Making it work for our family

I don't know about everyone else, but rarely do I use curriculum exactly as is - I almost always tweak it to work for us... I'm doing just that with Sonlight 300.

History - the kids are reading the two spine books, reading the teacher study guide notes, answering the questions in writing (I will grade those), reading the historical fiction and biographies w/teacher study guide notes.... and when possible having discussions with Dad. We are not doing decade summaries or projects - decided that was just not our thing. The past three years of Tapestry of Grace History have been heavy writing so it's our year to take a break and kick back a bit.

English -  the kids are reading the books (including the poetry), reading the teacher study guide notes, having some discussions, writing one composition assignment weekly (these will be graded) plus some type of journal (they have three options). Again, we've had three years of heavy English and want to relax a bit - it helps that the first book was The Great Brain.

One of the things I love about homeschooling, is the flexibility. There is no principal or SOL that dictates what I must teach - I can choose what I feel is best that particular year. This is the year that James has a job every day after school plus he's taking Calculus at UAH four mornings a week. Abigail is busier than last year with theater - first Sleeping Beauty from Aug-Oct and then A Christmas Carol from Oct-Dec plus she'll hopefully be in Players and she works three afternoons a week...... So this is a great year to relax a bit on History and English.