I plan the year for weeks on vs weeks off {10 weeks on 2 weeks off x4} I note mini breaks & so forth within that parameter. From there I can estimate how much of the curriculum should be done within each term. I do not write the actual lesson plans until the weekend before we do them. That allows for adjusting & moving along. If I do any long term planning like that it's often done on the computer in Numbers so that I can bump & rearrange IF the need befalls us. Keep in mind though, in our later years {I can count on fingers how much time I have left..} we have been more stero-typical out of the box type homeschoolers. In other words I can click "Buy Whole Set" & have it arrive in one big box unless I want to try & find good deals. This means I know I'm working with a 35-36 week schedule & it's pretty laid out for me. :) I do use the monthly spread in my planner to note things in advanced, if they change, no biggie as I can note that on the weekly pages. :) I admire that you plan it all out like that so far in advanced!

Homeschool In The Woods. The Time Traveler Kits last 6 weeks each if you do the party planning & party. Their newer series last less time, but you put as much/little into it as you want. TT's are our favourite as they have: recipes, games, lapbook, notebook, lessons, etc. They are awesome. :)

I think it depends on the ages of your kids. For instance, if your child has no background knowledge to work with you are feeding them with whatever information you do give them. If not, you can help them learn to think critically. Point in case.. my kids had a solid background of US History. The pros, the cons, the good, the bad. We accept history as it was, we don't change it or hide it. We don't shy away from rough topics. We moved on to Australian History {cross-cultural family here.} We picked up a well known book in Australia that comes highly recommended. As I started to read the book went on about how welcomed the white people were & how the Aboriginal people wanted to learn from them etc. I was like, "Hmm.." & my kids responded with, "Well that's codswallop!" It doesn't mean we don't read books, there are many modern books that are filled with just as many modern day fallacies & political messages of stupidity as there are in vintage racist books. As a cross-cultural family we aren't newbies when it comes to racisim either. What I will say, is laced with messages {good or bad} my kids prefer books with opposing views or at least written from opposite positions/views in order to draw their own conclusions on where the 2 meet. In fact my high schoolers biggest beef this year with history was that the curriculum he used only offered ONE view point. He was constantly pulling books off the shelves to read differing views & garner more information. :)

My high schooler has Irlen/SSS/VPD which people mistake for dyslexia but it's not the same. ;) Anyway, we're using IEW. Have you done any of the IEW's Student Intensive Writing Courses? They aren't light weight & will cover a lot more than you may imagine, & the continuation course as well for that matter. It's really helped my boy along. They do learn to write Essays & more. I've always shied away from IEW due to price & a few other things, but I'm actually really grateful we bit the bullet & ran with it.

World Geography {HOD} English II {IEW Writing, IEW Fix-It, BJU Lit Analysis} Geometry World Religions & Culture {HOD} Biology {VHSG AYOP} Logic {Art of Argument} French II {RS} Animation Design {YouthDigital} Things he'll do, but may not need the credits for: PE {he doesn't need it for a credit, but he plays hockey} Art {varied courses online} Piano {Hoffman}

MUS, because it worked. :) No regrets, aside from not starting with it sooner.

:group: You are not alone. My eldest child is the only high school left in our area who was not put into high school. Even the die hard, "I would NEVER put my kids in school.." did. It's a strange & lonely place at times, but on the other hand, my son is thriving & enjoying what he's doing..

I looked at it to slip my 7th grader into, but didn't. I had to chuckle when what we did choose {HOD} uses Warrings What in the World? cds. I seriously laughed when it arrived & I realised. ;)

Were doing Core 100 for 9th grade this year. We like it, but the literature is lacking. Let me explain that better.. We are using a beloved 2008/9 guide which has a much different & beautiful literature book list with some real American classics on it. It's why I didn't upgrade my IG. My IG is old enough that the Lit & the History are all in one beautiful guide vs having to buy the seperate ones as is required now if you buy brand new. The literature itself are beautiful choices & ones that were on my list for my boy {Call Of The Wild, Red Badge Of Courage, Tom Sawyer, Sounder, etc.} & he's enjoying all of them. In fact his favourite thus far has been Tom Sawyer & he's desperate to make time to read Huckleberry Finn because he doesn't like leaving a series unfinished. However, the Literary "devices" "analysis" is deeply lacking, imho, with SL. I would expect so much more at this level than what is being offered. Simple questions that have absolutely no meaning "What was .. doing & why?" are pointless questions to be asking a high schooler, & this core was originally created for 9th grade despite SL pushing it for 8th grade of late in their effort to sell more cores per customer. There are 2 pages {4 front & back} about Literary Terms, & then a simple chart to show rising action, climax, & resolution. Within the Lit Guide the student is asked to decide if the characters are flat or rounded & then to decide the theme of the book. The only other analysis that they get is if they are using the writing component of the SL guide.. We aren't because we are using a more in-depth writing programme. I have viewed the writing assignments & without guiding the students in the steps to take they want them to churn out 1-2 page papers & so on. To be honest I'd love to see them rework the literary guides for the high school levels, but the companies focus is on the lower years. It's a shame, but my guess would be that they sell more lower grades than higher grades. As for us, we'll be switching to something else next year that will do a better job with the literary component. ;)

Have you looked at: Kay Arthur's Bible Study For Kids {inductive kids find the answers.. this is about turning to the Bible & seeking answers} GrapeVine {all though I think of this as more of an overview to be honest & they do skip some pretty key things imho.} Evelyn Wheeler {also inductive Bible studies, I think she only has 2 available at CBD, we own them both & they are most certainly able for a child to do solo..} We used Grapevine when my kids were younger & they loved it. Helped give them a great overview of things, all though like I said some key people were missing like Elisha & Elijah. Then we moved into Kay Arthur's studies which we really enjoy. We also own Wheeler's & I have a child using one of her's this year. :)

You know, I have to confess I'm with Garga here about homeschooling being my job & coming first. However, at your children's ages you don't need to be doing hours & hours of school either. I'd consider doing the basics right away with your 2 eldest {math & phonics are basics at that age} then I might set them up with a Magic School Bus video, set a timer & clean as much as I could in that time. Understand that I race myself against a clock a lot to get jobs done too.. Then I might consider reading to the kids & then setting them up with an activity, game, or free play while you set a timer & clean again. FWIW, we have a cut-off time for school each day & then everyone is responsible for helping to tidy up our home. It works for us, but I remember in those younger years that if dinner was served, & there was clean dry laundry to wear it was a huge accomplishment at times.

Mmm, I think you can do much of that with any programme, but I'd suggest checking out Homeschool Planet's online planner.

I did figure it out!! :) I decided to devout a couple of hours each day of the weekend for a month in order to really learn the ropes. I need to do some work with it Wednesday evening {hubby has late meetings on Wed.} to get more info in it. I'm really loving the versatility & I'm not even using it to it's fullest extent. I tend to be a paper & pen planner, but you can totally plan within the programme in order to get maximum use of it. So let's see if I can explain what I learned: I don't think you can download course descriptions in PDF format to print out, but I will say this the fellow who does Homeschool Minder is really easy to chat with {I was using messenger on FB for a while} & you could ask him to be certain. If it's not there no harm in asking for it because they do add things all the time based on requests! Yes, you can totally group by "class" vs year with the transcript. It's a drop down toggle button in the Transcript Print area. I'm not sure that they provided any samples on their website, but what I will say is that when they say the first month is free, they absolutely mean it. $0 paid, they won't even ask you for billing information. Nothing. Zip. You simply create an account by setting up a user name & password. I learned "the ropes" during that free period I wanted to decide during that time if it was going to be worth the monthly fee. I was kinda sad that it's a monthly/annual fee, but in the end it's worth it. I chose Homeschool Minder because after my trial period it did exactly what I needed/wanted, but more so because as an Expat if I have to move my info is saved there. Even if you do not renew your account you can still access your info to print it off, you just can't edit it. I thought that was incredibly generous! I'd offer to post a transcript, but they have deeply personal information with home phone, address, etc.. You could peek on the homeschool minder FB page & see if they have any samples there or ask if anyone can direct you to a sample?

We used CAW & adored it. I wrote a very detailed post about how I combined it with some other things to make it a wonderful year for our family. However, my children were older than the ones you've mentioned. I agree with the above poster that Hideaways might be a better option.. The children will be doing world history, but they'd also get to build some pretty fun houses/forts to play in.

We liked MUS :)

HOD does it.. they have a World Geography & a World History for high school.. just a thought. :)

We use MUS.. I think the #1 problem is that people do the pages in order. By not doing the pages in order you get the review.. Thus, the sample above where you'd do A, D, B, E, C, F, etc. Mind you if the child is REALLY struggling with the new concept doing the new pages may be needed, if they aren't you may be able to do A & D, B & E, etc. The review pages are E-F. They have new & review material. By skipping those pages & only concentrating on A-C you miss the review work. :)

Use these. We do. ;) When we rented we couldn't put nails in the wall & hung up TONS of stuff with these. Now that we own we still use them. :D

I've purchased it all.. last week. I'll probalby need to order another level of math, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

We stopped in 6th as well.. however, where I live high school starts in 7th so that was a key factor. It was a great time/reason to let each child go their own direction {to a degree.} While we are Expats we still ahve to follow the local laws/rules.. so we went with the idea that 7th is the start of high school, all though we use the USA regulations for 9th & upward. Clear as mud?

