Well, the figures are for the total cost - transportation, insurance, etc. I think that's why the Alaska amount is so high, they probably "bus" a fair amount of their students by plane. I know that is done in the islands of Ohio, but that's only a few students. In Alaska there are probably quite a few that have that as their only daily transportation option.

I'm going to be homeschooling my science-loving kid next year (1st grade) and my thought right now is to integrate science into his subjects as much as possible. So for history, do this - Ancient Science: 40 Time-Traveling, World-Exploring, History-Making ... By Jim Wiese instead of doing coloring pages and the like. With nature walks focus on biological/geological things, identifying the parts of seeds, or the type of rocks. Have short "unit studies" on special science topics (like flight) ready to go for rainy days. I am not a science person at all, so this will be really tough for me. But I'm hoping that it will help me answer all his "why?" questions and encourage his scientific mind.

It's NOT about homeschooling! Look, if you want a good look at what is going on in these situations, from someone who is still very much a Christian, I suggest you look at http://www.quiveringdaughters.com/ Sorry, I don't mean to come across as mad, but I'm finding all these "what a bunch of whiners" comments to be extremely offensive. Would you tell a rape victim, "hey, you aren't being raped anymore, get over it!"???

The original article was not attacking homeschooling in general. Or having kids in general. Really. It describes a certain subset of the homeschooling world. One that should be known for what it is and taken seriously. Since this hit so close to home I began exploring the internet (by my own Google search, not through the Quiverfull site) and what the quiverfull testimonies are describing is all over the web. One interesting blog post I found was this: http://johndcornish.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/ati-ifb-childhood/ Now, is the problem the homeschooling or the weird para-biblical legalism? We could argue that question, but it'd be pointless. In this world the two are wrapped up together into one very tight ball. One invites the other, and vice versa. I really don't people here on this forum are the type who think that demons live in Cabbage Patch dolls, but it makes me very nervous to see a "how dare they criticize homeschooling!" reaction to those who point out that in certain contexts homeschooling can be used in a very unhealthy and damaging way.

Sorry, but I don't think that's what's going on in cases like these. For a private school there is a "they" involved (and basic Christian schools in the Midwest are only $3-5k, in reach of middle class folks who budget well). For the HS I experienced there can never be a "they" involved. It is all I, I, I. "We're better. We know the truth - always. We need to be suspicious of even the Christian kids who go to PS, they might be infected with devil-knowledge! Avoid! Avoid!" The mindset is nearly gnostic, and in all cases destructive.

Well, I was homeschooled, and I can relate to a lot of those stories.... I could go into details about my experiences, but it'd be boring. op. cit. Though I did learn that Gothard was a proponent of HS. My mom was a Gothard-groupie when we first started homeschooling, but I never made the connection. But I've been doing some thinking about what causes these HS-horror-stories, and came up with the following: I. Mom had a personal bad experience in school, and wishes to protect children from the same (therefore children are made to feel frightened about going to school). II. Mom has psychological issues, and uses the presence of her children for comfort (therefore children must be at home as much as possible). III. Mom has psychological issues, and raises her children specifically to be her enablers (therefore outside influences must be minimized as much as possible). IV. Mom fell into a group of people with psychological issues, and uses the group to build her own self-identity (Mom equates her self-identity with HS, which makes that non-negotiable). V. Because the HS-identity is so important, non-HS activities must be minimized (lest the identity be questioned). VI. The identity is rigorously reinforced by denigrating alternatives (therefore the decision to HS becomes res ipsa loquitur). Obviously, people are complicated beings, and don't exactly fall into neat syllogisms. But that's my best shot at interpretation. ergo - I have a big problem with people who HS out of fear. And....that's my :nopity: of the day!

Yes, Telegraf is only good for comic diversion, I think.... :tongue_smilie: Leesvos, letterdas, boekentas looks really good. I was also looking at Taal met Moffel en Pier, that could definitely do everything Dino Lingo promises, but in a better way. It's funny, I was always confused about what people really meant by "immersion" being better. But at the end of the Taal episode about letter soup one of the little girls waved her hand by her ear in the silent sign for lekker. I very much doubt Dino Lingo (or even Rosetta stone) would teach that! I wish there was something I could print off to go with each episode to talk about the vocabulary. I guess I have to impress on my husband the necessity of sitting and watching it with DS and then talking about it together. Another resource I found is http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/ResultByWorld?area=4&start=0&pgct=12&ilangcode=en&ilang=English&view=cover&sort=title&type=0&country=country38 Thanks for all your help! If you come across anything else, I'd really appreciate it!

Can I add Ancient Egypt to that list? So many of the originals are not kid-friendly, but I would like recs for Book of the Dead type stuff. I would really like recs for a kids version of the Dispute of a Man with His Ba. :laugh:

My kid gets scared of silly things too! He stopped watch Thomas the Tank Engine last year because something in it frightened him. ! :001_huh:! (I try not to mock my own kid, but I laugh at him on the inside sometimes). I think that when The Hobbit comes out on DVD I'll let him watch it. Big screen Orcs & violence vs. small screen Orcs & violence makes a difference, I think. When the first LOTR movie came out I took my littlest brother with me to see it in the theaters (he was maybe 12?) and he thought the big screen Orcs were too overwhelming. He'd be so embarrassed if I reminded him of that now, of course. But he was never much into fantasy either (weirdo). From playing the Hobbit game my son knows the names of the Dwarfs better than I do. Though when I asked why he wanted to see the movie he said, "so I can learn how to find the Dwarfs in the Hobbit holes." Yeah, not taking you to a long movie in the theaters for that, sorry kid.

That looks good, thanks again! Sometimes the audio isn't clear, but it's something I can give to my husband and say "here, do this with him." Poor guy feels lost and confused with all this, sometimes. He's barely keeping his own Dutch going by reading Telegraph and watching rtl. Can I just say that I find Dutch newspapers to be pretty bizarre? I had no idea JLo was so fascinating.... :glare: I showed DS the Dino Lingo intro video (Dieren) and he liked it ok, but he had no problems repeating the vocab and the whole sentences, nearly flawlessly, the first time it was introduced (and then translating it to English when husband asked). Considering the fact that the program only comes with 5 DVD of 35 minutes each, it seems a bit pricey for something he'll be done with in a few weeks, if not a few days. Wish my library had it....

Reminds me of the time I dressed as Athena for Halloween. I had a spear and a shield and everything. It was really cool. But I quickly got very tired of: "who are you?" "Athena" "WHO?!?" "Athena. You know, like Nike" "oh.....here's your candy......" :glare: I love Narnia too, but for some reason my son didn't share my enthusiasm. But then he got the Lego Hobbit game for Christmas and wanted to go see the Hobbit movie. No, I said, the orcs are too scary. I showed him the clip of "meat's back on the menu!" from the LOTR movie on youtube to prove my point, but son decided they weren't scary at all, they just have bad teeth! We compromised by husband agreeing to read The Hobbit to him at night, but when they went to the bookstore son decided that he must start with Book 1! So now they are reading the Silmarillion every night. And since ds just turned 6, after every paragraph he asks "what happened???" I'm sitting there thinking, there are so many more age-appropriate things! but this is what son wants, so.... Yeah, weird, different strokes for different folks and all that, I guess. To the OP : I share your frustration. I almost never get along with "other moms." :grouphug: Do the other moms share your views on classical education? If not, they probably didn't understand your point at all. If they're "normal" they may even view Percy Jackson as "educational." I don't saying that to demean them, I'm just saying that I think that is common. That's the view my mom had on these sorts of these, and I just chalk it up to her not receiving a good education herself. I totally agree with you, btw, that one should start with the underlying story before one moves into interpretations. Children are sensitive to variations after they have already done a preliminary "world-building."

Dank U! Dank U wel! entoen.nu looks really great. We'll be doing World history in the Fall, and we could do the entoen lessons as we go through topic. I think the in-laws are planning on sending some books, I'll ask about the Arend van Dam. schooltv.nl - I played that, and my husband (sitting next to me) said "hey, I used to watch that when I was a kid!" Lol, so maybe they'll watch it together. And, I have nothing against Belgians, btw! But in-laws are from the North, and they'd be very annoyed if he failed to say his g's and r's correctly, er, I mean, like they do. :laugh:

Thanks for all the replies! I tried looking up the Ninjago Dutch page (son loves Ninjago), and was disappointed to not find much, but I did find a short clip in Dutch. When I played it, though, son said, "I don't understand! You have to play this in English!" Argh, you're missing the point, kid! When my husband speaks some Dutch with him these days he'll yell, "I only speak English!" I'm not sure where the resistance comes from, maybe he had a hard time adjusting when we moved from The Netherlands, and feels that Dutch makes him "weird" to other kids (there were a few weeks at first when his playmates complained that they couldn't understand what he was saying). Unfortunately, there's no Dutch group in our area (there would be if we spoke Finnish though....), but in a few months we'll be moving outside Atlanta and I found a Dutch group there (and there's a consulate too, oh good!). uitzendinggemist.nl, Thank you! I think we looked at that before, but we were looking for the Mega Mindy shows, which aren't available there (it's Belgian anyways). Other one's "can't be shown in your geographical location," how annoying! But Het Klokhuis, yes, I think he'll really like that. If, you know, he overcomes his anti-13th-Warrior stance. He was never a fan of Sesame Street, either the Dutch or English versions, unfortunately. Are there any good Dutch games online for kids? He likes playing computer games. I take it there's no recommendation for Dino Lingo? It looks like it's 100% Dutch, but I'm not much impressed with the graphics. Maybe son would not find it too annoying... and maybe it would still be worthwhile as something which gives him "I can speak Dutch" confidence?

I am married to a Dutch national, and we currently live in America. Our son (now 6) used to be pretty fluent in Dutch. He went to Dutch preschool and was at age-level for both English and Dutch. But then we moved back to America, and my husband didn't keep up speaking Dutch with him. We just speak English around the house, and when I reminded my husband to speak Dutch to son he just did simple things, like "nee!" and "Ik hou van jou" ("no" and "I love you"). Result : Son refuses to speak Dutch, though I think he still understands a little. I realized I need to lead by example, so I got the basic Pimsleur course from the library, and found that if I play it in the car while son is in he back seat he'll pick up some phrases. But a whole half hour of auditory learning is too tough for him to sit down and do by itself. So I'm looking into a course that we can use which will appeal to him and teach him Dutch in a structured way. Since Dutch, and Dutch for kids, is pretty non-popular, it looks like my choices are Dino Lingo, Rosetta, and Tell Me More. Dino Lingo looks like the most simple, but maybe too simple? Rosetta Stone: I've read around the internet that some people have success using this for young children. Since he already has Dutch in his head (somewhere, way deep down), would this be a good choice? Tell Me More I know almost nothing about. It looks like the homeschool package is for highschoolers, so would this be way over his head? Any other possible resources?

I was looking around on the free electronic resources offered by my public library system and came across as series called "History in Dispute." There's various books for various world events and it follows a very dialectic approach. For example, a chapter in Vol 20 is "Roman Period: The Aeneid: Was the Aeneid Augustan Propaganda?" and then there follows a series of (short-ish) argues which go back and forth arguing: Viewpoint: Yes. The Aeneid was written in response to Augustus’s deliberate and explicit cultural program. In spite of the immense subtlety of the poem, its fundamental endorsement of Roman and Augustan dominance cannot be avoided. Viewpoint: No. Far from being a piece of propaganda, the Aeneid is a poem suffused with loss, suffering, and nostalgia. Virgil may well have “believed in Rome,†but he was well aware of the immense costs involved in Rome’s triumph. Vol 13, Slavery in the Western Hemisphere, has a chapter "Peculiar Institution: Was Slavery in the Western Hemisphere a Peculiar Institution?" Viewpoint: Yes. Modern slavery was a peculiar institution, having largely disappeared from Europe in the centuries before it was reintroduced into the New World. The revitalization of slavery violated custom and law Viewpoint: No. Slavery had a long history in Europe, and even after it was eliminated other forms of bound labor remained It looks like it could be a really interesting way of applying rhetoric to a HS History class. Unfortunately, my kid is only 6. Gosh darn it! The publisher information listed is: History in Dispute Ed. Paul Allen Miller and Charles Platter. Vol. 20: Classical Antiquity and Classical Studies. Detroit: St. James Press, 2005. p189-196. COPYRIGHT 2005 St. James Press, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale

That looks really interesting - but it looks like you need to buy the books for each lesson separately? Two books per lesson, 52 lessons - makes sense for a classroom, but... Maybe it works if you have a really good public library?

My son is currently in a public charter school in Florida, and here they even give kindergartners an end of year test (the FCAT). This test determines the school ratings, the job of the teacher, and the grade of the student. It's crazy. My son is in the advanced kindergarten class, so he's already done some of the practice tests. It's multiple choice and very didactic. DS got all the questions right, except for the one's where he started drawing triangles, or trees, or whatever. When I ask him why he does that he just shrugs, "I thought that was what I was supposed to do." Granted, he has issues paying attention (especially to busywork), but, hey, what's wrong with a test that asks a 6-year-old to draw a triangle? That's far more interesting (and useful) than fill-in-the-bubble of how many dots are in a ten frame. And about teacher's continuing education - I knew a HS science physics teacher who had to meet these requirements every summer. She was limited by course offerings and her own personal schedule, so she ended up taking classes in art and stuff like that. Things that she would rarely use in her class, even if she could. "Continuing education" sounds really nice, until you realize that it's mostly useless.

These are two things I've dumped into an ongoing list of possible resources for music theory. I've just glanced at them - sorry if they turn out to be not very good: http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Fundamentals/workbooks.html and http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/musictheory/index.html

This thread is hilarious - I used some of the books here when I was being homeschooled! BJU Math - the thing about it, I think, is that it is really designed to be used in a classroom with a teacher lecturing the lesson. It's pretty hopeless for independent learning. I remember getting completely stuck at long division. When I asked my mom to teach it to me we pulled out a stack of blank pages and just started writing on those. I went through some of my old textbooks a few years ago (my mom, for some reason, had put them in a box in the garage) and noticed that all the BJU Math books had writing all over the pages. I did Saxon Math for Pre-Algebra, and I guess it went better, I learned Algebra OK. But I remember it being completely uninteresting. Writing Strands - I remember my mom bought that, but I don't think we ever used it. I guess my mom thought it was pretty bad. I do fondly remember a spelling book I had. How to Spell Cat or something. Maybe it was A Beka? Gosh, some of the stuff I used probably isn't even in print anymore... Teach Your Child to Read in a Hundred Easy Lessons - this is really funny. I was at a bookstore last year and came across this book and it sparked my childhood memory of being taught to read from it. Since my son was clearly showing a desire to read then, I bought it and used it. I found it easy to use, and the script made it possible for my husband and I to switch off doing lessons with him. DS learned how to read with it, but since he is a quick learner I started just skipping some of the "slow" and "fast" parts. We only got up to about lesson 35 or so with him, and when I talked to my mom about using it she mentioned that I only did "about half" of the book as well. Moral of the story? I found it helpful in introducing the concept of phonics and reading. And son liked the stories. A year later and he's reading on the second grade level, so, I think the book is worthwhile. I'm looking into homeschooling DS next year, and when I first started browsing the internet I came across a website that complained about how there was the popular Christian history textbook which didn't talk about Adam and Eve as the "earliest humans" but some nomadic girl instead. My response was, "zomg! I wants it!" So then I found SOTW, hurray! To all the critics: When I took World Civ I at a large secular university a part of the assigned reading was a big chunk of Genesis and Exodus. The curriculum treated it as a "primary source" along with The Epic of Gilgamesh and Plato's Republic. I haven't read SOTW entirely, but it looks like the balance is about right, imo. If you want your kid to know the Bible then you can read the Bible through. That's what my mom did, alternating reading verses aloud, King James Version, starting with Genesis 1:1 (lol). The Bible should be read as it's own entity (however you want to do that). Why I am saying that isn't something I've found out how to say in just a few sentences, but I hold two graduate degrees in theology (from Christian schools), and this is what I've decided.

I looked into Life of Fred - I think the name confused me before so I overlooked it. But it looks like it's something that could be added in two days, then MM or MEP the other two days. Not sure how they would all combine - or if that will mean progressing too slowly. But since he is already a grade level ahead, maybe making sure he has the basic theory down pat wouldn't be a bad thing? I've spent most of the day looking at free curriculum, various lesson plans, and old Google books of more-than-a-century-old textbooks. Amazing! Things have come a long way since 1993. What is this creature called "lapbooks"?! And on the Smithsonian website you can get lesson plans that have videos and all sorts of things! The whole world looks very different now, lol. I downloaded the free Mr. Q Life Science curriculum. Someone mentioned it's a lot like Bill Nye, and since ds loves Bill Nye, I think it might work. And if he hates it, it's just the cost of printing a few pages, yes? Much cheaper than Noeo. I also downloaded some handwriting packets. Will try those out before HWT or something else. I also discovered the sight word list that ds's teacher is using for his weekly spelling. Interesting. Writing, grammar, etc. I'm changing my mind all the time with it. The thing I like about Harp and Laurel Wreath are the Stevenson poems. I already read some of those to ds at bedtime, and he finds them interesting and challenging (but his favorite poem is the "silly dog" one - Old Mother Hubbard, I should just have him memorize that one, he's almost there already, but it's, what, 10 stanzas? lol). Do people use HLW for more than just memorization/dictation? If I make up a handwriting sheet for the poems and do some discussion questions, then there would be no need for something like WWE, right? I'm hoping reading comprehension would be learned through the narration work of the other subjects, because I don't think WWE will work for us. Laura Ingalls Wilder is nice and all, but she's not a ninja, or a knight, or even a paleontologist!

