Thanks so much for the link. I was looking at getting all the Map Trek's and didn't realize they had these guides. This sealed the deal for me. Thanks again!

I am the full-time work at home parent. We homeschool 50/50. The only way it has worked is to have everything planned out and it makes it easy for us to switch back and forth. We do a lot of random projects all year round too, but the basic are planned and we track it so we don't double track. Some days I don't homeschool and other days he doesn't. He does all the read alouds/reading for each subject -- as they listen to him/he has trained them better to listen to him when he read "books with no pictures"! We both talk about what we want and how we want to accomplish it. I do most of the planning/research to locate resources that meet our needs. I will show him the curriculum we buy for review and/or online examples. Basically its a team effort and I'm glad to have his help. We both have to be comfortable with the curriculum/plan we create and it has to be easy to go back and forth. If one of us worked out of the home, the person staying home would be responsible to homeschool the majority of the time. I just happen to work at home and I want to teach, so it turned out this way for us.

I love their yarns for gifts, especially when sometimes I'm unsure they will actually wear what I make :c) and because a lot of them are washable. Also it is great for kids toys that I knit up. I like the wide selection of types with different weights (don't have to guess about the gauge I need, as know how it knits up already), they are usually in stock if I need to get more of something, and they are based in Washington so I feel like I'm still buying local :c). Also their kits are fun too and the yarn turns up cheaper if you get them on clearance and you like the kit colors. I made some loafers/lounge slippers for my DH for Christmas with their 100% bulky weight wool and felted them. They turned out great and he even walks outside with these sometimes accidentally and the are holding up well! Can't comment on the needles as I have only Hiyah Hiyahs interchangeables and double pointed needles, and those to me are the BEST! :c) 100% stainless steel - no lock key on the interchangeables - and my local yarn shop stocks the cables so I can pick some up if I run out of cables (from starting too many projects).

In Windows 7 (Vista has this option too, but the path to it might be different), go Start -> Control Panel -> Programs -> Run programs from previous versions of Windows. Follow the prompts and install it on a previous version (check the box). I have gotten all my MSB to work this way on Vista and Windows 7 os. Somtimes I have to mess around with different settings and try again, but it does work out eventually.

This next year I am going to be trying Language Lessons for the Very Young Vol. 1 and Copywork for Girls. I also want to pick up a copy of My Nature Journal. I plan for DD to do copywork every school day, so if we decide something is too long/uninteresting, we can read it aloud, skip the copywork portion, and in place use the Copywork for Girls series to fill in the gaps. So far I like the look of Langauge Lessons and the Copywork books that I have, but haven't used them with my DD yet, so I cannot say if they are a good fit yet! A Nature Walk with Aunt Bessie seems really interesting and I've read some people plan to just do one lesson at at a time, maybe once per week which would work for us too. But I don't want to fill our days up with too much planned work. Does anyone know if the Language Lesson Keys are necessary, especially for these younger grades? I have gotten by without teachers guides in most of these younger grades so far, but I'm not sure when it might be a time saver to invest in the keys?

This is a big issue at amazon, they comment about amazon or the individual seller, instead of using the feedback tools. But I see a lot of people call them out, since you can leave a comment on reviews at amazon. I think this issue is prevalent in all reviews not just HS reviews and I'm totally feeling you. The best reviews are the honest ones that give you the goods and the ugly, all in one place.

Thanks for this blog link, it has been insightful to see how others view CM and look forward to her posting more. I recently go the book "Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing: A Charlotte Mason Language Arts Handbook" from simplycharlottemason.com (here is the example) and I can't recommend this book enough to anyone who wants to follow CM style language arts. It outlines very clearly in modern english, along with the orginal CM quote (with what book/page number to find it on from the original series) explaining how to handle different topics. Before this book, I was pretty lost even though I've read just about every book out there on CM and I'm still diving into the original series, but for me it is a little difficult to understand. The new book outlines grades levels for each language arts skill and also has some examples in the back. Formal spelling, grammar, and dictation don't start until around 3-4 grade from what I understand. Before that it is copywork/transcription, phonics/reading, oral narration (we do drawing too), rhymes/poem memorization, and informal studies in grammar & spelling (as you see fit, some don't do any at all). CM really did require way more than just copywork, but the ideas that she brings are simple and easy to implement. It does help to get ideas from others too on how they've done it in this day & age.

If you get a 3:1 "wire binding" machine, it will also work with the proclick spines and 3:1 coils because both use 3:1 hole spacing (make sure to double check this, because there is also 2:1 wire machines). I like the spirals the best too, but I also wanted to be able to use a few proclick spines. You must keep in mind that the cost for the proclick spines are much more than regular spirals, so I plan to use fewer proclick spines overall. They do sell these in lesser quantities, this is just a price comparison: 3:1 Coils: 52 sheets / Price per box of 100 / $5.99 ProClick spine: 45 sheets / Price per box of 100 / $41.99 I got our binding machine at BindMachine.com, they have one on clearance right now for a wire binding 3:1 machine for $39 and $3 worth of supplies. I ordered this through the phone (as the 3:1 coil supplies require special order) and got it rather quickly. The spirals arrived 2 days before the machine! I wanted to add, that the machine punches holes nicely and its working great so far. I joined in a co-op on these forums to get different size spirals, so I haven't bound much yet.

* Sniff * I am having a hard time with this feature now. I didn't realize I cilck new posts and or search quite often!

Not speaking from experience, from what I see in NOEO exampls, it depends on the books for the experiments vs. with RSO, it includes all the experiments as part of the curriculum. RSO is very easy to plug & play the books, thats why I love it too!

I plan everything out before the year starts, but we take it one lesson at a time so we don't have dates on our lesson plans. I just have a master plan which is a guideline as to when to do certain subjects and place it in a plastic sheet protector so I won't have to print it out a lot and/or can update it easily. I co-homeschool with my DH so we need something to let us know who did what and also by preparing he isn't asking me where something is! Next school year I will also have an assignment sheet for my DD for her to check off things she has to get done. To prepare, I have weekly folders (which is approximately 5 days worth of work organized) where I will put in all the loose papers for the week, I do not cut up my workbooks at this time but I am going to spiral bound all of them. The only subject I have a guide sheet for next year is History (from WP), so the guide sheet, notebooking, timelines, and other paper activities are in the weekly folder. I will also include our Japanese worksheets, science labs, and anything I find that we might want to do that week. During the week I pull my weekly folder and place it into a Multi Pocket Folder which I did get this idea on one of these posts here (so thanks to whoever suggested this). The main schedule goes in the first pocket, and than each subject goes into its own pocket. I have been doing the multi pocket folder for a few weeks, previously I just had the weekly folder with my papers all mixed, but with this folder it has been easier to find the subject papers I need (right now I have language arts wp guide/papers, history wp guide/papers, loose math worksheets, japanese worksheets, science labs, basically everything this year was loose papers!). I linked a few screenshots of my current working schedules for next year, which is bound to change by the time we start. I just use OpenOffice (similar to Word but free) and they have table for mating options that I use to make these grids. Basically I like lists, but not so keen on actually creating "lesson plans". http://gnomeynewt.com/st01.png http://gnomeynewt.com/st02.png

Thank you! I've been wondering this for a while too! :c)

I've found that History Scribe over does it. Meaning it will have what you want and than some, so you will probally want to pick and choose. Here is a list I think that applies to SOTW 1: Ancient Egypt (30 topics, includes some maps and blank pages) Ancient Greece and Rome (36 topics, includes some maps and blank pages) Ancient China (30 topics, includes some maps and blank pages) Age of Discovery (31 topics, includes some maps and blank pages) <-- actually this one I looked again and it is for a later time period

We used AS1 this past year for a 6-7 year old and it was a good fit for her. You can always pull some resources form SL to add to the mix because of the way WP has weekly topics it shouldn't be hard to do this. We read a lot, so we've read in between all the recommended reading books without an issue. If you are used to Sonlight, which I feel has more reading than WP it should be no problem to add in a few resources throughout the year.

I have heard news about the RSO Life 2, but theres been no news on the Physics. Elemental Science and a mix of Noeo (I just get their books) would be a good mix. From what I've seen of ES, it has a similar flow to RSO... but I like the way RSO separates the reading/information from the experiments/labs. It was very nice and easy to do! Maybe they will surprise you guys! We are starting on Chemistry this next year, so it is a concern for me still that it is not even being talked about yet by Pandia Press.

This is exactly like History Scribe, but they do include a prompt which was nice - but not needed if you are used to doing narration. They do have a set of topics and also blank templates... I got all the of the History Scribe and History Scholar (which is for high school age kids), for $3.00 I think. It was affordable! :)

We have not used SOTW yet, but we do plan to in the next 2 years. Here is a blog I found with links to a lot of resources, there are some lapbooks on there: http://runofthemillfamily.blogspot.com/p/story-of-world-resources-for-volume-one.html Also, I've just recently discovered History Scribe which I got at currclick. It has a prompt at the top (different one for each topic) for drawing, with a space at the top for drawing and than lines near the bottom for writing. This is more like narrating, but the format works well for my DD than other notebooking pages we've been using.

