Thank you, Paula. I do have a (long) list of different lit guides - and we also plan on using Well Educated Mind for some - but I think he will need much more than just the WEM for the titles included in there. Just figuring out what is good, what I should pass on, etc. I hadn't heard of the pink monkey one - thank you! Off to make my list even longer... lol

no one has any tried and true literature guides to suggest? Any to avoid? pretty please with a cherry on top

Bec, I so understand that feeling. And if they aren't above their peers in one or more area then it feels like a personal failure, too. :/ I totally understand that. If you aren't willing to give it all up, maybe one at home would still be ok and more manageable? Nathan still talks about the half a school year when he was the only one at home and the others went to school. We really had some good heart moments and it's so nice to know that he really remembers that time fondly. And... having only him at home where we could do what we felt we wanted/needed was so beneficial to my own sanity, too. Of course, you have the twins... and this may just be the perfect time to spend doting on them. <3

Rebecca, I have so been there... but with only 5. ;) Having toddlers added to the mix absolutely makes homeschooling all the more - um - challenging. ;) Wish I had a good answer for you. We have had the kids in schools at various times even when they weren't top schools. When Shawn was in Iraq I had 3 of the older 4 in school - only had one to homeschool and he's my easy homeschooler (Nate). He's the only one who hasn't been to a public school. Our experiences at all the schools my kids have attended have been fine, nothing stellar, but also nothing really bad. And for a time it served what I needed - to clear my plate a little bit. However, with sending kids to school come different things to work with... dealing with the 'system' because it will always be one thing or another. And to be honest, sometimes the 'system' can really be more hassle (and I know you - lol). Paperwork is HUGE and never ending, from homework, to art projects to permission slips to lunch tickets to a multitude of paperwork that comes home with each child about every little thing that is happening in the shcool. (the paperwork about sent me over the edge - lol) Anyway, I read your post, and wanted to send you a big ole hug. Really wish I could hug you in person and maybe plan some things to do together to help lighten the load and give our kids the social outlet while learning together.

We are making our plans for next school year, and I have the list of works that my high schooler will be reading. Now, I am on the search for some good resources like literature guides or unit studies (?) to help guide us through each work. Sooo.... this is the plan. Do you have a lit guide/unit study that you LOVED for any of these works? These are lining up with our history study pretty well. For History we are using "America: A Narrative History" along with "For the Record" - spending 2 weeks on each of the 18 chapters. First Semester: (15-18 weeks planned) King James Bible - Psalms - poetry (1-2 weeks) Paradise Lost (selections) (2 weeks) Pilgrim's Progress - maybe selections, depending on how well he enjoys it (2 weeks) Gulliver's Travels (3 weeks) Historical Documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, etc) (5-6 weeks) Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (2-3 weeks) Second Semester: (15-18 weeks planned) Poetry Unit (4 weeks) including works from Blake, Wordsworth & Coleridge, Keats and Lord Tennyson Poe stories and poems (2 weeks) Frankenstein (2-3 weeks) Last of the Mohicans (2-3 weeks) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (2-3 weeks) The Scarlet Letter (2-3 weeks)

Cool! It's nice to see other parents of CAPers. :D

Yep, Chally came home last March. :) I don't know why I put that she was 3 in my siggie - because she isn't. She's only 2 (but acts 3 in SO MANY WAYS!). We're good - still in the military and moving every couple of years. We're in Sacramento now. He's been in CAP since last August. Basically, Kyle will work through the modules (the books they sent him) and take tests. They can do that online. Those tests will enable him to promote in rank. Austin has gotten to actually fly a plane (!!!) and will be going to a big conference in a couple of weeks where they have seminars and a military style ball. :) He's enjoying it. Are you on FB? If so, look me up. Heather Shamp Mitchell.

First off... DARLA!!!! It's been way too long since we've talked. Second, Austin's in CAP, too, and loving it. We're actually counting the modules as 'flight and ground school'.

