You know what's even funnier? My friend's husband took a picture of himself looking pensive and put one of those Ryan Gosling quotes on it. She's putting it up in her homeschool room. It was HILARIOUS only because I actually know the guy. Tell your husband to do that. Beth

There is an active homeschooling organization called Mache and if you go to their site, Mache.org, you can find out about most everything you need. All you need to do right now for homeschooling regulations is fill out a form found on their site that says you're homeschooling and have your kids seven and older take a standardized test once per year (no one sees the results but you and you don't have to turn them in). I live about 40 miles south of the twin cities in a more rural area. My husband commutes up to Bloomington which is not too far from Minneapolis. There are plenty of areas not too far from the twin cities that could be considered rural with larger plots of land available. There are also plenty of spirit filled churches around the Minneapolis area. If you pm me, I could direct you to a few. Beth

I'm using Core H with my advanced 5th grader - it seems to be right at his level. I would look into a program that offers a bit more rhetorical questions (sonlight seems to have just comprehension questions) and longer books. My 5th grader can read through the whole day of reading in less than 30 minutes. Beth

You might be from Chicago if distance is measured in time rather than miles.

I did something similar with my then 4th grader when we brought my daughter home from China. I needed my ds to be as independent as possible which meant that I bought a computer math program, a Sonlight core, and other things that made my life easier. It was totally worth it. Also, as you get into the upper years, curriculum is just going to get more expensive any way you look at it. I think you should get anything that will give him more independence. Also, my ds is doing a Sonlight core independently this year and as others say around here - the curriculum that gets done is the best curriculum. Beth

I've never read the books, but from what I've heard, they sound very legalistic - i.e. "if you don't do this, your kids will turn out horribly". Some people who read these books have grace - meaning they can take the "good" from the books and just apply that without going to an extreme. The ones that concern me are the ones who are law based themselves. The ones who will not have discernment about what is too far and seeing the Pearls as the final authority. These are the people you hear about that do abuse their children based on the writings from their books or stay with an abusive, adulterous husband based on other writings. I think that's the danger in those books is that they are legalistic. I have a group of friends who are reading their book on submission. You can tell who in the group is law based and who is grace based. The ones who are law based are feeling guilty and horrible about how they are treating their husband and their marriage. The ones who are grace based are taking some gems out of the book and happily improving their marriage. So, I think the right person can read these books and be fine, but an insecure woman who sees them as the final authority can be crushed by them. Beth

I'm not an IEW lover, but I still use it. Ds's papers do seem very stilted, but he's doing much better than when I tried other programs without much success. It gets hard to cram a lot of dress ups into a paragraph and sometimes, it would be better to not have so many, but it's teaching a skill. He won't always write like this. I don't know how to teach writing and IEW really holds my hand. I'm also not a lover of DVD programs. I like a good TM and IEW just doesn't have that. The TM is a bunch of notes from the DVD. All that being said, I am still doing this program and am starting ds#3 with simple paragraphs next year. I haven't found anything better that helps me to teach writing. So, you can dislike a program, but still use it successfully. Beth

Through CC, we've memorized squares up to 15 and cubes up to 10s to a song. In ds's pre-algebra, he has used this knowledge over and over again. Beth

No, they aren't making people buy their new manual, but you will have to "purchase" the new timeline somehow through C3, the new cards, or the memory work CD. That is not included in the free updates. Beth

I got to the point you're at with ECC and started combining 2 weeks into 1 and found I didn't really miss out on anything. You get a whole extra quarter at the end that you can do and not feel guilty that you didn't complete the whole program. :tongue_smilie: Beth

We add R&S English, Latin, Math, Science, and Logic. I like to use IEW for writing (which can also double as a vocabulary program if you use the theme books) just because I am so writing phobic and needed something more concrete. I'll probably add in some bits and pieces of the writing program when I like the selection. Beth

:iagree: I'd like to add that we've only done it one year. My youngest two love it and look forward to it each week. My four year old was just not ready despite the fact that she loves it. She has way too much energy for that type of focused work and she has a GREAT tutor. We won't be returning because I can do the memory work at home and the 1 day away was just too much for our family (I was scrambling a lot to figure out how to get care for my oldest with special needs). We will continue the memory work somewhat because memorization really does help grow your brain. If you need the accountability for memory work, it may be worthwhile for you. A thing to consider is that the official rules with CC is that if the 4 year old is on campus, they have to be enrolled. Some directors will let that slide a bit though. Beth

:iagree: I don't buy that one either. Beth

Reading this thread and this article has helped me to see what may be the next big argument against homeschooling. We've proved that we can give a decent or superior education, we're proving that homeschool kids have decent social skills, so my guess is that the next big argument against homeschooling is that we're helping to destroy the public schools by taking out the "smart children. From the article: "the uptick in secular homeschooling may be, in part, a backlash against this narrow education agenda—a growing body of research suggests “peer effects†have a large impact on student achievement. Low-income kids earn higher test scores when they attend school alongside middle-class kids, while the test scores of privileged children are impervious to the influence of less-privileged peers. So when college-educated parents pull their kids out of public schools, whether for private school or homeschooling, they make it harder for less-advantaged children to thrive." It's the homeschoolers fault! The reason that public schools are failing is because the parents who would be more involved in their children's school are now homeschooling and those smart kids who are now homeschooled are no longer helping their less-advantaged peers to thrive. Watch and wait. Beth

You all made me realize something. I have a new neighbor. I told her we homeschool and was just making conversation about how the hardest part was me learning Latin. I wasn't bragging, but just was mentioning that I may as well learn it since I have to teach 2 more children it. I think it has given me super mom status. Beth

I did the delay grammar thing until ds#2 got into IEW writing in 3rd grade. Then I realized that him not knowing the basic parts of speech put him at a disadvantage with learning how to write. So ds#3 is learning basic grammar terms. He has at least memorized the terms and while he can't find them in a sentence all the time, he can add adjectives and other things to a sentence. Beth

We've had chicken pox parties going around our neck of the woods. The reason you quarantine your family is because it starts to spread to those who did not want their children to get chicken pox. We've had kids playing with non exposed kids 15 days after they were exposed (with the thought that they didn't get chicken pox). Of course, they exposed everyone they played with because the originally exposed kid got it day 17. Those kids then exposed other kids at church and youth choirs because they didn't realized they had been exposed...It has gotten a little out of control in my opinion. There have been some adults that have gotten it also. I've chosen not to expose my children purposely also because there can be side effects and the knowing that I did this to my children on purpose would be unbearable. Beth

My ds#2 has an overbite that looks exactly like his dads. He had braces on 3 teeth in the back of his mouth because one molar came in crooked and got stuck 1/2 way up. That is all this kid most likely will get. His teeth are straight and his dad's teeth are fine so I suspect his will be too. My other 3 are a different story - my oldest special needs child has a mouthful of mess but even then we're trying to avoid braces. My 3rd has a bunch of different problems even I can see and my 4th has a cleft palate, so I'm happy to have 1 who doesn't look like he'll need much. Beth

Saxon

I went from HWOT print to A Reason for Handwriting cursive (the transition book although I don't know if you need it--) with no problem for that age. Beth

Trying again:001_smile:

Bump - Someone has thought of this I'm sure!

History - Year 1 TOG dialectic level Math - Saxon Algebra 1 Logic: Fallacy detective Science: Apologia General Science English: Rod and Staff level 6 Writing: IEW themed book - Ancients Level B Foreign Language: Finish First Form Latin and start Second Form Latin (LOVE this series!) I'd like to include him learning how to draw all the countries, but not sure if he'll have the energy with all that I'm piling on him. He's a younger 7th grader. Beth

I am once again rethinking my science - mostly because #2 homeschool child needs a science program next year. Can you all help me figure out what I really want? My ds #2 is a very science thinking kid. I've done a mishmash of curriculums for him, but despite all that, he really has a good science foundation. Ds#3 is very different of course - I still haven't figured out his bent - he's an out of the box thinker. I'm curious about the whole nature study thing. BUT, I live in Minnesota where winter exists 6 months out of the nine month school year and I know myself well enough to know we will not go outside for nature study. I also don't school in the summer due to how my family is set up, so I'm thinking of a compromise with Apologia explorer series. The big question is - will this program prepare him (and dd) for upper level sciences (if you're going to answer this one, you need to have a child in the upper level sciences)? What about nature studies? What about the WTM cycle? They all appeal to me! Beth

Another vote for IEW. I am NOT a writer - I have the math brain of the family. I was very scared of how to teach writing. BUT, IEW gets the job done. It's easy to teach using the DVDs or a themed program and easy to grade because in the themed program, they give you a list with points. Points go to each part of the essay they were supposed to complete. Yes, it can be formulaic when they're learning how to write, but eventually, you take away the what they "have" to put in the paper, and their writing naturally includes some really nice words and sentence structures. Beth