I kept most of mine from my oldest. The exceptions were a few books that we stopped using even with him, though one I had to buy again for another kid.I keep them until they are through with the subject. SO after this year, all algebra and below books are going bye-bye.

At this point in my life and with my chronic illnesses, I am happy I can do what I do. For me that includes homeschooling my children, teaching a class at co-op, coaching a academic team, being a judge at debate tournaments, and volunteering as a family to make coffee and provide refreshments including set-up and clean-up once a quarter at church. I can't do more. Even what I am doing is very trying on me because when I get a minor illness like the cold I got this weekend, it affects my health greatly.

My last sentence was referring to what another person noted as the "it takes a village" idea. The ideas he was saying that boomers had like let's make everything fair (redistributing tax revenues from wealthy school districts to poor school districts), busing, and thinking that the school should focus on the poorest students are traditional liberal ideas. Ideas like having competition in schools (school choice) and each individual making the best choices for himself or herself are traditionally conservative ideas. Liberal: It takes a village. Conservative: It takes a family.

I know that in our area there is a program that asks for volunteers to help with kids who have aged out of the foster system (over 18 and graduated from high school) and who need a place to stay over college breaks and that sort of thing. I would have liked to do this but have to wait until my older two are out of the house.

Praying.

We made an agreement to pay for college for our son as long as he doesn't flunk out and is progressing normally. He was away at school but has been back living at home nearly two years. What we expect- that he do well in school, some chores, no illegal activity, no sleepovers with girls, that sort of thing. I did have to clarify with him that we want calls if he will be out all night or particularly late. He does smoke occasionally- like one cigarette a week since he can't afford more. We don't support that and he is having to make his very meager earning last. He can't smoke at home or in our car. He doesn't go with us to church usually. After 18, we feel it is a child's choice. I can't make him a believer. I don't believe he really lost his faith as much as he is angry with God right now. Forcing church on him won't help that. He has attended some services with us and one with a friend of his. We say grace at meals and he acts respectfully. I generally agree with Joanne's statement minus the supporting social activities part. If I can afford it, I will support social activities in college that are reasonable.

I am a late Baby Boomer but I have to say that us late Baby Boomers weren't anything like the early ones. We were the kids who grew up with looking at hippies and riots. It wasn't something we wanted to emulate. We became adults in the Reagan years and trust but verify is a slogan from our time. It seems that the difference he outlines is between liberals and conservatives.

Ester Marie said "Basically, yes - when I reach that level (it's not "if" in my case, it's "when"), and when I realize that the quality of the education I can give them in our specific circumstances does not suffice, and that there are other options they could profit from way more, the girls are off to a good boarding school." The last thing I would ever do is stick my child in a boarding school and I think that is the feeling of most of the homeschoolers here. While academics is important, other factors are very important to most of us here too. I think having your parents around you when you are a teenager is an optimal situation. As many have demonstrated here, you can get by very successfully in life without a good grasp of advanced algebra or some language. IF it was so necessary for everyone to have achieved mastery of a second language, there wouldn't be so many students in beginning levels of languages at college. Many if not most of those students had language in high school. DId they learn- not much. Should we strive for mediocrity-no. Can we achieve perfection-no. DVD, self learning, tutoring, outside classes and online classes can all have their place. As a quite veteran homeschooler, I want to encourage others to take the paths that make sense for their families and not to give in to anxieties. If you have a question about whether something is enough for high school or not, ask away in the high school section or PM someone like me who has homeschooled for 16 years and has a homeschool graduate who is almost done with college. Others have even more experience.

My mother had tutors until she was 15, I think, then she went to a boarding school and then to a Siberian prison camp when she was 16. I was a homebound student for the second half of my 10th grade. I also wanted to be homeschooled but didn't know if anyone could do that though I did look longingly at the Calvert School ads when I was little. I self educated myself a lot since I thougth the schools weren't teaching me enough. I started a collection of old school books when I was about 7 or 8 and learned from those the things I wasn't being taught like grammer.

