Planning next year's activities. Looking for vacation spots/trips for Memorial week or Labor Day + following week, starting from VA. I, of course, would love to throw in a few field trips, or 2, or 3, etc. We are studying Ancients at present, then Middle Ages next year. Up for consideration is a Lexington, Kentucky to the Creation Museum trip. Dc could see the Kentucky Horsepark, Boonesborough, Shaker Village and CM. Might be too much talking at them/museumish. A little history...when we last went to Gatlinburg, TN they wanted to swim in the pool all the time, which made us consider a local hotel with pool :001_huh:. Any suggestions?

Talk about getting carried away... I used to get something like 25 books from the library for the unit we were studying. The kids just didn't seem to appreciate that so much. I did have to spend time planning which activities from the list would be done in a given week. I spent time on the grand finale and still look at the photos with fond memories... like the Conestoga wagon/ pioneering unit, or the Medieval feast. I did those activities that were an integral part of the unit or looked like they would help them understand something better and the others as suggested activities for added fun. I had to be disciplined to not feel guilty for leaving some out, I had a hard time with that.

I did 3 years of Konos... looked online for some activity helps, took too long, so I used the guidebook only and the library. Sometimes it was frustrating to try to figure it out from the book, I just passed on activities I couldn't realistically do. Oh, and that's how I learned to sew... from making Konos costumes. You don't have to do everything, I usually chose 1 activity per day, or worked up to the grand finale. Either way, the kids loved it! It made the early years fun for them, busy for me...

Ds steadily progressed thru MUS up to completing Zeta in 5th grade. Sounds like Algebra should not be tackled yet...8th grade at the youngest? 2 years review was not my intention, so it's disappointing. I may be counting on LOF to maintain his interest in math next year! I'll know my options better after the phone calls to the high schools. Thank you!

I am not finding much solid info on the local HS math courses of study. This is a distant memory, but I think the courses I had in HS were: Algebra, Geometry, Calculus and Trigonometry. Some sites have an Algebra 2 and Consumer Math thrown in. Makes me think, we need to do Algebra 1 before 9th grade, unless I can call the intended HS to get a course listing. Then I need to consider how to avoid repeating math courses, argh...

Thank you, Paula. Oops, I do also have the LOF Decimals & Percents. So, you would suggest a year of LOF and waiting for Algebra? I was styling our math according to MUS which I believe has Pre-Algebra for 6th grade, I chose BCM instead. MUS then has Algebra for 7th grade. I assumed that was the norm. I have not looked at current HS Math schedules at all. I will go do that now... good idea!

We are currently solidifying math operations with Lial's Basic College Math for 6th grade. We also own the LOF books (Fractions, Pre-Algebra 1 w/ Biology, and Pre-Algebra 2 w/ Economics), but cannot seem to get to them. BCM is taking a long time, it is just so many pages. We are starting to do 2 units per week and I still don't envision completion at year end. What would you suggest as a math sequence for us for the next 2 years, since we plan to have ds enter a private HS at 9th grade? or: 3 LOF books = 7th grade Algebra 1 = 8th grade or summer school = LOF books Algebra 1 = 7th grade Geometry = 8th grade Which looks good to you? or, other suggestions? I know LOF gets good reviews so I want to use them somewhere... I would love your suggestions on specific texts, if you don't mind ...

Thank you! My library hold list is getting longer!

I also like Stephen Lawhead books: Scarlet, Tuck, Hood, The Iron Lance, etc. Anyone similar?

Thank you for all of the suggestions... and to think I just returned from the library! I do love all Thoene books. I will look into all the recommendations here... Feel free to keep adding on....

Yes! I love all Francine Rivers books... just finished her latest Her Daughter's Dream .

Any recommendations for well-written historical fiction books for Mom? btw, I do love Bethlehem Books' Living History Library series as read-alouds for dc... any similar authors to Jeanne Bendick, Hilda Van Stockum and others for me? I am a Jane Austen fan, to be sure. I like historical romance, but the "tame":001_smile: kind...

Thank you vey much for your time and all the replies. Some of the links are familiar as I have investigated the CM model of education. I need more structure than the CM model proposes, but I am planning to emphasize narration much more than we have been. I also tend to make things harder than they are. Thank you for helping me keep it simple. Science is not so different than History, for some reason I was having a blockand narration can be included. Thank you for your help!

We are supplementing with the SOTW 1 reader only. I am probably going to start with just "telling back" what they have read, just to get our feet wet. I assume that I cannot go wrong as long as there are not rabbit trails upon rabbit trails... I hope there is variety in narration, I mean, more than question/answers. We did Sonlight for 1 year and all the history questions took away the joy of reading, because he knew he had to answer questions at the end of every chapter. Are there books on the use of narration across a variety of curricula or subjects available? "How to... " books? or, dare I say, "Narration for Dummies?:001_smile: Any recommendations?

Thank you, Paige. I have just recently ( as in, just days ago) looked into the whole concept of narration. We are using Winterpromise, and frankly, I overlooked the role of narration included in this curriculum. I plan to remedy that and go alittle further. I am intrigued with some of the concepts espoused by Charlotte Mason and have looked only online so far. I do think it would be a great fit for my boys. I would like to use it throughout History and Science because I think the retention might be more successful than what we do now. Do you recommend TWTM as the best explanation of the narration process? I'm not going to change my whole curriculum choices and library to a Charlotte Mason program yet. Maybe I'll take it in baby steps as a trial period first.

So, the narration is a returned paraphrase of what you just read? Do you correct any misinformation or just use it as practice in learning?

Thank you, KarenAnne. Yes, we have Science notebooks with minibooks, notebooking pages and lapbooks. We used the Real Science 4 Kids lab books to start or just colored cardstock with minibooks glued on. I'm wondering if anyone purposefully includes narration as part of Science and how is it done? At a 3rd and 6th grade level? Lapbooks can be reading info, then putting it back on the pages of a mini-book. I'm wondering if narration processes the info more or not?

I am the mother of 2 very verbal boys. I am giving up the fight of constantly saying "cease and desist!" (with all its variations of ... "Please Be QUIET"!!) of attempting to mold these 2 talkative boys into proper schoolchildren.... I am considering going over to the dark side ... and using it against them. I am relatively new to the whole narration concept, but I like what I have read about it so far. History narrations are going well, and they are not even on to me yet... We are big lapbookers, but I do see where it has been just busy work at times. I think I want them to manipulate the information in their heads more before it comes out as speech or writing. And then... Science...How can I incorporate narration into Science? Is it only answers to questions? Is that enough? Do you have them read from their science book and paraphrase what they have read? I like the variety in lapbooking, ie: it is colorful,and writing the info involves more senses, are there various forms for narration as well? TIA

I, too, love their return policy... and selections most times. Once I asked the door greeter if a nonmember is ever allowed in the door to browse the warehouse as a potential paying customer? Her reply was that "company policy states that a nonmember MUST accomany a member to be allowed in the store"... and she actually glared at me for even asking the question! I was a member already, but I did have to become a member on a friend's recommendation ... because I wasn't allowed to browse!!?? The customer service is sadly lacking...

We were part of a house church for about 2 years. It was not a good experience for us... The atmosphere was so informal it became a social group and not a Bible study, nor a Biblical model of a church. We had such high hopes, but it was not successful.

Thank you, transientChris. I found 2 college textbooks which were used for a basic economics 101 and a business 101 class. I plan to plow thru them soon, but I think I should find your recommended book. It's been 25 years since college and I'm rusty on that language also... Thank you,

I think it is worth it... I find the local used bookstores ask for around $2 on most books at my dc's current reading levels, so, unless the library has the books at the time needed, this is another "cheaper than new" option for me. I also feel like I am sending out more than I am receiving. I wonder if everyone on PBS feels this way? And, yes, there are long waits for wishlisted books. My employer, the local hospital, has a business postal account, so I can sometimes send books at a discount. If your employer has a mail-room, you might explore that option and get a discounted business rate.

or this site? http://www.christiancinema.com/dvdrental/default.php

Winterpromise curriculum has helped us work together on the same Ancient History theme. It has older and younger guides. We supplement with readers from Veritas Press and Sonlight. http://www.winterpromise.com/ancient_world.html

I only see the print copy for $8.95 and the download for $3.99. Did I miss something?