So, I'm the OP and we did have a logo of an interstate sign with our school name on it. I made a few t-shirts for her last year. We were talking about maskots and that it needed to be something to do with our lifestyle and my husband came up with Cross Country Christian Academy ROAD RUNNERS !!!!!! Can you see it? I love it! We have run over 5700 miles per week for the last 8 weeks. It's been our busiest January ever. Read profile to see what talking about :) Our daughter will have a Million Miles under her belt in May. :yahoo: Have a great day everyone :) Michelle

We started our homeschool journey with workbooks (LifePac) and then went to Sonlight because she consumes books. After 2.5 years of less workbooks, I'm finding that she communicates better they writing than through discussing something "on the fly". I'm bringing in stronger vocabulary, language arts, writing, poems, Latin, SOTW Activity Guides and more Art for Geography. It just fits her best. We will stay with Sonlight but will be more eclectic from now on.

I'm gonna sound odd here but I'm running these together WITH Sonlight. Yep, I'm an overachiever, crazy and a box checker. But, I've only got one child and schooling year-round.

In the kind of person that practiced my signature for a year before I got married. I'm a planner and a creative. I chose to name our school in our first year because it was for me. I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. For me, it's made me proud of myself and that I was actually a teacher. So, it was emotional but definetly not pretentious. I know you didn't mean it offensively but I just wanted explain me. I've even got a logo for my profile name, lifeon18wheels :blush: it was for a blog that I've never had time to write.

I know this isn't for me but my mom used to call me that too.

After watching that movie "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead", we bought the big daddy, Breville. I think the top level. We LOVE it. Do research on the two kinds. I just pulled this up in a search. http://www.harvestessentials.com/whatjuicisri.html It's so worth the money. If you use it daily, it's worth your health and less meds and doctor's visits.

Yes, it's arrived BUT we are still out on the road and won't be home until the end the month. Mom took a picture of the box for me :D but I told her not to open it. I will tell you that I just bought a similar but nowhere near the expensive quality (just a plastic cover over pretty paper for the cover) on Etsy. I just searched Teacher Planner. The company I bought from was Plum Paper Boutique, I think. Hers are dated though. We school year-round from October to September so the undated idea of Erin Condren's is great. I bought an 18-month Student Planner for my daughter from that store on Etsy.

I haven't yet but I will be. I love this idea and we are starting with SOTW 1 and MOH 1 this summer. I've found great schedules for volumes 1 & 2 but nothing yet for 3. Glad to see someone else doing this :)

I'm changing things up mid year so I've got lots of is new goodies coming in the next week or so. Coming to this forum has helped me spend my money. :D

I bought an Erin Condren Teacher Planner to do just this. I'm a box checker and I'm looking forward to seeing it all in front of me versus just writing everything in on my Sonlight schedule.

See, I do a "box day" video for our Sonlight box. I can just see a great video for "tote day". Put it all in there, then call the kids in and have fun with it. Celebrate your eclecticness. Am I the only one that finds this to be a cool idea? I am adding gobs of great stuff to our Sonlight next month and then next year it will be even more eclectic and I'm getting excited about it.

Yes, I agree.

You have a very nice eclectic plan. I love eclectic. I think maybe a bright colored tote is in order. :D

JAG is 11 weeks then there's JAG Mechanics and it's 15 weeks. I think they created it for folks that wanted grammar earlier than middle school. Either way, you only do 3 days of exercises that have about 5-6 sentences each then here's a "play with words" simple fun activity then the test. My only complaint is that there isn't ENOUGH practice. I'd like to see at least 10 sentences per exercise. It is mastery based and I'm happy with the product.

I am also a Sonlighter. I was on their forums for 4 months back in 2011-2012. Came off because it just wasn't my thing. Went back in Nov 2013 and got hooked. I would see "TWTM" and say, "What the heck is that?" After doing some homeschool google searches, I put 2 & 2 together and landed on the forums. I could see that LOTS more products were discussed and y'all are like me (at least I think some of you are) and wanted more variety and stronger products in Language Arts and Science. What I've found is that I love Sonlight for the books and I'll try to incorporate their product for at least the next 4 years BUT thru the recommendations here, I've found such richness and diversity in products. I became consumed with reading Susan's book was so impatient with ordering it online and waiting for it to be shipped that I (eeeeekkkkkkk) bought it at Barnes & Noble. Gawd, I hate paying their prices. Either way, my husband started reading it before I could then he bought The Well Educated Mind on his Kindle then we found it at Half Price Books and bought a hard copy for me. NOW, I want to buy the 1999 version of the book because I've seen where many have said that it explains the "doings" of Classical Education better. Thank ladies for offering up such great insight to us newbies to TWTM. :D

We are doing Junior Analytical Grammar right now with videos. A big win in my book :)

Thanks for the www.abebooks.com link. Just bought some great books at great prices :D

My daughter is in 5th and she hasn't had anything other than LifePac (good but not strenuous by any means) and Sonlight LA (which some folks deem as "not enough") before doing JAG. I bought the DVDs because it is our first video training since we started homeschooling and I thought it's be simple enough to experiment with. The DVDs are merely the creators reading the text and going they the examples but this is how I use them. I have her watch it one then watch it again and do the work with the instructor. I have her do the exercises (only 3 pages of 5 sentences each - could use more practice, I think) and then I have her watch the previous 3 videos before she takes the test. I'm going to use those videos to my advantage.:D She's done very well. By the 6th unit she had 59 words of speech to label and she got everyone correct . I'd say this is working for us. My husband is even learning stuff he didn't know :rofl: We will finish the first 11 units then take a 4-wk break then finish the next 15 units. We are very happy !

Lori D. - you are fast becoming my favorite guru of info. I'm on my iPhone all the time so I can't add links to things but I sure can look stuff up that y'all link for me. I hope to one day be as helpful as you have been to me. Thank you SO MUCH!!!

Hello, I'm doing Core E right now with SOTW 4 and I'm enjoying it. I only have one child and so we are moving forward and doing something similar for 5th-8th grade. I will be lining up SOTW 1-4 with Core G, F, H then possibly 100. I'm also lining up MOH 1-3 then 4 when it cones out with these. It doesn't proceed in that order BUT I want it to line up AND not lose Core F in the process. It may take some extra organizing but it can be done. I know it sounds like a HUGE undertaking but I know I can do it. I'm motivated.

I mean the publisher Sterling Classics. But I will be checking out that link. Thank you :D

Hey, does your profile name mean that you have an Australian labradoodle?

I appreciate that. Funny thing is this. Almost every adult that has read or heard about our lifestyle thinks it's cool and an experience of a lifetime. Kids that Olivia plays with at home, could care less.

Thank you to everyone that's participated. This has been great. We are in Texas so we have no requirements but it certainly helped me in the beginning to take myself seriously. It took me at least a year to realize that I was a teacher. :blush:

I've been researching Classics a lot and have found a few publishers that print the original unabridged stories and one of those is Sterling Classics. Do you own any if these? Would you recommend them. I'm wanting to build a library for my daughter to take with her for her own family someday (she's. 9 now) and I'd like to get something that's easy to purchase and easy to find and the real deal. I've looked at Everyman's Library and they are expensive and I would like to buy a set. So far I've been in EBay, Amazon, Exodus Books and Etsy (yeah, I found some on Etsy, weird, I know). Exodus Books has a set of 30 but for some reason there isn't a "BUY" button highlighted. I've emailed them for help. So, what do you own? How many? Anyone else creating a library for your children's children? Have a great day, Michelle