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)

Welcome! Also - if the program has a placement test - TAKE IT! Don't be shocked to find out that your daughter who made straight "A's" is behind in some areas because all curriculum is different. When I pulled my ds going into 5th, he tested at a 3rd-4th grade level in Language Arts. Mainly he was just missing some of he concepts, so we spent the summer going through the 3rd & 4th grade stuff he was struggling with and then started with 5th in the late fall. We like CLE (clp.org) for language arts - when the kids finish a unit, they are happy it's behind them.

My dd is doing LOF Fractions now (late 4th grade) along with re-memorizing all her multiplication facts and using CLE. She also reads stuff like "The Number Devil", "Sir Cumference......" and things like that as "living" math books.

I like the highlighting thing - that might help. DH teases her a lot because her favorite phrase is "I know...." but then 2 seconds later she will have NO CLUE what we are talking about. She wants to keep doing stuff after school but keeps putting on the calendar that day and expects me to notice it - or asks me in the morning if she can stay after that afternoon and have me pick her up (3 other kids - so it won't always happen).... We will keep trudging on!!

We've been over how to read a recipe - how to get the ingredients beforehand etc. She can make some stuff (tortillas.... ie guatamalen food) without recipes - she just does it. She took "cooking" in school and still doesn't understand some of the stuff. She needs to learn how to read to get to the answer.... does that make sense? Logical progression I would think... :)

One of our foster daughters is SERIOUSLY lacking in the whole logic/reasoning department. It's just from the way she was raised up until this point and she's a good student.... so I'm going to try and help her out over the summer. What would be the best starting point for a 16 year old? She really needs to learn to read closely etc. Following directions is not always her strong suit... Example.... she wanted to make bread..... I handed her my recipe that I use a lot - it's very simple..... she mixed it up..... then SWORE up and down it didn't tell her how to cook it... I said it was there..... she said it wasn't.... I sent her back in the kitchen and told her to re-read every instruction. She hadn't turned the page.... Next time - making hamburger buns using the bread machine to mix the dough.... said to make the buns 1" thick - she made them less than 1/4" thick.... I try every week to have her make something and follow directions.... she is amazed at some of the stuff I make (nothing fancy, I just follow the recipe)... So I would like to try this out formally over the summer since we will be doing Algebra II as well.

Why not just buy the unit DE version for $45 and then get the books at the library or used? You can download the book list which is very helpful for planning :) I couldn't get the entire thing at once - no way. But I got Year 1 Unit 1 (used the 3 week sampler first while I saved up) and then was able to piece together the books from the library etc. Or maybe - look at the book list and work off of it? You just won't have the questions and student activities which "test" the kids.... but thats ok I think.....depends on the age of your kids as well.

My plan: 5th/6th - General Science 7th - Physical Science 8th - Biology (we live on a farm where she knows about breeding and things like that - she "gets" it) 9th - Chemistry 10th - Marine Biology 11th - Advanced Biology Then we will see..... neither one of us want to go through Physics ;) It may change a little bit if she gets into the General Science and finishes it within a year, it will just push everything up a year.

I just got it for my upcoming 5th grader and she is SOOOO excited about doing it. She's very "sciencey" - I also got her her audio book for it so she can follow along in the book because some of the words may be harder for her to pronounce. My thing is that she will still be fine if we have to drag it out over 2 years - does that make sense? For me - it's not as exciting as the Physical Science or of the specialty sciences - but she wants to get to the Marine Biology book so we looked at a course of action that would get us there :)

My dd loves it I think she has done all the animal related ones - ds loved doing the military one when he was still doing copywork. I have their history scribe stuff as well :) I like what they do!

Ester - What would you use for a 5th grader next year (has basic words and meaning through roots).... and an 8th grader (same situation)? I like Wheelock's for the 8th - but then where would he go from there? I can't figure out if it is a multi-year program or not. They both LIKE Latin and Greek in the "game sense" and I believe they would like more.... especially the younger one.... but the ones we have looked at (Latin's Not So Tough and things like that) just seem below her so we always end up putting it aside. THANKS :)