We are moving away from our current 'social studies' curriculum soon. I found TWTM after we purchased everything for this year but for DD's next year, I want to switch over to something that is chronological for history (8th Grade). I was wondering if anyone had used the Kingfisher Encyclopedia in the way TWTM suggests...binder with 9 sections, etc. and what they thought of it all together. If I taught History this way, I'd supplement like crazy, pulling whatever I could find, but did you find it to be a solid year of History?

superchargedscience.com or MovingBeyondThePage.com ..has full curriculum choices, or single subjects or just order a unit at the time in the title you are interested in.

Thank you very much. I am learning that there are only a few changes since I graduated but I think we are definitely doing in this direction. My two kids are much higher achieving than I was and I graduated at 16 from AS. I remember it being easy peasy, so I'm am certainly seeing some supplementing in our future. Since they are still only sending 2 books at the time, I know this is going to mean pulling other curriculum in to fill it out, and later, hopefully college courses as early as possible. DD will be in Algebra 2 and DS might possibly be even further than that by 9th grade so if the math is light, I'll start preparing for that. They will be doing college prep too. I wish I could go in a different direction for the HS education, but DD really wants the diploma to be accredited (even tho I"ve explained there are other ways to get this on our own), plus the cost is so reasonable that it certainly is a draw for us. I keep reading they loose tests frequently though, among a few other things. We have a yr and a half before making the decision but I am making a 5 yr plan for my 7th grader so it's on my mind.

I graduated from American School but that was 22 yrs ago. I am planning to put my 2 middle schoolers through AS as well but wonder how it's changed through the years? Honest reviews, opinions?

thank you :)

Any suggestions for a Health program for my 8th grader next year? Also wondering how necessary this is? I guess it didn't occur to me until I was chatting with other homeschool moms who said it is an 8th grade requirement (state standards). I don't pay any attn. to state standards but maybe I can fit it in if it's a good fit.

I wanted to outsource a foreign language program but the only thing I found in the area was pricey and DH said I had to choose between music lessons and language lessons at this point. So I went with music since DD's life goals includes being a part of an orchestra LOL I also figured we had the High School years. So yeah..I wanted to do it but it isn't working out in the middle school years.

I am HS'ing my 12 yr old DD (7th gr) this year for the first time in many years, and next year I"ll be adding my 11 r old DS (currently 6th gr public school). When I started hs'ing dd this year, I had already purchased a box curriculum (Moving Beyond the Page) when a friend introduced me to TWTM. The MBTP Science and Social Studies is not a great fit for us but we love the Language Arts and will keep that. All in all, classic ed fits us better. I have incorporated some classic ed things into our year this year but am looking to really switch things up next year when they are both hs'ing. I have read the logic stage chapters of the book over and over and this is what I've come up with. I know this is pretty individualized, but I am looking for advice on anything I'm outwardly missing, suggestions, etc. I also hope to teach them some subjects together since they are so close in age. I know it's early but if I go with this plan, I want to do my purchasing in the off-season for better deals, plus I have the school $ now so I'll be moving forward in the next month or two. Am I hitting all bases? DD 8th Gr Math -Saxon Alg 1 Language Arts/Grammer/Reading -Moving Beyond the Page 12-14 (rigorous writing assignments, a little light on grammer, heavy on literature and novels and reading. For this age group the lit is all American literature and novels which will also intertwine with her History lessons) -Vocabulary from Classic Roots (not sure which yet. Haven't done it before, so start with A?) Science -Supercharged Science eCourse -Snap Circuit Deluxe set / work -Periodic Table kit/work History - Modern/U.S. History TWTM's suggestion to use Kingfisher History Ency. with binder for outlining, etc. 1 Composition a week, map work, etc. Some primary sources and any other info we can source. Logic (will rotate these as needed) -Intermediate Logic -Red Herrings (for a fun break) -Critical Thinking in U.S. History Spelling - as needed Typing -Mavis Beacon program Music Viola Lessons DS 7th Gr Math AOPS Pre-A, maybe even Alg..not sure yet Language Arts/Grammer/Reading -Moving Beyond the Page Age 11-13 Spelling - as needed Typing - Mavis Beacon Music - Trumpet and keyboard lessons Science, Logic, and History will be taught alongside his sister. Both will participate in art programs as the local museum offers them as well as some purchased fun artsy programs I've purchased for this year but will use next year. What do you think?

