We're using Ambleside Online this year, with most books from the library. I've spent about $50 on books that I wanted to *have* rather than just borrow. Math we're using Aleks.com, which is $20/month (so over 9 months, that's $180) Science we're using an old textbook of graduated step-son's that he used in 11th grade (free). Dd says it's very, very easy and wants to know if she can do something else, so we may need to add to that. Spanish we're using Destinos, and I got the texts and workbook and prep guide (which it turns out I didn't need) for about $20. Literature we're doing Literary Lessons through Lord of the Rings, which cost about $120. Dd is doing Novel Writing with IEW's materials with a friend. That was about $25 I want to say. We bought a watercolor book plus materials, for about $50. Everything else is making use of things we already have or getting classical CDs and such from the library. So... $405. That doesn't include the two semesters of Landry Academy, because I don't consider those to be required courses. We are using them as electives, and they are science courses and we have science in that biology book if we needed to cut costs.

I will say that it is much harder to homeschool children who are happy in ps and DO NOT WANT to homeschool. If you're satisfied and they're happy and doing well, keep them there. Maybe ask them if they'd like to homeschool again. Consistency is something I struggle with frequently, but I win the battle more often than not. It's taken years to find our groove. Everytime I think I've got it, a wrench is thrown into the works. Right now it's an unexpected cross-country move and job change.

Very mature. :)

That is fabulous. :D

Me, too. Even my mom, who is usually in love with dd, has been telling her lately how bratty she's being.

If you have more of a Charlotte Mason bent, remember SHORT LESSONS. Doing 4 or 5 math programs is only ok if you're doing math for short lessons .... not all on one day, but as a previous poster said, a block of TIME and choosing to do math however you wish or using whichever material for that short block of time. We did a Miquon/Singapore combo when dd was young and I loved it .... but we still only did 15-20 min/day, and dd would choose which program she wanted to do that day. Having a 16 yo now, I can honestly say that we did way too much when dd was young. Most of it she didn't even remember *doing* 2 years later, let alone remember the material. Relax, take deep breaths, and remember that you have plenty of time as he gets older to get to all these things.

It was another student in the same class, one who had been held back a year so was a year older, but still in 1st grade. The teacher saw absolutely nothing wrong with it, and the fact that dd hated it the teacher saw as proof that she was doing the right thing. She felt that dd would learn to control herself more quickly since she hated having another student in charge of her. We felt it was unacceptable, too, and was a big reason why we pulled her out shortly thereafter.

We have daily expectations (part of living in the house) but we also have extra that dd is assigned that she earns money for. We do feel it is important for her to see that work/effort=$$$ and no work/effort=no $. The things she earns money for -- helping with our weekly clean (this is a multi-hour job), cleaning out the pet cage, change sheets/wash windows & mirrors/vacuum, take out trash & recycling, clean up the dog poo, and mopping the floors. She also is expected on a daily basis to help with morning/evening routines, pick up, dishes, take care of the dog & give him his meds, help with laundry, help with baby, help get dinner prepared, etc.

So you found High School Biology in Your Home to be well done? I've wanted to try it based on the website, but have heard some horrible reviews of it, like there are numerous typos and the answer guide doesn't line up with the questions in many areas. When I asked for clarification, I was told that it's not that the answers are wrong, it's that they don't correspond at all to the questions, like asking someone what color the dog was and getting the answer 14. Did you find this to be true? We're using Landry Academy for Forensic Anatomy and Research Methods this year and dd loves it.

don't know how old your kids are, but maybe in the other terms you could write a play of your own?

Even with my older dd (16), when we took a month off of math she lost almost everything she'd learned that year ... we were doing Aleks.com, and she went from 66% to 25% mastery. It took us a full month to catch back up. NO TOTAL MATH BREAKS!

Thanks! I wish there were someplace that talked a bit about them, though. I got the impression from that site that it's just a list, not necessarily vetted. Is that an accurate impression?

When dd was in 1st, she was assigned a 'buddy' to keep her in line (help her with her impulse control). We hated it -- should another student be put in charge of mine? because that's how the teacher phrased it 'in charge' -- and we pulled dd very soon after I found out.

Go to the doctor, but if you're not allergic to tylenol, try that too. Sometimes tylenol works better on a fever, sometimes motrin.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

We are doing a whole-book based study rather than using textbooks this year. I looked up the time period on Amazon and used All Through the Ages as a resource, and then chose a mix of biographies and books about a specific year. I can't give you specific books because we're doing Middle Ages, but we plan to do the same thing with each time period.

We do a Charlotte Mason/literature type program (a combo of Ambleside and our own choices) and dd does about 150 pages/week. None of it is textbook, which would significantly change the count (it's a lot easier to read 20 pages of Lord of the Rings or She-Wolves than 20 pages of physics, like regentrude said).

Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's

The Yanks are Coming (WW1)

I agree. At 5th grade, dd was very wiggly, hands on, did not like to read much or write at ALL but loved to be read to. Now in 10th, she's started writing several books and asked for A Guide to Writing Your Novel (IEW), is doing a modified version of Ambleside Online with no hands on components at her request, and only occasionally likes to be read to. She's loving Aleks.com for math, which she hated 3 years ago. And every 4-6 weeks, we have a check-in where we evaluate what's working, what's not, and what we can change to be more effective. So ... in another 2 months, she may have outgrown Aleks.com or be more than ready to be out of the Middle Ages and want to do an indepth study of the Regency complete with handsewn dress and corset.

Best find: Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care, Maintenance, and Repair by Michael and Linda Gray http://www.autoupkeep.com Absolutely excellent text and workbook! The author is a former high school auto shop teacher and later administrator, and plans to homeschool his own son. The text was developed for public high school but is very homeschool friendly. No fluff, plenty of illustrations, *real* activities with clear step by step instructions, a ton of useful information in a very accessible format. This was just a fabulous course, and dd learned *so much* about basic car care, maintenance, and ... um... repair (hence the name). It goes in depth into each of the car's systems, with a chapter each on lubrication, suspension, fuel system, cooling, ignition, how an engine works, buying a car, alternative fuels, etc. I can't say enough about this course!

Unfortunately, I *am* the live tutor LOL Seriously though, it's not an option. I tutored the neighbor kids who were in the high school. We are *very* rural -- nearest grocery store is over 35 miles away -- and it just isn't available here. To go to a place in town where she could be tutored would be $20/day in gas and almost 2 hours in the car. We always did a lot of conceptual work; I think her biggest problem is now she can't do the problems in her head and she resists writing things down. It's not that she doesn't know how to work with negative numbers, she just doesn't *see* the negative when she writes it down and moves to a different part of the problem. I think Saxon has also contributed to the problem. For example, today she told me that her answer couldn't possibly be wrong because if it was, she wouldn't have gotten a whole number because Saxon always writes their problems so that whole numbers are correct and decimals are wrong. She did learn a LOT with AoPS, she just hates it now. It wasn't the challenge problems that were sticking points -- we just skipped those altogether -- it was the end-of-chapter review. The 2 or 3 problem end-of-section reviews were very easy. I probably pushed her way too much with AoPS, and now she doesn't even want to look at the book. Maybe next year (sigh) THANK YOU!!! good to know! And makes me feel so much better!

Yes, it's our first experience with Saxon. I swore I would never use it.

You know, I was thinking about that as I wrote my message out. I think we're going to try it, with Khan Academy videos. Dd is receptive -- she absolutely does NOT want to start over with a new curriculum yet again. She just told me that she feels like Saxon's instructions are very confusing, and just when she finally understands how to do certain problems, they stop putting them in the daily work. When they do show up again, she's forgotten how to do them. I wish Aleks weren't so expensive! We're going to do the free trial, but it's only 48 hours.