:)

How long does it take to do an Exploring World of...book? How many could you do in a year? Same question for the Wonders of Creation series...Astronomy Book, Fossil book, etc. I'm considering these books for next year for my 7th grade ds. Thank you kindly. :)

My dd will be starting high school in the fall and I am feeling a little panicky. For one thing, online classes are so expensive, but I definitely see the value of outsourcing, etc. What are your thoughts?? Have online classes been a huge asset...the kind of thing you wouldn't want your dc to graduate without? Thanks a bunch! I'm new to the high school board...I usually hang out at the K-8 forum. :)

Can anyone tell me how much classes at TPS are? I have searched their website and I just can't seem to find it. I'm probably not looking in the right spot. It said the prices are by each course, but I didn't see any prices on the page I was on.

Thank you so much, everyone! I think I will go with Shurley 6 for the older two and Shurley 2 for the boys. OhElizabeth, I am going to check into Writing Tales again...I have always wanted to use it...maybe with my boys. I'm a little unsure about JAG. I tried AG with my dtr who has always done Shurley. She found it rather confusing to use after being so used to Shurley. I thought it would be a good fit, but it just didn't work out. Did you ever try AG? I know it's a great program...I was just curious what your experience was after using Shurley. I must say, OhElizabeth, that you are officially famous now. I noticed that someone has a quote of yours in their signature! I can't remember what it was, but I saw it yesterday while I was researching on the boards.

I have two Shurley questions: 1. This year, I am doing Shurley 1 with two of my boys. They will be in 3rd next year, so should we jump right into Shurley 3? It just seems that they cover a lot of more in depth grammar. I am toying with doing Shurley 2, but I know everyone says you can skip levels. I don't care about the number on the book; I just want them to understand it and not rush it. 2. Also, two of my girls are finishing FLL4 this year. They will be in 5th & 6th next year. I need to keep them together. Which level of Shurley would you go with? Thanks ahead of time. :)

If you do a search on TT, you will find many threads on this topic. Also, if you go to the high school board, you will find some. We use it, but we haven't used it long enough to have the overall picture you are looking for. Yep, I'd check the high school board. :)

:iagree: with Sentence Family! It was the most enjoyable grammar thing we have done.

Thank you, Shari. That was a very helpful and thorough answer. I have much to think about. Unfortunately, after reading thread after thread and looking at many BJU samples of science classes, I am no closer to figuring it out. My eyes are starting to cross! :tongue_smilie: I am a little concerned about how I keep reading about the rigor of the BJU science classes. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't want it to be so difficult that it doesn't feel doable to my dc. Would you say that BJU science is best for those with a scientific bent? Will my non-science type dc be okay as well? Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I have heard that the BJU Physical Science is very challenging. Would you all agree? If so, does that mean that it is not very doable unless you have a scientific bent? I'm trying to decide about this course for my non-science daughter for next year.

Gayle or anyone else who would know: Thank you so much for your response. I am toying with Life Science for my ds for 7th. How difficult is it? Someone mentioned that the Earth & Space is very challenging. Do you share the same opinion? If so, what makes it so challenging? I am also trying to decide about my 9th grader. We already own Apologia Physical Science...I even bought the lab kit. I could get the Red Wagon Tutorial with that or branch out into a totally different direction & do BJU. Any thoughts on that? I really want to get BJU for my other dc also. Next year, I will have 2 in 3rd grade, a 5th grader, a 6th grader, 7th grader, & 9th grader. Could I do any combining? Did you use the text, tests, activity books, etc. with your dc?

anyone else? I'd love to hear your experiences and thoughts.

:001_smile:

Thanks, guys. It is very helpful to know that there are satisfied users out there. Rhonda in TX, could you explain what it is about the courses that makes them so challenging? I've read that in several posts. Are you referring to the classes above elementary...like 7th & up? See, I know that I could teach the younger classes, but I know that I won't because of time limitations. So, to me, science is a great thing to farm out because it just isn't my thing. Any other comments or experiences you would like to share? :)

anyone?

I am considering this for science for next year for some of my dc. I would love to know what your experience has been and which level you used. I am definitely intrigued by the samples on their website. It looks so interesting. Is it difficult to find the answers to questions in their text? Thx so much!

Hunter, are the McCall-Crab books at all like Abeka's Read & Comprehend books? All 3 of the dc I referred to in my op use that. It has several paragraphs and then you answer ten or so questions on the passage. The only thing is it tells how they did like poor, very good, etc. But, there is no instruction on how to improve or anything. I have never seen the books you mentioned...but, they look good. I am beginning to think that I may just scrap the whole science text idea. It just has not worked very well. I do want them to enjoy science. We were doing Apologia books before...I am thinking I will return to that. Anyone else have any other thoughts?

Thank you so much for the thoughts, ladies. Maybe I need to change the way I look at it and consider it a lesson in research skills as mentioned by MomatHWTK. I just am so surprised at what a challenge this has turned out to be. So, you guys think it is a valuable skill that is worth the time, right? Any other thoughts?

I switched up science this year and went with Abeka textbooks. I was trying to free my teaching schedule up a bit. Also, I felt that it might be good for them to have the experience of reading information and answering questions about it on their own. We don't do the quizzes or tests...they just read the text and answer the questions in the book. It's not going very well. My 6th grader is doing fine with it. My 4th & 5th grader not so much. They are having a hard time with answering the questions and I am trying to figure out why. Is it because they don't have a teacher explaining it and quizzes to reinforce the material? Is it because this is new to them? In other words, is it an unreasonable thing for me to expect them to be able to do? That is the main question. I admit that some of the questions are harder to find answers to than others. I am frustrated because this textbook thingy was supposed to be a time saver. It has turned into a long thing each afternoon with me helping them find answers they couldn't find. Is this skill important enough for me to deal with the time it is taking???? :confused: So, what d'ya think? Any kind advice is welcome!!!! I'm all ears!

We are using a self paced course. In the instructions to the course, they emphasize using the cards to answer the questions on the worksheet, etc. So, in my humble opinion, I feel they are necessary and very helpful for reference purposes. We love it too!

It might be a good idea to ask the MUS representative. That is what I did when I was using MUS and had questions like yours. Hope that helps! :)

With Shurley, some people skip levels and do 2,4,6,7 or 1,3,5,7 due to the repetition. I always like to look at VP recommendations. They do Shurley 1,2,3,4,6,7...so the only level they skip is 5. In phone conversations w/ VP, they have mentioned that level 4 has some important stuff in it that they wouldn't want to miss. I tend to feel that the repetition can be a good thing, though, as a previous poster mentioned...for retention. Also, because Shurley only goes through level 7, I'm not in a big hurry to get through it. Blessings, Becky ETA: I think your idea of diagramming along with Shurley is a great one. That's what we do, too.

Wonderful! When you have a bad day sometime, try to remember today! ;)

My two boys loved MFW K! It was a fun, memorable year!!!! Btw, FIAR has great book lists for reading aloud. We didn't do FIAR as a complete program, but we sure have enjoyed the books! Have a great year!!!! :)

When we finish FLL4, I'll be switching back to Shurley English. I hope you find what works. I, too, was disappointed about ALL. I would have continued with the whole series! :tongue_smilie: