Thank you! That is what I was wondering. We probably wouldn't use the entire text and it would just be one component of a study on particular cultures and geography of those areas.

I hope so too! I am surprised no one has given any info. It is probably a dumb question! :)

Hi! I have a question about BJU's Cultural Geography text. Can the units be taught in any order rather than as they are laid out in the text? It looks like the first few should be taught sequentially but that after those one could teach the units (regions) in any order. Thanks for any info.!

Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Apologia's Elementary series -Zoology 3 & Astronomy Writing With Skill 1 Spelling Workout Wordly Wise Rummy Roots IEW's Poetry Memorization MathUSee & Life of Fred Building Thinking Skills, RedHerrings, MindBenders Latin's Not So Tough piano lessons non-competitive gymnastics

Thanks everyone! I have decided what we are going to do. It is SO HELPFUL to get input from others. It's like my mind just cleared up! We are going to finish the Core as it is written without adding anything to it. I think he will finish around the beginning of Septermber. Then, we are going to start back over "from the beginning" with Tapestry of Grace Year 1. Lots of reasons I decided to go with TOG but one is that I know he will eventually cover everything in-depth. He loves to read, so I think even if we start TOG in the late fall, it will be fine. He will catch up eventually! Thanks again!

It seems much more realistic for us to do it that way. He is especially interested in Modern History and we have never really studied it with the depth that I had hoped we would by this point. He has had much more exposure to the other time-periods. I have thought about using Year 4 of Biblioplan but I am not sure if we will like their new text and it is a huge part of their new schedules. I will look at TCC. I have always thought we may use some of their resources at some point.

Thank you! It has been very difficult. I was close to both of them. As my dad neared death we made lots of efforts to visit with him as much as possible, so that slowed us down this spring too.

We looked at the schedule closely and at our calendar and it does look like he could complete the core by the end of August if we are able to keep making progress through July. I guess he can take books to Ukraine with him if we travel in August. He won't mind because he loves to read. Then, he could start 9th grade when we get back from Ukraine. Of course, international adoption is to unpredictable, who knows exactly how that will go! The main thing I wanted to decide is if he should complete the core before officially starting High School or if I should beef it up for 9th grade. So, your input is very helpful! Thank you!

I had planned to have him working on the Core through most of June. I don't think he would be able to finish all of the core this summer, but maybe if we omitted a reader or two. Hmmm... maybe I could find a couple of audiobooks. We won't be able to get much, if anything, done from the last week of June through the first week of August because we are a host family with an orphan hosting program. We will be hosting during those weeks. I think it would be really hard to make progress during those weeks but I guess we should try. Also, we are trying to adopt the child we are hosting, so we may be going to Ukraine for as long as two months during the late summer (possibly mid July to mid August or August through September). In light of all this, I think the most realistic timeframe to finish the core would be in late fall. Possibly as late as December! That's why I thought it may be easier to beef it up for 9th grade. But, I really, really want him to do a four year chronological history study for HS.

Hi! I could use some advice. My 8th grade son is using Sonlight's Core H this year. It is the 2nd half of World History. It schedules Story of the World 3 and 4. He is reading most of the core independently. I only read the read-alouds, but we do discuss almost everything that he reads. We have had a difficult second half of the school year. My dad passed away after a terrible struggle with cancer and a couple of weeks after that my grandmother passed away. He has only completed half of this Sonlight core. Now I am trying to decide if I should push him through it, having him double up on reading, and attempt to complete this core before next fall OR if I should add something to the second half of the core to make it worthy of a High School credit for Modern World History. I do not want to drop it all together because we both really love this core. The second half of this Sonlight core schedules Story of the World 4, Abraham Lincoln's World, and the Usborne World History Encyclopedia as the main spines. Do you have any suggestions of what I could add to these to flesh out a year that would be worthy of a 9th grade Modern World History credit? Or, do you think it would be better to wait and start counting HS credit after he completes this core? My plan was for him to complete this core and then start back over with the four year history cycle with Ancients in 9th grade. I was leaning heavily towards using My Father's World Ancient History and Literature for 9th grade. Thanks for any help!

