We took the plunge and got our 6th grader a phone. We decided he'd have some situations requiring it. One of those situations would be if we needed to run out for a short bit, he'd have a way to communicate as we do not have a home phone. My daughter, as many of you know, is in an intense sport. The only time she can practice certain elements is in the morning. We sometimes go to a gym ten minutes away. I'm thinking about next year... Would you trust a 7th grader to stay home for a couple of hours by himself? Is this bad parenting? I mean, 7th graders can pass courses in babysitting... I'm thinking if I can figure out his schooling, he may need to stay at home. Nobody likes getting dragged along to practice anyway. He may not be the super studious motivated student, but he does willingly choose to do things on his own to get them done. We're not doing enough this year, and quite frankly, I am so burned out, I just want to finish what we have up and call it a year. So...do you let your 7th graders stay home? He's not very scholarly, but he is the type of kid who could survive in the woods for a week, lol.

We are using the 4/5th grade chemistry for my 3rd, 5th, and 6th graders right now. It's been pretty good, and it frees up time for me to work with my 1st grader. Note: it is also secular. I have nothing against religion, either, but she has a high level education in science and he in math. They have many classes available.

Thank you all. I've sort of accepted that this year is...just kind of a bust in some ways, at least per my standards. I have purchased nothing for next year because I really do not know what I want to do for them. I've been researching, but I feel like I am back to looking for the savior of a curriculum, lol. A big reason for not sending them to school is all the germs. It sounds silly, but it's true. We still live nextdoor to my MIL, who is going through Chemo, and we get enough germs as it is...

It's good she took the post down because I'm thinking it made her look silly.

There was an incident here involving a bus and erratic behavior/driving. Sometimes parents pull their kids out and ask questions later… Anyway, with four kids, I can understand the desire to outsource. However, I’m skeptical anything that makes it seem easy. I just wish I had more hours in my day.

Thank you all so much. I just feel like I’m not living up to my own educational standards. As the kids get older, and my husband needs more help, I don’t feel I can do what I feel I should. Our hodge podge approach was good in the sense this year we’re reading some good books, but we’re not doing a ton of writing. Or I forget to do their vintage speller. But I do feel if all I had to do was teach them, it’d still feel impossible. Yet nobody wants to go to school. I guess they like it more than me, lol.

This is our fourth year, and every year, I've chosen a new way, materials, etc. When we started, my little guy wasn't school age. Now with extracurriculars, the farm business, and four kids in four different grades, I am just struggling. We have a lot of partial days but rarely make them up. I do make sure my 1st grader completes his curriculum. I am not just mom/wife. I feel like I'm teacher, coach, etc. I didn't envision having a large bundle of kids I'd homeschool (not that four is a huge bundle), but I don't see how it is possible to educate four children truly well, unless they are self-motivated. We even combined a few things. Maybe homeschooling is more efficient than regular school, but I don't see how I can keep this up. It gets harder each year. I guess that is my rant. I do want to send at least my oldest back to school. I just feel like I am trying to squeeze it all in, but truthfully, I started to feel that way into our second year, too, when we still stayed home a lot. I dunno, it's not really fun. It is just stressful.

It was hard to do all the things, but sometimes I regret getting off their path. I need someone planned for me as it turns out. This has been a disaster. But I am not sure I could actually implement it again. 😞

That is the only way our health insurance will allow us to purchase it (we have two options for companies offering insurance). Our income is unpredictable, so we typically have to reconcile and end up paying about this much. Seeing how much everything costs, I understand why it is so high, but I never imagined it would be our biggest expense. I wish self employed people could form groups. We are required to be farm bureau members for our auto/farm insurance, so I wish we could form a group that way.

We are self-employed, so our health insurance is over $3,000 per month. Of course, I looked into one. Since I do not have my rear end in a church pew every Sunday and do drink wine, I had to rule our family out of that, lol. For me, it just seems very risky. As someone else said, read the fine print. Our health insurance is about triple our escroed mortgage payment. They keep saying they are willing to pay $20 per month per gym membership costs (big LOL), but I've been requesting my debit card for that since October without much luck.

Thank you very much! Ok, I must have the 2nd generation then. Hmm, I may need to just get a new phone.

I have zero clue about what the latest phone models are; those prices sound good, as long as it is not outdated technology. My first iPhone was $140 and the last one I bought was at least $500. I'm going to take a look, thank you!

