After all the discussion of the Great Courses, I went on their site and bought two History courses-- Foundations of Eastern Civilization and Foundations of Western Civilization....so now I will need a spine to support these. Additionally, I'll be trying to figure out the literature piece!! I'm excited about using the GC's!! I think they will be a great tool!

Does anyone use Spritzer for speed reading? It looks amazing but I am just stumbling my way around and trying to figure out how to best use this for homeschool. There is also a companion app called Spritzlet that helps you read pdfs faster. Anyhow, thoughts? pointers? Edited to add the link.

Although it may change, here is what we have so far: Writing: Possibly BraveWriter online class [currently doing Kids Intermediate and enjoying it] Literature: Varied to accompany History Vocabulary: Merriam Webster Word Roots with Vocabulary.com History: Looking for Spine to support Great Courses [Eastern Civilization and Western Civilization] Science: Conceptual Physics with Clover Creek Science Math: Geometry with Jann in TX Spanish: Conversational with Live Lingua Possibly -- Coding: Treehouse.com

We live in South Texas and we are planning on taking a 3 week trip to Canada next August. We will be visiting Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Niagra Falls. We are a tennis playing family so we will be watching the Rogers Cup in Montreal but will be there about 2 weeks so we will have plenty of time to explore. I would love to hear your travel tips--both educational and not.

Do these texts truly cover "World" history or are they really more "Western Civilization"? I ask because I am going to be using two Great Courses series, Western Civilization and Eastern Civilization and am looking for a spine to accompany.

Wow!! That is fabulous!! Thank you so much for sharing!! You goals are much more ambitious than mine; my boy would revolt. I want to give him a well rounded perspective on history with out overwhelming him. I have to bear in mind that he is a STEM child and does not enjoy history as much as he does science.

LOL @ Thermometer, Phrisbee, Crucifeous and Panera!! I love what you did there!! Well, again thank you for sparing us the splattered brains!! We will give it a try.

I stumbled upon this resource that I hope to use with my STEM son on EdX; I thought someone else might be interested as well.

Lisa, Thank you so much for the input. The reason I was not interested in covering them is because my high school English class read these aloud and I can remember being completely bored [even though I was an A+ student]. The version we read sounded archaic and very unrelatable; perhaps also, my instructor did not do a good job of helping us grasp the value in these works. I am not very familiar with the Great Courses; we have not had occasion to use them yet. We have only been homeschooling for a short time. However, I do think they would be great to use for High School courses. Thank you for enlightening me!! =)

:lurk5:

Would you consider The Great Course lectures a stand-alone history curriculum? or would we need another spine?

Thank you so much!! I listened to a sample and it sounds quite do-able. Perhaps we will cover it after all. I guess it never occurred to me to use audiobooks. Thanks again for your suggestions!!

What are my options for Literature to accompany our study of World History? We will of course go from Ancient, Middle and Modern. I really don't like the idea of reading the Odyssey or the Iliad--Homer just doesn't float my boat. Would it be appropriate to have him read some to the works or Aristotle and Plato?? Not exactly literature but still a reflection of writing for that time period. I would also consider the Art of War. I would love to hear your suggestions. The Hive ROCKS!!

I can't remember where I saw that someone had put together a timeline of literature. Does anyone know where I can find that thread?

Penguin, so far my son and I are enjoying the class; I hope your son is too!! Thank you so much for mentioning Cindy Marsch!! I was hoping to find someone to teach him the progymnasta skills without spending a whole year on it. We will definitely be trying her services next year. Since she also offers 6 week tutorials, perhaps we will do some sort of blend of Brave Writer class and Marsch Tutorials! I absolutely love the wisdom of the Hive!!

This may be a silly question but does Dr. Wiley actually teach an online class or does he just write the text books?

My ds will be taking the Geometry class with Jann too!! He is currently taking Alg I; She is fabulous!!

My ds will be taking the Geometry class with Jann too!! He is currently taking Alg I; She is fabulous!!

Julie, I looked at the Bravewriter website and actually called and spoke with the founder; we signed up for Kids Intermediate. The class starts today!! Crossing my fingers!!

Michelle, I am going to make the same assumption as you since my email got no response either. Oh well, maybe in a year or two she'll be ready again. I remember being very busy when I had a small baby as well.

http://www.brightstorm.com/ Also provides free AP prep. I have not used them yet but they are on my list.

https://www.livelingua.com/japanese-lessons.php I know nothing about the Japanese lessons but we use this company for Spanish and absolutely love it!!

Maybe Jetta can tell us what she is thinking: MorningGlory? Hmm...I'm not sure how to tag her so that she will see this post. Does anyone know how to do that?

:lurk5:

Thanks so much!! This is a great way to use it. I have to agree that I don't feel the need to make him memorize all the world capitals or draw the maps from memory but I would like him to have the exposure to world cultures.