I know this is an old thread, but I don’t know how far in advance you were planning and I’ve actually used all the materials you mentioned twice now (my oldest just finished 7th and middle just finished 3rd). This is what I’ve done for writing and grammar so far: Kindergarten: WWE1/FLL1 First grade: WWE2/FLL2 Second grade: WWE3/FLL3/MCT Island Third grade: Killgallon Elementary Sentence Composing followed by Treasure Conversations/FLL4/MCT Town Fourth grade: Writing and Rhetoric 1-2 followed by Killgallon Elementary Paragraphs/MCT Voyage Fifth grade: W&R3-4/Junior Analytical Grammar Sixth grade: W&R5-6 (no grammar this year as we started vocabulary) Seventh grade: W&R7-8/GftWTM Purple Eighth grade (planned to begin next month): W&R9-10/Teaching the Classics followed by Windows to the World/GftWTM Red

I'm starting my planning for next school year when we'll be using Holt Geometry 2007. Remembering back to my own high school and college math courses, there were always sections or even whole chapters that my teachers skipped. How did they decide what was okay to skip?

I love seeing what everyone's doing! My oldest will be in 8th for 2019-2020. The plan: History/Geography, combination of: - Tapestry of Grace Year 4 – Dialectic Stage - K12 Human Odyssey - K12 American Odyssey - South Carolina: The History of an American State Language Arts: - Teaching the Classics & Windows to the World - Selections from Excellence in Literature Book I and 2 - Classical Academic Press: Writing and Rhetoric 9-10 - Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind: Red Level - Vocabulary from Latin and Greek Roots 8 Math: - Holt Geometry Science: - Elemental Science Physics for the Logic Stage Foreign Language: - Breaking the French Barrier Logic: - Classical Academic Press Art of Argument - Classical Academic Press Argument Builder - Critical Thinking Company Building Thinking Skills Level 3 (second half) - Critical Thinking Company Mind Benders Book 7 Arts: - Artistic Pursuits Grades 6-8 Book 2 - Violin Lessons Religion: - The Incarnate God Extras: - Boy Scouts - Co-op and Field Trips

I love seeing everyone’s plans! I’m mostly just doing what I did for older brother, besides the arts/P.E. additions. Here’s my plan for my next-year-fourth-grader: History, combination of: Tapestry of Grace Year 4 Upper Grammar Story of the World 4 America’s History: Land of Liberty At Home in South Carolina Language Arts: Kolbe Academy Elementary Literature Killgallon Paragraphs for Elementary School Classical Academic Press: Writing and Rhetoric 1 & 2 Michael Clay Thompson Voyage Level All About Spelling Levels 6 and 7 Math: Singapore Standards: 5A and 5B Logic: Critical Thinking Company Building Thinking Skills Level 2 Critical Thinking Company Mind Benders Book 4 Science: Elemental Science Physics for the Grammar Stage Foreign Language: Getting Started With Latin Keyboarding: Typing Instructor Platinum Religion: Law of God by Seraphim Slobodskoi Arts: Art classes at co-op Violin lessons P. E.: Soccer TaeKwonDo Extras: Cub Scouts Other co-op classes Field trips

Thank you both so much! I think that’s exactly what I’ll do. We’ll spend the beginning of the school year focusing specifically on literary analysis and then I’ll choose which units of EiL to complete the remainder of the year.

Thank you so much! You always give such wonderfully helpful and detailed responses! May I ask what your high school literature courses looked like for your children ? Did you continue with LL or do something different?

Looking to decide which to use for eighth grade. DS is using Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings this year. We’ve also been using Writing and Rhetoric and are on Book 8. I’m looking at Lightning Literature 8 or Excellence in Literature Introduction to Literature. Can anyone tell me about experiences with each? Also, for Lightning Lit, is the student guide consumable or only the student workbook?

I am getting very confused trying to figure out what I would need to order if we choose to go with Bien Dit. Can anyone tell me what components of the program are necessary? I took three years of French in high school, but that was many years ago, so I’ll definitely need answer keys.

My son’s scores from the testing we did in May at the end of his 6th grade year qualify him to enroll in the 7th Grade Talent Search. I see that enrollment runs August to April and that you have to pick a test/location/date when you sign up. Is there an advantage/disadvantage to enrolling and testing earlier vs. later? I was thinking of signing him up for a May testing date so he’d have the whole year of Algebra under his belt before taking the SAT or ACT (also, is there any consensus on which to take?). Does that make sense or am I not thinking of something?

Just wanted to update and thank everyone. We did it! Everything went smoothly. We fumbled a bit at a Tim Hortons far outside the city with a cashier who didn’t speak English very well, but it worked out in the end. Everyone we dealt with in the city spoke English. The city was absolutely beautiful and we had a lovely time meandering the streets for a couple of days. We got into Canada and back to the US without a hitch (though the people in front of us on the way back in were not so lucky). Thank you guys for reassuring me that it would all work out!

You mentioned Sherbrooke, which of these routes would you recommend?

