I m definitely sold on the nature notebook! It looks amazing!! Everything else that I have looked at looks really good, too. Now I just have to decide what we should try out.

Thank you for the link! I will check it out! I'm really liking what I see in this curriculum...just not sure of the history full year cycle every year.

We have only used the early grades of Abeka (K-3)...it is fun, colorful, and very thorough. I have no complaints without Abeka...it has worked well for our family as a jumping off point. My son just finished grade 1 and really enjoyed it, but we are switching gears & going with Math Mammoth this next year...partly because we own the whole series & that's good for the budget, and he overheard me reviewing it with my daughter and wants to do it himself. I think they are both really good programs and have no complaints about either one. 😊

Someone recommended The Good & the Beautiful to me while I was looking for a new approach to language arts. I had never heard of it before, so I went to check it out and it all looks so amazing!! Has anyone used all of her curriculum? I'm super curious to hear from those that have used it. My kids think the nature notebook looks amazing...I'm very interested in the history (even though it's a different path than we're used to...Ancient to modern every year, just different content)...I'm still digging & researching, but would really like to hear your likes/dislikes. We're moving toward a minimalist approach to "school" without sacrificing the education content and this looks to fit that category pretty well.

No, I haven't heard of that one before. I will definitely go check it out! Thank you!!

I'm looking for a way to streamline our language arts(grammar, spelling, & writing)...having a different curriculum or book for each individual subject is just not working for my kiddos (or me)...I need a way to make learning more enjoyable instead of "get out the book and do the lesson." School is starting to be a struggle and we need a new perspective.

Whats the best way to cover grammar through narration/dictation/copywork, spelling & writing without overkill. I'm struggling with too many workbooks and trying figure out a way to combine/streamline some things without sacrificing education. I keep going back to the early school days and using McGuffey readers, but I'm just not sure how to make something like that work. I'd love to hear some other opinions & ideas.

Ok, so I think I've got our history plans narrowed down. My kiddos will be 8, 11, & 15 this next school year. I have decided I definitely want to use Homeschool in the Woods Project Passport in some way with the younger 2 and maybe even some with my older dd because it's just so awesome. But now my question is do I pair it with MOH vol 1 & some lit books or BF Ancient History pak? I've used MOH years ago with my older kids so I am familiar with how it works, but we've never used BF before...however it looks awesome, too! So this is where I need your help...MOH + lit readers or BF Anceints? Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts. 😊

I looked at Sonlights core G, but I'm afraid it is going to be to advanced for my 8yo...😕

We just finished up 2 years of American history so I am thinking some kind of Ancient or world history. I was actually looking through my Sonlight catalog and wondering if I could beef up core B to work or if that would be too much work...

Thank you, I will check those out! Okbud, what is ELTL?

Ok, so here's our story in a nutshell...we have been fulltime Rvers for the last year (meaning space is extremely limited, we don't have access to a library, & internet is not always reliable). I am looking to simplify our curriculum as much as possible without sacrificing education. This next year my kids will be 15, 11, 8, & 4...I am wanting to combine my 11 & 8 yo kids as much as possible & probably have the 4 yo tag along when he wants. I am starting to get overwhelmed with all of the different options & price tags! 😱 I'm torn between something like MFW or SL that has everything all planned out or something simple like STOW or MOH...please help me brainstorm and figure this out! We love reading aloud together, mapping/timelines etc...probably not so much on the hands on arts/crafts this year as we don't have the space to keep everything...and everything that is made is precious to my kids! Lol!! Anyway, I would love to hear what works & doesn't work for you!! Thank you for any help you can offer this worn out overwhelmed momma! 😜

Thank you all for the many wonderful ideas! I am off to check them all out and see what we can fit in!

Awesome! Thank you for the ideas!! Where do we get a state park sticker? Are they very expensive?

Our plan is to start a blog as soon as we can. However, our home sold after being on the market only 11 days, so we are in panic mode right now trying to sort/purge/pack/load the RV etc. so we can be out and on the road by the end of April. Its crazy how much stuff 9 people can accumulate in just a couple years!! I will post back on the forums when we do get a blog up and going.

