I totally hear you, ByGrace3! I was really shocked that they didn't offer support for older materials, too. I looked at samples of the newer text and actually preferred the older one. It didn't feel as cluttered. I'm sure the new book is lovely, but I can't afford to blow my entire budget on new books for one subject. When I purchased my downloads, it was all for the younger through middles, and I didn't buy anything for Advanced. Oh well. Now I'm looking at different products entirely. It's their loss, I suppose. Thank you for commiserating!

Hello all! I haven't posted in years because we have been in a good grove and I've been super-busy with various projects that keep me away from the computer. Anyhow, I am working on organizing our youngest's freshman year curriculum and have run into a roadblock. She wanted to use Biblioplan Ancients for the Advanced level, which I thought would be very easy to do. I just needed to buy the downloads for the maps, questions, and discussion guide at the appropriate level, and we would be good to go. We already had the Companion textbook and most of the other downloads for the younger age groups, so I didn't think it would be an issue to buy the ones we needed. Nope. Easier said than done. They have updated all of their materials for Ancients and no longer sell the older downloads. Our budget for new homeschool materials is very tight this year and I can't shell out the funds to purchase their updated materials and textbook. Since they are no longer selling the older version that coincide with the 2014 edition of the Ancient History Companion, I was wondering if any of you lovely people might have/be willing to share the download files for Cool Histories for Advanced, Hands on Maps for Advanced, and the Discussion Guide? I know this is a complete longshot, but so appreciate your time and help with this. I hope I'm not breaking any board rules by asking.

Hello all! I haven't posted in years because we have been in a good grove and I've been super-busy with various projects that keep me away from the computer. Anyhow, I am working on organizing our youngest's freshman year curriculum and have run into a roadblock. She wanted to use Biblioplan Ancients for the Advanced level, which I thought would be very easy to do. I just needed to buy the downloads for the maps, questions, and discussion guide at the appropriate level, and we would be good to go. We already had the Companion textbook and most of the other downloads for the younger age groups, so I didn't think it would be an issue to buy the ones we needed. Nope. Easier said than done. They have updated all of their materials for Ancients and no longer sell the older downloads. Our budget for new homeschool materials is very tight this year and I can't shell out the funds to purchase their updated materials and textbook. Since they are no longer selling the older version that coincide with the 2014 edition of the Ancient History Companion, I was wondering if any of you lovely people might have/be willing to share the download files for Cool Histories for Advanced, Hands on Maps for Advanced, and the Discussion Guide? I know this is a complete longshot, but so appreciate your time and help with this. I hope I'm not breaking any board rules by asking.

Hello, everyone! It has been aeons since my last post or comment, but I do pop in from time to time to read up on how everyone is doing. I just discovered the news that CurrClick has closed on my most recent visit this morning, and I have lost hundreds of files in my library that I thought were safely stored on their site so I could pull them off as needed, rather than cluttering up my hard drive. Did they notify people via email of the site closing down? I'm not on Facebook. I admit to having my mind focused elsewhere, as my father was dying and I just did not keep up with emails and such, but I was totally blindsided by the news of the site being closed. Is there any way of getting my files back? I spent hundreds of dollars on Currclick (lapbooks, unit studies, Math Mammoth, language arts, sciences, everything!) and to lose it all without foreknowledge is a kick in the teeth. I do have SOME things downloaded, but the vast majority was not. I have a feeling I know what the very ugly answer is going to be...

I hear you loudly and clearly on the therapist. He is drenched in academia, with multitudes of alphabet soup after his name, so my alarm bells are already going off, but this is just a consultation. I have a couple other people on my shortlist and I have the right to change the therapist, as dh already said we both need to be comfortable talking to him. I have told dh that he would need to get the kids ready and out the door, and to help them with homework and get them organized for the following day. He said he would be more than happy to "help." Yeah, for about 30 seconds. He also asked if I would be willing to jeopardize our children's academic future to prove a point. Ummm, no, but he already has that one covered by making this demand. If he persists further in this vein, I will be signing myself up for every evening class, Bible study, and girls' night out that I can find and leave him home to deal with the mess of his own devising since he chose to overrule my and the children's objections. He can walk in my shoes for a while and see how he likes (essentially) being a single parent, without support, encouragement, interest, etc, from the person he married. He can be the chauffeur to and from dr appointments, football practice, play dates, 4-H, church activities, and see how much he manages to accomplish and how happy and fulfilled he is doing it on his own. Me? I'll take on his role of "fun parent" and do everything I can to show them a good time while he is pulling his hair out. I know this may sound petty and childish to some of you and that I'm not taking a very Christian approach to this. I have tried taking the high road so many times to no avail, and spent hours on my knees, pouring my heart out to the Lord and asking Him to change my heart where I am in the wrong. I am utterly weary.

Thank you for your perspectives and advice, friends. Honestly, I am more thinking the Big D than he is. We have openly discussed it, pros and cons, what ifs, what would change, what would stay they same...he is almost 60, he's finally coming out of the chemo fog from cancer three years ago, I was pretty much a single parent anyhow because he mentally checked out due to the cancer. But... I don't want to go down that road. That's not who I am and it doesn't sit well with the fact that I still choose to love him even when it's difficult to do so. I just want to be able to talk to him again. I want him to know that homeschooling is important to me and that it is beneficial for our children. I want to know that my feelings and opinions have merit and are just as valid as his, but that we need to parent together, work on compromising and communicating, and learn to like each other again. I hope the counseling will help us with that. Trust me when I say we have been through much tougher things than this and we never quit. Trust me when I tell you he does not have the time or energy to meet someone new. I think the only things he would dream of cheating on me with are Alexa and his pillow. LOL.

Thank you for the suggestions and encouragement. The children are heavily involved in 4-H, church activities, Tech Wizards, and one just started city-league pee-wee football, plus there are friends and family with whom to spend time. I have gotten them involved in every activity. He has helped out with the football playing child, but that's it. I'm not seeking to change his mind about homeschooling, I'm just trying to be able to help him see that there are good things about it that he refuses to hear directly from me. One of the reasons we are going to counseling is because he expects a therapist to say, across the board, that putting them in school is always in the best interest of the children. I hope the guy we are going to talk to isn't such a Neanderthal, but you never know. I have read about topics I don't necessarily agree with to gain a better understanding of the reasoning behind them so I could get a firmer foundation for my own belief. A know your enemy kind of thing. His arguments against homeschooling are so shallow that I would laugh if I weren't crying over the state of everything. Thank you for the article links. I will print them off for him to peruse. He is definitely more likely to read those than a book. I don't have a network of homeschooling families to tap into. The few that I have known always end up enrolling them in high school. :(

Ram Man and I have butted heads for years over homeschooling. He went along with it for a while, but is now making loud noise about sending all the kids to ps. I will be the first to admit that our marriage is less than ideal to begin with, but I love homeschooling all the kids. He has never read about it, never looked at curriculum catalogs, never looked at the kids's work, nothing. But he suddenly thinks he knows what's best and I am...bitter, resentful, angry, frustrated. Just pick a negative adjective and it probably fits. We are going to work on marriage counseling and a stipulation that I have is that he must read two books on homeschooling so we can have a true conversation over the topic. I passed on my collection of pro-homeschooling reading material, as I gave up on him ever reading any of it. Could you recommend some titles that are: Interesting A fairly quick read (he has the attention span of a gnat) Focus more toward higher grade levels, as our kids will be 4th through high school this yesr Spend a lot of time on the socialization myth Include bullying/peer pressure Going to collage as a homeschooler I'm not holding my breath, but my hope and prayer is that he realizes ihomeschooling is a good thing, becomes supportive and encouraging about homeschooling, and wants to be an involved homeschool dad. Our eldest recently decided that she wants to try the public school and he's all hung ho to get her signed up. I'm not, but I accept that she is old enough to try it out and will be supportive of her. Thanks!

Ram Man and I have butted heads for years over homeschooling. He went along with it for a while, but is now making loud noise about sending all the kids to ps. I will be the first to admit that our marriage is less than ideal to begin with, but I love homeschooling all the kids. He has never read about it, never looked at curriculum catalogs, never looked at the kids's work, nothing. But he suddenly thinks he knows what's best and I am...bitter, resentful, angry, frustrated. Just pick a negative adjective and it probably fits. We are going to work on marriage counseling and a stipulation that I have is that he must read two books on homeschooling so we can have a true conversation over the topic. I passed on my collection of pro-homeschooling reading material, as I gave up on him ever reading any of it. Could you recommend some titles that are: Interesting A fairly quick read (he has the attention span of a gnat) Focus more toward higher grade levels, as our kids will be 4th through high school this yesr Spend a lot of time on the socialization myth Include bullying/peer pressure Going to collage as a homeschooler I'm not holding my breath, but my hope and prayer is that he realizes ihomeschooling is a good thing, becomes supportive and encouraging about homeschooling, and wants to be an involved homeschool dad. Our eldest recently decided that she wants to try the public school and he's all hung ho to get her signed up. I'm not, but I accept that she is old enough to try it out and will be supportive of her. Thanks!

Zillow is not very accurate, based on first-hand experience. They have our current house as 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, and 1400 square feet. Ummmm, it has 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, and is 2600 square feet, and has been that way for at least 12 years. We've been living here for 8.5 years and I checked Zillow the other day. Their info is still incorrect.

Sigh. My Joy has decided to try 9th grade at the local public school this year. I haven't tried to talk her out of it, but, oh how I will miss her presence (but will gleefully welcome her back home if she decides it isn't a good fit.). I know she will do well academically and she will probably be well-received by her teachers. I have some concerns about the social aspects, as she is very mature for her age and has a great head on her shoulders. Most of her same-age peers at church and 4-H are very immature and Joy tends to gravitate toward the adults and older kids. My concern is that she will have difficulty making friends and that she may come across as being snobby, even though she really isn't. She is very reserved and enjoys conversing with older people. Any advice? Also, I do want her to fit in well enough that she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. What do high school girls wear/like/have these days? Locker supplies, school supplies, school clothes? Also she plans to take her lunch...do kids still brown bag it, or do we go Eco-friendly with a special bag? I was not a cool or hip teen, nor did I care to be. Joy will be herself, but I do want to give her a bit of extra confidence in knowing that she is prepared will all that stuff. Thanks!

The SNL skit was hilarious. My dad would be the old guy telling stories to it (put that uh-huh feature to good use) and my mom would be the old lady telling it to turn up the thermostat. My granny would be saying, "I don't know about that."

Thank you for this! I will need it to "do battle" with the BOE. Thank you for sharing your experience and for answering this question so well.

The ORC is as clear as mud to me. I need to learn to speak legalese. LOL.

Sent you a PM.