I don't know if this helps, but you can get the current, official SAT book for around $14-$15 new on Amazon. There are a bunch of practice tests in that. Of course, that SAT, not PSAT, but I figure if they are prepared for the SAT, then the PSAT would just be a bit easier?? Not sure if my logic is wanting. lol In general, I've heard the best prep for these is taking sample tests and going over the answers. Just a thought. Be curious to hear what others suggest.

Wow -- I didn't realize you could hear back so fast. How much time did you guys spend pulling it all together? Did you search out materials from other AP teachers, or what?

How wonderful! Would love to hear more about the experience when you have a chance!

OK, that makes sense. At the risk of being too demanding, do you have any suggestions for the "wider and deeper" aspect? And thanks for the Glencoe link! :)

I was going to suggest the IEW's High School Essay Intensive as well -- geared toward writing timed essays. If your dd already writes reasonably well, she could probably just do that on its own.

Forgot to say -- one thing I really liked about Exc in Lit is that it had the student start with some research on the author and historical time period, etc., and do a little write up on that. The guide's author does supply some websites, etc., for that, but I suppose my DD could do that on her own especially now that she's done it so much. I was going to have her do the "honors" track of Exc in Lit if we used it for Brit Lit this year, which basically means more reading. But it doesn't really offer guidance for that added reading, just suggested titles.

Thanks, Michelle! I do have the Exc in Lit for American, and while I liked it, I am looking for a greater challenge at this point... something more comprehensive. Sonlight 530 is their British Lit, so it's different from other Sonlights (which I've never used but have local friends who have so I'm pretty familiar with it). I've never felt happy with Sonlight as an option, but it seems like their Brit Lit is quite different... maybe?? I will definitely go look for Glencoe's Lit guides though and see how that would be. If we're putting together our own course, I really need to get kicking on a schedule/syllabus because I don't want her waiting on me. So it sounds like Windows might be good for rhetorical devices, and maybe Glencoe to beef up the reading, etc. Does that seem accurate? I'm wondering how much reading is good (jr/sr years). Like 2 books a month?? I know there's not a hard and fast rule; just thinking out loud....

Any opinions? :D

Great job, everyone! Laundry with switching, lots of vacuuming with some detail work, bday call to grandma.... More than 10m, lol, but still going. Woo hoo!

Elegant Essay can stand on its own.

I'm in! Here we go....

We did Excellence in Literature (American) this past year and my DD has said that she would like to do the Brit Lit version next. But now I am thinking ahead to a probable AP exam on the horizon (either this junior year or next senior year), and wondering if that's the best course of action. I really would like it to be a challenging college-prep course. I have not been the best at reading all the books with her, nor providing her with challenging discussions (although we did do a monthly lit discussion group with a few other hs-ers for all the books, as well as Yahoo discussion group for some added limited book discussion for those teens). But then I started thinking of Sonlight 530 and wondered if maybe that would be better, more complete. Although I do worry if it would seem like one of those awful contrived study guides that is so annoying to use. lol I like that Exc in Lit had essay topics for each book, but w/o me being more involved I'm concerned that she's not being challenged enough. Any opinions? Or is there something else out there that would be good? I am trying to make contact with a high school English teacher we know to see if she would be up for occasional feedback on papers at the very least, or perhaps some book discussion if she's up for it. FWIW, I've got the background to do all this English stuff, just feeling stretched pretty thin and not wanting to slight my daughter.

We started with the basic "teacher" course that I watched and my 2 DDs (new freshman at the time) did the SWI-C followed by the SICC-C. We watched it with a couple of boys from 2 other families and all the kids really liked the DVD portions with Andrew Pudewa. I thought it was time well spent. They did the SWI over about 6 weeks at the end of the summer, then pretty much all of SICC over freshman year. Mine also kind of did Elegant Essay, but I really wish I would've made that a focal point as a shorter mini course. We used Excellence in Lit - American this past year and were happy with that, too. I really liked that it kept things moving along at a good pace, had my DD writing regularly, gave her guidance so she didn't have to wait around for me when I was too bleary-eyed from being up with a baby. Who knew that Moby Dick could be a new favorite for a 14/15yo?? I bought the Advanced Communications set but have only used the notetaking so far.