We are getting ready to head out and hit the road fulltime with our family next month. We don't have a structured plan and will be taking it day by day. However, we do know we will be in Wisconsin in July. We've never been to Wisconsin before so we don't really know what to do or where to stay. Please share any great things to do/explore (preferably cheap or free). Also, if you know of a great RV park that allows big RV's (40ft RV pulling a 22ft trailer) for a reasonable amount we would love to hear about that as well. Thanks so much!

I know it's not a vitamin, but m&m's work great! Start out with the Mimi's, then move on to the regular size! It's a great way to learn and not a whole lot of sugar if you just use them for practice. I wish I would have known about this when I was younger...I have a Horribly sensitive gag reflex!! Good luck!

It all depends...we won't have an income, so $$ will really make the call. Our plan right now is 10-12 months (depending on our monthly spending and what we wind up spending on our RV set up). However, if we get out on the road and really like it, and find a way to generate some income it may turn into an extended/long term thing. Right now we just know we need a break from "normal" and traveling has always been a dream of ours. Our kids are growing up and we need some uninterrupted quality family time. So since we have the opportunity to do this for awhile, we're going to jump on it! 😜

We don't have to worry about car sickness here...we have done several long road trips and that's not been an issue for us (thanks goodness!). I don't think we would have even attempted full time on the road if we had car sick kiddos. 😜 As far as the temperature, it should be fine as we will have heat and airconditioning to control the climate. But thanks for the tips.

Kinda, thank you for your thoughts and advice! We plan on making some "dry run" trips before completely moving in to the RV, but I hadn't thought of staying local for a bit...hmm...that's a very good point! I'll have to talk to hubby about that. I also figures school was going to change drastically this next year! I plan to try to keep up with math, writing, reading, and maybe spelling (if time allows), but as for the rest, I'm wrapping my mind around all they will learn at nature parks and historical sites etc. I'm kinda thinking we can do a bunch of our "book work" on traveling days when we are on the road...we'll see how that works. We don't use any online courses, so that's to our benefit...and I absolutely wouldn't mind being cut off from the outside world at times (Internet/phone etc). Dh's phone goes off so much right now it sometimes it feels like it's another part of him!!😱 We're ready for a break...just be a family and get to know each other all over again! I am looking forward to reading your blog when I can get a minute to sit at my desk top and look it up!! 😜 Thanks again!

Wow! Hunter, thanks for all that advice! I didnt know about the state capital libraries...ill have to check with ours because our local library isn't that great. I have always loved hard copy books over books on a screen, but I'm going to have to find the balance somewhere. 😜 I'm thinking our downsizing will be more along the lines of trading in some of the books we are used to using for more hands on life skills kind of learning. There is a time and place for digital books, and I'm sure we will have our share of them on a Kindle or something, but one of our goals is to get our kids out in the world and learn from what's out there! 😠The more I type about it the more excited I get!! I just can't wait!! (I never in a million years thought I would be excited and pushing to move out of almost 3000 square feet and move into an RV with my hubby and 5 of our kids!!)

No, I'm not. I've heard about Full Time Families, but we haven't joined any groups yet. We're still in the early planning stages...getting our house ready to sell.

We don't (and probably won't) have a plan of where we're going until we get on the road and adjust to a new way of living. However, one of our reasons for wanting to make this change is for our kids to "live" history and not just read it out of books. So while we don't have an itinerary, we will be making stops at many historical places. I'm also starting to try to change my thinking about education so we can focus more on life skills. We won't totally ditch the books, but our focus is going to change a lot!

Great, thanks!! I'll go check it out!!

We are getting ready to sell our house (and everything else) and take our family on the road full time for the next year. I know...a lot of people are going to think we're insane, and maybe we are. But we need a change and we're ready to go explore! Anyway, we have 5 kids still at home (ages 15,13,9,6, and 3). I am trying to wrap my brain around this whole process and decide what's important to take and what's not. I would love to hear from anyone who's been on the road what your priorities for curriculum have been. We use Teaching Textbooks for math, so right now I'm trying to decide if the textbook is really that necessary or if we can just get by with the discs & answer key...? I know my thoughts are not very organized right now as I'm trying to wrap my mind around so many different aspects of this change (and I'm becoming so unmotivated to continue with normal life at home since my heart in already on the road). I would appreciate any advice, thoughts, or links to info that you could share. Thanks so much!!