My daughter is getting 10/hr here. That is for one child. For four, I think it should be at least 15.

As my board name says, we are transients since we are an active duty military family. For me, there are different levels of comfort I feel. It usually takes at least six months to feel somewhat comfortable and about a year to feel established in a community. But I think it would be longer if it wasn't something I was so used to doing. Can I make a gentle suggestion? Unless you are going to be moving back to MA soon, stop focusing on that area so much. I do look at some news occasionally from my previous areas. But that gets less and less as time goes on. ITs best to try to make it as clean a break and start your new life. I always look for things I like in a new place. I can name the things each town comes to mind- Ohio- Young's Dairy Farm and Halloween events, Northern California- blooming almonds, salmon running, New MeXico- Balloon fiesta, Socorro, luminarias, Frontier Restaurant, Belgium- festivals, mushroom walk, flowers and bakeries; Florida- wildlife, concerts, Northern VA- Kennedy Center, spring time, fall. This way I have things I love about each place and look forward to finding new things to love. I actually have tons more things for each place but this is just an example.

I don't think that one can plan to be a SAHM. WHat if you don't get married? What if you don't have children? What if you do get married but only when you are in your thirties? I hope my dds are stay at home moms if that time comes. In the meantime, they will be going to college. For many of the reasons others said before- education, being able to converse with their future husbands, career, fall back if something happens to their husband, enjoyment, and greater opportunities. I have never regretted my education.

I have graduated one who is a succesful senior in college majoring in philosophy. I gave grades on all subject and they were proved right or even too hard on him compared to the college grades he got. I am grading my second who is in high school too. I have taught a class outside of the home for the first time this year. I can truthfully say that lathough I was teaching a subject i knew about, I assigned a paper where the students wrote about issues, cases and programs I did not know that much about. Why? Because no one knows everything and we can always learn from others. So while I knew something about the Scopes trial and something about prohibition, I learned a lot more when my students wrote about them. SImilarly, when I use dvds or books that i haven't read in my homeschooling, I know enough about the subject to tell whether my kids are reading them or listening or not. WHile I don't sit and listen to the US history lectures my daughter is listening to, I have taken a number of courses in US history and am familiar with it. WIll the lecturer mention something I don't know? Probably. But I have a very auditory learner (and this is not one of those fake things because she actually has a visual memory problem) and I don't have the time to listen to all her lectures and continue teaching her sister and do preparation for my class and do my household things. I know she is getting a better education for her than in school. I think I have it easier than some because my major was math oriented and I had no problems with high school science. My dh is a scientist and the main issue with him helping younger ones is that his explanations are sometimes overly complicated. However, when they get up to trig which I didn't like and am not overly confident about, he takes over. In terms of grading, I don't need many points of reference for my grades for my kids in each class. WHenever I have tested them, their grades match up exactly how I thought they were doing. Same thing with assigning essays. I know which of my kids have an easier time with lit and which ones with science. I remember how I was doing and compare how well they are doing. By the way, my math teachers and science teachers in high school were primarily using answer keys for problems too just like I am. But yes, if there is a question, I can verify. But it isn't the worse thing in the world if your child gets one question wrong because of an error in the book anyway. Everytime I have secretely wondered about some child who was being homeschooled I hae found out the truth later- the child was brain damaged as a baby, the child is a cancer survivor and the chemo affected their learning, the child is having incredible trials at home, not because of bad parenting but economic and medical trials of parents and sibling, etc, etc. I have been homeschooling 16 years and I haven't met these neglectful parents. I don't compare others to us because that isn't fair. We have more money than some others, more education than some, and more oppurtunities than some. Just like comparing the parent of a single homeschooler with a parent of five kids isn't fair. Let's all do the best job we can and stop comparing ourselves or worrying about everyone else.

