In spite of my completely unhelpful answer about napping, my first thought on this was that it would be perfect for holding our literature club meetings. Maybe invite a few other families to share the time with you and do a spectacular project that you wouldn't necessarily do at your own house.

absolutely. Just sharing MY experience. We did CC for three years, one of which I was a tutor. Again. I was not trying to put CC down. It was just our side. The OP asked "did it take over?" My experience was that yes, it did. Just sharing that. We did not cram for MM, but learned methodically over the whole year. We decided that it would be the year to do it, and made it a priority to study for it each week. One still has to commit serious time at the end to studying and prepping--it seemed to be the m.o. with the folks that did it. I think the OP has had plenty of opinions from both sides. Just sharing mine. :-) I would never discourage someone from doing it if it was a great fit. We had a lot of fun there, don't get me wrong. The kids loved aspects of it, and so did I.

For us, the memory work compounded and as the year went on squeezed out the other subjects that we wanted to cover. My ds studied and made memory master, so it was a big commitment. It really cannot be done in 1/2 hour a week of review. It must be done every day. As the test drew closer we spent hours going over memory work. I found that if it was just a supplement to our curriculum, I simply could not justify the expense. It is a huge price tag (IMO) for something that is not going to be the core of my homeschool work. I wrote a lengthy post about our decision to leave CC on my blog. It is not critical of CC, but merely delineates why it wasn't the best fit for us..

Sorry...we're really not much help, are we?

I would take a big, hairy nap on the couches.

I am a map junkie. I have Uncle Josh's outline maps, map aids from TOG, atlases, wall maps, Mapping the World by Heart... KQ is my favorite. :-) We use these a lot because there are so many colorful choices to illustrate so many things. They are not extremely accurate in terms of say, detail for a coastline...for that you would want a regular atlas, but for maps to support the study of history, these are the best. (ETA: TOG maps are by KQ, but KQ has some additional ones that Map Aids does not include)

Okay, I am trying to multi-quote and it is not working out. My DS had big spelling issues, as well...not unlike your dd, but perhaps not quite as severe, or perhaps I am forgetting. I remember that I had to stop everything to work out his spelling because he was starting to despise writing because almost nothing was spelled correctly. AAS 1-3 was what saved us, and we have followed that up with the Phonetic Zoo. Another pp mentioned that your dd's ability to memorize things that she hears verbatim is why this program may be perfect for her. My ds is a very auditory learner and memorizes everything he hears as well. PZ is all done aurally, and he is blazing through it and LIKES it. I even heard him chanting one of the little memory rhymes to himself the other day, not because he had to spell a word, but because that is what he does...repeats everything he hears until it is verbatim. His spelling is quite good now--definitely not a handicap. He can pass the test in two to three tries (they have to take the spelling test on a given list daily until they get two 100's.) I highly recommend this system--you may also want to go and listen to the lecture that goes with the program on how we learn spelling. It's quite good.

We LOVED Flying Creatures. We did it a few years ago before they had the notebooks, and it was still great. I will disagree with the pp who said that you don't need more than the jr. notebook for your oldest. My ds 11 is doing the Anatomy notebook now and my dd 7 is doing the jr. notebook. Neither does every single page, because there are a variety of exercises and activities, but they do most of them. The jr. notebook would be a joke for my 11yo, but is just right for my daughter. The regular notebook has been perfect for him.

I have not quite read all of the responses, but I agree with everyone who says don't engage her. I would be suspicious of any neighbor who feels they have the right to openly question or criticize your parenting choices and chore list. If she is anti-hsing and feels that you are not socializing your kids properly, steer clear. I would not want a surprise visit from CPS because of some neighbor's opinion.

I am looking seriously at Caesar's English II for my rising 7th grader. I think it would be just right, before transitioning into the Word within a Word program. We did VCR this year, and while it got done, it was a workbook, and my ds does not really get anything out of workbooks. He answers them all correctly, but couldn't tell you a thing about them, so it clearly didn't make a great impression. I am excited by what I see in MCT's books, though. I'm leaning heavily in that direction.

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't know exactly what we will do yet. We are finishing up the Apologia's Anatomy and Physiology book this year, and we have been extremely happy with it. We have learned so much and done some really fun labs, including dissections (which we did ourselves, not because it was part of the program). Looking at General Science, a huge chunk of it is A&P, and I don't want to do it again so soon. I wonder if I should just go on to Earth science or Physical science. We can cover the history and "what is science" stuff on our own without having to pay the hefty cost of the textbook, etc. Just thinking...Thanks for your replies.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out.

It seems that for Christian hsers there is Apologia General Science and beyond, and...what? I am seeing some reviews of it that cause me some concern. I would like some alternatives to examine. Does anyone do something other than Apologia?

Good to know... I saw that Khan had a pre-A section on his website and was going to have him go through that. We've done some KA before...it is so useful. Thankfully, he has done some outside work with negative numbers and seems to have a pretty good grasp. He also enjoys the AoPS videos. I will check out the Tablet Class.

