1. Write books 2. Illustrate books 3. Create curricula 4. Move out of CA

Oh! sorry for being dense. :-) I get what you mean. No, I haven't published any new books. It takes me about 3-4 months to create one set (two books) and I have to justify all that time spent on them. I WILL make more, but it might have to be during my "hobby" time until they take off, if they ever do, and I can justify doing that sort of thing full-time. It's what I really want to do. I want to make a whole slew of books and build stuff around them. I think the current set I made is unique in that it's not just tied to one thing. The main idea is about seasons, but I tied in lots of other info into the set like geography, cultures, history, cooking, math, Latin/Greek roots, language arts and more. That's how I always taught my kids, so it was natural for me to do that in the books I created. The books by themselves aren't curricula, ;) and they are so much more than just science. I probably didn't do a good enough job on my website conveying that. I think I need to make a books section, or something, that isn't curriculum related. The seasons curriculum on my website is just something I built around them, but they are designed to be used independently. I hope I'm explaining that OK. I'm kind of brain dead right now as I've been working on the pre-K through 2nd grade version of my anatomy curriculum all day. No need to sneak anything under the radar!! I'll send you some links to get the books for free, if you will agree to review them on Amazon and my store website and give me some feedback on them (like what I can do to improve the next set). Just PM me with your email address. LOL...I know how that goes. Years ago, I bought every single level of several curriculum items because they worked great with my two older kids. Then my son came along and I had to get rid of it all because it didn't work for him AT ALL. His needs changed all the time. I never could plan too far in advance when it came to curriculum. Yes, that's sort of something I'm thinking up...tentatively. It won't be ready for fall though. I want to mix that up with various other topics...like more about the stuff the scientists discovered or worked on. We'll see what happens. I have so many plans and so little time to execute them all. I'm still homeschooling my son, too. He's older now, so he doesn't require as much of my time as he used to...but he still needs to get on the computer to do math and things like that which prevents me from putting in a full 8 hour days on this sort of stuff. I'm having a lot of anxiety about my future right now (life after kids), so I'm working my tail off with all of this trying to crank it all out so I can turn a hobby site into a business. It's so much work, it's overwhelming. :willy_nilly: Combine that with all the new stuff I want to make and the books I want to write and illustrate and I'm almost over my head, lol....Still, I love it. Awww, I remember those toddler days. ;-)

It's designed to be started at any time, in any type of weather / climate. There is an optional 6 week plants genetics kit, but that is scheduled in starting in week 27. That particular project is set up so that it can be started at ANY time and is not tied to the daily schedule. It's an indoor project, too, so it's not dependent on the weather. The nature journaling book I recommend can also be used at any time, and is not scheduled in. It's just to be used on an "as desired" basis at any point in the curriculum. Please let me know if you have any more questions! :-)

((hugs)) Thinking about you and sorry you are dealing with that. It's can be so crushing, but you are not alone!! I think you are very well-loved here on these forums. :grouphug:

My daughter was reading when she was 2 years old. When it was time for K, I thought she would be bored. Plus, I really loved having her with me and doing things with her. Homeschooling was still fairly new back when she was small. One day I was at the library (a frequent stop, lol) and I was thrilled to find info about it. After reading a couple of books (one of them was Homeschooling for Excellence by the Colfaxes) I knew it's what I wanted to do. I never looked back.

You can start in any season. I have 2 versions of the curriculum. The 1st is 14 weeks long and has a daily schedule. It can be started whenever you wish. The 1st version can be used as a gentle core curriculum with literature / read-alouds, etc. Or, it can be pared down to just the science. The 2nd is a topics schedule (spring, summer, fall, winter) and can also be started whenever. It has a pre-unit to go through first, for introductory concepts. Then, you just jump into whichever season you are currently in and start having fun! The 2nd version is JUST science, with no cross-curricular types of things scheduled in. Yes, I included some info about animals in this curriculum. Kids that are the target age usually love animals, and I felt it appropriate to include them with various seasonal topics. For example, I scheduled in a book about animal migration because my seasons book mentioned how some animals migrate during different seasons. I also included a book about birds, as many different birds are seasonal visitors to specific areas. I have a book about caterpillars scheduled in (along with a butterfly kit) and one about animal camouflage. The books I scheduled in expound on things that are briefly mentioned in either my book(s) or some of the other books I scheduled into the curriculum, like Explore Spring. I basically designed something that would have been my kids' dream science curriculum when they were that age, lol. It depends on what you mean by "like this curriculum", lol. Explain? :-) Most of the curricula I create are literature based with activities sprinkled in. They all have a similar flavor to them. However, I don't have anything quite like the seasons curriculum, maybe because I don't have any more books published to build a curriculum around, lol. I'd like to write more books, but right now I'm trying to focus on converting / updating all of the curricula on my website. I do have plans to create more curricula. Anything specific you are looking for / want?

The book is about 50 pages. The activity book is about 140 pages. Let me know if you have any other questions! The book is an easy read, despite the 50 pages. It's 50 picture book / comic pages, not like a novel. Here are some screenshots: The activity book has lots of cut outs and a variety of activities. Here are some sample pages:

Thank you! Yes, you'd do part 1 and then part 2. I'll be working on updating/revamping/revising both of my U.S. history programs this summer and hopefully will have the updates finished by August. I plan on making it much more clear how they work together, lol...

Wow! That is a HUGE compliment! Thank you!! :001_wub:

I'm going through my site and updating / revising everything. I just finished the jr. anatomy curriculum that tracks with the high school level anatomy curriculum. http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/anatomy_jr/jr_anatomy_curriculum.html It's literature based and meaty enough to be a "core" curriculum for science loving kids. :-) Now I have to update the pre-K through 2nd grade level. Then it's off to the next curriculum...I have such a huge load of work on my plate, but I love doing it. Hope this is a help to someone looking for something a little different.

Wow! That's so amazing! Yes, God is good!!

We went through a similar situation when my kids were little. We got a dog that was WONDERFUL, until she nipped at (not in a friendly way) at one of the kids. She also had a very strong chase instinct, which wasn't good since our kids were young and running around. We took her back. It was for the best, as she was more suited for a family without young children. We got a puppy instead. I think that's generally the way to go when you've got kids. We've raised two puppies over the last 14 years and it's just worked out much better as they bonded with our family and we were able to train specific things right from the beginning. I think it's harder to get an older dog to fit in, sometimes, when you have young children. Both our puppies were lab mixes. The first was a lab and herding dog mix. She had a lot of the herding dog instinct and while she was mouthy, we taught her early on to have a "soft mouth". The 2nd is a lab / border collie mix, but he has the lab temperament. He's a big goofus and such a wonderful dog. So, I 2nd the suggestion for a lab mix. I think they are good dogs for kids.

Congrats!!! Yay!

I like and hate testing...and I've done it and not done it. How's that for an answer? ;-) If I was doing everything over again, I probably would not test during the elementary grades, because I have enough experience now to know if a kid is on track or not. I also have enough experience not to panic if a kid is not on track. Tests are so limited in what they tell you and there are so many different tests out there. Do I really need to know that my kid is in the 65th or 99th percentile in a specific category with artificial measurements? Will it change anything I'm doing? Probably not. Maybe if I was JUST starting out and had never homeschooled, I might want the reassurance and want to shut up naysayers with good scores. Otherwise, it's not worth the bother. I've had to prepare for state testing when we were homeschooling through a charter school, and it was a real pain. Tests don't take into account that you might be learning something different, or something at a different pace. I don't give them too much credit for the outcome of my homeschooling long term goals. Having said all that, I would start some testing in late middle school to prepare for the SAT and/or ACT and just to get an older child used to testing for college purposes, etc. It wouldn't really be for me to see how s/he was doing as much as it would be for the experience.

I'm the one who made the botany course linked above. :-) Let me know if you have any questions about it...

So glad your daughter loves the biology curriculum. I wish I could make a high school chemistry curriculum, but am unable to for various reasons. I did just finish making a new high school anatomy curriculum. :-) I'm trying to think up what other high school curriculum I should create, as I get a lot of email asking for more, lol. Any suggestions?

I'm going through my entire site and redoing everything. This is the latest thing I've finished: http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/anatomy_highschool/anatomy_home.html This is the first time I've created a curriculum for $ only, so I guess I'll see how it does. I left up the old, free version for those who need another option. I'd like some input, so I'll give the first person to ask for it a coupon to get the new version for free in exchange for some feedback. :-) I'm getting a lot of emails asking for more high school level stuff, but I'm limited in what I can and can't create, for various reasons. Chemistry is out :-( . So far I have biology, anatomy, and botany (which is for middle school & high school). Any suggestions as to what I should work on next, after I'm done revamping all of my other curricula?

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into the titles and see if any are the book I was thinking of!

I've seen someone mention a book here before (a long time ago) in a thread about abuse. It was a book that someone said they recommended all daughters / young ladies read, or something like that...It was about warning signs in men / potential spouses / boyfriends - about certain behaviors, etc. I remember looking at the book online and it was really interesting, but I can't for the life of me remember the title. Anyway, my (adult) daughter and I were in a conversation recently about what happened to one of her married friends and that book came to mind. I'd like to send it to my daughter, as she has some concerns about avoiding, for lack of a better term, "bad" men. I think it's the perfect book for her to read, but UGH...that elusive title!!! Any thoughts about what it could be? It lists and discusses warning signs in men, specifically - like controlling behavior and so on that should be seen as red flags.

Ack! That should teach me to work on my site when I'm tired, lol. I've updated the page to contain the link and am pasting it below: http://guesthollow.com/store/shop/otters-botany-curriculum-schedule/ Thanks for pointing that out!!

Thanks! I enjoyed them and learned a lot myself! :-)

Thanks for the order! :-) LOL about the chocolate. I designed this for my son, who wasn't too enthused about the thought of studying plants...until he realized that there are a lot of interesting things that come from plants, like chocolate! So, I did that on purpose. Sort of like a sneaky hook to perk up his interest for the year. ;) We learned a lot of interesting things and I think the Wicked Plants book was one of his fave books of the year, lol.

LOL... I've done that too!