his training consisted of a 5 year apprentiship from ages 16-21 (40 years ago). Both of our 2 ds are showing interest in working in the trades as well. DS#1 just turned 14yo & will take a one day "taster course" on carpentry next month offered at the local poly-tech (like community college in the US). He is more interested in mechanics or engineering, but we're encouraging him to look at all trade at this point & focusing on his favorite when he's 16yo. DS#2 is 10yo & loves to help his dad whenever he gets a chance. Both boys go to work with their dad & have worked as a laborer. DS#2 has learned to use tools by using tools. Neither boys ever were given toy tools, but were taught to use real tools from an early age. DS#2 has shown a talent for working with wood & will probably follow his dad's footsteps into carpentry, aiming to work in Antarctica, either on the US or NZ bases. School-wise I'm requiring all our dc to follow a plan that will enable them to succeed in university if they choose to go that route, but we're encouraging them to look outside the square to discover what they want to "be when they grow up." Our 16yod is taking a course on creating community gardens 2 days a week this term. She'll have to work extra hard not to fall behind in her studies (math, Latin, science, etc.); as she's interested in either missions work or environmental studies, what she'll gain from this course is well worth the 9 week time investment. JMHO,

and do look me up when you arrive in Northland. Our HS/ing group is very affordable ($20 / year to join) & most activities are free. We have a multinational group of families, including some Americans, other than myself. If you intend to work, it is easier to start the paperwork before you arrive as it saves multiple trips down to immigration in Auckland (~3 hours drive from here). We do have a number of companies in the Whangarei area that work in the boating area, from yacht maintainace to multimillion $ yachts to Naval vessels. My dh works in construction, but we have friends who work on boats. Have fun planning your adventure. Are you planning to stop in the Marshall Islands on your way south? Or Fiji? We lived 4-3 years in each island nation early on in our marriage. Blessings,

Stacey, If your dd will have just turned 14 in Oct, she would be in year 9 for term 4 & year 10 for term 1. Exams don't effect years 9 & 10 as much as they aren't working towards NCEA at that stage. PS would be enjoyable for her, but please realize that PS isn't totally free. Families are expected to pay a school "donation", stationary fees, sport fees, extra fees for certain courses, as well as making sure that their dc are wearing the correct school uniform to school. We are looking at putting our 14yos in PS next term (if he continues to refuse to work for me) & I shudder to think what it will cost just to outfit him with a very basic school uniform. For only 2 outfits (shorts, shirt, socks), shoes, PE shirt & shorts, jacket, & sweater it will add up to over $300! Most activities are reasonably priced compared to US prices. I pay $100 / 10 week term for my dd's highschool gymnastic class (2 hours / week), Youth Music costs $30 / term, Young Mariners costs $35 / term + camp fees ($15-50 / camp). Music lessons run ~$15 / 30 minute lesson. Venturer Scouts is $30 / term. Archery is $5/session & swimming at the wave pool is $4/ session. I'm not sure of the costs of organized summer sports, but I just paid $60 for ds#2's soccer fees for the season (April-September). We paid a yearly fee of $132 for the family to join the Onerahi Yacht Club & my dc get to sail every tuesday afternoon in their race training Oct.- April. We do have a very active HS/ing group in Whangarei, that organizes weekly activities during the school terms. Summer holidays are from mid-December to 7 February & most activities aren't happening during this time. HTH

Stacey, I live in Whangarei :) How old will your dd be when in NZ? Term 4 (Oct.-Dec.) is mostly exams for years 11-13 (ages 15-17/18) with some schools having year 11-13 students on "study leave" most of the term & students in class only ~10 days. Term 1 (February-April) is a fun term with school camps, sport days, etc. Sports, music, etc. is offered through clubs here as well as schools. My dc are involved in Sea Scouts, Young Mariners (like sea scouts for only girls), sailing, gymnastics, play soccer, swim lessons (with our HS group), dd plays flute in the Youth Music concert band, ds#1 plays drums in the local pipe band, ds#2 takes violin. Other things on offer in Whangarei are drama clubs, circus clubs, archery, fencing, many types of martial arts, cricket, baseball, tennis, badminton, competative swimming, surfing, summer leagues of soccer & field hockey, BMX, rollar hockey, hiking clubs, athletics (track & field), St John's ambulance, surf patrol (life guard training at the beach), folk music club, irish & scottish dance, ballroom dancing, rock & roll dancing, & heaps more.... Whangarei is a great town for yachties, as the marina is in the middle of town in easy walking distance of shops, the library, the swimming pool, etc. Let me know if you have any questions about Whangarei. HTH,

The PS system in NZ is very different from American PS. Math & sciences do not follow the normal US format (i.e. algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, etc.) Each year's math is made up of all strands of mathematics, from arithmetic to statistics, & science is general science in the first 2 years of high school, with biology, chemistry, & physics offered as optional courses the last 3 years. It isn't unusual for a student to be taking chemisty & physics in the same year. If you're goal is for your dd to apply to "extremely selective universities", you'll want to continue with the US maths & sciences. As you're dd is already ahead in most areas, a year in NZ PS won't hurt her & the cultural education she'll get is very valuable. NZ PS are very social, but at the same time teach to the test. Some schools offer the Cambridge Exams or International Bacalauriate Exams, but most only offer the NCEA certificates. Where in NZ are you planning to holiday? We get a number of yachties residing in the city I live in, as well as American doctors here on a year's working holiday. You can take the SAT's at the American Embassy in Wellington or the American Consulate in Auckland. I'm not sure of the procedure, but it's easy enough to contact the embassy to find out. JMHO.

for Apologia science courses (General Science, Physical Science, Biology, etc.) I have my dc take notes or outline the daily readings. I found that outlining science was easier & more meaningful than outlining the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. To give my dc a reason for outlining, I allow then to use their notes on the Study Guide, but no book. Tests are to be done w/o notes or book. This has been very successful for my dd. She writes out the answers to the OYOs & checks them herself before beginning the SG. I only require 1 lab to be written up properly per module. JMHO

The cheapest prices I can find when I shop are: Milk- $3.20 / 2 liters cheese- $9.99 / kg butter- $3.70+ / 500g (~1 pound) cheap white bread- $1.09 / 600g loaf somewhat more healthy bread- $2.10 / 700g loaf on-sale I make what I can from scratch & we buy little meat. We were given 3 1/2 sheep just before Christmas & the meat is almost gone. We are all very sick of eating mutton. We have a garden & fruit trees & try to only buy fruit & veg. in season or frozen (on-sale). Groceries run around $1000 / month for our family of 5. I'd like to have 2-3 soup or no meat meals / week, but dh wants meat & veg. dinners as he works hard physically all day.

can of Coke or a mug of Lemon Tea.

He's my biggest challenge in HS/ing. I've always used weekly checklists for all my dc & they have worked better for some dc than for others. This year I have individualized how I expect each dc to work. My almost-16yod asked to be able to have more control over what she studied when & we've used this term as a trial to see if she'd get through enough material w/o me giving her a weekly sheet. I printed out daily charts on half-sheets that list her subjects & she writes in daily what she accomplishes. I transfer that info every day or so onto a "weekly" sheet to keep track of her work & so she can better see if she's neglecting any subject. These "weekly" sheet aren't M-F, but instead simply record 5 days of work, as we rarely get in a M-F week in term 1 due to regattas & scout camps. I told her I expect 40 days of work completed before term 2. If she's behind, she'll need to use the 2 week term break to catch -up. She does have a term goal sheet for each subject to give her baselines to aim for. My 14yos is a challenge in everyway! If he can avoid schoolwork, he will. He does as little as possible in both quality & quanity. This week I'm trying something new & it may be the answer with a bit of adjusting. I told him I expect Math, Latin, & Spelling done daily (this takes him about 1 hour). Then he needs to put in 3 more hours of work for me & he can choose what subjects to work on & how many. Monday he math, Latin, spelling, & 3 hours of literature. Tuesday was math, Latin, spelling, & 3 hours of geography. Today math, Latin, spelling, & French. Tomorrow he's left with 3 hours of science, which he hates. I figure he'll catch on in a few weeks to decide to spread out some subjects over a few days, especially the ones he dreads. My 10yos works very well from a list & has since he was 3yo. He has a laminated check sheet of subjects to be completed & a weekly assignment sheet to refer to for the assigned work. His daily checklist is: math copywork, math page, phonics, spelling, geography, grammar, science, typing, Japanese, Katakana, copywork, violin, reading / literature, & tidy desk. The most challenging for his is "tidy desk." I work with him on grammar & science, but the rest he completes mostly independently. Next term I'll be adding in Latin to replace phonics. Life would be so much more relaxing is ds#1 worked as well. JMHO,

if ds played soccer before the move & soccer is available, sign him up. Same for scouts, music, other sports, etc. This gives dc something in common with the local kids & makes settling in easier for dc IMHO. Don't expect foods to taste the same as "back home" when in a new country. I was very disappointed when we first came to NZ to get Pepperoni Pizza at Pizza Hut here & find that the pepperoni they used (at that time) wasn't what I knew as pepperoni. Pizzas in coffee shops were worse. They had a scone-like base with canned spaggetti as a topping!!! I quickly learned to make homemade versions of our old favorites. Make a family day jar. Write activites you want to do or places you want to visit on slips of paper & put into a jar. Each friday choose one to do together as a family that weekend. Blessings,

As we have chosen NOT to try to do the NCEA exams (NZ's national assessment exams), it is easier for dd to get accepted into Uni if she waits until she is 20yo & applies as an adult student. We are beginning to look at options for her during those 2 years (18yo-20yo). She's considering working in the summer camps in the US, working at the scout centre in Switzerland, or going on a short-term mission trip. Even a year of full-time work here at home helps to define direction for young people. Our boys are looking at enlisting in either the Navy (ds#1) or the army (ds#2), which would give them fulltime work, on-the-job training, & a chance to travel while still providing boundaries that teenage boys still need at that age IMHO. When thier first enlistment is up they can decide to pursue tertiery education, find a full-time civilian job, re-enlist in the NZ armed forces or transfer to the US armed forces (my dc have dual NZ / US citizenship). Delaying tertiery education is very common in many countries. The term OE stands for overseas experience & its not unusual for young adults to take a year (or more) OE before (or even after Uni) to enjoy a working holiday away from home. Blessings,

for dc the age you have I'd recommend saving SOTW until 1st or even 2nd (when your ds would be 4yo & get a bit out of it). SL would be a good way to get a selection of good books from one source, but FIAR books are great for that age as well & can be made into mini unit studies. You could collect the FIAR books before you leave & ask for more books as Xmas presents, etc. Or how about focusing on geography with GtG for K as you're heading overseas. Do bring a science encyclopedia & history encyclopedia (Usborne's good for dc K-4th) & a world atlas at your dc's level. My dc read encyclopedia for fun. JMHO,

but here's my thoughts at this point & looking back to last term (Oct-Dec). Hits 16yod: Apologia Biology, MUS, Jump In (at her request), Sequential Spelling for Adults, SYRWTL Latin 1, Trail Guide to World Geography, & letting her plan her work from my term goals for her. 14yos: Latin Prep 1, Sequential Spelling, MUS, TGtWG, First Start French 10yos: Typing Instructor, Beginner's Kana Workbook (Japanese writing), MUS, Apologia's Zoology 1, FLL 3, math copywork (homemade), TGtWG Not sure yet 16yod: Usborne Easy Spanish, 14yos: Apologia General Science (dd LOVED this book, but ds#1 struggles with the amount of writing required), Jump In (he doesn't like any writing, but seems to tolerate these assignments better than most) 10yos: Schonell Spelling Misses 16yod: SOS Spanish, SL 200, Latina Christiana 1 14yos: SOS French, SL 5, Prima Latina, SL LA 10yos: SL 3 science, SL LA including Diamond Notes writing We loved our SL 7 + SL 3&4 combination that we finished in September, but found that SL 5 & SL 200 wasn't a fit for our family. I'm still using the books as they're great literature & postage is too expensive to make it worthwhile to return the cores, but I'm not trying to follow the cores in any way now. JMHO,

& I prefer DY's schedule. There is an option of schedule book marks that my dc like to use & her up-dated schedules have allowed an extra week for module 1, a much needed change. JMHO,

but I am considering getting a Diva or MoonCup as I found a NZ source. What is the difference between the 2? Do you prefer one over the other? TIA,

This program has made a difference in my 15yod's spelling. We changed from Spelling Power when I saw how Sequential Spelling (bk. 1) was helping my 13yos's spelling & it was one of the best moves we made last year. It takes under 15 minutes a day to test & seems to have just the right amount of review built in. At least now when my dd writes, her spelling is close enough for spell check to suggest corrections. JMHO,

Our school year runs Feb-Dec. 39 weeks to go...

I found I needed to put a schedule in place so that my dc didn't all need me at the same time or want the computer at the same time. I divided up our day into 45 minute blocks & the order is not negotiable. We aim to begin at 9:00, but if life happens we just begin with block 1 & 45 minutes later we move onto block 2, etc. 9:00-noon each dc covers English (= Mom-time), Math, Science, & Languages (Latin + their chosen modern language). After lunch is geography, literature, & music practice. We used this timetable Oct-Dec (our term 4) & found it took a lot of stress out of our day & we accomplished more. Blessings,

Janis & Michele. I'll take a good look at TWSS & maybe one of the lesson plans books. I'm really excited about hearing Andrew Pudewa speak. I need to get focused for our new year & this conference is just what I need. Blessings,

Tomorrow I'm going to a HS conference where Andrew Pudewa is the main speaker. I've been looking at the IEW website to try to learn more about his writing program as writing is an area of need for my dc. At the moment we are intending to use Jump In, but I'm wondering if that is the right move for my dd & I'm attracted to IEW in that it teaches outlining early-on. IF I decided to make the plunge & get IEW this weekend, what would I need to get started? Dd is a good, but not great writer. She writes creatively with ease & in her own definate style, but lacks skills for more achedemic writing. Ds#1 is "allergic to pencils." Its painful to try to get him to write. He had just over 2 years in PS that instilled in him a hate of writing by the age of 7. Ds#2 never went to school & enjoys writing, but I have yet to push beyond copywork, dictation (that he loves), & narration (that he does not love). What would you reccommend for my dc? TWSS? SWI-A, B, &/or C? HighSchool Essay Intensive? How about the Poetry Memorization book & cds? Teaching the Classics? Would TWSS + Character Based Writing Lessons &/or Great Natural Disasters writing lessons be enough to get us started? My goals in writing this year is to polish up dd's skills for university level assignments, get ds#1 to write clearly (both content & penmanship), & for ds#2 to clearly put his thoughts on paper in an organized way. TIA

I have always seen WTM as my "road map" for my dc's educational journey. Each year I choose "vehicles" to get us where we need to go. Some years we've followed WTM's reccomendations, other years AWOA or SL have provided the structure we needed for that season. The beauty of HS/ing is our freedom to tailor each child's education to his/her own special needs. In NZ we are very lucky that the gov't only requires that we provide an education for our dc that is "at least as regular & as well as" the education that the public schools provide. Blessings,

45 minutes daily in the following subjects: ( usually 9:00-12:00) Math English (spelling & composition) Science Languages (Latin + their chosen modern language) Lunch break is 12:00-12:45 Afternoons (12:45-3:00) vary due to activities. M / W / TH = 45 minutes each of Geography, Literature, & instrument practice T = Flute Lesson & SPCA for dd, errands & library for ds F = HS swim I try to give a bit of time for interest learning as all 3 dc have a full week of "extras." Dd is a Young Mariner (2hrs/wk + sailing & camps), Venturer Scout (2hrs/wk + camps), sails 2-3 times a week, volunteers at the SPCA (2hrs/wk), takes gymnastics (90 minutes/wk), plays flute in the Youth Music concert band (2hrs/wk). Ds#1 is a Sea Scout (2hrs/wk + camps), is a competitive gymnast (4-6 hrs/wk), coaches beginning boys gymnastics (1-2 hrs/wk), plays drum in the local pipeband (1-3hrs/wk), & wants to start karate (2hrs/wk). Both dc have paper routes that take up 2-3 hrs/wk. We want to balance booklearning with real life learning, thus make sure to take these outside activities into consideration when making up the year's goals for HS/ing. JMHO,

we've had a difficult time the last 3 months with ds#1. I got to the point of even mentioning PS as an option for this dc, but DH (who had been really wanting our dc to return to PS for the past few years) said that PS would only make the problem worse. So in a round-about way I have dh's seal of approval to continue to HS. This month our dd went on a week-long scout canoe trip with senior scouts & venturers from all over NZ. She was the only HSer on the trip. The other teenagers either went to PS or boarding school. Dd came home convinced that she is recieving at least as good as, if not a better, education than those teenagers, even the ones in boarding school! This relieved my mind a lot as I was beginning to feel that I was failing her. If you care enough to wonder if you're doing enough, you ARE doing enough. JMHO,

only because of the high cost of ink in our Lexmark printers. My dh wasn't too keen on me buying a new printer when we had 3 working printers, but when I explained that what we saved in ink costs in less that a year we would cover the cost of the new printer, he said go ahead & get it. I've sold one of my old printers to my sil & hope to sell the other 2 & make back some of our outlay as finances are a bit tight. But a working printer is a necessity in our homeschool. Blessings,

Swiss Chard is called Silverbeet in NZ. My dc & dh LOVE it. Me...well my pot I cook Swiss Chard in only holds 4 servings. ;) I cook it as my dmil does---wash it, slice it thin, put it in a pot with an inch or so of water with a bit of fresh mint on top, cover, bring it to a boil for 1-2 minutes & add a cube of butter & turn off heat. Let the greens steam for about 10 minutes. We slice up both the stalk & the leaves. We have it growing in the garden year round. I couldn't imagine buying it. It is very good for you. Blessings,