Mark kistler stuff is good. I recently bought an online subscription. I think confidence and personal voice go much further than technique...so I read a lot of books that don't specifically teach drawing, that in some vague way affect how I draw. I find that looking at children's picture books is an awesome resource to be able to see a SERIES of work by the same artist. I am inspired by these books, even if what I gain from them is unrecognizable as coming from that source. I highly recommend Sachiko Umotos books for a 12 year old. I sure do wish I could time warp back a set to my 12 year old self! And google "zentangles" :-)

In the younger years, everything was basically one big Bible unit study. Then as my faith waned, I tried out TWTM and it wasn't working out so well, and on a Latin email loop I got into a lot of conversations with the author of Latin Centered Education or whatever the book is called, before he wrote it. My younger son read a lot of classical literature and for about a year, planned on pursuing a degree in classics. He ADORED the little Loeb bilingual volumes and his Latin and Greek studies. Other than Shakespeare, he preferred to stick mostly to the ancient texts. We never stuck to following a history timeline as the center of our studies. First the Bible was center, and then the classical languages. I did find TWTM to be an awesome resource and an interesting read. Now in my own self studies, I cannot say that my studies are centered on a 4 year history spine. I don't even currently own the book :-)

People can get into all the arguments they want about religion, but I've never met anyone who didn't find the KJV to be an awesome piece of literature with the hugest number of resources to study it, most of them free or low cost. You really can homeschool with a KJV, a math book and a library card! My oldest son is not a Christian, and never was one, as I said earlier, and I laugh when he stresses out about how to give his kids the same Bible background he received :-)

A livable pay is different area to area. In my state, housing is VERY expensive and pay scales are some of the best in the country, but the pay often isn't enough to pay the rent. A person with the same job elsewhere and lower housing costs will have a better quality of life, even if their pay is lower. My oldest son, who was VERY methodical about his education and where he chose to look for work, moved to a booming desert town at the age of 19, where the housing was rock bottom and the pay was average. With just a 2 year degree in business, and a few years later, he is getting married this winter, and just told me this weekend he has decided to settle permanently in the area and is buying a house. He says he cannot afford a house and a family if he comes back East. I have no doubt that a 4 year degree in Psychology would be even more useful than a 2 year degree in business, where my son lives. And a degree isn't everything. Work experience and internships are very important to employers. And character...well that...IS...everything. Especially in something like psychology!

No curriculum is ever too young for us if it WORKS :-) I use all sorts of grammar school resources for my own self study, when they are more efficient than "age appropriate" ones. I just put away some other art materials to focus on Teaching Art with Books Kids Love and I download Little Pim French last night. Honestly I could do without watching little kids messily eat their food...but...the video is working :-0 I'm trying not to be a curriculum snob :-)

A lot of social workers have just a 4 year degree. Pay is low and work is hard, but some love it.

It looks very systematic and thorough. I have never regretted how much time my children spent studying the KJV, even though none of us are Christians anymore. My younger son spent a lot of time listening to the dramatized KJV and a dramatized version of Pilgrims Progress and transitioned effortlessly into reading Shakespeare and other great books as if they were comic books, and he was generally a math/science type of kid. English was the only subject he struggled with. My older son, never a Christian, but brought up by a very conservative Christian mom, believes his KJV Bible studies and in depth church history lessons are the foundation of the man he is today, and thanks me now, and apologizes for the battles of his childhood. I won't talk religion and beliefs, but if a parent wants their child to grow up with a preacher level understanding of the Bible and church history, it's easier to stick with the KJV, because even today, so many of the resources and reference books geared towards serious study use the KJV. And if a parent is planning on serious great book studies in high school, a child who has become used to the grammar and sentence structure and vocabulary of the KJV will be ahead of the child only fluent in modern English.

Thanks! Very interesting!

Hmmm....so this makes me think that anyone who is having a child focus on a skills vs knowledge curriculum, should have the child develop a "lab" of their own, even if it is portable and made up of mostly common household items. But that the child should be using the same brand and size of drinking straws for each activity/experiment for example. Very interesting!

I just remember so many jobs dealing with power and the environment and keeping a town or city functioning, that I had never heard of. Decent paying, steady jobs, in high demand, that didn't require attending a prestigious 4 year college and 4 years before that devoted to prepping for SATs and APs. Jobs that would allow a better quality of life for the preceding 8 years. And then I saw the local community colleges offering all the prerequisites for these jobs, and much easier entrance requirements.

That sounds better! I used to let my son slack a bit with this part, so he could focus more on the research, and the cyclical nature of doing the experiment several times, each time at a higher level. But I used to feel guilty, and was corrected about it several times by an online friend with a scientist husband. It was very confusing to me for the student to be cautioned so much about completing this step flawlessly, but to never be involved in replicating an experiment themselves :-0

If you buy this workbook for the younger children, it might be a good idea for your daughter to READ this one before she READS the higher level explanations. She can easily skim this workbook in 30 minutes, and I think she will UNDERSTAND the higher level materials better...to see the big picture...before she is bogged down with too many details for each step of the method. I'm sure her school has very specific detections...even if those directions are hard to comprehend, if you know what I mean. Too often higher level resources assume past mastery with lower level materials, and focus on the details and not the main points. The main points are mentioned but not emphasized.

That is a VERY interesting looking curriculum!

I hope you get a lot of input from others, as my suggestion is a narrow one, but... When I was doing this with my younger son, there were books at the library about careers that only required 2 year degrees and certificates. I think it is important to include these. There were many jobs that are so in demand, that most people holding them, went to college for something else. I remember one of them was a waste management plant manager.

That is excellent!

I think the workbook is geared towards a big middle school project, or smaller more everyday high school projects. I like it because it isn't so detailed and overwhelming. I do better repeating and drilling a lower level concept, than only doing a higher level one, once. If I had a highschooler preparing for a highly competitive fair, I'd have them do a few projects at home with this method first, but then move onto something else for their competitive project.

Hmmm... I guess it is just challenging claims, not reproducing experiments. I see as I study it further :-( I think it could be tweaked though, using products that claim "taste tests..." if the student wrote the company for how the tests were conducted. My students work in research teams (2-4 students) to challenge the claims of products available to consumers. From paper towel advertisements to powerful battery claims, my students take the lead in their learning and investigate their world using the scientific method http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classgen.html

I've seen a LOT of science books talk about the importance of carefully writing the materials list and procedure, because in "real" science, being able to replicate an experiment is important. This is the first activity I've seen though that has the students actually attempting to replicate other experiments. http://sciencespot.net/Media/consumerchall.pdf Is this an important part of learning the scientific method, do you think?

The Science Fair Workbook gives the method for an engineering project, in contrast to a science experiment. This bubble project looks like it might be perfect for introducing the method. http://www.zurqui.com/crinfocus/bubble/eng.html

Snickers bar as a model of the earth's layers. http://sciencespot.net/Media/candybartectonics.pdf

Hmm.... Upon research, I'm surprisingly interested. Lots of pictures http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug,%20Madagascar%20Hissing%20Roach.htm

I found the background research plan worksheet and the bibliography worksheet the most helpful. Otherwise I prefer the Science Fair Workbook. I still don't have exactly what I want, for my nature study activities/experiments but I'm narrowing down on it. I really want to focus on doing good research, and using what I learn, to plan the purpose of my activities. And sometimes I want it to be an activity, not an experiment with variables and control. I liked that the workbook differentiated an engineering project from an experiment, and gave the method for each one. My nature studies are also going to need a slightly different method. Edit: And I just found this at the site on finding information Http://www.sciencebuddies.com/science-fair-projects/project_finding_information.shtml

I've been finding such great stuff that is pulling together a lot of half understood things. It's exciting when it all starts coming together! :-)

I was having trouble loading the Martine page on my iPad. I'll have to check it out later on a regular computer. It looked sweet though. The French library looks interesting!

They told me I needed to give 2 weeks notice, but it was just too distracting for all the other students, all abuzz about ds "quitting school", so I just yanked him. They can't do anything.