It's been ages since I've checked in. I mean ages and ages and ages. In the intervening years, my kids have grown up. Some are even out of college! It makes my head spin. My question to everyone is, "Are there still files?" I'm trying to find a file connected with English from the Roots Up, which I am teaching at the local co-op this year. But the forums look so different from what I remember, and I'm lost. Thanks for your help! Oh, the file was a document written by Sandy Heiden on how to incorporate study materials with the program. TIA! Jennifer

You all have been so kind and supportive with your suggestions. Thank you! I wish we could have "mulligans" with kids. My oldest will be starting his Junior year in High School next year, and my middle guy is starting his Freshman year next year. They will need to focus on college requirements to be ready for college. The boys did the cycle the entire time. I integrated a lot of geography study with history, but we never really hit much on cultures. Finally I'm figuring out (my daughter is going into 7th grade) that I can still be classically focused yet do different things. I love the idea of unschooling history. We will try to do some delight driven videos, and in the meantime I'm looking forward to spending some time learning about cultures and geography. Additionally, we're going to do some work with learning about architecture, which is my daughter's professional goal.

I really appreciate the specific links to prior posts. I will be checking them out. I did try to isolate some before I asked, but wasn't able to find anything related to what I was asking about. I am aware of the Wife of Bath's nuances, and how it is a little questionable. I may skip it for that reason, but I do enjoy the questions about world view that it generates. I will definitely be doing the Pardoner's Tale and a few more still to be determined after I look through the ones suggested. Again, I so appreciate the prior experience! I will be writing this curriculum sort of on the fly. I'm using Windows to the World as my framework (with Jill Pike's syllabus as a guide) but will be essentially reworking the entire piece to reflect a British Lit emphasis. It is going to take a fair amount of work, and I will be refining it over the summer. So far, I've only written about six weeks of the 31 week syllabus. And yes, I am very cautious about the co-op lifestyle in general. I somehow have managed to avoid any academic co-op (our family was involved in a "play" type of co-op in the past) up until my oldest was ready to begin dual enrollment. My middle child, however, is ready to begin biology next year. I taught it once and hated it. Also, my middle child is very social and wants to spend some time with a few more kids, so I decided we would try one year out. I have one friend who is a co-leader of the entire co-op, and it is a fairly small one, so I'm hopeful all will work out. I have attended a few sessions to get the lay of the land. Ultimately the parent is the one who decides final grade and level of participation. My two youngest will be taking science, writing, and speech or drama and that's is. My middle child will be in this class I'm teaching as well, so I am hopeful all will turn out well. If not, we won't repeat the experience, but as a teacher, I am committed for the entire year.

I appreciate the support. If any of you have recommendations on a geography curriculum, I'm all ears. My daughter specifically asked to study world geography. Right now I'm leaning towards the Trail Guide to World Geography, adding in some extras as time and interest permit. Has anyone done that specific book? If so, what did you think of it?

I am looking forward to the next year while still being ensconced in the current year (homeschooling year round tends to make me be this way). Anyway, I am contemplating a big change for my youngest. This dear girl has "gone the cycle" ever since she was a baby, since she had two older brothers. This past year she has done Ancient History for the third time and she's only twelve. Yes, I know she didn't retain much from the earlier years, and yes, I'm a big believer in the grammar/logic/rhetoric stage of learning. I was fortunate to have read The Well-Trained Mind many years ago when my now almost 17-year-old was in first grade, and we have by and large followed this classical method ever since. Now, however, my daughter has told me she is tired, and so am I. My oldest is beginning dual enrollment in the fall, and my middle child will be doing Notgrass World History with a Biblioplan infusion so he can tackle that silly SAT Subject test. Up until this point, I have always had at least two of my children doing the same thing at any given time for history. My daughter and I want to change it up. She has requested that in her final middle school year (8th grade) that she do something different and fun. I'm looking at doing geography in place of history. Has anyone else strayed from the beaten path? Did you do geography or something else? If you did, what did you do? I suppose I should mention that my daughter is highly intelligent yet at the same time highly dyslexic, so it would need to be something that I could help her with. She is in level 7 of Barton and progressing well, but her reading fluency speed isn't on grade level. Up until this point, we have done all the reading with me reading aloud or as an audio book (thank heavens for Learning Ally and Audible!). Thanks for your help. I'm really excited about having a little change-up!

I am hoping this board can provide some guidance for me. I'm teaching a high school level British Literature co-op class this coming fall. It will be my first time teaching high school level other than to my own children. I do have my degree in English, not that necessarily matters. I have marked the class for Juniors and Seniors, although in this particular co-op, any high school level can register. I know that as of this point most of the kids enrolled are incoming freshmen. I am planning on making it a broad survey course, and some of the texts I plan on using include Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, selected tales of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (prologue in the Middle English, and a modern verse translation for the tales), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Shakespeare's Macbeth, and several short stories and poems as time permits. The scope of the class will be literary analysis with some papers written, but it is not an honors course (I wasn't feeling ambitious enough at this stage to increase the level to that mark). I am having difficulties with the Canterbury Tales. I read them as a high school senior myself, but many of the tales are rather risque, and I am wondering how others who have taught the course to younger high school students have dealt with the material. I should clarify that the co-op is very Christian in its focus. I, myself, would have tackled some of the more salacious tales with my son, because I feel that they are relevant to the understanding of human "frailty," but I know for a fact that some of the parents will not want their children encountering some of the tales. Tentatively I've scheduled the Knight's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale, and am definitely excluding the Miller's Tale. None of these stories is exactly "pure," but isn't that how life is much of the time? Ultimately the course materials are up to my discretion, but I want to be sensitive to parents' concerns while still reading, discussing, and analyzing this wonderful collection. I really don't want to skip it; it's just too important! So, has anyone got any experience in discussing this book with younger high school students? I really don't want to go with a sanitized version. How did you teach it? What tales did you cover?

Hmm. Softening their stance, huh? It still seems like a lot of extra work for me. I admit, though, that I really have no meaningful knowledge about college entrance at this point. I just figured that if the first two colleges were requiring things like SAT subject tests, that this would be the norm for homeschool kids. Are the AP tests easier by comparison? If so, I'll certainly pursue that direction as well. I'm still not clear if a successful completion of an AP test (not a class, but a test) would waive a college credit. I'm assuming it varies by university. AP can be difficult to test in, as I understand it, as the schools aren't required to allow homeschoolers to participate. Of course, I freely admit that we haven't (yet) pursued that path. I'm planning on facing that one and learning more about it this summer.

Have you checked out Biblioplan.net? Our family has used it for several years, and for my boys it is by far their favorite subject. I will be using it with my younger two (6th and 8th grade) next year. I'm debating whether I'll continue with my high schooler, but not for any inadequacies of the program. It has I think every element that you want, plus it's quite affordable, with print and ebook options. Good luck!

Specifically, I'm referring to Georgia Tech, although my son also visited the University of Florida and spoke directly with the homeschool guidance counselor who advised him he would need to show "proof" of academic success such as an SAT subject test. The SAT/ACT just wouldn't be enough. I pulled this off of GT's website with reference to homeschoolers... Application Checklist for Students Attending an Unaccredited Home School Program Application for freshman admission Home School Documentation Form Official SAT I and/or ACT scores directly from testing agency Demonstration of academic ability in: Foreign Language Social Studies/Social Science Lab Science (ACT Science may satisfy) College coursework, SAT Subject Tests, AP/IB test scores, or a combination of these may be used to demonstrate academic ability in foreign language, social studies/social science and lab science. English and Math ability will be assessed through performance on the SAT or ACT. It doesn't specifically say that SAT Subject tests would be the only required proof, but rather that college coursework, along with AP/IB would be considered. Since he's just finishing his freshman year, I haven't looked yet into AP (although those can be more difficult to gain access to testing in our area... I've been working hard just to find a school willing to administer PSAT, and so far have come up empty), although that seems to be a good place to obtain "proof." My son wants to become an aerospace engineer, which is why we worked on doing the SAT Biology test (figured the more science he can "prove," the better). The other tests besides science I imagine we will need to cover is German and social studies (American and World History)

First, let me give you a little background. I've homeschooled my three children since the beginning. Initially I was what I would call a "Charlotte Mason" gal, but swiftly moved more in the direction of classical education with a C.M. twist. Now that I'm the parent of a high school student, and one middle school ADHD student, plus one grammar dyslexic student, I'm a "whatever it takes to get it done" type of homeschooler. In the past, our family has followed the trivium with regards to history study. I began way back when with Story of the World. Once I discovered Biblioplan, which melded Story of the World into it, I happily switched over to its fold. Now, however, I'm running into some challenges primarily related to SAT subject testing. You see, most of the colleges that my son (9th grade) is interested in, require additional testing beyond SAT/ACT testing. These are primarily accomplished via SAT subject tests or AP tests. My son is at the tail end of his 9th grade year and we have been looking at SAT subject tests. His most recent one was done in Biology. We still haven't received the score on that one, but I hope it went reasonably well. The social studies tests are all based on American History, or World History. Well, our history in that regards is spread out over several different years (two years for American, and four years for World). I'm wondering if there would be a better fit for him now that he's in high school that is perhaps set up more like the school systems encounter. Now, this is mostly for better recall of information when he encounters the test. After all, we last covered exploration two years ago, so that information is definitely more foggy than say, World War II, which we covered this year. Because we've been happy with Biblioplan (and I anticipate still using it with my other two children) I haven't been looking further. Now that the convention (FPEA) is barreling down on me, though, I'm wondering if there is a good fit for "testing" that I could look at. The only other one that I've even briefly looked at is Notgrass History. If anyone who has some information/experience with my situation can help me out, I'd sure appreciate it! Thanks!

I'm starting to think about next year's curriculum, and I'm afraid I'm stymied for what to do with my oldest son, who will be going into 7th grade. I've always just figured out that he would move into Apologia's General Science, but I'm wondering what choices others have made out there. Up to this point, we've studied Botany and Astronomy using the Jeannie Fulbright Apologia texts, and we've studied Chemistry and Physics using Noeo. His biggest "gap" in science would have to be anatomy, and his interests are definitely leaning towards physics. Whatever we choose, it must be one that I can allow my son to pretty much "own" while I check in on him regularly, due to the fact that I'm also teaching my other two younger children, one of whom has some special learning needs. I don't think this will be too big of an issue for him, as science is one of his favorite subjects. I'm all ears for suggestions out there! TIA

Ok everyone... I will readily admit to being slightly type A when it comes to education. We school year round with a 4 day/week schedule and regular breaks (not quite 1 week per month, on average). Anyway, we found out with less than one month's notice that we're moving! Or should I say... moved (since we're already out of our house). Actually, I don't know how to describe it! Currently, we're visiting some family in the state where we're moving for a short vacation, and then the dh and I will leave the kids while we go try to find some housing. The move is a good one for us, and actually will provide a better income, but I'm feeling stressed about keeping up with the school! You see, before we even moved, the kids got sick (high fever, cough, flu-like symptoms), so there went my best efforts to school at home. And now, what with a vacation, a temporary home, and eventually our permanent home, I'm at a loss on how to keep up with a measure of continuity. Does anyone have some experience in this that they can share with me? My kiddos are ds (10), ds (8), and dd (6). Oh, and don't even get me started on the loss we're all feeling with our friends back "home"...