Thanks Beth, that's true it is still being written. The extra literature suggestions begin (I believe) in Maxium. So I guess I'm looking for Maxium, Chrea, and Herodotus users. Oh well, maybe not so many of us after all!

Thanks to all those who responded. It is very interesting to hear how others are choosing to utilize the CW program. Anyone else? I really thought there were more upper level CW users here. I'll add a question just for fun: What about writing assignments for other subjects like history or literature? Do you do them or alter them so they align with what has been taught in CW? {In our case some history writing assignments are essays yet we haven't reached Maxim where essays are taught.... so I tend to skip history writing assignments or change them to some sort of narration.}

I am doing CW OB now with my 7th and 8th grade dc. We are behind but hoping to finnish and maybe??? do the Poetry. Next year I'd like to do Maxim. Actually I really wish they were offering the Maxim/Chrea online course again but they are not (I asked). :glare: So I guess my dd will only get thru Plutarch before graduating. :001_unsure: However I am thinking of at least doing the Maxim online course, if we have the money to put both kids into it. We could really use the accountability! ;) --Kathie in VA

My first thought on considering curriculum is how it meets the subjects I want/need to cover and how my dc will be able to work with it. But the very next thing that quickly arises is whether it will fit into a day/week or will it overload us. So how much is too much? Can someone tell me if my very general estimates are about right? math- (Algebra 1 w/Jacobs? Foeresters?): ~1 hr/day, 5 days/wk LA- (grammar, writing w/CW Diagenes-?Poetry): ~1hr/day, 4 days/wk science- (Biology w/?Apologia): ~1 hr/day, 5 days/wk [? + co-op class] logic- (?informal w/thinking toolbox) or (?formal w/Traditional Logic): ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk? foreign language- (w/Rosetta Stone): ~20min/day, 5 days/wk?? Then there's the big question of how much time to allow for: history literature ?theology/bible Plus there's the smaller stuff that would be nice to fit in like: vocabulary- (roots study w/VfCR ): ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk? spelling- (if still needed): ~30min/day, 3 days/wk? And last but not least the electives: art (?drawing w/outside class?) ~30min/day, 3-4 days/wk plus class music (?back to piano w/outside tutor?) ~1hr/day? 4-5 days/wk? PE/sports (soccer w/team) ~1-1/5 hrs/day 2days/wk plus game on Sat So I'm looking at about a 4-5 hr day BEFORE adding in history/literature and ? theology not to mention LUNCH time and small breaks! Then near the end of the school year I like to add in some test taking skills like Reading Detective and/or test prep books. Curr. like Omni cover hist/lit/theology and expect about 2-3 hrs/day, 5 days/wk but then most say to add some more history reading to that! Notgrass history is similar in their time estimates (although I don't know if additional history reading would be needed). To me homework is what they do when they can't get the work done during the day... which we hit often enough lately. So I try to at least fit it all in on paper. This means we are looking at about 8-9 hr days!?? And this is for my oldest who isn't doing Latin... my next dc might include it! ug.

hmm, about how much time per day and # days/wk does it take for this at the high school level?

Oh, hi all... I'm here Harvey's has a quick intro (so far) to the terms we get or will get in CW A&I portions. I'm still not sure it is definitly required, but we are only on week 5 or 6. I've heard others do their grammar with a different book. I just like that it is already scheduled and that is does introduce the grammar when we need it or before. It is also very easy to understand and get done. They copy the terms in their notebook and do the workbook pages practically on their own. I need to run, I'll check back again. Hope this helped some!

Can someone tell me about Cornerstone's Starting Point curriculum and the World Views of the Western World ones? I just learned about them here and went all over their website. Could the WVWW be started with a rising 8th and 9th grader? I was hoping to go back to Ancients next year but if we did Starting points that wouldn't work. (I have younger kids that will be doing Ancients so I'd like to keep all on the same timeperiod. kwim? ) Is this basically a pick up and go choice? The samples make it look that way but it's hard to tell. Is there basically one workbook to work in that includes the daily schedules? The website claims it only takes about 2 hrs a day either 4 or 5 days a week. Have you found this to be accurate? Are there separate schedules for 4 or 5 days or is that just flexibility in the amount of work the student might get done? Would this work with an additional writing program or is there lots of writing assignments (meaning papers) included? Oh and I can't quite tell from the website what their Christian background is (Reformed, Catholic, etc.). Any other comments would be welcomed ;) ! Thank you! :bigear: :lurk5:

From Maxim level and up, it looks like CW has a selection of literature that they suggest. These are picked because they relate to the topic covered in the CW levels. I was going to do literature with our history again but this seems like a very good idea. So are any of you using these choices as your literature or part of your literature? Are you still doing a separate literature program? (do tell?) Or are you adding other books to this list to complete a literature course? Is anyone using Teaching The Classics with CW? If you are using these in your literature, what are you doing for history? Is history a separate subject with additional literature or without literature (just a spine or text)? Thanks, Kathie (trying to figure out next year for my rising 8th and 9th grader [ack! high school!! :eek:] who should be starting Maxim in the Fall... maybe the Maxim/Creia if the tutorial is offered).

I'm tempted to try this for the OB forum. We have already started OB. However, I do tend to get great feedback from the CW message boards when I get stuck. (Just recently Lene noticed that the WP for my ds seemed too easy for him. I did think this but was afraid to skim the workbook. She suggested I just do the A&I as needed & skip the WP so we can move quickly until we get to where my ds is challenged again. It was really great to get that kind of help.) I've also posted some CW work on the message boards and sometimes on the yahoo CW group. So now I'm trying to determine if I should just keep with the those boards (& here) for assistance or join this new forum. (Since I need to skim thu OB a bit this might really help) Yet, this would be for 2 kids so the price is up to $200 (doable, but still...). I'm wondering what the difference will be between this Forum and the message boards. Perhaps it is their ability to keep a record (copy) of my kids' papers so they can see trends? I like the idea of 'accountability' but unless they intend to send reminders for papers to be submitted ... ;) it will just be another place to share papers and ask questions. Not real accountability. Although I do like that they will look at each paper submitted and send comments if they notice something going 'off key'... So even if I think my dc paper is good, I'd submitt it anyway and know that they will catch major detours that I missed. :) Thanks for letting me ramble my thoughts out! Any comments? :bigear:

Thank you all for your help. I ended up ordering Gay Neck. FYI, here are the list of short books I'm getting for my 9yob to finnish off our year of Am Hist (following Foundations history sentences): wk book 15 Roosevelt (American Lives) 16 Maureen the Detective (1903). 17 Gay Neck, Story of a Pigeon 18 It Began With a Parachute, Rang. 19 Collapse of Communism (Witness to History 20 Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Pioneer 21 Flying to the Moon, Collins 22-24 Kid’s Guide to America’s Bill of Rights Thanks again for all your help with WWI titles! --Kathie

Lori, Your post was very helpful (as you always are :D ). Doing a mix sounds like fun also, I don't know why I didn't consider that option. Perhaps I'll pick the CW suggestions, some to align with history and have them pick one or two from the Good Books or Great Books lists or maybe just for fun. (Then I'll get a guide for me or really learn how to use my Teaching The Classics lessons). I know it depends on the length of each book and amount of time chosen for each book but about how many should I target for a 9th grader? (& 8th grader)? Sounds like about 6 books, give or take? hmm, looks like we need to get this year over on time just so I can get busy this summer getting all this together ;) thanks again for sharing!

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I'm all over the board on this one. I've always just tied lit to history... but now I'm debating it. I know we will be doing CW Maxium next year, I'm not sure on history or lit. Part of me wants to do Omni I but part of me wants to read the suggested lit to go along with CW Maxium.... I could finally see the TTC DVD I already bought and make use of them... then pick some additional books to complete the year. However I just don't know how much SHOULD be targetted for high school. If we do Omni with the online class we'd do it all but if we went without the class I could taylor the prgm... but again how do I know how much to ask for? Also if we do the lit off the CW list (& maybe add in TTC analysis) then I know we will be getting a really good literature study (lit terms, etc) However if we do lit from Omni or Notgrass or something I think that will focus more on how it relates to history then learning the lit terms and how to do a literary analysis (then again, which one is really needed for SATS and College??) (current interests of my oldest is Medical so she can work with people, but who knows?) Anyway I'm just spinning my wheels here. We also want to put them into some outside class besides Biology, so who knows. Thanks in advance for any wisdom you have time to share! --Kathie :bigear:

I'm looking for a book for my 9 year old boy that is a story about WW-I, life during WW-I, etc. This would be for his literature during the week we are memorizing something about WWI. He is a very good reader, he can read books targetted for 6th grade (He's read and enjoyed White Fang). However some of the 6th grade stuff is not really what I want him reading, kwim? Now to make this harder, I'm looking for one that he can read within a week... last semester I got him some books targetted for ages 8-12 that were from 50 - 98 pages and he got them done within a day or two. I'm considering: Hero Over Here, Kudlinski. When Christmas Comes Again After the Dancing Days, Rostkowski. but would love to find something better for a boy. Any ideas? Thanks! :bigear:

FYI, We are doing CW Older Beginners and I have about 1.5 hrs scheduled /day for 4 days/wk for CW plus about 15min 2 days/wk for Harveys. I asked on the CW message board about the next level and it seems it might only take about 45 min - 1 hr per day, 4 days a week! :)

Okay I think I see what you are all saying. I guess what got me really wondering about this whole thing is that I'm considering a curriculum for next year that I'm not sure we will be able to do (although I'd really love for us to do it, I don't know if it will be too much or just right for them). So many say to just cut back. But how do you know how much to cut back and still have them really earn their High School credit(s) for the course? (the credit estimates on the website expect that it is all done/tried). [Actually this may be mute if I choose to the Online tutorial (for the Accountability and discussions) that goes with this course ... Accountability is great and we could use it, but it will also restrict the option of tweeking.]

Hi Stacey, I'm also debating between Foersters and Jacobs Alegebra books. I've heard that Jacob's is more kid friendly, ie written in a lighter style. However do take note that the answer key does not have the solutions written out. It sounds like Foester's is written in a more 'to the point' type of writing.... just a different style. I've also heard that it goes a bit deeper, or offers a higher level of application type problems. Anyway here's some links that might help: Foerster's: http://mathematicallycorrect.com/a1foerst.htm http://www.homeschoolmath.net/reviews/foerster_algebra_1_home_study_companion.php http://www.wtmboards.com/HSboardmay25/messages/1416.html http://www.mathwithoutborders.com/Algebra-I/index.html Jacob's: http://woodburyschool.com/catalog/newsletters/focus_on_math.html (scroll down a bit) http://www.pahomeschoolers.com/jacobs.html http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/reviews.php?rid=642 And here is a comparison of the two from "the Hive": http://67.202.21.157/forums/showthread.php?t=39265 hths

I keep hearing how many of you choose a program with the intent of not doing all of it, or changing it. This makes sense since we are really tutoring our kids and can therefore not only pick the material that would be best for our kids but also use it as a tool in the best manner for our kids. I do get that. However, when I think of doing that with my kids I wonder if they will also learn that it is okay to not complete a program. For example, I allowed us to skip one book in our hist/lit prgm, but now when we reach a book in the curr that they don't like they just ask to skip it. I get more questions like, "Do we really have to do this part?" "Why can't I just read this fun book instead of that boring book?" They seem to easily shift into an editing mode. When I was just following a curr they didn't think about editing it. And then if editing what they need to do becomes "normal" for them, how will that habit translate when they get to college or even the work field? All of a sudden they will not be able to tell the Prof. that they really don't want to do that particular assignment; how about a different one? I know part of it is their work habits :glare: and I will work on that, but I'm just wondering about my part. I've seen that we do much better with curriculum that has a daily schedule... so I'm not making my own here. (Perhaps that was do to this problem where they and I weren't sure of the daily work load; yet with one already laid out we all know the daily work load should be about correct.) So for next year, should I choose a curriculum (for hist/lit) that I know I will need to plan to alter (ie reduce the load) or really try to find one that we should be able to work with as sold? TIA :bigear:

