This is an excellent suggestion! Teresa who is frantically planning the next school term after ditching all her curriculum, but reaching no conclusions......

With five kids, we've been remarkably blessed. A few stitches and only one fractured bone. As the youngers tried to keep up with the olders, there were many mishaps =) #1, now 24, took up running. A neighbor kid told her to run on the balls of her foot. That's great for sprinting, not so much for distance running. She wound up with a stress fracture in her metatarsals. The bone actually died and had to be surgically removed! #4, my now 15 yo literally pulled his front tooth out after working on cutting it for over six weeks. Pulling up on everything, he grabbed a desk drawer and bit it when the drawer slid back in place. Ouch! Another time he went to jump in a pool not realizing it was only a foot deep. Bad ankle injury in the growth plate. #5, my youngest, now 13, was the one who was always getting hurt. He pierced his tongue twice; fell on scissors which went through his lower lip; stitches in his chin. Smiles, Teresa

Have you looked at krill oil? Smiles, Teresa

The Shurley Method is scripted for the class and the "chapters" go on forever. Borrowed one last year for a co-op early grammar class. Yikes! It was not user friendly. The lessons in Shurley Homeschool are broken down to a manageable size and they follow the same basic pattern. For example, lesson 5 is always writing. We didn't use that portion of the program (IEW instead). It is scripted as well. HTH, Teresa

Mazel Tov on your impending achievement! :hurray: Can you drive a stick shift automobile? Smiles, Teresa

:iagree: We love coffee here. Even the dog :lol: Seriously, my thought is all things in moderation. As soon as something becomes "forbidden" it is the one thing most desired. Smiles, Teresa

FWIW, they've always scored above grade level. Smiles, Teresa Two who've flown the nest One in college Rising 10th grader Rising 8th grader

I started a book list for my children once they learned to read. To encourage reading in the beginning, every book counted, no matter how short. From there, I set various goals for them. At 25 books, we went for ice cream or they got extra video gaming time. At 100 books, we had a celebration with grands, cousins, etc. Years later, they all love to look back over all the books they've read. My 15 yo son has read over 700 so far. His goal this summer is to read all Alexander Dumas' novels :hurray: My daughter who is my reluctant reader, felt a great sense of accomplishment when (at age 11) she completed her first series of books: Lemony Snicket; she has a rather wry sense of humor. Recently she read The Hunger Games. After all the high school history, science, lit, and school-y stuff in general, I like to read something fun over the summer. Dave Barry and Riddley Pearce wrote a delightful series about Peter and the Starcatchers. We are all anxiously awaiting the newest arrival of the Sisters Grimm. HTH, Teresa

Oops! Double posted......

Just wanted to chime in and say my youngest will be in 8th grade =D Been plugging along for 17 years. Going on 18. Graduated three so far; two to go! Enjoy your kids. Time goes by too quickly..... FWIW, I've been asked my my dil if I'll help with hs'ing the grands :tongue_smilie: Hangeth thou in there, o baby! Life is definitelyan endurance race, not a sprint =) Smiles, Teresa

FYI-I used CLP's CAT test last year. The tests were dated 1970! There was some info and vocab we hadn't even heard of! FWIW, the kiddos still performed well. Smiles, Teresa

Dd, who is not mathematically inclined, graduated in December. Used TT Algebra 2 and Geometry. When she went to CC to take placement tests, must to her surprise (and mine) she placed in pre-cal. Finished semester with an A! She chose to take Calculus 1 for the fall term. Dsons 15 & 13 are working through Algebra 1 and Geometry. We've used all sorts of math curricula in the past, TT seems to be working well for both of them. Smiles, Teresa

We've been with Verizon for over twenty years. Have five dumb phones =) Dd pays for extra texting. Bill is about $170 for all with dh and me paying $5 each line for minimal texting. Everyone is eligible for renewal/upgrade. Went to order new phone for dh; Verizon now charges $30 activation fee per phone to renew. Dh called Verizon support, but got no help. Very disappointing. Not sure what we're going to do now......:mad: Teresa in NC

Picked this up at a homeschool bookfair last spring. As we walked by the booth, my 14 yo son glanced at the model and exclaimed, "Hey! That's centrifugal force! Wish I'd been able to build something like that..." Thought ds 12 would love EE because it's computer based and lots of hands-on. Long story short, began year with Apologia General Science, shelved it, and pulled out EE. Ds, 12, loved hands on, computer usage, and all components at his fingertips. As for time each week, that is dependent upon whether a project is built or not. The lessons are super short which is why we've put it away for the summer while I locate a physical science book to expand on some topics. It only takes about 10 minutes to read through and work on questions which are multiple choice and forming a "best guess" (hypothesis). Frustrations: He'd already learned much of the first half of EE in gen sci. After using Apologia with four others, I feel EE falls short teaching the scientific method and completing a lab report. No deal breakers, those topics are easily addressed. In addition, EE covers lots more topics than Apologia. We are saving the second half for late summer when it's too hot to enjoy outdoors =D JMHO, Teresa

