hi, oh, thank you, both of you, I will look into them! love the free one, never knew about it. bless you both, as I was near tears over this. thank you :)

I need help. My soon-to-be 11th grader hates to write, but what boy doesn't. We have struggled with Abeka, IEW, Writing Strands, and a few other curriculums to try and teach composition. Alpha Omega has Monarch on sale this month. I thought maybe to buy it and use it for just the composition, and maybe a few spots of grammar he needs help on. But, then I read reviews, and seems not too many like it. And its pricey. I only have one English book bought for next year, and I bought it mainly to look at it, and believe me, I am NOT impressed, it's Abeka's 11th grade "Workbook V for Handbook of Grammar and Composition" and Teacher Key for it. (skinny little thing!) (already had the actual HANDBOOK) So, I need something for Composition for him, to get him to write longer para's, an essay, or a report, and I need guidelines, since it seems nothing we have used, gives me guidelines and suggestions. Or even step-by-steps would be wonderful! LIT...been doing abeka all these years with BJU booklinks as supplemental until they stopped at like 6th?, and some LIT guides on classic books. What do i do for this coming year and possibly 12th. I just don't think Abeka is teaching him to think (he has a hard time answering short answer questions for the LIT guides). so, really, I don't know what to do for any of english for him for 11th grade. I do need either a student-lead curriculum or part parent lead, but both with ANSWERS...even answers for essay type questions (some have suggestions for answers). As you can see, my own composition/writing is not very good, so I know it's partly my lack of writing. anyone have any help for me?

Hi, We have used Abeka's English since 1st grade with oldest. With youngest, I have used both Abeka and Rod & Staff through the years. I was wondering if others had switched from Abeka to Rod & Staff English in High school for my oldest. If so, what book(s) did you use from R&S for 11th and 12th? We like R&S the best, but writing out all the sections for a boy is NOT a good thing, so I end up going back to Abeka that has all the sentences - mostly - written out and we can edit. Yes, I buy the workbook that goes along with R&S, but the student still writes a lot! thanks!

Hi, I thought I would post our review of Bridge Math. We did Teaching Textbooks Algebra I v2 last year for 8th. My husband who is a math wiz, and I have a math minor, both were not too impressed with it. I read reviews about it lacking for prep for high school chem/physics, and read about Bridge Math. We just finished BM, and although some spots we were not quite happy with the presentation, my husband said it was well worth the money and he was glad I bought it for our child to do over the summer before 9th. I strongly suggest doing BM if you did TT, as it was lacking. thanks PS we will be keeping it for our childs reference and for our younger child to use. Luckily I bought 2 students!

Hi, We just finished SOTW vol 2. for 3rd grade. Will continue vol.'s 3 and 4. I have Mystery of History both volumes to do next. Then want to do All American History which I do not have bought, then Joy Hakims set (also bought). Has anyone done this? What sequence and grades would you do these? thanks!

Hi, I have Joy Hakim's US History set, but it is the older editions. I found on amazon a set of Assessments for all the books, but it is for the 3rd edition. Has anyone used the assessment's for 3rd edition from amazon with the older editions? thank you!

Hi, thank you !! I'm learning as I go! :) most likely will only do 3 years of sci. besides a microscope, are there certain items I could buy that would take us through the high school years? I mean I don't mind buying a larger kit, if I knew we would need it? any suggestions on kits anyone has bought and found they really liked over others? I feel so much better having science for 9th decided and the fact my son is happy with the decision is even better!! (I try not to make him do ones he does not like, but sometimes neither of us know until after we buy it and then start! :) ) do colleges require X-amount of labs? or should I just let him pick? thanks again!

Hi, we looked through the ones suggested, and he picked DIVE ICP. I just ordered the cd. Thank you for your suggestions! PS ... could someone tell me if doing the Labs by watching them is ok? He does NOT want to dissect. We have a microscope is all. Can someone suggest a less expensive science kit if we need one? thanks !!

We are finishing up Abeka's Science for 8th grade. We have done science with Abeka since 1st. My son is not liking it, and only likes physics is about all. I have Abeka Science 9th bought, but I am not sure about it now. He is also about done with Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 and will be receiving an A, so I think he could do a different science with his strong math ability. I like having a teacher book to guide me which is why we went with Abeka, plus at the time, it was highly recommended. I don't like labs, and we do some, but I have not ever had him write anything down, we did it orally. For High school, I know we need labs. I am wanting suggestions for 9th and possibly thru 12th for science. I have Apologia and neither of us like it. I am willing to buy a computer one, but it needs to be complete, like teaching textbooks,which grades. Any suggestions?

Hi, I just bought the newer edition TM and student book (2011). The TM has smaller pages of the student book with answers. Plus notes for me. I have not looked much at it, it does refer to a practice book, but quite honestly, I think that would be more. We are coming from doing Abeka's Language, and I will not be giving any tests or more work to my kids. Abeka was overkill after all these years, & now we want less "busy work". I like the format already better - one teacher book and one student book! It is not really for the child to write in, but glancing through the TM, I think I may just do that! underlining, filling in blanks... easy peasy! You did not mention the grade, so maybe what I have would be different. what grade are you wanting? I also bought mine through a group buy which was cheaper for me than RR. there is a review it looks like at the end. I may just use that to make sure we've mastered everything. What we need to work on, I can pick up a teacher resource book and use. But coming from years of Abeka, this curriculum look wonderful!