I encourage you to send an email to Julia Nalle at Biblioplan if you have any questions that the samples do not answer for you. She is a very helpful, generous person who will help you without making you feel pressured. :001_smile:

Hi, everyone! I haven't been on the board very often since it changed to the new forums. I recently found this group! We are getting geared up to begin High School next year, so I am beginning to frequent the board again. Just wanted to say hello! Lots of wonderful, good things are going on in my life, and some scary stuff too. My dad is really ill and not expected to live much longer. We have been told he has about 30 days left. He is suffering greatly with cancer and is now on hospice. As the Lord brings him to your mind, please pray for his comfort and my mom's strength and peace. God bless all of you. I will be taking your needs to our Father.

I can't remember which weeks are included in the year 1 sample, but if you can tell me which weeks you have I will check my BP schedule to see if any optional spines are scheduled for those weeks. But, yes, you should see the optional spines. I have the newest year 1 schedule and it looks like they are scheduled for almost every week.

Hi! I hope it is o.k. for me to jump in to the conversation! :001_smile: My oldest will be a 9th grader next year. We have never used Biblioplan but I have always wanted to and am considering it for High School. Caroljenn, do you use the Greenleaf literature guides that are recommended in Year 1? I think my son would need the help that those offer for the literature of this time period. But, I am just wondering if they are enough help. By help, I just mean enough support so that we can count the BP reading as a part of his English credit. Thank you for any info. I really want to start at Ancients in 9th grade, but I know we will need help with the literature component.

Rod & Staff English is really good for this purpose. You could just get a student book and take your child through the lessons on paragraphs. You wouldn't need the TM and you wouldn't need to do all of the lessons.

:bigear: I've been wondering the same thing!

My 8th grader is working almost completely independently this year. We started back three weeks ago and it's going very well. I keep up with what he is covering in all of his materials by looking ahead each week. I take about 20 minutes a day and go over his work with him after he has completed his daily assignments. He is using the following things independently or with little input from me: Math - MathUSee & Life of Fred (his dad keeps up with his MUS with him) LA - Writing With Skill, Spelling Workout, Wordly Wise, Analytical Grammar w/ the DVDs, IEW's Poetry Memorization Science - Apologia's Physical w/ Sonlight's schedule History - he is reading the Bible readings, Bible books, history books, and the readers from Sonlight's Core H. I read the read-alouds to him but he is reading everything else himself. He orally narrates everything that he reads. We have the Story of the World books on CD but he prefers to read them rather than listen to the CDs. He reads the books and does the mapping/timeline assignments on his own. Greek - Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek is independent. He's been using it for several years, so he knows exactly what to do with it. He will also be using The Art of Argument this year but we haven't started it yet. He will be using the DVDs. We are finishing up reading The Thinking Toolbox together but he could have just as easily read it on his own. We also read The Fallacy Detective together but he could have read that one on his own also.

We have already started easing back into school, so our plan is now firm: Sonlight Core 7/H (2nd half of World History) Sonlight Science 150 (Apologia Physical Science) Writing With Skill Analytical Grammar Rod & Staff Spelling Wordly Wise IEW's Poetry Memorization Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek Getting Started With Latin MathUSee Pre-Algebra Life of Fred The Thinking Toolbox, then The Art of Argument Red Herrings Violin lessons

He's behind because he started R&S 3 in 4th grade rather than in 3rd grade. He used First Language Lessons up until that point. I didn't want him to "miss" anything and it just seemed the best place to start him at the time. Then, the curriculum we have been using schedules R&S 5 over two years because it's just one component of a fuller LA course and it gives them time to fit these other areas of LA into their day. So, yes, the hold up has been that we just haven't gone through the material very quickly. He has no problem at all with comprehension.

I have asked about this here on the board before but I still can't figure it out. My oldest son will be an 8th grader this fall but he has only completed through grade 5 of Rod & Staff English. He used three years of First Language Lessons and has used R&S since fourth grade. I think he started from the beginning of R&S 3. He likes R&S and he likes grammar. I have been so stressed out because if we continue with R&S next year he will only be in the grade 6 book. For some reason, this is just really bothering me. I normally do not get hung up on grade levels but this is just stressing me to no end. It seems like we've done R&S forever but here he is behind grade level. I thought about skipping some lessons but that makes me nervous for some reason. I purchased Analytical Grammar and it just arrived. I thought it would be better to condense grammar. Then, I wouldn't have to worry about the number on the book! He will be using Writing With Skill next year, so he won't really need the writing in R&S. He does like the writing instruction in R&S though. But, I'm just not sure about AG now that I actually have it in hand. I didn't think it was possible for anything to appear duller than R&S, but it does!! So, this is what I want to know... be honest :tongue_smilie:... is being behind in R&S a big deal? I mean, big enough of a deal to make a change? Because, if it's not, I think we are going to stick with it and just try to speed it up, cut out some of the review (I've always had him do everything), and see how it all pans out around the end of 10th grade. Thanks! Any feedback welcome.

Yes. We are Independent Baptists. I'm sure there are others. :001_smile:

Hi, Heidi! We are previous SL users who have also used two years of HOD. I've used the old Core K, 1, 2, 3, and some of 3+4. I have also taught Little Hearts, some of Beyond Little Hearts, Bigger Hearts, Preparing and Creation to Christ. I love HOD and have blabbed on this board many times that we would use it forEVER!!! :D Well, my youngest son did Bigger Hearts this past year. I have always thought that he is an auditory learner but we had some frustrating days this year for a variety of reasons and I began to see that he is in fact a VSL who loves to read and be read to. I don't know how I missed it for so long. The things in Bigger Hearts that I thought should be appealing to a VS learner did not appeal to him. He does not need or want hands-on activities (other than the many that he comes up with on his own) and he detests notebooking (even though he will draw and write on his own as the spirit moves him). He is NOT a Charlotte Mason kind of kid. One thing that was great for him and which we will continue is HOD's studied dictation. So, atleast I figured that out. He will be doing Core C next year. We actually started this week. I think Core C is a good option for you. Core C is full of many wonderful stories. The history encyclopedia that is used has strong images, as do the geography books. Once you get into D and E there are no more illustrated books, atleast not in the year that we used. I wouldn't worry about starting C before B. I like Core B, but the readings are pretty light and if you think your son wants more reading and stories then I'd say go with Core C. Core C will review the history from Core B. Now, it is a quick, brief review but it's not like you are just dropped right into history "mid-way" with no explanation. The review in the first week is meant to be lightly touched on. The reading that is scheduled is way too much to cover each day, if you read the book. The IG tells you to not even read the pages in the history book, but to just talk about them. However, what I'm doing is taking two weeks to cover the first week. That way, we ease back into school, and we are actually reading the history book and not just looking at the pictures and talking about it. We are reading all of the pages and the history notes in the IG. You could easily add content to the first couple of weeks to give a fuller picture of Ancient history before getting into Core C if you want to. You could use library books or any that you happen to have on hand for that time period. Did you do Little Hearts? If so, I'd count that as plenty for exposure to Ancient History and move on. If you continue with either SL or HOD, your child will get plenty of history over the years. Now, if you want to keep the day a little shorter, then Core B would work fine too. I like Core C much more than Core B, but that's my opinion. The books in Core B are great too. Something about Core C just really excites me. It's my favorite of the SL Cores we have done so far. Blessings!

I think it would depend on what guides and resources you are considering. The materials are intertwined with the other subjects but they stand up on their own too, so it really just depends on what you have in mind. I've used several HOD guides and would be glad to help if I can. What in particular are you considering?

I changed it up AGAIN!! Everything is for sure now because we started today. "Alternative Curriculum Plan C" - otherwise known as This Is For Sure the Plan & We Have Already Started It: 2012-2013 8th grade - MathUSee Pre-Algebra w/ Life of Fred Writing With Skill Analytical Grammar Rod & Staff Spelling 7 & 8 IEW's Poetry Memorization Memoria Press literature study guides (finish The Trojan War, one for a Shakespeare play and one other to be chosen) other Shakespeare stuff Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek Getting Started with Latin Teaching the Classics w/ the Worldview supplement- co-op class Sonlight Core H - 2nd half of World History Sonlight Science 150: Apologia's Exploring Creation w/ Physical Science finish The Thinking Toolbox and then The Art of Argument 5th grade - MUS Delta w/ Life of Fred Writing With Ease First Language Lessons 4 Sequential Spelling IEW's Poetry Memorization Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek Getting Started with Latin Sonlight Core C: 2nd half of Intro. to World History w/ Grade 4-5 readers and supplements Sonlight LA for 4-5 readers Sonlight Science E: Electricity, Magnetism, and Astronomy The Thinking Toolbox, Red Herrings & Mind Benders

Thanks SO MUCH for the info. It looks like a great program. But, I've decided to go with Analytical Grammar since he'll be using other things that we like for the other areas of LA. Thanks again!