A couple of years ago, we worked through LCI. I'm sorry, but Leigh Lowe's constant smacking of the lips, rolling eyes, and saying "um" drove me (and two of the three kids) batty. JM 2cents, Teresa

Hola! We had access to a free Rosetta Stone trial through the local library. All I learned was how to use process of elimination =P The best ways I've found thus far to learn Spanish is immersion, where possible, or being your student's study buddy. My brother married a hispanic gal and they have a 1 yo boy. Whew! I've learned lots of Spanish in the last year =) Though I've tried for years to get my kids to learn Spanish b/c it's practical in our part of the world, they balked. Now that they need to communicate with their primo (cousin), there is motivation =) Dd who attends cc, took Spanish 101. Helping her study did wonders for my vocab as well as hers. We also can communicate un poco (a bit). Fun when there is someone else to practice with. I looked at and really liked Visual Link: http://www.spanishprograms.com/ JMHO, Teresa

Last year, my daughter who graduated in December, used The Joy of Chemistry, The Elements book, and various videos. Though she enjoyed the course and performed lots of experiments, but I feel it wasn't rigorous enough. Alas, it worked for her. She preferred to have an introductory chem class at home with lots of experiments then take chemistry at college with a prof and complete lab =) FWIW, I looked at the Thompson materials last year. Be advised the book and kit are completely unrelated per Mr. Thompson. If you purchase a kit, you may download a pdf manual. Also be advised, there are additional items you will need to purchase to complete all the experiments: hot plate, funnels, flasks, etc. The reason I wanted to talk with you is that the book and the kit are completely separate and not dependent on each other. That is, the book does not use the kit (the book requires much more lab equipment and chemicals), and the kit does not use the book (the kit includes a full manual of its own). I wrote the book back in 2008, and have had many emails over the years from people who wanted to do a homeschool chemistry lab course, but found it too expensive to buy all the equipment and materials required by the book, which can easily run several hundred dollars or more. My wife and I decided to put together a chemistry kit that would be as inexpensive as possible, while still offering good scope and rigor. The kit is not quite as rigorous as the book, but it's a lot less expensive than buying what's needed to do the experiments in the book. In other words, if you want the most rigorous chemistry lab course, keep the book, and order the equipment and chemicals separately. If you'd like to do a chem lab course that's nearly as good and lot less expensive, order the kit and return the book. I should mention that we just went on backorder with the kits, which should be back in stock on or around 25 August. We started the morning with only 6 kits in stock and sold five of them. I was keeping one back for an "emergency", but if you want the kit quickly I'll pencil in your name on it. Let me know. Best regards. Bob This gal has an entire high school chemistry course laid out with lesson plans, videos, labs, and tests incorporated. Zumdahl and Thompson's lab kit and book provide the basic outline of the course. Videos are from MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan, YouTube, and others. Looks great! http://quarksandquirks.wordpress.com/ I am also noodling The Spectrum by Beginnings Publishing. However, I feel their durable lab kit is a bit overpriced. HTH, Teresa in NC

Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra I/Geometry History, Church History: Middle Ages using SWB's History of the Medieval World for spine Language: Middle Ages, great lit of the period w/online guides Science: Up in air; (wants to do physics) Writing: IEW Medieval Based Writing Computer programming (tutelage with older sib who is an IT Dept for his company =) Logic Guitar Hebrew 2 PE

<< What does IEW offer that WriteShop does not? Do you think the attraction to WriteShop is the all ready prepared lesson plans? >> I think that both programs are great. I think the prepared lessons in WriteShop are certainly attactive. WriteShop also assigns brainstorming sessions with instructions on what to do. They help you organize each type of paragraph (regardless of the topic) and then directs you in adding the new skill (dress ups, openers) all the while including past skills. Sounds a lot like IEW with direction, huh??? There is so much overlap with both programs that we feel like we're getting the best of both worlds. I wouldn't give up one for the other. I know that some people can do fine with IEW alone, but some of us can not. I am educated and intelligent with a pretty good writing capability. I can use the program and understand it, but on a day to day basis I can not for the life of me, coordinate the program with my child's needs. So, I hope people aren't really jumping ship, but rather augmenting the program. I hope that WriteShop will encourage people to stick with IEW (sounds funny). But, if they have better direction in using IEW principles then they are more likely to succeed with it. Donna in IL **************************************************************************** I don't have a complaint about IEW. I have noticed several people on various boards going to WriteShop. It appears the advantage they are seeing is more detailed instructions/lesson plans. Some people like/need being told what to do each day each step of the way. It appears that WriteShop may break down some subskills more like actually teaching how to view something descriptively and write from various points of view. It sounds like WriteShop is a very good program for the older student for families wanting that direction. For my present needs, I prefer the flexibility and freedom that IEW provides. Additionally I appreciate the application to all of my students. I love setting the pace according the varying abilities of my students and allowing writing to be an extension of our unit studies. For individuals who are accustomed to a world of textbooks, workbooks and daily lesson plans I would imagine that IEW could either be overwhelming or a breath of fresh air. Lisa S. in Central FL *************************************************************************** I tried both programs and I prefer IEW, based on ease of teaching and results. The teacher's manual for Write Shop doesn't include all the things the student has, so you have an extra step to go into your child's book to find out what's happening in the lesson. For me, that extra step pushed me over the edge because there are just so many steps! I wish I could sell it but I kept writing and highlighting everywhere to keep track of all the steps. For example, from the TM re Lesson 10 writing a concise biography: [The comments from me, not in the TM, are in brackets.] 1. Photocopy an article. It should be short, between one-half and three-fourths of a page long, not including any photographs. [They have suggestions of subjects.] 2. Pre-writing activities - "A Five-Sentence Biography" [This must be in the student book because I don't know what that is from my TM.] 3. Prewriting Activities. Practice Paragraph. [sometimes these are "skill builders which are only in the student book.] 4. Read the student instruction sheet."Writing a Concise Biography." [ Again, look that up in student's book.] Write practice paragraph. See TM, p. 16. This is a sheet at the beginning of the book which has six main steps [with substeps] which include Read instruction sheet for the lesson, Look at "Addressing Common Errors Lesson by Lesson" [which is in a separate tab at the end of the TM] Brainstorming [which may or may not have a sheet in the student workbook, but will have answers in a separate place in the back of the TM] Use suggested Word Lists to help with brainstorming. [Only in student workbook] Write the paragraph on a dry erase board as dictated by student with prompting from teacher. [Lists questions.] Edit paragraph together, using Writing Skills Checklist for that particular lesson. [There are student checklists and teacher checklists in a separate tab at the end of the TM. But this time I found both in my student's book. The Student Checklist has 7 items under Content, 9 under Style, 10 under Mechanics.] 5. Brainstorming. Sudent worksheet. 6. Sloppy copy. Student writes a first draft and uses the Student Checklist. 7. First revision. 8. Teacher/parent editing day, using the Teacher's Writing Checklist Lesson 10 and suggestions on pp. 119-20. (That's the tab on Addressing Common Errors.] Paper clip the checklist to the draft. 9.Final draft. Go over your comments before student writes final draft. 10. Grade composition. Use Composition Evaluation form. It turns out there were 3 Skill Builders for that lesson but I didn't know that when I was retyping the instructions from the TM here. There are also different "tracks" you can take, with doing skill buiders on different days and drafts on certain days. It seemed to take us longer because we did more than one draft. Sorry this is so long, but I was really surprised at the amount of planning required by Write Shop. It took a lot of time and effort for everyone and the results were ok, but not great. In contrast, we have the flexibility to write about just about anything with IEW, selecting ideas or facts we find "interesting" and voila! The result is something that makes sense because it has structure and something that is interesting because it comes from us rather than a checklist. Even the IEW checklists for openers and dress-ups give us flexibility and actually improve the content. The developers of this Write Shop program really put a lot of thought into every detail. They stress student editing, which I think is really important. I just think that it could be more user-friendly. Now that I have IEW, we all have this wonderful feeling that writing is easy. I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here, but I hope this helps someone. I get my lists mixed up sometimes. gayle

We pay our 12yo son $20 to mow and weedwhack our lawn (approx 1/2 acre w/trees and garden). Though everyone has household chores, we feel this is above and beyond the norm. Just as when the olders kidsat the youngers and got paid. Now when we go out and I stop at Starbucks, he pays for his own. Or if he needs earbuds (again) those come from his pocket. In the last year, we decided to give each of our kids $100 to purchase seasonal necessary clothing, socks, shoes, gloves, hats, etc. (over and above hand-me-downs) as a means to teach money management. The extra they earn allows them to splurge if they want. JMHO, Teresa

The student reads the material from a computer. Lots of examples and pictures. No voices =) My 12 yo son is working through this even as I type =) He likes the hands-on projects, but has commented several times some of the concepts are clear. I feel a standard textbook as a spine would help fill in gaps. Off to search for said physical science textbook..... Grateful for grace, Teresa in NC

Praying for a speedy full recovery and encouragement for ((you)) In Yeshua

Depends on which copyrighted set of pages you have. Their general reply is they do not sell copies of the Loom. Most of the time when someone sells a printed version of TOG without the Loom, it's either the print version purchased with DE (not resell-able) or someone really genuinely lost it. Whether or not the Loom is vital also depends upon which level students you are teaching. In Years 3 & 4, vital literature information is on the Loom for Rhetoric students as well as notes for the teacher regarding literature. Helpful handouts for LG/UG are also on the Loom. HTH, Teresa

I printed all the pages last summer for myself and my boys with the intention of working through it together as we studied Ancient History. We became bogged down with all the fill in the blanks. Read a chapter, then regurgitate it. Not for us. No an answer key either. Not that I needed one, but I couldn't discern exactly what direction the author intended the study to go in a few places. Some sort of teacher's guide would be very helpful. JMO, Teresa

We just finished Redesigned TOG Y1 =) The copyright on mine is 2007,2008. There were several titles which had been replaced, however, I didn't encounter any issues, as I was able to locate books for the version I had. You can choose to utilize the most current book, but it is not necessary. I've read they are tweaking the D/R levels, but in all honesty, I thought the discussions were fine (aside from some of the Reformed theology). FWIW, Teresa