Difference between Teaching the Classics and Windows to the World?

[gardenschooler]

I looked at both of these online, and from the TOC they look the same. I'm guessing one is more in-depth than the other, is that right? I know Windows to the World is new, but that doesn't tell me much. I can't find anything on the website, and I'm not familiar with IEW, other than hearing about their writing program. Can anyone fill me in on these two literature programs? Thanks.

[Cathy]

Teaching the Classics is Adam Andrews' lit appreciation and analysis seminar. It includes DVD seminar and book. The seminar is fun--very energizing and do-able with explanations and practicums. Adam is a mini-Andrew--full of enthusiasm for his topic! He walks you through HOW to do literary analysis with short stories and classics, and how to guide discussions.

 

The book includes the selections used in the seminar, long book lists with summaries, sample lesson plan, story chart form and samples already worked out, glossary of literary terms, and huge Socratic list.

 

The basic idea is you teach ALL your kids literary analysis using short selections and picture books. Children learn to analyze plot, exposition, characters, setting, theme etc using a "story chart." Of course the little kids will use (and stay with) picture books (so they can do one in one session) and learn about just one of the concepts--like setting. Another time, they'll focus on characters (for example). High schoolers, of course, will learn the basics quickly with picture books (so it is obvious and it can be completed in one session) featuring all the lit analysis components. Once they work through the basics, they can do ANY novel. It includes sample story chart "answer key" for Macbeth and other great works.

 

A benefit is the thinking skills kids learn. They don't HAVE to do this process with everything they read, but they will begin to think this way!

 

The Socratic list is huge! It features several sections for each component of literary analysis--setting, character, plot, conflict, theme, style. And each part, like setting, has several questions. Each list of questions, perhaps a dozen, is listed in classical order, from "grammar" type content questions, through dialectic, to analytical rhetoric questions. You can use the same story and section to ask your kidlet a simple grammar-level question and your firstborn a toughy rhetoric level one! It is useful for any book--so you don't have to buy guides for each novel! It's the Lit part of IEW's writing program--a nice pair.

 

Windows to the World is Lesha Meyer's high school literary analysis course. Written as a semester, you can add a few more selections to carry it into a full credit if you like (but definitely not necessary). All selections are short and easy to work with so kids aren't overwhelmed with reading long works and can actually work through lit analysis. It includes writing assignments. I understand it is meaty and thorough (though I haven't used it yet--it's too new!)

 

Cathy

[Janice in NJ]

I picked this up about three weeks ago. I'm planning on starting it with my oldest in early May. We'll work through it in May, June, and then in August. We'll see how far we get.

 

If you haven't used Teaching the Classics yet, I would suggest that you work through that seminar first. It's very good and it focuses on the "End of the Book" discussion. It helped me tremendously. It holds your hand and teaches YOU, the teacher, how to have a meaty discussion about a novel with your student. It is a GREAT tool for those middle grade years when the kids are devouring novel after novel. AND it was a great tool for me; it helped me to "see" SO much of what I was missing. Anything that strengthens ME as a teacher is top-notch around here. I'm not that interested in programs that are billed as being "self-taught." I've found that I get my money's worth with programs that pass out clue-phones to ME FIRST! In my experience it is THOSE programs that build skills that translate to the NEXT set of problems. It gives us something that we can BUILD on if I'm kept strongly in the loop. Self-teaching programs tend to get the job done, but they don't seem to help me build steps toward the NEXT thing - and I've found that just isn't as efficient as it could be. My involvement makes ALL of the difference.

 

I'm wandering here!

 

Rewind to last summer. My oldest was heading into 9th grade. We were heading into the ancients. NOW we had to apply this process to Epic Poetry and Drama. No NOVELS! I needed help. TOG (Year 1 - Rhetoric Level) filled the bill. They took me through each work and showed me things that I could center our discussions on. CJ has done a TERRIFIC job of helping ME help my student to see how these literary elements work together to reveal world view - with some tough material - the ancients. Terrific!

 

But what if you don't WANT to use TOG. Adam Andrews has just released a Worldview course. I have no doubt that it is excellent. Worldview analysis takes you down a layer to the next level of the "literary analysis" onion.

 

What is prime reality for this work? What is really real here?

 

...AHHHHHHH meaty heart-of-the matter stuff! We get to explore a character's experiment in living without leaving the comfort of our sofa! Wisdom-building STUFF! Understanding-building. Compassion-building! Servant-heart-building STUFF! Love IT!!!

 

Please understand that I haven't USED Andrew's "Worldview" seminar - it's too new. I have just done this worldview stuff with TOG, and based on Andrew's TtC seminar and what I've seen in glancing through his Worldview Course's Table of Contents, I'm pretty sure that he's done a great job of teaching the momma HOW to teach these skills. It really looks like it is ALL there. With an eye toward teaching skills that TRANSLATE to other works - which is the point - at least that's what *I* want to learn.

 

Anyway..digressing! Can you tell that I LIVE for this stuff!

 

I'm sure that Adam's course is an excellent next step.

 

So Windows to the World - where does it fit?

Long about five months ago, I started to feel an itch for the "next thing." My 9th grader was reading all of these works of antiquity. We were having good discussions -and they were getting better and better.

 

It was time to teach him close reading. Annotation. TWEM methods. But we were using epic poetry and the plays of Sophocles. YIKES! He was standing on his tippy-toes to UNDERSTAND this stuff on a global level. It seemed cruel to ask him to jot his thoughts down in the margin. Recognize foreshadowing or allusions? Analyze characters on the fly as he is reading? Make comments about word choices or narrator's tone? You have GOT to be KIDDING!!!!! Not THIS 9th grade boy! :D Read the play. Grasp the plot. Answer some basic questions on his own. Have a pretty cool discussion with the momma who leads him via question and answer to an understanding of theme and author's motivation. Write a couple of papers. THAT was all that *I* could do with those works with this boy.

 

I started exploring the possibilities of the short story. I picked up a good guide and an anthology. Great. We were set to go. But his schedule was full and, honestly, my prep time WASN'T what I wanted it to be. This guide had a rough outline for me to follow with some suggestions but it wasn't exactly what I wanted. I still had to do MOST of the thinking and the planning; it didn't go as deeply as I needed it to AND I just couldn't carve out the time that I needed to sit with it. I REALLY WANTED to do this, but the schedule prohibited it. I just didn't have the time that I needed to shape my ideas and plans into a useable form. I was too busy TEACHING to create a usable plan so that I could WORK the plan. sigh!

 

Fast forward to a month ago. We are set to finish up TOG 1 by the middle to end of May. This kid's composition class ends May 1st. The schedule is opening up. We MIGHT have time to start working on these close reading skills. I saw ya'll on this board talking about this Windows to the World. Knowing that I could return it if it didn't fill the "slot" that I needed it to fill, I ordered a copy. I wasn't disappointed. It has a simple week-by-week plan all laid out for me. It shows me how to teach EXACTLY what I already want to do - close reading and annotation of SHORT STORIES with an eye toward application TO longer works. She has divided the process up VERY nicely into doable assignments. All of the planning is done. Now all *I* have to do is work the plan.

 

It is a skill building text. But I would NOT use it with a student much younger than an advanced and really eager 8th grader. 9th and up would be much, much better! And the program really isn't designed to be self-taught. Like most things homeschooling, folks could make a case for a motivated student doing things on their own, but I LONG to be a part of this human-heart-development-stuff WITH my kids. I am SO psyched to work through this book with each of them; I'm anticipating some TERRIFIC conversations.

 

The author notes in the intro that this kind of "close reading" is the kind of skills that the College Board is looking to develop in their two AP English Course Syllabus. Based on my poking around in that world, I think that she is spot-on.

 

I plan to use the text to TEACH the skills of close reading, and then we will USE them from here on out. But I plan to be FULLY engaged in the process. I am committed to LEARNING right along with my student, and I think that the author of the text is writing for a parent/teacher who is committed to doing that. The rails are DEFINITELY all there; she has done a great job. But no program that seeks to *teach* this process is going to have a teacher's answer key like you would find in a 2nd grade math program. This is not a "Just glance down through the page to "correct" the paper" program. Which is PERFECT for me!!!!! I don't WANT an answer key program. I want to learn how to DO close reading. I want MORE help than TWEM gave me. It is ultimately the same process; this program just peels back a layer and works a bit more on the parts for *me*. I KNOW that when we finish with this book, I am going to be able to "see" a lot MORE of what TWEM was trying to convey to me. (Please understand that she offers a LOT of guidance to help you arrive at "good" answers to the assignments. But her goal is to encourage you and your student to engage in this process. She knows that finding the "right" answer isn't the goal. It's the process that is important. At least that's how I plan to use it. Obviously I'm not the author, so I really shouldn't speak for her but that's how I'm seeing it - a GREAT tool to USE to develop a REALLY open-ended skill that we can apply, apply, apply.)

 

I'll be picking up the clue-phone! Those Teaching Company Courses will speak to me more heartily. Everything will be stronger - because my eyes will see better and my ears will hear more clearly.

 

And that's good for me!

 

Oh - another thing. TWTM and so many other folks have told me that we don't need a middle grade "reading" program in order to educate. But I have always LOOKED at those programs; they TEACH this stuff! How can I teach allusion and metaphor and tone if we DON'T use a program and I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE???? Shouldn't we be doing this "stuff?" I believe that this set does a nice job of teaching ALLLLLLL of those skills to an older student in a tight comprehensive way. I honestly think that this is a better way to do it. They are older; they can juggle more ideas; and the rapid-fire method of packing this into a 18 or 26 week course is probably more likely to be effective. At least this is what I'm finding - things that would have taken YEARS to teach to my oldest son are grasped in weeks or days. Yahoo!

 

So that's handled, eh? And honestly when I have tried to do this when they were younger, my kids didn't really embraced many of those details. I suspect that it was because they didn't need them. *I* got all excited about things like tone when I first discovered them because I was trying to WRITE with eloquence - that's a rhetoric-stage skill. The lessons that *I* explored on "tone" answered questions that I had, so the info stuck! At least it stuck for me. Like many things in life, this kind of analysis seems to speak to my kids as they get older. Sure they "got it" when they were little - at the level that the reading program expected, but they didn't really care - so they didn't USE it. And another thing - most of the reading programs that I have purchased were designed for the classroom, so they don't teach OR encourage the student to WRITE in their book. IMHO this kind of close reading really works best if the student is allowed/encouraged/FORCED :D to write in their book.

 

continued below.... I guess this post is just too long....

[Janice in NJ]

...continued from above. My post got too long.... maybe this board is trying to tell me something - HUSH UP YA WINDBAG! :001_smile:

 

 

But this is just my opinion. I'm psyched to teach it this way. AND I know that there are MANY good paths to the same end. I'm not trying to say that reading programs don't work!!! They just didn't work as well for me as I would have liked them to. AND if I had known that a program like this existed, I would have felt more comfortable about waiting. My middle schoolers like reading for PLOT! What is going to HAPPEN next! The subtle uses of literary devices is a YAWNER for them. BUT my oldest is ready for this. He's starting to discover some of this stuff on his own, so this program will pack a lot of punch for him.

 

But if you haven't gone through Teaching the Classics, I would start there first - unless you already have those skills in your momma-bag. I have had that set for YEARS, so I have been clomping along in that direction for a long, long time. I enjoy discussing books with my kids and I LIKE scribbling in my books, but I want to know just a little bit more so I can be just a bit more purposeful.....

 

.... after this homeschooling thing is really ALLLLLLLLL for me. I only teach my kids because I need to find something for them to do so they will stop bugging me so I can self-educate! HA! :laugh:

 

Does that help?

 

Peace,

Janice in NJ

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

 

P.S. Forgot... Windows also does a great job of walking you and your student through the process of creating a literary analysis essay. So all of the pieces that I was looking for are there. Nicely done! A great plan with an eye toward the NEXT thing - applying this process to longer works. Now all I have to do is work the plan - which is the FUN part!!!! :001_smile:

[Quiver0f10]

Another post to save by Janice! Thank you so much!

[schmittgirlz]

Janice, your post was both reflective and insightful! Thank you for taking the time to share!

 

Clare

[gardenschooler]

 

My oldest was heading into 9th grade. We were heading into the ancients. NOW we had to apply this process to Epic Poetry and Drama. No NOVELS! I needed help. TOG (Year 1 - Rhetoric Level) filled the bill. They took me through each work and showed me things that I could center our discussions on. CJ has done a TERRIFIC job of helping ME help my student to see how these literary elements work together to reveal world view - with some tough material - the ancients. Terrific!

 

 

It was time to teach him close reading. Annotation. TWEM methods. But we were using epic poetry and the plays of Sophocles. YIKES! He was standing on his tippy-toes to UNDERSTAND this stuff on a global level. It seemed cruel to ask him to jot his thoughts down in the margin. Recognize foreshadowing or allusions? Analyze characters on the fly as he is reading? Make comments about word choices or narrator's tone? You have GOT to be KIDDING!!!!! Not THIS 9th grade boy! :D Read the play. Grasp the plot. Answer some basic questions on his own. Have a pretty cool discussion with the momma who leads him via question and answer to an understanding of theme and author's motivation. Write a couple of papers. THAT was all that *I* could do with those works with this boy.

 

This is exactly what has me more than a little nervous. At first, I was just too afraid of studying Greek drama to even look. Honestly, as I've seen those titles in rereading WTM over the years, and then later in WEM, I always thought to myself, "Well, we'll never do those. I just can't. Too hard. I can't even pronounce them, and half of it, I've never even heard of. Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes....what?!?" And then I would close the book and pretend I'd never seen that page. I did this over and over, for years!

 

I didn't study these with my oldest. I was very fortunate to find an excellent co-op literature class for her, and they touched on a few. She got something, and I did the literature I knew I could do with her at home. Ancient literature just scares me to death because I'm so unfamiliar with it. I remember being so thankful that they were studying The Aeneid in my dd's co-op class. I could handle The Children's Homer, Rosemary Sutcliff, and D'Aulaire - and that's it. I just didn't want to go out of my comfort zone. My girls were 11 & 13 then (last time we did Ancients), and I talked myself into the idea that keeping our readings at the logic stage was just fine, and really, it was.

 

But I can't do it all over again! It's time to move on. It's time to tackle the hard stuff, as there is no where else to go. My oldest went off to ps this year (and she got in AP English for next year! Yay!), but my middle dd is approaching high school at home. I'm determined to a) do more than just lean in the direction of a classical education for her, and b) do it right! I have time now, so much free time. I can do it.

 

I've been rereading WEM repeatedly the last couple of weeks. Apparently, I need more readings than most people before it sinks in, but little bits and pieces of it finally are beginning to! I started reading and googling all of those Greek authors that scared me to death. Guess what? While I'm not in any way knowledgeable yet, or ready to teach, I'm no longer terrified. We'll do them, if I have to spend the whole summer figuring it out! I DO need hand-holding, and lots of it. I just need to figure out if TOG is what is going to do that for me, or if I also need something else.

 

I think I'd better continue this post in a new one.

[gardenschooler]

He walks you through HOW to do literary analysis with short stories and classics, and how to guide discussions.

 

The basic idea is you teach ALL your kids literary analysis using short selections and picture books. Children learn to analyze plot, exposition, characters, setting, theme etc using a "story chart." Of course the little kids will use (and stay with) picture books (so they can do one in one session) and learn about just one of the concepts--like setting. Another time, they'll focus on characters (for example).

 

I wasn't even thinking about this in terms of my little one (how long can I get away with calling her that!?), but that's good to know. I definitely need something like this to do with her, and hadn't really settled on anything.

 

High schoolers, of course, will learn the basics quickly with picture books (so it is obvious and it can be completed in one session) featuring all the lit analysis components. Once they work through the basics, they can do ANY novel. It includes sample story chart "answer key" for Macbeth and other great works.

 

A benefit is the thinking skills kids learn. They don't HAVE to do this process with everything they read, but they will begin to think this way!

 

The Socratic list is huge! It features several sections for each component of literary analysis--setting, character, plot, conflict, theme, style.

 

This is what I'm interested in - developing the thinking skills (in myself, as well), and the tools to be able to tackle any work. I think we've got an okay grasp on setting, character, plot, and conflict, but theme and style, and annotation. I need help with the higher-level stuff, and going back over the others in a deeper way would be great, too. Everything needs to be cemented in her brain before we can really do this.

 

Windows to the World is Lesha Meyer's high school literary analysis course. Written as a semester, you can add a few more selections to carry it into a full credit if you like (but definitely not necessary). All selections are short and easy to work with so kids aren't overwhelmed with reading long works and can actually work through lit analysis. It includes writing assignments. I understand it is meaty and thorough (though I haven't used it yet--it's too new!)

 

So TTC is pre-high school, and WttW is high school level? I know Janice mentioned going through TTC first, which I think we could start this summer, and then WttW - maybe spread out, over the course of the next school year and summer? I wonder if both are necessary, or if WttW is TTC condensed, on a high school level? The TOC seem identical, so would I really need to do both?

 

Maybe WttW would be a good one to do through the year of 9th grade, using the short stories, since our reading will be Ancients (and while I've warmed up to the idea of reading them and doing *something* with them, it still won't be everything that could be done.) I really want to figure out, once and for all, what this Literary Analysis thing is and how to conquer it!

[gardenschooler]

If you haven't used Teaching the Classics yet, I would suggest that you work through that seminar first. It's very good and it focuses on the "End of the Book" discussion. It helped me tremendously. It holds your hand and teaches YOU, the teacher, how to have a meaty discussion about a novel with your student. It is a GREAT tool for those middle grade years when the kids are devouring novel after novel. AND it was a great tool for me; it helped me to "see" SO much of what I was missing. Anything that strengthens ME as a teacher is top-notch around here.

 

But what if we're past the middle years? Would you suggest doing this over the summer, and into next year? However long it takes? So I would be missing out on a lot if I went straight to Windows to the World? The part that teaches me? I know nothing is going to replace or make up for my lack of knowledge, and I do want to do this with her. Actually, I want to understand this as much for my own sake as hers! I just need to know to what degree you think TtC will teach me, vs. WttW. Maybe I'm just getting antsy because we're on the eve of high school, or because I'm always antsy to cut to the chase. Can you tell me to either slow down and do this right

(umm, again?) or if you think WttW would help me learn everything on its own.

 

Oh - another thing. TWTM and so many other folks have told me that we don't need a middle grade "reading" program in order to educate. But I have always LOOKED at those programs; they TEACH this stuff! How can I teach allusion and metaphor and tone if we DON'T use a program and I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE???? Shouldn't we be doing this "stuff?" I believe that this set does a nice job of teaching ALLLLLLL of those skills to an older student in a tight comprehensive way.

 

See, we did a program that taught us most of those elements, so most of it we do have a pretty firm grasp on (but not all - I never could figure out 'tone'). It's just that going further with it, and being able to really pull those elements out of any work (especially harder ones) escapes us (okay, me).

 

The rapid-fire method of packing this into a 18 or 26 week course is probably more likely to be effective.

 

Sure they "got it" when they were little - at the level that the reading program expected, but they didn't really care - so they didn't USE it.

 

I think you have a good point here. While it does help to be familiar, they really aren't using these skills very much when they're younger. It's just exposure. They need a whole re-cap, and to be expected to actually use them.

 

IMHO this kind of close reading really works best if the student is allowed/encouraged/FORCED :D to write in their book.

 

I think forced is what it's going to have to be here! Dd13 insisted on using sticky notes, but I don't think she's really embracing the whole process. I'll force her to write in the book!

 

Dd15 has been taught in her English class how to annotate and marks up her books until they're no longer even legible - but this makes them hers. She's put so much work into it that when it's time to write, she's armed and ready.

 

Continuing this in another post, as I'm losing my train of thought. My brain's not used to this much of a workout. :)

[gardenschooler]

 

If you haven't used Teaching the Classics yet, I would suggest that you work through that seminar first. It's very good and it focuses on the "End of the Book" discussion. It helped me tremendously. It holds your hand and teaches YOU, the teacher, how to have a meaty discussion about a novel with your student. It is a GREAT tool for those middle grade years when the kids are devouring novel after novel. AND it was a great tool for me; it helped me to "see" SO much of what I was missing. Anything that strengthens ME as a teacher is top-notch around here. I'm not that interested in programs that are billed as being "self-taught." I've found that I get my money's worth with programs that pass out clue-phones to ME FIRST! In my experience it is THOSE programs that build skills that translate to the NEXT set of problems. It gives us something that we can BUILD on if I'm kept strongly in the loop. Self-teaching programs tend to get the job done, but they don't seem to help me build steps toward the NEXT thing - and I've found that just isn't as efficient as it could be. My involvement makes ALL of the difference.

 

I don't know why I asked you to reiterate this, as it's pretty clear here!

Maybe I just needed to read it twice. Or three times. See my problem? Janice, if you need a clue phone, I need one with multiple extensions.

 

 

My oldest was heading into 9th grade. We were heading into the ancients. NOW we had to apply this process to Epic Poetry and Drama. No NOVELS! I needed help. TOG (Year 1 - Rhetoric Level) filled the bill. They took me through each work and showed me things that I could center our discussions on. CJ has done a TERRIFIC job of helping ME help my student to see how these literary elements work together to reveal world view - with some tough material - the ancients. Terrific!

 

But what if you don't WANT to use TOG.

 

 

Actually, I am going to use TOG, and we're going to go ahead and just start with Year 1. I just have commitment issues. I'll dance around this for another week or so, but as soon as I have the money, I'm just going to order it and put myself out of my misery. I spend almost all of my time trying to reinvent something like TOG from scratch - why? Because I'm loopy that way. And it will only be after I have come to the realization that I just can't do it, and I've completely exhausted myself, that I will scream 'Uncle!" and just order it.

 

Who or what is CJ?

 

 

Windows to the World -

It is a skill building text. But I would NOT use it with a student much younger than an advanced and really eager 8th grader. 9th and up would be much, much better!

 

I wouldn't call her really eager. She's a strong reader, has a pretty wide vocabulary, can understand things and glimpse meanings long before I can, but she's not eager about much these days besides her i-pod. :glare:

 

So do you think doing this after TtC would be good? Alongside TOG? Or...?

 

Hold my hand!

 

And the program really isn't designed to be self-taught. Like most things homeschooling, folks could make a case for a motivated student doing things on their own, but I LONG to be a part of this human-heart-development-stuff WITH my kids. I am SO psyched to work through this book with each of them; I'm anticipating some TERRIFIC conversations.

 

The author notes in the intro that this kind of "close reading" is the kind of skills that the College Board is looking to develop in their two AP English Course Syllabus. Based on my poking around in that world, I think that she is spot-on.

 

From what I could glean from the website, and from what you and Cathy have said about the program, I agree. These are the skills that my oldest has been working on in Pre-AP English this year at school. The advantage of doing this at home is that we have time to read more. The best of both!

 

But I plan to be FULLY engaged in the process. I am committed to LEARNING right along with my student, and I think that the author of the text is writing for a parent/teacher who is committed to doing that.

 

 

I want MORE help than TWEM gave me. It is ultimately the same process; this program just peels back a layer and works a bit more on the parts for *me*. I KNOW that when we finish with this book, I am going to be able to "see" a lot MORE of what TWEM was trying to convey to me.

 

That's what I need, sort of an easy way to put TWEM into practice, and give me some clear things to do to accomplish it, step by step. To help me learn it, and know how to teach it. I can't teach things I just have a fuzzy grasp on, now can I? I have to internalize it, and in order for dd to do that, too, we have to discuss it, do it together, and even struggle together. (She's very patient with me, thankfully!) :)

[gardenschooler]

 

I'm psyched to teach it this way.

 

You are! And it's contagious! :)

 

 

My middle schoolers like reading for PLOT! What is going to HAPPEN next! The subtle uses of literary devices is a YAWNER for them. BUT my oldest is ready for this. He's starting to discover some of this stuff on his own, so this program will pack a lot of punch for him.

 

I wonder if my dd13 is really ready for heavy-duty literary analysis. She's still all about the plot. She has a hard time reading books that she already knows the story. She did *not* want to finish reading the Scarlet Pimpernel last year after we got the mini-series from Netflix. She said, "What's the point? I already know who the Scarlet Pimpernel is!" So I'll need to be sure to get my timing right in all of this, especially Windows to the World, to be she's ready for it. I have a feeling she'll do a good bit of maturing this summer, and she'll be 14 in August. But *I* still need to be ready, to launch it when she's ready.

 

[

QUOTE]But if you haven't gone through Teaching the Classics, I would start there first - unless you already have those skills in your momma-bag.

 

Windows also does a great job of walking you and your student through the process of creating a literary analysis essay.

 

I'm sure I don't really have as many as I'm trying to convince myself I have. And a literary analysis essay....yes, I"ll definitely need a walk-through for that.

 

.... after this homeschooling thing is really ALLLLLLLLL for me. I only teach my kids because I need to find something for them to do so they will stop bugging me so I can self-educate!

 

I'm definitely looking for what's in it for me! These years are really the pay-off. We've finally gotten to the good stuff, and I want in! I enjoy the younger years, sure, but now I have an opportunity to really learn things I never bothered about when I was younger. Not just an opportunity, but it's almost necessary for me to keep going.

 

While I think many things can be learned on your own, it's so much more fun to do it with someone. Now I'm excited because I just remembered I have another kid! So I get to do this all over again in 6 years! :lol: All right, no one else in this house is going off for high school. I need all 8 years of high school at home (ok, I already had one year of 9th w/dd#1), so that's 9 years, plus my own....by then, surely even I will get it. Surely!

Does that help?

 

Oh, you don't know how much. If I started singing your praises in public, I'd embarrass you to death. Thinking out loud and with some direction is what I need to figure this out. Things get wrapped up in my head and get lost! You're always a great help and above all, an inspiration.

[Deanna in TN]

Thank you so much Janice for your thorough discussion of TTC and Windows to the World. I have TTC and have just starting using it with my son, but I was so curious about Windows to the World.

 

Deanna

[Pensguys]

bump