There's a fun workbooky curriculum that we used for a while you might like. The Treasure of my catholic faith. We also have enjoyed Image of God (also by ignatius press, i believe). Try asking the question over at the 4real forums. Those ladies are a wealth of knowledge.

We love AASher too.... I used to find it hard to get to too, but i've stopped being such a perfectionist about it and have decided that a little bit done every day just using the book, a piece of paper and a pencil, is betteer than not at all. I use the book to remind me which rules we need to review (the book shows the image of the rule cards in it, and by flipping quickly through the book it's easy to find them.... Easier than even taking the time to find where on earth I left our cards LOL. When we do use the whiteboard, I keep it slid under the couch. It fits perfectly. :001_smile:

I often like to skip to the last page of posts to see what the general consensus was on the original question, and I have to say.... you guys crack me up :001_smile: I guess I'll have to check back a few pages to find the math answer :lol::lol:

Cleo, I think you're right.. you probably could skip fable altogether, because in narrative there are two review fables in the appendix.... now these move along at a very quick pace (let me know if you want more info and i can type out the steps included in them so you can get a better idea). Also, the first few lessons in narrative have very short stories, similar to fable, except in the narrative stage they do the following: 1) outline 2) identify agent, action, time, place, manner (5 Ws) 3) rewrite with figures of description 4) rewrite , changing perspective to different character (telling 3 little pigs from the wolf's perspective) 5) rewrite the story by condensing it 6) rewrite the story by inverting it. 7) complete the varying sentences activity. Fable doesn't have the agent, action etc..., changing the viewpoint, or condensing... so narrative is a big leap up if you were in grade 4, just learning writing. For a grade 9, I imagine they could jump in pretty fast. You could also save money by just buying the narrative book and then start with the two appendix lessons, and for the first or second narrative week, only require some of the rewrites, gradually adding them in.

The one thing about Classical Composition that I noticed is that it doesn't teach outlining in a very incremental way. I have seen the first 20 chapters of WWS and it does a very good job of introducing the concept slowly (although with a 9th grader you woudn't likely need as detailed of instructions). With CC, they basically say 'write an outline' and give you the blanks to fill in. No real instruction. So if you are concerned about that, you might wan to do the first few weeks of WWS (I think you can still get them for free as a sample on here somewhere), and then start with CC.

Cleo, after looking through both fable and narrative in detail this week, it seems to me that all the skills learned in fable are repeated in narrative, so you could go through a few lessons of fable doing one fable a week (instead of one / two weeks), and just do a few fables (like a gentle introduction), before you move into narrative. For my 6th grader, I'm going to do this for the first quarter, and then move into narrative for the 2nd quarter. Yesterday we started week 2 with CC fable, and I can see that she will catch on very quickly. We might even move into narrative faster than I have planned. Some of the fables are so short they are less than half a page long. There is a yahoo group for classical composition that has some archived messages that are helpful to read as well. It isn't active anymore, but perhaps people would post if someone asked a question. It was very active in 2007. HTH, melanie p.s. did you find somwhere to buy it from in canada? Are the prices from CC's website cheaper than from Kolbe? I bought ours from Kolbe. You could ask the folks at Blue Mantle books if they would order it for you. I have always found them very helpful to work with.

We start with 'morning basket' time that I picked up from another homeschool mom. It's the way we incorporate all the extra readalouds that I wanted to fit in, but never have time. It takes about 20 min a day and then we do a quick timed math drill and the kids disperse through the house to start their work. Our morning basket looks like this (I don't use a basket, the books are just on the shelf beside our table): while I read to them, they are coloring a page I have printed out from the internet.. they usually color the same page each morning because otherwise they would sit at the table for an hour to finish it (some of my kids are very detail oriented and they get upset when I want to move on to math etc... I just tell them that they can finish it tomorrow morning). mondays: focus on the liturgical year... a quick story/activity etc... about the apporpriate season of the church year (advent fun, lent activities, feast days, bible stories etc..) tuesday: short reading from Angel Tales (old catholic books with stories that teach virtue for little kids) weds: reading science/nature stories; burgess, among the pond people etc... thurs: poetry/ fairy tales fri: living math books and listening to classical music/art appreciation even if some kids start their work earlier, everyone gathers for morning time at 8:30. I have a spreadsheet that I made up of what we do each day here if anyone wants to see it. It's linked here.

:lol::lol::lol: I agree!!!

Thanks for sharing!! I'm thinking these might be good as a foldable accordian book too!

praying here too.

:lurk5: i need to hear this!!

:bigear: our budget is out of control too... lots of it has to do with our Gluten free diet.. and the fact that I love to buy organic when I can.

wow! I love them.. great job :)

That is heartening to hear... I have had seven kids in 10 years (youngest is 4 months old), and I just feel like I'm never going to want to get pregnant again... I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of managing ANOTHER toddler while trying to homecshool... one day I won't actually feel like this? I'm only 35 and probably have many years of fertility left. :001_huh:

:grouphug: awww! How conflicting! Don't forget that you can always change your mind.... if it's not working out you can always pull him from school. (or perhaps you need to talk to your dh about how you're feeling and see if he might change his mind? Even if a fabulous charter school were to open up and take my kids, I don't think i'd send them. we homeschool for many reasons, not just the academic ones).

I could use some advice too! I've got my hands full with just seven littles... not sure how i'm going to manage in the fall. This is great for perspective :-) welcome to the boards!

I'm on google plus too, but can't figure out how to get a WTM circle up. All this new media is starting to make me feel old LOL. I can't seem to get the WTM link to work... my name on google plus is Melanie Blair.

Wow, that was amazing! Thanks for posting. This is probably a dumb question, but how did he set up the camera to take all the pictures? Was it a video camera or a normal picture camera? the kids really wanted to set something up to catch the moment our caterpillars crawled out of their cocoons this spring but we didn't know how to do it.

We have used horizons from k-5. For k-3 I usually made them do every question, but grade 4+ the pages are longer, and I will often cross out a few here and there. By Xmas we usually pick up Life of Fred and as long as they do a lesson of that, I only make them do a handful of the horizons page, going orally over any new teaching material. It does get tedious after awhile, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing. It's a skill I want them to learn by practicing. On days when we are sick or out, I will pick back up again and double up on a lesson so we don't ge behind. When we double a lesson this is what I do: -orally go over the new teaching material on each page -require them to complete the problem sets that directly relate to the new material -cross off half of the rest of each page. The review questions are grouped into sections for each type of problem, and i'llonly make them do half on each page... Sometimes less than half if it's a super busy day. Their real progress can be shown on the tests (every 10 lessons), so if they are starting to have a hard time with those then you know to slow down a bit.

Aubrey, I have been following this thread with interest, because I am just like you!! For all the organizing I've done, I still don't seem to remember what i'm supposed to be doing with the kids on a weekly/daily basis. I am not the type to spend an hour or even 20 min each week getting ready for school LOL.. maybe that's just the problem?? I need to buckle down and get into a good routine? I would much rather get things set up in the summer ahead of time, though, so I don't have to rely on myself to keep motivated through the year... so I follow you totally. I don't think you are adding too much work or making things too complicated. You know yourself, and your limits, and are trying to work with them. I liked the look of your weekly sheet you linked to above. Can you explain how you use it, and what the different letters mean? I would love something like that for myself as well. I'm schooling 5 kids next fall (K, K, 1, 3, and 6)... and I don't want to miss the opportunities to actually be engaged in school instead of trying to just get it done (or skipping it altogether). thanks!

We have been totally GF for 5 years now, and although it seemed CRAZY at the time and SO HARD, it has become so incredibly easy. There are so many GF foods available now and it leads to eating a much healthier diet if you replace the gluten with fresh fruits, veggies, alternative grains etc.. There is a wonderful message board for celiacs and those with gluten intolerance here. The members are so helpful with ideas, research, hand holding etc... i learned so much from them when we first went GF. Also there are millions of fun GF blogs to search for great recipes on.

HAve you been tested for Celiac disease? Many strange symptoms can be attributed to this one too and it's a simple blood test to check into it. Something that the doctors often miss, especially when there are non-traditional symptoms presenting.

oooooohhhh! I love it. Wonderful!! What program did you make it in?

:tongue_smilie: wow! That is a wonderful space you have! I love the tables.

I saw this too and am intrigued... does anyone know how this compares to classical writing? I'm thrilled Kolbe is offering a more classical writing program. I'd love to hear anyone's initial impressions on the course plans for this....