Yes, the videos are long. Some of the subjects (language arts) are painfully long (45 - 60 minutes!). BJU breaks it up in sections (composition, phonics, handwriting, reading) and we sometimes take breaks throughout the video. I'm there to help them out when the video teacher isn't getting through. Fortunately, that's only happened once so far. :) In addition to the video lessons, I do unit studies with my boys. Sometimes it's just a lapbook, sometimes it's arts and crafts. This is the time when my boys love homeschooling the most. I chose the video lessons because this was my first year. I lacked confidence that I could do this. Each day, I get more confident in my ability to do this. In May, Dh and I will be going to the hs convention to see what else is out there. My boys prefer Mom being the teacher (as opposed to the video teachers), so we'll be deciding whether to continue on with BJU sans videos (using just the TMs), or if there's something else out there that would work better. I don't want to discourage you from Abeka though. Abeka is a good program.

I was going to post the same exact thing. :) My DD will be 18 in June. Since we've started the college hunt she's become a very cool kid to be around. :)

This must be a 1st grader thing. LOL My DS is the same way. I bought an egg timer and set the timer based on the work he has to complete. If he completes the work before the timer goes off, he gets a sticker. At the end of the day, if he has 5 stickers, he gets to pick a prize from my treasure box. My treasure box has cheap pinata toys/candy, stickers, pencils, etc. Probably not the best way to hurry kids along, but it's working for us so far. :) ETA: worksheets generally take 10-15 minutes. And since we've implemented the timer, it's shaved an HOUR off our school day.

We use the BJU DVD program (1st and Kindy). We originally signed up for the BJU ONLINE Videos. What a nightmare. Their system was bogged down so much that during "peak" times the videos would freeze, buffer, freeze, buffer. It was awful. And we had PLENTY of bandwidth. The problem was not on our end. After several calls to the BJU tech support, they finally sent me the DVDs. After discussing this problem on the BJU Yahoo group board, I received several emails from parents across the country who had encountered the same problem. The reason I tell you this is so you can talk to the reps at Abeka and find out if they have had any technical difficulties with regard to traffic bogging down the servers. Abeka is a great program. :) We went with BJU instead only because we liked the format of their videos better. Abeka is more like your child is sitting in a classroom with a group of other children answering the questions. BJU looked more current, and the teacher seemed to be teaching more to just YOUR child. My boys love the BJU video lessons (except for Heritage Studies...they are bored to tears with that one).

Typo...sorry. I meant 37 weeks. :blushing:

My last DS was unofficially diagnosed with Down's. The doctor told us 'abortion is an option'. To which I replied, "no, it's not." Turns out, he made the diagnosis based on the size of DS's kidneys. DS weighed 10.4lbs at 27 weeks. His kidneys were big because he was a big baby.

I have one in first grade, and one in kindy. We use all BJU (DVDs). That said, there are some things that I will be doing differently for next year. Heritage Studies is so utterly boring (unless you plan on doing the enrichment activities - which can take up to an hour depending on how deep you want to dive), that I think we're going to be doing SOTW for history instead. We just received Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and did our first lesson yesterday. My boys LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! So I think we'll be adding Song School Greek or Song School Latin to the mix as well. I just chose the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker to start with because it was less of an investment. :)

I was going to suggest this as well. It really does work. :)

My DS thrives on a schedule. Both of my boys prefer to do school first, then have the rest of the day to do whatever they want. We don't have scheduled breaks, but whenever the boys want to take a break they just take one. So with that in mind, we stick to this schedule unless we have a field trip planned: 8:00-8:15am - Circle Time (pledges, calendar, show-and-tell, etc) 8:15-9:00am - Heritage Studies (both boys) 9:00-9:30am - Bible (usually takes less than 30 minutes though) 9:30-11:00am - Language Arts (English/Phonics/Handwriting/Reading) 11:00-11:30am - Math 11:30-11:45 - Spelling Lunch Swimming/outside play/skating Fridays Only 5:30 - 6:30pm - Ice Hockey practice (PE) Saturdays Only 60 minutes - Ice Hockey game (PE) We did our Science course the first semester, and the Heritage Studies in the second semester. I met a mom this week that hs her first grader by doing only one subject a day. For example, Mondays are for Language Arts, Tuesdays are for Science, etc. She feels her dd is able to retain things a little better doing it that way. I don't think that would work for my boys, but I thought I would add it here as another alternative for you. :)

Have you looked into this one? I used to be in charge of our SS classes (toddlers thru PreK) for a non-denominational church, located in a high school. So basically, we had to have something that was engaging for the kids, AND easy to tear down every week. My PreK kids LOVED this program. I organized everything for my teachers (took about 20 hours per week to organize for two services), and all they had to do was run with the program. It operates on the small group mentality, and I broke my classes down into three groups (Warriors, Knights, Gladiators). The group leaders really got into it with the kids, and it was so much fun for everyone that we all actually looked forward to working SS! The down side is that it CAN burn you out if you're the only person organizing it. But if you assemble a team to assist you monthly, you can really create an amazing program for your kids.

