)

I mean, has anyone simply taught their dc the letters w/out using a purchased curriculum or book like Handwriting w/out Tears or A REason for...or...whatever? If you did, what was the sequence of the letters taught and the sequence of "connectors"? OR did you just teach a letter at a time and not really care about in what order? I don't want to spend any more money on a cursive book but it is time to start teaching ds8 and dd6 (she really wants to learn). Thanks!

Katrina, going half speed with RtR wouldn't put us into RevtoRev by September. My ds13 will be in 9th grade and I don't want to sell him short. I will have to start issuing credits and he knows the workload gets harder. BUT, I see what you mean about mastering skills and getting the most from the Guides. I feel like we are rushing through sometimes just to get through. Make sense? Instead of enjoying the ride. Perhaps I can cut back on RtR and go even 3/4 speed. With it being a 4 day program, I feel like we already spread it out into 5 days..with day 5 for History project and science experiment (instead of spread out over the week or experiment on Thurs.) and the basics. Thanks for the "permission" to slow down! :) Funny how it takes another objective person to do that for you. I think I'll do that with Bigger as well...just to give my son time to really master the skills AND mature. He is slllooowww to do that. Beyond can go full-speed. Both dc are ready. Now, to figure out how to make this all work w/out losing my mind and :willy_nilly: or :banghead:

OpenMinded...we used Preparing last year with ds12 and 13 (as well as ds10 but quickly figured it was way too difficult for him). So, when we finished Preparing, I re-assessed where we were. Ds12 and 13 placed squarely in RtR (and since we had already done the Ancients time period, we moved forward to RtR). I moved ds10 down to Bigger so he could build those independence skills necessary for the upper guides. Make sense? It has worked for us. My older boys in RtR are capable of being more independent. Ds12 already is. But he has gotten lazy. Ds13 is just being stubborn and I think he just craves more of my time. IDK. The littles in Beyond place squarely in that Guide as well. Dd6 is very advanced...more so than ds8. All 3 Guides were a good fit for each child/set of children. I already combine Storytime with Bigger and Beyond, but gave it up b/c I was losing steam. If I combined into Bigger, I just know I would be watering down each subsequent guide for dd6 and I don't want to do that. They are far too rich and I don't want her to miss anything. I think I'm just going to try my best to run the 3 Guides, urge my older boys to be independent (and enlist dh's help in monitoring them), continue to combine Storytime in Bigger/Beyond (and do the reading before bed), pick and choose the projects and most likely use just the science from Bigger since the science in Beyond is a bit below where my dc are anyway. That might cut down some time. Open to any other suggestions! Thanks!

I am homeschooling 7 children. I have dd15 doing MFW WHL, ds12 and ds13 doing HOD RtR, ds10 doing Bigger and Ds8 and dd6 doing Beyond. Ds3 is just hanging out but is ready to start LHTH very soon. Can I be honest? I'm having a TOUGH time running 3 guides, keeping the 3yo occupied and finding enough time for dd15 who really needs more of my time than just a weekly check-in. IF ds12 and ds13 were more independent than they are with RtR and ds10 didn't fight me tooth and nail about school every blessed day, this might work. But it's not. And I need to get real. I love HOD and I don't want to switch. Dh loves HOD, too. Sooooo...I need some suggestions on HOW to make this work for us. I cannot keep running 3 guides. Beyond hardly ever gets done, I rarely get to everything in Bigger and if I give ds12 and ds13 any more "rope" (independence in their work), they will certainly hang themselves (read: not get their work done at all). Options? 1. I could combine ds10, ds8 AND dd6 in Beyond and "beef it up" for ds10. How, I don't know yet. 2. I could put them all in Bigger (dd6 is very advanced...she could handle it). The challenge would be in the future years. I can't see her handling Preparing next year..just a bit too advanced I think. 3. I could find a way to survive as a chicken with her head cut off and keep running 3 guides. 4. This is where you, the all-knowing HIVE, come in :D Seriously, I'm missing something. Help? :confused: Thanks. :D

I am running 3 Guides, plus trying to keep up with my high school student using MFW WHL. :001_huh: I started out trying to do EVERYTHING in EVERY Guide. :lol: Right. Ummm...wasn't happening. So, I started looking at the Guides...Beyond and Bigger in particular since those are very close. KWIM? My oldest 2 boys use RtR and are mostly independent. Mostly. Anyway, back to Bigger and Beyond. I combine the Storytime as both suggest reading a novel in a different genre ever several Units or so. Make sense? So, I just read one to all 3 of my dc in those guides (i have 2 in Beyond and 1 in Bigger). I also combine poetry. I use the Beyond Guide for Poetry (as ds10 hasn't used that yet and I don't want my younger 2 to re-do the poetry in Bigger if that makes sense). This saves time. I omit many of the activities and art projects in one Guide or another and combine there, too. It's not the optimal way to run the Guides and if I had 1 dc I'd do it all as written. But, I have 7 dc and there is not way I can do everything AND keep my sanity in tact. :D You could very easily combine given the ages of your dc, depending on the academic abilities of your 4yo in the coming years. OR you could do as a PP said and use MFW Adventures. Something that I had considered, but just loved HOD too much. I am a tweaker and will always be. I can never use a guide 100% as written no matter what publisher it is. As some have said...make the Guide work for you, not the other way around. I HTH a bit. I still haven't found my "groove", FWIW. It's a process.

Thanks. I will search for that thread and contact Penn State.

If you go on over to the HOD board and do a search for approximate time for each guide, you should find one where somebody (Julie, perhaps, or others) posted about how long each box takes in each Guide once you get in the groove. :D I don't have my 10yo do the extensions b/c it is a pain in the you-know-what already to get him to finish ANY school. :glare: If your child is very interested in science (especially the hands-on part), the science in Bigger might not be his cup of tea. There ARE experiments, but we don't find them to be very "meaty" if that makes sense. HTH