Oh yes, Paddington is so funny & Stephen Fry does an amazing job.. someone else does a Paddington book too, but I don't recommend it in the car as the fellow's voice goes loud & soft soo much it was frustrating. The ones by Stephen Fry are so lovely. Animal Ark books are fun for that age Olga De Polga are fun for that age

I've been using the Plum Paper Teacher Planner which is lovely. Very simple, little waste in regards to converting a teacher planner into a homeschool planner. There's one section {My Class} that isn't super useful, but you can ask them to leave it off. You can add extra note pages or whatever to your planner & have it spiral bound or ask for it to be unbound so you can hole punch it in another way. I've really enjoyed the planner. They now offer a Large family planner so I ordered that during a sale a couple of months back to use next year. The difference between the Family Planner {called ME} vs the Teacher Planner aren't that huge. The ME has Sunday - Saturday with boxes you can plan/schedule things. Where as the Teacher planner has Mon-Fri as full boxes & tiny boxes for Sat & Sun. There'd be no My Class section in the Family planner.. :) You can see samples of both on their website if you're interested. As for how we plan.. I sit down on Friday afternoon & jot down what's happening in the week ahead for school. Sometimes it's detailed, sometimes it's not. The kids have their own planners, so often I don't need super detailed things, just a quick note like Wk 3 D4 to have a record of what we did when. :)

We started with Saxon {K} & dropped it to do what's dubbed "living math" our kids learned basic concepts through games, books, & hands on application. When they hit a certain grade/age I wanted to be sure we had no gaps, & admittedly teaching without a curriculum is hard work on Mamma. I slipped my eldest into Teaching Textbooks & he tested 2 grade levels ahead of where he was. We went with that for 2 years, anyway but I just felt it wasn't challenging enough for him & in the end we landed in MUS. Moving to MUS without starting there is kinda hard because it's a mastery programme & each book focuses on a specific topic at hand. My boy straddled 2 books when we made the switch & I went with the "lower" book to be sure he had the right tools to accomplish the job. My only regret is that I didn't let him move at an accelerated pace through that book for fear he'd "miss" something. It was quite silly of me, to be honest, but it all worked out in the end. He's now in high school & at grade level surfing along just fine. In fact there are still days when I wonder if he should be challenged more, where other days I know his plate is full. FWIW, so many websites offer free lessons on their websites I reckon you could easily try out each curriculum to get a great idea of which one would best suit your child. I went with TT when I did because I wanted something my kid could do solo because *I* needed the math break after having to be "on duty" so much as the math teacher without the use of a curriculum. :)

Mm, so you like the content of Core C, but you want it to move slower, & you like the idea of projects from SOTW. Have you considered WP's Hideaway In History? You can even try out the Roman Period before purchasing if you wanted.. Just a thought as you mentioned slower & hands on. :)

This is very true, & I think it's because they've taken a lot of time to update & perfect some of their themes while only updating the covers of others. Did they not offer you any form of a refund on things or a discount for a future theme? Admittedly the curriculum was first written for their own family & some of the non-updated themes make sense in that light.. but when you charge for a curriculum, especially a large sum, its pretty important it lives up to those expectations.

Sorry, glad you found it. Yeah, we didn't end up using it either as we're just using the markable map, & much of the mapping is repeated throughout so with the markable map if you've marked it once you're good. :)

You know that many of the studies from Unit Studies {.com} line up with FIAR, right? I think the author of FIAR posted something about that years ago on the FIAR forums.. Your older could expand with those unit studies while your youngers enjoy FIAR.. Have you done Volume IV? I know many people save it for 4th or 5th grade, the studies are longer {2 weeks worth} which might be an option too.. :)

This is the only WP theme we had a hard time with.. If you're not YE you'll find that the spines are difficult to use. If you are, then you'll be fine. :)

We've used many of their themes over the years. :) Animals is a fun theme, but it would depend on the age you're working with & location. For us, while we enjoyed it, we don't have access to a zoo or all the climates. So in that essence it was hard for my boy to really get into some aspects. We've only ever ordered WP Exclusives from WP. Living outside of the USA it's just too expensive. I can order from Book Depository & get free shipping & make money using my own affiliate link. The first year I used WP I did order hard copies of the guide & things, but after that I ordered the digital copies because it saved me considerably on shipping. A few things to keep in mind about WP.. They have lifted their "ban" on selling their material secondhand. So you may be able to find things a little cheaper that way. There is a FB group called Winter Promise Curriculum Users where people sell & swap their guides around.. sometimes as complete sets, sometimes not. You can save {internationally} by purchasing their digital guides, but then you lose out on being able to sell them afterwards. That's not a huge issue because many people are unaware that they lifted their "ban" & thus aren't keen to purchase WP secondhand.. If you are working with more then 1 child I would buy the NBing pages in digital format because you can print out as many copies as you need vs having to purchase so many. Also, if you buy digital you'll get them in colour, where as the hard ones are often in black & white. I have no idea why they didn't/can't print them in colour considering the prices, but that's how it is.

I use to. I use to design one based on my needs & print then bind it up in the summer holidays. Last year I just couldn't find my mojo & was so tired of the fiddly dates I had to deal with on my calendar pages.. So I ordered a Plum Paper Teacher planner. It's pretty clean & open & go even for homeschoolers because there's very little "extra" to it other then Mon-Friday boxes to schedule stuff. There's small boxes incase you need to do something on Sat or Sun. It has monthly pages, & then you can add things to it like note pages & check lists if you want. What I didn't realise when I ordered my first one was that i could have them remove the My Class section which is the ONLY portion that I didn't find HEAPS of use for. I ordered another planner from the same company for next year but went with an ME planner which allows me to schedule things on Saturday & Sunday as well. Each of my kids have things on the weekends that I like to book in. :) I've really enjoyed using something that was "done for me" this year.. hopefully I'll still feel that way next year! Had I been thinking ahead I might have even ordered it unpunched so I could punch it with the arc punch myself.. ahh well. :)

Like Red Squirrel, we didn't hand it off to the child either.. I found that it worked better for our child by going over the lessons with him & then having him get about his work. We started it once with him in 4th because it was recommended. He did fine with it, but we put it aside for a summer holiday, moved homes, etc. & then picked it up again in his 8th grade year where we started over. He gained more from it waiting later then he did earlier. He enjoyed it both times, but rather then moving into Volume 2 this year he's trying out Cover Story. Would it work with a 4th grader? I think it would at fist because the first few lessons are very like WWE, but as it progresses things get harder. I'd be unlikely to use it with someone at that age. :)

Due to her being 12, I'd drop HUS. The core is pretty heavy for a 12 year old & it may be the one thing pushing her load too far. I know that's probably not helpful because you mentioned she loved the books.. Did you know you can get them in audio format? Would it help if she could listen to them being read? My 13 year old is in Core G because we found there was a point where tagging along with the older meant he couldn't cope with the workload & thus he gained precious little, kwim?? If she doesn't need a second language right now I'd consider doing DuoLingo when there is time or only working towards 10xp vs a higher level. We've got the high schooler doing a great quantity with Duo then the younger who doesn't need it yet. I told the younger that doing it now will give him some background & help his 2 mandatory years be easier. ;) For geography, did you know that Knowledge Quest sells maps that match up with HUS so you could combine those vs having something totally seperate. Would it be possible to keep up with spelling, but set a limit to how much time you'll devote to it? Would that split the difference of not dropping it, but keeping the schedule moving along each day?

The Incorrigible Children Of Ashton Place.. but be forewarned, once you start the series it's hard to let go. If the author doesn't hurry up with the next book I may go nutty. :P

I just pull up the bot conversation & go with it. I use it like a practice session. I was kinda bummed that you didn't actually TALK that you spelled, but hey it's better then naught. You earn X lingots based on how well you do in each conversation, & don't be fooled by the "help me reply" option because many times I've let them "help" me & then they say I should have used some other sentence instead which annoys me. Ha! Your conversations get Gold/Yellow bars just like your levels/lessons do so I take taht to mean that the better you do the more of those bars that will light up showing you have good comprehension of the lesson. FWIW you can do the chats more then 1x & get different answers. For instance, the first time I did one I said I was good. The next time I was sick so I said I was unwell & the answer in reply was different. Ha!

Interesting on the testing info. I'm not at all familiar with any tests & what they mean or show value in. Where we live {not USA} right now testing is not required. In fact, there is no annual testing to be offered. So the only testing we do are things like science quizzes, math tests, science chapter tests, etc. ;) At the very end of the book there is a small chapter about her children's opinions on the method. I can't remember the ages of the children, but I will say that the olders are old enough that the regulations of her state may have been different at the time & not required labs. I think she had a few left that were school age, but I'm honestly not sure & I'd have to dig my book out. She has a FB page & website you might be able to garner information from there if you were keen. Like you I don't find most homeschool books very informational these days, in fact one of the things I check before even considering a book are the ages of the children. I just don't need help for children in preschool or younger grades so while I don't begrudge the authors I'm also not interested & don't get some of the hype. I chose SPA because I was looking for any help in getting my kids independent. The biggest help I had, though, was getting their diagnoses & medical helps. It's amazing what can happen when they can actually see clearly! ;) The chapter about how the author has her children work independently was pretty interesting, for me, but there were areas that I didn't like. For instance, I found it crazy that some of the olders were responsible for being sure work got done while she was out of the home. I get being responsible for their own work & helping around the home, but I thought they were also responsible for the littles as well in regards to their work. I may have misunderstood or be remembering poorly so I may be off on some of that. Either way, what she did worked for them which is fantastic! Like everything, I took it with a grain of salt & applied what fragments would work in our own home. I've really appreciated hearing others take on the book & their reasonings behind their views. :) If you're interested you can listen to her sum up the book in a Podcast over on Homeschool.com The chat was live, but clearly done prior to the publication of her book. I say "clearly" because having read the book prior to hearing the chat there were a few things that were said that made me realise the chat happened prior to publication.

I think her biggest suggestion would be "Biblical Discipline" whatever that may mean for her family. She never disclosed other then to say "disciplined" or "dealt with." For her, a non compliant child has heart issues & I think she'd relate a child who's not interested in learning would have a heart issue. By heart issue, I'm speaking of the typical phrase used by many people who feel a child's heart is not right with God & therefore their child acts out. I deeply disagree with this, & thanks to this type of misguided parenting advice I think many parents {myself included for a while} have very strained relationships with children who are just misunderstood in various ways. I really struggled with many chapters of this book because I do not agree with much of the author's stance & was looking for help in getting my children working solo. A few things I think the author fails to acknowledge is that learning disabilities can often be at the heart of problems. This was very much the issue in our home & once my children got the diagnosis of visual perception disorder & got ourselves hooked up with a specialist to help them the leap from dependent to independent happened very quickly. If I remember correctly the author speaks about the second thing that holds people back from dependent to independent learning & that is often Mamma letting go. It is HARD when you're use to children needing you for everything. I still get nerdy about moving off & doing anything for fear I'll get involved & they'll shout out for help. Lame, yes, but I'm just being honest. I also think maturity can be a huge deal. I know what worked for her, in her home, but she does confess, down the line, that one of her children was not at all interested in going to university. It took much chatting & finally finding a school that would allow him to play hockey {if I remember correctly} to get him interested in going. She did not, however, mention any shortcomings or stumbles that may have been experienced along the way except for a few times when a child didn't complete work, but that was about the extent of it. From personal experience I kinda raise eyebrows about that. It didn't happen overnight in our home, but perhaps it did in her own I dunno. What I will say is that in our own home we worked with just 1 or 2 subjects & they checked back in, then we added more & again until they were off running. I have one right now I'm working with who isn't that keen about learning. In general, he doesn't aspire to spend his day learning, or reading books, or doing things that go against his grand plans for the day. He's old enough to accept that in life you have obligations & they must be met. So we're in the stage of just a few subjects he does on his own & then checks in with me. I've also added a lot of hands on aspects to his schooling this year, but even still I have to be aware & remind him to just keep moving forward. The author of the SPA book doesn't address this, but SWB does in her MP3 Chat. :)

Sorry, yes you did guess right! :D I think some of her reasonings were a little skewed. She was a classroom teacher, but her choice in raising independent learners was not an intentional choice. It came about because she was so sick during a pregnancy. She handed them the work, they did it. I dont' deny her great credit in her role as a homeschool Mamma, but I think her children's desire to learn played a huge huge roll in it too. :) I think you're spot on, fwiw. There was certainly more to the picture then was portrayed in the book, as I'm sure is the case for most authors. Having said that, aside from the one child who took a while to learn to read, she didn't have to deal with children who had issues {at least not in the edition I read} & I think if she had it may have altered, to some degree, how she did things. Just my .02. While I did read the book & I did appreciate it, having children with diagnosed learning disabilities it did overwhelm me, especially when she mentioned how horrified she was that anyone would be sitting with a 4th grader while they did math. Mm, okay then. I found SWB discussion {MP3 in the shop} more down to earth for guiding step by step on how to get there without the parental lecture involved. Plus, I enjoyed the huge chuckled about the child who spent the entire day watching the dogs. It reminded me of the time I was nursing my MIL back from a broken hip. She was on some pretty strong medication, needed daily injections for blood clots, etc. I had to run out & pick up more tea {if we had less then 20 tea bags in the house she considered it a tea emergency} & left the kids with her. I suggested they pick a show to watch with Nana or something simple & to keep an eye on her lest she should need any help. I came home to a fully typed report on every action the children's Nana took while I was away. Every snort, every snore, every twitch.. They'd pulled out an old typewriter so they could sit right there & gawk at her while they typed. There was even a line in their report in which they informed her they were watching her sleep & she told them to stop being so cheeky. :lol: I still have that silly report somewhere because it was just so darned funny!

Have you seen HSITW Election Study?

I read the book a few years back & enjoyed the perspective without doubt. Prior to her book coming out she was on one of those phone interviews & the podcast of that is available here. I think SWB has a lovely chat on the PHP website that actually discusses getting your children to independence in a more clear-cut precise manner to be honest. Having said that I read the SPA book prior to hearing SWB chat & I appreciated both views. What I will say about SPA is this: 1. The author credits her learning style for her children's greatness, but in all fairness her teaching style came about out of sheer need. She was flat our on the sofa sick due to pregnancy while having little ones who NEEDED her & slightly older ones who NEEDED to do school. She simply told them what to do & off they went. Therefore, while I don't discredit her method I also think the children's abilities came about as a matter of survival. I don't mean that in the harsh way we often use survival, but rather they children knew the work was expected from them, did it, & were able to move on. 2. As a large family she has a no-nonsense approach to things, which isn't to say small families don't. Rather I think her family worked on a pretty good schedule & they were use to it. 3. She's very very opinionated on a few topics including curriculum that will vs won't work. I totally disagree with her on this & my children are living proof of that. She also hits hard on parenting & "heart" issues which I equally disagree with. I do not deny that in many situations a trust issue can be a heart issue with a child, but having an SWC I disagree that every time my child digs a line in the sand that it is a heart issue. 4. There's a large portion of the book you'll likely feel you won't need if you've been homeschooling for more then a couple of years, if you've comfortable with your parenting style, & if you really just want to get to the crux of the idea/method. The book is a quick read, but I found some chapters an absolute drag, mainly those that discuss the issues I mentioned in #3. Okay, so having said that.. There are aspects we use, but they are also natural things in our home. Some of which was inspired by the book, but much of which was all ready in place. For my SWC I found SWB chat much more effective. We still use all the curriculum we would normally use, I did not suddenly drop all my curriculum & rush out to buy Abeka because SPA said it was the best approach. Nope, not at all. In fact, we still use literature rich curriculum & the child who uses it still works solo & loves it. What I will say, was that for cutting the final part of the apron strings it was encouraging & helpful. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing the author & saying the book is lousy. It's NOT, I think if I'd read it years earlier I would have appreciated it's value even more. I think I read it when my eldest was in 6th or 7th & he was all ready working reasonably independently. Basically the idea for the author is that if your children can read they can teach themselves. She does have her children do their own grading/correcting via answer keys. I do not. My eldest hates grading his own work. For one thing, if he does get the answer wrong, regardless of getting credit for reworking it he wants to be able to rework it to correct his mistake & seeing the answer means he doesn't get that chance. I also do NOT wait an entire semester before checking in on my kids work, that would drive ME batty having THAT much work piled up. On top of that, my high schooler would go crazy with that schedule too. I think it's very easy to take the idea & use it wherever you are. :)

Bummer, can't believe I missed them on Audible, I'd have scarfed them up on the spot. Book Depository still sells the cds, which you could upload to your computer & then transfer digitally to an ipod or other such device.. It's not as simplistic as Audible, but it works & then the cds can go up on a shelf to avoid being scratched.

If your child needs help with fractions, I wouldn't skip the overlays. They are a key component to the programme, especially for visual or tactical learners. Depending on what needs she has for improving with fractions not obtaining them may make things harder. I've used Epsilon with more then one child & while some used the overlays more then others, all used them at some point. :)

Ahh, well the new LapPaks are a little different then their lovely Time Traveler Series. The way I've done the new LapPaks is to decide how long I want the study to take & work forward from there. For instance, with the Middle Ages version we just matched it up with what we were studying, but with the Ben Franklin one we just did 1 item a day until we'd wrapped it up. I haven't purchased the Election version yet, but I had intended to snag it next month with the idea that we'd finish it in about a weeks time.. I'm curious to see if anyone else has used it & how they've set it up.

We had this issue for a while, & we dropped all math for a couple of years. Shocking, I know, but we only dropped it in a curriculum manner. We still did math daily via other avenues of learning. It was not easy for me because I like the idea of the structure of the curriculum, but it built my child's confidence while allowing him to blossom & become familiar with things. When we finally picked up a curriculum again he tested 2 levels ahead of his actual grade which was downright shocking to me.

Is the Knowledge Box Lapbook Journal worth it & appropriate for the high school level? I didn't spot a normal notebook by Apologia so it's either KB or MYO, & I'm leaning towards MYO, but thought I'd ask about the KB version first. :)

Yes, & it changes each time. It's rarely ever EXACTLY the same. Yes, we've had plain Rescue Remedy. On it's own it doesn't work. I get that based on some of the information floating around about the product that it sounds absurd. However, the mixture is actually made from brewing flowers in water. Yes, again weird, but if it works.. FWIW, my son knows when it's not working, when the mixture in the bottle is no longer effective even if the tincture is not passed it's shelf life. --- It's easy to mock someone else's choices, & it's even easier when there's some pretty insane whack-a-doodle information floating around about said weird choices. As I'm not getting the help I need I will simply presume that no one here has taken the course or is familiar with the product in a manner that means they currently use it & simply ignore the continued tart comments that come through. It may be easy to say that homeopathic remedies don't work & I get that, but when you live in a place where it can take 3 months to get an appointment in the Dr's office you are willing to look for ways to help yourself as well. Do I believe that all methods of homeopathic remedies work? No, nor do I think that every remedy out there is going to work for everyone. Remember, there are those who look at homeschooling & find it an appalling disservice to the children presuming we're all lunatics who are incapable of educating our children.. Everyone has an opinion on something.