Any other thoughts/comments to add to what I said yesterday? Blessings, Lucinda

We use the SOTW textbook as part of our TOG reading nearly all weeks. We love the way it reads in story form, bringing history alive. My dd is in 5th grade, and SOTW is geared toward 1-5th graders. I cannot completely compare the two programs other than this though. I have not used the activity workbooks, quizzes, etc. so I'm not sure how SWB has laid it all out. TOG is very in-depth, covering each period of history at multiple age levels. You can easily bring SOTW into your TOG program for LG/UG levels (as we do), but you would be hard pressed to bring all of the TOG into your SOTW program - although you could bring in parts of it. And if I understand correctly, SOTW is a history curriculum, whereas TOG is more than history. TOG includes geography, Bible, writing, fine arts and literature. I'm sure there's more to add as a comparison than what I've stated here, so please chime in and help me out friends. Blessings, Lucinda

:lurk5:

I send my dd to a small co-op for science. She has class there 2x a week, but has a small amount of homework to do on alternating days. We also sent her to a science camp over the summer for more hands on science. This works well for us. I am way more into history and LA, which we have every day. Then there's art class that I teach as well. Blessings, Lucinda

As long as you also obtain the resource books for your LG children for the unit you are buying, then you could get by without anything else. I might encourage you to buy MapAids if anything, and if your ds's enjoy hands on projects you could add the lapbook kit for that unit as well -- although it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world if you didn't get it. We've never used the Pop Quizzes, but if your dh is interested in delving in with you, that would be a great option too. I'm excited for you and your family because TOG is a wonderful program that is very rich and thorough. My best suggestion would be to not be in a hurry or feel that you have to cover every single thing. Ease into it and enjoy the time with your dc. In LG, most of what is covered is familiarity with people, places and events. It is not as detailed and in-depth as the higher levels. There's plenty of room for fun! Blessings, Lucinda

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree: I couldn't have said it better myself. It is all so rich that I'd rather take longer to do it than to miss anything. We are in our first TOG year and are studying the Ancients. So far, we are keeping up a good pace, but when we need to, we take two weeks for a TOG "week" so we can catch up. This will not hold your children back at grade level either. It will rather give them a better understanding of the periods of history they are studying, which in the big picture will make them miles ahead of grade level. Blessings, Lucinda Blessings, Lucinda

A curriculum spine is similar to the spine in a body in that it provides a structural base or foundation for everything else. TOG, for example, uses a spine of history. Most subjects within each unit connects to the period of history being studied in some way. For example, our literature, composition, geography, art projects,etc. relates to whatever we are reading about in our history assignments. Does that make sense now? Blessings, Lucinda

BMooch purposely does not sell points because they want to remain non-commercial. You accumulate points faster with them though, that is if you post books regularly or have a lot on your list to share. With BMooch you build up points by listing the books, giving them away and also by leaving feedback. Pretty nice actually! I have had the most success with Bmooch so far, but I like a lot about PBS too. For example, I can calculate and buy postage and print off a mailer on PBS, whereas with Bmooch there is no such option. So back to the topic (sorry for the hijack)...this is yet another way to save money with the cost of resource books for TOG curriculum. :) Blessings, Lucinda

If our local library had the books we need when we need them, we would use that resource more. But as it is I have to pay a heavy annual fee to use the library (we live outside city limits in the country) and most of the resource books we need are hard to find there anyway. If I lived near a city library with a bigger collection, I would certainly use it for TOG resource books. But there are other options. We do a couple of things to save money on our TOG resource books. For one, we spread out our expenses by getting the books for one unit at a time instead of for the whole year. I have Amazon Prime and it is very convenient and more affordable this way. We will then re-sell whatever we don't wish to keep for our family library, and will put that money back into our book fund. I also belong to BookMooch and Paperback Swap online, and have added books that we need up ahead for hs'ing to my wishlists. By doing this I am collecting books in advance, setting them aside and saving a lot of money. In the past three months alone I've obtained about ten books that we'll use next year when we are in TOG Yr. 2. TOG is definitely worth the price. We really love it and feel that it is a great tool for giving our dd a complete, classical education with a Christian worldview. Blessings, Lucinda

I love, love, love wordpress.com. It is very user friendly and has wonderful templates. I've created several sites using wordpress and can't recommend it highly enough. Blessings, Lucinda

I completely agree with this poster on all points. :iagree: Dd enjoys the activity book immensely, as it reinforces what she is learning in the lesson. It adds a lot of fun to the week too, which is one of the reasons that we find LFC to be a good fit. If it weren't for the fun aspects of the program, I don't think my dd would be doing as well as she is with it. Blessings, Lucinda

I like this idea a lot. We have a piece of card stock clipped on to cover the answer page. This is what a lot of hs families do....go to Timberdoodle.com and read their comments and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, since we grade the page together in class, all we have to do is remove the page and, “joila!†the answers are right there. We also write in the TM, but a person could use notebook paper if they wanted to pass the book on to other dc or sell it. A workbook is a waste of money unless you have more than one student using the book. Blessings, Lucinda

We used BJU Heritage Studies for 3rd & 4th grades, and I added SL readers that matched the period of history we were in. We used them as RA's mostly, and it was wonderful. Just reading the books together added so much to our BJU lessons. We didn't get through the whole core package of readers because we ran out of time. We still have some on the shelf to read later, and we will because they are all such great stories. I did use the books for dictation often in 3rd/4th, but we didn't do a lot of written work with them since we also had our BJU, and other LA curriculum at the time. I think SL reading programs can be added as a supplement to any curriculum plan just as well as they go with their own. Blessings, Lucinda

