All really good thoughts! Thank you ladies for your help!

Wow, thank you to everyone who responded! Some great things to consider. Maybe the home idea isn't looking so bad! ;-) It's so nice to get input. I'd love anything more anybody has to say.... thank you so much to those who took the time to respond! I'm taking notes! I know when my 4 kids were younger if this was available I would have used it! Trick is to be affordable enough people want to take advantage of it and yet enough money to make it worth it. I would make $130 subbing in the local school district... that would not be possible doing "in home".

I have this idea to start a homeschool "respite" business. It would be a place where moms could send their child for a day or two at a time say for instance when other kids in the family are sick, or mom just needs to focus on something else, but she still wants school accomplished. I would not TEACH as much as facilitate and oversee work being done. Has anyone heard of anyone doing this or have any of you tried this? I'm just thinking about all the ins and outs right now and am wondering if there are any BTDT people out there. I have googled and can't seem to find anyone who has done this. It may be way out in left field and not doable, but I'm just trying to think of creative ways to make an income. I am a licensed teacher so I do have that credential as well as almost 10 years homeschooling K-11th grade. My thoughts were to have a place, say a church, where we could meet. Or my other thought would be to go into people's homes, although that would make it difficult if mom wanted to get things done at home and kind of negate the "sick kids" benefit. Anyway... thoughts on this? Do you think it would work? What kinds of things do you think I need to consider? Thanks for any input you may have! I'd be particularly interested in people who have done this or know someone who has. Thanks!

Mine are older so no basket, but pretty much I require 45 min. a day of free reading, but it has to be books I approve. My oldest is 15 and my youngest almost 11... 3 boys, 1 girl and never did a copy of Captain Underpants or Junie B. Jones cross our door step! :-) But don't ask about the bazillion stupid cat stories (Warriors) that have been the main diet of my 11 y/o. :banghead:

Well, it's at the beginning of Jacob's geometry so that's why I ask. He is my oldest so I've never taught geometry before so I don't know how much he'll be asked to do, but it's been on his first few assignments. Thanks! I will give him grace.... you learn so much with your oldest! Poor kid, I am always apologizing to him!

My 9th grade ds just started geometry. I'm wondering how strict I need to be on him when he measures angles. He sometimes is 1-2 degrees off. What do you all do for grading? Do you allow them to be a little off? With triangles I get that he can be very accurate, but what about measuring angles in general? Is it important that he is spot on?

Thank you for this! I had seen this, but couldn't see much of what is in it and the description doesn't say a lot. Helps to hear from someone who has it! Does it have fully worked answers?

Yup, that's my back up plan. Just wondering if there was something else out there. Likely what I will go with though!

So, my oldest ds used Dr. Callahan's plans for Jacob's Algebra last year. The one thing we didn't like is that the tests covered 3 chapters at a time. I really like to give test chapter by chapter. My dd is now taking this course this year and I'd like to have different tests for her. Is anyone aware of tests someone has made for Jacobs that is chapter by chapter?

My "baby" will be 5th grade next year! Wow! Here's what I'm planning... History/Geography: Combination of Mystery of History and History Odyssey HOD style (we used HOD this year and loved it, but couldn't afford two sets for next year as I'm splitting my younger two up so I'm designing my own similar program) Science: Apologia Land and Flying Creatures Writing: IEW Ancient theme, Copywork and Dictation Spelling: AAS (but I may drop this as dictation is working well for spelling for him) Math: Math Mammoth 5/6, Life of Fred (finish decimals/percents and likely start pre-algebra... this kid is a math freak!) Literature/Poetry: various books and a literature response journal, Robert Frost poet study Grammar: IEW Fix It book 2 Distraction 101: How to look like you're working when you're not... and how to distract others so you are not alone in your "not working". :party: Bible: I'm going to teach all the kids the inductive bible study method. They will each get to choose a book we'll study, then they will have daily quiet times with assigned reading and we'll get together once a week for study together. Excited for this! Regular exercise Piano I think that's it!

I just want to tell you about a great customer service moment I had with Pandia Press (History Odyssey). I used a couple levels a few years ago with my oldest. Now I'm going back and want to use them with my younger 2 boys. I bought digital copies, however I forgot I had one of them and ordered it AGAIN! Arrrrgggg.... realizing my mistake when I started to download, I contacted them and asked if there was any way they could look up my info, prove I already purchased it and instead apply my money toward a different download. They did just that AND told me to keep the new download because it had been updated since I bought it. I then asked them if the other ebook I had was updated and indeed it had been and they sent me that update as well. I really appreciate them working with me, helping me out... it was my mistake all the way! Just thought I'd let you know this is a great company and if you're looking for a history curriculum that uses WTM methods, and is all nicely laid out for you (and your child) check this out! Their timeline is gorgeous too!

Thanks! I'll check this out for my Physical Science child... since Illustrated guides doesn't have PS yet.

Here is the link for Apologia... sorry it took so long, I'm not on very often!

Wow! Thanks for this advice! He has a biology book as well and even a schedule that matches with Apologia! I found both books as PDF online. I think I'll be checking these out! They definitely look more exciting than the ones in Apologia. Thanks, this might be just what we are looking for!

Thanks for the ideas! I'll check these things out!

Anyone out there with these issues or are we weird?? :lol:

So, I've been really happy with Apologia content. Kids like it.... it's been a great fit, except the labs. My oldest, who will be 9th grade next year, is frustrated with the labs. As with a lot of science programs, the labs are very predictable and leaves little to "hypothesis". He can pretty much guess what is going to happen before he does the experiment. He is not motivated at all to write up lab reports because, to him it's a waste of time. (I kinda get where he is coming from, however have forced him to do it anyway!) But if I were to switch programs here is what I would want.... a Christian publisher, solid science AND labs that would challenge him more. Not using a bunch of items that are hard to get, but what I'd love to see is actual questions that he really doesn't know the answer to. He has to make a real hypothesis and really figure out if he's right or not. Does this type of program exist? Maybe another question I have is what is the purpose of HS labs? Is it just to teach scientific method OR is it to actually participate in a process of questions and discovery? Has anyone had this issue with the mainstream science programs? Again, I love Apologia and if there isn't anything else I would consider sound enough for science I won't switch and will just make him muddle through that portion. He loves the reading and I'm please with the soundness of the science so I'm not real motivated to switch to something else, except to see if anyone has any ideas for something that would have labs that would peak his curiosity. The biggest problem I'm having is that he sees science as boring and predictable and instead I would love for him to be curious and need to explore more with questions posed to him that don't have an obvious solution. We used Physical Science this year and we've used the elementary books. Maybe HS is different being tougher material? Thanks for any help you can give me! Hopefully I haven't confused you too much as to what I'm looking for!

If your child is new to grammar study I would say start with level one. Level 2 if you've done some grammar. I started my older two (ages 14 and 12) in level 3 because both had significant grammar study. My younger two (9 and 11) I have in Level 1. It's more leveled, not age graded. I've seen programs where books 3 and up are used in a high school setting. There is no diagramming included. My older two did some (lots for the oldest one) diagramming in other programs. Honestly, I don't know that it really carried over into their own writing at all. I now see a value in learning grammar within the context of writing. Otherwise I just didn't see it sticking. There is "parsing" though with labeling parts of speech over the words in the sentence.

Well, I have a different suggestion. We've done LOTS of grammar programs! This last year we've done the new IEW Fix It series and the kids and I all love it! It has very short lessons that you do 4 days a week. Grammar is learned in context of real writing, not isolated skills. I have two in level 1 and two in level 3 this year. No one complains about grammar for the first time ever! I'm even starting to see carry-over into my olders' writing which I have never seen before and my oldest went through Level 7 of R&S! I would recommend at least checking it out!

My oldest ds will be doing Cornerstone's WV curriculum for high school next year. I'm wondering if anyone out there has made a 4 year schedule based on this 3 year curriculum? I'd appreciate any help anyone can offer! Thought I'd start here before I dive into what might prove to be a big project!

