As long as he keeps his hair clean & brushes it once or twice a day, why should it be a concern? My 13 year old DS has the most beautiful hair . . . down to the middle of his back now. It's a gorgeous color, thick, wavy, and I absolutely love it. His hair is such a part of his personality, and it's so him. Other boys have said that they wished their parents would let them grow out their hair, and that our DS is lucky that we allow it. I encourage him to take advantage of these years, when he doesn't have to follow any rules for hair or dress. The day may come when he chooses to observe a dress code/hair length, but until then, he's free to make his own choices. If the decision were mine to make, I'd never want him to cut it :)

We would love it if anyone could read through this essay for lesson 37 in History Odyssey's Level 3 Ancients. DS is in 8th grade, and is a reluctant writer. Last year, we worked through MCT Paragraph Town & IEW, Units 1,2, & 4. This year, we have completed WWS Weeks 1-6. Thank you to all who care to comment :) Ancient Egyptian Death Rituals For Ancient Egyptians, life on earth was short; what mattered most was their admittance to the afterlife. They believed that death was not the end of a person's life. As a result, they perfected the process of mummification, which enabled the deceased to continue the quest for eternal life. After death, all people were judged by the gods for their actions on earth before gaining admittance to the afterlife. The desire for eternal life ruled every aspect of an Egyptian's life. Egyptians had an extensive belief system regarding death and the afterlife. For Egyptians, death was only the physical end of the body. The ba, an individual's personal spiritual characteristic, remained with the body in death. The ka, or soul, left the body at death and waited for a vessel to ascend to the afterlife. After the body was mummified, the ka would return and rejoin the body to begin the journey to the afterlife. Egyptians refined the art of mummification so that the body could travel to the afterlife. If a body was not properly preserved, the soul would wander the earth seeking the body. The mummification process was dependent on social status, and was much more elaborate for royals than for commoners. All internal organs, except the heart, were removed from the body. Internal organs were cleaned, dried, covered in linen and spices, sealed with waterproof resin, stored in jars, and kept in the tomb. After the body was washed with spices and wine, it was covered with natron salts for several weeks to dry out any moisture. Then, body cavities were packed with linen and spices. The body was covered with waterproof resin and wrapped in strips of linen. For royals, during the wrapping process, amulets, charms, and jewels were placed between layers of linen, and a gold funeral mask was placed over the face. Commoners were placed in simple caskets and buried. Royal mummies were placed in a series of coffins and transported to the tomb. Once buried or placed in a tomb, the journey to the afterlife began. Commoners immediately ascended to the afterlife. Royals needed a tomb to ascend to the afterlife. Tombs were stockpiled with supplies the mummy needed on its journey. Books of the Dead, scrolls with instructions on how to get to the afterlife, and which prayers to use, were placed in the tomb. After the soul rejoined the body, the mummy could begin the ascent. Along the journey, royals fought a series of monsters. If victorious, the deceased entered the afterlife. Once admitted to the afterlife, the heart was measured against the feather of truth. Gods would examine the person's earthly actions to decide if they were worthy enough to go to paradise. If the heart was heavier then the feather of truth, the individual's heart would be eaten by a monster, and the body would cease to exist. An individual whose heart was lighter than the feather would go to eternal paradise. Without a doubt, the most important thing to an Egyptian was their quest for eternal life. Their main goal in life was to emulate the gods. Egyptians strove for perfection in their everyday life, knowing they would be judged when they died. They paid particular attention to how they treated people and how they conducted themselves. If an Egyptian did not succeed in reaching the afterlife, their whole life would have been meaningless.

We (myself, my 8th grade DS & my advanced 5th grade DD) are working through Wheelock's this year, and loving it. I enjoyed Latin in high school, so I am working through all of the lessons with the kids. They went through Lively Latin 2 years ago, and are doing fine with Wheelock's. We take about 10 days to get through each lesson, doing ALL of the exercises in the book, ALL of the exercises in the Wheelock's Workbook, every lesson in LaFleur's Scirbblers, Sculptors, & Scribes, and using Grote's Comprehensive Guide to Latin. We spend about 45 minutes to an hour each day doing Latin. The Wheelock's book recommends doing only selected exercises, but we found that the extra practice helps us understand & retain the info, we we do everything. We also use the Wheelock's site to listen to the audio files for the vocab. My kids love language, vocabulary, and history, and Wheelock's has been a great fit for them. We plan to do half of this book this year, and count it as one year of high school Latin. Good luck with your choice!

Ordered the PreAlgebra & Intro to Algebra sets today. My kids & husband are not quite sure why I am so excited, so it's nice to see others who are also so thrilled!! I can't wait 'til these books arrive!!!

I called Classical Academic Press today, and the person I spoke to said that each level of Latin Alive! is considered to be a high school level course. He suggested I contact Karen Moore when she returns from a convention to ask which resources she would recommend for Latin beyond the scope of Latin Alive!

