My suggestion would be to pick her brain about it. Ask her what sort of things SHE wants to learn about & then formulate a plan. I'd also schedule no more then 1 research paper a month. I might suggest that she read about a topic, research someone in the field, & even consider word limits/pages. FWIW, I'd be applauding her desire to self-teach, I'd encourage it with a few guidelines including her own personal ideas, but over all I'd run with it!

I'm with you. Absolutely. Here's what we've opted to do & we'll see how it works: We've obtained Christian Kids Explore Chemistry. I think it's weak as is & needs more, BUT there's an extensive book list in the book AND if you use the suggestion for the Kingfisher Science encyclopedia I think that would beef it a lot & round it out well. Having said that we don't own that book at this time. We did own Horrible Science's Chemical Chaos & Usborne What's Science All About. So I've matched those two up to the lessons as well as a Chem kit which is pretty full on. I also have a plethora of other books we'll be adding in over the course of our time with this study. I'm pretty pleased with how it all looks on paper, but we'll see how it looks in actual happenings. :)

There's a doodle spot in the planner. Doodling in textbooks or other "official" work is not permitted. My rule is, "I expect it to be neat or I'm taking points off." Harsh? Probably, but here's the thing, I don't think a Professor wants to sort through the doodle to find the work either, kwim?

:grouphug: FWIW, when my father passed away we took about a month off. I felt guilty about it, but mentally I could not cope with anything more. We even had days where I had to stop, because something would cause me to burst out in tears. We also had a home evaluation that year & I was honest with the reviewer about it. She took one look at our accomplished pile of work & said that in her opinion she's amazed even half of that got done much less the whole pile. She pointed out that children who go to school will be off a while when losing a family member, & that it was okay.

Winter Promise has a 4 day week with notebooking. Just a thought, I think Hands Of Dakota does too.

Necessary? No, but fun, yes. When the children were younger I did find we needed one quite often, & even now we still use it daily, but then we own them. I write daily chore lists on the kitchen board & they erase them as they go along. Kids leave codes for the family on that one too. Our AAS magnets are on the one in the school room. Notes, writing planning sessions, math work, etc. Ours are in current use. :)

French because it's what he wanted to learn. A foreign language is not mandatory here, but we wanted him to take one anyway. The other is choosing Latin because he wanted to. If I mix up my languages someone is bound to figure out what I'm saying, right?! Unless I refer to ASL :lol:

Well WWS teaches note taking... FWIW, when it comes to listening to lectures & whatnot, my child uses his own method which I can't understand, but he can transfer it all into a well spoken or written paper when he's done. What's on the paper is just enough to jog his memory about something he heard. You could tell your child to write a name, or draw a picture, etc. I'm not sure I'd fuss too much & simply remind the teacher what level she's teaching. ;)

Just an FYI, if you follow Rosetta Stone on FB they offer 50% off specials which really make it a very reasonably priced programme for what you get. We purchased, directly from RS during their sale, French Levels 1-5 & had it shipped overseas to us. It came directly from RS at half their normal price so don't go looking for great bargains, just wait for the sales!

I don't think it will matter. They don't follow any set rules with the curriculum. We had a child start in the B or C book & not do the previous ones. :) You will finish 2 books in a year so you'd do A & AA or AA & B. I don't think it matters to be honest. :)

We've used both, at differing times. I do not like MM, I know I'm an odd ball on this front & many disagree. That's okay, we are all different. One big thing about MM is that due to the way they present & teach you need to follow from the beginning or your child may wonder what's up. Having said that, what kind of gaps are you worried about from MUS? If your child starts where they need to be & continues with the curriculum I don't think you'll find gaps, at least not in a big glaring way that will require the use of another curriculum. That's just me, & I tend to avoid curriculum that isn't going to be filling enough so as to require the use of a second curriculum, kwim?

Thanks Ladies, SixPence, the teacher intense is what I was worried about as I'm trying to foster in them the ability to work independently. I did go & look at W&R & am thinking of starting him with Book 1. We'll use the samples & see how it goes. It looks fantastic to be honest! :)

Will it really matter if I start at book 1?

Yes, that's the one I mean, sorry for the confusion.. Writing & Rhetoric. :) Ahh, gotcha on the Grammar thing. Our Grammar is simplistic & takes little time, but I do like the idea that it's not attempting to cram things in. I have one who can write well & tends to excel at writing assignments where another one curls up in a ball & screams, "I'll clean my room instead!" ;)

Can you tell I'm on the hunt for a writing programme for my 11 year old? ;) I'm looking at Rhetoric Writing, which I've looked at previously & really like the look of, but I'm just not certain as to where to put my child. He'd be straddling the 4/5 grade range. I see that the curriculum is designed to do more then 1 book in a year, in fact unless I misunderstand it looks like 2. I'm confused by that because if each lesson is meant to be done in a week & there are 11 lessons it seems as thought you'd actually need 3 books, but maybe I missed something & each lesson should be done over 1.5 - 2 weeks? Anyone use this? Any recommendations based on my child's grade? I'm actually leaning with starting him in book 1, especially since one can accomplish more then one book in a year, but I'm curious, from those who've used it, if they've actually been able to finish more then that in a given year?

Couple of Quick Questions.. My eldest student has been using WWS & enjoying it, but my younger student {11} has only used WWE. He's not ready for WWS, I'd like him to get some writing skills under his belt, however. I'm looking at WriteShop. But I'm not decided.. If you use it, how long are the lessons? How involved is the parental side of things?

Just an FYI for those who wish to outsource, WP has a LA writing curriculum that you turn in to them for correcting, etc. Not sure what it's like, but thought it interesting..

