Thank you. Most of the information I've come across is for implementing with a group\classroom and I was actually wanting to know how best to implement this one on one. I wasn't very clear in my op because I was still reading and formulating my thoughts and I just wanted to see what others would toss my way. I'll be honest...once I started reading about Bloom's I realize that I naturally go through some of the levels while teaching...but I've never educated myself on this and there are definitely levels that I don't touch on as well as I should. I'm hoping that being more purposeful about teaching this way will help us gain some depth to our studies that I feel are missing.

Title says it all. :) Thanks!

I'm thankful that the area I live in has tons of support for homeschoolers...if you know how to look for it. There are 2 extrememly large, active facebook groups that have become an amazing source of support, community, advice, sharing, and collaborating. I regularly see people asking and offering to borrow books, resources, tools (lab equipment, manipulatives). People post about field trips, park days, academic events at the college or museums. Then their are the files that are maintained by the page admins. They keep them up to date with any and all info a new homeschooler would need, in addition to info that those just starting high school would need to know. And of coarse you can ask questions. There are always new homeschoolers popping in to ask questions - sometimes just asking if anyone is interested in a park day so that their dc can meet some other homeschooled dc. We also have a few co-ops. Some are Christian based, one secular, and one all inclusive - these run the gamut of highly academic to unschoolish. There are several tutorials who hire degreed or experienced teachers to teach high school credit worthy classes that run from $150 to $300 for the year, in addition to lots of families that do what I call mini co-ops - where several families get together and pool their resources to do weekly art, music, science experiments, history projects, etc. Then there are those who have degrees in specific areas that offer tutoring for nominal costs or in exchange for other classes. Dd16 and dd14 are tutored in science by a woman who is a biologist. She was teaching her own dc these sciences anyway and so we worked it out that I would do art projects (something she loathes doing) with her younger dc while she taught my two older dc science (something that I loathe doing). There is such an abundance of homeschool community activity in this area that it can sometimes prevent you from staying home and homeschooling if you aren't careful. I am in the very early process of trying to organize a new to homeschooling orientation for our area since, although we do have a lot of resources, it is overwhelming for someone new to the community to have to wade through everything and find their niche. I think having experienced people available for a question and answer session would help them find a direction. It is very time consuming to do that one person at a time. Last summer I met, individually, with many new homeschoolers that had contacted me about our co-op. They were overwhelmed, nervous, and confused (one had gone to a CC meeting and was completely defeated since she wanted to do classical but couldn't afford CC's tuition...they had given her the impression that CC was the only way to properly do classical ed ) so I offered to meet with them to try to help them to get their bearings and put them in contact with other groups that I felt would be conducive to their visions of how they wanted to run their homeschool (some of them would have been unhappy with our particular co-op due to different academic goals or philosophies). I didn't give them all the answers, nor did I tell them that the way I was homeschooling was the best for them...I simply listened to them and let them know that there are others out there that would be there for support. I know that not every homeschooler needs or wants this type of support and community but there are many who do. It doesn't have to come at a huge cost though. I wonder what the difference is between areas that don't have a supportive community vs. those that do.

I use excel to create a classroom grid (rooms across the top - periods down the side) I have 1 sheet for the teacher roster and another sheet for the student roster. I post these charts in the files section of our co-op's private facebook group so all the teacher's and helpers have access to it. I don't know of any software that would be easier than this. Each semester I just copy and paste to a new workbook, clear the name and class name fields and begin again with filling in teachers, students, and class names.

:smilielol5: If you represent the attitude and caliber of person that participates in CC it explains a lot. So, if your fellow Christian (I only use that since CC claims to be such) can't afford the tuition they are considered, in your opinion, to be riff raff? You really aren't helping to improve the opinion of CC here. :smilielol5: Edited to clarify that I know that lifeoftheparty doesn't really represent all of those in CC - thank goodness - I'm sure they would not want her help if they were to read her response.

This. This is the problem I have with CC. There is a disconnect between what CC says they are and do and what is happening at the local level. If they are going to run this as a money making business they must have quality control. I think those that have a good experience with CC are lucky.

Alright - did a little research into how much income a tutor can bring in. It seems that most people tutor just so they can afford the tuition. (I found one blog that suggested doing fundraising during the year so that you can afford to enroll your kids if you don't want to tutor - maybe I could start doing fundraisers to pay for books ;) ) So I'm curios why all the money has to change hands. Why can't there be a nominal fee to pay for supplies\location fees and then the parents just volunteer their time to tutor? If the largest portion of the money coming in is going just to pay for the tutors which then turn around and pay their income back to pay for tuition....what is the point? Of coarse the director gets a cut of that money, but they probably use it to pay for tuition as well. What am I missing?

