We are alternating also, although my 9th grader is just doing Fix It now after finishing R&S 6. My 6th grader is doing R&S 6 and Fix It #1 (Nose Tree). We do 3 R&S lessons a week and then she does a couple of days of Fix It at a time and I mark it. Since it's only the first book and she's keen, she is very independent with it. I don't think we will do R&S 7. I'm planning on starting my last one with Nose Tree next year along with R&S 5, although she will need more help. We'll see how it goes. I really like the practical feel of Fix It added to the in-depth lessons of R&S. I'm learning a lot! I should mention that we don't do the writing portions of R&S, only the grammar, we are using IEW for writing.

My kids, LOVED D'Aulaire's. We read it out loud and they have read it many times since, in part due to the pictures and the easier language. It just seemed very accessible for them. I don't know if the stories are watered down too much, but they are very kid-friendly and skim over a lot of more mature themes in a nice way, I thought. I have some other books around but this was the favourite. Hope you find something you like!

Well, I don't have any advice, but I can commiserate. My oldest was never cooperative in much of anything, least of all my fabulous morning together-time ideas, and he just sucked the life out of the whole situation for everyone :glare: I still wish it would work out, and every summer (like now) I have grand plans, but by a month in we are down to a morning "meeting" that includes prayer, sometimes discussing a current event, and syncing our calendars. Not very inspiring :mellow: And not what I wish it was. I'll be gleaning any great suggestions that pop up here!

Well, I don't know anything about k-cups but we get Starbucks decaf espresso beans and make americanos at home. Yum!

I know some kids who test every year, but that does get to be a heavy load. My ds is going to do grade 8 this year which will allow him to teach the earlier conservatory grades. I'm thrilled he wants to do that because if he wasn't on board I wouldn't die on that hill! I did up to grade 6 and can play most anything I like, with some work. I've told my kids that they at least need to do grade 4, as I feel like the basics are there and they could pick it up again later. I hope that helps a little!

My ds much prefers our provincial science texts over any "homeschool" curriculum I've found, and has for several years. At first I felt like a failure, but really? There is nothing wrong with it and he is excelling 😀

I'm sorry to hear your news. I just did this last year, in fact you can check my blog to see how it went ; ) You can homeschool through surgery, chemo and radiation. Especially with older kids. I got my diagnosis in September, right before we started back to school and finished radiation and the worst of my chemo right before we finished school in June. We chose to keep the kids home in order to minimize the changes that would be happening. My biggest concern was having them see me go through terrible chemo side effects, but you know the clinic managed my symptoms so well and I had a wonderful naturopathic oncologist and really the symptoms were very manageable. For the kids probably the biggest issue was my hair, or lack thereof. I managed to be up almost every morning, even though I may have had to go lay down after a while. I had a nap most afternoons as the chemo wore on. I usually managed to make some dinner and sit with the family (that was always wonderful). I schooled from the couch a lot. It really wasn't unlike being pregnant! You should see how it goes, it's different for everyone and if you take care of yourself very well during the process you may be surprised at how well you do. Eating well (lots of high nutrient foods and no sugar), daily walks outside, lots of water... all were immensely helpful. I did continue to enjoy my daily coffee even though I cut out the sugar : ) Anyway, it's not the ideal homeschool year, but it can be done! It has sure made me enjoy this year... every bit of it. Best wishes to you...

The best combo I've found for us is Rightstart A-E and then moving on to Saxon in grade 5. BJU - used through 6th - too teacher intensive, not enough practice, the math didn't stick. Math Mammoth - used in middle grades, went too many different directions at once for my crew. R&S - grade 1, we just preferred the fun format of Rightstart. Miquon - never quite got the hang of it, DS didn't like it at all! Thinkwell - grade 7 - total waste of money for us, not enough practice and boring - switched to Saxon Righstart provided a great foundation for understanding how numbers work, and it was fun (mostly!)! Saxon has been a huge hit for us - my last resort. I would never have thought it would work. The kids love knowing exactly how much work they have to do each day, theylove the fact that there are no "scary" lessons presenting some huge difficult concept, and they love getting great math marks, even on our standardized tests ; )

I just finished treatment for invasive bc in the spring, but turned down the tamoxifen on my naturopathic oncologist's advice. I now take 2 tblsp of ground flax/day as it is is showing very promising results and none of the side effects. My naturopath helped me greatly during this whole adventure. I've also largely cut out sugar, try to exercise 5+ hours a week and have removed most processed foods. There's no sure fire solution but I think we can turn the tables in our favour and at least be able to say we are doing the best we can! I would encourage you to see if there is a naturopath specializing is cancer near you. Mine has been worth every penny!

We did the Norwegian island hopper cruise a few years back. Outside of the boat being way too air conditioned for my liking, and it actually being quite wavy ( a few lost their lunches) we enjoyed it. A super way to see a lot of the islands that would otherwise be too expensive. We flew to and from Honolulu rather than sailing from the mainland, not being fans of open ocean travel!

I used some of this last year with my ninth grade son. We did the Raven and Rip van Winkle (he's not willing literature student! Lol) It was quite challenging, but I thought the questions were excellent. Because I knew it was going to be difficult for him I specifically picked selections that I thought he would enjoy the best. I plan to use it with my other children but I don't expect any one of them to work through the whole book as we use lots of other materials as well. I plan to pick one or two selections per year based on their interest in skill level. I've done the same with the grammar stage poetry. Not sure if that helps any but I really love this resource!

I'm just moving on to level G with my 5th grader and D with my 3rd grader. I didn't enjoy level C, but D and E have been great. I'm referring to the first edition here. I really wish I'd done RS with my first 2. My younger 2 have a much better understanding of basic concepts! So I'd say worth every penny!

Wow, I can't believe so many people do stockings! My mom stopped when I wasn't home anymore. My dh and I have talked about stockings but he's the kind of guy who likes a few quality items rather than a bunch of "stuff". Yes, he's hard to buy for! (just like my father in law)! He'd rather go buy his own toothbrush iykwim. It makes it equally hard for him to fill stockings, so I don't make him ;). I guess we'll keep doing it for the kids as long as it is still enjoyable and affordable. So far so good!

I just joined this club as well! I had a partial just yesterday 😊 And am recuperating on the couch. I don't have any advice on what you are specifically asking but I'll be praying for you. If you have any questions just ask. Not the club of choice, is it!

I have to post because I'm so glad to hear that someone else does the tab-thing! I have a zillion tabs open all the time, it's my main method of research and reminders for all things. It's been very satisfying to close the curriculum ones one by one as I've made my choices this year. Other than that, I have a table I make in Pages, colour coded by child with all their subjects listed under their name, in their colour. I list all the serious possibilities for each subject including price and source and I just keep updating the document and printing it to carry around with me. By September (or July if it's a really good year) I have a lovely, all-in-one table of our curricula for the year. I'm on my 5th or 6th printing of it this year, however and I'm not done yet. :(