Thanks Ladies, good point. :)

Oo, thanks for that! They'll only charge me $25 for shipping.. Hmm, okay Haha, posted too soon I mean to say I can snag Botany & Anatomy for a total of $50 {including shipping AUD}. I'd love the Zoo one, but I don't "need" it right now so it could wait.. ;)

Ahh, interesting KAM, I'm glad I'm not alone. I may ask them about it down the road when I ask them about purchasing a package without math in it. I was just curious if everyone had the same notice/quality thus it was intentional or if it was just me..

Thanks Amiee, by the time I posted it was 6 pages long & I saw where the OP said she couldn't do it. I wonder though, now if anyone who helps cart them to Co-Op might be willing to educate 1 of them in a way that would help them become confident in teaching themselves.. Most people might not be able to take on 4, but they might be able to take on 1..

I haven't waded through all three pages of this thread yet. I know opinions will vary because we each think differently & we can each take defensive stands where children's educations are at stake as well as having our way of educating children put at risk. I'm confused, though, as to why the Mum hasn't enrolled her children in school if she openly accepts that she doesn't have time/desire to teach her children. While she might not agree, love, enjoy public education for her own personal reasons it's there because children have the right to an education. Another thought might be that if she's not willing to educate the children you offer to do so for her. Now that's a HUGE bullet to bite & a great big obligation you might not want to accept, I can understand that. The thought of being responsible for our own children's education can make us quake a little, but being responsible for someone else's is enough to make us fidget right on down to our toes. BUT, if you can teach those children to read & read well they can learn to educate themselves regardless of where their lives will take them. I'm thinking down the lines of THIS book. Meaning, if you can get them on the road to reading then you can open a world for them in which they might be able to change their futures & even if their parents change their minds about you educating them then those children can still move forward with educating themselves. They would, obviously, lack overseeing & have to be self driven, BUT sometimes what one canNOT have is enough incentive to make one work hard to obtain it, kwim? Think about it this way, the right thing to do is report the fact that the children are not getting exactly what they need. They need an education, not a clean home. Don't get me wrong, i'm not at all bashing house cleaners, I am one. I love a neat & tidy home & can't think straight without one, but the day my homes cleanliness comes above my children's education is the day I've made a grave mistake. Kwim? You could avoid the whole reporting situation & simply say, "Hey Friend, I know you are really busy & don't have time to educate your children & aren't keen on sending them into school. I've got plenty of books & educational material, want to send them to my house for 3-4 hours a day so they can do some studies with us?" It's not gonna sound confrontational, & might be the spur one needs to see a little sense. Just a thought.. good bad or indifferent..

I'm looking at ordering an actual book & not an ebook. I find that big books like that as ebooks are difficult, especially if a child wants to go back & look something up later, or an adult for that matter. However, I think the titles are right up my youngest student's alley & that they'd be well loved & enjoyed to help things blend together with what we are doing. With that said, is it worth the expense I will endure for shipping? Last night I was playing around with the website & it quoted me at $50 for having all three volumes {no TM's or anything} shipped to me. 2 were quoted at $39. I never thought to check for 1 until today, which is now quoting me at $50, in which case it's going to be cheapest {shipping wise} to just purchase all three. That takes these reasonably priced books up to a new level, meaning that instead of the reasonable $16 they were I'm now looking at about $32 each. While I'm asking, anyone just read them without doing all the notebooking, experiments & extras? I don't really need all that for what I have planned.. :)

What about things like: One Small Square books.. there are many that would work for this study of science, but they'd cover more as well. Apologia Botany {elementary series} NaturExplorers who have several down the botany line. They are available at Currclick or via Shining Dawn Books. Field Guides -- picking ones for your area & first learning about what's growing in your yard, then expanding might be fun. I once saw a challenge to learn 200 common plants that grow in/near/around you. That would be fantastic for a botany study. Read & Find Out Science books -- there's a lot in this series & you could pick the ones that apply to what you are learning about. Magic School Bus will also have a book or two, if memory serves correctly both in their picture book series & young chapter books Download N Go might have ones based on the seasons which would have information in them if you so desired Katie's Cottage sells a lovely book {broken down into seasons or all in one} called Nature Study Through The Year. It's beautifully done & if you're living in the N. Hemisphere you wouldn't need to rearrange anything at all. You can pick it up over at Currclick, & while it's available as a digital download, if you get the "all in one" I'd highly recommend the soft cover book. I ended up with digital & soft cover & am glad did. -- I just peeked on this one & it's currently on special!! Parables Of Nature which isn't so much hands on, but really is a lovely book. You can obtain it at Audible.com or Book Depository; Amazon might have it too. WildCraft -- I saw this mentioned up thread a bit, & I'd second it. I purchased a long time ago when a spare amount were found in the warehouse. It's a beautiful little board game in which children learn to identify specific plants while they climb up the mountain to gather huckleberries for Grandmother to make a pie with. My kids love it, all though the rules are Cooperative & thus we have fun playing as a team. Nature Game -- My kids enjoy this one too which is available via currclick too. Calendar Pages -- I spotted these a while back & fell in love with them all though they are a little backwards for our part of the world. Still, you could print them out & use them through the year depending on which hemisphere you lived in. :) Sassafras Botany -- no experience with it, but I thought I'd mention it incase you hadn't heard/thought of it. :)

Whoa, so have they changed the way that works then? We had our boy use TT for a little while, but his inability to transfer what he learned to pen & paper unsettled me a little bit as well as the fact that because of how one types vs how one answers a problem he often got them wrong because of how he was working a problem & recording the answers..