I don't know if any of you are familiar with the reading comprehension testing program called Accelerated Readers or AR...used by both private and public schools. I am looking for something similar online, preferably at very low cost or free. Does anyone know if any such thing exists? My kids read well above grade level and the Abeka readers we got for their grade are far too boring for them so we are switching to some of SWB recommendations for literature/history reading as well as selections from the 1000 best books list. Progeny Press is too expensive to do as many as we'd like....any suggestions?

My dd11 and ds6 both have struggles with handwriting. Every year since PreK we tried to supplement and practice, practice, practice...but to no avail. Yes it is true that some people just don't have nice handwriting, but it does need to be legible. We ran into problems with math when she couldn't even read her own numbers which caused lots of errors. She knew how to do the problem but how can you add several three digit numbers and get the right answer if you can't even read the numbers. Sigh! :confused: Someone told me once that it would get better after they learn cursive, and I have to say it did help. We have also found that with her and with ds6 that if you have them write smaller, it gets neater. I have my little guy using college ruled notebook paper and it has made things so much better. It is a battle worth fighting, it may help, it may not, but at least you'll be able to look back and say you really tried. Best of luck:001_smile:

It is good to know that there are so many out there doing what I have been wanting to do with great success! It sounds like everyone has a schedule that works for them, no two are alike. That will be the tricky part for us, figuring out what will work for us. I do think that I will contact my sister-in- law in CA and see if she'll give me a sample of what my nephew does for a schedule in year round ps. I think I will need to start with a framework and tweak as need be from there. First to decide on a start/stop point. It sounds like some start traditionally in September, others start at the new calendar year in January. Would love to here pro's and con's of either? Thank you to everyone who has shared their experience!;)

We are considering switching to a year round schedule instead of the traditional 9 months on, 3 off. What do your year round schedules look like and if you wouldn't mind sharing your reasons for using a year round schedule. I am considering it for these reasons now: prevent burnout with more frequent breaks, to be able to do certain lessons during a more appropriate time of year (i.e. insects and botany during later spring and summer rather than in fall when these things are winding down), also maybe eliminating the need for so much review every year, letting us accomplish more...any insights are greatly appreciated.

Because we have 4 dc hs'ing right now, initially it seemed impossible to get the corrections done right away, and yes it does seem to take up a lot of time. I used to wait until later in the evening to do corrections, then review them with the kids the next day before we started our work for that day, and it turned out to take way more time, and the dc did not cooperate. :confused: It is not fun to try to stay on top of all their corrections throughout the day without letting things slip through the cracks, but it does work better if stuff is fresh in their minds and then it is done and you don't have to think about it later. IMO, corrections can become that little black cloud that follows you around everywhere, sometimes getting bigger and bigger, if your day has interruptions, etc. Do yourself a favor and don't let it happen, just get them done right away!:glare:

It sounds like you are blessed with a diligent worker, so I bet you could just work until she's done and still finish your day at a reasonable time. We are also new this year to hs'ing and I can tell you what has/hasn't worked for us as a family still in transitional mode. I had these dreams of finishing early in the day(like before noon or 1) and having a wonderful afternoon filled with fun projects , laughter and relaxation before evening practices or games or whatever. Well we had tried to do the 'work until your finished' method with mixed results. Sometimes we would get done in a reasonable time but not often. Other days I would have to say we didn't finish until dinner. That's not fun, because usually if that was happening it was because the older two were not feeling ambitious that day, and it's tiring to crack the whip all afternoon. We also tried the 'we are done with school at (whatever time), and that's that, if you didn't finish, it's homework' method and this made it very difficult for me to keep up on anything else pertaining to life out side of schooling, if school goes on all day and night for me too. So what I have landed on is if we are not done by a certain time, then what isn't finished will have to wait till tomorrow. I hope that we can become that family that is done with our work in a diligent, early in the day sort of way, but being still in transition, I am learning to choose sanity over perfection:) Good Luck.

I will check that out later today. I put off having to buy it for obvious reasons, $50, ack! But it would also let me copy full lesson plans from one child to another, we have twins. Thanks so much for the links for the specific features I was looking for. It blesses me that so many are willing to come alongside us newbies and give great help and advise.

So this is our first year...and boy did I get a learnin' in how to buy books. I started out wanting to buy as much as I could used to save money, knowing I had to buy for 4 dc. Well, as said before, sometimes you don't get what you think your getting. My quick flip through a test/quizes book lead me to believe it had never been used, but then found out later that they did several of the tests but left all the quizzes and speed drills, grrr. So make sure that you look through it THOROUGHLY. Also, if you have several kids, it doesn't make much sense to buy new if you won't get to reuse it with the others. So we bought mostly new, some used for dd11, had to buy all new for dd9 because the curriculum we chose for this year had just revised that grade and that means if we bought used, none of the future workbooks would be compatible. That is a good question to ask when you buy new, is there a revision planned for the near future? Most companies do that every so many years. Well, not sure how much of the new stuff we will keep anyway because we are now finding that there are probably other cirriculums out there that will be a better fit for our family. That's another thing to consider, are you sure you really love it so much to buy it new? I got my best deals on used books at used curriculum fairs in my area. Check around with local co-ops or yahoo groups in your area that might do the same thing, usually in the spring. Hope this was helpful.

