:iagree: I hate to just have an "I agree" as a post, but Angela pretty much said what was on my mind regarding this thread. Jami

In "Lost Tools of Writing" A. Kern has students start with a "should" question. "Should Edmond have followed the White Witch?" "Should the colonists have dumped tea into Boston Harbor?" Anything you've studied you can turn into a should question. Then the student after making a list of affirmative, positive, and interesting details related to the question decides how to answer. The thesis then is persuasive toward the should or should not. "Edmond should not have followed the White Witch", "The colonists were wrong to have dumped the British tea into Boston Harbor", etc. I recently heard Leah Lutz speak at Circe about LTOW and how the persuasive essay is the foundation for all other writing. Really good stuff!

It looks to me like a "write blog opinions, $x.xx per article" to draw people to the advertisers. It doesn't sound like someone with any sort of vested interest.

Fantastic observations. I very much agree.

:iagree: I found it uninspiring and highly derivative. If you want a book on the history of education in America, read Diane Ravitch. If you want a book on Core Knowledge, read Hirsch. Classical education as historically understood? Tracy Lee Simmons or Andrew Campbell. Mastering the tools of learning to be a lifelong learner? "The Well-Trained Mind" and "The Well-Educated Mind" are far superior. And if you want to be inspired to consider education of the soul for virtue and wisdom, I recommend "Norms and Nobility" by David Hicks and Charlotte Mason's writings. I've read a lot of books on classical education: history, approaches, methods and found "The Core" did not offer anything new or substantive to the conversation. It was honestly a drag for me to get through it.

I very, very much agree.

I have my Memoria Press and R&S needs, picked those up at a HS convention last week. Now I need to place my RR order to finish out what we need. And then I'll be ready to plan. Of course I need my brain to hurry up and get in planning mode. But it's fighting me....:glare:

Ds got his first Buzz Lightyear when he became a big boy and stopped needing diapers. *sniff*

:lol: Good to keep a dh happy. ;)

Let's see... I have CW-Aesop, which we use from time to time and like, but it's true it's not as open and go as I'd like right now. And WWE, which I really like, though I don't do dictation from the children's narrations, I want them to take dictation from stronger writing than their own. Imitations in Writing, which is something between CW and IEW, and is good for learning to outline. And then we also do written narrations ala Charlotte Mason from time to time. I don't edit those. So I think just three purchased programs. All of which I like quite well. And SWB's writing lectures, while not a program, are a must own for clarifying the steps to learning to write. :)

Definitely. But even this prioritizing connection and intimacy is a relatively modern expectation in marriage. Wanting and desiring those things does not mean that a couple is just caught up in the postmodern culture or that they're not as focused on the commitment or family aspect of marriage as they are the romance and intimacy.

Right, definitely. And I'm not personally offended, but I do think there may be those reading threads like this who are in the situations some of us have found ourselves in, where more time together, possibly out of the house, was critical to the marriage. And they'll think it shouldn't be, that it's not worth the extra expense, and so on.

Sorry, I'm still feeling frustrated by the "it was good enough for previous generations to not focus on dating or romance in marriage" argument. Not that the two are synonymous, but by "dating" we're talking about cultivating the marriage relationship apart from the parenting relationship. Public school was good enough for most of us and our parents too, but most of us have chosen a different path that suits our world, expectations, and opportunities today. And a long marriage isn't indicative of a happy marriage, cultural stigma against divorce (not a completely bad thing) meant that many people stayed married despite affairs, heartbreak, loneliness, etc. And I'm not a "marriage is supposed to be about making me happy" person. Marriage is a picture of Christ and his church, there is something in the fabric of the universe that is reflected in marriage. So don't hear a "make me happy" argument here. BUT, the Christian marriage or the Christian life is the marriage and life lived out by those who follow Christ. It's not prescribed in such a narrow way as "how it was done in the 1880s, or 1950s, or 1980s." Christians living out authentic and Christ-centered marriages in 2010 America should feel free to look at the importance of romance, passion, joy, dating, whatever in their marriages if those things are truly important needs. Even if those needs have been somewhat culturally cultivated, though they need to be held up to God's word, certainly and not accepted without reservation. But as a 34 year old woman in this post-modern time, I need to figure out what my marriage should look like, based on my dreams and desires (shaped by my identity in Christ) and not based on what my mother wanted in her marriage or my grandmother. :) I hope that's clear. Our marriage was hurt by my expectations of what the "proper Christian marriage and family" should look like. Jami

But we live in the time we live in. Profound, eh? Dh and I recognize that our expectations and desires for our marriage look different than my parents' or grandparents'. We parent differently as well. Perhaps going out separately with friends or just the two of us is frivolous. But I can tell you I'd rather spend the money doing this if it's important to my husband than trying to afford a divorce. :(

We neglected dating for years and it took a toll on our marriage. Part of it may depend on the industry a dh is in. My husband works in a very young, social industry. Other couples go out together a lot, sometimes for work related events. The more of those type of things that he went to without me, the farther our lives grew from one another. I would have said a year ago that just talking together in the evenings and hanging out at home was enough, but for us it wasn't. We were in "mom and dad" mode at home and not really connecting as people beyond those roles. Now we're *having* to date to work on some things, and it's been so very good for us.

I seriously considered it this past spring and decided it did not fit my goals or budget. I think education should be idea driven rather than fact driven, I couldn't get past the de-contextualized memorization of facts in CC. I would rather use our memory time to focus on poetry, music, and things related to our faith. I didn't like the Latin program or scope and sequence. I felt like it would encourage the "performer" in me and then in my children, to be filled with information but not necessarily true knowledge, but we'd want to outdo and keep up, cause that's my wiring. But I do think the campus I considered will be a lovely group of people. I was very interested just to spend time with the families involved and to build friendships there. But I couldn't shift my philosophy of education for our family enough to integrate it into our lives just for the social aspect.

You need to go over to Log Cabin Village, girl! They have a whole play cabin with costumes that's a wonderful way to spend a few hours. My kids LOVED that place. Click on "Offers" here and there's a printable coupon: http://www.fortworth.com/listings/index.cfm?action=display&listingID=2392

I'm exactly the same, Lynn. I keep coming back to the clear progression that WTM lays out for skill development in the language arts. But I believe the rich literature in AO is a better preparation for a great books/great conversation high school than some of the WTM choices. I think CM assumed a lot about what her teachers knew and would naturally teach perhaps? So there was less clear direction about math and writing. Jami

I don't think it's a bad idea in general. I use AO for several things and feel there are things that I'd rather see done differently. There are several websites and files available with various schedules and changes, but they're all free. I guess I'm not sure where things would be if you were to sell you product. Your idea is interesting, I don't have any idea about legalities. You'd probably need to email the advisory and see how different or separate from AO it would need to be to not be breaking their user agreement. :)

You may also want to keep in mind that the Advisory was given permission by David Hicks to use "Norms and Nobility" as a guide for their House of Education (years 7-12). I'm not sure if similar permission would need to be gained if you were to end with something that looks like House of Ed. does now.

I think this is why half-day Kindergarten (if any Kindergarten) is so much better as well. It's *hard* to keep 5-6 year olds busy with seatwork all day. The teacher and students would be so much more energetic and fresh for learning if it were a 2-3 hour time period. But school = free daycare, so we must have all-day options as soon as possible. :P

Dh read The Wonder Clock with my kids last year and they really enjoyed it. We somehow skipped the Ruskin book, I'll maybe assign it this year.

We'll be doing Year 3 and Year 1 here. We've used elements from AO the past couple of years, but will be following it more closely next year. :)

And it's not like modern public school methods are churning out particularly skillful writers. Ask most college professors about the writing they see, that should cure you of any desire to follow the status quo.

I'm at the same place you are, Karen. Finishing up LCI and not sure I want to do LC II (though I have it), but wanting to wait another year or two before going on to First Form. And I'm sure I want to use First Form and that progression to Henle. We've never used LFC, would A and B be a good levels to fit between LC I and First Form?