Earlier this school year I bought this book for our studies, but haven't gotten around to cracking open the cover yet. Glad to see that you're finding it interesting! Thanks for posting!

Pretty late to this conversation but here's my comments anyway! I'm glad things are looking brighter for you now! Yes, I definitely had many moments like this. However we just kept moving forward. Sometimes it helps to just take a break and walk away from it all for a week or two. Even without the structure and accountability that I personally felt was lacking, I knew my sons were still getting a better education because it was custom-made to fit their strengths and weaknesses. As for grading, I never gave a failed mark and moved on. I figured it was better to have them complete what was started and possibly readjust future assignments if necessary. We did discuss the downside of not meeting deadlines and how it would affect them if they were in a different educational environment. We also evaluated the why behind a late assignment. Was the assignment too much? Were necessary skills lacking? Do we need to adjust the assignment in some way? Do we need to get together and talk out the assignment in order to get started? Honestly, I was afraid the missed deadlines would be a problem once ds was in college. He is now in his second year of college and has never missed a deadline. It seems to make a difference as to whether the assignment is for Mom or a professor. ;)

We are currently using Our Night Sky. We just started - have only completed the first two lectures. In other words, too soon to tell how effective the course will be for us. I loved your comment on the "bad" reviews, how true! We usually plan our movie and documentary viewing based on the bad reviews....

Hewitt Homeschooling sells a State History syllabus for a High School level course, 1/2 credit. It might be a helpful guideline. We actually created a 1 credit course on our State's History and Government because this topic was of great interest to my ds. Sent you a pm with our State History course description so you can get a feel for what we did. HTH!

Some movies and documentaries we watched while studying the 20th Century, mostly PG or PG13 but check before your children view: Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1850s-1960s, slavery through Civil Rights movement) Fiddler on the Roof (1905) The Greatest Auto Race on Earth (NY to Paris 1908) - documentary The Great Race (slapstick comedy based on the 1908 Great Race, starring Jack Lemmon & Tony Curtis) NOVA documentary - Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance (1914-1916) Lawrence of Arabia (1916) Chariots of Fire (1924) Cinderella Man (1935) K-19 The Widowmaker (1961) Thirteen Days (1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis) Operation Dumbo Drop (1968) Cool Runnings (1988) Invictus (1995) Hotel Rwanda (1994) - rate PG-13 but I think this is better for high school, very disturbing story and images.

We've used Sonlight with great success.

Lori, I did not think you were "dissing" SL at all. I merely posted my family's experience with SL in reply to the original poster's question. It's always nice to have replies from all angles, just to muddy up the water a bit! :::joking!::: Laurie

We have used SL with two students through high school with great results. One ds has taken SATs, SAT IIs, and APs with no difficulty and has scored extremely well. Ds was very prepared for college and is excelling in their Honors program. My other ds has not tested yet, but I expect the same results when he does. As with any curriculum there may be some tweaks necessary to fit your student(s).

I think this is wonderful advice! I'm now in my last year of homeschooling, (Year 14!) and I wish someone had spoken these words to me long ago. Instead I floundered around for awhile before figuring it out for myself!

We used this for high school, granted one credit - History of Art. We loosely followed the Art History syllabus sold by Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. Very enjoyable study!

Not Michelle, but maybe I can help... If you go to the IEW yahoo group and look in the files section, you'll see a folder called "Lessonshare". Inside that folder you will find another folder called "Jill Pike Windows Syllabus", which I believe is what you are looking for! HTH!

I think many homeschoolers don't want to spend a whole school year on Civics/U. S. Government so they find a 1/2 year Government program instead. As for the pushing civic involvement, no one at my house came away with that impression. I felt that Core 300 did an adequate job of covering the events of the 20th Century in the U. S., but it is best represented as a 20th Century World History course.

Sorry, didn't mean to offend or seem dense. I'm working on minimal hours of sleep today so some of the subtleties of forum jargon are getting lost on me!;) :::::back to lurking:::::

:iagree: There is no one perfect curriculum, thus the reason for so many choices! Choose whatever works best for your student and/or family and enjoy the process.

I'm not sure what you mean by "take the college credit thing out of the equation". I honestly wasn't comparing SL to TOG. My understanding of TOG is too new, I would feel uncomfortable doing a comparison of levels/curriculum. I was only commenting on Lisa's post about the negative comments in regards to Sonlight's high school level Cores. More letting her know that some have used SL at the high school levels with no troubles. I read on your other post on the S/O thread where you stated: Level 200 I am fine with, I just question the wisdom of doing a program that is totally focused on a topic that most secular colleges won't recognize. At least with TOG you are covering secular history at the same time. Actually, Core 200 is very rich in history. My ds took the European History AP after completing Core 200 with no difficulties and we listed the course as European History on his transcript. My ds who is currently attending college is majoring in history. He scored very well on the various tests (SAT, SAT Subject tests, APs). We had no difficulties with the application process and ds was accepted into a variety of schools, including upper tier universities. I really don't know if anyone has put together a schedule using a different spine for Core 100. Sorry!