Love the article -- thanks, Stacia! It was very encouraging and had a couple of specifics along with thought-provoking questions that I need to ponder. I ended up reading the post just after it as well: Clean-Slate Guide to Simplicity. I think that idea may work well for one of the DDs. Not sure if I could pull it off with the household stuff, but certainly with my email! I've read the zenhabits blog a number of times, but I never quite know what I'll find because I can't quite grasp the organization. So I appreciate that you directed me to something specific. But I LOVE the blog, and the concept of simplicity. Trying to get there, but it's the tiniest baby steps... and sometimes 2 steps forward, 5 steps back. lol

Nice visual -- thanks! :)

I love these posts -- very encouraging! I even laughed out loud at a couple of the stories and comments. :D I got those boxes cleared out that have sitting there for such a ridiculously long time. And WOW! does it look better!! They were even neatly contained, but having them completely removed is just so refreshing. I still need to be ultra-vigilant with keeping those flat surfaces cleared, and now there are a few things that have migrated to the top of the stairs... hoping someone will put them away in the basement. Would LOVE to hear how some of you make the tough decision to actually GET RID of things permanently. In the past I've tended to just shove stuff in the basement. I am plagued with the "Someday Syndrome" -- meaning that "someday" I might need this. I've come to realize that I can justify just about anything. :glare: My favorite "decluttering" book is Peter Walsh's It's All Too Much, but I still have trouble letting go....

Mine will be working toward this for the coming year, so I don't have any tried-and-true suggestions, but look forward to hearing specifics from others! Right now my thought is to use the APWH textbook we have, along with the online quizzes the publisher provides. For other materials, I'm looking into a few books/guides from Amazon.

It's expensive, but Blinc mascara -- totally different that anything else. Makes little "tubes" around your eyelashes; doesn't come off with water or with rubbing alone... but both water and pressure together (like in the shower, you just kind of gently "pull" them off). Sounds weird, but I absolutely love it... and it does look like regular mascara. lol I believe the company will take a return if you're not happy with it. Also, Sephora used to sell it, in black at least. (I use the dark brown.) My tube will last me 5-6 months of daily use, and the direct website does have sales from time to time so that's when I buy it. Good luck! :)

My report: Yesterday before bed everyone worked for 10-15 minutes and we got the island/counters/table clear, and made sure the LR and kids' room were picked up. The flat surfaces are what really get me -- feel great when they're clear, feeling a weighty grumpiness when they're not. Oh, and I finally packed up 6-8 clothing items that have been hanging on my closet door for the past 2 months :blushing: waiting for me to prepare them for the consignment shop. OK, how ridiculous is that?! So I put them in a box and they're going to Goodwill. Today: maintain the flat surfaces in the kitchen, clean up the computer desk area, and attack the several boxes near the stairs waiting for someone to do something with them. My mom will be visiting, so even this much will be a major accomplishment. Woo hoo -- off to work! :D

OK, so after another thread I was hoping to find a couple of people who would be willing to post some ongoing quick updates (or funny stories?) on some daily decluttering goals. This is something I'm ALWAYS working on, but with another school year just weeks away, I really need to make some more noticeable progress! So how 'bout it? Maybe post what you just did today or yesterday, or what you want to do today?

THANK YOU!! for sharing of yourselves, ladies. I'm feeling encouraged this morning. I think I will try to get my littles to try some watercolors. My older teens are pretty helpful (chores, taking care of the littles) and they do often say they would be happy to do more to help if I tell them what to do -- they say I don't ask for help when I need it, which is true. But so many of the things you said really helped or reminded me of things I already know: the impact of clutter on your state of mind (that's a huge one for me!), separate meal prep for severe food allergies (with never a break, but at least after several years of this I have some good routines in place to get this done more efficiently), some examples of how your "me" time looks and how you make it a priority. Seriously, thank you. It was so lovely to find all these thoughts waiting for me today.

Do you ever wonder if YOU have any hobbies or passions anymore? When I had two kids I think I coped better with juggling all of life, but now we have 5 spread over 16 years, my dh has significant chronic health issues that also require a completely different diet from everyone else (and the knowledge that his health will only continue to decline, most likely). I love my children and my dh dearly, and I try to be a completely devoted wife and mother. When I'm not doing stuff with or for them, one of my main "hobbies" is decluttering! lol Always looking for ways to simplify our lives, live with less, etc. But the stuff (physical and more) creeps in at record pace. And although I feel like I desperately need a break, I have come to realize that I have no hobbies anymore that are for me. Everything is homeschooling, food prep/cleanup, household stuff, mom stuff. How do I "find" myself again after all these years, when all I want to do is sleep? Or is this just normal for this season in my life? Of course, I feel guilty if I do try to do something for myself, and it feels like it's more trouble than it's worth. But I know I shouldn't feel that way and have to look at it like a "sharpening the saw" kind of thing. But it's so hard. Seriously, if everyone left home for the day and I could do ANYTHING I wanted... I would just sit here and look around and wonder what I could possibly do -- I just feel empty. For a time I enjoyed watercolor painting, and a couple of years ago I went ahead and bought myself some decent supplies and a couple of instructional DVDs. Haven't touched them in well over a year.... And the thought of doing it just seems overwhelming. So maybe I should just get rid of it, let it go. Lots of things in life seem like that now. Does anyone else ever feel this way? Is this "normal" for a (long) season??

These are all very interesting comments -- thank you for sharing! I did find that I could get the Teach Yourself Better Handwriting (older edition) through my library system, so I'm going to go ahead and at least preview that since I can do so for free. Also, they had that Getty-Dubay adult italic book; I don't know that my girls would want that, but I'll at least check it out and take a look. And the Fix It Write book does have at least a few sample pages online, so I think I'll have them review all of these once I get the library books. My girls did do calligraphy for a time, and while it did look pretty, it didn't really help with the everyday writing. In fact, the comment MSPolly just made about her daughter's issue with italic cursive and speed (or lack thereof) I think may get to the heart of the problem mine are having. They DID have absolutely beautiful cursive italic when they were in upper elementary. People commented on it all the time, and the girls have seen some old copybooks of theirs and commented on how well they wrote. But I think they weren't able to maintain it with speed as well, and it just went by the wayside. I didn't try to direct them to anything else. TBH, I thought it would just improve with time and maturity. And maybe it still will.... But with only 2 years left at home, I'm getting a little more concerned! lol It's interesting how many of us have had similar issues though. (And the reading traditional cursive was as issue here for a while. Fortunately my mom would hand write letters once in a while and that is something that they have picked up with pretty limited exposure -- although they do struggle just a bit with some of it.)

Is there any kind of teen discussion group associated with WTM boards? I'm thinking something that had some... intellectual discussion... as well as more "goofy" stuff. lol Maybe where high schoolers could discuss common books or courses? I suppose it's a long shot because they'd have to actually be using the same materials. <sigh> But I do regret that with homeschooling to find opportunities to have quality give-and-take with their peers. So many of our local hs friends put their kids into school when they reach this age.... Stacey

Thanks for the feedback! Like so many things in the hs-ing realm, I wish I could just flip through some of these books firsthand. I do appreciate that "look inside" feature on Amazon, but they need it for EVERYTHING! lol I wonder... is it possible to just "decide" to write more neatly?? I mean, it seems like some days it's hard enough to just get all the usual subjects done when they're in high school -- always so much going on. Does it boil down to desire? I don't know that they feel their handwriting is as big an issue as I feel it is. ;) But I do like the idea of those books, too....