[2Jedismom]

Heh...I'd like to try a DVR...It supposedly makes things very convenient. But I just now got VCRs figured out!

Matthew and I talked in the back yard yesterday about what he wanted to do this next year. He had a choice between life science or space and earth science. He chose to take space and earth science first, although it's technically an 8th grade class. Also, he opted to skip the 7th grade "Fundamentals of Math" completely and go straight into 8th grade Pre-Algebra. He also chose to take World History instead of American History first, mainly because it covers the World Wars which he finds fascinating.

Joshua's stuff is pretty cut and dry...but this is the first year that I've been able to let Matthew actively choose what he wanted to do with the next year and we both loved it. Also, this is the first year that Matthew doesn't have stuff like "Spelling" and "Handwriting"...he's moving into a new phase of his education and I find it exciting and unnerving all at once! Heh heh!

[SuziQ]

I can't remember what grade Matthew would be in, but if he's doing Middle School work, I'm going to suggest you look at a program called TRISMS. You might already be familiar with it because I think the ladies who wrote it live in Tulsa. At the website, click on the "History Makers" icon. It is more of a 'classical' program in that it follows World History in a chronological fashion. HM studies World History through Explorers, Scientists, and Inventions. Many families are doing HM in the 6th and 7th grades, stretching it over a two year period so the kids have a lot of time to study the subject. For the 8th grade they do the next in the sequence, "Discovering the Ancient World", which is a more in depth study of World History, studying civilizations. They then move through the other high school programs, doing each one for a year until they get to "Age of Revolutions", then they spread that one over two years as well, since there is just so much to cover.

I KNOW Matthew would enjoy "History Makers", and he could still do his science studies on Space. In fact, some of that would be included in HM.

Check it out.