we are looking at having our kids memorize the basics of the seven ecumenical councils - and I have a vague recollection of someone many many years ago having created a memory song or something to do this - familiar to anyone? I keep having flashbacks to Melanie Griffith in Born Yesterday teaching the 12 amendments! :)

haven't been on these boards in a very long time :) and yes, my son (who graduated last week!) ended up taking 5 courses from Nelson. We were very pleased with them, combined with his activities in 4H showing livestock I think they gave him a great background and he is looking forward to pursuing agriculture in college this fall

Thanks Tech Wife, I ran across this recently as well, and we are planning to sign up for a couple of courses.

Oldest son is a sophomore this year, and very interested in pursuing livestock management and agriculture. He has more than adequate hands on experience (4H, raises and shows sheep, pigs, chickens, works as a landscaper, helps maintain a large garden and occasionally works to put up hay for local farmers). What I am looking for now is something more academic to go hand in hand with all of the real life experience. I have purchased a college level Animal Science text, but would also consider an online course. So far I have looked into North Dakota Center for Distance Learning. Anyone have any experience to share, or other resources/books/online courses?

thanks - am going to look into this book!

I am working on a history course for 7th-8th graders, and need some ideas for a few fairly inexpensive but fun projects to go with our time period. Anyone have any great ideas for the 1800's? I found a kit for making a small covered wagon, and something with leather working (moccasins etc) but would love any other ideas, especially some related to Industrial Revolution and scientific advance of that time period! Thanks for any input!

hmm, will have to check on the color - it is a porter paints, and took me forever to settle on because it went in 3 rooms, and the lighting was different in each, so finding a yellow that worked took about 5 trial swatches on the walls. I'll check on the color and let you know!

the set of 2 was $25 with a coupon. The 3 cube stack was about $30. They come from J*Ann craft stores - and I used 40 and 50% off coupons to get them.

sorry - I answered this on the blog - forgot to answer it here! I got the cubes at a J*Ann craft store - collected them one at a time with coupons over a period of several months

thanks Sarah - there is no question things evolve as life does - in fact, for about six months a few years back my sister in law and her husband moved in with us (they were in transition between selling a home and moving with the military) and they lived in the downstairs - so I cleared the whole thing out and homeschooled in my kitchen. It is fun to have a room though - and it is always fun to plan it out!

I LOVE cubes!!!! they are so much easier than shelves, and more flexible - I love that I can move them around if i want - and the kids really enjoy having their own spaces

so sweet :) Thanks justamouse!

We love St. Michael's products (the Sentence Family is my fav!). I have the math manipulatives - they are nice - definitely not enough for a full program though. They have developed a Waldorf style math plan for roughly the 1st - 2nd grades - unfortunately they do not have it for sale now. If you contact them, tell them you are interested. I have been trying to get them to publish it for a few years now! I have the first part they sent me to look over, but do not have the second section and would love for them to publish and sell it.

Anyone done any re-organizing as the summer hits? We just revamped the school room - here are the pix - would love to see what others are doing for next year!

We always take more time in the middle ages than most since I feel most programs skim over a lot during that time. at the ages of your kids - I wouldn't worry too much, if you want to take extra time, do it. You will probably go through modern times more quickly the first go around, since a lot of that is really to heavy for little ones, so it all usually works out in the end. We actually just skipped modern times on our first cycle. Disadvantage - if you are an "A" type, it is going to drive you crazy feeling like you are behind - but eventually you will get over it :) and realize that history cycles do not run the world, and your kids will do fine even if they don't get 3 perfect cycles as lined out (coming from someone who wanted it all marched out perfectly for everyone K-12, then reality set in :)

we are doing NC Wyeth - there are great books out there of his works on American History topics - tie in very nicely. We are also planning to do John White - not well known, but he was the grandfather of Virginia Dare. Finally, we are going to probably do some of Winslow Homer and Hokusai pieces - because our emphasis is on the sea this year (explorers, marine sciences, navigation etc) and they both have beautiful works on ships and the sea.

there are resources such as history portfolio and the famous men of books which take a culture approach rather than a strict chronology - though they cover things by time period, the focus is on a civilization within that period and follows that civilization through the period rather than jumping around.

Thanks!! this is what I was hoping to hear - planning to just skip general I think and go straight into physical

ha! that means we have to have already decided :) I am so behind on that, I only recently updated my signature for this past years curriculum! Though I am working on it now, and hope to have some concrete plans in the next few weeks.

Not totally sold on the upper level Apologia books, but if this is what I decide to use - can anyone tell me what you think about using the physical science book before general? My son is 12 - loves science, and after looking at them, physical science seems to cover more of what we need to be working on now (not to mention it will dovetail nicely with history studies next year :) He has a good background of science reading, and I feel like much of the general science he has covered. Any thoughts?

a small digital voice recorder like what doctors used to use for dictation works really well - and is very sturdy

Does anyone know what kind of software I can use to record my own voice reading things aloud? I want to record things like spelling lists onto my computer then download them to my Ipod so the kids can listen to them. I have windows, and was wondering if anyone has done this, and if so, will my windows media program do this?

I second that - as an LCC fan myself, we are finishing up Lively Latin one, and have really liked it. It also can allow you to streamline well - as it includes some fine art, a good roman history, and of course, lots of grammar. We have liked it a lot, and I intend to use it next year with my next one.

not aware of any samples. I use it as a general resource of ideas for memory work. We hold recitation, where the kids recite things they memorize, so I often use it to add to their recitation (it has a nice grammar catechism). To see my review of it from when it first came out - you can look here.

we are teaching apologia botany to a co-op this year - I think it is a bit over the heads of the 5-7 year old group - but they listen in. My 5 year old has learned a lot, but does get bored much faster than the others. That said, we love it, and it has been wonderful for my 10 and 8 year olds.