Oh no, it was Vita Wheats where I grew up, not Saladas! (although I like Saladas too!) I grew up on both Vegemite and Bovril (English Dad). Vegemite is a staple of our diet. When you crave something salty with a strong flavour- rather than something sweet- butter and vegemite on toast or cracker can really hit the spot. Like Laura, peanut butter and jelly is just gross. I wish I could get real Bovril nowadays- with the beef extract- it must have been pretty healthy and a good source of iron. We used to use Bovril on toast just like Vegimite- never liked it as a beef stock/drink although I might nowadays. But I think it was mad cows disease that caused the change to all vegetarian ingredients. I tried it once but it just doesnt have the same appeal.

Yeah, I wouldn't jump to conclusions on that one. The media likes to sensationalise things.

Although there are some sad parts, I don't think there is any problem with reading it to an 11yo. However, realise it is not a light fluffy story about bunnies, it has much to say that perhaps older children and adults may pick up. But there's no reason not to give it a go and many people love it enoguh to read it more than once. I loved it as a teenager when I first read it. Nowadays its not my favourite book- I'm not sure why. My 13 and 14yos are both reading it atm, and they like it, but they don't love it.

Yeah, i was jsut coming across these types of things and wondering what was goign on. I had high hopes for this program, but if my 13 and 14 yos dont understand the political stuff (we are Australian anyway), and we have our own opinions about the moral stuff....well, I can go so far to adapt a program, but I am not sure any more if this is one of those programs I want to bother adapting. Sigh.

I've been thinking I need to "do something" for literature analysis, but after re-reading that section of TWTM, and people's comments on what SWB talked about on the subject at the recent conference...and knowing how much my kids don't like busy work but do like discussing things with me......I am wondering if one is necessary at all.

Later better than earlier here, too. I had my then 13yo dd do it and although she could technically do it, I could tell it just wasn't being assimilated very well. She jsut wasnt engaging with the material. I may re-try it next year when she is 15. My ds13 who is logic challenged, will definitely have to wait.

I have been struggling with my kids, and school. I read this thread and the one thing that stuck in my head was keeping the the computer off till after school. Its only been two days that I have done that, but wow, what a difference! And wow, my house has undergone a metamorphosis as well because there's not much I can help them with while they are doing their reading or maths, so I have been cleaning. Who'd a thought, such a simple thing. Dont turn the computer on till after school. I intend to keep it up! At the same time, I really needed them to spend less time on the computer, so it has been good for them to see me on it less while I restrict their access too.

Interesting about the LD kids. Mine has been fighting me for 6 years now- according to him I always give him too much writing and too much work. I lost my temper with him yesterday when I wanted to expain his assignment to him and he wanted to argue about it. Normally I handle it well but he is getting stronger, more powerful, and after several days of him resisting I really wonder if its time he went to school so he could realise its not too much work! I told him either he stops fighting me or its time to go to school- I have never done that before but I meant it. It would break my heart though. We have a good routine. I get up early and get quiet time and exercise before school. School starts at 8.30 strictly, fiinshes around 3. But we are only just starting the 2nd quarter of our school year and I felt during last break that it's time to increase the workload (we used to finish around 2). We dont do anything during the school days except on Fridays, when Dd14 does debating at 11am, and both have a science class in the afternoon. We still get in 2.5 hours work in the morning that day, and full days most other days. We have never done homework, although I threaten it. I am feeling I am still too soft, even though we are getting through more work, but I am not handling them being older...they are so strong now. I can be bigger than them, but it seems to take so much energy out of me and I already have chronic fatigue. We have schedules and we do keep to them. At the moment, a timed schedule is working for ds13, and a loose schedule is working for dd14. She prefers to finish what she is doing before moving on. I am struggling with the constant melt downs by ds13. I honestly dont think he would do well in school, but I cant do battle with him any more. And dd14 is refusing to get any exercise, and it is causing her to get heavier, although she is not overweight. She exercises at gymnastics once weekly, and at Scouts, but she wont walk or bike ride or move her body the rest of the week. She just sits. I think its probably time to pull them both back from the amount of online socialising they are doing and get them outside in the fresh air more. I am wondering if I am trying to do too much bookwork, and it might be time to go out and do some more "real life" homeschooling. Not sure yet what that means, but I feel we are all spending too much time indoors with our head in books or on the computer. It seems to me that especially teenagers, need lots of interaction with the world.

