I wanted to share our experience with "free time". My oldest is 21 and was one of those exhuberent-when-busy children. She went from school work to sports to friends' homes to work to church events--almost non-stop--and was very happy..... However, now, she is realizing how the lack of "forced" down time and quiet thinking time had negatively affected her. She did not have that stillness in her schedule to just, well, be still. Looking back, she and I would have created a quiet, down time into her daily routine so she could think, ponder, meditate, discover her deeper thoughts and just "be." Of course, every single person is so unique; I just wanted to share our perspective : ) donna

Thanks for all the input. I chose not to purchase the activity book but, after persuing the TEs, and glancing at my friends' Activity Book, I hope to come up with a few activities that route. We are part of a co-op for this where food, guest speakers, music, etc will be presented each week--each family has four or five classes to host. I think I will focus on the "main ideas" as someone has suggested (because there is SO MUCH INFORMATION in this book!) and do some oral testing along the way.... I will post my progress ; ) donna

Hello, We are using BJU Cultural Geography for my 8th grader next year and was wondering if anyone has any teaching tips. We have two toddlers at home, so my focused teaching time is limited. :tongue_smilie: The book is quite extensive and very vocabulary-laden. I am specifically hoping for some ideas about how to summarize and simplify the lessons by someone who has used the text previously. Thanks so much! donna

I began HST because I wanted to be proficient when I needed it for high school transcripts. It is wonderful to print up daily assignments for older students, to print up reading logs, to keep track of any hourly activity (pe, music, art, etc) and to also print up a weekly or daily schedule--including chores. (Beware: there is a learning curve at first, next it will try to be your master, lastly it becomes a wonderful tool--this all happened to me within a period of a few weeks.) I DO plan everything out for the year. USing HST, I either use other's lesson plans found in their yahoo group (I found Apologia, MUS, SOTW, BJU, Rosetta Stone--really there must be thousands of lesson plans already made up) or I make my own (and I post those on the yahoo group for others to use.) I DO add movies, field trip ideas and project all before the year begins. That being said, I DO also allow for much flexibility--I pray for God to use the work I have done to His greatest advantage. For us, having things planned out allows me to be more flexible. For example, in our history, one project after the lesson on the crash of '29 was to follow and graph a stock. Well, I moved to that lesson when FB went public--what perfect timing--we all learned a lot. Also, the Russian revolution came before the anniversary Peter Carl Faberge--also relevant and timed perfectly. If I had not planned these ahead of time, I would not have made the connection readily. That is what works best for us. Every family and teacher-mom is so different. I honestly think prayer asking GOd to lead you to the method that works best for your family is most important..... blessings:001_smile:

Wow! I have both SOTW 4 and AAH purchased already! WOuld you give some more info on this guide? I tried to search, but came up empty?? Thanks! Blessings, donna

Have you tried Oxyclean stain remover? Honestly, I became so tired of the stains and the fumes we purchased Auspens 5 years ago and have LOVED them. They are aluminum, all natural,refillable and you can add new tips when needed. There are six colors. They are expensive, but when I did the math of how many we were going through, (5 kids, now) it just made sense.... They have NEVER stained anything and they smell sooo nice. Auspen.com Hope you figure it out! Happy Easter! donna :grouphug: