What's the word?

Heather, thank you so much for this post. I've been meaning to do this myself for a few weeks. Your post was a wonderful find for me. :thumbup1:

Absolutely. Ds is working on Aesop B. We do level three on most of the assignments, but often I have to back up to level 2. Don't be concerned about that. By the time your little ones finish their books, they'll be consistently doing level 3 work.

A newspaper ad would be a better choice. I find it personally insulting for a perfect stranger to knock on my door and begin questioning me on my beliefs.

My response to JWs is always polite and gracious. I ask them if they're aware that according to their religion, only six million will be saved. I also ask them if they're aware that there are already more than six million Jehovah's witnesses and there won't be room even for the ones that are already signed up. Then I ask them if it makes sense to keep filling the boat when there's no room left in heaven and wouldn't it be smarter if they just went home and didn't tell anyone else about the good news. You can usually get rid of Mormons by asking them why African Americans are not "worthy" (their words, not mine) of heaven. They usually start twittering at that point trying to explain it away. I usually shut the door around that time.

Build a website - I didn't do a Yahoo group, but the front page of a Yahoo Group would work just as well as a website initially. Then, do a Google search on Homeschool Support Groups. The first couple of pages will include tons of websites where they keep local lists. Register your group and use keywords such as all the towns and neighborhoods near you, the words "secular," "homeschool," and "support group" or some combination of that. Find your state's largest umbrella group and register your website there also. Email all your local groups and ask them to mail your "new homeschool group" notice to their members. Some will refuse, many will forward it. I forward all such notices to my members. The more the merrier. Once you have a few registrants, begin writing weekly. Try to email them something of value at least once a week. You know the kind of stuff you want to hear about -- B&N Educator week discounts, theater, etc. As soon as you have your first member, start meeting at the park and start going on field trips. Email your field trip invitations to your other local groups. Ditto on some refusing and most forwarding them. If you are participating in any activities with other groups, have free business cards printed at VistaPrint or wherever and give them out like candy. Make sure you include your phone number, email address and the url of your Yahoo group or website. Eventually, the local groups will start emailing *you* and at that point, you know you've arrived. To the extent that you want more information on how we did it, feel free to PM me. I'm always happy to help other secular groups form.

This always confuses me about Christians. Not judging, just wondering if Jesus would also have excluded people that didn't think like him. Just an opinion from an outsider.

...The will come! ;)

I disagree. We're using JAG now and it's very rigorous. I did a lot of comparison shopping before and came to the conclusion that Rod and Staff and Analytical Grammar are about the same in rigor. I opted for JAG and it's amazing. I've also leafed through AG and it is even harder than JAG (as one would expect). If you already have R&S and you're ok with the Christian slant, then it's a good choice for rigor. But it is by no means the best or the most rigorous.

That's what I do too. I use SOTW, the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History, and check out everything else.

:iagree: We love our notebooks!

I'm not concerned at all. Ds has never sat for a formal exam. They're not required in my state and I couldn't care less how he's doing compared to other children his age. I'm more interested in him doing his personal best. Having said that, ds can smoke most ps'd kids his age in most subjects. As I suspected, his personal best is good enough.

Chances are that you're not alone -- there are others out there who are looking for a group too. I had the same problem here in my neck of the woods. All the existing groups are uber-religious. Even the "all-inclusive" group in our area takes its marching orders from the HSLDA. Our local co-ops require a statement of faith, and if you're not an evangelical Christian, or willing to pretend that you are, they won't allow your children to participate. In the end, I hooked up with a friend who was in a similar situation and we started our own secular support and enrichment group two years ago. We thought it would be a group of two, but we were mistaken. As soon as the website was up and we'd registered our group with five or six large homeschool sites, we started getting emails. Most of them started with, "Oh, my God! I can't believe you people are here. I thought we were the only ones!" We currently have 84 families registered. Only a fraction participate in our weekly activities, but that still adds up. And every year we meet one or two new families that turn into keeper friends. You can't beat that with a stick. Sometimes, when you need something, the only solution is to make it yourself. :)

We use the Spanish homeschool edition. I like that it tracks my son's progress and I can monitor it or print his progress for his portfolio. I have not used the regular edition, so I can't comment on that. The homeschool edition allows you to choose a track. You can set it to just teach you how to speak the language without any reading or writing (for executives who have to travel, I guess), or you can set it to teach everything, including reading, writing and grammar. They have some interim settings with mixed options. I chose the comprehensive level as I want ds to acquire mastery of the language. Like the OP, I'm interested in finding out what the difference is between the two editions. Thirty percent off is a lot of money, so if the differences aren't huge, I'd pick up Latin during the sale.

I'm using SOTW 3 this year (this is our third year). This year we're supplementing with 1) The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History, and 2) we're reading all 43 Mike Venezia books on the presidents. Having reviewed all the books, I'm satisfied that this will provide an in-depth survey (is that an oxymoron?) of American History through the present for a fifth grader.

Ack! I was going to say that, and then slink away in shame too.:tongue_smilie:

Very well said! I completely agree with Sahamamama. :thumbup1:

Pull her out of school. Letting her waste time, bored and discouraged, is no good. By the way, dd was in the gifted program for a year before I brought her home. They bused her once a week to another school for exceptional children. It was a complete and total waste of time and resources. Eventually I brought her home when it became apparent that they were wasting her time, her intelligence and her desire to learn. I just thought I'd mention this to let you know that she may not be missing much by having been turned down for the program.

:bigear:

That part doesn't bother me. They can be godly traits. They can also be humanist traits which is what I am teaching ds. Thanks for the feedback -- this is encouraging.

I'm just wondering. Does it cost them money if you use your credit card on PayPal? I see this on the boards all the time and I have to wonder why I need to give PayPal access to my bank account just so I can buy a used book from a board member.

After posting the question, I realized I may as well ask for references for other secular unit studies Can someone recommend a series of unit that are completely secular? I would appreciate the feedback.

I love unit studies and have heard wonderful things about Konos. When I went to their website, however, I found it to be extremely religious which is a huge turnoff for us. Can the unit studies be salvaged? I don't mind skipping over overtly religious portions or just explaining to ds that those parts reflect the personal beliefs of some people, but not ours. I'd love to get some feedback. Can I adapt these wonderful units for our secular home, or is religion so interwoven that I won't be able to separate the content from the religion? Thanks for any feedback.

The more I think about Ms. Mason's unit studies comments, the more I think we're not talking about the same thing. What resources did moms have last century to create colorful, engaging unit studies? None. Did they have nice color printers? Internet access brimming with information and color images? No. They had nothing but books and black and white hand-written content. Of course they sucked. What we do for unit studies these days is far more encompassing, and engaging, than anything she ever dreamed. I'm sticking to them. My son loves them and he is encouraged to dig deeper on his own. I can't really say that about handing him a pencil and telling him to copy a page out of a dried up old book.

:iagree: