I have used the text and workbooks with my DS8 to learn the lessons and CWP and IP to practice and solidify. We have also used the various Audio Memory math CDs. He loves the Rainbow Rock CD-Rom and it makes learning fun. To keep us on track we have used the Federal Test Papers; I know there is a different series of tests on the SingaporeMath web site now. Thanks for reminding me to get the Vroot and Vroom CD-Rom for level 3. HTH:D

and filled in the quarters as they became available. So sad only Alaska and Hawaii left. But he knows the state names, location and order they joined the Union!:D Also, pretty inexpensive. IHTH

Please help me decide if it is possible for me to completely HS my DS8. Here we go... We have always homeschooled around life. I am a single mom who just finished my LPN nursing degree last fall. My first job was at a nursing home with 12 hour night shifts. Now I work at doctor's office half days on Mon and Fri. Full days on Tues, Wed and Thurs. On those long days I get out at 5:30 or 6. That makes for HS time on the weekend, and Mon evening. Friday eve is for Shabbat. I have to work as I have very little savings and a mortgage situation to save for. I am also hoping to go back to school for two more four day a week full time semesters to get my associate's degree for RN. That will eventually cut my work hours since RNs get paid so much more than LPNs. For HS we are on HWT 1st cursive book, SWO-D, GWG 3, CW Aesop A, Minimus, SingaporeMath 2B including IP 2B and CWP 2, HO Ancients Level 1 combined with SOTW 1, WTM Science Life, several Hebrew CD-Roms, Jewish Studies mostly Behrman House texts, Stories of the Great Composers and nothing much for art since I am art impaired except for crochet, knitting, and weaving. I send him to a private Jewish school for several reasons. I obviously need childcare, there is a great art teacher there, there is a reasonable PE program there and I admit to being a couch potato, their Hebrew is better than mine, and I want him to have a Jewish community of children which is there. There is also some validation when they do standardized testing which they do twice a year using the MAP computerized testing. DS is reading at about 8th grade level, spelling at 5th grade level, and they just put him up to the 4th grade math group at the school. I have basically two problems for DS with the school. The curriculums for the various English subjects and math are not appropriate for his learning style, and the approach to discipline doesn't go along with the values being taught to the kids in Jewish Studies. This week both the Jewish studies teacher and the general studies teacher wanted him to write stupid sentences over and over again about how he won't forget books at school books at home. For this boy we are doing good if he remembers his head and to wear clothes. I am overwhelmed with keeping us on schedule and on time. More importantly, this is a perfect way to make him hate school and learning in general, and ruin his good handwriting. There are other things, like I get talked down to like I shouldn't act like I know anything about teaching my own son, we get a scholarship so I am supposed to work for the school and I love the library and get treated like I am in the librarians territory and so should ask if I can breath, you know, stuff like that. Yes I am stressed out about them. So, today was the first parent teacher conference. It got scheduled to early this morning and I had to speed to get there on time. My adrenaline was up as well as my mother lioness. It was a horrible conference and I am seriously considering taking him out. But, what do I do with him while I earn a living. There are no other relatives here. My parents are dead, there is no other parent for him, and my siblings live in another state, but I wouldn't leave a pet rock with them, they would kill it. Most HSers are Christian here and would try to convert him if left in theircre. and I don't know that many that well. I feel stuck. Please someone help me. We both feel extremely stressed by the school and I don't want all the hard work we have gone through to be lost to his future. The only way out I can see is if we get alot of money to live on and that would have to be the lottery...but I don't buy any tickets, not in the budget.

Help, please.

I really need some help with the student workbook for CW-Aesop A. I bought a copy used and the seller was clear about number of pages that had pencil or colored pencil, which is fine. I have my trusty eraser and white out. What she didn't disclose was that there were pages missing! I have PMed her and got a message back that was something like "If I can find his portfolio...." That was a month ago, and haven't heard from her since. I haven't been able to start the program with DS. Sorry this is so long. Can someone copy and snailmail me the pages I am missing? Or another way to help? The pages I am missing are: 11 12 13 14 21 22 37 38 I would appreciate any help in this matter.:001_huh: Thank you, Chocolate Lover

We use various materials to address learning styles. Learning Wrap-ups, for all four operations, for visual, tactile and kinesthetic. Audio Memory's "Songs" tapes in the car, for all four operations, for auditory and verbal, and the love of music. These come with a workbook, which I xerox and he can do the pages over and over, if need be. I don't know what these are called, a board with buttons printed with a number sentence like 4+3, then you push the button and can see through the button the answer like 7. I have three of these and am still looking for division. This is also visual, tactile and kinesthetic. Oh, almost forgot. We don't use it, but I am aware that Saxon has timed exercises for the basic facts. I don't know if it is a charge item/service or what the set up is. I hope this helps you.:)

In downtown Albuquerque!:) And at the CAPE conference, I heard there are many classical hsers in Los Alamos!

I am hoping to make Aliyah eventually. I need to get a couple more college degrees before I can support us in Israel, a difficult economy. I am on a Yahoo group called Israelhomeschool. I primarily lurke there, and have learned there are homeschoolers throughout the country. They primarily use the list to announce meetings and activities. The Jerusalem group meets at the Jerusalem Zoo every two weeks, I think. The majority of hsers are American Jewish immigrants who are unschoolers. There is a strong process going on with homeschooling and its' legal status. The supreme court has upheld the parents' right to homeschool, and the Ministry of Education is having a hard time figuring out their role in that context. Some types of families are targeted more than others - single moms, new immigrants, those with less Hebrew, families with children of vastly different abilities, etc. The MoE calls people in for interviews to decide if they will get a certificate of permission to homeschool. There have been families where they gave a cert. for one child, but not another child in the family. The vast majority of homeschooling families are not known to the MoE, they are going underground. I suspect that some don't do out of home activities until after the public and religious school hours. Public and religious school meets six days a week. I think Fridays are a shorter day to prepare for the Sabbath. On the other hand, those homeschoolers doing the political negotiating have a really great legal representation that individual families can hire if they are having a hard time with the MoE. Well, that is about all I know at this time. HTH.:D

Thank you so much. Just one of those days I left my memory in bed. Where's the coffee?:glare:

the website that sells History Odyssey and R.E.A.L. Science? I can't seem to find it. Thank you!!!:)

But we love The Global Puzzle. The shapes are the shapes of the countries. I think that is so valuable! They also have The Global Animal Puzzle. This may be a better hit with younger kids, or animal fanatics. My ds7.5 loves The Global Puzzle! It is visual, tactile and kinesthetic. And, since we talk about it as we do it, it is also auditory!:D

We tried with FLL 1/2. We had a hard time with the amount of repetition and it never dawned on me to skip lessons. I really liked the picture narrations, poems and memory work. So we do use it occasionally for those aspects. We really like the Grammar Songs CD from Audio Memory. Keeps our spirits up in an otherwise dreary subject. We really love the Growing With Grammar series! DS is only four weeks away from finishing the 1/2 book and is looking forward to starting the 3rd level. For handwriting, we used the Handwriting Without Tears program from the Pre-K through the 2nd grade printing books. He started Spelling Workout's 4th grade book and the spelling words are only in cursive, so we practiced reading the cursive letters in both HWT and SWO. He can read them well now. I don't want to start him writing the cursive letters for a few more months due to fine motor development in a boy. For composition, we have used Writing Strands for level 1 and started it with level 2, but it was a bust. So, I am looking at Classical Writing Aesop, etc., Writing With Ease from SWB, and maybe including some of the more advanced WS for creative writing. I really want a thorough program that will continue through 12th grade. Still figuring it out.:001_huh: I wish you good luck deciding what you will use with your children.

I have used the WS ideas for level 1 and thought we would use the level 2 gently. We had a really hard time with the minutae details for our mom/ds interactions. Additionally, ds had a hard time with the forced and small improvements in the few lessons we did. DS loves to write about various monsters which he names, who live on planets in space which he also names. He is writing creatively and loves to tell made up stories. My interest is in having a good, thorough and complete program which will continue through to the end of high school/college-prep. I don't want to curriculum hop. I have bought the CW-Aesop core, CW-Aesop Instructor's Guide for A, and am awaiting the Student Wkbk for A. I also found CW-Homer core at a used bookstore for a very low price and so I bought it. I haven't had enough time to read either of the cores. I did see on the website a few of the lesson contents in Aesop B Student Wkbk that are inappropriate for our belief system, so I would have to find several lesson's contents to substitute. This makes me wonder how many more lessons in the Homer and subsequent levels I would have to substitue. I do like that CW has poetry levels and the Shakespeare level planned. I love that they have a plan through to 12th grade, and the level of depth is obvious. Yesterday and today I read thoroughly the descriptions and samples on the Peace Hill Press website. I really like what I saw, however ds is 7.5 and in 2nd now. I could get the WWE core and student workbook 1 in May and work through it at a fast pace. Then buy the 2nd workbook and work through it at a faster than one year per book pace but not as fast as the 1st book, and hope that the 3rd workbook will be out when we need it. That feels risky to me. SWB does write quickly, but what if it isn't ready? Additionally, I did look at Writing Tales. It only has two levels ready and I am concerned with them not having the follow-up levels ready when we need them. DS and I were discussing our plan for writing curriculum today, before I saw your post. I think we will try WWE at the accelerated pace and if the 3rd workbook isn't ready we will default to CW. Also, he will be allowed to do his beloved creative writing when inspired to. I am not really sure about all of this, still in process. I really need to have WWE in my hand to decide, or at least see the table of contents. Still stressing...:confused:

Yes, I love the way you phrased the request for this thread. I think this has been my hidden agenda all along, even hidden from myself, as you can see now that I write this out.:001_huh: Thanks for prompting my thinking. Math: Singapore from Earlybird 1A through now finishing Primary Maths 2A. I plan on using this through 6B and then NEM 1-4, then maybe calculus. For Primary Maths, we also use CWP, IP and the CD-Roms that are for two years of the textbooks. Language Arts: Phonics: Phonics Pathways, we did this about 3 times a week and it took about two years, including the advanced part of the Pyramid book, Explode the Code from A, B, and C through 1 - 8, BOB Books all 5 boxes Reading: Pathway Readers for kindness, Junior Great Books, Beyond The Code, and every book ds can get his hands on. Spelling: Spelling Workout A, B, C, in D now, plan on using all levels through H Grammar: First Language Lessons 1/2 mostly for narration, copywork and dictations, and poetry memorywork Growing With Grammar 1/2, soon to be starting level 3. Will use this through its' last level Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K through Cursive, they have a Hebrew script book now, too! Composition: vasilating between Writing Strands(used level 1 and started level 2) and Classical Writing-Aesop thru end of program(I just bought Aesop core and A's student workbook and instructor's guide. Still waiting for the student workbook to come in the mail. Luckily, I found the Homer core in a used bookstore for $8 so I bought it.) Today I read on the boards about SWB's new writing program, and someone mentioned Writing Tales. So I am looking for something that will take us through high school, which Writing Strands does, and Classical Writing and SWB's program promises to do, but I am still weighing the pros and cons. Copywork: I use Educationalfontware.com, a CD-Rom to make my own copywork pages with the font's I am using for handwriting. This is great, I can use it for literature, bible, history, science any subject. Latin: Minimus and Minimus Secundus, also planning on using the three levels of Latin for Children A, B, and C. Hebrew: Tal Am from Canada, Instant Immersion Hebrew CD-Rom, also planning on using one of the more popular The Learnables ,or Rosetta Stone from the library with homeschool workbooks, or Pimsleur's for high school, or hebrewonline.com which has live online classes, with the teacher in Israel, in both biblical and modern hebrew, but is very expensive. History: Story of the World1-4/History Odyssey 12 levels Jewish History: Introduction to Jewish History from Behrman House, has another level that I can't remember the name of right now. Science: WTM Life Science/R.E.A.L. Science Life Level 1, and WTM/Earth and Space Level 1. For chemistry and physics, I don't know what we will use, maybe a combo of Real Science-4-Kids Level Pre-1 Chemistry and Adventures with Atoms and Molecules Books 1,2,3,4,5, then maybe the Real Science-4-Kids Level 1 Physics and a Dover book called something like Physics Experiments for Children. All levels of science are supplemented by LOTS of free reading. DS loves reading science non-fiction. Art: For skills, we use Art Adventures at Home. I love this as it has only 3 books for K-8th. After that I don't know what we will do. For appreciation, we use Child-size Masterpieces, a program that uses postcard size reproductions, with 8 levels. Music: For skills, we like the Progressive series - Recorder, Piano, Keyboard, Organ, Guitar from www.learntoplaymusic.com Each instrument has several method books and songbooks. For appreciation we use Stories of the Great Composers which has 2 books and 2 books for the subsequent Meet the Great Composers. I hope this helps you find some good consistency in your curriculum.

I am only now starting to benefit my budget with coupons. Which sites do people use? Which are useful and safe? I don't know where to start. TIA:o