29 is a really high score especially for a 10th grade. 25 is a completely respectable score for a non math student (one not going to science or math subjects) in 11th or 12th grade so it is a great score for 10th.

One additional thing you can do is make sure your course ends in the summer after eighth grade. Then you can legitimately place it in the ninth grade column.

MY older who is a jr. probably spends on most days M-F, about 8 -10 hours. But she has to do that since she has days when she can hardly get any work done (migraines) and she is a slower worker. On weekends, she probably spends about five hours a day if she has the time. Her younger sister who is 13 spends about 5 hours. She will be either working longer hours next year. We work through the year but not at the same level. In the summer, the work may be only 3- 4 hours a day.

If you have read books for classes and know what they are, include those. FOr pleasure reading or reading outside of class, include some of theat but not everything. Many things can be listed in groups, anyway. My son read Science fiction series like Philip K. Dick or the Foundations series. My older daughter is reading Mystery series like Sue Grafton books, JOanne Fluke, and older ones likes SHerlock Holmes and Poe. If someone wants reading lists for her, we will list them like that plus some other reading she has done.

I was watching FOx news this afternoon. The reporter was at an orphanage where there were lots of babies waiting for the adoptions to go through. Many were set to be adopted by screened, educated parents who had gone through the whole adoption process but the earthquake happened before they could get their child or the paperwork was not finalized (usually on the US side). Anyway, this orphanage is without formula. ALl they currently have is cow's milk and that is running out and so is the water. He was pleading for the UN or the US military or someone to bring formula, water, food, etc, to these children. The babies, in particular, are in great danger.

I go to lucianne.com and to drudgereport.com Lucianne site is a news salon which means that people post links to articles and then a discussion ensues. I have been a site member for many years. You get the big stories but also lots of stories from foreign papers and local papers and I like get those perspectives.

We have the freedoms enumerated in the Bill of RIghts and right now I can't think of any other countries that have those exact rights. Specifically the free speech, free press and the right to trial by jury of your peers. I know that both England and Canada have issues with the free press that I find completely unappealing- suing authors for libelous speech if they right a political tome, banning books, etc. Many European countries have trial by a panel of judges and you are not presumed innocent.

Our youngest wants to be accelerated into high school come next Aug or September (depending where we are living:)). She is well on her way through LL7 and still has the Helen Keller book and All Creatures Great and SMall to read. Once she has done that, and even to some extent at the same time, I would like to assign more reading to make up for eighth grade. Any literature suggestions of works that should be read before ninth grade?

Creekland's ds - Covenant College, Union University, Calvin College - all acceptances at this point. Deb in NZ's dd - Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (begin Feb 2010) Liza Q's dd - Saint Francis College - attending. Kings College, St. John's University, Brooklyn College - accepted Susie-Knits ds1 - Rose-Hulman, Valparaiso, U of Evansville, TN Tech - acceptances TransientChris's DS- George Mason U,attending; Hillsdale College- attended, Abilene Christian, Hampden-Sydney, St. Olaf- accepted

I just know I was so happy when my childhood idea was proven right. I always thought that it was silly that we needed eight cups of water a day. It turns out we need approximately 64 ounces of liquid but that includes eating foods with liquid in them. So not drinking much water is fine as long as you drink other things and eat juicy things like oranges.

I don't have any young children now so I can only answer for the church. My church has a Sunday School program after church service, a children's church during part of the church service for kids aged 4-8 (I think) and a Sunday evening children's program called Explorers. I believe they have lessons plus fun games or activities in that. There is no uniform though they might get a t-shirt at some time. (My girls get one at the youth group). The Explorers is for K-5, I believe. In 6th grade they move to the Youth Group. The SUnday school is divided by age or grade groupings but not by each individual grade. They learn about God, the Bible, and the Westminster Confession, which is about God and the Bible. We are members of a Presbyterian Church in America congregation.

With dd1, we won't be paying more than a minimal amount for college expenses so we may end up helping some more with other expenses like sorority or club dues of any kind.