Our teacher is Suzuki trained but also brings in a variety of other ideas. She highly recommends that her students do the grade 6, 8, and 10 RCM exams. While we still do a wide range of technique during non-exam years (the kids have a weekly technique class in addition to what they do in their private lessons) the work that goes into preparing for an exam is really valuable. In BC, Canada, kids get high school credit for grade 10 fine arts when they complete their grade 6 RCM exam and the corresponding theory (intermediate rudiments). Their grade 8 exam and theory will get them grade 12 credit.

I think you're always going to put more into an activity than a scholarship will provide, but if I had another daughter and that girl was even slightly interested in hockey, I'd have her in hockey. I had no idea there were so many hockey scholarships for girls.

My thoughts are that the adult child should already be paying his own smart phone costs and if the child has some use of the car then a contribution to car insurance should be given. All of the adult child's toiletries and clothes should be paid for by the adult child and that child should also contribute something to the household to go towards rent and food.

I'm Canadian, so our scope and sequence for high school requirements is different. In my province, high school starts in grade 10, so universities won't see grade 9 marks or courses. To graduate with a Dogwood Diploma (typical high school graduation), students need Science 10 (mix of various different sciences), and one Science 11 (physics, biology, chemistry, etc.). I don't think that students going into the arts would often need more than that. However, science-bound students would do more. For example, my dd did Science 10, Bio 11, Physics 11, Chem 11, Physics 12, and Chem 12. Would the biology that a student in the US does in grade 9 be similar to what a grade 11 student studies here? Or would your bio 9 be equal to bio 11 and 12 here? If you scroll down to page 14 here: http://sd67.bc.ca/teachers/barcuri/Bio%2012/BIO%20IRP%2011-%2012.pdf You'll start seeing the "prescribed learning outcomes" for grade 11 bio and then grade 12 bio. I'd be curious to know how they compare. Does anyone have a link for what is typically taught in biology in the US?

I hack a lot. I have a group of 8th graders that I've been working with for a few years. We'll be straddling rhetoric and dialectic next year and I am very realistic about what we can cover. What we do cover, we cover really well, but I don't try to do it all. We hacked the Civil War (sorry...) but then we spent three extra weeks on the colonization of Africa so that we'd have the time to do it thoroughly.

Since you already have your TOG year plans, why not just think about what you're looking for in a curriculum and plan it in? Everything is already in TOG - if you want to include more lit analysis, have your kids utilize the lit worksheets. If you'd like to have a discussion once a month, schedule that in and use the discussion questions. If you'd like them to do four maps next year, just pick which TOG maps you want to use and do that. If you wish you did more projects, take a look at the upcoming projects and pick a few. I don't think switching curriculum is going to help you, but I do think that figuring out what you want to include in your history and literature studies will help you use more of TOG.

I am a diehard Singapore user. However, even I have to throw in the towel at some point. Ds (13) is finishing Singapore 7B right now. I had planned to have him start up with 8A and continue on from there. However, lately I've been wondering if he might be better off with Thinkwell. It has video lessons. And exercises that get graded. And it looks like it's a quality program... I've looked into it at various points over the years, but haven't actually taken the plunge. Does anyone have any thoughts about Thinkwell? http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com

I have a 2003 and have owned it since 2006 and it hasn't been a problem at all. There were a couple of years where something went wrong - I've put maybe $2000 into it since owning it, but I would say that was likely in the first two years that we owned it. For years now all I do is regularly change the oil and it runs really well. I'm a heavy user - we drive an hour to music lessons twice a week plus all around our town for everything else. I plan on running it right into the ground before I think about another vehicle.

I can completely understand. I have four children as well I had babies and/or toddlers present in our homeschooling room from the time I started homeschooling my daughter at age 4 until she was eleven. And then I had a busy preschooler for a couple more years. I agree that each child is different. There is no way a built in drill model would have worked for all of my kids. My dd learned most of her facts through use of thinking strategies. Her drill work needed to be very specific. My second child did not need paper and pencil drill. That would have killed him. He needed to do computer based drill. My third child needed some paper and pencil based drill, but only with specific facts. He's pretty particular about using his time well and efficiently and he would have balked at doing a wide range of drill. He wanted to drill things he was having trouble with. He also needed face to face drills - flashcards and games. My fourth is more than happy to fill things out and doesn't really need a whole lot of practice to master something. Built in review wouldn't have bugged him and would likely have been enough to help him learn any facts that were eluding him. Built in review would not have been very helpful around here - even if it would have saved me time.

Totally agree. My eldest wrote the grade 10 provincial exam in math after completing Singapore's NEM 1 (and a few sections from 2 and 3). I used Singapore with her from 1A through to that point. Her love of math stemmed from the understanding of math that was developed through Singapore. She's now in engineering. Her favourite engineering courses are the mathy ones. Sure, drill is not included, but really why would one need to include drill in the primary math program? There are enough game ideas, printables from the web, and other resources to address drill. I actually didn't need to drill at all with dd. We learned thinking strategies through Singapore that made more sense than drill and helped build her understanding. Through use of the thinking strategies, she became automatic with her math facts. I think there were a few we needed to drill at one point, but most of them came through use of thinking strategies.

I don't regret it, either. I've really enjoyed learning with the kids and I think they've had advantages they wouldn't have had anywhere else. I love being home with them. And, seeing my daughter's performance in the three semesters of high school, I know I prepared her solidly and I also know that what we're doing at home goes far beyond what is able to be accomplished in school. However, I also know when I'm not able to provide and I think it's good to be aware. Once my dd got to high school level I was busy with three younger boys, she had no academic peers, and she was spending a lot of time working alone in her room. It was not the kind of education I wanted her to have. She ended up doing three full semesters at the local public school in order to get her French 11, a bunch of sciences, and a bunch of math. Oh, she did a social studies class, too (I kept all the assignments so that I could give myself a reality check about what "grade 11 level actually looks like). Homeschooling with the boys is totally different. They're at similar levels, so it's easier for me to have enough time for all of them. Also, we're part of a very dynamic learning community. If we're able to keep our learning community together, then I think they'll have an amazing high school experience as homeschoolers.

My dh calls Twinkle the most expensive song you'll ever hear. It takes for-e-ver. There are so many other skills that are being learned at the same time and it's never a good idea to rush anything in violin. You'll be sorry later. Posture, feet, bow hold, and violin hand are all so important and take a lot of attention to get right.

And some people are prepped to be anxiety ridden. I think all the fear based decisions create fear.

Seriously no problem at all with it. I wouldn't decide not to leave them based on some kind of crazy instance - I really doubt that hotel break-ins are common enough to get onto my worry-radar. I've left my kids with the eldest being 11 or 12 - the older and more mature the eldest is, the more comfortable I am with going away from the hotel, but always with cell phones on and safety instructions fresh. If I really thought hotels were as dangerous as some posters are making them out to be then *I* wouldn't be comfortable in a hotel room by myself.

Thanks for posting this and for everyone who keeps recommending this book. I'm going to read it and then decide whether to assign it or not.

In that case, I'd say definitely not. In cases where the manager is expected to be available to do work on evenings and weekends and is expected to answer emails and phone calls when not in the office without any remuneration, then I would think that popping out during the day once in a while is a perk well earned. But, if the manager isn't putting a lot of his own time into the company, then he shouldn't be using company time for his errands.

Thanks for the help so far. I'll shelve the idea of doing Heart of Darkness. I looked at Things Fall Apart and I think that would be great, except that we've already had a bit of backlash at co-op because of the suicide in Fahrenheit 451 so I'm hesitant to add another book with a suicide in the same year. I have Cry the Beloved Country so I'll take a look at that. I'd like it to have something to do with the impact of colonialism. This is for my TOG group and we're studying the colonization of Africa. I was hoping to have a lit piece that gave them a better glimpse into what life might have been like. When I did this unit with my dd years ago I became very interested in the topic and ended up reading a few different books that I really enjoyed so I'd like to do the same thing with these kids. The TOG dialectic lit assignment is Jungle Book - I have no desire to do that. The rhetoric assignment is Heart of Darkness.

I need a novel set in colonial Africa that would be ok for grade 8 students to read. Is Heart of Darkness too mature? It's been years since I read it. I loved The Poisonwood Bible, but again, it's been years and I suspect it's too mature. Any suggestions? Movies?

I know a young man named Stirling. Great name.

Have never seen that here in Canada.

There are some great books. Nurtured by Love by Suzuki is the first one to read. After that, I like To Learn with Love http://www.amazon.com/To-Learn-With-Love-Companion/dp/0874876060 Our teacher did a lot of parent education to help us really understand the method. We had a month of parent lessons before the kids began and then the last ten minutes of every group class was for parents in the first year. She also invited experienced Suzuki parents in to speak to us and answer questions about things a couple of times a year.

Ours is in the music room (formal living room that we use more for music than anything else). It's on the main floor and is fairly central but we can close one of the doors to mute it a little when people are doing school work in the other room.

My daughter did piano like this. She didn't get very far. When she hit twelve she was really disappointed with her progress - she did her grade 2 exam that year after six years of piano. With the boys, we've embraced the Suzuki philosophy of creating a love of music by creating an environment that encourages a love of music. But, we also know that that love for music can really be developed through playing beautiful pieces with enough skill to really sound amazing - and that takes consistent, dedicated work. We make that work fun - especially in the early years with lots of games and rewards. One of our mantra's has been Suzuki's, "Only practice on days that you eat." Another is, "Never hurry, never stop." My two oldest boys have a real love for their instruments that has been developed through lots of listening and concerts, a strong social group that revolves around music, dedicated, specific practices at home, and the hard work it's taken to reach a skill level that they are proud of. My violinist, especially, loves performing a piece that he's spent his heart and soul polishing and perfecting. My cellist prefers performing in a group, but also enjoys the rewards of the hard work he puts in. They all play around on their instruments to varying degrees - the violinist has put in a significant amount of his own money into his music. My cellist spent all his Christmas money and his savings on an amp for his cello. Specific, dedicated, supported practice has not killed a love of music here - in fact, I think it's been an important ingredient in developing a lasting love of music.

A check-list is definitely going to help. It's also helpful to have a certain point to each aspect of practice - what is she working towards? For kids at that age on violin, it's usually a posture thing. When playing review pieces we had a specific practice point, for example, playing May Song and keeping a rounded pinkie finger on the bow the whole time. Or doing O Come Little Children with a the bowing arm opening and closing like a gate so the bow would stay parallel to the bridge. Having one point helped me to chill out and not be giving the kids "helpful" reminders while they played and it gave them an achievable goal but it was also specific enough that it was helpful to their overall playing. That age - things take so long! Even doing things like practicing ten bow holds can take up a good chunk of practice time. My kids liked to have me close my eyes and then they'd surprise me with a bow hold that had one thing wrong with it and I'd have to fix it. Or, I'd do that to them and they'd have to fix my bow hold. You can go on and on with stuff like that and it's really helpful, but it also takes a long time. Violin is really picky that way. But, that's kind of an advantage to starting so young. You can turn all those picky little things into "fun" games and so they learn them enjoyably and are able to practice them over and over and over without getting bored.

Seriously? When I read your title I thought I'd see an example of uninvited evangelizing. However, if the teacher actually asked the kids to share their Christmas traditions then I'd expect to hear a variety of religious answers.