60% (even split between people) to someone to present a list of facts to children! What! Surely not. I teach art history, art, Greek history, Medieval history, public speaking, literature, and writing for free at our co-op (that's only what I teach\have taught - we have 8 classes per semester in addition to a nursery and PreK room with educational enrichment), which costs families only $25 per family per semester to cover cost of insurance, supplies, and provide a pool of funds for charity\service projects and to help with enrollment costs for families that need financial help. Our community atmosphere doesn't cost anything extra. We have a reputation for having quality classes. We have a waiting list for available spots. I don't understand why people choose to pay that much money for what is being described in this thread, which from what I understand isn't even close to being full curriculum. If the draw is community why would they pay that much for it? Are their no other options in their area to seek out community? I'm genuinely curious.

I'm curious too. Someone save me from having to research this. Where does all that money go?

I'm sorry...does anyone else find it humorous that 8 is getting schooled on what the Trivium is? No disrespect meant to anyone ... but I'm seriously having a giggling fit right now. :D And back to the topic at hand. I personally appreciate the responses put forth in this thread from both sides. As the director of a local co-op I consider it a privilege to offer support, information, resources, and community for many homeschoolers in the area. I've more than once directed someone to a thread here on the forums as a way to hear pros and cons and personal experiences for any number of topics. Most homeschoolers I know aren't going to base a decision on a few negative posts, nor on a few positive posts but strong personal opinions may help them determine what specific issues they may need to look into further. One point I'd like to make ...someone up thread said something to the effect that CC ensures that there is continuity and quality in their programs, however based on the varying opinions and experiences discussed on this thread I find it hard to believe that this is true for all aspects of the program. The content may have continuity but the implementation can be extremely erratic. Some CC communities may be pillars of perfection while others may not even have a clear idea of what exactly CC is. Case in point: recently a new homeschooler on a local FB group was asking for clarification on what classical education is. Along with several links to resources for reading about classical education I mentioned TWTM. Several tutors from this CC chimed in touting that CC was the best form of classical and that CC was based off of TWTM. :001_rolleyes: I let them know that they might want to look up Leigh Bortins and read The Core.

HeeHee! I have to laugh at this. :) When I taught IEW at my co-op I made the mistake of introducing symbols in place of words. Oh my! I finally had to make the rule that if the picture took you longer to draw than it would take you to write the word then you couldn't use it. I had some fun trying to decipher some of those outlines though!

I personally felt that his method of outlining was good only for younger dc or struggling dc who were just learning how to pull information from a passage. When I taught IEW I found that teaching the KWO was easier for 2nd and 3rd graders to understand and do. I will admit that it felt awkward to me and to my dc that knew how to do traditional outlining already. Once they had done IEW for awhile (I think around unit 4) they all abandoned the KWO in favor of traditional outlining ... the stylistic tools still work regardless of the outlining method. I don't think there is anything wrong with teaching both methods at the same time and ( in fact I think you'd be doing your dc a disservice if you don't teach traditional outlining ) and then letting your dc choose which way they prefer based on the type of assignment they are trying to do. It seems to me that a KWO works well for a re-telling of shorter passages where you are trying to stay as close to the original as possible but not so well for longer works that need to be summarized or research type papers. In the end, I use what I find useful from IEW and leave the rest. :)

We switched from Apologia Biology for the same reasons with the exception that learning about the age of the earth and evolution are important to us as a foundation for understanding astronomy, geology and biology. We ended up going with Miller Levine Biology and were very happy with it. You can do a search here and find quite a few threads about it. There are many here that purchased it new in order to get all the bells and whistles but I purchased the text and TM off of amazon for about $30 total, added some labs from The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology and virtual labs and I felt that dd got a good biology foundation...enough so that she's doing Honors Anatomy and Physiology (Hole's) this year with no problems at all.