Best bet I think is to call pr write all the major brands, Nutiva, Spectrum, Tropical Traditions, etc. From what I understand from others these are pretty small companies, and are usually good at giving a personal answer to any questions. Coconut oil is amazing stuff...

I hate to say it - but the phenomenon he's criticizing does exist. I recognize what he is talking about. I lived it, that's how I was homeschooled. I'm sorting out my own neurosis, but meanwhile my older brother is a completely self-centered, self-absorbed brat. Smart, yes definitely, but... there are more important things.

We do have pretty much the same curriculum! Yes, he already goes to school for 6.5 hours every day. I know he's not in the classroom all of those hours, but it's too much for him. He would be thrilled with 3 hours, which is what I'm hoping would be the max amount of "work" hours every day. 15 mins per subject and then move on seems best - that's how ds already does his homework (sometimes he has a lot of homework). Do you take "breaks" after a few subjects, or do you just let a lesson activity or discussion cause a few minutes of mental relaxation? I see the point of math every day. I tried to have the subjects switch up because ds is sensitive to repetitive things getting boring ("hey, wait a minute! didn't I just do this yesterday!!"). I'll have to think of ways of mixing it up a bit. Maybe doing it in a different place in the order would help? ------ My new thought is, since we are probably pulling him out of school here before the end of this school year, I could start doing just HWT a bit over May-June so that he gets that straightened out. Then the three-line writing he's exposed to in the Fall would just be reinforcement. But one of the above comments about "deschooling" piqued my interest. Right now he is thrilled with the idea of homeschooling, and I don't think kindergarten has yet killed his interest in doing "work" so I'm not sure how much he would need to "decompress" from public school life before starting any homeschooling. Every kid's different, I suppose. Every kid is also full of surprises.....

Thanks for all the advice everyone! To respond to specifics, but in general: Son's handwriting is really terrible. I have already tried pulling out alphabet copy sheets and chanting "top to bottom, left to right" over and over, but after doing two nice letters he just goes back to whatever-lazy style. He also has a problem with "basement" letters, he doesn't want to go below the line! He has already caused tears on this issue, so I'm drawn to something which promises to be tear-free. Given his learning style, is there a good hands-on approach that answers the "why" of writing nice letters? I picked FLL 1 because I saw the first lesson is about nouns, something he hasn't covered yet. I don't know how he can have a spelling list of nearly 40 words (tested every Friday) and be expected to write sentences and stories by himself, and not have been exposed to the basic parts of speech (I guess that's not on the FCAT, ugh, definitely moving out of Florida before he has to take that this Spring!). If it's easy I guess I'll just have to be flexible and just do the lessons that contain new material for him? I'll look into WWE. With having a Latin course I was thinking that he should be exposed to English grammar too. At least, to have an explanation given for him to "hang" things on. I'm not really interested in drilling grammar for a while! I picked Faith&Life because I already own it. I got it to help plan my Sunday School materials. But, well, I think it is the best comprehensive curriculum out there, but it is pretty terrible sometimes. Not CM or WTM or anything like it. My plan was to first read a relevant part from the Lincoln books and then read the chapter in the student's book and discuss. Twice a week, and, eh, ok. Can't believe the books were written with the intention to have a full hour lesson 5x a week, though. That's just torture. Son really likes science - he watches Bill Nye the Science Guy dvd's for fun when he comes home from school (and tries to repeat the experiments himself). So that's why I'm leaning to a heavy science program like Noeo, he'll do science pretty much every single day. From what I saw of the sample of Trail Guide it has a science focus (figuring out latitude and longitude and the like, thinking about geological elements), does this continue throughout the books? If it does, son will just think it's fun. If it's a lot of putting names on a map - he'll refuse to do it. I actually haven't looked into MEP that much. Some of the reviews of MMM said that sometimes students need a "worksheet" to lay everything out, and MEP looked like it had a good selection to choose from. I'll look into MEP some more, but I like the see and touch and know approach of MMM, so I'll have to see if you can do that with MEP. I didn't pick a separate reading book because it seemed like so many of the subjects already included a lot of reading. Yes, flexibility is key - :) . Ds's teacher has shifted how she does class a few times already this year, and she's been teaching for over 25 years! Since we're probably moving before the end of the school year maybe I can try to print out the sample pages and give it a trial run before I order the books - make sure I don't spend money on something he deems "nonsense!"