I do something a bit different. I make a new word document per publisher/author. I have one for Usborne, one for DK, one for ABeka, Bju, AO. Then I did a SOTW one, where I broke it down into pages. One for each theme or time period. For Usborne, I have it broken down by theme and encyclopedia's. I also cross-reference, this takes a bit of time, but I just open two doc's and copy paste. I made a table that lists: title, author, grade level, what curriculum it is used for, what the retail was, and what I paid for it. I also write down what books I have looked at and would like. I have a spiral notebook, that I write those down, so when I go to garage sales I can look. Have to admit, I do sometimes print the covers out and just take that. But, I also have a pretty good idea of the ones I am looking for. I have a large 18 gal tote full of books for SOTW (vol 1).

I want to find a poetry curriculum for my sons. I am looking at the MCT lineup. For my 3rd grader, I am looking at buying Music Hemispheres for him. I am not sure about my 8th grader. I could start this summer on a lower-level with him, but am unsure if we could get through it all. With very little poetry under our belts, I don't feel comfortable jumping right into Poetry and Humanity with him. Building Poems looks ok, but so does A World of Poetry. Do I need the student book or could we just work off of the teacher? The reason I ask, is we do a ton orally, as neither like to write. Anyone done this before? Advice? Um, can I buy MTC products anywhere else besides royalfireworkspress? Just curious. Thank you

Way back when SOTW first came out, I think someone made a blank WORD doc. I took that, made a few adjustments, then went and had it printed 40 some. I then sat down and went through the activity guide, the list someone made of books to read with it. I bought a ton of those books, so noted what I had. I added Vocab (i read the book 1st, then added words as my kids didn't pronounce or know), New Words, & some copywork. Then did a wee bit of schedule for Mon, Wed, & Fri. I did this all by hand, since I spread it all out on the dining room table & worked on it. Sorry to say its all hand written, and very used by 2 kids or I'd share. I can give you ahint of what I did. I will put ** between the sections on the doc best I can::: ** Ch 1: Earliest People (Nomads) **Dates: nomads roamed thru the fertile crescent C 6000 BC/BCE ** Map work: p. 4 stud p12 tchr, p5 clrg a shaduf **family read-aloud: ch1 Intro: UBWH p.23; 4-7 UILE p104-5; 108-9 **Assigned reading: Its disgusting & we ate it (bk bght) **vocab: nomads, crescent, fertile, shadufs, wanders, canals, bandit, flourish ** acti - art: cave painting p12, build a hut (Nomads bk bght), make a shaduf p53 of UBWH **MON read ch, narrative,write vocab (on cards), do map work **WED read bks revw ?'s in tchr p10-11, rvw vocab,copywork ** FRI test **OTHER: archaolgoy (read aliki's bk bght) (do dig w chicken bone (PREP WORK)) **copywork, narrative **Experiments That was the best thing I ever did. Repeated it for all the other volumn's. It does not take to long to do, especially if you print the pages all out per chapter. (some ch's are very long, I did 2 pgs (2 weeks)then). I did end up using a lot of white out, even after I made the changes before printing. Some ch's had other items I had not counted on. Next vol. I sat down and made a template just by drawing a big rectangle and then partitioning it off. Thus I could adjust it to the ch's needs, and put in new titles for each section and draw lines as needed. all of this would look a lot better typed up, but as I said, it was easier for me to do it by hand. First thing I did was just add the titles to each page, noted long chapters. Then using activity guide wrote down the pages for the two spines I bought. LOVE those by the way!!! Next, I read the chapters and tried to pull out vocab. Found this was easier to do with first child when they read it. But then next child was diff, so. I added to this more with the first child, as we did read the ch, it was better finding out what clicked and didn't. There are cards to cut apart, & I had not room for that when I first did this. Original had a section called "memorization" where I noted facts I wanted them to memorize. Another section at times needed was "supplies". I started making what I called worksheets, which ranged from puzzles (free maker online) to file folder games, noted those. I'd highly suggest sitting down with the book and activity guide and even using a notebook, take notes. look at books they suggest reading. (buy or make notes the week before you need to reserve them at the library). Then week before you read a chapter, you read it. Pick out a few vocab words. Just have a semi-guideline, because as you go through the book, it will CHANGE. You will find what you need to work on and what you need to put in your schedule. I seriously would not do all the work before you even read the book. It will change. But the main information will not. So, you can write all that down. make a list of all the activies/arts from the activity guide. You don't have to do them all. We did not do the mumified chicken. I just couldn't bring myself to it. read where others did, and was happy about it. You may find reading books this summer at garage sales that you can use. Trust me, the books you need will be checked out when you need them! Thus, I bought a lot. I did not use all they suggested, I added my own. That help?

I think I have decided on what to do with my 3rd and 8th graders for next year. Plan on buying level 2 of AAS for 3rd. Want to use MegaWords with my oldest one, but I can only find a placement test that is for public school teachers! You would think their website would have a placement test for homeschoolers! I am willing to buy one level, but I wondered what level? Also, what do you think is the resale percentage if I find out these curriculums won't work? I've already sold off some of my other ones, and spelling power was the only one I didn't take a big loss on. It's getting expensive trying different curriculums, and money is very tight right now.

I don't think I want the cards. The teachers book was what I can't figure out. there is for school, homeschool. Neither mention answers. I read the reviews on another website, and they stated the parent had to 'find' the answers. I find their site hard to manuever, so it must just be me. The cd music I listened to the samples, I don't mind buying that. The sample book I looked at had questions to fill in the blanks. It also had readings. I thought the student "read" the book, is this not true? I have spines for SOTW and other well-mentioned books to use. I guess I am really confused now. :)