hmm, I hadn't considered the BF in awhile. This looks interesting and it asks for much less time: about 2hrs, 3 days a week. However from what I'm seeing the Guide will sometimes have the kids read a book but not have any questions or anything to do with it. Yet it's still a possibility. It would allow more time for incuding other subjects like logic or just not filling the schedule to the rim. kwim? I wonder if anyone here has used this and can review it? I really like the "idea" of Omni because it kinda lines up with what my younger kids will be studying with their Foundations program (world history in 2 years, then Am history for one year). Yet, I can't seem to find what the estimated time requirement is for this. (of all things to lose :glare:) Notgrass is another possibility. I could use their World History for one year, then Gov history, then Am history(lining back up with our Foundations). However this curriculum asks for about 3 hrs a day, 5 days a week ... isn't that the same about Omni asks for?? If so then I'd rather do Omni as it seems to be more geared toward working on logic and rhetoric skills by including and stimulating discussion questions. (I could be very wrong here though) Since I considered Notgrass I just went back to look at SL core 300 (World Hist in 1 yr) but that (plus science, math, and LA) expects about 6-8 hrs a day from my kids and doesn't even include any time for Logic, Foreign Language, or an elective! Hmm, it's also for 10 grade+ and my kids will be in 8th and 9th so maybe this should wait for us. I'd love to use Truthquest books (I actually have all the Guerber books that they put out and we really like them) but we really do better with something laid out in a daily plan. Also I don't think it fits within our yearly plans. But it might be good for you.

Seems like the best way to choose a text is to see it. Okay, so I figure I'll either ask around to borrow one or just go ahead and buy the text to see. (Then I guess I go back to get the TE later? ) So, for these books (Foerster's and Jacob's Algebra 1 texts) does it matter which edition I get? If I go the route of buying them just to see them I should probably get the edition I will want to actually use. {I do notice that I can save lots of $$ if I buy used so I might just do that... we did that with Lial's BCM and it worked out great!} I noticed the Foersters has a 'classic' edition from 2006 and a 3rd edition from 1994 ... I can see the price difference :D, but are there bigger differences to note? Also, I might consider the Home Study Companion DVD -- if so then does the text edition matter? TIA!! :bigear: --Kathie in VA

I think of a mastery program as one that teaches a lesson and then has you work on that till you've mastered it. Review is included both within the problems since math builds on itself and maybe in a separate review set. However review is NOT used a a means to learn the material (like a spiral approach). Jacobs does sound like a great program. thanks for responding

I was just wondering as we look at a list of possibilities for Algebra. We are used to the mastery approach and are considering: Jacobs Lial's (using BCM now) Life of Fred Teaching Textbooks

We will be finnished with SL core 100 also! I'm thinking of going back to Ancient time period for our 2nd cycle. Here's what I'm considering: VP's Omnibus I Streams of Civilizations I (there is a guide for this at Hewitt Homeschool that I'm considering using) or ?? Biblioplan? (forgot to check with Notgrass and Winterpromise) I'm still open to ideas. I like how SL had daily lesson plans... this really helped my kids. I've tried TOG classic but it didn't work for us. It seems we really do better with daily plans. I'd consider SL again but their topics don't fit what we are at. My younger son will be doing Ancients with Classical Conversations-Foundations cycle 1 next year (again) so I'm hoping to keep all of us on the same timeperiod.

Hmm, this is what I'd like to also do next year with my 8th and 9th graders. However I am really concerned about requiring too many hours/day. If I have the money I'd really love to take the online CW class AND the online Omni class. This will then make it hard to 'tweak' the Omni course and drop books. I'd like to count the Omni as both hist and lit but again I worry that it will just take too long (we also have to do math, science, foreign lang., FA, and maybe continue with spelling and vocab and prep for SAT tests!) {Not to mention that most folks feel the need to add a spine to Omni before giving credit for history} Then there's the additional literature suggested with the CW class but I don't know how much of that is already scheduled. I've noticed that we tend to do better with something that is pick up and go. I love the idea of taking us all thru the 'Great Books' which Omni will do and I think doing that in a class with other kids will really help. But it just seems way too much time to do it right. ug. :glare: Then again, maybe someone here can tell me how wrong I am??? :001_unsure: :bigear:

Yes I have 90 min each day Tues-Fri in the schedule. However there are some lessons that either don't take that long or are a review. We basically don't spend any time re-learning a lesson unless we really need it. Recently I started working with both kids together to do the workbook ... kind of an extended lesson. This way I can make sure they have the directions right, then they try a bit and we go over it together... it's great when they can learn from each other. So far the papers aren't that long so they will sometimes get them done Wed-Thur and we edit on Fri (sometimes even Thur-Fri). It's a lot of time, but I don't know how to do it any other way. :confused: (unless we do A&I one week and the paper the next... but I'd rather get thru the book this year) I do get tempted to drop or minimize the Harvey's work but so far it's still getting done. We are not doing too much copywork elsewhere so copying the definitions doubles for that work for that day and the workbook pages aren't hard but are basically a double check that they got the terms down. hth