TOTALLY NEW STUFF AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE As a background, I have a (just turned) 6yo son who is currently in an advanced kindergarten class at a charter school. He hates it. He likes his teacher, the work is a breeze for him, he has friends there, but.... As his teacher says "He's really bright, when he pays attention!!!" He's a very kinesthetic and inductive learner, and when he is done with something he is D.O.N.E. done. We'll be moving before the end of the school year (to Georgia), and rather than try to place him in a different school and try to figure out his grade level (he's currently doing 1st grade work, and will be moving into 2nd grade reading within the next few months), we have decided to homeschool next year. I was homeschooled as a child, so it's not entirely new to me. But when I was homeschooled (in the 90's) I just did BJU, ABeka, and various other random textbooks. My mom wasn't hands-on, so I was pretty much unschooled, but with textbooks (yeah, didn't really work out). I have been doing some reading, and love the approach of both Well-Trained Mind and When Children Love to Learn, and agree with unschooling insofar as I don't think grades and scores are helpful, especially for the bright child (for me they just turned me into a prig, bah!). I have been making a curriculum list and this is what I have come up with so far: (We're Continuing Anglicans, so that's why there's a mix of Catholic and Protestant things, yes, sometimes it's confusing!) Math : Making Math Meaningful – Level 2 & Math worksheets as needed [http://www.cimt.plym...ault.htm#year1] Latin : Song School Latin Writing : Handwriting Without Tears - Printing Power Plus Language Arts : First Language Lessons – Level 1 Religion : Faith and Life by Ignatius Press – Level 1 and for reading Stories from the Old Testament by Frances Lincoln & Stories From the New Testament by Frances Lincoln Science : Noeo Science – Biology 1 History : The Story of the World – Volume 1 and Supplement with texts : http://www.fordham.e...kfull.asp#Human Origins or ANET Art – Artistic Pursuits – Book 1 Music : Classical Composers Monthly Spelling : My Catholic Speller – Level A Geography – Trail Guide to World Geography Philosophy : Learning to Think by Jacob Abbott Aesop’s Fables : Aesop's Fables by Living Books Press Logic : Mind Benders – Book 2 Additional: The Harp and the Laurel Wreath : (supplemental to First Language Lessons, good resource for more poetry. Includes dictation work) Book of Centuries : http://simplycharlot...k-of-centuries/ [http://www.homeschoo...jContents2.html ]Can use Ancient History Portfolio Junior Nature walks : http://simplycharlot...cmguide/nature/ Can use Nature Portfolio [http://www.homeschoo.../aNature2.html] Extra-curricular: Swimming lessons Piano lessons Additional homeschool activities - the county in GA we will be moving to runs various homeschool enrichment activities through the Parks&Rec. The schedule looks like this right now; (On Mon/Tues material is introduced, and first half completed. On Wed/Thurs previous material is reviewed, and second half completed.) Mon Language Arts Writing Art Math History Philosophy Aesop's Fables Tue Latin Spelling Music Science Religion Geography Logic Wed Language Arts Writing Art Math History Philosophy Extra Activity Thu Latin Spelling Music Science Religion Geography Extra Activity Fri Nature Walk OR Field Trip I think that there is a lot of overlap between the curriculum choices (the only book I've completely reviewed is Faith&Life). As I understand it, CM encourages lots of subjects to learn the same thing in many different ways. The thing I am worried about is whether all the texts are consistent with each other. For example, HWT uses double lines, but every other handwriting exercise in the Speller and Latin (and maybe others) uses triple lines. DS likes consistency, a lot. Things must be the SAME or else it is WRONG ( :willy_nilly:). Is this going to be a big problem? As far as supporting activities - is there too much overlap between the activity book of SOTW and the Ancient History Portfolio Junior? Or can they just be combined -activities from SOTW just inserted into appropriate place in the Portfolio? I know the Portfolio isn't necessary to make a timeline, but as this is all new I think it may help give us direction. I have the same concern with Geography - SOTW also does mapping, yes? Is having the subjects on different days enough to keep this from getting confusing/repetitive? I tried to mix up the subjects for each day, and I want each day of instruction to be about three hours total (9am - 12 pm). Does this look like a good mix that can be accomplished in that time? Also, given the curriculum list, can you complete a year just doing the subject twice a week? Like I said, ds is an advanced reader, so I think we can accomplish a good amount each day. But if the logistics of that schedule just won't work anyways, please let me know. Is it all too much? Is it missing anything? Any advice would be great!