my son's eighth grade graduation photos!!! Please come look here. I am now going to the high school board for my older son. I will still check back here for two more years and then, I must say, "good-bye" to the K-8 boards. I have been on these boards for the past 8 or 9 years! Blessings and thank you to all who read my blog! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I live in NJ. My sons have been taking the IOWA test since first grade. My older son always says that they always have a question about Kwanza. We eventually had to look up what it was about because we knew nothing about it. Every year it comes up on their tests. I would never teach it to them otherwise. I started to realize that the science and social studies section are arbitrary or more subjective. If you are not teaching that science that year, your child will not do well. If you are, then he will do well. I remember one year my son did terribly in the science section, then the following year he got in the 90th percentile. That's when I realize that the IOWAs is not a good gage for those areas. I prefer to concentrate on the basics of math, reading comprehension, and language arts. Everything else is fluff. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

Yes, I am sorry I spelled it wrong it is from Dandy Lion publications. Their logic problems are a little cheaper than Critical Thinking company. It starts with Safari and moves its way up. You can find these books through Rainbow Resources. I found the Safari Logic at Amazon.com. You can click here to see the first in a few books. I was looking at them and they have gone up in price since I last used them. They are a little cheaper than Mindbenders. The company name is Dandy Lion. Also, I used Perplexors with my son when he was younger. It is the same price as Critical Thinking Company. It does help to develop good test taking skills because it teaches that process of elimination idea. I have the link to that also, but I got the books from Educational Warehouse which is near where I live. Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

OK, this is our last week! However, I am still going to write about life in homeschooling. My older son did the homeschool eighth grade graduation ceremonies this past week. It was beautiful. You can click here. Thank you to all who read. Oh! Two more years and I will no longer post on the K-8 boards! Blessings to all! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I would never throw stones. I would have to throw them at myself. I think that those books you chose are wonderful. However, this is what I would recommend. Before you purchase these books, look into Dandeylion Logic. They have logic books and critical thinking books that are much cheaper than Critical Thinking Company. I used to think that Critical Thinking Company was the only logic company out there. The reason why I say this is Critical Thinking Company is very expensive for what your child can do. I bought the Mindbenders books for $9.99. They completed the A levels in a week. That's expensive for how much time your child will spend on it. If you want more bang for your buck with this company, get Building Thinking Skills and work through that series. It is expensive!! However, I broke up the program into two years so I was not spending as much as I did. Just my $.02. Blessings to you in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

My older son's violin teacher wants to teach him over the summer. I don't have the money this year because we are going away and I joined my town's lake association. We live across the street from it and so, we avoided it for 10 years. Hopefully, the lake will go well. We went to the Memorial Day beach party. It was nice. So, we will splash around in our lake. I need to pray about finding a piano teacher. I need the Lord's direction on this one because it seems as if the going rate for teachers is $60 an hour.:eek: I really have to figure out what God wants for my children in terms of the piano. I know that I want my sons to read over the summer and do math. I am adding Spanish this year. So, swimming, reading, and a cruise are what we are looking to do so far. I forgot! I order the material from the National Bible Bee. We will study the Bible over the summer using the Bible Bee materials. Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

My WAR report is up. WAR stands for Writing, Arithmetic, and Reading. So, I have that mixed up. You can read my WAR report here. I am overwhelmed because I put my older son in the 8th grade graduation program. It will occur next week Tuesday. This week the 8th graders had their overnight retreat. We'll see what happened. Thank you to all who read. Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

switch the programs. My sixth grader is not getting grammar either. I put him in KISS grammar. I am doing it as a hold over until next year. I would recommend it for two reasons: 1. It is free. 2. It teaches grammar using literature. I ditched Rod and Staff. I found Simply Grammar for my younger son which I purchased for next year. My older son had no problems with Rod and Staff, but it is just not working the same way for my younger son. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

You will find mine here. Thank you to all who read! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I want to know too. I did not get a sense from any of the posts what the difference was. Maybe I missed it. I did math so differently when I was in high school. I remember taking Algebra in 8th grade and Geometry in 9th grade. I remember taking Calculus in 12th grade, but I don't remember what I did for 11th grade. I never remember Algebra 1 and 2 in high school. Is Algebra 2 actually another math that is being called Algebra 2. So, what is trig and pre-calc the same or is there a difference? Thank you so much for those who answer! Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

