We have four families that have established their JAM accounts, but we need ONE more person to get the $60 course (1 year access). We need someone that can create their account within 24 hours. This literally takes 5 minutes. For $60, you will receive one year access to the course of your choice- drawing, animation, inventing, cooking, and more!

Friends, Jam.com courses cover one kid for one year and have topics such as inventing, cooking and designing a pop up restaurant, animation, drawing, etc. The starting price is $100, but the fine print says that if you can coordinate 5 students to register (all kids can choose different courses and be from different families), the cost goes down to $60 per course. Can you say educational Christmas gift that gives for a full year? We have four registered families and need one more student to create their account within 24 hours to get the $60 rate. This takes 5 minutes to create the account. You pay the company directly! Thanks for your consideration!

http://www.taylorscience.com/index.pl?ac=taylorscience Check out Mrs. Taylor's Biology and Chemistry courses for $150. Self paced. Great reviews!

Here is resource for Latin and Greek classes. I like the awesome guarantee and the offer to repeat the class as many times as a student needs for free. It is for students 13+ and is high school credit worthy. The price is the best that I have seen anywhere. The Lingua Latin is $294 for the entire year or $204 if you own Visual Latin. The Henle class is $250. Dwayne Thomas is absolutely hilarious. Check out your options here. Think Outside the Border classes by Dwayne Thomas.

I want to add a new resource that I found. Bluefield College is a Christian college in Virgina. They offer duel enrollment courses to homeschoolers for $130 each online and in person. You can actually earn a general studies associates from them while in high school. The college is regionally accredited, so their courses transfer to Thomas Edison State College and other popular homeschool colleges. If you know what college your student wants to attend, make sure that they will accept these credits. However, $130 for both high school and college credit is an incredible value. Brenda Workman is a veteran homeschool mom and is in charge of the duel enrollment program. You can reach her at workman at bluefield.edu I found her to be very friendly and super helpful. The admission process is fairly simple.

YES! 8/7 is one of the harder books in the series. You won't regret it!

Thanks, Counselinggirl! The WTM Academy wasn't around when we started this thread! Thanks for keeping the info current! I have only heard GREAT things about the WTM Academy. :)

The Edison Project- Physics classes for students 8-18. A college professor designed the classes. Each class is an 8 week module ($55). Your student builds projects, submits assignments, and completes quizzes and tests. I have friends that have raved over these classes. The website isn't great, but the content is super. Most of the beginning projects utilize the SNAP circuit kits.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

I will add the Homeschool Spanish Academy to the list. They offer private tutoring via Skype for one or two students together. You don't have to buy curricula, they give homework and grades, and keep records for you. In the middle and elementary years, the sessions are 25 minutes once a week. High school requires two sessions per week. If you can get to your homeschool convention, they will give you an offer for 30% off any package. You also get a free trial. You schedule the tutoring sessions when you want and change the time/day every week. You can also fluctuate between tutors if you like. With that discount, I paid $210 for 1 year of private tutoring for my kids (age 10 and 11). Without that discount, it would cost $300 for the year, which in my book is a steal. Check it out. spanish.academy

Thanks to the ladies that posted about Timeline Builder! It is perfect for us! I appreciate you taking the time to respond, and and I couldn't be more excited about trashing the binder version of our pathetic timelines (you know the ones with millions of loose papers hanging out). High five!

I am in the same boat. My 6th grade son is finishing 8/7 with similar results. I found the Algebra 1/2 used for a few bucks, so I ended up buying it and looking through it. Have you looked through both the Algebra 1/2 and the Algebra 1 books? That may help you decide. In the 1/2 book, there are only 20 problems per problem set. Also, after conquering the 8/7 "beast" it looks quite easy in comparison. My plan is to give my son the tests in the 1/2 book. If he misses a problem, then we will go back to the 1/2 book and work through the lesson that covers that. There are 35 tests for the 1/2 book, so if he can work through those successfully, I think I can feel good about him moving to the Algebra 1 book. I am looking at it as a thorough review before tackling Algebra 1. It may be worthwhile for you to invest $15 in an old 1/2 set and look at it/ or work through the tests. I certainly understand your feelings. You want to challenge your child, but not frustrate them (especially when they are already well ahead being 6th graders that have finished 8/7). :laugh: High five!