I don't want to do 6th again. It means I'm that much closer to having another one in highschool. :( I think this dc will be easier though. She's very easy to home school - can adapt to lots of different methods of learning so I can choose programs based on ease of use and content versus having to choose based on learning style. Math - She will probably need to finish up a few sections of 5B then move onto 6. She's going a bit slower as we move up in levels but I'm so pleased with her math understanding and mental math skills. Slow and steady. :) English - Mosdos (I can't remember the 6th grade level name). This includes vocab work, literary elements, reading, some analysis, and writing exercises. WWS 1 Analytical Grammar Season 1 Spelling Power History - SOTW 3 Geography - Beautiful Feet Geography Science - As usual for this subject...I don't know. MrQ Chemistry fell flat this year. It was too easy for this dd and too far over ds7's head but I had to have something they could do together. I just couldn't do 4 different sciences this year. Next year I'm hoping she can be a little more independent. Maybe I'll go with what I'd wanted to do at the beginning of this year...ACSI. She probably needs some type of informal logic...have to research that. I wasn't enthralled with AoA or Fallacy Detective when I used them with the older two.

I just went to check the jean size she was wearing today - I misspoke before, it's actually a 7 not an 8 and I didn't clarify that they are Juniors not Misses I would say she could fit into a size down from that since she has to wear a belt with these and the legs are loose. I can see where the confusion would be if we were talking about misses sizes. However, it isn't really about the size of her body right now, it's more about her eating habits\lack of observable calorie, nutrient intake combined with her desire to loose more weight. Based on her frame she really doesn't need to loose more weight yet she looks at her self and sees areas that she thinks are fat. I personally wouldn't care if she were even thinner than she is right now if I knew she was eating healthy and providing her body the sustenance it needs to support her still growing body.

I think there is something to what you're saying. There have been times that dd will come downstairs, open the fridge or pantry then close them and go back upstairs or at the most grab a couple crackers or a container of yogurt. If she doesn't grab anything I'll call after her and ask if she's hungry and she'll say that she's not...but maybe she doesn't want to take the time to make something or doesn't see anything worth eating? I don't keep a lot of quick food products in the house. For example I buy block cheese but don't cut it up ahead of time - we cut it as we want it. I buy lots of raw veggies for snacking but, again, I don't pre-cut them for easier anytime snacking. I can definitely remedy those types of things (which admittedly, would make things easier for all of us). Thanks for this perspective. I'll add this point of view to the dialog I'll be having with dd.

Heading out the door in a minute but wanted to let you all know that I'm reading. Thank you all so much so far for your opinions and experiences. I'm going to read more thoroughly when I get home. I understand that this has the potential to get really scary... I've not admitted that to myself in the last few months but am glad that I posted today about my concerns.

I'll get rid of the scale. I know it won't get better on it's own...just not sure how aggressively I need to intervene right now. For those of you who went through this...if a parent had intervened early on with a workable plan to help you eat more healthy (making several small meals\snacks through out the day instead of allowing you to fend for yourself) would it have made a difference? Right now we aren't angry at each other; she doesn't feel I'm trying to control her... Or am I just being naive in thinking that I can prevent her from slipping further without professional involvement?

Her periods are normal right now, but that is something I've been watching. Along with her sleep patterns. No issues there right now either.

I thought about the forcing food thing while I was sitting there watching her eat. I just couldn't fathom her being able to focus on science without some food in her, especially after she just went on a 30 minute walk. I'll definitely keep that in mind though. She is learning about healthy food, vitamins, enzymes, building muscle, what nutrients are needed for different organs to work properly at her science tutorial (Honors Anatomy and Physiology) and through her Health program. She has a 4.0 in both so I know she gets it ... there's just a disconnect when it comes to applying it to herself. Good questions. She has no aversions to eating around others. The only time she eats a normal amount of food is if we go out to eat (which I can't afford to do everyday!) No changes in behavior really - she's never had a lot of friends and will sometimes lament that she wishes she had more acquaintances but doesn't seemed depressed about it. Regarding rituals around her intake - I'm not sure what that would look like. When she does eat there's no odd, quirky behavior...she just eats.

