And they wouldn't refund my money because it had been more than ONE WEEK since date of purchase! Have you heard of anything so ridiculous?

...and we do much of it orally. I love this program.

...and indicate that your child won't have to be in school for 172 days per year to learn the difference between "less than" (for amount) and "fewer than" (when referring to ...say... number of days) QUOTE A nonpublic home-based educational program shall include no less than one hundred seventy-two days of instruction, averaging four instructional contact hours per day. :lol:

...when my two oldest were about the age of your two, I did a fun year of physics. They still talk about it. I found the spreadsheet I created to lay out the plan and I'm happy to share it. It isn't really complete - I kind of filled it in as I went, but it might be a starting place for you. Basically, we used a Janice Van Cleve book, a Critical Thinking Press book, and then supplemented with library books and videos (especially Schlessinger Media, Bill Nye, and Magic School bus). It was a great triple whammy - hands-on/workbook/visual media combination for us. If I remember correctly, we started the week with a Schlessinger video (because those were the ones they liked the most) to set up the concepts. Then, we did experiments another day, and then we'd read library books on the third day. We might watch additional videos at lunch the rest of the week. Looking again at my spreadsheet, I see I didn't do a good job of documenting the books we used. Anyhoo - I now have science farmed out for the two older children (need to update my sig line) and Chemistry is hit and miss with the youngest - although we will finish Christian Kids Explore Chemistry this year. Science is hard for me to get done. So, I feel your pain! All I can offer is the least painful year we had. Feel free to email me if you want my spreadsheet:) tlong6@woh.rr.com

Our Potter's School experience has been awesome. We loved sixth grade writing so much, my son signed up for three classes this year. I envision him being able to complete much of his high school education online through TPS. My daughter is different and I don't think we'll go that route with her next year. And, our youngest may or may not be a good match for online learning - everyone is different. It has totally been worth the money for us and is still cheaper than private school. My son is receiving a much better education in these subjects (writing and Latin this year, we dropped the science) than I could have given him. Much. Better.

We are in our second year at Potter's School. Last year my then sixth grader took Writer's Workshop. Our experience was so incredible, we signed up for three classes this year. The instruction has been fantastic and enthusiastic. So much better than what I could have done! Everybody is different and your mileage may vary:). But our TPS experiences have been awesome!

...are done in the book, not on the computer. My son made copies each day, so we can reuse the book. The rest of the format remains the same. Just no computer problems or grading.

Just love it!

...or whatever she enjoys the most. Huh. I just looked back at your post. Is she narrating for ALL her subjects? Here is what SWB says on p. 59 of the newest edition of WTM: "Narration removes the need for 'comprehension exercises'." And, "Not all reading should be narrated back to the teacher." Maybe you are doing too much narration?

love them

I am a fan of media - especially for teenagers. The Gospel of John is a three-hour movie that uses The Good News Bible, word-for word, to dramatize Jesus' life. I think it can be helpful to really see why folks got so fired up about Jesus and who He said He was. Then, The Visual Bible has Acts on DVD. Again, this dramatization is word-for-word, but this time from the New International Version. After watching John and Acts, I think it would be fun to read Philipians and experience Paul's joy at having discovered the secret to true happiness. From there, with a 13-year-old, you can use the book, The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History to get a sense of what happened after Pentecost. We are getting ready to start a long unit on Martin Luther, so I bought The History of Christianity on DVD, presented by Dr. Timothy George. But, I haven't watched it yet and can't speak to its quality. So, my two-cents, fwiw:) And, I need to update my signature:)...

and I agree with the recommendations for the two videos (which, by the way, you can get via Discover Education Streaming - a new buy at our house which is FABULOUS!). In addition to the D'aulaire book and Pedro's Journal, we did Peter and Connie Roop's Christopher Columbus. Also quite good - excellent introduction about the use of primary sources.

The Academy of Anti-Twaddle? We just went with our street name: Rosewood Academy:)

... that Singapore never becomes independent. I did it through 6B with my oldest. It gets harder and more teacher intensive. My youngest is still using it, but my middle child - a daughter - and I were not a good Singapore team. She switched to Teaching Textbooks last year and math has been a dream for us. The transition was extremely easy. Teaching Textbooks has its detractors, but it has been a fantastic match for my daughter; she is excelling and learning, and she now counts math as her favorite subject. No, it isn't as thought-provoking as Singapore. But, TT is most certainly giving her an excellent foundation. We do supplement with the CWP, so that satisfies my passion for Singapore. TT has a placement test - I don't remember where exactly my daughter finished off with Singapore, but there may be two "levels" between TT and SIngapore, fwiw.

