I use it for a grade 8 and grade 6 student together. Both love the stories. They just finished the second book and I've noticed for the past couple of months my struggling student (grade 8) has started to find the mistakes first. So, I've very pleased. The icing on the cake is when they notice something wrong in our local paper or a book they are reading and bring it to me to see. If you can get a hold of the older Fix-it! You get all five stories in one book. It will be cheaper that way.

Hi Chris in VA, I was hoping for test sheets to hand to my student. But alas, the only suggestion is to use one of the 3 sections as a test. I have to convert most of my son's work into something he can easily manipulate on a computer. So, I guess I'll have to create it for him. Thanks.

My history loving son is looking forward to doing: Grade 9: History of the Ancient World Grade 10: History of the Medieval World Grade 11: History of the Renaissance World Grade 12: U.S. History - American Heritage Series and Canadian History He has asked that I also match up some videos/lectures for him to watch with each textbook. That is what I am currently fighting my way through right now.

We went with Runkle's Geography but with a twist. I knew my son would not be able to memorize and spell all the names and capitals of every country. So, I had him use http://sheppardsoftware.com/to learn where all the countries are located. He can now place the countries within 10 miles and has moved onto Level 4. His goal is to get to level 6 for every continent. He officially knows where more countries are then I do. We also used Quizlet to help create tests. Check out http://quizlet.com/subject/Runkle/ One family did a great job back in 2011 making up sets of cards to go with each chapter. It's the doerrfamily . Use their cards. Using both helped to lower the amount of writing my son had to do. This lowered his frustration level and helped him to focus on learning. I also give him verbal chapter review tests. Geography is one of his favorite subjects.

I would love to use Education Portal but I cant afford that price either.

Thanks! Checking that out now. They have a nice discount for the lifetime subscription right now also.

Wait! I missed kilt guy! Awe man!! I've got to get my nose out of the books.

PrairieSong, I was the lady reading the spines on all your books squealing, "I want to read this one!!!" over and over. Sorry I was so noisy!

Does anyone know of any tests/quizzes that were created to go along with this text?

I am wondering if anyone has created a lesson plan for Susan's "The History of the Ancient World". I have the textbook and the Study guide.

My eldest two children complain I didn't homeschool them. They say I must love the younger two more because I finally listened and am now homeschooling the younger set. It also annoys the college level kids when dd11 helps them understand their 1st year college math questions.

I call my dd19 "My Lassie" which she knows is short for molasses. I only use it as a warning that I am going to blow soon so she better punch it into high gear and fast. The thing is, she is never slow for her Dad or her friends. We finally took away all internet because I'm paying for a StraighterLine course and it's costing me $$ per month. Next time, it goes on her credit card! When she hands in that final project she gets the router password back.

TWSS was designed for you as the parent to watch, so you could create writing lessons for your children using for example a passage in the history or science textbook that you are also using. The SWI levels was designed for the students to watch, so Mom didn't have to teach the program herself. I was gifted TWSS and purchased SWI - B and C levels for my kids. Both TWSS and SWI are equally awesome! :) I would go to their website and search for the recorded webinars and watch them, no matter which one you decide to go with. Last year I stuck really close to SWI-B. This year I eliminated writing class from our schedule and using the tactics I learned in TWSS, I assigned writing from other subjects they were going to do, using the checklists they learned in SWI. It's been great.

I would love a house cleaner on the weeks we are sick! You could hire someone to come either every other week for a few months as you get used to doing it all yourself. Or hire someone to just do bathrooms as you practice keeping up on everything else and then wean yourself off of the house cleaner and do the bathrooms yourself also. That being said. My kids are older and then best thing I ever did was teach them how to clean it for me. :) But honestly both my eldest two have made some serious money cleaning for people and I'm being told by their employers that they felt my girls were really well trained. Which makes me smile, because I used to say, someday you'll thank me that I made you learn how to clean a toilette! And my kids didn't believe me. Now they do. :)

Unfortunately, it's my sister's voice. When she sings. Please stay on the other side of the church, sis!

For the Lessons Vocab Quiz 30% * grade = A Mapping 30% * grade = B Study Notes 40% * grade = C Lesson Average A+B+C = D Generally there are 3 lessons and then a Chapter Test The Chapter test is graded out of 100. So, for a chapter grade. I add up the "D"s D+D+D+Test and divide by 4 (in this example). If there are 4 lessons then I have D+D+D+D+test and divide by 5.

EKS Thanks for that link. I had tried to use it previously and that is what drove me back to here. I was entering the grade in a basic excel file and the grade average is off from my excel to the Engrade file. I just went back into my Engrade account and changed all the %'s and the grade stays the same. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'm struggling on how to calculate grades for a class. There are 44 lessons which I want to grade the following in each lesson: Vocabulary Quiz 30% Mapping 30% Written study note review 40% That all equals 100% There are also 9 Chapter Tests and I would like them to count as 100% on their own. Is there an online gradebook that will let me do this?

Here are some ACT & SAT links. ACT prep - daily question http://www.act.org/qotd/ ACT word of the day https://www.number2.com/exams/act/daily/word/index.cfm?s=0 ACT question of the day https://www.number2.com/exams/act/daily/question/index.cfm?s=0 SAT word of the day https://www.number2.com/exams/sat/daily/word/index.cfm?s=0 SAT question of the day https://www.number2.com/exams/sat/daily/question/index.cfm?s=0

Did you sign up for a teacher or parent account?

Wow! Thanks Duckens

I'd like to build a list of things that an older elementary/ high school student could work through on the computer every day while they have their coffee and I work with a little one. For example: Daily Puzzle set http://www.setgame.com/set/daily_puzzle SAT question of the day http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-question-of-the-day CNN student news http://www.cnn.com/studentnews Word of the Day http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/ Today in History http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history Today in Science http://www.sciencedaily.com/ Travel Photo http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/365-photos/rain-brooklyn-bridge-new-york/ Any other suggestions?

This recall is for Canada. I don't know if it affects units sold in the US or not. Perhaps someone will know how to research this on the USA side. http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2015/43609r-eng.php?utm_source=twitter_hc&utm_medium=social_en&utm_content=feb6_recall1&utm_campaign=social_media_14 Please check you Fire Extinguishers and if you don't have one, why not! You might wish you had one some day.

SOTW - I enjoyed the activity books because of the book lists in them. The kids enjoyed reading the books. Plus the map work was a great supplement for Geography. You should also check out: https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=sotw&term_meta%5B%5D=sotw|autocomplete|0 for a wide variety of ideas. Make sure you select with Volume you are using to narrow the search down. Literature: Use the books from the SOTW activity books! Also, take a look at Ambleside Online. I don't follow the whole Charlotte Mason thing but the book lists are amazing and my kids haven't found a dud book yet on it. http://www.amblesideonline.org/03bks.shtml

Actually, I use an excel program that I'm building. I customized it for my son's geography grades to practice during his grade 8 year (this year). As I put the grades for each test, etc. It slowly builds his report card and transcript for me during the terms and year. I'm still working out some glitches, so I can't share it, but I'm hoping it will be good to go for me to use for ds & dd's high school years.