In elementary level we've always been mastery based here. So, basically I "assess" the kids as we go. If they've demonstrated in their daily work they understand the material we go on. No formal tests in our daily school work. I know if they've mastered material by their worksheets and by having discussions with them one on one. We are required to standardize test. I see this as a separate item from our school work. I view it as a technicality I need to perform to legally homeschool. I do take a look at their scores, but most often it only reinforces what I (and they) already know. I have never and never will teach to a standardized test. Starting in Middle school I give the kids tests in a couple subjects. Science and math mainly. 2nd semester my dd12 will use the tests in her American History curriculum. To this point she hasn't. I want to start training them in how to study for and take tests. Their tests are part of their grade, but count no more than their homework. If they score poorly on a test we go back and revisit the material, but honestly they usually do A or B work on tests. We've just always worked to mastery and I make sure they have as much opportunity as possible to actually learn the material before we test. In high school I will continue to test in science and math and other subjects that have premade tests with them, mostly to give them practice in test taking. The history/humanities,etc. curriculum we use though is more geared to discussion and papers than multiple choice tests. Most of the assessment I do will come through discussion and papers. It's amazing how much more someone learns when they have a discussion about the ideas (or have to put them in writing) as opposed to just memorizing some facts. It's really how we learn best, but is quite impossible in a mass school system, thus the necessity for multiple choice tests. I will prepare them for ACT/SAT (I attended a lecture on helping them with the essay portion of the test). And, my oldest is very interested in CLEP... so he will do many multiple choice tests if he does indeed pursue that. I think test taking is an important skill, but not the best way to prove learning. How often did you WISH that high school or college professors would just talk to you about this or that so that you could show them what YOU really learned from the material? Instead, we are forced to try and figure out what the teacher thinks is most important and focus on pleasing him/her instead of REALLY learning from the material we read/work on. I think my kids have learned more (and things I wouldn't have thought of sometimes!) and in their own way by not having to test as younger children. They don't mind reading because they aren't trying to figure out what they'll be asked... they just read it and we discuss. No preconceptions. Of course, I try to expand their views as we talk and challenge them when I don't quite agree (or they are flat out wrong), but overall I find it fascinating to watch a child REALLY learn. My 13 y/o is currently reading Mere Christianity and the discussions we have are amazing. It's a tough book for both of us, but he comes alive as he discusses with me the concepts. A multiple choice exam would kill the joy of his learning. And for sure, I know if he's understanding or not as we talk! I guess I kind of went on about testing a lot, but I think our school system puts way too much emphasis on conforming to standardized testing than actually teaching. I know teachers who actually only teach what is on the standardized tests. So sad... and no wonder we have a generation of kids that can't think for themselves. My advice is to educate your children the way it makes sense to you (and them). Do the things you need to staying within the laws, but go beyond that! Your children will be better for it... even if they don't score in the 90th percentile on a standardized test!

When it was time to teach my younger two the times tables I went to a talk by Dianne Craft. She has wonderful flashcards that takes each times table and makes a picture story out of it. Didn't work as well for the child that I actually bought them for, but my youngest (who just turned 9) learned them all last year as an 8 year old. If he struggles with one I just need to say the story name and he recalls the answer right away. I'd highly suggest them for a student who struggles.

I just moved to HOD Preparing this year with my younger two boys. I use only the history reading and science. I'm trying to fit in poetry too. The other things we already have good routines for. I think it's worth it... 6 guides is ambitious! Going to take a look at your blog now!

My younger two are the only ones on the same history period and they actually do the same work (add a bit more reading for the older of the two). My other two have completely different curriculum and time periods. When they were all younger I did the same time period with everyone, but that became less important than finding what worked best for each kid format wise.

We have used these for the past 2-3 years. 3/4 kids still have their original pencils. Refillable lead and erasers. Erasers work marvelously. I've never bought another pencil in the past 3 years except to replace lost ones! And bonus... you can use them on standardized tests! :-)