...and I realized **I'd** cry if I had to read those words! Those words aren't a story - they are subjects and predicates followed by a period:) Who is Vee? Who is San? Why should I care about these characters? For my daughter, the primary problem was that reading these "stories" was excruciatingly boring. She could read the words individually, so, ultimately I left it go at that. When she was eventually able to read real stories, then she enthusiastically read those aloud to me. Is your daughter able to explain WHY she can't read them? If she says they are too hard, you know that is not true. If she can articulate her struggle, that helps. Good luck - it took me forever to figure it out with my daughter! I kept thinking she had an obedience issue and I approached it as such. I was totally on the wrong track with that one!

is making a phone call to obtain $5 how you want to spend your time? How high a priority is it? You are absolutely entitled and absolutely should not be responsible for their mistake. They really should send you a pre-paid label. Actually, they should bear the entire responsibility of getting it to the post office (which for me is the much greater burden than the $5:))! On the other hand, how much time will you be spending on this phone call? What other things could you be doing instead? Could you play a game with your child? Is that worth $5? I have been thinking about these trade-offs a lot lately...I'm getting pickier and pickier about how I spend my time and energy... Debbie (who ten years ago would have been asking to speak to a manager and who would have probably written a letter to alert the company to their error)

...I farmed it out! My son, who is otherwise a highly cooperative student, and I just could not get past his feelings of being personally attacked when we discussed his writing. So, he took the Writer's Workshop class through The Potter's School (TPS) last year and it, honestly, changed his life. He went from hating writing to now saying he wants to write for a living. His writing improved beyond imagination. He not only wrote more clearly, he wrote MORE: he produced mass volumes of written words in nine short months. My very favorite change is he now sees a first draft as exactly that: a first draft. He also learned how to evaluate the writing of others in a positive way. And, he saw that the way I approached his writing was in line with the WW philosophy. There are downsides. First, it is pricey. The junior high classes are $420 per year, plus a $60ish initial administrative fee. I found getting started to be extremely time consuming and parent intensive. We almost quit after the second week. I wondered why I was spending so much money to have to spend so much time! I'm glad we stuck it out. We loved TPS so much, our oldest will be taking three classes this year. We, in effect, gave up our family waterpark vacations this year, in order for our son to continue at TPS. Most normal people wouldn't be willing to sacrifice fun for the whole family for one child to take classes:)! But, this is how high a priority we decided to make these classes. I know using online schools isn't for everyone; regardless, I hope it is comforting and useful to someone here to learn that TPS is out there!

is The Potter's School. My son went from being a reluctant writer to saying he now wants to write for a living. And the amount of work he produced - volumes - for this class...I would NEVER have been able to elicit that much writing out of him. And, he is a cooperative, compliant person and I am a demanding mom with high expectations:). We had an astonishing experience. Really. Amazing. I can't recommend it highly enough.

not thinking about it as all or nothing......order the books, but only do half as much as usual in 2/3 of the days. You won't be as far as you would have been full time, but you'll be farther than you are now;). We school year-round for many reasons. But one of the big ones is that long breaks make it painfully hard to get started again (especially for me:)). We only do about a 1/4 of our subjects in about half the time in the summer. (But, if memory serves, you are interested in accelerating...? So, the point is not what fraction of the work you end up doing, but thinking about it fractionally...)

...but I didn't research this category, and have nothing to compare it to. CS gave us exactly what I was looking for: a structured move through the Bible over 3-years. Each book is 25 lessons and each lesson has: Facts to know: a list of the primary people and places in the studied text. I have my children copy this onto 3x5 cards. Memory verse: and short answer questions to the memory verse. Comprehension questions: 5-8 short answer comprehension questions that cover the material Map work: finding places on a provided map. A comprehensive review follows every five lessons. The reviews include a time line, and are very challenging. These books are perfect for my 5th and 7th graders. I do it orally with my 2nd grader. There is no commentary at all and no denominational slant implied in any of the questions (that I can tell, so far). There are also no life application questions or narrative summary requirements (excellent ideas!!). The curriculum follows the Golden Children's Bible, but we use an NIrV. Oh, and to handle what some folks might prefer to skip or gloss over for the youngest children - Sodom and Gomorrah, for example - these stories are revised and summarized inside the workbook. I was looking for a "just the facts, ma'am" curriculum that went in order through the Bible, over several years, and CS fit the bill. We will complete the materials in less than three years, though, so we can start at the beginning of the Bible again when we return to ancients in 2011.

But, I second the suggestion not to do anything too permanent. We started in the basement seven years ago and have moved things around each year, depending on the ages of the children, the work they are doing, and what books I need handy. When they were little, I needed to be in the basement where we could get messy and the littles could play. Now, they are older and we need access to more than one computer, more than a few books, and individual places where each child can work quietly. I still need the day's resources handy, but everything doesn't fall apart when I walk out of the room now;)

...my son did TT pre-algebra after Singapore 6B, and it was a waste of time. FWIW:)

...to get my children ready for their first ever standardized tests. Good thing, too - my 12yo circled the answers in the book:) Had to explain the whole fill in the bubble thingy:). Anyhoo, Test Prep is MUCH harder than the CAT. If he can do Test Prep, he'll fly through the CAT.

is on the Internet http://www.chirotoons.com/freebies/GrammarLand.pdf

...who is 7.5. Very much self-condemning, very concerned about making good decisions, very deeply theological, lots and lots and lots of deep questions. Anxiety, too. We use the Bible and prayer and reason (likelihood of event) and that works great. Also, gifted according to IQ tests. To buy time on the harder questions he asks me, I generally ask him, "What do you think?" Usually he comes up with a better answer than I would have anyway:) And his deepest questions are rarely based upon something we have read or already talked about. He is having all these thoughts on his own (especially at night, which is a difficult time for him)....