This is a great list - thank you! I have a follow-up question. For those that have used Keystone AP, how was your experience? DD is considering this for next year and will probably be living away from home (ie, I'm not really able to provide support). We are also looking at U of Indiana, so any comparison of pros and cons is welcome. Thanks!

I'm from NY (also near Albany) and I'd strongly suggest posting some of your questions on the Capital District Homeschoolers FaceBook group or CDHE Yahoo group. You might also check out the NYHEN website for homeschool regulations. As far as I know, you have a fair amount of flexibility in terms of online and self-designed courses. I would check with the colleges you're interested in, to see if they require anything in particular. Both HVCC and SUNY ACC offer dual enrollment and you can find information about that on their websites. You do need a parent/guardian to submit paperwork to your school district, and that person (or a class teacher) would provide grades and be responsible for a transcript. You'll be able to get much more detailed info from the local groups I mentioned - I'd start there. Good luck!

Any other recommendations from people who've integrated Geometry and Algebra 2? We're using Foerster's for Algebra 1 this year. DD was not crazy about NEM or AoPS, but a mastery approach has generally worked for her over the years. Part of her issue with both NEM and AoPS was the amount of text on the page, and she doesn't love math enough to fight for the solutions the way AoPS requires. Thanks! Heather

mschickie, I'm so glad you posted this! I am weighing whether DD will homeschool for 9th grade next year, and assumed it was 180 hours of instruction per credit. I've been unsure in part because DD is pretty laid back and I'd have to really ride her to get 180 hours per subject. That said, I think I'll aim for Carnegie credits as a guide. Did you actually keep track of hours for your kids?

Thanks BlsdMama, I am pretty comfortable with algebra, and DD took the book as soon as it came into the house. I looked through a copy before purchasing, but didn't notice the answers in the back! Maybe I'll hold off on further buying for a few chapters and see how it goes.

My DD, 13, has always maintained that she doesn't care if school takes all day.. <Insert scream here.> That said, I've used almost identical strategies listed by Momto2Ns and it is improving. The area that she has always dragged her feet is writing - in every subject. I'm asking for more note-taking this year, less independent writing, and giving essay assignments when it's most important. I guess that's a long way of saying that I want more effort on fewer assignments so that the work is done thoughtfully rather than sloppily or not at all. What has worked for us: -VERY clear expectations in a written checklist - I give a spreadsheet on Monday morning. With work times (45 mins math) and goals (complete Day 4 of WWS on Thursday). -Daily check-ins. -Better communication with DH about what needs to be completed. DD gets a spreadsheet, DH gets a clipboard with a list of what each kid needs to do at night. That's been a chronic weak spot for us until very recently, but when DH and I can get it together to be on the same page, the work gets done. If she gets too far behind, she loses privileges - screen time, friend time, etc. Sometimes she would rather hang around the house doing nothing than finish the assignment, and I am trying to just let that ride instead of asking her to finish. Eventually she gets sick of being bored and asks if she can do something, at which point she gets the "finish your work" speech. Hopefully without me yelling. Depends on the day. It's a work in progress. I did a LOT of yelling last year, and I didn't want to keep doing that. I am trying to give her more positive attention and provide more rewards (surprises, not bribes). I'm hoping she starts to connect the dots, eg, when we are done earlier, there is time to get bagels in the afternoon instead of doing more work. Good luck - and hang in there!

Thanks! I looked around for a used TM and was hoping I didn't need to spend another $80 on top of the price of the solutions manual. I think we'll manage with other resources (AoPS and Khan videos, etc.) if we run into trouble. Appreciate the link to isbn #s - the Prentice Hall website has so much stuff it would be easy to pick the wrong book.

For those of you using Foerster's Algebra 1, are you using the TM, or is there a separate book with the answer key? I know the TM has to be purchased directly from Prentice Hall, but I'm not quite sure what I need. And I hate to spend extra $$ if I don't need to. Thanks so much for your advice! Heather

I have only used TWJ a little bit over the past year, have spent more time using MCT. I think MCT gets challenging very quickly - my dc were not ready to get excited about subject complements and direct objects in third grade (Island level). That said, I do really love the materials, and there is not a lot of drill and kill type work outside of the grammar practice books. We switched this year to WWS for my 7th grader. It's a bit below her in terms of outlining instruction, but it the assignments are less overwhelming for her than the MCT - she was using Voyage level. We were at a point where we needed more step by step, breaking the process down. MCT does that but in a very different way, and the end of chapter assignments are very open-ended. That is something I liked, but my dc didn't. To be fair, my WWS/Voyage child does not like writing, though she does a decent job. She just wants to get through it, unless it's totally creative writing. We use TWJ to address the more free-flowing element, to keep the joy in writing. It comes out periodically when we need a break from the more structured/challenging material. So that's about as clear as mud. But I'd say TWJ can be used very early - my first grader participates. I would assess readiness for MCT to get the most out of it, but agree with the person who said it's also about joy of language. I'd say WWE/WWS is the most utilitarian, and does a good job of breaking the process into manageable steps. Less conceptual, more applied, if that makes sense.

I will have to check out Fresh Approach. I am not looking forward to DD's face when she sees the 700 page algebra books... I am generally a multiple-resource kind of gal too, and there's a certain pressure to complete a textbook, as opposed to multiple smaller books. I always feel as though I have to go in order from start to finish without skipping a single lesson. (OK, perhaps in the case of math that would not be a bad thing!)

@ txhomemom - Are you doing anything besides Key to Algebra this year? Just curious. I do like the idea of multiple resources in order to address gaps or provide a fresh perspective on a difficult topic. @ redsquirrel - I didn't know TOPS had math units, I will have to check those out. Good to know that even the company says it's either prep for Alg 1 or remedial for struggling students. Maybe I'll save the later books (which I've already got) in case DD needs extra practice next year.

OK, that's what my sense of this was. She had used Keys to Percents, Decimals, and Fractions, and one of the LOF Pre-Algebra books and enjoyed them, so when NEM was not working for us, it was an easy solution to jump back to that. She was definitely not ready for Foerster at 11.5 yrs when we started NEM. But as I started looking ahead to next year, and the possibility of ps for high school, there was no way she seemed ready to pick up the Geometry/Algebra 2 sequence after this. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. I'd looked at Jacobs and Foerster for Algebra 1, so perhaps I'll start re-evaluating those again.

DD12 is doing Keys to Algebra, currently almost done with book 4, and seems to be doing well. We started the year with Singapore NEM, which did not work for her at all, but I wanted a text with a richer scope and sequence. She's just started doing Singapore IP 6A (for spiral, mostly), but I am concerned that she's not getting appropriate breadth. Has anyone used Keys to Algebra as a primary text? If you supplemented, what did you use? And how has your child done with higher level math - Geometry, Algebra 2, etc.?

It's that way for us too. We bought our house before the real estate boom, and our town has significantly gentrified in the past 15 years. We could never afford to live here if we were first-time buyers. We bought our house for less than half of what it would sell for today. I think middle class is both a state of mind and a financial reality, and it does depend where you live, how many kids you have, etc. It's also things like extracurricular activities - town-sponsored sports vs. private lessons, etc. We are pretty comfortable, but it took a long time for us to escape the paycheck-to-paycheck thing. DH is self-employed, and his first few years in business were pretty lean. Back then we shared a car, no cell phone, no cable, no dining out. Now that he's established, we are financially middle class. Even when we were broke, we still felt like middle class people, though, because we were young, childless, and working toward bigger things. (Ahh, to be young and optimistic like that. How wonderful!)

I'm from NY, so I can't speak to FL specifics for you - sorry! I can tell you that the high school kids where my dds dance take 5 ballet classes/week plus pointe, plus jazz for some of them. A few take a private lesson weekly on top of class. All together, it's around 9-10 hours each week. Also, anne1456 is right - boys are free or reduced cost at many schools, so that ought to help keep expenses more manageable. A male teacher who can mentor your ds would also be great. Good luck to your ds, and bravo to you for supporting his dance ambitions. People have sometimes looked askance at me for support my dd in hers. Heather

I would second the recommendation for First Lego League. My DD1, 7th grade, is in her third year with a great coaching team (retired Air Force!), and DD2 is in her second year of Junior FLL. Their teams have worked on real-life applications of science, and for the competitions, they do a skit, present scientific research, design and program Lego robots, and learn how to create solutions to scientific problems. They also do a presentation on the team's core values - such as teamwork, gracious professionalism, etc. The bonus - my kids think this is an extracurricular activity. LOVE. Good luck- Heather

You might find the book Botany in a Day useful. It breaks down plants into families and gives the reader strategies for identifying things. I'd also highly recommend Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto's books, Keepers of the Earth, or Keepers of Life. They use Native American stories to introduce science/nature study concepts, then each story is followed by scientific information and activities. We used them as a spine for a unit on Native Americans and nature study. For succinct background on specific topics - ie, for a nature journal entry - they worked perfectly. And you could use some of the activities if they work for you. Good luck! Heather