It depends on which age group you're talking about. The older ages get increasingly more rigorous. We are in doing the 11-13 program and the Science is extremely full and rigorous and intense. The content seems at a high school level to me and there are tons of hands on experiments. That's a good thing but some of them take much longer than we expect. I have to tweak our science (re: omit plenty) to be able to fit it all in. At the logic stage TWTM suggests doing science two days a week at 1.5 hours ea. But with MBTP we are doing loads of science daily. DH and I agree that Science should not be skipped by our 7th grader, but there is no need for this kind of depth at this age. I can't believe I feel this way but it's WAY too much information. MBTP is very pricey IMO and it bothers me to pay all that $$ when I end up omitting around 1/2 of it. I think there are better options for less that don't overwhelm. Next year we are moving away from MBTP science and going with Supercharged Science's eScience course ($37 a month). I have a DVD with around 10 lessons already on it and I figure with those 10 lessons (10 weeks) and a deluxe snap circuits kit/activities, I'll only need around 4-5 months of Supercharged Science next yr. It looks very full and exciting. I"m very excited about the level of the content and the reviews are outstanding. One day we will go through the lesson and might do some research after reading, and on day two we do the corresponding experiment and make entries in our science journal. As of now, my STEM kids' least fav subject is Science and I need to get that spark back for them. They spend entirely too much time in the textbook doing 1-3 activities plus reading before even getting to the hands on part daily with MBTP. By that time, they are sick of science and want to move on. This is 5 days a week..and they don't like it at all. The one thing I'll miss is that big box of goodies that MBTP sends to go with all of the experiments. With Supercharged Science I'll need to gather my own materials.

My DS is also 10 and has resisted writing *always* and is usually very frustrated as soon as he knows he must write. Just this year we've had a break through. We suggested he takes a blank pc of paper, draw a circle in the middle and write the main idea of his witing piece. He chose dirtbiking that day. That goes in the middle..then 3 (or start with 2 ..or 4, etc) thought-bubbles come from the main thought circle. He then thinks about 3 things he likes about dirtbiking (or whatever applies to the main thought...3 things you don't like about cleaning your room, 3 ways to cheer on your team). From each thought bubbles comes 1 or more bubbles and in there you would write why you ....like that part of dirtbiking,..etc. So..he decided to write about dirtbiking, he quickly decided he liked the speed, the jumps and the braking of dirtbiking. He thought about the speed and decided he liked how he felt in the 'wind' (we only require one WHY for now), etc..etc.. you can keep adding more bubbles as they become used to filling out their 'diagram' and become more confident. Once he filled in all the bubbles, he was able to successfully write a story based on these details. Now....his problem happened to be an inability to get his thoughts OUT or inability to form thoughts around the topic. That white pc of paper was just so hard fo him to fill in. This may be a strategy taught in some of the curriculums mentioned and it's not the problem of all reluctant writers. Anyhow, it helped my son think in smaller incriments and form something to write that made sense. He is VERY mathmatical and logical so words, writing, creativity, etc is hard for him. plus he's a boy and they are much more simple with words lol DD can whip up a novel in an hour. LOL HTH someone!

We are using the MBTP 11-13 right now. It is intense quantity-wise. It is deeper thinking for sure. It is really teaching my DD and I'm tickled with it, especially considering the cost. It is FULL of projects (ok, some days, this is down side!) and full of internet links of really REALLY cool things I know I would have not found myself. We do have to trim some of the activities because, although I don't feel they are busy work or repetitive, it would take us....for.....EVER... to get the day finished and frankly, extra time in a day is one of the perks to our homeschooling objective. Working till 4 is not. So I have only 2 complaints...there is way way way too much work to finish in the time they say (1 hour of work per subject..no way). In this case, I tweak her work and cut some out by examining what I think is the more important thing for for her to learn. If four activities are expected with a Science lesson (this, after lots of reading and deep thinking questions, and maybe an internet link for review)..then I trim it to one or two that I think are most critical. My second complaint is that their 'history' is not chronological. I can fix both. #1 by tweaking. And #2..next year we are not buying the Social Studies units and are doing History the TWTM way with a binder with dividers, Kingfisher Ency., etc. We are starting with the Ancients and going from there. Their Science has been very educational and project-filled (my dd loves this). When we got our 2 boxes of Science materials, I squealed, SEVERAL times. They provide anything and everything DD needs for her science lessons and other cool stuff for the other subjects. part of my struggle in times past of HS'ing has been making it fun and finding projects to seal the lesson. MBTP has this MORE than covered.The Language Arts has really impressed me too. The customer service is the best I've had in my life. NO exaggeration. And the live books that our studies come from make me happy too. We will use MBTP until we grow out of the ages they offer. This is my first year HS'ing in a few years and biting the bullet was a real leap of faith, but I say everyday what a great choice we made. (for us..you know)