It really depends on the kids. Saxon and Math U See are too totally different approaches. I prefer the Saxon spiral approach because of the constant reinforcement. There are a lot of problems in any given lesson but I think that is a good thing for the kids. Math U See is a mastery approach that uses a lot of manipulatives (Saxon does not). If you have a child that needs to touch or see the concepts spread out then Math U See may be the better approach. For my dd that would have driven her crazy.

While there is a good deal of information in MoH III and IV on America there really is not enough for it to be a fully US History course. It hits some of the big topics but leaves out much of the nuances found in US History. You do not get the full story.

Ours is also a mix of both. There are the occasional student who does not do the work but especially for the older grades the kids do the work. Ours is mainly parent led but we do sometimes have a professional in teaching a class. We do ours as an a la cart co-op so families can choose if they want to be part of a more academic class or if they do not. We try to have at least two options for each age each period (quite often there are at least 3-4 classes they can take. This allows parents to have greater flexibility in their child's schedule. Some come in only for the science labs while others come in because they want a full history class. Our co-op meets for 2 ten week sessions but we also have an extension time that goes into Dec/Jan. as well as May. This is really for the upper level academic classes such as our sciences and histories. I like having the mix because then I can determine what I want to do. We have some groups in the area that are fully academic and everyone in the same grade does the same work. I do not like those because there may be a time I do not want to do the curriculum they are choosing. I like to have the freedom to choose what supports my homeschool and not be forced into what they group decides.

I just put Pre Calculus and do it as 1 credit

Ok... $144 a month for trombone lessons ($36 a week) $433 for Orchestra per year (around $54 per month) $60 soccer per year $20 baseball per year $50 4 h per year $74 ice skating per year This does not include cost of events and incidentals ( gear, travel, clothing...)

My dd loves Saxon. She does the reading and does get the why. Occasionally we do need to go over something but she can usually get the concept after reviewing the examples. The well laid out examples and how they walk the student through them is something I love about Saxon. I also love the constant review. Students are not really allowed to forget previous concepts because the material is constantly showing up in their assignments. The solutions guide really does a nice job of a step by step approach so you can see where your child is making their errors. We are just finishing up Advanced and will be starting on their Calculus book this year.

I chose 1% even though it is probably a little less. My idea of what minimum educational standards are is pretty basic (read, write, arithmetic). I have only met a few that really do not do anything, some under the guise of unschooling which unfortunately gives true unschoolers a bad reputation. Now the families I have met have been through a variety of co-op situations but I can just imagine that there are some families out there that avoid homeschool groups too. For the most part the homeschoolers I have met, no matter what method they use, all work to help their children learn. It may not always be the traditional education but they have the skills and the ability to function as an adult.

Thanks everyone. I thought she was great but I am prejudice. I am so excited for her.

Beautiful Feet has some great programs. You could also check out Heart of Dakota. They are similar to Sonlight but you could still be flexible with it.

Dd said she saw one when she was out and about last night. I keep forgetting but I really should have something for kids just in case too.

I love Saxon from the 54 program up. Dd is currently finishing up Advanced Math and then will be starting their Calculus book.

I am so excited. My niece is going to be on Speechless tonight as a main character. She is playing Norah JJ's "love" interest on the show. She graduated with an arts degree from Tisch College at NYU a year ago. This summer she won a scholarship to the Williamstown Theater Festival non equity program and from that she got an agent with some great connections. She also has a bit roll coming up on Orange is the New Black. I sure hope this is going to be a good break for her.

We do a minimum of 4 books covered in depth (lit guides and such) and then a handful of other books that I have dd read through out the year.

Ok I think I need to get my eyes checked. I read the topic as Help with Cooking Children. :confused1: Chicken is really a better choice. LOL

I would go above the supervisor's head and talk to whoever they report to. These are your children and you have a right to be concerned about their safety and the schedule. Keep talking to the district, even though they contract the bus company it is the district's responsibility to make sure your kids are safe and at school on time.

The only thing I really think that needs to be focused on in greater detail is research papers. We did use IEW's Research Paper program and that has worked really well. I do have to say that I loved the Elegant Essay too but it really needs to be done after the student has a strong handle on the IEW process to be really successful.

From 3rd grade on the PASS test is great. If not that I would probably do the Iowa or the CAT test

You need to either turn in a letter of completion from your superintendent or have them take one of the approved a "Ability-to-Benefit test by the term add/drop date" Here is what the state lists for the approved tests : "In September 2007, The Board of Regents approved four ability-to-benefit tests that can be used to determine eligibility for State financial aid: Accuplacer, ASSET, COMPASS, and CELSA (Combined English Language Skills Assessment). The CELSA is approved providing the applicant also takes a math component from one of the other approved tests." Most community colleges use the Accuplacer test so if your child takes classes there while in high school they have already met the test requirement.

Dd (14) does: Trombone lessons (45min 1x a week), Orchestra (2 hrs 1x a week, plus all the daily practice), Honor Society, 4H (mainly for Horse Bowl and Hippology contests), Youth Group, Lego Robotics (last year :sad: ), baseball (in the Spring), Soccer (in the Spring) The music stuff goes all year but the nice thing is that the 4h stuff really gears up after the Lego Robotics have died down. The baseball and soccer overlap so that makes a crazy May and June but dd really enjoys it.