Again, VERY helpful. I have a decision for the moment, though it may not be long-term. He just took the final test for MUS Zeta, and I am going to pull out the Jacob's Algebra 1 that I have on the shelf and see how he does with it. I don't know if it will end up being the final solution, but we'll see how it goes for a while. I will pull in the AoPS and supplement for some challenge and variety over the summer and again, see how it goes. By next fall I hope to have a firm solution. Thanks so much for all your input!

Thank you so much, dereksurfs! This is a really helpful answer, and I will think it over. I am looking at tablet class per your recommendation. Have you ever looked at Jacob's Algebra? Curious what folks here on this thread think of it, or if anyone has used it.

My DS is in exactly the same situation as the OP. I am :bigear: on this thread because he is a smart, capable kid, able to handle whatever math I throw at him, but he doesn't LOVE it or crave it. I have been trying AoPS with him for a few weeks to see how he handles it. I have to sit with him and talk him through it, which is fine, but not practical for the long term. I can see it being a huge source of stress for him down the road, so I am not sure that it is a fit. His question is, "Why can't they just say it? Why do they have to make it so complicated?" :blink: My explanation telling him that they are trying to emphasize the full scope of what is going on in the problems v. just plugging in an algorithm and getting an answer isn't satisfactory. He wants the algorithm / formula. I have Jacob's Elementary Algebra on the shelf, and I have looked ahead at MUS, but I have the same reservations as the OP. DS is just fine continuing with MUS, but I'm not sure if I am.

Personally, I supplement the TOG lit worksheetswith a "lit club" based on Deconstructing Penguins and SWB's suggestions for introducing literary analysis to dialectic stage students. 3 Other families come to our house every other week and we discuss the book selections. I teach the kids basic lit analysis, literary terms, and discuss the reading in that context. They love doing it like that. We have had some really great discussions and the kids have learned so much about how to approach a book, how to think about a book, and how to respond to literature, even when they don't love it. It has been a highlight of our year.

FWIW, I find that it is difficult to plan all four units at once. I can only see two units ahead at a time, but that is me. I do a kind of general projection past two units, but then sit down for a day or two over Christmas and fill in the details. It has worked out well for me these past two years to do it that way. That said, you could order the first two units now and then the other two around October or so, and you'd have plenty of time to get ready. You already know that TOG is going to be 36 weeks, so if you plan everything up to 18 weeks, leaving the second semester open, then fill that in later, it can work. HTH

except that the result of being satisfied and full at a meal means I am eating less...do you find that as well?

DS 11 is handy with writing a sentence, and can even pull off a good paragraph. I think, from what everyone has said here that Voyage would be the right place to start with him. Thanks for the input!

Okay...I thought so, but let me ask you this, practically speaking...Would my 11 yo need to start in the town / voyage level? Also, looking at the recommendations they give, it seems like it is a pretty packed curriculum. Would we have time for TOG? I am fine with paring something down, but how independent can a student be working with it, and how much time does it take to complete what is laid out for a week? We still have math, spelling, Fallacy Detective, Science, etc., and I don't want to buy it because I have stars in my eyes, kwim?

I've been reading the MCT threads and wondering, hmmm? I have two extremely articulate children who have wonderful vocabularies, read and listen to great literature, and are the children of generations of English teachers, writers, and lawyers, so MCT sounds like it would feather our language nest. My dd will be 8 in May and is reading well. (Beverly Cleary and Beatrix Potter are recent reads) I have not begun grammar with her. She has just completed WWE1 and started 2. DS 11 is in WWS and AG. He does very well in AG, but he hates the tedium of it. I also would love to do Caesar's English with him, but wonder if it is too late to start for him. He will be 12 in August. What says the Hive? To MCT or not to MCT? If so, how do we start? It is spendy, and I don't think they will be at our convention for me to put hands on. Can I return? Will I want to?

:bigear:

I was the friend too...and that mentality bugged me so much. What I have found however is that it has been a gradual process of learning how to really change the WAY I eat, not the amount. For instance, with the paleo / primal style of eating, I am cooking far more vegetables and meat. I am choosing all my ingredients. I am using very good fats--avocado oil, coconut oil, lard from pastured, hormone-free pigs, olive oil. I am eating no grains, no sugar. My body (which I am quite sure had become insulin resistant) is responding. The exercise is not about just talking a walk or being active. It's about intensity--getting your body to respond on a cellular level by accessing the fast twitch muscle and releasing human growth hormone. You should feel laid out flat when your workout is done, but you don't need more than about 10 minutes of that level of intensity, about 3 days a week. The fact is that now with this lifestyle I eat a LOT LESS than I used to because I'm not hungry all the time. I eat between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 6-7:00 p.m. (intermittent fasting), and work out hard three days a week. It works. I cannot wait to figure out what the next food adventure will be and cannot stand to miss work outs (like today because my son has a stomach bug. I will, however work out at home, because now I want to!) Five months ago, if you had told me this is what my life would be like I would have laughed. Now I cannot go back. I feel brand-new...and I still have 15 pounds to go, but they are going.