Without reading previous responses... I write curriculum reviews. I've also used a fair amount of curriculum in 11 years of teaching children at home. You will never find a curriculum that has 0 negative reviews & 100% positive reviews. You CAN skew those odds by looking on the authors websites, looking at reviews only written by die hard fans, etc. I have used SOTW with more than one child & am still using it with one. I have no qualms with SOTW, my children enjoy it. Do I think it negates Christian teachings? No, I don't, but ymmv depending on your beliefs. I think the biggest problem that people have is that they are comparing it with MOH which is heavily Biblical. Having said that both curriculums have their time & place, but if I could only pick one at the younger level it would be SOTW because it's engaging & the kids remember what they hear. In our home my children have done SOTW at a slightly older age than many & thus they've listened to SOTW & MOH together & find them complimentary not contradicting. History is biased, but so are the people who read it, kwim? If you're REALLY worried about it, I'd go to the library & see if you can find a copy to read through & gain your own opinion.

We had to purchase a new vacuum recently & ended up with the Shark Lift Away. Makes vacuuming the stairs a cinch! :)

Unless it's mandatory to state it I wouldn't bother giving a grade, much less telling the child. My kids had no idea what grade they were in until about 7th or 8th grade. They weren't generally asked expect by the occasional family member {always the same one.} In our little area grades are also double.. so for instance the little school across the road has grades 4/5 in one room 2/3 in another, etc. I've never hesitated, when asked by the state, to use a double grade just like that. They never bat an eye at it & it works! :)

We have used a variety of things over the years, including SOTW & MOH. There are no dragons in MOH, dinosaurs are mentioned in volume 1. The dating is YE in the first volume or 2 perhaps I'm not sure as I don't give it a lot of heed. MOH 1 & 2 are semi-weak for a high schooler, imho, & could even be weak for a 7th grader on their own. I do like the content, but I just find the lessons weak in that they are only 3-5 minutes on average with the occasional 12-15 minute lesson. Volume 3 is much deeper in content & the lessons so much richer. I don't own 4 but would presume it follows the same idea. I think you have a beautiful range of children, but I also think that based on age/grades you will have a hard time putting them all into one programme without having to make alterations to some degree. I dunno, maybe not because maybe it's second nature to you but I have 2 who are only 30 months apart & find it difficult to put them together.. Mind you, it was easier at the younger age.. Something you might want to consider before moving forward is what you want out of a curriculum. Do you want it to be lit based? Do you want it to be pre-scheduled like AO was? Do you want it to be Christian based or can it be secular too? What time period of history do you want to study? Do all the children HAVE to be grouped into one, or are you willing to give some independence to the olders while you keep the youngers together? Do you want something that will rely on the resources you already own are you open to new stuff?

We use it, we finished The Nose Tree. There were only a few times when the things you mentioned were an issue because they traveled over more than a week, however something to keep in mind.. it's simplistic so depending on the age of your students there is no reason you can't do all 4 sentences at a time if you wanted. In our house we do 1 a day, sometimes 2 depending on the schedule. The kids don't re-write them, they type them. I'm happy if they do it daily & just as happy if they do it at the end of the week. I enjoyed Fix-It, enough so that I purchased the next couple of books before the local IEW Distributor closed her doors. I love that the grammar learned stuck. I love the card aspect so that if a child was struggling for any reason {because let's face it sometimes you know you know something, but you don't know what the abbreviation is or whatever..} we could narrow it down by process of elimination. I love that it was quick & to the point. I love that there is no groaning over it. I love that my "hand-holding" student doesn't need to hold hands for this, & when that student wants to I can place the cards in front of him & fein that the washer needs my dire attention. I also really appreciate that it can be used with a large group of students, that I only need the TM & can get access to the student books in pdf format {I have to print on special paper for my kids.} I can see your point, but in order to know if the indentation belongs there the clue is that the child is suppose to read the previous sentence to see if the topic changed. I will say we had ONE issue with that with Nose Tree & i think it was more because we had an extra week off from grammar. Fwiw, if it doesn't work for your family it has a really high resale value & speed {at least in my neck of the woods}.. Also, if Mamma's not feeling the love I think that spills onto the students. I've had to really watch myself for subjects I can't stand because I noticed it was pushing a negative attitude onto some of my students. If they are negative about it because they REALLY don't like it, you could also return it to IEW, they have an amazing refund policy.