just re-looked at your questions. you can look at the scope and sequence of Apologia at their web sight. not sure on the protestant / catholic question. I know it has a large section pulling apart evolution. one thing I noted though; the Apologia covers Mendel's laws, and the willies self teach guide doesn't mention it at all. the self teach guide has a large section on human reproduction. and the apologia doesn't mention it at all. the Apoilgea offers advanced books for year 12 the best thing would to know someone with the books so you could look at them. MelissaL

I bought the self teach guides, and when I looked at them I realised that there is no way that I can teach it. it looks as if the books are meant to go with a course or may be a tutor. they aren't self teach guides at all! they don't explained things very well, they move too quickly through the topics, and they have the answers right under the questions.???? I bought them for my son to start this year, but are now going to buy the Apologia, which is a self teach book. pages of information, then the questions. MelissaL

I have left my now 14 year old home alone since he was 11. he was nearly 6 foot high then, and looked much older. my now 11 year old goes fishing to the river nearly every day alone. a walk of about 1 km. MelissaL

now all I need are some stairs !!!! MelissaL who only has a single level house:)

hi, We grow everything from seed. we have a green house, but most things we just plant seed in the garden. we have started collecting all our own seed . it is a lot of fun, and they germinate so much faster than shop seeds. MelissaL

"madeleine takes command", and "with pipe, paddle, and song." both books that my boys have loved. I read Madeleine takes command as a read aloud, the boys liked it so much they did all my housework so I could keep reading. both are bethlehem books. MelissaL

ops! my changing from liters to gallons is in error. It is only 20,000 gallons MelissaL

hi, I collect rainwater. that is the only water I have, I have 2 very large concrete tanks, a total of 35,000 gallons of water holding capacity. it is enough water for my family of 7. we don't use any of it for watering the garden unless it has been first used by us. ( laundry etc.) most rural houses in Australia have tank water. The great thing about tank water is there is no bills to pay, the downside is you are dependant on the rain. If there is a drought, you use way less. and if there is a bushfire, the smoke contaminates it. BBQ flavoured water isn't that pleasant to drink! if you are going to collect water in a barrel , and are worried about mozzies. you can put 1 tbs of oil in the water, it makes a film over the water ans stops the lava from breathing. otherwise put some fly screen over the top of the barrel. the water can still get in through the fly screen. MelissaL

minced steak. I am in Australia, and that is what everyone I know calls it. sounds so much nicer than ground beef MelissaL

hi, I don't have any advice, just am thinking of you . 12 year olds are at that awkward age, hopefully she will improve with age.( MelissaL

I was 10 years old when my mum had my brother at home, she had a lady to help her, I found the birth interesting, but what a mess. I had to clean it up. ( I think mum payed me $20 or something for cleaning) . It has totally turned me off home births for life. I am glad to have all of mine in hospital, and not even look down at the mess. I would definitely NOT have any of my children present at any birth. MelissaL

I was 9, and so was my mother, and my grandmother. MelissaL

nose bleeds can be caused by being to hot. one of my sons gets one on hot days ( over 40 oC). getting the child to suck a piece of ice can sometimes help the nose bleed to slow down. MelissaL

my children can choose to work fast and have more free time or sit at their desks for a long time. we work on amount of work done, not time in each subject. This works well , one child gets up early and does everything he can do himself , then has free time until I have time to do his grammar with him, ds12 is very fast at his work, he can whizz through his math in about 15 minutes, He has time to go fishing in the middle of the day. ds14 finds it harder to go through his work fast, but he isn't all that interested in free time anyway. mostly they spend between 4-5 hours a day doing schoolwork, 1 hour a day doing assigned chores, 1/2 hour doing extra jobs as I direct them, and the rest is their own time. ( though today it doesn't look like there will be any free time) MelissaL

what I am doing is SOTW from 5th-to 8th grade and spielvogel al a WTM for 9th to 12th I bought History of the whole world, bit haven't worked out how to use it yet. thinking of just getting my son to read each chapter as it relates to speivogel. MelissaL

there is a great book called" where do I come from" ,it might be out of print. It has great cartoon type pictures, and explains it very simply my mother used it with me when I was little, and I have used it with my children. I have always loved the picture of the Sp##m with a top hat. otherwise watching a nature video that shows animals being born, and saying something like " that is how baby people are born as well. MelissaL

since homeschooling I find I don't get much exercise at all. so I have put a little on, so this is what I do. I try not to eat between meals, have a smaller dinner plate, so it looks full etc. I am not overweight, just have that look of having had lots of children, that flabby stomach look. so the latest thing I am trying is wearing a corset to pull the flab in and I feel marvelous, all my clothes fit better, I feel better about how I look, and one other benefit is I feel full. not hungry at all, MelissaL

we are using Marvis Beacon, it is still available, and can be bought very cheaply . I got mine from an E-bay shop. MelissaL

I found Abeka to be very American, so American in fact that I couldn't use it, I have no problem with Rod And Staff. it seems to be pretty universal in it's grammar. Very Bible oriented in all lessons. MelissaL

lettuce is really easy to grow, and if you do successive plantings, it is easy to supply enough lettuce for salad every day . if you have room, corn is good. but the best veggies for a small garden are beans, tomatoes, radishes, zucchini, cauliflower and lettuce.Onions take 9 months, so use up a lot of room and are only suitable for a large garden. we have a large veggie patch, a little bigger than a tennis court. we grow all the vegetables we need for the whole year to feed a fammily of 7, with 4 growing hungry boys. Because of where I live, we can grow veggies all year round, though we have frosts in the winter.

I don't catalogue my books as a library would, but I do have them organised. I have the fiction organised in history years, ancients, medieval, etc. on different shelves, all encyclopedias in one bookshelf, and reference books in their own bookshelves. MelissaL

I second fallacy detective, I only skipped 1 or 2 things that were too christian. also critical thinking by Anita harnadek is OK, though I found my son wasn't ready for it until age 14. we spend about 15 minutes twice a week doing it. we do all the lessons orally , as a discussion. MelissaL

my children are half Canadian!!!;) my husband is Canadian, I am Australian, We live in Australia:001_smile: MelissaL

we school year round, with no holidays, that way we can take a day or two off when life gets in the way, like last week my 14 year old had the whole week off to help my husband rip up the old kitchen, and lay a new floor. etc. etc. .... this way we fit everything into a year fairly easily. the only problem with schooling year round is the children aren't in any particular grade, , as soon as they finish one book, the go straight into the next.. so they are are all over the place as far as grades go. MelissaL

what about 20000 leagues under the sea by Jules Vern? I did it as a read aloud for my children. MelissaL