GREAT to hear! We will look forward to that course whether it be 2014 or 2015! Thanks!

Hi, I wrote to Amy and offered to get a few kids together for the course after reading your review. I only wish that I found this last fall when she offered the beginning Tune Up class. I also asked that she consider teaching a section using SOTW 3 next year as the kids currently in the class will be ready for the next level. She was positive about considering that option. If you would be interested in that, please let her know. I thank you for making the post last week as I would have never found her otherwise. I added the information you posted to a thread that I started yesterday entitled "Talk to me about online classes. . . " Thanks for bringing this one to light. If you know of any other options, please add them to the list!

Oh, I forgot a really great FREE option. The Virtual Homeschool Group offers many live classes for free. The classes are run by volunteers, but the options that we have looked at are better than many paid classes. In addition to live classes, they also offer self-paced courses. For example, they offer most levels of Saxon math, which includes daily assignments, weekly quizzes, tests, video lessons, and a weekly schedule. Your kids can do the courses completely independently. The materials were honestly better than the DIVE or SAXON Teacher DVDs that I spent over $100 on for the year. If Saxon isn't your thing, they also have archived Apologia science courses and a plethora or courses in different subject areas. The live classes vary by the year depending on what the volunteers are willing to teach. I remember seeing Spanish and a Classics Club too. There are a ton of offerings! When I first visited, I found the website to be a little confusing. Just register for a free account, and then you can access a full listing of the courses that they offer. They also have an active FB group. http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com

Wow. Just wow. Job well done. :) Thanks so much!

I am looking for any and all online class options for my middle school student. I am not looking for a full time program, rather something that will help take the load off of me in certain subjects. I have searched endlessly for a thread listing available options, but I came up with nothing, hence I figured we could all benefit from this one. Here are the options I know about. Would you please add to my list? Thanks a million. Here goes. . . (prices reported are just what came up in a quick Google search). Any opinions stated are just based on my experience. If you have experiences, please share. Even the best program may not be a good fit for every family. ;) *Landry Academy- Live classes. So far my kids have taken two classes, attended a couple intensives, and have participated in the online workshops. We are fans. The trick to this one is purchasing the classes ahead of time. Honestly it is cheapest to buy classes during their Black Friday and after Christmas sale. Grades 4-12. Price per class (semester) ranges from $97-$300 depending on when you buy them) *Freedom Project Education- Grades K-12 live classes. Roughly $1600 for a full load or $360 for a single class (2 semesters). I noticed that they offered a 20% discount in March last year. *Currclick- K-12 depending on the subject. Price varies. They offer live classes and online modules. *The Great Books Academy/ Angelicum Academy- Price varies by the amount of subjects. They offer B1G1 half off for siblings. *Classical Academic Press- They offer Latin via an online platform, but not via a live teacher. I have a membership to this, but I found that we liked the DVDs better. They are now offering classes for students in 7th-12 (poetry, Logic). *Memoria Press- K-12, Classes roughly $249 per semester. *Veritas Press- $545 per class (year long) for live instruction. Self paced modules available. *Logos Press- $545 for a year long class in the core subjects and I spied some electives for $345 a year. *Lukion Project- $269 per semester *Minecraft Homeschool- Offers a variety of 6 week courses (history related) for $10-$15 per session. My kids LOVE this one. *Heritage Histories- $50 per family. Each model has various levels and uses living classic books as the spine. There is not a live classroom component, but the lessons and tests are completed online. *ATTUNEUP- writing courses for middle and high school students, Tuition is suggested at $40 per kid per module, roughly $175 per semester. However, they don't turn away people that can't afford this. Pay what you can. Live class. *Homeschool Book Study- $125 per semester per family. Middle and high school literature classes available. Classes meet for an hour each week via a live class. Optional essay grading service is available. *Fortuigence- Online writing classes for middle and high school (I couldn't really find the info on the middle school options). Online modules are $37 each or get a 21 lesson package for $147. and. . . Go! What options do you know about? :) Thanks!

Indoor gym/exercise facility Mac laptops for all Language tutor for immersion Lego Robotics programming set Nice camera to document projects Fast laser printer, scanner, copier Cleaning service Someone to help with meal prep Landry Academy science lab credits, field trips, and course credits Those would revolutionize my life. . .. :drool5:

Yes! I Googled for hours, but these forums truly have hundreds of comments about the A&P methodology and users. One thread leads to another, and before long, you excitedly push that purchase button on the A&P website. ;) In all seriousness, I hope that your search will lead you to what is right for your kids. As we both know, there isn't one magic box curriculum that can meet the needs of every kid. As a mom in the same boat, I can relate to the agony/joy that comes with the search and the solution (that most assuredly is right around the corner). :)

A cheap laminator from Walmart paired with a pack of pouches from Sam's will revolutionize your life. Seriously. I concur with everything else posted, but may I add that it is imperative that you have your own pouch or pencil box for your supplies. If not, the kids raid/steal/clumsily borrow your stuff, and before you know it, everything will be gone. I like to stock mine with Sharpies, dry erase markers, pencils, pens, post its, my glasses, and a roll of stickers. ;)

We have used Spelling Plus, Spelling Workout, AAS, and we are now on to Apples and Pears. I just ordered it. Can you sense my excitement? I told my husband, but he doesn't share the same enthusiasm as all of you would. ;) AAS worked beautifully for two of my children. We still use it, and I think it is a wonderful program. My child that struggles with spelling made snail like progress. Granted, slow progress is better than no progress. He is a math person and likes to follow formulas to get the right answer. He was very frustrated with AAS in that he learned all the rules, but more often than not, the rule breakers ticked him off. He knows the rules (Thank you, AAS), but the book never could explain why certain words don't follow the rules. After reading no less than 200 posts raving about A&P, I decided to take the plunge. At this point, I don't care how much something costs. Know what I mean? I wish that AAS had some sort of workbook component to reinforce visual memory (yes, I know they have charts that you are supposed to read every day). I also know that some people like it because it is non-consumable, but I think the daily written reinforcement with A&P will be great. I plan to start right away, so I will update as we progress. My fingers are crossed. . .

I concur with the library and Amazon Prime free book rental. If you can save up $50, Yesterday's Classics often sells a bundle of nearly 300 books covering Pk-high school. Watch for the sale. Most of the books are on TWTM reading lists. If you can score it cheap, it really makes each book a matter of cents.

We started with the DIVE series, but it seemed a little bit "old fashioned." The quality is okay. It did the job, although the teacher sometimes taught different strategies for solving the problem than the book. I was almost tempted to use the DIVE series again when I saw that they offer an IPAD version. However, on a whim I bought Saxon Teacher on Ebay for $30. I found it to be a better fit for us. That actually covers every single problem in the book, on the tests, the investigations, and the examples. I use it like the mom above- a go to for explanations of any problems missed. It is very easy to navigate through to use for a lesson teaching just to use as a help if stuck. We liked this WAY better than DIVE, but I know that each family is different. I have heard many great comments about the Art Reed, but the cost was prohibitive for us.

Can I just applaud the mom that listed "the internet" as her top choice? I could have never homeschooled without the internet. We are so blessed to have the forums, Pinterest, thousands of blogs, millions of websites devoted to homeschooling. How did the homeschool pioneers do it? :laugh: :hurray:

I am following! My 11 year old son is in the same boat. I can't wait to see what you all come up with!