Yes, absolutely that makes sense. And I agree with you and desire for our kids to be accountable to us first and foremost as their parents. Right now, it's helping us to have more accountability in his life than just us. We are very involved parents, but we're hitting some things with him where having some other accountability in his life for school is helpful, which is why it's not an easy decision whether we should pull him from his current school where he has a good relationship with his teachers. Basically, other authority in his life to back up and align with mom and dad. As for the expense, I guess in my mind I think purchasing all the classes would be expensive? The last I looked at classical homeschooling (when we were truly homeschooling, not online public school as was mentioned above), it was either expensive for the classes or required much more time and putting things together than I am able to do at this time. Granted, I only had elementary kids when we were homeschooling, so that's another reason I feel like I'm starting from scratch...both because it's been several years and because I've never looked into any homeschooling for highschool. 

I appreciate your candor. That's precisely why I came here...I need a sounding board and help knowing what's out there. Ideally, we'd prefer to homeschool (proper) classically, but that just may not be in the cards for us right now budget-wise. Because of my son's personality, I do feel as though right now he needs more accountability than just us, which is part of the reason we're considering pulling him...to spend time working on building his character. But you may be right...it may just not be the best solution. I feel like all of you have given me great options and suggestions and a lot to chew on, and I am thankful for that.

No, I don't think we have a copy of this. Could you give me an idea of how it works in a nutshell? What would be required of him and me?

He's currently in a public charter school. It's ideal as far as non-private schools go, but we are facing some things that are causing us to reconsider whether it is best for him. I'm not sure what you mean by this line - Also, almost ALL homeschool high school curriculum is written to the student - seriously. I can't even think of one that isn't. Can you expound please? Thanks!

Great questions. Thanks! When we homeschooled before, I taught every subject one on one (BJU and Veritas mostly). It was easier in the early elementary years so far as content goes, but it wasn't best for our family, especially for my sanity and for my relationship with this child. He works well on his own but does need some type of accountability. I think having an accessible teacher would be best, to answer questions or explain things I can't at this stage of education. He's extremely intelligent and can be self motivated, but one thing that has been very positive in the classroom setting is having teachers that have deadlines and expectations. So far as how his day plays out, I don't mind if he has structured class times or if he completes work at his own pace. My husband and I both work from home, and we can fill any extra time with extracurricular things. He is extremely extraverted, so we are also considering a couple of outside classes at a homeschool fine arts school nearby. He's a very logical thinker, wants to be an engineer, and works hard with the right motivation. When uninterested, he tends to cut corners and procrastinate. Currently, our main goal is to allow him to have more parental influence during a particularly impressionable time in his life. A love for learning is important to us, so I'd like for him to be enrolled in classes that are laid out in a way that is enticing and makes the information come alive...not just reading and test taking. In our experience, he's gotten this from a couple ofreally great teachers, and it's helped a lot. We also want to keep him on track for college and/or dual enrollment (which I know very little about). This is our oldest, so we are learning as we go. Again, this is a bit sudden, so I haven't thought through more goals than that quite yet. The reason I'm asking here is that the only programs I'm aware of are K12 type classes or something like Veritas online or self paced (which isn't affordable for us right now). I'm hoping to hear of more options to look into, and I greatly appreciate your help!

Hello, we are considering pulling our freshman out of traditional school. It's been many years since we've homeschooled, but I remember this forum being a wealth of information with so many willing to help with their experiences, so I'm starting here. I'm looking for something that is rather independent. Ideally, he would have been classically educated this far, but it's just not the path we've taken for multiple reasons. We're very interested in that route, but since this is pretty sudden and we haven't planned for it, we also don't have much of a budget to work with yet. I'd be so thankful if you could point me in the right direction as I'm not even sure where to start looking. I'm sure things have changed a bit since we last had our kids at home. Thank you!

Hello, My husband is looking for an online, self-paced curriculum that will take our boys through American history throughout the rest of the summer. They are entering 5th and 7th grades. Any direction would be appreciated!