I would not necessarily judge the curriculum by the users page. I know that there have been several curriculums that I have found to be fine but some of the discussions about them from users have been a little weird. There have also been times that I have used a curriculum and then found something in it that I did not agree with. I use that as a discussion point with my kids and then bring in other sources to show some of the differences in opinion. We then discuss why there might be differing thoughts, what the facts state, and then what do they think. Those have been some of our best lessons.

I am so sorry for your loss. If you wanted you could do something simple like this swing dress from Macy's https://www.macys.com/shop/product/style-co-plus-size-swing-dress-created-for-macys?ID=2894737&CategoryID=5449&swatchColor=Deep%20Black&swatchColor=Deep%20Black#fn=COLOR%3DBlack%26SIZE%3DWOMEN_PLUS_SIZE_T%3A18W%2C%202X%26sp%3D1%26spc%3D5448%26ruleId%3D78%7CBOOST%20SAVED%20SET%26searchPass%3DmatchNone%26slotId%3D3 or something like this one https://www.macys.com/shop/product/love-squared-trendy-plus-size-knotted-fit-flare-dress?ID=3449634&CategoryID=5449&swatchColor=Black#fn=COLOR%3DBlack%26SIZE%3DWOMEN_PLUS_SIZE_T%3A18W%2C%202X%26sp%3D1%26spc%3D433%26ruleId%3D78%7CBOOST%20SAVED%20SET%26searchPass%3DmatchNone%26slotId%3D28

Dd is involved with a FLL team through our homeschool group not 4h but I do know that there are 4h teams in the area. Here is what our chapter sends out about Lego League: What is FLL? It’s hard to fully explain it, but in its simplest form it is a world wide robotics competition where teams of up to 10 kids design, build, and program a Lego robot (NXT or EV3) to perform tasks on a 4’X8’ table during a timed tournament. The tasks are related to a theme for the competition which changes each year. In the last few years the theme has touched on Recycling, Education, Nature, Food Safety, Bio Medical engineering, Climate Change, Alternative Energy, nano-technology, transportation, senior citizens and trash cleanup. This year’s theme is Water. In addition to the robot performance there is a project that has to be done based on the theme. The actual project and robot tasks for this year will not be known until September. Straight from the FIRST Lego League website: The FLL Core Values are the cornerstones of the FLL program. They are among the fundamental elements that distinguish FLL from other programs of its kind. By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork. We are a team. We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors. We honor the spirit of friendly competition. What we discover is more important than what we win. We share our experiences with others. We display Gracious Professionalism in everything we do. We have fun. For more information you can check out the FLL website at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll Who can join? Boys and girls from ages 9 to 14 (as long as you were 14 at some point in the year). When does the season run? We will be starting the preliminary meetings in August but the season goes from September through early-December. When are the tournaments? If the league works the same as the past few years, there will be a qualifying tournament in November (the Saturday before Thanksgiving, or the week before that) and the regional tournament in early December (usually the first Sunday). If you cannot participate in a Sunday tournament please do not join as this is required.

The goal is for everything to be done by Thursday night (except Bible) because Friday is co-op. Dd is in 9th and the only thing she has scheduled for the weekend is a couple of pages of reading for Bible. Some weeks she does that on Friday others over the weekend. Occasionally she has gotten behind and has had to do one or two things like a math or science test on Saturday but that has been rare. We will have to see how the rest of the year plays out. I do a schedule for her on Sunday for the following week. She knows that everything on there needs to be done by the following Sunday night unless I agreed to move it because of something unexpected (illness or something like that).

Also check out this website http://www.myplan.com/ It was recommended to us by a the director of career services at a college. It is great for doing research on careers, majors and schools.

I would be more worried about the fact that he is doing these things knowing they are bad choices in order to fit in. This raises red flags for me because of what we went through with sd. When she was 10 she met a girl in class and became best friends with her. Whenever this girl came over the two were well chaperoned and even though I knew she had a rough childhood this girl still did not act "bad", a little rough around the edges but nothing terrible. The family even started going to church with us. Fast forward to 8th grade and sd starts getting more and more of an attitude with us and she even gets into a fight at school. We then find out about some of the things this girl is getting into. Then mid 9th grade we end up finding sd with a cell phone that a boy (who this girl introduced to sd) gave her. Previously we had tried to get the school to change her schedule so she would not have lunch with this new crowd, they were less than helpful. We also end up finding a ton of correspondence where this girl has been encouraging her to have sex with a boy (any boy) and where sd is planning on moving in with this guys family. Sd was then pulled from school and we started homeschooling. Over the next couple of years sd started to act more like her original self, even others noticed. She also talked about how she had been making some of these poor choices so she could fit in with this girl and the crowd she hung out with. Now I am not saying that this is what will happen to your child but I do see warning flags. Middle school is right around the corner and the peer pressure there gets really bad, so if it is starting now I would really take charge of the situation asap.