My husband has also been doing it for years with no problem. We have an Epson printer. There was some searching around to find the best place to order the ink. We also use a laser printer for most of our printing, much cheaper and faster. We buy refurbished toner cartridges at a fraction of the cost. Most of the printing I do for school is black and white.

We made our own Atom Builder board by doing just that. We also figured out how to make the cards from looking at the directions in the lab book.

We're using the Chemistry LabPaq this year along with a Prentice-Hall Chemistry book. By looking at the lab and the index of the textbook, I have aligned the labs with chapters in the text. My husband does the labs with dd on the weekend and they take from 1-2 hours apiece. We've been very pleased with the labs: good instructions and lab sheet templates, experiments that work, etc. She'll have done 12-14 labs by the end of the year. I expect we'll follow the same plan next year for physics.

In general, Loewen doesn't like high school history textbooks at all. His book is really about how many highschool texts have been sanitized and present a skewed picture of many events. I don't believe he recommends any texts, but he recommends delving deeper into some of the issues to get the whole picture. Also, after reading his books, which I found very thought provoking, I decided to stick with Spielvogel's Western Civ, which is a college text. We also added a lot of outside readings to get a balanced view as much as possible. HTH and good luck!

I am a big fan of laser printers over ink jets because 99% of what I print is in black and white anyway. They are less expensive and about 10 times faster. I think any of the name brand ones would probably be fine. . . look for a good deal or a sale perhaps. I've had mine for so long (it's a hp laserjet) that I can't recommend anything that would be current. Maybe check Consumer Reports? Also, the key to keeping the cost low is to buy reconditioned toner cartridges from a place like Ink Jet Superstore. I've always used them and they are a fraction of the cost. Good luck!

James Loewen reviews American Pageant in his book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, if you're interested. May not be the kind of feedback you're looking for ;)

Decaf or Regular

I would vote for The Well Educated Mind. It has a great program for discussion, background, etc. Everytime I open Invitation to the Classics, I wonder why I bought the book. I also supplement with questions and activities I find on-line for each particular book. Edited to say: Oops, I don't know anything about Teach the Classics, but my recommendation still stands!

Also, look at the Teaching Company. They have numberous courses in various fine arts. There are recommended readings and questions with easy lecture as well.

Check mathematicallycorrect.com for curricula reviews, all the way down at the bottom of the page.

Other than maybe the bathrooms, I don't see the point in cleaning too much before 30 people come tromping through! Good luck and try to have fun.

We followed the same path. After Latin Prep 2 you go into SYRWTL 2. A few things might be review but by and large it's new material.

When I make quiche, I make 6, eat one and freeze the rest! I cook them, let them cool, slip them into a ziplock baggie and into the freezer. They can then be popped in the oven frozen (they need to cook at least an hour at 300ish with the crust covered with pieces of foil so it doesn't overbrown) and voila!

We've been using the 6th edition for our spine for the last two years. I didn't find the study guides and other supplements to be all that useful. I take the topics in Spielvogel and then search out other resources on my own. We have a book called "How It Happened", for instance, that is primary accounts of events through history. My dd is also reading Tindall's "America" along side, as well as listening to the TC on US History because the Spielvogel doesn't cover US History. We just insert it chronologically. Sometimes the suggested readings for further info listed at the end of the chapter are useful but often I find something else by just fishing around at the library. We've enjoyed reading Winston Churchill's history along side as well. I would say the Spielvogel comprises about 30% of our reading overall. It's not too exciting. HTH!

You might be interested in reading reviews of a lot of Algebra I texts, including Foerster and Dolciani among others, on http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for reviews.

I agree, read the whole thing. It's not long and everyone loved it. Great illustrations.

I'm looking for continuing our math sequence after Foerster's Algebra I and Jacob's Geometry. Are these the same books or not? Algebra and Trigonometry: Functions and Applications vs. Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry? Any suggestions about where to buy Foersters Algebra II that's not going to break the bank? That is, student text, TE, Solutions manual and Tests.

We're also using Chemistry LabPaq and finding it very satisfactory. Good supporting materials, too.

If you're homeschooling, you're still required to take Algebra I in 9th grade, or is it because you're using the online PS course? I don't think thrusting him into Algebra before he's ready is doing him any favors, so could you use materials at his level that are not connected to the PS? Especially since you were seeing progress in the previous year?

She's still very young! Give it time and keep reading aloud a lot and I bet in a few years it'll be just fine. I've got one who's now 15 whose nose I can't get out of a book, ever, and she didn't get going until 3rd grade. I think reading great stuff aloud so she develops a love of the stories is the most important hook.

Thanks so much. What are the labs like? I'm not familiar with that part of the program.

Can anyone out there give me ISBNs for Foersters Algebra II, especially older editions? I need the student text, teachers guide and answer key. Thanks so much, I figure I'd better start searching for it now for next year!

You can get it for under $10 used, paperback, at Amazon, if that helps your decision. It sure looks like a great book, but you could probably cobble together the same effect with library books, and go into greater detail.

:lurk5:

We are using this year and the girls are really enjoying it. We're probably going to return to Classical Writing next year, but it's been a refreshing change. We've been building a list of the main point of each chapter and they are trying to apply the ideas to all of their writing, as well as doing the assignments in the book.