It totally depends on the type of person you are. If you can commit to finding all the stuff and putting it together, it helps to have it all in one place before the year begins. I know me, and I'd rather pay for the kit than find all the random items. If it could all be done at Walmart in 30 minutes, maybe. But I don't know...I've enjoyed having everything in a box for Astronomy, and I'm not sure how much it would have saved for me to buy everything anyway.

I don't have anything to say to help. I'm looking forward to reading the replies. I just wanted to say thanks for saying this. Last year I didn't look forward to starting, and it was as hard as I anticipated. This year I look even less forward to starting, mostly because we don't have much community during the year, and it's like being in hiding for 9 months. I have loved summer. So just seeing that someone else despises those "YAY for school starting!" posts as much as I do right now is so encouraging to me. We're not alone! And yes, it is totally worth it, and I'm willing to fight for it for all the good reasons we are choosing to do this hard and tedious thing called homeschooling. (Envisioning Katniss holding up her fingers and whistling right now...we can do this!)

Anyone use Essentials in Writing? Thoughts?

IXL is fantastic for retention. We're using it for Math and LA. But yeah...it's just practice!

Last year was tough with two young children (2 and 4), and a lot of our work fell by the wayside. This year I've made our schedule, but I'm starting to think that I probably need at least one subject for the boys (3rd and 5th) that they can do more independently. 4yo is ready to learn to read, so I'm going to need a block of time with her as well...and probably include my 2yo who is freakishly almost on 4yo's level. So my one on one time with the boys is less and less. I'm happy with Singapore for math, and we have science covered in a co-op. I'm thinking we could all manage history together as a family, using SOTW. Grammar has been more teacher intensive the last couple years...have used both BJU and Easy Grammar. Finally with Easy Grammar my 5th grader has started to grasp a little better but it still requires me sitting and teaching, and I wasn't thrilled with BJU's writing sections. I totally let spelling go last year, which is fine for 5th grader who can see a word and never forget, but not fine for 3rd grader who needs to be taught the rules. I love AAS but gave up due to toddler. Both boys are excellent readers and narrate pretty well. I've picked up Writing Strands this year thinking it will be a better program for both boys, but may or may not use it depending on what I can find. So I'm thinking instead of picking back up either BJU or EG, I may be able to find something that is more independent? I think they both can learn that way as long as the instruction is laid out clearly. Any suggestions? It doesn't matter to me whether it is computer-based or workbooks. Thank you!

Hi, I'd love some seasoned moms to weigh in on online courses (or computer courses, if not online). I have two toddlers and am teaching math and grammar one on one with my older two (2nd and 4th), but that's about as much as I can manage. They do literature, copywork, handwriting, and spelling on their own. We are lacking majorly in science and history, so I would like to look for online classes for those subjects. I've dabbled in having them read books, but I need more organized learning than that so that I'll keep up on it. Have you had any experience (good or bad) with online learning? The only ones I know of are Switched on Schoolhouse, Veritas self paced, and BJU which is super pricey for us. Thanks for any help!

We used BJU writing & grammar last year, and it was a bit too teacher intensive for my time limits. So we tried Easy Grammar which was highly recommended to us for more independent grammar study. Great concept, but the student book does not lend itself at all to independent study. I probably would have done fine with it at his age, but he is struggling with understanding the concept of basic grammar. Because of that, I feel like BJU is a good fit for him, but I dread going back because of how long the lessons took us...also every other chapter is writing, and I've stepped back a bit from writing this year. Is there anything that would work for a bit more independent learning (I do still go through it with him at the start of each lesson and then leave him to do the practice.) but not so teacher intensive? Something that lays out grammar in an easy-to-understand way? Thank you!

Thank you all so much! We aren't in a homeschooling community, so it's difficult to get an idea of what others are doing. This has helped a lot, and I feel much more at peace about starting our year.