I use a Nathan hydration belt. 2 8 oz. water bottles, pouch and key pocket. Love it.... Used it on runs up to 18 miles.

Well, we've made it through another year of homeschool. This marked my 20th year: Getting ready for our next term... And figured I'd pop in and see how everyone was... What's new in the curriculum world.... And get the plans rolling! Happy Spring! ~~Faithe

8---I am just so jazzed for you I could twirl and do a happy dance!!! We havebeen through it ALL through the years and I am just so stinkin' excited for you!!! It is giving me the "moxy" to put out there what I do....LOL!!!! Just not yet. :lol: Best of all things!!!! You made me so happy today when I read this!!! Faithe

Ha!! Me too! I think I may have detected a pulse. 🚙

It isn't. They say Trail Guides ARE, but I am not convinced. I met Maggie Hogan years (20?) back at a conference and she was wonderful, made me feel really able to homeschool my kids, and I am sure trail guides are great, but Beechick is simpler. Use the materials you have to teach the skills kids need to learn. That is Beechick! Don't neglect the Bible, or good books or that cute wipe off board that is laying around. make it simple, quick, rich. Don't drive them to wrath with hours of busy work. Get more bang for your buck by combining language skills with reading skills with writing skills. All language arts can be integrated instead of having a workbook for each subject. One bound composition book can be used for all lessons. I added a box of colored pencils, some highlight markers and some stickers to jazz things up. I have wandered away from CM and Beechick over the past few years due to health issues and family issues, but I could kick myself! Instead of things being easier with workbooks, they became ridiculously cumbersome! I have spent the entire year undoing the damage, and because if that for the first time ever, my kids are not at grade level. Nothing at all sank in!!! We are back to the drawing board! Took a bit of a break and will be starting lessons back up in the way I am comfortable and convinced my kids learn.... Simple, to the point, No bells or whistles unless they want them😠good books, sharpened pencils and a happier mindset.

Ok, so here is my two bits FWIW, and from my own experience with SOTW. I have used SOTW consistently with my kids since it came out. So, my younger kids have been around it for 3 goes now. They jump in wherever we are in the cycle and I always include extra books ( short picture, lit, etc.) at their level. I find VERY LITTLE to almost NO recall in the first 3 grades. They sort of kind of remember some of it, or will say OH YEAH, I remember this....but, if I question further, they really don't remember!!! Round 2 is going on now with my youngest. My next one up is also on round 2 and my teenager is listening in ....because for her SOTW is comfort food ;-) My 6th grader is getting the flow of history and understanding how all things that happen effect others. My 4th grader is more focused on people stories...this is the good guy/ this is the bad guy. This guy beat the tar out of that guy. This guy was beat up by that guy. Same book, same stories, different perspectives. My older group first heard SOTW, and then read the books themselves, repeatedly...well into high school. It was their jumping off point for deeper study...to help them choose topics they wanted to delve deeper into... So, anyway...my 3 year old got stories, my 6 year ol got an intro to history, my 9 year old got to have good guys and bad guts, my 12 year old got to see the interconnectedness of the human experience, my 15 year old had a simple intro in which to jump off into reading more difficult primary documents or literature, or their textbook. So, honestly, do not expect recall from children under at least a 4th grade level...even with narrations, coloring pages, timeline cards, review, review, review, extra reading etc. from 5th on, their focus will be different according to where their academic level is. This applies not only to SOTW, but to our science curricula, language arts skills, math skills etc. we build a good foundation, then build on the foundation.

Oh my goodness!! This is so true! I have a big problem there too!

Beechick was my intro to teaching theory. I still love her simple, basic, no non-sense, no busy work, combining subject to get the most bang for your buck approach. From Beechick, I learned about CM and still use Beechick type LA with my kids. It is most natural to me...it makes sense. It is easy, yet as rigorous as the literature you are reading and the copy work/dictation passages you are using. I can use one literature read aloud, a scope and sequence for grade level skills and choose passages for each child from the same book. When I had 5 children homeschooling, it was cost effective, time effective and as challenging for them and as easy for me as can be. I really love Beechick's books....they are simple to understand, deep in theory and reassuring that teaching children is not some magic formula that only certain people can understand.

