This is my oldest sons first year using MBtP. He is 12 almost 13 years old. We are struggling to complete the work each day. As a matter of fact we have yet to complete a full day. Is anyone else feeling overloaded? Any advice? Or maybe this isn't the right fit for him? Hi Jennifer, <br/> <br/>Thank you for your post. It may take some time to transition into the MBTP. Our curriculum is structured quite a bit differently, and it can take time for both you and your son to get used to the structure. It is not uncommon to hear this from families using us for the first time. You should definitely allow yourself and your son some time to transition into Moving Beyond the Page. <br/> <br/>The Age 11-13 level is designed to take between 4 and 4 1/2 hours per day. You can see the overview of each day at the following FAQ page: <a href="http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/faqDetail.asp?faqID=11">http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/faqDetail.asp?faqID=11</a>. <br/> <br/>Many of the projects that your son will be working on with MBTP will be open-ended, so you may need to do a little more monitoring of your son's work and encourage him to keep moving through the activities. This is especially true if the student-directed structure is new for your son. Take some time to watch him and see how he is progressing and see if you can identify the areas that are giving him problems. Is it the writing, the research, maybe getting ready for the hands-on activities. If you can identify a specific area it will give you some specific advice that you can provide to help him out. <br/> <br/>Some days do end up being longer than others, so don't feel frustrated yet. Just give it some time and try to identify the specific areas that are slowing your son down. <br/> <br/>If you need any additional advice, please feel free to post again and I will see if there are some areas that we can help you out with. You can also feel free to call at: 919.351.9687. <br/> <br/>Keith <br/> <br/> Thank you for the response. We are going to try to set a timer and he will do what he can in 1.5 hours of each subject. The reading is what is bogging him down. He comprehends what he is reading but, he is a slow reader. We might just end up going through this course quite a bit slower. We will see how it goes over the next couple days. If it doesn't go any better, I will be calling upon your expertise again. <br/> <br/>My "littles" used 5-7 last year and they are using 6-8 this year. It is a perfect fit for them. We LOVE it!! <br/> <br/>Thanks for a great curriculum and all of the support. <br/> <br/>Jen I have to say, we are struggling with the workload of this level. We have been using MBTP for 4 years. Every year the first unit is the hardest for us. We pulled the history completely out because we were overwhelmed. We are picking it up in the next unit and drastically cutting back on the current Africa unit because our COOP is doing a comprehensive Africa based semester including Model UN. Hang in there. I think the second unit will be better than the first in terms of time. I think this is a really tough unit because the reading is very textbooking - which is very unusual for MBTP. <br/> <br/>Remember - Kids in school are not coming close to covering the amount or depth of information that this curriculum provides. Enjoy it and go at your pace. <br/> <br/>Holly Thank you so much for responding. It's nice to hear from other people using the curriculum and know that I am not alone. Yesterday we set the timer and it did go much better. We didn't have time to finish all of the science. You are right about the reading being textbooky. I chose this curriculum to try to avoid that. I'm hoping the following units will be better. <br/> <br/>Jen This is our first experience with MBP, we are trying to find the rythm. We are using the online version, which makes the organization somewhat disjointed, but we are working that out. The work load is quite heavy as we sometimes forget to be selective about activites and try to complete them all... Also working that out. So for we are liking the curriculum however we have found that the science projects require more precise equipment than is included in the science kit in order to get good results. On the whole however we have enjoyed the inquiry and hands on approach. We are moving quite slowly, though we hope that once we really get comfortable the pace will pick up a bit. I remind myself everyday that this is much more in-depth than we would ever see in our public school environment and even our slow pace is all learning vs. waiting and destraction that we experienced in public schools. <br/>We are encouraged, learning and having fun! <br/> We are having a good time with the science. We have had a few baubles - but that is the nature of science. Our favorite so far is in the atmosphere unit with the aluminum cans. We really learned a lot and developed a much better understanding of the relationship between energy and matter. This level is very workload intensive. We are just going to keep pluggin' along. <br/> <br/>Good to hear from others doing the same level. One more bit of news to make you all breathe a little easier is that we do build in extra days into each unit. Our target for this level is 30 days of buffer each year based on a 180 day school calendar. We do this in each level to build in time for extra projects, research, field trips, sick days, etc. <br/> <br/>I ran a query on the 1st semester of 11-13 and all 3 subject areas lined up very closely with our target of 15 buffer days for the semester. <br/> <br/>If you still find yourself running behind, don't feel pressured to complete every single activity. Pick and choose based on your child's needs and the academic nature of the activity. MBTP covers material in much greater depth than a traditional school curriculum, so you shouldn't feel bad about missing some activities if you need to keep on schedule. If you don't need to keep a specific schedule, then you could just take it slower. <br/> <br/>Keith I had a hard time with the online version and planning as well (My daughter and I aren't at this level yet, but I like to read over the forums). My brain needs to see it and touch it and make notes, etc. Just a suggestion...I print the lessons, vocabulary, covered skills, and worksheets out and place them in a 3 ring binder and then label what concept and unit it is. This helps me because I can adjust where I need to by moving things around in my notebook and adding notes, books that we used in addition to the required text, etc. It also helps if I ever need to go back and see if we have covered a skill because I can look right on that page in my handy dandy notebook. My daughter prefers working on the sheets instead of the computer as well, but that is her learning style. We aren't even close to being on the level the 11-13 is, so the work we do is a lot less independent which may change things a bit. I know it is a lot of paper and ink, but I really believe it has made things easier for me to adapt. I really do love MBTP and believe it teaches in the right way for my child. Her test scores went up dramatically last year and I like to think it is because we made the right decision both to homeschool and to use this curriculum. Good Luck!! I'm pretty sure there are a few parents teaching 11-13 on this facebook group. You might want to join it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Differentlyschooled/ Hi, <br/>This is our 2nd year using MBTP and the online version. I tend to be the one that wants to print the pages (I need to touch, hold, feel, etc) and my kids don't really care so much. I've learned to really step back this year and let them take the lead. If they want it printed, they print it. If they don't want the page printed then they do the work on the computer and save it to a file which I look at at the end of the day. MBTP has been a great fit for us. I have almost 13 yr old twins. One was in a self-contained gifted school back in the States and the other is an extremely hard-working, self-motivated worker. A self-made gifted learner. :-) Glad to see you're getting into the groove. And, I'm happy to see others at the same age level as us. I am wanting to start this curriculum for next year with our oldest son. Dos anyone use the Life of Fred math series or have you found success with another curriculm? Also do you supplement any other subjects? Hi Christy, <br/>My son used the LoF math series up until Algebra I. After that, he had a hard time with it and we switched to a college edition type Algebra book. Much more structured and worked better for him at that point. My daughter didn't use the LoF books. She liked the Saxon math. As far as curriculum with MBTP, we did not supplement any other subjects. We didn't need to. It's a well rounded curriculum and my children had plenty to do. Hi Christy, <br/> <br/>Other than Math, you should not need to supplement with any other subjects. You probably wouldn't want to anyway. It would be quite hard to maintain the schedule if you were trying to do another curriculum as well. The 11-13 level covers science, social studies, and language arts. <br/> <br/>We use the Life of Fred Math - Middle School 1 level. It really works well for our son. He enjoys the practical nature of the instruction and the sense of humor of the author. Each unit ends with a "bridge" that he must pass before proceeding, so we can see if he is understanding the concepts. If we find that he is not getting a concept, then we step outside of the Fred books and do some review. <br/> <br/>Keith Thanks for the quick responses, I really appreciate them. Does MBtP offer a schedule or timeline/guide to follow for us newbies? I would hate to mess up right out of the gate. Instead of a calendar, we structured the 11-13 level so that you just do one lesson each day in each of the 3 subject areas (science, social studies, and language arts). Each day you just move to the next lesson. This way if you can't homeschool one day, you just go to the next lesson when you get back and you don't have to line up the rest of your calendar. It is really simple. <br/> <br/>We have a new section of our website that has videos and advice for newbies just like you. It hasn't even been announced yet, but it is available at <a class="plainLink" href="http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/gettingStarted/">www.movingbeyondthepage.com/gettingStarted</a>. There is a getting started video and a number of other links for each age level to help you along. <br/> <br/>Let us know if you need anything else. <br/> <br/>Keith Loved the new Getting Started! The shopping lists are great - I have had to do this by hand each unit since we started MBtP, this will save so much time. The year at a glance will also save time when setting up the year and the review sheets will come in handy. Great work. <br/> <br/>I watched the overview for 9-11 and it's a good representation of how to get started, lots of good advice. I really think this will enhance the use of MBtP, especially for Online users. <p>Hi, I’ve chosen the MBTP curriculum for my 7th-grade daughter because she enjoys hands-on learning. Since this is our first year homeschooling, I could use some guidance on creating a pacing guide and effectively using the curriculum books. I’m finding the website information a bit overwhelming. I’ve purchased the full semester curriculum for science and social studies, but we're having trouble completing one lesson per day, particularly in science. Is it necessary to finish every activity in the book? Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hi, I’ve chosen the MBTP curriculum for my 7th-grade daughter because she enjoys hands-on learning. Since this is our first year homeschooling, I could use some guidance on creating a pacing guide and effectively using the curriculum books. I’m finding the website information a bit overwhelming. I’ve purchased the full semester curriculum for science and social studies, but we're having trouble completing one lesson per day, particularly in science. Is it necessary to finish every activity in the book? Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>