I 3rd the chiro. I have an old whiplash injury, and a few weeks ago it suddenly flared up so badly that I was literally curled up in a ball on my bed unable to move, sobbing- I have never before experienced that sort of pain, except in childbirth!. My dh used to be a deep tissue masseur specialising in back/neck pain and although he coulndt massage me- too much intense inflammation and pain-he got me moving, even though it was agony. I literally walked, slowly, between the kitchen and living room, for 5 hours- in agony, crying, but it helped and by then I could get some sleep. The next day was worse, I needed hlep getting out of bed and all I could do was walk again, slowly, backwards and forwards. The movement helped it to slowly unlock. I decided I had to do something radical. An acupuncture session didnt help at all. I found an "emergency chiropractor" close to my house. One session made such a difference. Two sessions, and I felt almost better- but then suddenly it spasmed again and I was back to pacing, in a lot of pain. 3rd session helped immensely again, and I learned to be very careful and keep hot packs on it a lot. It took 5 sessions altogether over 10 days, and it was gone. Although I had always had confidence in chiros before, I had never experienced the type of condition where you hear people thank God for their chiro. Now I have, and I am very grateful.

I have bought many a scheduling tool. I have used online ones. I love them all. And none fit me! I just want it the way I want it, and no one else's tools seem to work for me at all. So I go back to Microsoft Word's table tool over and over again. I must have made hundreds over the years. This last fortnight I have now made 3 different schedules for my kids. The first one, didn't work for me. The 2nd, didn't work for them. The 3rd seems to be just right! I actually like scheduling so I am ok with changing it. I find it makes all the difference the way it is presented, even though its all the same work. For example, I got all gung ho and decided we need to do more work this term, than last term. So I wondered how to motivate the kids to do that. And I decided we would try, again, a strict time table (rather like in Managers of their Homes). Now, my son hated it at first, then warmed to it and now likes it (that was all over one day). My daughter was open to it and by the end of the day, she didn't want to homeschool any more and she hated anything to do with school and she felt she had no life any more. So....we discussed it and she told me precisely what she wanted- she likes it all laid out daily, but no times, and with the understanding that it's her job to finish the whole week's work and she can shuffle anything around. She doesnt like to stop in the middle of something- she would rather finish it than watch the clock, so if she didnt get to Latin today, she will do extra tomorrow. Not that we havent had the conversation before, but they are getting older and things change. Making my own tables feel creative to me. I enjoy it.

I have bought teh History Portfolios. I couldnt work out how to use them without using them mainly as the spine, so to speak. They have topics and squares for you to put your pictures and info in, and references to find the info. They wouldn't "fit" with SOTW. They are lovely books and I wanted to make them work for me, but it would have meant twisting our whole year to fit the book. Instead I decided to buy a large project book for each child and they put all their work in it and drew pictures. I havent seen History Scribe.

What we prefer is those large, 2' square or so plain wall planners with big 3" by 3" squares, lined, for every day. One page for a month. I have one and dd14 has one, on the wall facing our desks.She has a lot of Scouting activities and friend activities to keep track of. It's so visual that with a glance you can see whats coming up. Also great for Flylady stickers. And it only costs about $5 or $7 Au. I have found that diaries either get lost under piles of papers on the table, or simply dont get opened.

As long as everything else is getting done, I wouldnt worry about it. we did have a teenage guest once who read at the dinner table and all weekend, even though she was visiting my step daughter. Thats when i realised reading could really be an unhealthy escape. We asked her not to read at the table- that's just rude when you're visiting. I imagine your son will change his reading habits as he gets older. He may be just really enjoying all those inner worlds opening up right now, and sometimes its best to ride those waves when they happen because developmentally, they are appropriate.

There was a woman at our coop with 6 kids who is a very dear person, but for years, she would elicit sympathy from everyone because she always lived in a state of overwhelm and just would not get any school done- and she would come along and joke about it. For years. I know having 6 kids is full on, but that is a choice, and if one chooses to homeschool them as well, surely there is a sense of responsibility to get school done? After quite a while I stopped offering the sympathy because I realised I was feeding something unhealthy. I think nowadays she is back on track to some extent, but I just can't imagine not doing any school with older kids due to life just being in constant chaos (appointments, difficult marriage, etc), for years. She did put her oldest in school when he was 15 because she couldn't get him to do any work, and I am grateful to her for warning me to keep my son working even though he was a reluctant learner and writer, and often the advice is to wait, they will blossom- because when they are 13 or 15, its much harder to "make them" if the habit isn't there and they just dont want to. I met another homeschooling mum 2 weeks ago who was complaining that her moderator gives her a hard time and wants her eldest in school, because her oldest- he must be at least 11 or 12- still can't read. She wanted sympathy because that was so unfair- the moderator just didnt know her child. The mother couldn't teach him anything, he wouldn't let her. She is an unschooler- but at what stage do you realise, it isnt working? So I see this mentality all too often, and I think it does give homeschoolers a bad name, and I do think that its a form of neglect- although often I am sure it coudl be remediated with a few solid years of schooling. I know my moderator is grateful to come and check on us yearly, because we have actually done stuff. She says some places she visits dont even have any books in the house. Others expect her to design their program for them because they just dont have a clue- but its not her job.

:iagree: Rather than formulaic parenting and saying I would never, ever give in to a tantruming child because then they would have it over me for ever ...I would rather respond freshly in the moment to the situation and try to meet the heart of this child and meet his real, deeper needs, which in this case, may be for more social contact, may be for school, may be for a break from his mum, or may be for learning the maturing process of waiting....may be all sorts of things. but how can one know unless one has a very open mind and heart, instead of a preconcieved way of dealing with everything?

My dd14 did a course at home2teach.com. I would say she is a significantly above average writer- for her age- and she loves to write. However she was automatically put in the Paragraph 1 course. I was a little taken aback but decided to try it for 6 weeks (thats how long the courses are). She learned so much, and so did I- I can see why they start everyone there. She then moved onto ....Paragraph 2! I was really expecting her to be ready for essays, but I am glad she did these foundational courses first...and then she was told she could do a poetry or literature analysis one, but not the essay course yet. They were very strict about it but I trust it now and I intend to use them again. It sounds similar to your experience, if I had tried to dive my dd straight into the essay class she just wouldnt have coped at all, even though she writes essays all the time!

I know that I have a strong preference for whole to parts learning (I am a lefty). I need to see the bigger picture before I am motivated to work on the details. (Actually, I don't like details much, lol. ) But I don't know if that is because I am a lefty. Neither of my kids are lefties- one is dyslexic and one isn't.

I can see LfC and Latin Prep working together, but remember than one is American and one is English, so you would have to change around the order in the LP charts to make it work well. But that is possible. I started with Cambridge, with a small class, but after a while the class was moving too slowly and I felt it was going to take forever, so I looked into other programs to do at home with my kids. LfC was just coming out at the time, and I jumped on it, thinking we coudl learn the grammar that way, and use Cambridge for translating. After a while though, I got so tired of the chanting in LfC. It just isnt a good program for people who prefer whole to parts thinking, wheras LP has the best of both worlds- strongly grammar based with plenty of translations, and not dry. If I were you I would start with both and see how it goes. You can't do any harm and you will only learn more in the process- more latin, and more of what specificlaly works best for your family. I am sort of using LP and Cambridge, but I must admit I havent picked up the Cambridge in a while- LP is just too good. But if we get bogged down in LP, it will be good to turn to Cambridge for a break, as the translations are all Latin to English, which will seem easy after LP.

I have only seen the history part of K12, but I found it to be a tremendous amount of work, and a large part of that, busy work. It certainly would have sucked the joy out of history for my two. However we use their text (History odyssey)and find that excellent. Although I like the look of K12, I just have the feeling it's too much. Of course, it's also not tweakable- you can't pick and choose what to do for your own child. I am sure its a high standard, and it would be one of my choices if I had the money AND I needed to work and leave the kids to their schoolwork, but I am glad I am not in that position. LL is a literature program- one aspect of an English arts program (also one which has never been in TWTM, to my knowledge, as that is more about socratic questioning). I am not sure that it would be comparable to any whole LA program.

I guess it depends. I wouldn't start a 9yo on Latin Prep necessarily, I am not sure about the others. My dd was in a Latin class for several years which combined several ages, but moved at the pace of the younger ones. I do prefer to keep my kids together as much as possible, but skill wise my older is more than the 17 month difference ahead of her brother. Because my older went to a class when my younger wasnt ready, they have always done Latin separately, and my older moves much more quickly than my younger, who may never get very far but eventually will know what he knows quite well. I guess it depends also how seriously you want to take Latin and if you have an end goal. My goal for Latin is just to keep plugging away at it, year after year, and we get as far as we get. But if you have a goal you may have to work backwards to see where you need to start the more serious Latin. One possibility is to keep going with Minimus or whatever until your kids are 9 and 11- Latin Prep, for example, may well work for them both at that stage, as 9 is about the minimum age you could start it, and 11 is ideal. Latin for Children I am sure starts younger than that. If it were me, I would really try and keep them together because it is harder to keep up with different levels, particularly when you are parent involved, but in my case, I wasn't able to. My older does Latin alone though, and I help my younger, so its ok.

Yes, I am only playing really, I am sure there is a place for such books. He probably doesn't really care for us plebians to read it anyway :) We are reading Ivanhoe at the moment. It is good once you get into it. I probably woulnd't struggle through books with difficult language if it werent for homeschooling, but it does feel good for me, like exercise :) I like to keep several books going at once by my bedside. Often, one is spiritual, one is a book to read ahead for the kids, and one is an easier book for me- whether a novel or non fiction.

My dd14 has dry hair, and ringlets, and after reading Curly Girl with me she stopped shampooing at all for a while, and now she shampoos it maybe once a week- but she conditions it every single day when she has a shower. It really is amazing for her hair, which looks healthy and shiny, even though it is naturally very dry. It doesn't work so well on my wavy hair because I have an oily scalp, but dry ends, but I have learned that I can use heaps of conditioner and it helps. I use coconut oil as a deep conditioner when my hair starts driving me crazy. My hair really thrives when I use some kind of deep conditioner once a week, but I am lazy about it. Th bicarb soda/lemon juice works well for me too.

I think of you as a down to earth person with wisdom and experience to share.

Its a difficult book, but I felt it made some good points. I think I prefer the style of writing though where the person says what needs to be said in a way that people can actually understand, not just the elite intellectual. For example, I know that SWB is a well educated person, but when I read what she writes I don't feel like an idiot or that I am being talked down to. I think people use big words sometimes just to show they know how to use big words. He could have said what he said in a way more people would be able to understand it, while still writing grammatically correctly and in a lucid manner. Did it have to be so darned hard to read? Isn't that actually a sign of poor writing? I guess he was making a point that we find it difficult to read simply because we are not educated the way he is talking about. There, exposing my lack of culture and edukation.

I am using AO in a loose kind of way- HEO year 7, with my 13 and almost 15 year olds (we started our school year in February). Year 7 is a great place to start as the books are meaty but interesting. I understand it gets a lot more heavy going as the years go on, but also, you pick and choose more- its actually designed for you to do that so you dont have to feel guilty about not doing it all. Year 7 is medieval. I will tweak the later years to match our 4 year history cycle. The great thing about AO is that it is free so its not expensive to tweak it to suit yourself. I started with all the extras but have dropped many of them. I added in a writing program for both, and an art history program for dd14 who is an artist, logic puzzles for my logic challenged child, etc It is very rigorous- even year 7 has books in it that would be considered very late highschool here, or even college level. I am not in the U.S. so i dont know what you need do meet your requirements, but like Faithe, I homeschool to give them a good education, first, and secondarily, to meet requirements. Breaking the books down to weekly chunks was not something my kids were keen to do, but it has worked out better than we expected and allows us to read several books at once and makes our weeks very rich.