Mine is up. You can see it here. Thank you to all who read! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I want to be honest. I hate it when homeschoolers say that they are behind. And you are new to home schooling and you are stating that you are behind. You just started. Why put that kind of pressure on yourself? I want you to realize that you need to sit down and think about what your goals are in home schooling. Why did you decide to home school? Reading the Well Trained Mind is good, but see it as a guide. I want to tell you that not every student will be a Susan Wise Bauer and not every mom can be a Jessie Wise. When my husband read the book, after the first few chapters, he said, "this is not our children." The most important thing that I want to do in home schooling is instill a love of learning. Pressuring the children to get "caught up" does not do that, but then again that may not be your goal. Your children are coming out of public school. Maybe your first goal could be to get them use to learning at home. It is called "deschooling." How about finding books for the children to read and how they can relate to the text that they read? There is another book that is great for home schooler to read called the Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell. I always thought that our focus in homeschooling should be upon our child and what are his needs, where are his weaknesses and strengths, and how to build up the weakness and capitalize on the strengths. It is not to compare your children to other children even though that is hard not to do. You must look at where your child is and where you want them to be and what steps to take in order to get there. Finally, do you know how your children learn and what are their learning styles? do you know your own? Those are very important information to know in order to help you to pick a curriculum that will help you to teach it and your child to understand it. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I personally think that you should go with what she loves. I am having my boys learn Spanish. The major reason is my mother-in-law speaks Spanish. Just to tell you, I look at my younger sister's experience and I prefer to follow her. She took Spanish in high school. I took Latin. She never took Latin and became a medical doctor. I took Latin and never became a doctor. While she was in residency, a woman came into the ER who spoke only Spanish. No one else could speak to her, but my sister. I remember she said that she really felt that she helped someone that day. She helped others because she knew Spanish. I can teach my children Latin. That's about it with Latin. I have a strong preference for Spanish. I have a myriad of reasons which I only touch on one, but if your daughter loves German, then go with it! By the way, Spanish is not easy. No language is easy unless you took Latin first. Spanish seems to be the closest to Latin. So, having the Latin background helps tremendously for Spanish. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I want to know. Inquiring minds want to know... :bigear: Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

Life of Fred Pre-Algebra Biology and Pre-Algebra Economics Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com