I purchased my phone over three years ago, so I am not even sure it is worth it. My battery health is at 80%. That means it doesn't last very long anymore. Have any of you purchased one of those kits with a new battery and the tools to replace it? How difficult was it, and did it work? I'm not very tech savvy, so it would need to be an easy project. And I wouldn't want to wreck my phone.

I have spotted around ovulation. I have also had what I considered looked like a full-blown period while in the early stages of pregnancy after having a negative pregnancy test (but I never retested and just assumed I wasn't pregnant--found out at a doctor's appointment). I may not have been breastfeeding, but I was pumping when at least two additional children were conceived. Anything is possible, but I agree it could all be hormonal and related to your postpartum body trying to adjust. I guess I wouldn't think pregnancy would be very likely for you, but keep testing just in case. These might be my famous last words, lol.

I hated sharing a locker room in middle and high school. It’s a huge source of anxiety for many. I truly wish everyone could be granted privacy, considering PE is required in school. I still feel the whole thing is archaic. There are solutions that could make it better for everyone.

Thank you so much! Yes, I also have some great books tucked away since I have basically switched everything every single year without reusing curriculum. I am so afraid of missed opportunities. Despite some criticisms of Abeka, I look back on that year and felt we achieved so much. Then again, it was Covid and it was all we could do. One thing I disliked, though, was my oldest was using a new format and because of Covid, if he continued, it'd go back to the old format because they got delayed, too. Hopefully I won't find that with BJU.

I tried it with math for my oldest, and it didn’t work out. 😞 I am actually considering BJU or even Abeka for next year because there are videos. Abeka is highly scripted, which works for me. I’d just miss the living books we enjoy as our curriculum.

Thank you all so much. I've been considering returning the two older boys in particular to a regular school, but my husband said if I did it, I'd probably end up pulling them right out and homeschooling them again, lol. I just feel I am over my head sometimes and that I might be happier if I outsourced some of their education to an actual school. I feel like in my life I am not doing particularly well in any area because I am spread thin. I'm sure that is not uncommon. So I keep searching for curriculums that might make it easier on me. But I want it to be enough.

I agree with you. It’s horrible she’s going through this, but I think any fundraising should be separate from the workplace. Many people are not in a position to donate money, and you already heard about one. I worked in nonprofit and was constantly asked to do things I couldn’t afford because I had debt getting an education to be able to do that job…

I suspect he is on the spectrum, but he was also lead poisoned in utero. He can write good sentences, but when asked to write an imitation of a fairy tale, he was so stressed because he didn’t understand or remember the story that his sentences were gibberish in written form. He also has comprehension difficulties, though some readings go better than others. I’ve tried to research a bit, but I feel ill equipped regardless of the diagnosis he may get. I do wonder if he should be in a public school for that reason, as much as I dislike the idea. Homeschooling four just gets harder and harder for me each year. I have felt like quitting, truth be told. It’s too much. I’ll look at the supplements! Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for sharing! That is awesome that your oldest did so well, especially given that was his instruction. I feel like MB could be good for this particular child. I am still concerned about learning difficulties and am hoping I am not doing a disservice. This is a crazy story, but I had reached out to our special education office, and the psychologist I'd spoken with since passed away in a fire. He did give me a referral, but it will be pricey. He doesn't want to go back to school, but I am wondering if his issues are beyond my capacity. :( And I wonder if I should send him back.

I actually bought it once and sold it, lol. But I liked it and thought it was pretty. Then I read people thought it was not orderly, and it worried me so much. I think we ended up doing Memoria Press.

I've probably watched too many CM videos. I was alluding to "not dumbing down" material for children simply because they are children. Sometimes I think reading books that I know are challenging for him is helping as his reading has improved, but then I see him struggle with reading words I think he should know how to read by 5th grade.

Well, with MP there is a classical writing sequence, history, and grammar is paired with Latin. They have nice curriculum manuals, but everything depends on the previous year. It’s really hard to step back into. 😞 I think Master Books history/geography looks fun. They have an applied engineering course that looks interesting. Language arts may not be intense, but it might be good for my struggler. I also think about TGTB sometimes, but I read too many bad reviews despite liking the ELA in samples.

With the exception of math, is Master Books all that bad? I've been thinking about my struggling learner. Classical and CM people might be up in arms about this, but I don't feel he needs to "struggle" in every class. And the format might be easier for me to implement. Every curriculum has its flaws. When we did the math, he did two levels in one year and actually liked it (even though it was below grade level). Master Books also has some neat series I think would appeal to my oldest. Sadly, with many other "package curriculums," such as with Memoria Press, once you are off their track, you can never really get back on the planned grade schedule with their full curriculum manuals.