I forgot one. Ooma-- It's a voice over internet thing where I can get a home phone with call waiting, caller id, and unlimited long distance for under $5 a month. If I wanted all these features with the local phone company and didn't want to "bundle", I would be paying over $50 a month. Sometimes it's futzy which I think is more of an internet issue at times, but I'm willing to deal with some issues to save this much money.

Flashmaster - It's a handheld device but well worth it. I'm using it on child #3 now and so far, all of them have good math fact recall. It's not fun and not a game, but it does flashcards for me so I don't have to sit there and do it. I know it's crazy expensive for what it is, but it's been used daily when school is in session for 3 kids and 11 years of use.

Hair clippers. Ours are still going strong with three boys -- the oldest is 17. My Bosch mixer. I have made really healthy bread with it for 13 years now. 10 minutes of my time and a candy thermometer to learn how to make yogurt in my oven.

I'm the dissenter here. I like IEW writing and use it with Rod and Staff English. I guess there just wasn't a weekly writing activity to keep skills up. I skip all the writing activities in R&S. That being said, in level 5, there are some nice instructions on how to outline information for a report.

Where do all you people in Colorado Springs live?!?! I've been here a year and have had trouble just connecting with other homeschool moms! There's a national park we've gone to (can't remember the name) where you're at the top of the mountain and can see the tops of other mountains. It's about 1/2 hour up the mountain and very pretty. I think the Cheyenne Mountain zoo is really cool but it's not for the out of shape! The hills there will take some effort. We bring our child in a wheelchair and it is a workout! We did go to the top of Pike's Peak and I thought it was worth the cost. The ride up is pretty. You don't spend much time at the top and it is hard to breathe up there. Really, how many times do you get the opportunity to stand at the top of a large mountain? We had visitors come and take the tram to the top only to have a storm roll in with thunder and lightning. They all had to take shelter in the shop at the top. They won't forget that trip!

We live in Colorado Springs. There's a ton to do here including several cool places to hike. You could spend a week here and have plenty to do. Then, if you drive up to Winter Park or Estes park (2-3 hours away or so), you could stay at a YMCA camp and have another whole week of really fun things to do. YMCA camps have cottages and cabins you can rent that are pretty basic. Since it's dry (at least in Colorado Springs), we don't have mosquitoes. The weather also as a result is a non-humid heat which makes it so much more comfortable.

I would agree that co-ops don't necessarily make friends. We moved a year ago from a place where the neighborhood had built in friends to a place where most kids are over scheduled and don't have free time. I had a 15 year old who needs friends and an 11 year old who could care less. We found a church that had a good youth group and that has satisfied the 15 year old's need. The 11 year old and his 8 year old sister go to a once a week homeschool enrichment program through a public charter school. While the two youngest have made "school" friends, they don't seem to want to get together outside of school. We too are the homeschoolers that are pretty much staying home and not involved in tons of activities outside of the home. That being said, I did consider CC for a while when we moved because of the social aspect and an additional reason. If I'm going to spend time carting kids to extra educational opportunities, I want to make sure it's worth my time. I have no desire to join a co-op so my kids can learn crafts or talk about American girl stories so that I can feel like they're getting some socialization with other people time. I want it to enhance my homeschool. So, that is why I considered CC for a bit. Maybe join a co-op that helps you with some subjects and hope that the friends come with it? That way, if the friend thing is a bust, at least you got some extra help with some homeschool subjects.

You could try it, take the placement test and see what they say. He may do just fine. Be very aware though that the English department of Potter's school is considered honors level. I feel like my 15 year old has gotten a very solid grounding in writing with the Potter's school. Overall, I am very please with the quality of education my 15 year old has gotten from his classes there. Narnia is a great class.

My will be 6th grader will be taking Writing Fundamentals 6 at the Potter's School next year. My other ds took the Narnia class in 7th and he was pretty advanced for his age. Narnia focuses a lot on writing a thesis and defending it. Most likely, they'll have you do a placement test to see if his writing is up to speed for that level. The writing at the Potter's school is pretty academic and they'll make him get rid of all of his "be" verbs (am, is, are, etc). I would suggest you enroll him in a lower class. Either way, they're going to make him take a placement test.

My ds has been a nicer 15 than he was at 14. I'm a little more scared about the dd and if timetables are more correct, we should both be going through major hormonal changes at about the same time. I've already warned dh. He has no idea what's coming.

I have been tossing this curriculum (Medievals) around for a while. We are doing Sonlight right now and like it well enough, but I want to challenge my ds who will be 12 a little more with comprehension questions and I do really want to read history and read alouds once for my will be 3rd and 6th graders. With Sonlight, I'm doing two different cores because of the age span and I know I will wear out with that schedule in no time. I have Tapestry of Grace, but it's just book lists at the 7th grade and under students and I honestly, I don't like their core books for the history. So, tell me why or why not I would like Biblioplan!

We payed a per child fee to a worker monthly with personal checks. Each family was responsible for their own payment. The director made sure the nursery worker was paid properly.