I agree!!! I still love the ads. Lol! New stuff is always good to look at. I think it is perfectly reasonable to fund these boards with ads.

Yes. I am in remission right now, and doing all I can to stay there, but you never know. I have Hashimotos, fibromyalgia and a long grocery list of other autoimmune issues. Mainly, I try to be nice to me. I push myself HARD....but I also know when I need rest. We have been know to bed school. I had several years where I was bed bound but we still managed schooling. It can be done. It takes commitment and an iron will.

Oh, I hear ya! I have birthed and nursed 7 children also. Over the past 20 years I have gained and lost more weight an I care to even figure out. My greatest loss was 115lb. I am now in the best physical shape of my life....and boy, oh, boy would I love a quick fix to my battered belly and droopy books! However, the cost! Oh my, the COST!! I still have 4 kids needing to go through college, a business and a home to renovate....priorities! Anyway, I will just keep working out like a maniac! It keeps me from depression and it holds my anxiety at bay, so, having a nicer body is a great side effect. Now, MiF I had the funds, I would have some surgery in a heartbeat! I wouldn't want to augment, but lift and smooth.... My belly is a mess! c-section and a huge weight gain with my oldest made me look like an old balloon that lost its air....sigh.

Rose, I have been following this thread and just wanted to send you hugs. As an adopted kid who is probably a bit RADdy due to the trauma associated with my abandonment/ adoption I know what a tragedy it would have been for me to have met my bio mom as a teen. I probably would have done exactly as your son is doing and hurt my mom deeply. There is just such a psychological hole left in a child with RAD. Then again, I , like your son would have probably seen fright through my bio moms cr@p pretty quickly. I think he needs to get it all straight in himself. Actually, as I write this, maybe it would have been better for me and my mom if I had met and tried to foster a relationship with my bio mom back then. It would have gotten the cards on the table, no mystery, no wondering whys, no false ideas of who my mother really was. I met my bio mom a year after my mother died. I did have a relationship with my mother and I was there for her until the last minute, but it was alwaysr strained, always stressful, always hard. I never blamed her per se' for the situation, but I also never bonded well....I am still an arms length sort of person. I expect those around me to hurt me deeply, so I do not get too close. I am pretty outgoing and verbal, but not warm and cushy. I never can be. Anyway, last year I met my bio mom, 2 sisters and a brother. Also, an aunt. I was welcomed by all with open arms....and one sister has become a very close friend. Bio mom.........piece of work!!! Total piece of work! Truth and reality are not part of her world. She is very sweet, very smart, but as nutters as they come! Even as a full grown woman with adult children of my own, this is something I am working through. I wish my mother was around to help me with this. I wish I could apologize to her for being such a little sh*t. I wish I would not have hurt her the way I did, immaturely, selfishly, without regard for her feelings because I was so inside my own issues and not dealing with the full information...not even really understanding the psychological issues in adopted kids. I come from a time where kids were all resilient, and there was no idea that adopted kids might not bond properly, or might have abandonment issues. I do think it may pan out better that ds is getting a real view of the truth of his circumstances and may actually begin to see your side a bit....a big bit. I also hope he gets a good dose of bio mom, enough to see he really does want to be with his mother ( YOU!). Anyway, you and your family are in my heart and my prayers.

Thanks Hunter!!! This entire thread has so much interesting material....busy...busy clicking! Thanks! Faithe

I NEED MORE!!!! Please post more of your rec.s. These links are PRICELESS!!!!! Thanks Hunter!!! Pretty Please ...post more...or PM me.

Welp....that about summed it up......yep....!!!