My daughter is reading the Fablehaven series - I found it at Sam's Club and figured I would give it a try with her. She's 3 books in and is making me read them after her. Now I'm having all my kids do book reports and she is enjoying The Little House on the Prairie - which she tried before and couldn't get into and kept putting it aside. Other books she would start and just set aside and never finish. We also checked and she was having a problem with focusing on reading books because of her eyes! With glasses she had to retrain her eyes to focus and now does much better and is more confident in her reading.

We actually enrolled our 10th & 11th grader in Kolbe this year because we wanted to have everything recorded not from me. The only thing they do require is that they take the religion course for at least 3 years (2 for my 11th grader)...... the credits from public school transferred differently than expected but it all worked out for the best and my husband is comfortable with the decision

I haven't worked with BP - but LOVE TOG and I can't wait to get back to it next year. I have 2 that will be in 11th & 12th grade with 1 in 8th. We are doing Year 4. I personally have found the whole curriculum excellent and interesting (even for me which helps). However, to keep me sane, I am going to do the workbooks for each unit. This way each child will have their own unit to work through and with 2 doing the same level, I don't want them doing all the same questions :) It's a LOT to take in and a lot to work through which is why I'm actually starting now getting everything together. I like that the writing program is worked into it, I also use a lot of the links and extras found in the DE version (granted I have never had the paper version). I also like the "PopQuiz" which is a CD that gives you as the parent the run down of what was discussed this week - it keeps me together and also will keep my husband in the loop since he is NOT an academic at all :) I find the accountability questions thoughtful and just hard enough to make the kids actually THINK about what they read, The year we did Y1 (we switched to Sonlight this past year and I wish I didn't) the discussions we had were amazing and made everyone think.

I thought the new software version was supposed to sync to ipods so you can send your kids their assignments? I know I read that somewhere - but now can't see it anywhere. For me the syncing would be the best part and what's worth it to me.

I pulled my son at Christmas break because of bullying & bad choices because of it (trying to fit in w/wrong kids) - the problem we are running into is that he got no credit for the work he did this year already. We are skipping some stuff and I am just going to CAT test him ahead of schedule and then he can cruise through his workbooks until September. My 12 yr old would like to be pulled (same reason - bullying) but she decided she just won't go back next year (fine with me!).... I've heard good things about "The potters school" which is online but I don't have a link right now. Also check to see if her school district has an online school option for some classes - maybe even for summer.

My kids apparently use NoodleBib through the school system and so I'm going to see what my hs'd son would want to do. Personally I like it because its online - my son can produce note cards and papers and just email them to me and can work from anywhere without needing anything other than his computer. Then for $15/year it's not too bad of a price :)

My son really wants to do 20th century - but we are finishing up Year 1 this year. I was thinking that to keep him interested we might skip over Y2 & 3 jump into Y4 and come back (maybe even from 4 to 3 to 2) Anyone ever do this with their kids?

Thank you! I think I love you at this moment ;) I completely forgot about looking up the TOC on amazon :) It helped and he might read a couple of extra pages - but so be it - LOL. I can't believe Amazon did this with this device - completely ridiculous since they are now touting about how you can buy textbooks for 60% off....

Ok - so I downloaded the books on my son's kindle fire not realizing that it doesn't support page numbers!! So I need some quick help... I'm trying to figure out what chapters "What the Bible is All About" pages 143-148, Middle of Page 154, 207-212 corresponds to as well as "Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible" pages 207-289 I may have to just buy the regular books but we were really trying to eliminate SOME books because it's a lot easier for him to carry the kindle with him! If anyone can help me I'd appreciate it greatly!

I'm personally terrified about my son. Life changed and we decided to send all our kids to PS this year (we have 2 soon-to-be ours from foster who were already in and then I still HS'd my bio-2 last year) I'm not as worried about my daughter (5th grade) but DS is in 8th and still learning who he is. Fingers crossed it will be ok. I never had a problem with the schools here - and I'm hoping since we are still semi-rural it will help (and we are a now established big 4-H family) and won't be like where we were living before where he HAD to have the Nike socks to fit in....

Sorry that happened! An airsoft rifle can do that sort of damage depending on the model (I think my son owns them all at this point)... but they would have to be pretty close to the dog. My kids have "airsoft wars" around the house and wear protective gear - but they say if you are close it still "pings" through jeans.

We tried SOTW the first year I pulled them (2nd & 5th grade) - they really DID NOT like it. We have tried again a couple of times (with me thinking it was their age and not being used to being at home)..... and still they would get bored. I liked it!! But I also like a lot of things my kids don't ;) It'd be so much more fun if I was just teaching myself sometimes!

I looked at Angelicum before (wow they updated their site!).....I really like the Socratic discussion they have going.... What's exciting me is that both kids are ready to get "back to work" - we've had off for awhile because they were "done" - and now they are both excited about going with the new program (they really were tired of Seton workbooks).... My goal is to really prepare them for high school either at home or at public school - I prefer at home.... DH isn't too sure about it (I think it will depend on our son's grades this year)

I actually can't wait... DS will be in 8th grade and DD will be in 5th. For her it will be a challenge with Saxon 6/7 - but I think she can handle it.... I'll be there Friday morning!

I am enrolling both kids in Kolbe Academy. We tried Seton this past year....and then when we got our foster girls - that flew out the window.... plus both kids got tired of the workbooks. So we switched to TOG..... I LOVED it and my kids do too.... however I don't have enough time with working on the farm and dealing with so many extra activities now with having 4 kids. We were almost at the point of sending them back to PS, or at least my son, for next year. I should have gone with my gut last year with Kolbe. Seriously - I was on the fence leaning towards it and then kept talking to people who were using Seton and loving it etc etc etc.... and thought my kids would too....I convinced myself of that. TOG - though everything is laid out... DH says I need to spend less time organizing lesson plans because we have too much other stuff to do - plus he reminds me I enrolled in an online college so I need to do my work. I think Kolbe will finally give them a good mix of workbooks and text books - PLUS the literature I really want them to know and learn to love. Next week is the conference in Dulles, VA - and they say they are giving 10% for new families - so that will help (and I can find books a lot cheaper)