That creeped me out as well. I also took the author's comparison as: Boomers = "it takes a village" Gen X = "I'm not letting the village anywhere near my kid"

As a brand new homeschooler, who relies mostly on the DVD program at this point, I just want to thank you for this. :)

BJU: Bible 1 Reading 1 English & Phonics 1 Spelling 1 Math 1 Science 1 (already done) Heritage Studies 1 The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker Unit Studies: Johnny Appleseed Apollo 11 *Biomes Mammals Halloween Thanksgiving *Invertebrates/Vertebrates Christmas *Amphibians/Reptiles *Dinosaurs *Done through the local Children's Science Center

Phantom Annie Starlight Express

For my 1st-grader, our 'boxed' curriculum (video lessons + worksheets) takes 4 hours to get through our day. We also add unit studies every now and then, which bumps our time up to about 4.5 hours per day. It's rare that we finish school under four hours though.

We've done field trips both independently and with groups. I don't think field trips need to cost much OR be limited to older kids only. I'm sorry, but I think it's unreasonable to expect homeschoolers to NOT include any younger siblings on the field trip. We wouldn't be attending those field trips either. For us, we have annual passes to the local zoo and to the children's science museum. So I make sure we get our money's worth there by scheduling trips when we have some 'lag' time (which isn't often). Our homeschool group recently did a trip for middle school/high schoolers to a local car garage. They were to learn about checking the oil in a vehicle and how to change a tire. Here are some no-cost/low cost places you could consider for field trips: Newspaper businesses Grocery store Police department Fire department Animal control/shelters Airports Sports organizations (such as a minor hockey league, or basketball league) Hospitals Post Office Community Theater (often they'll give you a deep discount for you to sit through their 'first-run' showings) That's just off the top of my head. Off to read the rest of the responses. :D

I'm looking in the mirror with you. x2 But it's so worth it. :) ETA: We turned down an invitation for the traveling Mite team. We had just paid $600 for the rec league fees, and the traveling team was going to be an additional $1200 (4 months). Our budget just didn't allow for it, and DS is only 6 y/o. We figured, if the offer is there for him at 6, it will still be there for him at 7. And the 5 y/o just started playing for a team back in September. He has a long way to go still.

We love field trips! We go at least once a month on a field trip. We're members of our local children's science museum and we attend their 'homeschool' days once a month to learn about all kind of neat things. Last month my 5 & 6 year old got to dissect an earth worm. They talked about that for days. Last week we were invited to the Ringling Bros. circus, where we were given stuffed elephants and stethoscopes to learn about the care of circus animals. But our favorite field trip so far this year was with our homeschool group. We were invited to tour the airport and fire department. My boys had a blast! I don't plan formal lessons on 'Field Trip' days. But I will do mini unit studies on up-coming field trips (such as the circus).

I 'got' what you were saying. And I agree with you.

For us, it's salespeople. We put a 'No Soliciting' sign on our front door. It's helped somewhat. I did have some woman knock on my door and try to sell me glass repair services. I pointed to the sign and said, 'did you read this sign?' and she replied, "well, I'm not trying to sell you anything." To which I replied, "oh? So your services are free?" She then mumbled, "no..." I shut the door before she could waste anymore of my time. After her, I just decided to not answer the door.

Here is what our classroom looked like at the beginning of the year. I've made some minor changes since then, but this can give you a basic idea. I second the workboxes. They just make school run smoother. They hold ME accountable for making sure the boys have what they need, and they keep the boys on track with what needs to be done for the day.

To the bolded: Are you saying you are praying for people who are interested in the vampire books/movies? Just looking for clarification on that statement. I've read the books and watched the movies with my teen dd. They were 'ok', but it was an awesome bonding experience for me and dd, so that is the draw for me. We are the only two girls in a house full of males. They don't 'get it' either. I am a huge Ted Dekker fan. I own every single book he's ever written. Are his books more "Christian" than a Twilight book? How does one assign spiritual value to a book? What if I told you Dekker used the Lord's name in vain in one of his books? Does that mean Dekker is no longer writing stories that are 'Christian'? His 'Christian' novels no longer hold any 'Christian' value? I truly don't 'get' this type of thinking. This reminds me of a blog Dekker wrote: The Challenge of Being Gay Bolding mine.

17. :grouphug:

I tried to do them both when we first started. We got about 3 weeks into the school year when I realized that it was too much. So we finished the Science for the first semester, and we are now re-starting the history for the second semester. So far it's worked out MUCH better. :)

We're re-starting BJU Heritage Studies 1 as of this week. We originally tried it at the beginning of the year, but it was too much for DS (we were doing Science and lapbooks too). So I decided to re-start the program for second semester, and to include my kindy kid too. We're doing the DVD lessons. If it was just the DVD lesson and notebook page, my boys would be bored too. We do the enrichment activities along with the lessons, and they love that part of Heritage Studies. Granted, we're only 4 days into the lessons right now, so it's a bit early to determine how well this will go. I just ordered The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker for the boys last week, so I'm hoping I won't have to buy a different history curriculum for them as well. I'd rather muddle through the BJU this year and look for alternatives for next year if it turns out they are bored with it.