I have used them all the way through a year for Animals in Their World, American Story 1, LA Advanced K, and LA Grade 1. We have been successful with these programs so far, though we are finishing up AS1 and LA1 still, for about 5 more weeks. I plan to use WP all the way up for History, though I will modify a few programs to fit our needs better. For example when we do Hideaways In History, I am actually only going to concentrate on Ancients/Middle ages only over 2 years and use History Odyssey to help me flesh it out for an older student since HiH is for K-1st grader. I have actually planned this out very carefully so that my 2 kids can do the same exact history program until my DD graduates and moves on. I am most excited about Adventures in Sea & Sky. Next year I am moving away from WP language arts, as it veers off to far from Charlotte Mason for me, so I've pulled resources together that meet my CM needs for language arts. I think that WP is attractive to certain types of teachers (parents :)) and students. It's not for everyone, but it brings resources together that I might not have thought of and I'm able to add things in very easily because of the "unit study" approach by having each week a certain topic. I am not a big user of Encyclopedias for teaching and I also don't like Mystery of History either, so these are things I have to keep in mind when researching the program I want to use for the future as I know a lot of the higher grades and even the lower ones use them. So far I have been able to adjust and get it working just right for us. I can say that they are genuinely nice folks that work at WP and anytime I've needed questions or help with something, they have helped me in a timely manner to my satisfaction. I've ordered from them 4 times now and they are slow to ship, so I order a good 2-3 months ahead of time, though I've never gotten anything past 1 month from ordering.

I've never gotten my children diagnosed, but my DD hisses sometimes and also sucks on her shirt. This usually happens when she is extremely stressed out, the hissing will come out. I'd be a little more upset about the preschool director yelling at my kid? Honestly, shouldn't the director show some patience, after all she is teaching preschoolers? She of all people should know how to handle that situation better and even maybe try to help you I would think! Besides that point, is there any way to get her involved with helping you gather things? Ask her to get this or that, or to hold something next to you so she feels like she is involved? Also, before you go into the school have a talk with her about what you expect? I do this when we go anywhere public, and I do still have trouble sometimes, but it helps overall especially when I remind them what we agreed in the car.

I have a daughter, but she loves to be outside too! One of her favorite subjects is Science. We have done RSO Life and did RSO Earth & Space this year. It has a lot of hands on experiments and we read book about the subject for nighttime reading. We also go on a lot of hikes/walks and do nature study by simply being outside! Since her other favorite subject is Art, I will be adding in next year while we are doing RSO Chemistry, a nature journal/notebook My Nature Journal: A Personal Nature Guide for Young People. I also have a copy of Kid Concoctions, Creations & Contraptions which I let her flip through to find ideas on what she might like to do.

We have used Animals in their World from Winter Promise for animal/habitat study. They actually recently updated their guide and to me it looks even better than when we used it. It uses the One Small Square books and Talk a Walk books as the main source of information. They include observation worksheets, with guided nature study activities and an animal height chart, to compare your child's height with animals they are learning about. We plan to repeat AW again, when my DS is in Kindergarten, but will use the 1-4th guide as I like it better.

I think you need to ask her what she does want? Because that is key to finding out what she needs. I think leaving will cause her more problems than solving any. She may be walking right into another trap full of situations she doesn't need/doesn't help her cope with whatever it is she is feeling. In general, unless he is abusing them in some way... what is her reason for not communicating with her spouse? All relationships have ups and downs, and it is not a reason to leave/seek something new. It is a reason to communicate and retool what you've got. I always recommend communication books and/or communication classes for both over therapy/counseling, because it will last you a life time rather than just working on that one issue. Both parties need tools to communicate effectively. If they can learn to communicate with each other in helpful and productive ways -- than they can be free to get their feelings out with no judgement and be on a path to solve issues as they arise, rather than letting them brew and/or as she is doing running away from them.

I don't have one, I just have open shelves in the bathroom and store our bed linens in tubberware containers in the bottom of my closet. YEY! for cabin living! :)

I would say Eclectic, with strong influences from CM. We do what works! :)

We were excited we might get one here... but alas its a no go for us in Washington. It's even more sad there won't be one near the west coast at all! I really really REALLY want to go see one :)... The kids can come too I guess. :lol: