They kinda hide their samples but they are there :) I was doing this just moments ago! From the home page, navigate to the Shopping section. Click on Vocabulary. Click on View Products in Grade. You will then get previews, but they are only of the 2012-2013 version. I could not find previews of the older version. As for ordering, you can order directly. I was playing around and put a cart together, but have not yet ordered. I was surprised when I went to check out. The prices had jumped up. But I now see that the website says that the quoted prices are 25% discounted for institutions. You have to log in to be see pricing for the 2005 or 1996 versions. Kolbe Academy carries the older 2005 versions. edited for clarity

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I am also trying to decide which edition to buy, and would be interested in knowing why you don't want the Common Core edition.

Are you referring to Journeys through Bookland? I can't make a link right now -typing from my phone.

Have any of you ever been to Geppi's Entertainment Museum? I always want to go to it, and we always run out of time. OP, if you are into theater, take a look at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. (Um, when did it stop being called the Hippodrome ?!)

For sure, I would go to Ft. McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner Flag House. And eat steamed crabs. Maybe your kids would like the Historic Ships ( USS Constellation, Torsk submarine). Science center is nice. It is a pretty nice aquarium, but you could entertain yourselves without it. Sorry, I am no help with the book recommendations. edited to add links

It does seem like they are trying to cover a lot of ground in one trip. To me, Berlin did not seem any more or less dangerous than any other big, European city. The museums are fantastic and the metro system is easy. The architecture in Prague is breathtaking. My concern about Venice would be the cost. It can be crazy-expensive. ETA: I would be fine with my older boys traveling with friends to any of the above. I have no input on hiking or Budapest :)

If you are used to living with dietary restrictions, please give me your best tips for managing: eating out dinner invitations traveling - especially in foreign countries where you do not speak the language I have one food allergy (fish) that I have managed for decades, so I am not totally clueless. But now I am trying to remove several other things. The main cut is sodium, and this is a lot harder to avoid than fish. I have it all figured out at home, but we do travel frequently.

Sunday: Body combat class at the gym. Alas, been a while.

Quark, this looks like something my son would really enjoy. Thanks!

It ain't so. At least that was never my intent. Goodness, I used models from three curricula (Warriner's, WWS2, and an online student model from Sadlier) just to get through our first compare-and contrast essay assignment. Can anyone tell me how you go through the revision / editing process? I find it difficult to decide when he is done and it is time to move on.

OK, well here is are the two terms that I keep churning over: essays and academic writing. How to define them. How to fit them together. I had started to think of first person essays a bit dismissively - as just a stepping stone to the real, academic writing or just a trifle to be dealt with on a standardized test. And now I sit her with The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, a book filled with excellent first-person model essays and second person pronouns, and I am reminded how much I love creative nonfiction. Maybe my kid would, too. Of late, we have been so focused on academic writing and the rules. No contractions. No first or second person.

Woodland Mist! Come back! :)

Now I am leaning toward the full credit for Latin in 8th and a half credit of Danish. Ack! I am so torn! And these Latin classes will register soon. Signing up for high school online classes is very scaryyyyyyyyyyy.

I am glad that I read this thread. I have the curriculum, and had planned to do it this year (7th). But we had some other things in process that didn't seem like they could keep until 8th. So I put it away. Thanks for the reassurance that 8th or even 9th will be ok. I would think that this type of informal logic could be part of an English credit if need be.

How exciting! We are listening to (and reading along) Midsummer right now. And now I don't feel so bad about making DS memorize long passages :)

Thanks, Ruth. I will keep adding resources to the top as time permits. I just received a copy of the Norton Sampler today:)

I will add a BOOKS section to the top of the thread. My internet is down right now, though.

I am only in my 2nd year of homeschooling, so I am certainly no expert. Last year, we used a curriculum and this year we are not. This certainly does not keep me from buying and reading curriculum, however :) Right now, he is working on a compare-and-and-contrast essay. He is comparing a book and a movie. I did something new (for us) this time. I took his first draft and used the Add Comment feature of MS Word to make my comments. That worked out great for both of us. Today, we spent twenty minutes on the thesis statement. I posted about some of my current concerns the other day. I won't quote myself, LOL, You can see them in Post #11.

Good point. They are now at the tippy-top of the list.

OK, the thread is launched. I will be back later to start filling it in.

I'm starting a thread for teaching writing without a curriculum. It is in this forum so that it will apply to all grade and ability levels. It would be great to know your projects, strategies, tips, processes, and so forth. I will keep a running list of links here at the top. A Plan for Teaching Writing: SWB's Audio Lectures This is a three-part series that spans all grades. PREVIOUS THREADS So many have so generously shared much wisdom on this topic. I just want to say THANK YOU!! A special thanks to 8FilltheHeart, Angela in Ohio, Lori D. and Nan in Mass :) Incremental Writing Part 1 Pre-Independent Writing Skills, Paragraphs for Copywork, Independent how-tos, re-tells, or parallel writing Incremental Writing Part 2 Independent writing across the curriculum, Analysis and Essay Writing Interest driven education and *real* tea time Scope and Sequence Discussion for 2nd-8th grades Weekly or Biweekly Reports A Mega Writing Thread Do you agree? Can you raise a writer without a writing curriculum? Essay Writing How to Teach Lab Report Write-Ups (Logic Stage) Writing Essays ErinD's correlations: https://drive.google...dit?usp=sharing https://drive.google...dit?usp=sharing https://drive.google...dit?usp=sharing https://drive.google...dit?usp=sharing TEACHING WRITING WITHOUT A CURRICULUM (outside links) Editing Writing Instead of Curriculum WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM (outside links) IEW's Teaching Writing: Structure & Style DVD Seminar Bravewriter: The Writer's Jungle Bravewriter Podcasts GREAT PLACES (besides WTM :001_wub: ) ONLINE TO LEARN ABOUT WRITING University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Center The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) Professor Cohen's 39 Picky Rules of Writing About.com Paragraphs and Essays LITERARY ANALYSIS The Monsters and the Critics, Tolkein Politics and the English Language by Orwell Mapping the World of The Sorcerer's Apprentice Poetic Principle by Poe Reading Like a Writer How to Read Literature Like a Professor How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids Student Examples (sourced from Central Oregon Community College) Exemplar (Dana Gioia) Figuratively Speaking The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers Norton Critical Editions: A good source of literary essays BOOKS TO INSPIRE On Writing Well by William Zinsser Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty The Nature of Life: Readings in Biology What's The Matter? Readings in Physics Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook Pizza, Pigs & Poetry A Writer's Notebook ANTHOLOGIES & BOOKS WITH LESSONS, SAMPLES AND/OR ANALYSIS 6+1 Traits of Writing Thinking in Threes Twisting Arms Teaching Powerful Writing Don't Forget to Write: 50 Enthralling and Effective Writing Lessons (ages 11 and up) - Dave Eggers Writing Extraordinary Essays: Every Middle Schooler Can - David Lee Finkle The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student Corbett Lively Art of Writing Warriner's Advanced Models and Composition The Norton Field Guide To Writing The Brief Bedford Reader –Kennedy 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology – Samuel Cohen The Language of Composition – Shea - Everything’s An Argument – Lunsford - Unjournaling HANDBOOKS / STYLE GUIDES / GRAMMAR Grammar-Land (this one you can also find free on google books, and there are free worksheets that a homeschooling mom made) Grammar Lesson & Strategies The Elements of Style MLA Style APA Style Chicago Manual of Style The Art of Styling Sentences They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter In Academic Writing PERIODICALS Economist National Geographic WSJ Saturday Essay New York Times (Room for Debate, Book Reviews, Science Essays) Scientific American LITERARY JOURNALS (university libraries usually have a good selection) American Scholar Poets and Writers Creative Nonfiction PROMPTS SAT prompt exemplars http://www.majortest...say-sample1.php prompt archetypes: http://talk.collegec...chetypes-5.html 500 examples of HS student's responses to prompts http://www.englishda..._essays.php?302 This is just a start:) Continually editing...please be patient :)

Julie, If you can clarify your interests, I can recommend something. Are you looking for self-study? Or for your children? If for your children, what grade level (s)?

Is this OK or am I missing something? 8th Grade: Potter's School Latin 1A (0.5 high school credit) Danish 1 (1.0 credit) 9th Grade: Potter's School Latin 1B (0.5 high school credit) Danish 2 (1.0 credit) 10th Grade: Latin 2 TBD - depends if we are still in Denmark 11th Grade: TBD 12th Grade: TBD Would it look strange to have Latin 1 spread over two years? I can't see DS doing more than 1.5 credits of foreign language in 8th. That will be plenty for him. If I sign him up for a full credit of Latin in 8th, then I will have to cut the Danish down to 0.5 credit. But he could split the Latin and still make it through AP Latin if we do it this way.

Yes and double-yes to the part about the bill and the piles. One thing I have noticed since ditching the curriculum, is that (I think) the scaffolding/structure was masking some weak areas. I have had to back up. But by the time we are done, I hope that DS will be able to manage a "Write an essay about [insert vague topic here] without going into free fall :) Ruth, will this be for both of your boys? I do not want to hijack the thread, but I have thought that it would be lovely to have a Teaching-Writing-Without-A Curriculum master thread. A place to check in, post projects, strategies, and so forth. Maybe in General Education so that it would be available to all grade and ability levels?