I have an upcoming 6th grader (with a tag along 3rd grader) and am looking into using one of the Jay Wile Elementary books. Which one would be best able to prepare him for the Apologia General Science in 7th? I will have a co-op opportunity for him in 7th which would do the experiments for that curriculum, so I really want to stay in this direction.

We did. We loved our community, had a great support system, and had a wheelchair accessible home for our son. What we also had was 6+ months of winter, "polar vortexes", little sun for those winter months, an hour commute for dh, and cold so bad my kids couldn't play outside for weeks because of frostbite concerns on exposed skin. So, we thought about moving to someplace different. Then my husband lost his job and we thought we would have to move anyway to be closer to a job in a major city. So, we picked something totally different for both of us. We left our midwestern roots and are now living near mountains. Yes, it still snows during the winter, but it's much milder and snow doesn't last very long. Also, THE SUN!!! We get sun 300 days a year. It has made a huge difference in my mood during the winter. Also, we do have family that we would love to be closer to, but due to a lot of small reasons and one huge reason, we just can't move near my family (or his) and not go bankrupt. We had lived in our little town for 17 years and thought we would live there forever.

My ds who is 11 read books like "Great Illustrated Classics" and some graphic novels of classic stories. He has some desire to read the "real" classic now that he's older. That did not work with his older brother though. He wouldn't even read the great illustrated classics and now only reads because he has to for school. I think part of it is the lack of books for boys that don't involve sports or wizardry.

We are visiting the in-laws in June. They live north of San Diego in Carlsbad. We have the Lego Land thing and possibly Sea World, but are there other ideas? We have a child in a wheelchair so crowds are doable, but if I can avoid them, I do. This will be our second "real" vacation with the kids in 17 years. We usually just go to Grandma's house which is not always considered a vacation. Thanks!

Is there something wrong with this? I have a prescription for my son and it was $20 WITH insurance. I'm wondering if there is something nasty in it.

It depends upon the tutor. We had an awesome tutor and it made the program fun and very worthwhile. A bad tutor could make a large mess of that program easily.

We're having a blizzard. My steel door is caving in from the 60 mph winds and until I stuffed plastic bags in the crack, I had snow blowing into my home. Our trampoline took a little ride over our fence and is now sitting without it's legs on the ground. Hopefully, it won't go anywhere because when my dh tried to move the thing, it almost took him out. My house feels like it's going to break at the seams.

What about home health? I've lived in two different states now where there is a shortage of workers. It seems like the hours are flexible enough to where they can pick times they work. In Colorado for example, you need to get a Certified Nursing Assistance license which takes about a month. Granted, you may need to deal with the yucko stuff of nursing, but it pays better than a Target job usually.

It's the eastern hemisphere research pages. They have them with Sonlight also. It's a special feature with that core only.

My daughter is 8 and math is the one subject that is wrecking our homeschool relationship. She was doing Saxon 3 and it was starting to outpace her. The other problem with Saxon is that past Saxon 3, it would require her to write out problems which would take her forever to do. ADD along with a perfectionist side means that if she has to write out problems, math will take longer than her tolerance for it would last. I tried switching to Rod and Staff math 3 and having her write in the textbook. She has the ability, but I think the number of problems is getting to her. Yes, I could just limit the problems, but just seeing all those problems even knowing she doesn't have to do them all is immediately overwhelming and discouragement sets in. Finally, she does understand subtraction, addition, and is starting some multiplication, but her number chart sense is severely lacking. For example, if I asked her to find a number between 15 and 22, we would have to get out the number chart, put pennies on every number between 15 and 22 and then figure it out from there. If she a mental math problem like 25-10, she hasn't been able to figure out how to tackle this without manipulative (which is fine, but she just doesn't have that number line in her head). I think her brain isn't ready for math without manipulatives (I know it will get there, but it's hard to progress in math when they expect that knowledge has sunk in). My thoughts: Singapore: I've been thinking about this a lot for some reason - but, I feel like this would get over her head quickly because she is so dependent upon manipulatives still. She needs constant review. I used this with two of my kids and the lack of review built in was a definite problem. Saxon: She needs a workbook or book she can write in. Math-U-See: Good number of problems, but not enough review? The sequence is a little weird also. Horizons: Would color help just to make it more interesting? Do they have review built in?

My 15 year old went through a driver's training course just recently. Basically, the gist of the course was that teen drivers are very inexperienced and just all around unsafe drivers. It scared him. Granted, it also taught him other stuff he needs to know but he's a little frightened of driving now and doesn't really want to do it. I told him it's a life skill and he needs to know, but we'll stick to back roads and quiet housing development streets for a while. He also doesn't have a car that he can drive regularly nor any hopes to get a car, so why bother learning to drive?

Alpha phonics. It's just word lists and sentences - nothing about it screams, "I'm teaching a 6 year old!"

My son is using this: http://www.cornerstonecurriculum.com/Curriculum/SP/sp.htm in a potter's school class.