So, I should just be able to use my credit card, that's good! What about buying gas? A couple of years ago at a gas station, I was stopped by a French Canadian tourist who had no clue how to pay for gas at the gas station (using a credit card at the pump). Was he just special, or do they do that differently?

We will be in lower ME during the two weeks surrounding Labor Day. DH really wants to drive up to Quebec City for a couple of days. We all have passports (kids are 4, 8, and 12). I'm incredibly anxious about the whole thing: hundreds of miles of rural roads, border crossing, money changing, a language I haven't spoken since third year high school French and DH doesn't know at all. Does anyone have tips on how to do this successfully and cheaply? Which route to take, what to see (there's nothing in particular he's interested in, he just wants to see the city), where to change money, where to stay for two nights?

Thank you. I do remember that now that you mention it and I'll pay attention to see if that's what's going on.

My 4yo still doesn't *always* use a particular hand when eating, drawing, etc. in general, I'm fine with it, but she is really wanting to learn to write and I'm not sure what to do about her hand-switching. I'm left-handed. My olders and husband are right-handed. She primarily uses her right hand, but occasionally (at least once per sitting, not like once a month) switches to her left. When teaching her to write/form letters correctly, should I encourage her to stick with her right since she seems to prefer it? Is it going to be confusing for her to switch back and forth or should I just adjust things every time she switches?

I've used the Grammar stage Biology program twice so far. Both times, I supplemented with on-topic books and DVDs from the library for more information, but I don't think that's necessary. I've used Elemental Science from the beginning and will be using Chemistry for the Logic Stage and for the Grammar Stage this year.

I won't know until they contact me. It was just at a year for my older son. The doctor told me that the place in our city that does evaluations is around two years right now.

I read it a few months ago for the first time. I'm so conflicted on this. It was awful, just awful; disturbing in a way I can't describe. I knew the story line, knew what happens in the end, and the whole thing was just excruciating to read. Perhaps because I have two boys? I do agree that some really important conversations could come out of it, but I'd definitely pre-read to be ready to have those conversations. It's not at all a hopeful book; there is no underlying message of humanity shining through.

Quick update: after talking with DH, we made a list of our concerns and I took DS to the pediatrician this week. She agreed that an evaluation was in order and her office is starting the paperwork process for that. Apparently, waiting times are no better than they were when our oldest was diagnosed, though. But, at least we got the ball moving.

My 12yo read Murder on the Orient Express last summer when he was 11. He loved it.

We're in the capital city in a Southern state. Moving is not an option nor is traveling long distance for services or evaluations--we just don't have the money. The economy/politics here makes it so that getting services is extremely difficult. And being from the place that everyone moves to because it's cheaper means we don't have the ability to leave the place. We live on one income because we did t want our kids falling through the cracks in the system, but it also makes other things more difficult.

I'm just so tired of life being so damn difficult. And feeling awful that this kid has never gotten the attention he needed because all eyes were on his brother. It took over a year to get into an evaluation for my oldest. We have to drive two hours to get to his appointments because though we were on waitlists for all three developmental/behavioral peds places in our state that do evals, after a year of waiting, the first one to call was two hours away and not the one in our city. When the one here finally did call, they literally hung up on me when I said he'd had the evaluation at the other place. The place he goes to offers us nothing besides testing and meds. They know nothing about services in my city. I was told to get in contact with the support group for special needs kids here, but they never responded to my calls. There's currently a lawsuit against my state by autism moms for how impossible the state makes getting ABA therapy. We are the lowest-paid state in the country for therapists (far less than half the national average) and that's reflected in the fact that they are extremely poor quality. When we actually made it to the top of the waiting list for therapy, we gave up our spot after four months because it was making him worse. The "therapists" had two hours of training. They were college grads but in completely unrelated fields. They had no idea what they were doing and were making things horribly worse--when they even showed up. Sorry for my tangential griping. I'll stop now. Sometimes I'm just plain done with life. So, anyway, it seems the fastest route would be to talk to my oldest's doctor at the developmental/behavioral pediatrician's office we go to.

One more example that just now happened. We are watching Paddington 2. Paddington has been arrested and is in court. He's verbally reminding himself that Mr. Brown said he'd be fine as long as he gets a fair-minded judge. Cut to the judge walking in. Paddington sees his face and it cuts to an earlier scene of Paddington having a mishap in a barber shop and shaving off a huge chunk of this same guy's hair. Everyone in the room watching the movie moans "oh no!" and DS8 says "what? Why'd you say that? What's wrong?" These are the kinds of things that always go right over his head and I've never understood how.

We go in to my older son's autism specialist in a little over a month. I'll talk to her about it. I do appreciate the resources and thoughts. Thank you.

He has a very hard time answering questions like that or expressing his thoughts. We actually just had a question like this about an hour ago. My husband asked what the difference was between an android and a robot. I was about to answer when he said that he wanted to. So, he went on and on for a couple of minutes about it, all dancing around the concept that it's a robot in the shape/form of a human but never just explicitly saying that. He often asks questions in really odd ways that I just can't figure out what he's trying to ask.