Yes, many of the same things as already mentioned regarding both the lifestyle and education: to have the opportunity to develop both close family relationships AND the skill of handling /working out the relational hard times to have flexibility in daily/weekly/school schedules to enjoy time for to develop own interests to just enjoy being a kid w/out being rushed along to adulthood to receive a rigorous, individualized education that takes into account both strengths & weaknesses to have freedom to learn outside of a "one size fits all" setting to be mentored & taught by those who love them most to enjoy hours of reading on the couch!

Thanks so much for the Libirivox resource!! This looks great!

I had the American Revolution CD and was very impressed with all the activities/ideas. It is perfect for supplementing with other materials or for using as a fun unit on its own. I loved the variety of projects and the ability to pick & choose what to do. The suggested grades are 3-8. We did a few acttivities for 3rd grade, but I decided we will get the most benefit out of it during our next history rotation.

Protestant + Classical here - my own Latin background in high school was classical pronunciation - it is just more natural to me. But in the end it doesn't really matter.

...although I've been mostly lurking for 2-3 years now. I hope to become a bit more involved here (while trying not to let it rule my life more than it should!) My husband of almost 13 years & I have 2 boys, ages 9 & 3. I've been homeschooling from the beginning. A friend recommended TWTM back when our oldest was a toddler. After a lot of research, I naturally & enthusiastically fell into into the homeschooling life. TWTM was starting-point for me, but the boards have helped me & our homeschool develop into what it is today. I have the WTM boards to thank for the ideas to ponder, the confidence to do branch out, and the courage to do my own thing. I am one of those people who LOVES to plan, tweak materials, and combine programs, often to my own detriment (our greatest strengths are after all often our greatest weaknesses!). It is easy for this planning to get in the way of my main goal as mother/teacher (discipling, mentoring, educating, and just enjoying my kids), but I'm working on that... I really appreciate this place. I rarely leave without some new idea implement or approach to ponder. You all are an amazing group of people. I hope my humble experience can help those of you starting out even a fraction of the extent that you seasoned ones have unknowingly helped me.

Thanks for the resource ideas! I think my son needs some resources to help him diversify his strategies... My son's primary passion in life is chess - it started w/ Fritz & Chesster, then Chessmaster, a chess club, and now playing at chess.com, as well multiple games every night with Dad. I myself am dragging my feet because he has other people in his life to play chess with, but he is always begging for me to play. Why in the world do I want to be continually clobbered by my 9-year old (??) - unless to join his world & passion. That is probably reason enough...

I too would do SOTW, but start it in 1st.

Also check out Paula's Archives for a correlation SOTW 1 w/ other materials (VOS, Egermeier, VP cards).

When we did Ancients w/ SOTW, it was really important to me to also provide a clear overview of Biblical history. To accomplish this, I followed more of a Biblioplan approach and started with Biblical periods, plugging the SOTW chapters into this framework. This resulted in a more unit approach to different peoples (vs purely chronological) , which I REALLY liked for 1st grade. This allowed us to focus on one ancient people/area at a time instead of going back & forth. It really wasn't a problem at all to do the SOTW chapters in a different order. Thus it broke down this way for me: Unit 1 - Creation through Patriarchs (Genesis) + Sumerians Unit 2 - Joseph-Moses (end of Gen-Deut) + Ancient Egyptians Unit 3 - Joshua-Ezra/Nehemiah (Joshua-rest of OT) + Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Phoenicians Unit 4 - Ancient Africa, America, Asia Unit 5 - Ancient Greece Unit 6 - Ancient Rome + New Testament But no matter how you decide to do it, there are indeed, as Lisa mentioned, good resources out there to help mesh Biblical & secular history. Enjoy! The Bible comes alive as you study both of these together.

I forgot to mention that we also used A Child's Geography (1st book) this past year as a supplement to the earth science we were doing. It does indeed cover a lot of earth science.

We have used the Trail Guide to World Geography this past year as part of a 2-year overview of world geography (3rd/4th grade). I wasn't looking for a full hands-on program, and the Trail Guide has been one key aspect of our geography this past year. If you are interested in more of an activity-based approach, then perhaps something like Galloping the Globe might be worth looking into. I have loved the geography "drill" questions as a way to discovery the key places/features of a certain continent/region AND improve our map/atlas skills. We have found it to be most fun to simply read a question out loud and then find the answer without writing it down. Sometimes we time ourself and turn it into a game. I like the fact that there are different levels of questions. I have ended up choosing from several levels to build difficulty. We have also put a notebook together using the maps from Uncle Josh's Outline Maps CD and flag stickers. I have also pulled in books like Children Just Like Me and Window on the World. We both have enjoyed learning our geography facts through the geography games at Sheppard Software and the free Seterra download. (There is nothing as motivating to my son to try and beat his mom in time & accuracy in naming the countries of Africa!:)) HTH somehow...

10 Days in Africa has been a good go-along for our focus on Africa for geography this past spring. We have enjoyed it, and it has helped us in our knowledge of the location of countries and which countries border each other. I like the fact that it doesn't take too long to play and that minimum set-up is required. HTH

according to their website. I just placed my order for it today! :)

I kind of do the same thing with non-history related read-alouds - I have a spreadsheet with titles from a handful of resources I like, as well as the suggested grade/level. I can then easily see which titles are must-do's for a certain grade/level. Another few places I like to check that haven't been mentioned (I think): Ambleside Online Tanglewood Education - I really like like how she divided the literature ideas into different categories Jennifer

I agree with this as well. I have gleaned so much information on the old boards & here. I rarely walk away from here without a new insight or something new to ponder. Even though I mostly lurk, I still consider this to be a "home" for my home education efforts. However, I have to set limits on how often I come and how much time I spend here so my priorities don't get out of balance. I am also a little frustrated that I can't post for sale items, but I understand the intent. I too will have to work on posting more. And maybe that isn't all bad - perhaps I'll be able to help others along as some of the old-timers have helped me along. Jennifer