The only other thing you might want to add would be P.E. Otherwise, I'd say Art, but TOG has hands-on projects and art lessons built in. I'd encourage you to include those for your 6th grader for sure. Blessings, Lucinda

We are a very frugal family and cannot afford to waste food. I can get three meals out of one roasted chicken! We do eat leftovers, although occasionally we will miss that window of opportunity and we have to toss something. On the most part we don't let that happen though. Mostly, we eat leftovers from dinner for our lunch the next day -- or sometimes even for breakfast. As for pantry items, try this: When you create your meal plan and grocery list, take a look at everything you have on hand in the freezer and pantry, then work those items into the list. Why not go ahead and make that red beans and rice dish you bought the beans for? If not, then there are many ways to use beans, especially when they are canned and you're in a hurry. Beans are great in salads, casseroles as well as with rice. One of our favorite meals is our version of goulash that has ground meat, onions, spaghetti sauce and kidney beans over pasta. It's both quick and delicious. There are some foods that I try to keep in the pantry as staple items. As they get used, I just buy more when I shop. Beans are always in the pantry, as well as canned fruit, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, canned milk, tuna, pasta, rice, etc. With the constantly rising cost of living, doing things like this can and do make a huge difference. Blessings, Lucinda

The investigation is in progress and no one has been named as a suspect. The focus is on the family, but whatever the news reports are saying, we have to remember that we just don't know all the details. I have to be very careful about how much and what I share online too. The main reason I'm posting is to ask for pray for the family and all of their many friends. We are holding special gatherings through classes and groups within the school and are getting a lot of grief counseling, etc. Yet the teachers, staff and students greatly need ongoing prayer. Blessings, Lucinda

More news reports are coming out, revealing a bit more detail. The more they report, the worse it sounds. Our school is just reeling from it all. It is the most tragic event in the history of our little school's existence. Blessings, Lucinda

I gave up on this one awhile back and decided to use a hard copy planner instead. For actual grade keeping next year I am going to use Mariner Calc, which is just like Excel but made only for the Mac. I've created a nice spreadsheet for regular grades that then track progress and a final grade for each subject. With this, I will be able to generate a transcript for each year beginning in 7th grade. If HST or any other developer ever decides to create a Mac based program I'll happily switch to it, but in the meantime I think what I'm doing is just as thorough and will do the job. Blessings, Lucinda

I am a part-time teacher at a private Classical Christian school where I teach art to elementary and secondary students. This morning we were informed in a special meeting that one of our students had passed away yesterday evening. The student was a fifth grade girl and one of my favorite art students. She was beautiful, so full of life and love, and she had a great way of expressing beauty in her art work as well as in dancing. Just yesterday she was at school participating in field day and enjoying herself immensely. Today she is gone. I know that the family is absolutely stricken and needs our prayers. There is an investigation going on because the girl's sudden death is very mysterious, and at this point it is considered a homicide. Our faculty and school is going through a tremendous amount of shock and grief over this today too, and so I thought I'd ask for your prayers for us as well. The mother of the student was hospitalized for self inflicted wounds last night, but we know no other details. We can't say anything beyond this. Thank you for remembering the family in this situation, as well as our school. We are all just devastated. Blessings, Lucinda

I'm also planning to get Hakim's History of the US and Kingfisher to use along with SOTW for our 8th grade history plan. That's a year off for us, but I'm getting really excited already, as I've wanted to go in depth on U.S. history for such a long time. I'm either going to create my own TWTM style lesson plans or possibly buy something like Biblioplan that will save me some time (I would tweak, of course.) Blessings, Lucinda

I have really appreciated the CoreFoundations blog over on Wordpress. Christine has a wealth of information there that she provides to homeschool families for free. If you go to this link and scroll down the page to American History Schedule (upper levels) you will find a schedule for 8th grade students that uses Hakim's History of the US as it's spine. Check it over and I think you may find what you're looking for. Blessings, Lucinda

I've been toying with this idea myself. As it is though, if I go with Biblioplan I'll be using SOTW, A History of the US (Hakim), Trial and Triumph and Kingfisher as my main spines. I think adding TQ may be overkill, but then again I like the idea of having the commentary. I am very certain that I wouldn't want the TQ Binder Builder or Notebooking supplements for dd. I took a look at them and didn't think they'd be a good fit for us at all. I would just refer the commentary in a weekly (or however it fit in) meeting with my student. This is exactly what I would do for 8th grade if I choose Biblioplan. Reading your post was very encouraging and sent me off on a quest to learn more about the curriculum. Thanks for sharing your experience here! I did look at them and like them much better than TQ's companion pieces. If I go with Biblioplan I would definitely order these as well. I have to say I'm challenged with the page layout and design of both TQ and Biblioplan though. They don't seem very professional, but I'm trying really hard to get past that. The problem stems from the fact that I am a trained graphic designer and so things like that drive me crazy at times, plus the fact that we've been using TOG which is very nicely formatted and designed. Bottom line in all of this has to be content though, so like I said, I'll have to work through it. :tongue_smilie: Blessings, Lucinda

...that the authors and publishers of TWTM (and all of their supplementing curriculum) actually provide and pay for a hs forum where people can critique (and in some posts openly diss) their work? Amazing! I think it speaks very highly of SWB to allow this. I truly respect her and am so thankful for the resource that she has so freely given to the hs community. I would add though, that while some constructive criticism could be helpful to an author, I'm really hoping this thread doesn't become too disrespectful. It's kind of like being invited to someone's house and given warm hospitality, then standing under their roof badmouthing them. Blessings, Lucinda

Great input! I love your comments and links. :001_smile: I also wanted to say that in my earlier post I had meant to include Dale Chihuly as one of the contemporary artists, but forgot. His work is incredible. Did you know that he is one of few American artists with works in the Louvre in Paris? Blessings, Lucinda

You're welcome, Satori. I am an elementary/secondary art teacher by profession. :D I am always looking for ideas too so I can keep things fresh and new for my many students. I love the sortable list you provided a link for too. Thanks! Blessings, Lucinda

You're welcome. :~) I like your list! One thought I had for you is this: have you considered making your own postcards? There are so many great images available online that you could easily set it up from your own computer. If you have a color printer you could print them at home on photo paper that is postcard size, or put four images on the same letter size sheet and then cut them to size. You could also send the file to Kinko's and have them print it out for you. Just an idea fwiw. Blessings, Lucinda

I would consider Audubon to be an American artist. A great many people in that era were not actually born here, but were considered American. Well, there's Remington and Russel with their western art that ties beautifully into American expansion studies. Then there's John Singer Sargent, the famous portrait painter of the late 19th and early 20th century that could follow well after a study of Cassatt. There's also Winslow Homer and his gorgeous landscape paintings that would compliment any portion of 19th century studies, and Thomas Cole of the Hudson River School that would do the same. (Several of the same group could be studied together. They'd include Cole, Church, and Cropsey. Just do a google search of Hudson River School.) There was also the Ashcan School of artists that were interested in urban scenes of their time. (Those artists included Dawes, Prendergast, Lawson, Glackens, Shinn, Robert Henri, John Sloan, and Luks. They may not be favorites, but they contributed to the transition into the modern art movement.) When it comes to artists of modern American history you could include Norman Rockwell, Georgia O'Keeffe, Grandma Moses, Ansel Adams and Andrew Wyeth. I would also check into some of the artists that were involved with the WPA movement when you study FDR and World War II. And if you want to include some of the more avant garde artists, you would need to add people such as Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Raushenberg. Hope this helps. Blessings, Lucinda P.S. Art is my very favorite subject. :D

Is it also due to financial reasons? I know TOG is well worth the money - especially if you have a larger family and will use the books with more than one child, but if you only have one child like I do and your income is reduced ....it makes it really hard. No matter how much I love a curriculum, I can't justify the cost if there are other programs that will also do a good job for less money. KWIM? Even though I've found ways to save a lot and recoup some to reinvest in more books, unless we have an unexpected surprise coming soon that will no longer be enough. On another note, I'm thinking that I might order one set of each Biblioplan and TruthQuest and personally check them out side by side. Someone posted another thread awhile back asking if they can be used together, but no one answered. I have the same question. Blessings, Lucinda

I'll second that. I bought the TG's for levels 5 & 6 last year and found out that it was not all that helpful to me. I didn't like the layout of the TG either, but that's beside the point. On the positive side, there are some really great activities to use in the TG, but they are designed for groups of students. Since I have an only, it just didn't jive with us. This year I'm just using the answer guide and they are $3 brand new or even cheaper used. Blessings, Lucinda

I've wondered about this myself recently as I looked over some science materials as I plan up ahead and had some thoughts that I'll share here since you've brought it up. This whole thing reminds me of discussions my dd and I have had recently as we've been studying church history. The point has been that numerous times over the ages there has been corruption within the church. Even so, the corruption does not negate the true message of the Bible, does it? And it doesn't mean that God's intention for the church has changed. Just because something is done wrongly in the name of Christianity does not mean that it cancels out everything that is right and good. And likewise, isn't it a shame when people reject Christ because of what men have done in His name? In the same way, I believe it's a shame when Christian educational materials are rejected because of the bad behavior of the writer or publisher. The behavior is what was wrong, not the educational materials. If the curriculum speaks the the truth and teaches the message you want to pass on to your dc, I would not reject it because of the sinful mistakes of one man. My hope is that through prayer over time, this man will be able to make things right again, come clean, be forgiven and restored. Blessings, Lucinda

Wow - thanks for your input! I have several questions for you if you don't mind: How many guides do you go through in a school year? Would it be realistic for an 8th grader to do one guide per semester? Is it difficult to decide which books to choose from the buffet of choices? Do the book choices include literature or is it only history? How much time do you spend on average planning your lessons? I appreciate your sharing these things a great deal. Blessings, Lucinda