So it does have a week at a glance, sort of, but in a list style, and once you have more than a few subjects on the page, or even more than one student, it looks like a mess...so then I have to flip back to the daily to make sense of anything...and I mistakenly put HS Tracker plus, when I am only using basic, but I don't think that they differ in this way. I guess I would like it better if you could put it in a weekly style like say...MS Outlook Calendar format. Maybe I should have became a software engineer instead of a horticulturist.

After having my first burnout/meltdown of our new hs adventure, I am starting to wonder if all the time I put into using HS Tracker is part of my problem. I need a system that helps me keep track of all my kids lessons, but doesn't take so much time. One thing I dont like about HS Tracker is that you don't get a 'week at a glance' mode, you have to flip through each day individually to make any sense of it. It is nice however to be able to printout each days lessons for my older kids so that they can do some independant work and I don't have to hear "what do we do next?" 20 times a day. Any alternatives and suggestions would be great!!!

I would like to know where you all have had the best luck getting the most for your used cirriculum? Is Ebay most profitable, or is there another online sale site that you can get better returns on your products? Also, I live in Oregon, and have been to the used cirriculum sale in Portland at the HS Convention, is that more profitable than reselling online? Thanks for the feedback.

I have done some switching for ds/dd6, as I ended up getting through Abeka science/social studies in a couple weeks because it didn't have a lot in it...so I went with SOTW and RS4K which they love, but I dont have the funds to do anymore switching this year, I spent quite a bit on what I have and wouldn't be able to sell till the spring...so am thinking we will stick w/Abeka this year and just wittle it down a bit to make it more manageable. I put in a request for TWTM at our local library, so I am waiting to see if they get it before I go out and buy my own. Thanks for all the advice and encouragement....it has made my week.

I hadn't thought they would even entertain the idea of wanting to a part of that choice being that they were still in denial that this was what we would be doing for school. In the next few days I may bring it up and see if they are interested in being a part of that decision now that reality has had a few weeks to set in. I went to a huge hs conference last summer and there were tons of kids there with their parents actually looking at cirriculum, and I just had to laugh because my kids would have been hanging onto the door jam, refusing to go in(ha ha)...oh dear.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all the sound advise. Today we did just spelling, LA, and math with dd11 and ds9, and ds/dd6 took the day off. I even left for a little 'me' break and ran 4 miles, it felt so good. I took your advice and we are going to take a break for a few days, after the weekend, and regroup. One of the biggest draws for me to the homeschooling journey was to re-establish our family closeness and do more fun things together like sewing and cooking or nature walks, but it wasn't happening...I was so frustrated. After reading all your bits of wisdom, I feel rejuvenated and reassured that we will be okay, I am not scarring my children, we can make changes and it can and will get better. Even as strung out as I was, I was still planning for next year in my head already...I know that I will change to SL for ds11, Abeka has far too few books to keep her interested and after doing it since K4...she tells me "Mom, I am so sick of Abeka...", Ok then. We'll see about the others, Sl might be a better fit to group the older two in one core and the youngers, obviously together. I am so glad this is not a testing year for us. Thanks again.:001_smile:

I would be forever greatful for any advice on the topic of helping my kids to adjust to homeschooling. They were all previously at a small Christian private school and at grades 6, 4, and 1, we have had to pull them out due to lack of funds and do what we feel is what God has meant for us to do for a few years...hs'ing. We have been hs'ing for 9 weeks now, and needless to say, I have cried daily, as have my two oldest kids. I am spending my every waking minute on planning and corrections, etc. and I am met with moderate to severe opposition daily. I even chose the cirriculum that their school was using and my straight A kids have turned into barely B students. Frustrating, aggravating, and most of all heartbreaking. Luckily my twin first graders are totally into it, but they also take up a lot of my time because they are only 6. I have been using homeschool tracker to keep track of assignments for dd11 and ds9, but maybe by having them follow the assignment list is too much responsibility. Often they claim to be done with their work, but have skipped or partially finished assignments and I am not able to address it immediately because I am so overwhelmed with trying to teach all four of them and be a wife and take care of things around to house. I am not able to tell whether it is all rebellion or if my expectations for the situation we are in are too high. Please, any input or ideas would be great. Please tell me I am not alone...