HITS Sonlight Core E (We are enjoying these stories about American history.) Teaching Textbooks 7 (Left Horizons because I don't like that the explanation is further back in the book than when it's given. I want to avoid tears.) Apologia Zoology Flying Creatures (My daughter loves these in depth studies.) Junior Analytical Grammar (She's 9.5 and has more knowledge about parts of speech than my husband. He actually watched the videos too. Great retention of information and we will use JAG : Mechanics afterwards.) MISSES Horizons 5 (She's done fine but I wanted to avert issues in the future. I'll use the unused workbooks as extra practice if I need to.) Word Build Foundations (I bought this at a convention last ear and was gung-ho about it but it's not very interesting. This is actually the first product that I've purchased and been disappointed in. Just not something that greeted our knowledge in anything.) Wordly Wise 5 (This is our 4th book and I just don't see any greatness to it anymore. It's just busywork and I need to get more going in so I'm trying MCT's Ceasar's English I next.)

My husband and I drive as team truck drivers and we homeschool our daughter on the truck. We are Fil icone and I choose all curriculums. I tell him what I've chosen and why. He's fully supportive and boasts about me to his family (earns brownie points). He reads whatever I need him to after he stops driving. He's the adventurer in our team and my daughter takes full advantage of that. I pray that he has an ah-hah moment and that you feel heard. God can open his eyes. I hope that this changes for you both. He certainly is missing out on a lot of fun. Learning can be a blast :D

Bible CAP's God's Covenant Old Testament Math TT Pre-Algebra Life of Fred Kidneys, Liver & Mindshaft Grammar Analytical Grammar Season 1 Language Arts MCT's Ceasar's English I MCT's Building Poems OR MP's Poetry for the Grammar Stage Writing IEW SICC-A Latin MP's Latinia Christiana I History & Literature Sonlight Core G includes SOTW 1 & 2 Mystery of History Vol 1 & 2 Geography Mapping Geography with Art by Emily J. McHenry Science Sonlight Core F (A&P) The Brain by Emily J. McHenry Arts Meet the Composers Book 1 & 2

That podcast was good. I haven't heard him speak before but it did give me food for thought. I've got some relaxing to do but like an earlier post-er said, it's about balance. I want my daughter to excel because she can and when I see pressure piling up on her OR me, I have to step back and allow God to show me what's going on. I'm pondering if I maybe have pushed too hard on some days. I definetly chose to school over 12 months versus 9 because I want to give us time to absorb not skim. Thank you for sharing.

I voted option 3, below grade level. Meaning that she was in Horizons 5 and went to TT 7. If I had just bought TT 5 without doing the placement test, it would have been stuff she already knew. Actually, we are just now in Ch 5 and it is still stuff she knew BUT and this is big for me (literally and figuratively :rofl:). I don't want tears as we move forward to pre-algebra. I'm preparing for when it starts to get harder for her and I NEED a curriculum that explains WHY she got the answer wrong. I'm getting her used to it now so it's easy peasy when she hits a speed bump.

Thanks! We were truck drivers before she was born and we didn't come back out here until she was almost 6 so she dies know "normal" life but I agree, I want her to write a book. I've tried to blog but I just don't have time. I take gobs of pictures and our Australian Labradoodles even have their own FB page (although they are not famous like that little Pomeranian dog). If she does it, it will be a book with 1000's of pictures. I'm a camera nut, slightly professional and I document lots of our life adventures. Over on the post about naming our homeschool, I announced that our school Cross Country Christian Academy chose Road Runners as our mascot :) Michelle

I'm an earn-it kind of teacher too. My daughter actually suggested a points system and I perfected it. She gets any points over 75 on her math grades and they add up to equal incremental times on her iPhone (not an actual phone). We aren't at home so she doesn't have computer time yet (read profile). So she may do 4 exercises (lessons) uses and get a 90, 80, 85, and 75. We add them up and she gets 30 minutes for every 50 points. It's probably confusing but for now we get it. I'm glad she came up with an idea because it gives her more responsibility. She loves it that I'm using one of her ideas.

Keep in mind, we are hearing through experienced adult ears and they have no clue what the word has come to mean now. How could they, right? My daughter has read words like gay and queer in previous books. So, these obviously meant different things before recent decades. She started using queer in a correct manner about things that were questionable and suspicious (dictionary definition) and when I heard her say it, it gave me a reason to discuss it with her. BUT, she said it in context correctly so I want to be careful to explain why it would be offensive or odd to a stranger if they didn't understand what she was meaning. She wasn't wrong for using the word, it's just that times have changed. In the same case, authors used words known to THEM and if they meant something else back when it was written, we shouldn't over sensationalize the word. Right?

I agree with the last posters, this wasn't about unschooling. It's about not allowing the Curriculum be the boss and that lots of learning, experiencing life, finding pleasure - all of that is it's own brand of curriculum. Right? I will say this about curriculum though. I LOVE it and I VALUE it for guiding me. I'm thankful for schedules because they give me somewhere to start. My personality just resonates order and order and more order. When momma is happy, she finds ways to incorporate those bunny trails of learning. In our lifestyle (truck drivers that homeschool their daughter on the truck), our job/life is 24/7 and I have a flexible-constantly moving-adaptable-yet consistent style and at any given moment a dog-gone blizzard or tornado or traffic jam or car accident or a sick dog (he throws up sometimes) or a blown trailer tire or well, you get the picture. Changes my schedule :0 Learning happens here ALL the time but I LOVE my schedule :D

Yep, what she said. (I don't like abbreviations ;))

Our daughter is on the truck with us (read profile) and she sees the right things we do and the wrong things. She sees "work ethic" in play everyday. We explain why we do what we do and how that plays into the company profits (we drive for a company but aren't THE company). We have failed in our choice selection and we are fully aware that she sees almost everything in our jobs. We use those opportunities to prove that we are human and make mistakes and that we may do or act a certain way that effects our communication with outside folks but that we are still responsible for our actions. Responsibility is big in our house. For example: almost 4 years ago, I stopped at a truck stop and my daughter and I walked in, used the restroom and came back out. My husband was supposed to be asleep for all I knew. When we got back out out to the truck, he was on the phone. Very unusual. He gets off and tells me that it was my step-mom on the phone (ok, that's ok) and that my dad had died suddenly that morning. Completely a surprise. We had just visited with them for vacation 10 days earlier. We were about 240 miles from our delivery and those appointments are scheduled. We were so close that nobody (meaning another driver) could have taken it in for us even if our company had tried to help. After my initial numbing scream and numbing conversation trying to calm my daughter down (first grandparent to die), I chose to drive on. My dad had been a truck driver and I knew IN THAT MOMENT that he would do the same. We weren't at home. We were in Georgia, we were from Texas and he was in Florida. We delivered the load and our company got us a load going to Florida. We were one hour behind my mom and sister after they flew in from Texas. All of this was the next day which meant I had to drive another full shift to get there. She saw, in me, that I can keep going until I have the time to stop and experience what has happened to me. It was hard because for the first time in my life, I had someone else to walk through what's expected of us. She has seen my husband and I do this with sickness and injury too. We haven't had a sick day in over 11 years but we also haven't had any manor surgeries, diseases or dibilitating situations happen to us. So, my response would be - they see it through example and by us teaching them that expectations aren't a terrible thing. We just need to give them age-appropriate skills to develop into an adult with a good work ethic. It comes in pieces, during each experience our families have.

Just to throw a complete wrench in here. We school all 7 days and this is why. We are truck drivers and we are working 24/7 but obviously have chunks of time when we can relax and take the dogs for a walk. Or we may get a day off at the beach while waiting for our next load to be ready. Our lifestyle is so abnormal that we don't do more than 3-4 hrs per day. I'm very organized and it works for us while we live this way. We may work until midnight but that's because she does her work while I drive. She reads stuff to me and we discuss it. I drive from 4:40 pm till 4:30 am most of the time and so she does school work from about 3 pm till 10 or 11 pm. My point here is that OUR jobs are the distraction. Rest Areas are a distraction. Shippers and Consignees are distractions. The Colorado Rockies are a distraction. Blizzards are a distraction. Just a different perspective. Have a great day. Sometimes we do something for a season. It's not forever. It's just what's needed for the moment.

I can't say how much u appreciate these forums. My daughter will becfoing TT Pre-Algebra next year. We haven't done Math Mammoth before. I learn so much from these discussions back and forth even if they aren't in my life yet. Just needed to say that :)

I feel like I'm on overdrive because we've only started Vol 4 (we are in American History) and I bought the test book AND the Activity Guide. But I only have one child and I'm using this as an extra to make our History study all the more deep. I love the test book because my daughter communicates better thru writing than orally. She gets frustrated because her brain thinks faster than she can form the sentences. I don't have experience with the other 3 volumes but have already purchased the Activity Guides. :blush:

Yes, those videos were why I had to buy one.

I love reading all of these encouraging thoughts about how important it is to educate ourselves. I will clarify that when our only child (daughter -now 9.5 years old) was 2, I went back to school at the age of 40. I chose one state university for one year then transferred to the other nearby state university for the other year. First school was for Interior Design and then the second was for Graphic Design. I found as she got older I wanted to be home taking classes and my mom moved in (to help us avoid daycare) and I wanted a part-time job at Starbucks and and and and..... So, in the following 2 years when she was 4-6, I took online Art classess at the Academy of Art University (www.aau.edu) online. I was in for a New Media Art degree. I took 2 very full years of all kinds of stuff Art related before I stopped. I am a Junior now. What happened for me is that I then started homeschooling her with the same fervor that I approached school. I'm in love with education and leaning new things. Maybe that's why I love being out in the road so much. We learn so much traveling through the towns we read about and the cultures of this country. That AND we are now paying off all of those ridiculous school loans. Flyer really delving into the products that I have found through this forum, I've purchased LOTS of stuff recently. We won't be home for our scheduled time off for another 10 days and it's like Chritmas for me when I get home. Oh my goodness, it's hard to wait. From 2012-2013, I also invested in a boatload of classes that are Photography related at www.creativelive.com and it changed my view of my talent as a photographer and I opened my own Photography business for when we are home. Sounds odd because we are barely home BUT it was one of those moments where I had to do something to believe in myself and show my daughter that I could do it.

My daughter is only in 5th grade but the curriculum I'm finding now for her is just so much fun. I'm glad I get to learn along side her because I know I didn't learn half as much cool stuff when I went through. Sometimes, I think I'd like to buy my own student book and do it myself. I know that's silly because I have all the answers in the teacher's manual but maybe I'll wait till she is in highschool and I will do some subjects with her. Have y'all ever bought something for yourself?

I bought the Activity Guide and the Test book but not the audio or the coloring pages. My daughter loves workbooks and we work on the test book together. It's a great fit for us. Glad to see it's working better than last go around.

She'll finish TT 7 in July at just over 10 but if I do all the remaining LoF books between Farming and Fractions, I could slow her down just a smidge and start her on TT Pre-Algebra at 10.5 and hopefully keep tears at bay. She's not struggling but she loves those books and I want to go thru the entire series. It will work to bring them into our day again. Thanks for the insight, ladies.

I will be starting Core G with my 10.5 year old. She's done Cores B+C, D & now is one E. I think my daughter will be fine with any of the content. We are starting Core G first then bringing in Core F near the end and then Core H. Still doing it over 3 years but wanting it all to fit a timeline instead of doing Core F first. Make sense?

You know why, we didn't stick to te schedule either for this first part of JAG. We do all the exercises in one day then rewatch the video the next day before the test. I'll be getting itt done in the 11 weeks but totally our way. Would "Beyond te Book Report" be good to do BETWEEN JAG and JAG:Mechanics, ya think?

We didn't do Apples but we've done Butterflies, Cats, Dogs, Edgewood, Farming and have Goldfish and Honey to do. I see there are now Ice Cream and Jelly Beans. Were those added recently? Then there's Kidney, Liver and Mindshaft. I don't remember those from a few years ago. Are they new too? Now, that I see there are 5 books BEFORE Fractions, I should get them IF I want her to use Fractions with Pre-Algebra or Algebra. She will be doing TT Pre-Algebra next year. Any advice or wisdom? Thanks, Michelle

The book by Christine Miller called "All Though the Ages" seems like a go to resource. I bought mine at RR. Here a link I found by a blogger that reviewed it. http://www.thinkingkidsblog.org/2012/01/30/history-by-the-books-all-through-the-ages-by-christine-miller/

Yeah, that's what turned me off getting the life planner. I've already got a new teacher planner so that's good.

Which cover are you choosing? I love design and she's got great designs. I got the fleur feliz, I think it's called.