What OS are you on? I am on X.5.8 and it runs, but not as well as on a PC. Its the OS that makes the difference, not the model of the computer. If you compared the Mac interface with the PC interface, you'd see what I mean. PC is much, much nicer. I say this with sadness because I am a Mac lover through and through. Blessings, Lucinda

I own and use SW and made a discovery just this week. The software is supposedly designed to be used on Mac or PC. Because I do most of our hs work with my MacBook, I installed SW there. It was glitchy, but I could make it work. When I started to explore a bit more and wanted to actually print off some of the lessons, I found it to be frustrating. So I took the CD and installed it on our PC. Wow! What a difference! SW has a whole different interface on a PC than it does on my Mac. I zoomed through numerous tasks without a hitch that I had been struggling with on my Mac. So here's my tip: Buy SW if you're thinking about it because it is a great tool. Just don't run it on a Mac!! The program has a ways to go before it is smooth and friendly on both platforms - no matter what the website and literature states. Blessings, Lucinda

Have you ever visited any of the TOG Yahoo groups? I just did a search on the TOG Loose Threads site, and saw that there are some overseas families using TOG that post there. One in particular said that they've chosen to go with TOG because they live overseas and don't want to worry about shipping costs, so they are using the DE edition. They do bring in as many of the resource books as they can -- I think she said in small monthly shipments. She also said that some of the Christian themed books have to be brought in or forwarded from their US address, but I'm sure that you could post there to find out more and share some ideas if you want to. Blessings as you search for the right fit for you and your family. Lucinda

Have you ever checked into TOG? It's spine is history and it uses the classical model. We're using it of the first time this year and really love it. Blessings, Lucinda

Of course you can! It is geared for children of all ages. It just gets more challenging as they progress to higher levels. There is plenty there for little ones (Lower Grammar level) to learn and enjoy. Ideally, one student would go through each year's study a total of three times...but you could customize it to fit your needs. Just start with the level of your oldest child and begin them on the year plan that you choose (I would recommend Year 1), and follow the LG lessons. Just include the little ones in on whatever way they can understand and appreciate, bringing them in when they are ready for school. A lot of teaching the little ones is about introducing ideas, facts and word familiarity. Blessings, Lucinda

:iagree: I agree with Zoo Keeper! My education and degree is in fine arts, and I teach elementary & secondary art at a school as well as privately. (I'm stating this for the same purpose as Zoo Keeper's brief bio.) Your daughter has advanced drawing skills for her age level. If I were her parent, I would nurture this skill from an early age. If you read in Exodus 31, you will see that the names of artists are mentioned, along with the fact that God said He specifically placed the skill in those people. Every person has certain gifts and abilities that come from God, and one of the many types of skill is artistic ability. If your daughter was skilled in sports at an early age, you would certainly want to nurture that ability wouldn't you? We live in a culture and a time that does not appreciate or value this type of gifting in the way that God intended. Sometimes we need to stretch ourselves to look at it from the right perspective. Artistic skill was placed in your daughter by God to be used. Treasure it. Enjoy the gift that is within your child and help her to become the best that she can be to the glory of God! :001_smile: Please feel free to pm me if you want to. I love to encourage artists and their families. Blessings, Lucinda

Have you considered TOG? It is classical, and includes Bible, LA (except Spelling and Grammar), government, philosophy, geography and fine arts. It has many choices, and has things really organized and laid out for you. We are finding TOG to be a wonderful curriculum as we use it for the first time this year. We are supplementing it with SOTW, and my dd loves it. Blessings, Lucinda

:grouphug: Rose, my heart goes out to you. My family is in a very similar situation, except the business is supposed to go back into production in three months. All workers are cut back to working one day per week for the three months. Last year it was similar, but they didn't call dh back to work for two months longer than promised. It took us months to catch back up again, now we are here again. It is no fun trying to get by on half of your income. I have lost faith in the company where dh works, they have not kept their word too often -- and they are Christian people! Dh feels it is time to apply elsewhere, so during the layoff he will do that. He is 57 years old though, and feels so overwhelmed. We are really praying that another offer comes in. Unemployment is really high, especially in our area, but despite these things I am reminded that God is greater than our situation, no matter how grim it seems. I will pray for you, Rose, and if you think of us please pray too. Blessings, Lucinda

Teaching Textbooks Math-U-See Startwrite Tapestry of Grace Sonlight Blessings, Lucinda

Startwrite is also great in that you generate your own worksheets. My dd loves it that we can use poetry, scriptures, etc. that we choose for her handwriting lessons. You can also include images of your choice on the worksheets for your dc to color/decorate their pages. Startwrite is worth the money to me because it allows tremendous flexibility. Blessings, Lucinda

Congratulations on making the decision to hs your K'er. You will never regret making this decision. And my hope for you is that as you gain experience and realize the benefits of hs'ing, you will find a way to school all three of your children, even your oldest. We pulled our dd out of ps after 2nd grade. It has not always been a cake walk because she had a lot of friends there and she was used to ps. It was all that she had ever known. So she did go through a time of grief, but now that we are on our third year of hs'ing I know that she prefers it and realizes (in a much more mature way) that there are trade-offs for both types of education. I do know that kids can get very vocal and sometimes even demanding about this, but ultimately we as parents have to make the decision, not them. My best words to my daughter were that she would have to trust me as her parent to know what is best for her in the long run. She accepted that and learned to see it more clearly over time. Blessings to you and your family, and God be with you as you move forward on your journey. Lucinda

We took the suggestion to use the TM for both dd and I. I have a piece of cardstock paperclipped to the left side of the page. Dd does the assignment and then we remove the cardstock to reveal the answers and check her work together. (She loves doing this btw.) We also use DG's each day. So I only bought the DG book and the TM for the whole school year. Hope this helps. Blessings, Lucinda