I am considering Latin Alive Book 1 for my 13 yo ds (going into 8th grade). We used Lively Latin's Book 1 two years ago & loved it (expecially the history aspect). We used MCT's Town series with Caesar's English I last year, and enjoyed it immensely. He loves grammar, diagramming sentences, language, etc. I plan to have him take 4 years of Latin in high school. If all goes well, I hope he will take the Latin SAT Subject test and the National Latin Exam. If we use Latin Alive Book 1 in 8th grade, I plan to give credit for high school Latin I. We would then complete Latin Alive Book 2 in 9th grade for Latin II. I believe that Book 3 (when it is available) would be suitable for Latin III. What should we use for Latin IV? Feel free to let me know if the Latin Alive books will not be suitable for high school credit of Latin I, II, & III. I have not yet seen the books, so am going by the samples I have seen at Classical Academic Press & reviews. Thanks for any and all suggestions :)

My 7th grade son is working through Kinetic Books Algebra now. He has finished the first 5 "chapters", and will complete the rest when we resume in the fall. He is a very visual/auditory learner, and enjoys using this program. I have him complete the odd number questions at the end of the unit, plus the standardized test problems. He hasn't used other Algebra programs, so I can't compare, but we really like Kinetic Books. He is able to work through the problems independently. I check his scores for each unit, and if he makes any errors, we go back and work through the problems together.

We used Caesar's English I for a 7th grader & 4th grader, so your 9th grader may not find it enough of a challenge. It's the type of program best suited for discussion, IMHO. I loved using this program, and can't wait to use Caesar's English II in the fall.

My now 12 yo ds and 9 yo dd read all 10 of Hakim/s books two years ago. They read them aloud, either at home, or when we were driving. Both kids LOVED, LOVED, LOVED these books! My son frequently checks one out of the library, as one of his "free read" books. Both kids retained an amazing amount of information, and frequently mention some aspect of history they read about in the series. I must also say that I often have trouble paying attention when people read aloud, but found this series to be very interesting and engaging. I learned a lot (or re-learned what I had forgotten) about US history.

Have you tried using Google to search for the name of the book to see if any are considered public domain books? If you find the books you need are public domain books, you may be able to just read them on-line, or download them. We are using TOG Y2, and I have found several books that way. You can also try www.librivox.org or www.gutenberg.org. Good luck. Judy

I just posted about this yesterday, wondering if it might be possible to use HMW with TOG. I hope you post updates letting us all know how it works for you and your dd. I think there are a few others who are curious about using HMW, also. Judy

OP here. I just saw a posting today (7/25) by NJKelli titled "Dd will use SWB's History of the Medieval World." She said that her daughter used HOAW last year, and that it was a success. I will post a reply to her asking that she post updates about how HMW works for their family. I should probably just pick a section to read aloud, and see if my kids find it interesting. Judy

We are not 4-Hers, but are envious of others who participate. Congratulations to all of your kids for outstanding projects! Ooooh! Aaaah!

Thanks for the replies. . . We have the KF spine, and I plan to use that, along with other books I can find through our county library system. My concern is finding specific books from the primary/alternate lists. I have been browsing the HMW book from the library to decide if I want to purchase it. I *think* I want to read aloud selections that would be interesting and appropriate this year, and have the book on hand for the R years. I have not seen any posts about people using the book, and wondered if it has/has been done, and to what degree of satisfaction. I still plan to have them listene to SOTW2 this year, as they both loved it the first time through. They would actually say, "Can't we listen to just one more chapter today?" As far as picking a curriculum from a Christian world view but not teaching entirely from that perspective . . . I have not seen anything out there (that is secular) that equals the depth and quality found in TOG. I really like that it weaves the threads through history/literature, and through what happened in each area of the world during the time period. I can't re-create anything like that on my own! I think both of my kids will love the way this curriculum brings everything together, and makes sense of what was happening in the world. I want my kids to make their own decisions, regardless of my own personal viewpoints. Even though I have more of a secular approach, I am not opposed to using TOG. However, my main reason for using it would not be because of its Christian worldview, but because I think my kids will get more out of TOG than any other curriculum I have found so far. I guess the only way to know for sure will be to try it out this year, and see how it goes.

I plan to start TOG Y2 this year for my 12 yo ds (D level) and 9 yo dd (UG level), and also posted this in the K-8. They have listened to all 4 volumes of the SOTW CDs, and loved them. Both are advanced readers, and love history. Would SWB's History of the Medieval World be a good book to use in the coming years, when we get to R level? I'm thinking of buying it now, and trying it as a read aloud. I'm not sure how many history spines will be available at our library, and I don't want to buy a bunch of the TOG books until I know for sure that my kids like the program. I thought this book might be a good continuation of history for them, instead of using SOTW again. Any suggestions from experienced TOGers?