Tales From Shakespeare by Matt Whitling published by Logos covers 7 Comedies and 3 Tragedies. It is a beginning type study that covers statistics (plot type, time, locale, Theme) principal characters, Plot summary and sketching memorable scene from the play. It also has some vocabulary words and comprehension questions. There are test questions in the back if you want to give a test. The Comedies: The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Twelfth Night and Winter's Tale. The Tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet (of course). This study was designed to be used with Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare. HTH, Annette

We have used these as well. I have ordered Wild Animals I Have Known and This Country of Ours as well as James Baldwin stories. It is true that Ambleside Online uses these. What I have really liked is that they are quality titles, a lot of them out of print except their printings. What really appealed to me was their printed presentations as well as the size of the print. I do not like my children to use really tiny print as I think it is bad for their eyes to strain to read fine print and it is harder for them to track across the line and start at the right place at the beginning of the next line. Just my 2 cents, Annette

It almost sounds like fibromyalsia (please excuse the spelling) but probably the doctor has already checked that out. My sister was diagnosed with it but then she has so many diagnoses. Annette

Hello, I am going through the same thing except my child is a boy and he is actually in a school setting this year (although we intend to return to HS next year). We are going through the same thing. Of course, at school he's docked if he forgets any little thing whether its HW, "communication" folder, or raising his hand to return to a lunch line. This has been his first year in any formal school situation. One reason we agreed to let him go was some of the spaciness that was going on at home with him towards the end of the year. I was sure that it was all my fault and that I was doing something wrong. I'm wondering if anyone could recommend a good book that educates parents about these years. (A sane one, not one that's out there psychologically). I've heard that when kids go through major developmental periods their brains tend to become more disorganized as their brains "reorder" for higher level thinking and functioning. On the other hand, he can be so totally focused and absorbed in things of great interest to him like the outdoors, hiking and tracking, art projects, watching nature. I'm also wondering what "really " needs to be focused on during the middle school time so what is done is more productive. Any thoughts? AnnetteW

I am preparing for a return to HS next year. My child is presently in 5th grade. They have virtually dropped spelling at this grade in our school system. I'm not happy about it but try to help correct mistakes and especially work on the words that sound the same but are used differently. As HS we used SWR and always had a hard time fitting it in, although my child was fascinated to learn about word origins and especially why words didn't always have phonetic spellings. I do think some students are better at spelling than others, especially strong readers that learn visually. HTH, Annette

I really liked Lively Latin as well. It was a lot of fun. The only thing that I wish it had more of was Latin reading practice. We used Prima Latina the year before and had purchased Latina Christiana but decided to go with LL Big Book 1 and was glad we did. Annette DS 5th grade