How about a combination of Artistic Pursuits 4-6 or 7-9, for the art appreciation/history/observation components, and Draw Squad for basic and fun drawing skills?

Check out Signs and Seasons from ClassicalAstronomy.com. We have not used it yet, but we have it and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe it will be a fit for you. HTH!

Did you know that Classical Academic Press is coming out with a new upper level Latin program? It's called Latin Alive - go to ClassicalAcademicPress.com and you can look at samples. I'm in the process of switching Latin programs and I've been looking at this one seriously for my older dauighter, so I thought I'd share.

I've been looking at the CAP site frequently, because we have just switched over to LfC for my younger dd and I really like it. We love Latin and I finally admitted that our old program had stopped working. So, now I'm looking forward to seeing LA for my older dd. We also have CAP's Art of Argument for next year. I just love the visual design of this company's materials so far, and they are very helpful by email.

It's the absolute best for ancient history study. We were fortunate enough to be able to go to a concert there recently - ancient Greek music on reproduction ancient instruments. Husband and wife duo, both of whom made and played the instruments, and the woman sang in Greek!

What a precious little peapod!!! Congratulations!

I believe it is now set to come out in May! Be still my beating cor!

Artistic Pursuits has several levels and is good for art history and observation. You could choose to do the projects or just the reading and looking at the art pieces. Check them out at Artisticpursuits.com.

I believe that Lukieon Project teaches Wheelock's classes online. They are such nice people, I suspect if you emailed them, they could help you. Just go to Lukeion.org. HTH!

I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl. I believe he has others, but these are the ones I've read. They are excellent. They aren't girl-specific, but they're very purity-focused, mind, body and spirit. The first is about his decision to stop dating and the second is about his journey towards marriage. They are autobiographical in that sense, but they're much fartther-reaching than that. Worth a look!

If you have a Costco membership, this could be the way to go. I'm not a digital person, either, but my dd takes lots of digital photos and often has to get them developed (versus just downloading them) so that she can take them to meetings to make our homeschool group yearbook. With Costco, she just downloads the photos into the computer, sends them over to Costco, makes some choices about sizing, etc, and they send them to us free! Well, "free" meaning it doesn't cost any more than the price of development. You can pick them up, too, but so far having them sent here has worked well for us. I don't know how to do anything, not even download the photos. She is 13 and does the whole process from start to finish - I just give her the Costco card and my credit card when she needs them.

You can't do the Revolutionary War without Johnny Tremain. You just can't!

It's hard to "discuss" issues in the heat of the moment, but you might invest in a journal that the two of you can pass back and forth. I do this with both of my dd's (9 and almost-14) and it's been a great solution to the older dd's deep need for privacy, which has been part of her personality as long as I can remember. I can sympathize with this need, and the journal gives her control over how much she shares and when. It's also a way for me to be "mushy" with her in a way that she doesn't appreciate me doing in front of anyone else. She does not like physical affection, but our journal allows me to be "verbally affectionate." I write more often than she does, but I always know that when I see the journal on my pillow (this is how we pass it back and forth) there will be something surprising (in a good way!) inside.

A few years ago I stopoed shopping at the grocery store: I had put up with too much "chatting" between the checkers while they rang up my order, and too many sights of employees hunched down smoking right outside the store on their breaks. The final straw was when my checker was yelling over my head to ask the checker at the next stand about her date that weekend; she had not acknowledged me. At this same store, dh experienced a checker text-messaging while he waited for dh's card payment to go through. Enough was enough. Now we go to the farmer's market and everyone treats us wonderfully. This is only one small example, but it's made a big difference in our lives. My dd has learned so much by being able to be independent at the farmer's market, but one of the biggest things she's learned is that it's possible to be treated with respect and courtesy by people who are genuinely happy you're buying their products.

My 8th grade dd has read The Iliad this year and is now reading The Odyssey. We are using the Robert Fagles translations and it's going splendidly. I have not heard the Derek Jacobi audio of The Iliad that matches the one we read, but we have the Ian McKellen audio of The Odyssey and it's wonderful. I am listening to that so I can keep up with her reading, and sometimes I also read out loud to her, which is way more fun than it sounds. This is my first time reading either one and I have loved it. We haven't done a whole lot of analysis, though. We talk about things as they come up, observations she has about the characters, how the behavior of the characters matches up with what we know about Greek cultural values, but nothing too deep. I consider it somewhat of an accomplishment just to read them, and I'm very pleased with how it's enhanced our learning. We use TruthQuest for history, so she has also read a lot about Greek art, architecture, literature, many aspects of Greek culture that are played out in these stories. So, a recommendation for the Fagles translations, and I also agree with the poster who mentioned the R. Sutcliff/Alan Lee versions, which are gorgeous visually and very well-told. HTH!

When making a model of the Trojan Horse, be sure to cut holes in the body of the horse BEFORE you glue it all together, so the soldiers don't suffocate.

because eventually I'd like to have my dd study British history and literature as a high school elective. So far we're thinking about a Jane Austen book or two, Shakespeare, a Jeeves and Wooster book (Wodehouse), Dickens (we've alrteady read David Copperfield for fun, and I highly recommend it!) and lots of British poetry. I know that's not much help, but we're in the beginning stages of planning, so I look forward to reading other responses! We have a friend who took the Inklings class and loved it. I hope your dd is gaining lots of insight!

We loved Fallacy Detective, and we're now using Thinking Toolbox. Next up, Art of Argument by Classical Academic Press, then either (or possibly at the same time - my dd loves logic study) Nance's Intro to Logic or the follow-up to Art of Argument, which I think is still in the works and is called Discovery of Deduction......? (Don't quote me on that.....) I'd definitely start with Fallacy Detective, though. It's very user-friendly and has a dry, humorous tone that was a big hit around here.Thinking Toolbox has a different slant but has also generated a lot of discussion. HTH!

I say this because it has everything you need except supplies, and it has an excellent re-sale value when you're done. We think it's worth every penny! That said, I have not compared it with the cost of other programs. Just my thoughts.............

We made it happily through The Iliad and are now in the middle of The Odyssey, and I just ordered The Aenid yesterday. I feel strongly that his translations have opened up a whole new world of literature for us. Thank you, Mr. Fagles!

This is the perfect time to do the bird section, and if you finish it, you could try the butterfly chapter towards the end of the book. Enjoy!

but use another apologia course, like Astronomy, until he's a little older. My dd did Apologia Botany in 6th grade and I think that was the perfect age for that study. But my younger dd has done Apologia Zoology I and Astronomy this year in 3rd grade, and they've been perfect. That said, I think the Zoology courses could easily be used by older kids, too. I think if you're going to do backyard nature study, a good set of nature guides for kids, good-quality colored pencils and a nature journal are perfect. HTH, Alphabetika in SoCA, too I'm in the city of Orange - where are you?

We were so excited, and we did everything the kit said to do (which, as I recall, took a mighty long time!) and we got the same - little dried out strips. We were disappointed, but at least we had a good discussion about it!

Here are a couple of resources I'd recommend, and I'm sure others will have more ideas: - Kingfisher's Everyday Life in the Ancient World - D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and/or Children's Homer and/or Rosemary Sutcliff retellings of Iliad and Odyssey - Detective in Togas - History Scribe pages of your choice (historyscribe.com) We're studying ancients this year using TruthQuest, and these have been some of our favorite resources for my younger dd (3rd grade) HTH!

The teacher's book gives additional scripture and insight for the teacher, as well as answers to the student questions, some of which are a bit different than I would think of myself, and thought-provoking. This is an excellent study!