Pretty routine in my experience. They need to check for any deformities that may be pre-disposing a child to UTIs and also make sure inflammation is not causing problems. I don't think that the reason for checking is primarily looking for signs of abuse but may be a secondary reason. I think kids really pick up on their parents emotions and she may have been picking up on some of your discomfort but I'm sure you already are aware of that. I try to act as if things are just no big deal during a doctors visit if at all possible even though at times it is difficult. I'm fairly sure that our Ped also mentioned to dd that only a dr with parents permission should look at their private parts. My dd has had to be checked several times, she had reflux to left kidney, and she seems to have come out of it pretty unscathed. Hope th eUTI clears up quickly. Don't let it put you off getting checked again if she gets another, it is really important to get it checked because recurring UTIs can cause damage to the kidney.

Thank you for sharing!

Just wondering - do you think the redundant chapters etc in textbooks applies the same to homeschool specific texts? I wonder if some of the homeschool texts get rid of the redundant stuff for you and therefore you do need to cover the whole book. Maybe the books mentioned above were regular textbooks, not homeschool specific ones, or adapted to homeschool texts.

What does NROC stand for - excuse my ignorance?

I probably wasn't very clear. She was not teaching them how to conjugate English verbs, but merely the concept of conjugating verbs, which the students were not familiar with. I don't know for sure why, but it took a long time for quite a few of them to understand enough to be able to understand the Spanish verb conjugations. These kids were all bright kids but this was an alien concept. My take on it was that grammar seemed an alien concept but I may not be correct.

It was interesting to read flyingiguana's post and perspective about textbooks. However, unfortunately, I think sometimes covering only part of the textbook is because the course is inferior. In my dd's Spanish course, it wasn't just less chapters but less material. I compared the material they covered with the BJU book and there was a huge difference. Part of the reason for this was that the teacher had to teach several English grammar concepts before she could teach the Spanish grammar. My dd was in 7th gr and this was a class of academically able 7th and 8th gr who are able to go to the high school and do the Spanish 1 course and then continue on to Spanish 2 the next year. The teacher had to spend several weeks going over verb conjugations as some of the kids just did not get the concept. When it came time to cover direct objects my dd almost cried because she thought it was going to be a long, drawn out, boring procedure. We have studied grammar at home, so these were familiar things for dd but I don't think her fellow students had had much exposure. All that to say that sometimes things don't get covered in the class that really should be and yet the credit is still given. Is there no way of checking the quality of a high school credit unless the student takes an external exam? Or does it not matter because the colleges look mostly at the ACT / SAT scores?

Thanks for the link. I looked at it and it looked really good and good value, however not in the budget range for this year. I haven't bought the BJU yet, but hope to get most of it used at the used book store when they have their 40% off sale next week. My dh and I both learned Portuguese as children and then French in college for dh and French, German and Spanish in H.S for me. I don't know Spanish well but feel like we have some experience with language learning and also a dnil who is Mexican and who can do some of the conversational stuff. It is crazy the range in what is classed a high school credit. I guess mommy grades validation isn't worth much if doing courses at some schools.

I've only got one example to share, but my dd did Spanish 1 at the local High School last year and they only covered about 3 chapters. Because of this I'm not sure what to do this year. DD wants to continue studying Spanish and become proficient but doesn't want to continue at the school ( she did 2 classes at school last year and the rest at home) because it went so slowly and she feels like she could make more progress at home. However, when I looked at the BJU Spanish curric. the school did not cover anywhere near the Span. 1 material in the BJU book - yet she got a high school credit for it. I will need to buy both the 1 and 2 books in order for her to continue at home and that will be quite expensive.

Thank you so much!! I called them and was able to do the same and get a great deal on the set by getting a dinged copy. I'm so pleased to be able to use AG so thank you so much.

Thanks for the tip. I'll call them and see.

Sorry if this is a thread hijack. I want to use AG with my dd 8th Gr but find the cost issue difficult. I've been looking for used copies but they are few and far between. It always seems like a popular program so why aren't there more used copies available? Is it because people can't bear to part with them, they are so good? Just wondered if anyone had any insights on this. Thanks

[quote name="Musicmom" post="5110763" timestamp=} Whatever you plan for regarding an outside course, I would suggest planning it for about 11th grade (so you have an outside grade before college applications are due in senior year). I'd recommmend choosing a course that is in your dd's area of academic strength (so she can be really successful) and one that fulfills a core subject area (i.e.--pick a math, science, history or English--skip Psychology and other peripheral subjects.) That way, you get the most return for what you invest in the course. Thank you for all the suggestions. I will definitely look at them carefully. I really appreciate your above suggestion regarding outside courses. That is very helpful. I'm sure I will be able to work somethings into the budget and it is good to know when it will be most effective to do so.

Thanks Regentrude. It's reassuring to know that these are things she can fairly easily catch up on later if needed. Thanks for the suggestions of things we can look out for and do correctly. I've been wondering about this for a while so good to have it answered.

Thanks for the above. I am definitely keeping Jann's classes in mind as they seem like they may be what we need. I'm hoping the budget will cover something like that but just not sure if it will. We have used Khan Academy several times but my impression was that the explanations are more going through algorithms than really explaining clearly the concept. This may be a false impression. I got through math by memorizing algorithms, steps etc., but I would really like her understanding to be deeper than that. Just an aside, as we've gone through Algebra 1 using Jacobs and some of Lials, I've been a little worried that I am not teaching her some of the conventions properly. For instance, the order in which you write your answer - ie. putting the variables in alphabetical order etc. - how important is that if the student gets the right answer but maybe writes the terms in a different order - but still with correct signs etc. Would they get counted off for that by a math teacher?

I should start by saying that my dd13 is a rising 8th gr so I'm freaking out a year early maybe. I really want, like everyone else here, to give my dd an excellent education that will prepare her for college, keep lots of doors open to her, and give her the ability to be a lifelong learner. I really feel that our local PS will not give this to her. I really love homeschooling, and feel that hs has been giving these things to her. My difficulties are these: 1. I struggled with math at school. We are in the middle of a slow walk through Algebra 1 at the moment - may continue on for the whole of 8th gr or be finished by Christmas. So far we are coping quite well. DD is quicker than I am, but I can just about keep up and help her think through things when needed. I don't think I can do this with higher level math. This leads me to my 2nd problem: 2. At present we have a very limited budget. This may change, but I can't count on it doing so. It seems like I will need to have help with some high school subjects, like math and probably science, but I may well not be able to afford it. Just some background - we live in a very rural area. There is a cc, which my dh has been teaching at, but it does not appear to offer classes of a very high standard. The students in my dh's classes really struggle with the basics. It seems like almost all of them need remedial work. My dh is very smart and good at almost everything but is studying for a PhD and also trying to piece together part time jobs, so doesn't have a lot of extra time. Also he understands things so easily in math that he sometimes has trouble simplifying things when explaining. I, on the other hand, only do simplified lol, so this has helped at times. I'm probably worrying prematurely. Also, maybe things will change financially, but I was hoping to hear from a few people who may have been in a similar situation and have been successful. Thanks for reading this. Trenna ETA - My dd does learn things quite easily and quite quickly. She is pretty good at self-teaching - but is this enough for us to be successful?

My niece had one of these for college. The one thing she found was that she couldn't use it just for boiling water for tea etc after she had cooked something in it because the taste remained. But your dd has something else for boiling water for drinks so that should be ok.

You are right. Parents do not have the ability to hold the PS accountable; I wish they did! I personally think that holding the school accountable becomes more and more difficult the further the control of the school goes from local control. I don't have the answer, wish I did. But there is no point trying to fix things with actions that don't work - no matter how good your intentions are.

I've read quite a bit of this thread but not all so forgive me if I'm saying something that someone else has already stated. I think that what some are objecting to is equating the fact that some homeschooled kids fail to get an adequate education with the need for more regulations. It is definitely true that some parents do not ensure an adequate education for their children who are homeschooled. It is also true that some children in PS do not receive an adequate education. If you are going to hold hs parents to more stringent standards then you should also hold ps parents to the same standards. That would be fair although not sure how it would work. I think what a lot of us object to is being forced to jump through yet more hoops that do not really have the desired effect of improving children's education. Now if someone could come up with some effective hoops ( that do ensure a good education), and ps parents are made to jump through them too, then we may get somewhere in improving education in general.

Voted

Not much help I know but I think there is a reason they do not emphasize learning the math facts early on in SM. I think I remember it being something to do with actually understanding the concept before memorizing things by rote. Anyway just wanted to say that my dd9 has done SM from the start, did not drill math facts, and knows them better than my older dd who did more of the drill when little. I think it may be to do with the "make 10"method they use. Instead of learning facts up to 20 or whatever, you focus on the ones to 10 and then the child can add anything by "making 10". I'm not sure if that is very clear, it seems hard to describe, especially when my memory is hazy.

I just wanted to say sorry you're having a difficult time. I only have 2 children and the youngest is 9 so I don't remember having a newborn too well. I'm sure the way you are feeling is natural and will pass. I'm sure there are others here who can relate and will give you good advice. I just wanted to say I'm thinking of you.

I'm not a great expert as I have only been homeschooling for a few years, but, to me, it sounds like Singapore Math might be a good choice for your kids. It can be more expensive if you buy new and get all the parts. I am on a limited budget too and I make do with the text book, workbook and some of the Challenging Word Problem books. There is a home instructors guide but I have found that I can do without it. In my area, I have been able to find some of the TBs used and also, occasionally some of the other parts used. I have never used it myself, but have read that Math Mammoth is very similar to SM, but may be cheaper. My kids like a mastery approach too, and seem to pick things up fairly quickly so this has worked for us. HTH

Thanks!!

We read the chapter in H O and then dd outlined a section, did a map - if there was one that applied - I have a blank maps CD from Knowledgequest, and put important events/people on our timeline - which was a homemade one on a roll of paper from Staples. I also had her write some reports/papers. It seemed to work well for us.

Thanks so much for linking that! I'm looking through it with great interest. ETA - Wow, you have some amazing resources collected in that document! Thanks so much for sharing it.