used with us. (Subtitle is "The Story of Sex for Children".) I think it's out of print; Amazon has some "third-party" copies available. I remember my mom reading this with me, and the way everything was presented made me really want to stay pure in order to preserve this special gift for the time when I would be married. If I remember correctly, one half is for girls and other for boys.

Are you looking for blank vocabulary analysis sheets, or sheets that have been filled out already? I made my own sheets that hold five words, because the ones in the workbook only hold four. If you want, I can email the form to you. julieshields@comcast.net

my ds REALLY wants to do as much science as possible, and told me that he doesn't want to take a break until August. So, we're going to go ahead and do Physical Science after all, but will stop wherever we are in June, and then start Biology in August. (Anybody have a used copy of Physical Science for sale?) :D I guess I should have asked him first. :rolleyes:

It's per your rec that I'm looking at these, by the way. :) The one thing I didn't like from the online samples was the prevalence of cartoon-type drawings and dialogue in "bubbles." Just an aesthetic thing with me, I guess. I've heard so many good things about this series, though, that I know I shouldn't let that turn me off to it.

(as a vendor, that is). Just wondering if I can see the Galore Park stuff at a convention (FPEA to be specific). I'm very interested in the French stuff.

You're welcome!

I use these and they are most appropriate for the upper grammar years to early logic stage (grades 3-6 or 7). Most of the chapters contain a list of vocabulary words from the reading, a list of people/places to recognize, and discussion questions, along with an occasional matching quiz. I find them to be very helpful. They also suggest other resources, to use for mapwork, or additional reading. If you want a simpler approach to history, this is a good choice. Read the Famous Men books, use the guides for discussion, and do some mapwork or a timeline.

and it's organized by difficulty, corresponding with the SWR Wise Guide Spelling Lists. You don't have to use SWR to use it, though. The selections, for the most part, get progressively more difficult. Here's the link: http://www.lulu.com/content/1250872 HTH,

it doesn't deal with the grammar of the passage, just the content, via discussion questions. Maybe you could work "backwards." Take a selection from Mary Daly's diagramming book, or a grammar book, and give it as a dictation. Would that work? I have a dication list on lulu that you can download for free, and I would be happy to "disect" any of the passages with or for you. You can email me with any questions you may have. julieshields@comcast.net HTH,

what microscope will you be using? The Brock?

is to schedule sessions for the primary readings only, and let my ds read the secondary books "for fun" (Omnibus II). We've also skipped a couple of the books. Next year he will take the Omnibus 3 course via Scholars Online. It meets for 3 hours per week, plus additional time to read & do writing assignments. He will only receive one credit for this, but if secondary books are added, the credits jump to 3. (Not sure why -- maybe being able to correlate the two gives an added benefit of a credit.) The thought of getting 2 more credits by adding secondary books is making this very appealing, but we can't afford to do both online, so I may do the secondary books with him.

My son is in the 8th grade and we have just finished Apologia General Science. :( For 9th ninth grade, I'd really like to start with Biology. What I wondering is whether we should begin Physical Science now, and do as much as we can before 9th grade, or if we should just skip it. He's not slow -- I just didn't schedule enough science time last year. Any thoughts?

Ds11 caught a lizard to show ds2. When I tried to take a picture of it, ds2 only wanted to look at the camera, not at the lizard, so ds9 had to help.

You know, your ds is actually right when he says "1-7 = -6 and 5-1 = 4." The tricky part is to take his method to the next level. The "4" is really "forty" so when you take the forty that you have left and then subtract 6 (the -6 from the 1-7) you will have 34, which is the right answer. Do you see what I mean? He's really quite brilliant! :)

Ten dollars! Times sure have changed, haven't they?

if you don't want your dd to actually memorize the rules, is just having a rules reference handy. Then, whenever she misspells a word, or expresses curiousity about its spelling, you could just explain the rule. I use SWR, rather loosely, and what I like about it is that every word has the corresponding rule(s) listed next to it. I don't require memorization of the rules, just familiarity with and understanding of them. Of course, certain ones are encountered so often that they get memorized naturally. As a cheap solution, you could purchase the SWR rule cards and the Alpha List. Then whenever you need to look something up, it's right there for you.

as she either studies foreign languages, or vocabulary. It's fascinated me that most of the words we consider "rule breakers" are just different because they have a different language of origin. For example, words from the French language are going to use "ch" for a "sh" sound. Words from the Greek use "ch" as a "k" sound. I think that kind of stuff is really helpful, and I've heard many a spelling bee contestant ask for the etymology of a word before committing to the spelling of it. I have always been a natural speller, but have struggled with new words that I've encountered as an adult (except for French words -- because I took French in high school). I think might be because I didn't learn the rules growing up.

Well, the mapwork is good, as are the review questions, but for an older child, I still don't know if I'd spend the money. If you don't have another plan for mapwork/geography, then maybe this would fill that niche.

That's right -- it does not focus on word families at all. It actually jumps around between families so that you are actually learning the rules, and not just lumping words together because you learned them at the same time. It's a great program.

my son began it when he was 12 (at the end of 7th grade). When we started, I pre-read every chapter, highlighting the things I wanted him to copy in his reference notebook, and making sure I could explain things to him. He didn't really need me to do that, though, and now he reads each lesson and does the work on his own, only asking for help every now and then. He does well on his tests -- B's and A's.

I would suggest Saxon 7/6. It's definitely comprehensive, and you can go directly to pre-alg. from there. However, if you think your ds will have trouble with a spiral approach, you could try Rod & Staff Math 6.

The books are definitely suitable for a secular hser. They have the same flavor to me as the Hillyer book, which is basically written to an American audience w/ Judeo-Christian roots, but not to Christians (or evangelicals) specifically. The guides that accompany them, however, (and I'm only familiar with the Greenleaf Guides) do have some exercises like comparing the Greek Gods w/ the God of the Bible, etc. The discussion questions are excellent, though, so it's worth having them, and just choosing what you want to use.

I you can't afford to buy all of it now, you'll be fine with just the Core. However, if you can buy the workbook early as well, then as you read through the Core, you can flip to the corresponding section in the workbook and see how the lesson plays out. AND, if you get the IG too, you'll be able to make little notes in it, like what page numbers to go to in the workbook. Then, when you teach next fall, the Core will be used only to teach a new lesson, and as a reference. Your teaching "spine" will be the IG. To prioritize, the best thing you can do is to read the Core Manual ahead. The next best thing would be to buy the workbook & IG, and see how they tie together.

It looks like I'll be doing the same thing. Otherwise, I'd have to wait too long to start Homer B, and I don't want to do that. ;)

For eighth grade, I would drop spelling. Also, do you really need grammar/comp AND Writing Strands? (Do you skip the writing stuff in grammar/comp or do it all?) Omnibus I will be a full plate, but you can ease him into that. It also has some essay assignments that you can use for writing. Another question -- is he already finished Alg. 1 at age 12? That's impressive. If he hasn't finished, I wouldn't rush anything just so you can start Alg. 2 in April.