I am using IEW's Teaching the Classics. Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I noticed that you have Rod and Staff, IEW, and Caesar's English for your language arts section. I have an upcoming 9th grader too. I wrote out my future plans on my blogsite. I wanted to ask you about your programs for language arts. IEW and Rod and Staff couldn't you do just one and it will cover both grammar and composition? I am asking mostly for myself to understand some things. I have read that for high school a college bound student needs to take 4 years of English. That is broken down into composition and literature. In my thinking, when you have your student writing a composition for literature, isn't that covering both? I mean Rod and Staff 9 doesn't that more focus on writing, notetaking, outlining, etc.? I am doing Elegant Essay now with my 8th grader. I know that it goes through an essay step by step. That will give your student a much better and practical understanding of essays. So, that would cover composition. Doesn't Rod and Staff teach essay writing too? Like I stated before, I am asking more for my benefit. I am doing Elegant Essay this year and Rod and Staff 9 next year. I am doing Tapestry of Grace also next year. I think that your plans for next year look great!! Take a look at mine if you get a chance at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony'>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony'>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony'>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony and tell me what you think. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I like IEW. I can see why people love it and I can see why people would hate it. I took the middle road with this program. It is not the worst program to teach writing and it is not the best either. What is nice about the program is that if you are not a writing teacher (I am not), it does help give you the tools as to how to teach a child how to write. It teaches from the idea of modeling, key word outlines,etc. It does seem formula like because every child does not write the same way. So, it appears like when you see an IEW paper, you know it is because most children write in the same formula. It is a life saver program for a mom who is not knowledgable in teaching writing, but it can be formula like in the way a child writes. IEW's claim to fame is that eventually a child will learn to break away from the formula and figure out on their own how to use it. I know of many children how have gotten into great colleges using IEW. So, it must be doing something right. I would recommend if you know someone who has the curriculum ask them if you could borrow the DVDs and watch it. The problem with that is Andrew Pudewa is an outstanding speaker because of this, you will be convinced to use his curriculum. Carefully examine if you can use the tools he recommends. The curriculum is expensive. So, I would recommend just get the Student Writing Intensive B. It is for middle school, but it will cover most of the bases in the regular program and it is cheaper. Just my experience! Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I am doing Elegent Essay right now. It is formula driven and it is very similar to what your son has learned. So, it will reinforce the ideas already taught. Someone said though something that I need to remember. For a 13 year old boy, if he can write and has good grammar usage that is a very good start. There is no question that if he continues (key word) writing, he will excel. Sometimes we don't give our sons the credit that is due to them. Remember, writing is a process. I realize that if I have him stop writing, that's where he falls back into his old habits. When he keeps up with his writing, he does very well. We did Time4Writing online. He did really well with it and it help boost his confidence. I do not see anything wrong with having a formula to start with in writing. A child can eventually move away from the formula, but I think that Elegant Essay is a nice spring board to help a child understand how to write an essay. My only tip that help my son this year is he discovered outlining. He said that it helped him to organize his thoughts. He would do the statement, example, evidence model while writing. He would put that in outline form and then change it up to make it into a paragraph. It really showed him how his thinking was going and if he was off track. Hope that helps. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I am telling you that at first I was reluctant with Elegant Essay, but now that I am doing it with my son. I love it. I like the way it spells out for you in a practical matter how to write an essay. We are choosing one essay topic and we are working it through this entire course. We decided that was how we were going to figure out how to write an essay. Yes, it gives a formula, but it is more as a guide to help you through the process. I really like the SEE formula. It stands for statement, evidence, or example. When the child writes a statement, he must give evidence or an example to support the statement he makes. It works. My son always has to think. He learned how to outline in making a paragraph. So it forces him to think about what he is writing. I will ask, "is this sentence a statement or evidence?" He sometimes asks himself the questions. So, my child is learning how to make a statement and then what do he do to support his claims. Yes, it is a lot of hand holding. Yes there are formulas, but if it helps your child to think in a more logically and critically manner, then can it hurt? The idea is you want your child to be able to convey their thoughts on paper is a clear and logical manner that others can understand. I feel that Elegant Essay is a nice tool to assist in reaching that goal. Just my $.02 Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

I wanted to share this website with you, just click here I always use this site from World Book Encyclopedia. I know that I cannot do every single thing that is on this list, but I can get an approximate idea of where I should be heading. Please do not think that if you are missing a lot that you are way off, it is just a good guideline so that you know you are not lacking. I focus more on the Language Arts, Math, and Science. Once in awhile Social Science, but I do not always trust that because it is arbitrary. I discovered that by 7th grade my children have done Story of the World twice over. So, they know a lot of ancients, and world civilization. I found that even under health and safety, because we did Preparing for Adolescence, it covered a lot of those areas too. I hope that website helps to give you a small idea of what a 7th grader should know. You can go back and check out all the grade levels. Blessings in your homeschooling journey! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

Thank you for putting something up! I wrote a little something after two weeks of illnesses!! You can read about our ordeal at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony!'>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony!'>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony!'>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony! Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

Can you turn the sentence around? For example, They were retreating from the bear. Could you say, "They retreated from the bear." instead? Another example: This book was written by John Doe. The sentence can turn to say: John Doe wrote this book. It is passive voice versus active voice. You want to eventually learn how to write active. Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

Sorry that I seeing this late. I was sick and my children all had the flu. I had originally asked the question because I only did R&S 6-8. I never used it prior to those levels. Since you did it in the lower levels, you have a better view of that area then I do. The reason I felt it was thorough was because it would tell you all aspects of a topic like a verb and all that it does. I would never use the examples in the book. My sons would use the workbook after reading from the book. I would only go back and do the lessons in the book if they did not do well in the workbook. The lessons in the workbook are usually cross outs, multiple choice, etc. The only time they really have to write is for writing assignments. Many moms on these boards say they use something else. So, those are tips for that curriculum. Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony