that has given me the courage to keep HS/ing through the tough times. As far as curriculum we have found: Galore Park Latin (both Latin Prep & SYRWTL Latin) --- Galore Park books approach the teaching of Latin in managable pieces, without going too slow & boring the student. Lively Latin --- a great blend of Latin, English Grammar, & Roman History. Sequential Spelling & Sequential Spelling for Adults ---the only spelling program that has worked with my spelling-challenged dc & it takes less than 15 minutes a day! Apologia Science (General Science & above, with the audio CDs) ---Real science that can be taught at home without a science degree & full lab. Math-U-See --- My dc finally understand the "whys" of math. FLL 1/2 & FLL3 --- my ds#2 has learned more with these 2 books than my dd did in 6 years at PS here in NZ. SOTW 1-4 & AG & CDs --- my dc LOVE history & SOTW played a big part in that by putting the "story" back into history. Most useful was the confidence I gained from reading this board to "do school" my way, to meet the needs of my family. WTM has been our roadmap from the beginning, but we have chosen different "vehicles" (curriculum) to get us where we need to go. JMHO,

You may find you need to do training that is relevent to the country that you are living in. Outside of the US "Girl Scouts" are "Girl Guides." And in many countries now girls our allowed to be members of Scouts (i.e. "Boy" Scouts in the US). I'm a Scout Leader here in NZ & my dd was a Brownie & Guide before joining Scouts at the Venturer level. Programs overseas are similar, but not exactly the same as the US program. Our most recent program changes were last year.

when my dc were 14yo, 12yo, & 8yo. We had a great year. I, too, wanted something that had a world-focus, not a US-focus. I did add in the readers & read-alouds from SL 3+4 as I wanted my dc to each have readers at their own level. The readers & read-alouds from SL 3+4 are great books & helped to give our studies a great balance. The US is such a big infuence on the history of the past century or so, that it's hard to cover history well without including some US history, but many curriculums do over-do the US history. My then-14yod used SL 7 as written, my then-12yos used the SL 3+4 readers, & my then-8yos used the SL gr.3 readers. I read both RAs to all 3 dc & we used only the history from SL 7. It was one of our best years. JMHO,

My 16yod sets her own schedule. I give her her daily spelling test (Sequential Spelling for Adults) first off every day & then she works independently, asking for her if she needs it. Thursdays & Fridays this term she is taking Horticulture 1 at the local polytech & she rides her bike there & back on nice days. I aim to start our lessons at 9:00 with the boys. I work first with ds#1 as he has more trouble getting focused. Together we do his core subjects (spelling, literature, latin, & science). This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours depending on the day. During this time ds#2 works on what he can independently. I've broken his work into 4 blocks & he can choose the order of the subjects with-in each block, but must do the blocks in the order on his weekly work list. Each block should take no more than an hour. Block 1 (math copywork, 1 MUS page, violin practice) & Block 2 (copywork, spelling, geography, & reading) is usually completed while I work with ds#1. By 11:00 I send ds#1 to complete his independent work (math, copywork, geography, & drum practice) & work with ds#2 on his block 3 (latin, grammar, & science). This may take up to an hour. After he's completed ds has his block 4 (typing, Japanese, & Kana) to finish. By 1:00 we are finished & after lunch the boys have free time until their "afterschool" activities. 3 days a week they have papers to deliver. On other days they have scouts, gymnastics, soccer, swimming, music lessons, etc.

Would you suggest HM or DAW for my 14yos? His writing skills need a lot of help & I'm hoping that IEW will give him the structure that he needs. A the moment we are working on spelling & penmanship, with the aim to focus on composition terms 3 & 4. DS#1 is very interested in warriors & weapons, etc. & LOVES history. TIA,

and all 3 dc play instruments (16yod-Flute in band, PennyWhistle, & guitar; 14yos-drums in Pipe Band; 10yos-violin). PE is more than covered in the sports they play as well as daily life. Both boys are competitive gymnasts, my 10yos also plays soccer April-August, all 3 dc sail, all 3 dc have paper runs, my 10yos takes weekly swim lessons, scouts / young mariners / venturers have them canoeing, hiking, rowing, rockwall climbing, swimming, sailing, etc. throughout the year. Blessings,

We will finish some of our curriculum term 3, so will be ready to start new curriculum in October (our term 4). I am considering using Trisms for my dc. How does this look? 16yod: Maths---continue MUS Algebra 1 & begin Geometry Science---finish Apologia Biology (begin either Marine Biology or Chemistry in Feb.) Latin---continue SYRWTL Latin 1 History/ Lit./ English/ etc.---Trisms EOC (500BC-1500AD) 14yos: Maths---continue MUS Zeta Science---finish Apologia General Science (begin Physical Science in Feb.) Latin---continue latin Prep 1 History / Lit./ English/ etc.---Trisms HM or DAW My 10yos could possibly use HM, but over 2 years. I'm not too worried about keeping my dc on the same page History-wise as we've gone through the history cycle once already using SOTW & I am finding it freeing not to have family subjects as each dc can work at their own pace, not having to wait or rush to have me teach the altogether subjects. And my dd's days away at polytech courses don't throw everyone off schedule. Am I forgetting anything major? TIA,

here's my thoughts after almost 2 terms... 16yod: Winners--- MUS PreAlgebra (dd is understanding maths & enjoys it) Apologia Biology (dd LOVES the Apologia texts) Sequential Spelling for Adults 1&2 (we're finally seeing improvement in her spelling) SYRWTL Latin 1 (dd says this is so much easier to understand than LC1, which we tried last year) Trail Guide to World Geography So-So--- Science Roots Jump In writing course Losers--- SL 200 Making up my own Spanish program with SOS highschool Spanish & Easy Spanish 14yos: Winners--- MUS Epsilon (maths is sticking & ds doesn't complain too much about the work) Apologia General Science (last year this was a flop with ds, but this year I'm working more with him & we're making progress) Sequential Spelling (I can now understand most of his writing) Trail Guide to World Geography (ds would call this a loser, but I'm pleased with how it works for our family) Latin Prep 1 (a much better fit for ds than PL we tried last year) A Backpacker's Alphabet penmanship book by LightHome Publications ( great practice for HS boys, we can now read most of his writing) So-So--- First Start French (we've put that aside for the moment, to simplify the workload & concentrate on attitude & working to the best of ds's ability on the basics) Losers--- SL 5 & SL-LA 5 (just wasn't a good fit for us, we love the books but just couldn't get SL to work for us with this core) JMHO,

My 16yod is using SYRWTL Latin 1 & is really enjoying it. My 14yos is using Latin Prep 1 & it is just the right level for him. We do an exercise a day & I use the workbook exercises as assessment. JMHO,

a 1.5" binder for each of the following subjects: ---math (3") [i put the MUS pages in a binder] ---Geography ---Science ---English (copywork, lit., spelling, composition, penmanship, grammar, etc.) ---Latin / languages We have some years used a "work binder" with dividers for each subject & only a couple week's work at a time. I would file completed work in the individual subject binders every couple of weeks & put in new work to be completed. This was great for taking school on the road as everything we needed was in that one binder.

Primary schools run 9:00-3:00, with 10:30-11:00 off for morning tea recess & 12:30-1:30 off for lunch/recess. Primary schools need to complete 196 days of school. High Schools are a little bit longer, but still have morning & afternoon tea breaks as well as lunch. High schools need to complete 190 days of school, but most of the 4th term is "study break" at home for students in years 11-13. Teens hear think I'm crazy when I tell them that in highschool (in VT) I was in school 7:50-2:45 & only had 20 minutes off for lunch.

Our week looks like this: Mondays: 2:00---Violin Lessons (10yos) [this is just down the street, ds sometimes walks] 6:00-8:00---Young Mariners (16yod) 6:30-8:30---Sea Scouts (10yos + 14yos) Tuesdays: 1:00-1:45---Flute Lessons (16yod) [often my 2ds will stay home] 2:00-4:00---SPCA volunteer (16yod) 5:30-7:30---Gymnastics (10yos + 14yos) 5:45-6:45---Stage Challenge (16yod)** 4:00-8:00---Sailing (all 3 dc)*** Wednesdays: 4:30-5:30---Kea Scouts (me, I'm the leader) [My 3dc stay home unless I need the help] Thursdays: 9:00-3:00---Horticulture 1 @ Polytech (16yod)** 4:00-5:00---Coaching Gymnastics (14yos) 4:30-5:30---Soccer Practice (10yos)* 5:00-7:00---Gymnastics (14yos) Fridays: 9:00-3:00---Horticulture 1 @ Polytech (16yod)** 12:30-2:30---Homeschool Swim Lessons (10yos) 5:00-6:45---Youth Music Band (16yod) 7:00-9:00---Venturer Scouts (16yod) Saturdays: 9:30---Soccer Games (10yos)* 10:00-2:00---Stage Challenge (16yod)** Sundays: 6:00-8:00pm---Scottish Drum Lessons (14yos) [this is 45 minutes away] *Soccer is only April-August **These activities are just this term (May-June) ***Sailing is only October-March Many weekends have camps or regattas, especially during our summer months. Life is crazy & seems to get more so each year. We try to keep mornings for only schoolwork & I plan my errands for Tuesday afternoons when I'm in town anyway due to dd's activities. We have many crockpot meals & each activity has its own special bag, so we need only grab the correct bag & (ideally) the gear needed for that activity is in the bag. We keep waterbottles & muesli bars in the car for quick snacks. Blessings,

In the past year milk has risen 22%, butter is up 89%, & cheese is up 62%! I just found 3 sales papers for local grocery stores (19 Nov 07, 4 Feb 08, & 12 May 08) Here's what they list for prices for basic food items: Milk = $2.90/2 liters(nov), $3.20/2 liters (Feb), butter = $2.79/500g (nov), $3.59/500g (Feb), $3.75/500g (May) cheese = $7.92/kg (nov), $6.99/750g (Feb), $5.99/500g (May) bread = 3/$5.40(nov), 2/$4.50 (Feb.), $2.15ea (May) mince (ground beef) = $4.99/kg (nov), $8.97/kg (Feb) Friday's news program on TV ends with a cooking demo on how to feed a family dinner for $10. It's a real struggle to put on a meal for the family for around $10, healthy or not. The people who post that they spend ~$600/month to feed a family are lucky. We spend over $1000/month on a good month. And prices are forecast to continue to rise! Thankfully we live where we can have a garden year-round. Blessings,

has great notebook resources. For module 1 of General Science there is notebook pages for the scientists. Other pages we've found useful are the OYO's & Study Guide questions that someone typed up. It's a great resource. The schedules on Donna Young's website are the best I've seen (& free) My dd likes the bookmark schedules. Blessings,

Dh & I have a Kiwi-Yankee Dictionary. It came in real handy early on in our marriage. Now we have 3 bi-lingual dc (NZ English / US English) who can help out when we run into language difficulties.

it cost $95 to fill up my Toyota Corona this morning. This will last about a week.

At the moment we're paying $1.90 / LITRE & it's forcaste that petrol will go over $2 / L soon!!! That roughly translates to $8+ / gallon as our avg wage is similar so currency differences don't come into spending power.

She had an introduction to the recorder at age 9 in PS. When I brought her home to learn we joined in the local Youth Music club & put all 3 dc in recorder lessons. They were 10, 8, & 4yo at the time. After a term the teacher asked for the 4yo to wait until he was 6yo. Dd began flute at age 12yo & the recorder was a great beginning for her. What I like best about the recorder is it is an inexpensive way to introduce children to reading music & daily practice. Daily practice is so important for success in any intrument. Ds#2 has moved onto the violin, but still likes to pick up the recorder once in a while & play me a tune. JMHO,

This is the first year we have no combined subjects. They are studying similar subjects (i.e. Geography) but at their own level. Each dc has a list to follow. my 2 ds have weekly charts that list exactly what I expect completed. My dd has a term list for each subject & she decides what to work on when. She records what she completes each day & I imput that into a weekly chart. This way we can both see if she is forgetting a certain subject. My Ds#2 (10yos) is a great self-starter & always has been. He has one block of subjects that he needs me for (Latin, Grammar, & Science), but his other 3 blocks he works on independently, asking for help if he needs it. Ds#1 (14yos) is not independent & that frustrates me at times. We begin with his core work (Math, Latin, Spelling, & Copywork) with him at the kitchen table, allowing me to do the dishes, laundry, etc. when he doesn't need me right beside him. When he is finished his core work he moves onto his semi-independent work (Science, Geography, French, & Drum Practice). Life would be a breeze of Ds#1 was independent, but as Peela said "That's why I Homeschool." The PS would let him get away with doing nothing & I want more out of education for him. I have faith that he will someday be ready to work without me. My goal is to do myself out of a job. JMHO,

Libraries here in NZ are 1000x better that the libraries we had in the Pacific Islands, but they don't carry many of my favorite American classics that I grew up with. Also, children's books are very expensive compared to US prices & shipping is almost doubles the price when I order from overseas. Your children are young, but you may want to bring a supply of the level 1, 2, 3, etc. readers. My dc loves those. As they are paperback, they didn't add too much weight to our luggage. I usually come back from a US trip with at least 1-2 suitcases worth of books spread out over all the bags. Bring your favorite cookbooks or start copying into a blank book your family's favorite recipes. Food can really help with homesickness. Try to get a multisystem DVD player when you arrive & you can play DVDs from the US. Bring 1 set of favorite sheets for the kids, so that their beds feels like home, but plan to get all other linen, etc. in Aussie. If you are going for 2-3 years, do you get a moving allowance? Will you be sending a container? If so, you can plan to bring the kids' toys, bikes, etc. If not, bring only the basics & plan to hit garage sales, etc. when you arrive. JMHO, Deb, a Yankee living in NZ

look at Miquon for your 1st grader. My Ds#2 was speeding through the Spectrum workbooks at 4yo & was getting close to over-taking Ds#1. I decided to start hime on Miquon to give him a different way of looking at math. We call it "math detectives." It's a great program & very inexpensive. I supplemented it with Spectrum Math for the first 4 Miquon books. The last 2 Miquon books we are using between Ds#2's MUS books. I've had no experience with Singapore Maths, but really like MUS. I used Saxon for a couple years with Dd & Ds#1 & it did not work for us. MUS was a breath of fresh air! MUS has just the right amount of practice, uses manipulatives in higher levels, has the support of a DVD teacher, & doesn't require a lot of teacher-time. JMHO,

I am using FLL3 with my 10yos (he would be finishing 4th if we lived in the US). We did use FLL 1/2 previously & he really likes the style. I like that FLL is solid grammar in bite-size pieces. The workbook has just the right amount of writing required for boys & a lot can be done orally. We were doing 4-5 lessons / week, but have dropped to 2-3 lessons / week as we have added Lively Latin 1 this term & that has a lot of grammar included in the lessons. My goals are to give my dc a solid foundation & I tend to ignore the grade level on curriculum if it meets the needs of my dc. When Ds#2 was working on FLL 1/2, Ds#1 was using Growing with Grammar 3 & Dd was using Hakes Grammar & Writing 8. All 3 dc were studying the same information, just using different terminology. IF you are playing "catch-up" with your ds, don't over-load him with curriculum that may asks too much writing. Maybe look at FLL4. If FLL 4 has the review that FLL3 has you could start with that book. Another boy-friendly option for grammar would be Growing with Grammar. This would be a good option if your ds is ready for some independent work. I would not use Wordly Wise bk1, unless your ds is a good reader. If you really feel the need for a vocab. book, begin him on WW bk B or C first. SOTW & Apologia's Elementary Science books would be easy to use with all your dc. Get the SOTW AG, if you can as it'll give you mapwork, color pages, & activity ideas that are great for dc the age of yours. Both SOTW & Apologia science books are "pick up & go" IMHO, & are reasonably priced for a full year's worth of studies. JMHO,

With my 16yod we do a list daily. I copied out the test form that came in her book. It takes us 5-10 minutes at the most. With my 14yos we began using a whiteboard for him to write the spelling words on. This was great as he could easily correct misspellings & sometimes he would just add the necessary letters for the next work (i.e. "pat" + "s" = "spat"). This was just what I wanted as I then knew he was seeing the patterns in the word families. I do tell him when we are beginning a new word family in the list. Now I have him write his daily test on a test form I've copied out for him. He needs to pay more attention to legibility so having a record of past tests helps to make him accountably for neatness. At this point I don't use SS for my 10yos as the tests are too long for him & he prefers dictation. I am using "Essentials in Teaching & Testing Spelling" by Fred J. Schonell. He has 3 words daily to learn (write, put in ABC order, write in syllables, & put in sentences). Every 3-4 sets of words I give a dictation. These dictations are a lot longer than the dictations he gets in FFL3. JMHO,

Here's what they are studying this year... 14yos English---Jump In (maybe changing to IEW), Sequential Spelling, SL Lit. Math---MUS Epsilon / Zeta Science---Apologia General Science Geography---Trail Guide to World Geography History---Our Empire Story Latin---Latin Prep 1 French---First Start French Music---drums with the local pipe band PE---level 5 competitive gymnastics + coaching younger boys, sailing 2-3 / week Oct-March Extras---Sea Scouts, paper route 16yod English---Jump In (adding IEW term 4), Sequential Spelling for Adults, SL Lit. Math---MUS PreAlgebra / Algebra 1 Science---Apologia Biology + Science Roots Geography---Trail Guide to World Geography Latin---SYRWTL Latin 1 Music---FLute & Youth Music Concert Band PE---recreation level gymnastics, sailing 2-3 / week Oct-March Extras---Young Mariners, Venturer Scouts, volunteer weekly @ SPCA, paper run PolyTech (like community college)---community gardens class (Horticulture 1) term 2 on TH / F Our course load is a lot lighter than most I read on the WTM boards, but more than fufills our requirements for HS/ing in NZ. My dc will gain the credits that they need for Uni either through polytech or by completing a year of the NZ Coorespondence School some time between ages 16-18. NZCS is free for us after age 16, before that age it would cost us over $1000 / class! DD just turned 16 last month, so we'll relook at NZCS next year. Blessings,

but now live in New Zealand in my dh's hometown.