I know there are many questions that I won't answer here...but post them and I'll do my best to address them. So, we'll start here.... 1) AVAILABILITY OF LEVEL 1. Currently we are on schedule to have the entire, proofread, typeset, finished PDF ready for sale in October 2011; and the print book for sale December 2011. (If copies are ready sooner, we'll let you know.) In the meantime, the first seven weeks and the full table of contents are available as free PDF downloads from the Well-Trained Mind blog: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/resource-roundup/writing-with-skill-the-full-table-of-contents-and-first-seven-weeks/"]http://www.welltrainedmind.com/resource-roundup/writing-with-skill-the-full-table-of-contents-and-first-seven-weeks/ Further weeks, for those of you who intend to hold out for the print book, can be requested by emailing my assistant, Pattie Worth: executiveassistant@welltrainedmind.com. It has been incredibly helpful to me to get feedback early in the process from many of you. If you feel that you can't continue without the print book, I do understand, but I hope you'll consider sticking with it and sending comments/problems/suggestions/questions to me (via Pattie). The books will be available from Amazon about eight weeks after it is available directly from Peace Hill Press. 2) AVAILABILITY OF FUTURE LEVELS. I'm on schedule to finish one level per year. What this means is that future levels will be available in September of each succeeding year...as long as you're willing to work from manuscript/PDF copies that we send you by email until the printed books are finished. Again, this is an invaluable part of the process for me--getting feedback from parents before the final books are printed. I had originally intended to make WWS available starting in the fall of 2012, and the Feb. 2012 pub date was so that we'd have copies for the spring curriculum fairs. However, the beta testers were SO helpful that I'd like to continue to put the program out a year earlier for feedback. The more parents and kids who use this, the more effectively I can fine-tune it. Drawbacks: You get manuscript/PDF copies and they're not as pretty. And you have to print them yourself. Advantages: It's free. 3) INTENDED AGE/GRADE: Writing With Skill can be begun by any student who is writing at a fifth grade level or above. If you're coming out of Writing With Ease: Children who have finished Writing With Ease 3 and are working at about a fifth-grade level can usually skip Writing With Ease 4 and go straight into Writing With Skill. Writing With Ease 4 continues to develop skills in narration and composition and also exposes children to a wider range of prose styles--all of this helps younger students mature to the point where they're ready to begin Writing With Skill. WWS asks students to write about a wide range of topics and also demands a fair amount of self-direction and determination...which is often a matter of maturity, not skill. If you're not sure, simply ask the student to complete Week 1 of the free PDF download (Week One: Narrative Summaries). If the student can do this without too much struggle, you can move on ahead in WWS. Deer-in-the-headlights reaction = go back and work on WWE 4 for six months and then try again. Although this is labelled "Level 1," it is valuable as pre-rhetoric for any student who is not prepared to go directly into the rhetoric studies outlined in TWTM. Finishing the four levels of WWS will actually prepare most students to go into basic-level college composition. 3) SCOPE AND SEQUENCE. WWS is a spelled-out, detailed, week-by-week development of the writing skills that are expected of pre-rhetoric students in TWTM. a) Writing With Skill teaches explicit skills in outlining, narrative composition, and sentence style. b) It also teaches directly how to construct and write chronological narratives, descriptions, biographical sketches, and sequences, across the curriculum (assignments are in both humanities and sciences). c) WWS teaches explicitly how to write brief literary reactions to both short stories and prose. d) WWS teaches basic research skills, documentation, and definition/avoidance of plagiarism. e) WWS teaches students to combine the four elements of (b) into longer compositions. WWS does NOT teach grammar explicitly; our assumption is that you will use it with a separate grammar program. 4) HOW TO USE IT. WWS consists of two books, the Student Workbook and the Instructor Guide. You need both of them. (For some reason, Amazon has the Student Workbook listed as an alternate "format" for the Instructor Guide. We're trying to get this fixed, but they're not WAY responsive, in case you hadn't noticed.) The program is directed AT the student; by this point, students should be taking on more of the responsibility for their own writing (since, after all, writing is a self-directed activity). The Instructor Guide provides you with suggested answers and rubrics for each step, plus detailed guidance in how to teach the student skills that he or she may struggle with. Incidentally, if you want the print book before February you can call PHP and pre-order it now by calling the PHP office. Order before Dec. 1 and we'll give you a 10% discount plus free shipping on those two books. OK...questions? Another post about Advanced Language Lessons coming shortly. SWB

Hello Hive, Well-Trained Mind Press is in the early stages of revising the book-lists (fiction and non-fiction) in the Activity Book of "The Story of the World, Volume 3." We'll be adding new titles that have come out in the past 15 years (or titles that we missed the first time around!), and deleting some that are so thoroughly out of print that no parent could be expected to find them. We have a plan for doing it that we think will provide a variety of parental viewpoints, and keep any one contributor from getting stuck with too much work. We've divided the book into sections (chapters 1-7, 8-14, etc). Each section would pay a little differently, based on how many books we need to find (you'll notice that some sections need a lot more work than others do). Each contributor can do one, two, or three sections, but no more (to spread the work around). Each section will end up being a combination of the work of two contributors plus our editors. Time Frame: We will ask you to submit a sample list from a particular chapter, to evaluate your abilities. Your full booklists would be due by mid-to-late January of 2019. Here's what we consider a "successfully found" book:- age appropriate - period appropriate - in print (we make occasional exceptions if it's REALLY good) - available in physical form (you can make 1 fiction exception and 1 nonfiction exception per chapter...kindle, etc...but not more than that) - relatively easy to find - write a one-sentence summary like we did in the first edition We will provide a PDF of the original booklist, and a PDF of the actual textbook; we have gone through and crossed out the out-of-print ones or ones we want to delete, and we'll tell you how many fiction and nonfiction books are now needed for each chapter (it's usually between 2 and 8 books needed from each genre). If this interests you, and you feel you could do a good job with it, please contact Justin Moore (justin@welltrainedmind.com) for further information.

Hi all, While supplies last, we're offering VERY LIGHTLY scratched/scuffed books from Well-Trained Mind Press for 60% off the cover price! We have The Story of the World (activity books, textbooks, and tests), First Language Lessons, Writing With Ease, Writing With Skill, The Creative Writer, Telling God's Story, and many more. These books (which, honestly, aren't very scratched, and just look like they'll look once your children have them for a few weeks anyway) are only available through our office, not our website, so call 1.877.322.3445 to find out what's available and to make your purchase. Justin from Well-Trained Mind Press

Hi all, The Study and Teaching Guide for the History of the Ancient World is now available for purchase on our site. Amazon should be shipping the book soon, too (it takes a bit longer to complete their warehouse process). Quick Description... Susan Wise Bauer's "The History of the Ancient World" is widely used in advanced high-school history classes, as well as by home educating parents. This Study and Teaching Guide, designed for use by both parents and teachers, provides a full curriculum with study questions and answers, critical thinking assignments, essay topics, instructor rubrics, and test forms. Explanations for answers and teaching tips are also included. Designed by historian and teacher Julia Kaziewicz, in cooperation with Susan Wise Bauer, makes "The History of the Ancient World" more accessible to parents & teachers. Note, since some folks had asked: The first half of the book is for the instructor. The student's pages, in the back half, are perforated. SAMPLES of the curriculum can be found on this page. Justin from Peace Hill Press

Hi y'all, We just received a truckload of our own books that can't be sold in bookstores, since they have tiny dings, bends, or scratches on them (the content is unaffected). So we're selling them for 60% off the cover price. Writing With Ease, Story of the World, First Language Lessons, Writing With Skill, The Top-Secret Guide to Getting Your In-Laws to Stop Nagging You About Your Homeschooling Choices, and more! Ok, one of those may have been a joke. The books are at our office, not our warehouse, so you'll need to purchase them by phone. Call 1.877.322.3445 to find out what's available, and to buy! Justin from Peace Hill Press

Hi all, We just wanted to let you know that from June 8th through June 30th, prices are cut by 25% on all PDFs and MP3s at www.peacehillpress.com. That includes our popular "Story of the World" audiobooks, as well as PDF textbooks, Jim Weiss's MP3 storybooks, and practical/inspirational workshops by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. Enjoy!

Hello all, We've just sent "The Study & Teaching Guide for the History of the Medieval World" to the printer, and it should be available in a month. But if you can't wait that long, you can purchase it right now as a downloadable PDF! This is our largest book ever (888 pages), filled with exercises to supplement your high school student's reading of Susan Wise Bauer's "The History of the Medieval World": ID questions, essay prompts, maps and map exercises, and more. Complete answers and explanations are provided, for the teacher, as well as suggestions for helping with essays and for grading the student's work. It's at a special introductory price for now, but that will only last for a few weeks, so check it out soon!

Hello all, Peace Hill Press is excited to enter the world of math books, with "Preschool Math at Home: Simple Activities to Build the Best Possible Foundation for Your Child," by Kate Snow, of the "Kate's Homeschool Math Help" blog. It is now available in paperback or as a PDF, for a special introductory price. Check it out! Justin from Peace Hill Press

Hi there, forum folks! We at Peace Hill Press wanted to remind you that all through January, we have dropped the prices on our "Who in the World?" biographies by 20 percent! This applies to all formats: the books, the PDF downloads, and the audio versions read by Jim Weiss (in both MP3 and CD versions). And, if you buy all four biographies at once (The Secretive Printer, the Unready King, the Acrobatic Empress, and the Forgotten Explorer), you'll save 30% off the cover price! Browse them here.

Throughout December, Peace Hill Press is rolling out a variety of sales...free items, low prices, and a partridge in a pear tree. Check out the dates and the savings at http://peacehillpress.com/current-offers/

Well-Trained Mind Community, We are excited to announce that beloved storyteller Jim Weiss has joined Peace Hill Press! Here is a letter from Susan Wise Bauer with more details: All of us at Peace Hill Press are absolutely delighted that Jim Weiss has chosen us to carry on with the publication of his award-winning and much-loved stories. Jim and Randy have been my friends since we first started running into each other at home education conferences, over a decade ago. We’ve shared our meals, our homes, our stories about our kids, our frustrations, and our creative hopes with each other. My four children (the oldest is now twenty-three!) grew up with Jim’s stories; in fact, I once had Jim’s voice on my answering machine saying “Hello, Bauers!” for months because he called and left a message, and the boys wouldn’t let me erase it. My youngest daughter, now fourteen, still falls asleep with Sweet Dreams and Good Night after a tough day. When Jim recorded the Story of the World series for us, our friendship became a professional relationship. And that professional relationship has now taken on a new dimension. By publishing, selling, and promoting Jim’s work, we’ll be opening up a space for him to do even more storytelling. We’re going to take on the burden of the business side of his operation so that his creative side can be set free! Jim is looking forward to creating new stories every year for Peace Hill Press, and we can’t wait to bring those recordings to you. For the latest and greatest news about what Jim’s up to (teaser: it won’t just be audio CDs!), please consider signing up for Peace Hill Press’s email notification list. Visit peacehillpress.com. We’ll never spam you. We’ll just let you know what wonderful things Jim’s working on! Susan (Note from Justin: Visit peacehillpress.com/jim-weiss to see the titles we're now offering. For a limited time, you can enter the code JIMWEISS at checkout to save 10% on your order.)

So you're starting school next week, and you just realized that you forgot to order textbooks. Should you panic? No! (Well, not about this, anyway. Feel free to panic about other things.) Instead of panicking, rejoice! Your procrastination has paid off. For a limited time, just about everything on our website is 15% off. It's our "last minute panic sale." You're welcome.

The third instructor book in our Telling God's Story series is now available on our webstore, in both bound and PDF form. It is also available for pre-order on Amazon, but we have not yet been told when they'll ship theirs. If you order directly from us, we'll ship it right away. Our new author, Rachel Marie Stone, has done a great job in continuing the pattern that Peter Enns set up. We think you and your children will love her style. The Activity Book is nearly complete, and should be available by this coming fall.

Hi all, I knew you'd want to know that we're offering two brand-new audio lectures by Susan Wise Bauer, recorded at homeschooling conferences: Burning Out: Why it Happens and What to do About it Every home school family finds itself in the doldrums occasionally. But when the doldrums last for weeks or months, it’s time to consider the possibility of burnout. In this seminar--drawn from years of personal experience with effective home education and burnout--Susan defines burnout, investigates the elements that make burnout more likely, and offers a series of practical, experience-tested suggestions for moving forward. and What is History? How and Why Should I Teach It? Choosing the right program isn’t the first step in teaching history to your students. Before you can make informed decisions about what curricula to use, you need to understand why you’re teaching history at all--and define what your student should be gaining from it. This seminar will explain what history actually is (you might be surprised!), survey different methods and approaches for teaching, and suggest appropriate goals for elementary, middle-grade, and high school students. Both are now available as MP3 downloads, along with all of our other lectures.

We've just posted the first five instructor and first five student sections from "Study and Teaching Guide for The History of the Ancient World," coming next month from Peace Hill Press. Susan Wise Bauer's "The History of the Ancient World" is widely used in advanced high-school history classes, as well as by home educating parents. This Study and Teaching Guide, designed for use by both parents and teachers, provides a full curriculum with study questions and answers, critical thinking assignments, essay topics, instructor rubrics, and test forms. Explanations for answers and teaching tips are also included. Designed by historian and teacher Julia Kaziewicz, in cooperation with Susan Wise Bauer, makes "The History of the Ancient World" more accessible to parents & teachers. We'll answer your questions on this thread, if you have any.