Two years ago my husband was in Iraq for 2 months and as soon as he got back we were to put our house on the market and move. Needless to say I was very overwhelmed and didn't do much homeschooling during this time. Once we moved things settled down and homeschooling continued again. A year later my dd (12 at the time) and I were having a mother daughter dinner out, and we started talking about homeschool. We had just gone though a very bad year with attitude problems, most likely from hormones but still made our year rather tough. Anyway...she mentioned that she had felt bad when we weren't doing any school when we were in the process of selling the house and moving. I asked her if she still felt that she wasn't learning and she said no, things were fine now. I asked her why she always seemed to compain whenever it was time to work, and she said she didn't like doing it at the time, but afterwards she's glad she learned it. Now that I'm typing this, I've realized that I KNOW they will appreciate what I'm teaching them later if not now so their complaining doesn't bug me at all. (I have an open door policy here...if they don't like it they can open the door and go to the ps down the street :D.) But I've noticed a lot less complaining as well, although my dd still likes to inform me that none of her friends have to learn to diagramm sentences. So, to make a long story short, my kids love homeschool when it comes to subjects like history or science, but tolerate english, math, and latin.

Well, I plan on going jogging within the next hour. We're west coast here so it's only 11:15 as I'm posting this, but my kids are 11 and 13, so they can read their assigned reading for 30 min while I go jogging. I'll come back to post when I've completed it!

Well, I don't have any first hand knowledge about this, but maybe it's a way to make the child's heritage a part of his current family. It does seem like there's a lot of stories from adopted kids who say they always felt different from their adoptive families because of skin color or whatever. Maybe the families think that if they learn something about their child's birth heritage (language) then the child wont grow up feeling isolated or conflicted.

I've got to start hs pretty soon soI did just skim over some posts, forgive me if I'm just repeating what others have said. The four year cycle is just a way to organize your studies. There's no right or wrong time to do a subject. (At least until you get to highschool.) When you do decide to do chemistry, you really should check out Adventures with Atoms and Molecules. I did this with my dd was in 4th or 5th grades. (it was around that age.) The activities were VERY easy and a very concrete way to show chemistry. I agree that chemistry does seem rather abstract, but it really doesn't have to be. I know my response isn't dealing with your actual question, but I wanted to give you another curriculum option. Grammer stage chemistry can be rather easy and very fun.

Ditto. I actually purchased these microscopes when they were doing a group buy on them a few years back, and it's been really nice having it!

I think that's the problem with these books. They remind us of all the over the top crushes we had when we were teens. I totally felt like I was 16 again reading these books. (and yes, I think I have a crush on Edward too.)

Karen, I'm not saying I believe what I'm about to tell you, but just that this is what I was taught growing up. It was more merciful to completely end a wicked civilization so future children wouldn't be raised in sin and go to hell. Ultimately the immortal soul is more important than our mortal lives here on earth. A very simplistic answer, and since it really doesn't encompass was I believe NOW I don't want to defend or argue the point, just throwing it out there so you know what some of the beliefs are.

Heather, let me give you some advice to save you gas money. Take a deep breath and purchase books 2, 3, and 4 at the same time. I didn't want to admit I was going to read them all right away and had to make 3 different trips to the bookstore in one week to buy them. I thought I was being more frugal with my money by not purchasing them all at the same time. (because, you know, gas is so cheap these days.) I also had to deal with my 13 year old exclaiming "You're going to the bookstore AGAIN?" So I had to bribe my kids to keep from telling dh. I tell ya, the world of addiction and denial is not easy or cheap!

:svengo:

Oh--- I played the piano, flute, guitar, violin, bassoon, and messed around a little with the sax for a couple of months. I took choir, music theory, band, marching band, pit orchestra, and was in a private flute choir. I thought about majoring in music. I can sing in the shower and trust me, that's about the only place I should be singing!!!:D

Well, if you choose not to give the tests (which in my opinion are just like the worksheets) then you can do 4 a week. When my son used Abeka 1, he did every problem. But after that I had my kids do everything on the front page, and the back I ended up crossing out about half the problems. I just made sure they did a couple of each problem type and if they got it right then we'd move on.

Count me, so that makes three. :grouphug:

That's funny, because one of the reasons I'm voting for Obama is because I don't want McCain putting in rightwing extremist into the Supreme Court! ;)

I own a bosch myself, but what about a DLX mixer?

Okay, here's few things about me: I'm terrified of needles. (which is why I have no tatoos to share with this thread. I'm even more terrified of bees. Don't even get me started on wasps. My mother seriously thought if I would never have kids because I might have to get a shot during labor. My sisters used to make me puke just by saying or doing something that would gross me out. I think I was 17 or 18 last time they made me puke. Both my husband and I graduated from Columbine High School. I used to be addicted to true crime books, and a lot of them were serial killer books as well, although my favorite was Anne Rule. Her book about Ted Bundy scared the living day light out of me for about a year after I read it. I can't stand True Crime books now.

Jessica, I totally agree with what everyone has said about you taking charge. Any advice I'm about to give in in addition to, not instead of. After reading all these posts some details have become a little mixed up in my mind. Does your husband know that you are taking half the money and putting it into another account? I know you're using the money for your family, but if you're doing it behind his back it's allowing him to stay in the dark and not owning up to his behavior. I'm assuming you get paid once a month? Find out how much you need to spend on necessities like groceries, and take it out in cash. Tell you're husband you're doing this (but maybe don't tell him where you're stashing the envelope.) That way at least you have peice of mind that you have money to feed your family for the month. (I don't know how much discretionary money you have every month, but maybe if you made sure to take some out for eating out and going to movies and spread those treats out thoughout the month, he wont feel like he's doing without.) Seperately, discuss with your husband how it's making you feel, both as a wife and mother. Maybe if he sees that his marriage is in trouble he'll realize how important it is to you. If not, then I agree with janainaz that you will just need to lay down the law.

I agree that I should pay taxes for public education, and I should if my kids attend ps or not, or even if I have kids. (thinking out loud here...) In my school district, each school gets $6,000 per student. Not all that money goes to "education" though, for example, utilities, janitorial services, lunches (even though kids pay for those, isn't it still subsidized? If it's not them my mistake.) I don't think it would be "stealing" from the ps system if maybe if I used $1000 per kid for homeschooling materials, and then allowing the other $5,000 to be given directly to the school to use. Right now the schools don't get any money because they aren't enrolled. Now, as far as religious materials vs non religious materials, I think that depends. I think as long as the materials are akin to what is being taught in ps, then it should be okay. I've used Abeka math and it was a solid math curriculum. But say you had a catachism class, since that would be purely religious it should be paid privately. (Am I making sense???)

Well, I voted Republican for bear and Democrat for wine, but I like and drink both, so am I a Rep, a Dem, or just an alcoholic? :cheers2:

:grouphug: I'm so sorry!

I guess I should post my rely to the OP. Yes, think PS education is a right.

I'm not an expert on homeschooling in Canada becaues I'm not, but I didn't think all Canadians got money for homeschooling. But I am curious for those places it does how the system works. In America we're afraid that getting tax money back would mean we would be restricted in our choices: what kinds of curric to pick out, and when to teach what subjects. (I don't want to be told I can't follow a four year history cycle because 1st graders here are learning about America.) I believe I've read that in Alaska they get money if they choose to homeschool because not everyone has access to a public education, but they can't purchase nonsecular materials with it. (Even if it's just from a nonsecular publisher)

Actually, I'm in the process of emptying my pantry because we're moving in two months, but once we get moved and settled I'd like to stock up a lot!

I think college should be accessable for everyone that wants to attend, but I know for a fact not everyone does. Most of my family is blue collar workers who had opportunities to go to college but chose not to. We do need to do what we can to encourage higher learning in science and math. But it should be those that are inspired to. Okay, here's a question purely for discussion. If everyone in America has college degrees, who's going to do our blue collar jobs? I know my dh wouldn't want to be a construction worker after spending four years getting an engeneering degree. I've heard Pres. Bush say the same thing, people need to go to college to get better jobs, and I thought it was to avoid addressing all the jobs going overseas.

Question: Do you guys have free choice in curric? If you wanted to pick a religious curric are you allowed or would your money be taken away? I don't homeschool for religious reasons, but I do like being able to choose which curric I want.