Update: Just wanted to update in case anyone was wondering what's going on with this. Things are going well. I'm glad I took action before any damage was done physically or mentally. We started out with her primary care doctor since we had to have a referral for a specialist. Well, she had a really good talk with dd ... didn't berate her but definitely made it clear that the path she was on was definitely going to end badly. Instead of jumping right to a spec. we opted to set up an appointment with a nutritionist first. It went well and dd was very receptive to the suggestions made. Dd and I talked a lot about her thought processes when it came to food and I believe that it boiled down to mostly her just being completely lazy about food prep and making good choices. We talked about toning versus loosing weight as well and now she is focusing more on toning exercises vs. burning calories. I've made some big changes regarding having healthy (for her) food more easily available and we've come up with alternatives for her for when she doesn't find the meal I make for us palatable. I'm still observant and pay attention to her daily eating habits, though I'm not obtrusive about it. I'm really pleased with her improvement. Thanks for everyone's input and concern. :) Dd16 has always been concerned with her weight. She went through a stage when she was pre-pubescent during which she was on the top end of the recommended weight for her height, however she hit a growth spurt and became what I consider a healthy balance of height vs. weight. She would complain that she was "fat" but never tried to loose weight. Lately though - I'd say in the last year - she has purposefully tried to loose weight to become thinner. She is 5'4" and weighs 105. Size 8 skinny jeans are slightly loose on her. To my untrained eye she has almost 0 body fat. She tells me that she still thinks her thighs are too big. Aside from the size of her body I'm mostly concerned with her eating habits. She will regularly eat her last meal at 6pm and then not eat again until 2 or 3 the next afternoon...and then only eat a container of yogurt or a couple wheat crackers. She'll eat probably a 1/4 of what is considered a serving of food for dinner. I would say, based on my observations, that she is only eating 800 calories on most days. Occasionally she will eat upwards of 2000 if I've made some type of food that she loves or if we happen to go out to eat, and there are days when I think she only probably gets 500 calories at the most. When I tell her she isn't getting enough nutrients\calories she tells me that she only eats when she's hungry and then only enough to fill her stomach. I've tried to talk to her about healthy food choices and about the importance of nutrition especially while her body is still growing\changing. She agrees with me and actually does understand calorie input\energy output, processed foods vs. whole foods, and how to make good choices based on carbs\fats\fiber,etc. But yet she still makes poor choices (or no choices at all). Today she had green tea for breakfast and then planned to go without any more food until dinner. I told her to eat lunch before she went to her science tutorial and she said she wasn't hungry (no doubt her stomach has shrunk to nothing). She went out to walk her dog for 30 minutes and when she came back I'd made her a sandwich (whole wheat bread, ham, swiss, tomato and spinach). She said she didn't want it but took two bites to appease me and said she was done - I ended up making her eat it. I sat next to her and wouldn't get up until she'd eaten the whole thing. She didn't get mad at me or anything but it made me feel like a control freak. :( Am I dealing with anorexia or is this typical teenage girl eating habits? I know I should take her to the doctor but I've been loathe too because I don't want this to turn into me against her thing. We have a good relationship and she is such a level headed reasonable girl who is always willing to take my advice on matters - except this. I feel as if I didn't catch this soon enough and now it's going to be a struggle to repair her mindset (which to me is skewed...but maybe it's normal (?)). Advice? Been there?

Won't his explanation be that God made him that way?

If you've not taught spelling rules explicitly then I'm not sure that your son actually struggles with spelling - he's just not learned the rules that govern spelling yet. I would be inclined to use the spelling rules in Phonics Pathways to teach your son before I'd go out and by a more expensive program. The bonus would be that you can also use the book to review any phonics that he isn't strong in - however, phonics instruction alone isn't going to teach him how to spell. I'm using PP now with ds7 for spelling and he's learning and retaining well. I'ts open and go, flexible, quick and can be customized to the needs of your dc.

I showed this post to dd14 and she is now nagging me to let her "fan girl" with all of you over all these kdrama shows. :lol: :lol: She actually got me into watching them and I freely admit I really like them! We just finished Master's Sun. I have to say though that by the end I was like, "Just KISS each other already!!!" LOL! Let's see, I think she's watched every single one that's available on DramaFever and Hulu. I've watched Who Are You, and we're in the middle of City Hunter and Big. She also introduced me to the movies 71 Into the Fire and Nineteen because I am quite smitten with T.O.P. :p (Yes, totally ridiculous for an over 40 middle age woman.) She introduced me to BIGBANG about 2 years ago. So, dd wants to know if any of you have teens that love kdrama\kpop that would like to facebook\penpal\email with her. She would love to have some kids her own age that have the same interests.

This isn't related to the cheating but to the fact that you say he is bored with MUS but won't skip the practice pages that he doesn't really need. Can you take the workbook away from him and only give him the pages he needs to do. If he asks for the other pages when you know he doesn't need them tell him you shredded them. And, I guess it does relate in that maybe if you can get him to move more quickly to work that is challenging him he won't be as inclined to cheat on the tests.