As I shared on the K-8 curriculum board yesterday, I'm doing some research for a possible move away from TOG after 7th grade to another program that is less expensive due to expected budget cuts across the board for our family. -- sigh -- I'm not thrilled about it because we do love TOG, but I have to admit it is a luxury that we may no longer be able to cover for 8th grade up ahead. I know that there are other great ways to provide a classical education for my dd and I'm willing to explore. At this point I'm looking at either writing my own lesson plans via TWTM method for history/geography and literature or using a written program such as TruthQuest or Biblioplan for at least the history. As I've been reading about these two possible programs, I have to say that I do like what I see so far. Even so, it's kind of hard to understand fully how it all works. Oh, I really wish curriculum websites would give more nuts and bolts info as to how it all fits together. :lol: Even though I've downloaded and looked at TOC's and samples, it seems hard to get a really good picture of what the teacher does to prepare in order to present to the student, etc. Would someone please chime in and tell me what the main differences are between Truthquest and Biblioplan? Do they both require about the same amount of planning for the teacher? How much prep work and planning is required for each? Do they both include weekly written work for the student, or is Truthquest more of a guide for the teacher? Do they both provide reading lists for living books and literature choices? Please tell me anything that you feel is a major difference or similarity between the two in how they work. Thanks in advance for your input. Blessings, Lucinda

I've been reading about these two possible history plans and like what I see so far. Would someone please chime in and tell me what the main differences are between them? Do they both require about the same amount of planning for the teacher? Do they both include weekly written work for the student? I really wish curriculum websites would give more nuts and bolts info as to how their programs work. :lol: Even looking at TOC's and samples it seems hard to get a good picture of how it all works. Blessings, Lucinda

Oh, but....but....but --- you can't go to Paris and not see both!!! (Sorry, I'm an art teacher and I'm starting to hyperventilate as I think about it.) In both museums lie the most famous artworks in the entire world. You just can't appreciate them only from the reproductions in books, and you will be right there where they are. If you go to both, you and your children would remember it all for a lifetime. Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. :D Blessings, Lucinda

Regina, you are an absolutely amazing hs teacher! When I was new here you shared some detailed info with me that helped me get started and I was completely impressed then as I am now. Your knack to pull things together is phenomenal! I will definitely check these suggestions out and will consider creating my own schedule and plan TWTM way too. Thanks so much! Blessings, Lucinda

Thank you ladies! I've never taken a look at History Odyssey before. Wow! I will have to dig in deep and check it out. I am curious to know how this compares to TruthQuest, another similar history guide that I read about on another thread. Maybe there's a thread on that already...hmmm. In both HO and TQ, is the guide the text, or is there a booklist of resources to purchase to use along side the guide? I've read about Biblioplan here on the boards, but like the other two mentioned above, I've never looked into until today. I've been so sold on TOG that I just haven't looked at anything else in a long time. And like I asked about TQ and HO, is the guide the text, or is there a booklist of resources to purchase to use along side the guide? Thank you all. I can see I have some research to do in the coming months, but this really helps a lot. Blessings, Lucinda

I didn't think I'd ever be saying this, but we may not be using TOG for 8th grade. I love TOG and have considered it to be a wonderful way to educate, but I'm realizing more and more that it has been a great luxury for us. If I cut back on the cost of anything in our hs budget, it would have to be this. We are about to go through some big changes in our finances and all items in the budget have to be reduced. While I'm disappointed at the possibility of dropping TOG, I'm not troubled at all with the idea of following TWTM plan. In fact, I think that since we've done TOG for two years I'm much better prepared to do what I'm considering here. At this point I have 7th grade all planned out and will be continuing with TOG YR-2, but the following year I will need to be ready to teach the next era. I would follow the exact time frame and suggestions as they are laid out in TWTM (1800's - Modern Era). I really like the idea of doing this according to the book, but am thinking that I would have to develop my own lesson plans and a schedule well in advance. I would use living books and classical literature to correspond with the history, etc. But as I ponder this idea I'm wondering what others have done. Below are my questions for anyone that has done Logic stage history planning, and 8th grade in particular: Did you follow another person's lesson plans and schedule or did you create your own? Are there lesson plans out there somewhere? (i.e. Core Foundations style, but more closely lined up with TWTM.) How did you choose your primary resources? What did you choose? How did you narrow down and select which sections of each book and corresponding books when you developed your daily/weekly schedules and plans? How long do you spend on little side roads of interest? Thanks for any input you may have to offer. I've never done this myself, as I've always followed a plan that was already made. Blessings, Lucinda

:iagree: That was my first thought as well as I read your post. :iagree: I can't imagine switching math programs when you've found one that works well for your student. I hope you opt to find another way to stick with it. Blessings, Lucinda