We're still solidifying plans, but this is what we have so far: Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra II Science: Apologia Biology with labs and adding in some human anatomy History: 1600-1850 following WTM pretty closely. We're using "America:A Narrative History" as our main text. The Norton website has a student area that is dedicated to this book - so I am using that for mapwork, quizzes and further research on issues that are touched on in the text. We're also utilizing "For the Record" which has original documents pertaining to the other text - chapters align and everything, making it a little easier for planning. :) English: Great Books study of 1600-1850 Using Well Educated Mind as a base/starting point - making sure to cover a couple of selections from each genre throughout the year. I'm looking at Lit Guides to use along with some of the selections. He will mostly use WTM suggestions for how to do the study. Music: Guitar Lessons & perform with youth group band theory - note identification, key signatures, intervals, chord structure, chord progressions (still looking for a main resource) Great Composers from 1600-1850 - will include a couple of research writing assignments (English) - as well as some listening assignments Spanish: Rosetta Stone Spanish Ground & Flight School w/Leadership - Civil Air Patrol modules, meetings, missions Personal Finance: Dave Ramsey's teen curriculum

Our plan for next year for my oldest ds: *Math: Algebra II Teaching Textbooks *English: Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings (he is EXCITED about this) *Science: Biology w/lab (dissections, too) probably going to use Apologia with some additions for Anatomy *History: 1600-1850 - using Story of the World 3 (he's the oldest of 4, so they will all be listening to the stories as the basis), but adding higher level readings and assignments Electives: *Music - guitar lessons and performances, music theory *Spanish I - Rosetta Stone w/workbooks & tests *driver's education (spring) *personal finance - Dave Ramsey's homeschool curriculum (fall)

Yes, the Key to books would be review of topics they already covered. I want to wait until the fall to start Algebra, but figured these would be good for review of topics they might not be completely comfortable in yet.

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate your input/feedback!

I am planning on starting Zoology 2 (swimming creatures) in Jan - but we haven't done Zoology 1. Is there something in the first book that would be needed to know from the first book before moving on to the second? Is there a foundation of classification/nomenclature started in the first book that would be useful in understanding the material in the second? Thanks!

This is what I am thinking - please tell me if I am missing anything important. I have 4 kids - 12, 11, 8 and 7. History and Science will be together. History: Ancients - Go through Story of the World 1, notebooking along the way, mapwork with it, and the older two will be also outlining the time period using the Usborne History encyclopedia. Science: Apologia Zoology (swimming creatures) - We'll be making lapbooks with this (so it will be a little different than the history). I will also be having Austin and Nate do further investigation as needed. We will also plan on taking a whale watching cruise when dh gets home in March. History and Science will be done on alternate days - 4 days a week for about 90 minutes. It will be all together, with Austin and Nate having a little deeper investigation to do and more writing. Austin (12/6th grade) and Nathan (11/5th grade): LA: grammar - Rod and Staff English writing - in history and science - learning how to outline and rewrite in own words reading - library books from list I am making - including some selections from Historical period we are studying - also he will have free reading spelling - Phonics Zoo (IEW) Math: Key to.... decimals, percents, fractions - I want to get them both solid on these so that in the fall we can start them both with Intro to Algebra (AoPS). Adam (8/3rd grade) & Lauren (7/2nd grade): LA: grammar - FLL level 3 for Adam, 2nd grade for Lauren spelling - Phonics Zoo - Lauren will use the rest of the year's K12 spelling words reading - library books from list, history and science books from library handwriting - HWT cursive for Adam and printing for Lauren Math: finish up K12 math book

Hey you! I almost replied that I was in Hawaii, too, and we have kids of similar ages... we should meet. lol um... I just saw you today! lol Nice to see you here. back to the original topic: We are a military family. Living in Hawaii.

We use both K12 (at the moment, we're disenrolling, though) and EPGY. I would HIGHLY recommend EPGY. There are placement test requirements, but if he qualifies, DO IT! :) DS11 is able to log on by himself, and the time on the computer is timed. It turns itself 'off' once he has completed 20 minutes (or there about). It uses a whole different way of teaching, which is geared towards a mathematically gifted mind. And... if you do look into it further, ask about the financial aid. We got a substantial scholarship, and I wasn't sure we would.

I've found a lot of information in a couple of books our psychiatrist recommended. We did opt to try the meds - and the difference was immediate. My husband deployed last December - and my son had not cried, had not displayed any sadness, even the night dh left. In April we started the meds - and about 4 days later, I found my son in a puddle of tears. His mind had stopped being so distracted that he was able to finally FEEL the sadness. We had tried homeopathics, chiropractic, herbs, etc - and nothing had any effects. He was afraid of the meds, but we sat down and talked - REALLY talked to the doctor about what 'could' happen on them. Once we talked to the doc, and also read more information about ADHD, the brain and the meds, we were much more comfortable. of course, we were in crisis mode... so we probaly would have done anything. Anyway... I found these two books EXTREMELY helpful. They have lots of information about what ADHD is, treatments of all kinds, etc. Nutrition, supplements, exercise, etc. Delivered From Distraction (by an MD who has ADHD and does not take meds) Healing ADHD (by Dr. Amen)

We have been using K12 this year with a start up virtual charter in Hawaii. I have 4 kids enrolled - and we are struggling, to put it mildly. It's the amount of time that is needed that gets us. Also, my 11 and 12 year olds are expected to be able to do work on their own, but there is just too much information for them to really understand on their own. For instance, the history (they are doing American History Since 1865). They are supposed to read from the Haikim book, then write about the readings- an they as pretty in depth questions. Now, they are are 5th and 6th rade - and SWB recommends the Hakim books starting in 7th/8th grade. They are just too much. The curriculum is rich. Very very rich. And sometimes rich is difficult to digest... You asked about the literature, too. We do like the literature. The kids are exposed to various works of lit - and are asked questions to get them thinking. Math... I haven't had any problems with their math (I have used K-3 and 5 and Pre-Alg). That said, my kids get math easily. We are disenrolling our kids simply because I cannot keep up. We are so far behind - and that goes against how I think of learning. My husband is deployed right now - so I thought i was taking an easy way this year with school by enrolling in the charter... but it has been very very frustrating. We all feel like we are marking things off just to get them marked off - not really enjoying the process or even getting into the good parts of learning. That said... I have 4 kids enrolled... and my 2 oldest still need quite a bit of one on one. If they were more comfortable with doing things on their own, then it might be easier. We're most likely going back to WTM approach with all of us doing science and history together - just having the older two delve deeper.

um, we did that last year. ;)

I am at a point that I need some input. I have been pouring over WTM for days - trying to decide what will work for our family. My considerations: *2 beginning logic stage boys (11 and 12) *2 grammar stage kids (7g and 8b) *history and science must include all 4 kids - maybe the younger two part of the time, then extend for the older two? *must pick a period of history to study together and use many of the same materials (We've already read through all 4 SOTW) *same with science (we did and REALLY enjoyed Apologia Elementary Botany and Space books) *We live in Hawaii and want to take advantage of the opportunities here (Pearl Harbor, ocean stuff, different culture) This is what I have thus far: I have Language Arts covered. FLL for the younger two (2nd and 3rd grade levels); Rod and Staff English for the older two. Phonics Zoo for spelling (we like this a lot - from IEW). Vocabulary workbooks we like. I am looking into math curricula. For my older two I am considering Art of Problem Solving, which would be right up their ally. My younger two, they are fine doing games still, interspersed with some drill/memorization of math facts. History... not sure what period to do. We are in Hawaii, and I would like to take advantage of being near Pearl Harbor - because we will only be here for another year and a half or so. If I do modern history, which we breezed past because it was too deep, we could do some real living history stuff here. Seems silly to not take advantage of having this available and not do a certain time period simply because it wasn't the right time for that period (kwim?). Science... again, not sure. We have so many ocean opportunities here. There are sea animals, the ocean itself, etc. I would need to find a way to incorporate all 4 of the kids. Anyone have any bright ideas for me? :D Heather Mitchell