Well, I'm at Colville, and I haven't had any real problems besides what it seems like we all deal with. I'm really curious about how they plan to implement the 1-hour check in, other than online classes. I'm curious as to why an online class would even count--the law pretty specifically demands face-to-face contact. I'm willing to sacrifice an hour a week to get $400 worth of resources per month on average. It bothers me that CVA hasn't been talking to us about all of this. I'm also signed up with WA Online Learning and haven't heard anything from them either. If we were made aware of the need to get involved, I am sure that many parents would write letters, protest in Olympia, make phone calls, etc. I feel like they give as little information as possible because they don't want to deal with a bunch of hysterical moms....but hysterical moms could be the key to keeping ALEs as a viable option.

I wouldn't go without kids. I also wouldn't take kids under 4--little ones who don't understand that the animals aren't real can get pretty freaked out. Ask me how I know. :glare: And definitely overpriced. I think it's Wed nights when kids eat free with a paying adult? That would be the time to go. We paid full price one night and spent $90 on one meal!!

Are any of you going on the Astoria trip next week? I'm going to see if I can bring my assets there. The few that I'm returning, that is. :P I got the impression that Colville is trying to utilize its library as a resource more. If I was ever able to find things I need there, I would probably be more supportive. I was able to find a MUS Gamma DVD and TM there, that's about it. :P

Here is the letter I got: Schlitzkus, Rosy (& students' names) As a benefit of participation in CVA-Colville, you have been able to checkout (obtain through vendor order or reimbursement process) instructional items from our library and keep them as long as necessary to achieve learning goals for your students. Now that our library is operational, we ask that you mail back to us all returnable items that will not be directly supporting next year's WSLPs. This will allow us to catalog and make available those items for use by other families. The items listed below were most likely sent to you prior to January of this year. These items will not be viewable when logging onto our library website. Any returnables received after January 1st may be viewed by logging onto your library website account at http://lms.columbiavirtualacademy.org . If you are keeping any items, we require that you let us know for which students and classes the items will be used next year. Please indicate the single student that will primarily be using the item. Please let us know if a returnable item has been lost or damaged. We will then inform you of the amount that you will be asked to forward to us to replace these items. We ask that items be received by CVA-Colville no later than June 15th. We will reimburse you for shipping costs for items received by this date. (There will be no reimbursements next year.) Please submit a Reimbursement Claim for Supplies form along with your shipping receipt in order to be reimbursed. Thank you for returning items to us promptly so other families have a chance to make use of them.

I'm more likely to hear, "He'll be a great husband someday." To which I would reply, "Um, have you met my son??" :tongue_smilie: People say stupid things. I'd be inclined to make some snide remark, but the stupid people aren't worth it.

I'm in Colville. I think I've heard a few times (in newsletters and such) that "if you're not using it, you should send it back so others can", but I've never taken it seriously. Why would I send curriculum back, only to have to use my allocation to buy it again 2-3 years from now? If they truly are doing away with the allocation model, I would consider it. Otherwise it's not worth saving a few $$ in shipping to let expensive curric go.

Yeah, I got that email too. I'm still using most of the assets they asked for back. I tend to order mine WAY in advance, as CVA isn't known for ordering promptly, and I like to be able to have it at least a month ahead so I can plan. It shouldn't be a problem to show how they'll meet a WSLP...but I have to admit, I was planning to hang onto pretty much everything until we're ready to leave (or until my youngest has definitively outgrown it).

Hey! Thanks for starting this--I've been stalking the social groups, waiting for them to come back online for this very reason! As far as I've heard, HB2065 (which is what this all seems to hinge on) has passed the house by a large margin and with heavy Democrat support. However, it turns out that one of the Reps from my district (Dahlquist) is the one who added the amendment that ALE students should only be able to have co-curricular activities that are basically the same as what the local schools offer. :glare: I wrote her a scathing letter last night. My other Rep didn't vote at all. :glare: The bill is now in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. The following link will tell you which Senators are on this committee: http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/WAYS/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx. If your Senator is on this list, you should by all means email them. I emailed the committee chair this afternoon. I also emailed the Senator for my district. Yes, I'm a little fired up. :P Anyway, it sounds like books won't be an issue, but CBIs might. I'm just curious how this is going to resolve itself. Legally they are required to provide us with PE and Fine Arts, but to do so in a way that gives us no more than what the local schools get...well, how are they going to do that exactly? The only thing I can think of is that I guess some of the local schools (or maybe private facilities?) could offer an "ALE PE class"?

I am in one of these. It is not through our local school district, and we choose our own non-religious curriculum. As we speak, the legislature is deciding our future--whether certain aspects of the program will continue to be offered and to what extent. So far it has been a huge blessing for my family. These types of programs are somewhat unpopular here...proceed with caution. :)

:iagree: I couldn't have said it better.

We were doing a "ready for the day" incentive chart. They would get a point if they were dressed, ate breakfast, brushed teeth, made bed and did a chore by 9:15. We don't do that anymore but it definitely established the habit (in the older two, anyway). I still usually have to wake DD10 at 8:30. We start school with a read-aloud. It's a really nice transition into our school day (and I find if we don't do it at the beginning, it doesn't get done).

If you get a less than favorable response, you might try checking with your state's homeschool association. While most schools will have no problem following the law, some might put up some resistance.

In WA, the public schools are required to allow homeschooled kids to participate in extracurriculars. Band is not an extracurricular here, so they'd have to be enrolled part-time. I am considering this for DD for 6th grade (a little over a year from now).

Nikon and Canon both make terrific SLR cameras and lenses. A Canon Rebel (or the equivalent Nikon) will be a great starter camera for her. If she's like most beginners, it will take her at least a year or two of reading books and forums, taking lots of pictures, talking to experienced photographers, etc., to really master the camera. If you can, you might also get her a 50mm/1.8 lens. They run about $75-100 and will give her many more options for high speed (sports) and low light photography. It is a near-ideal length for portraits as well.

They are all conditions caused by being at home with kids all day? :lol: Seriously, though, I think there are complex and varied reasons for each condition that may or may not be related. Poverty can be caused by poor money management, but it can also be caused by unemployment (or underemployment). Being overweight can be a symptom of a health issue that is easier to correct in some people than others. Some people have more demands on their time than others. In my case they can all be attributed to self-discipline. Welcome to the board. I hope you haven't just ruined your experience here by starting off with a controversial (and potentially offensive) first post.

It seems like once a year we'll catch something that knocks us out for a day or two, and then it takes a day or two to recover. A fever or a stomach flu or something. When one of us gets it, we pretty much all get it (except for DH, he rarely gets sick and when he does it's not nearly as bad as the rest of us. We might also get a couple colds or a mild flu/fever type thing where we can still function but probably can't do activities, etc. Your family's immune systems might be depressed by allergies. It might be worth doing a really good hard-core cleaning, keeping the pets in the garage and getting all new pillows, and see if that helps. If it makes a difference, you might invest in household modifications that will help keep allergies at bay.

It's hard to imagine a scenario in which I would support court-mandated public schooling where there wasn't abuse. If there was abuse, hopefully the child would be removed from the home, not just sent to school.

It's a silly argument. All of the kids I know who are homeschooled know exactly which grade they're in, whether they're working at that grade level or not is irrelevant. It has never been an issue for us, we have to know for Sunday School classes at church. I've never seen the numbers, but I would guess that the majority of homeschooled kids follow the typical system of assigning grades by age, with the exception of a few whose parents bump them up or down a grade for academic reasons.

First of all, you *need* to let go of the guilt! 3-4 months behind is nothing--you could easily make that up when life calms down, esp since your oldest isn't in high school yet. Also, your 2yo is probably just one of those kids who likes to play alone...in my experience, if a 2yo is unhappy they will definitely let you know. :) I remember having toys that were just for school time when my middle two were little. What makes the baby happy? My kids spent inordinate amounts of time in the bouncy seat, actually my youngest would sit in the high chair and snack on cheerios and watch the world go by. All that to say your little ones may not need that much time. It's good for them to learn to fit into the family. As far as the academics, I would focus on getting the 8yo's behavior under control...that will free you up a lot. I don't know what approach would be best, but I'd be inclined to use an incentive chart (one star sticker for every assignment completed independently). You may have weeks where she barely gets anything done because she won't do the work on her own, I would make that secondary to her learning to work without you sitting right by her side. Or you could give her increasing time where she's working independently. 5 min. one week, 10 min. the next, etc until she's comfortable working alone. Or sit next to her with a book or knitting or some work you can do while you sit, so she still has you there but you can work on stuff you need to do--I do that a lot with my son. I will actually have him follow me around the house--he sits outside the bathroom if I'm in there, or on the floor in the kitchen, etc.--if it's important for him to be around me, he gets to be the one inconvenienced. That sounds harsh, but it makes it so we both get what we want. I can get stuff done and he has me around while he does schoolwork. I would shelve Spanish for a while. I would also have the older kids help with the read-alouds, or use books on tape. Do you have a lot of activities that take you out of the house? Do your older kids help with cleaning? It's great that your DH takes responsibility for part of their education, what a blessing! Is he able to do more? Is hiring a mother's helper an option? I would imagine even with being constantly torn 5 ways, you're still probably doing a great job and giving your kids a better educational experience than they would at school. Give yourself grace--there WILL be time to catch up later. :)

Thank you--that looks like it should help! I have to say--as much as I love LoF, it bugs me a little that the book called "Decimals and Percents" only does one small section on percents.

DD still struggles with percents. She's doing ok, but I don't feel that she has mastered them and I'd like her to be on more solid footing. She is in TT Pre-Al, and is through the section on percents, she also is doing LoF D&P but it really barely covers percents. So...does anyone have a good resource online with printables or games or something that would help her?

My only complaint about Apologia is that it is extremely biology-heavy in the early grades, and doesn't offer geology at all (except a portion of the General Science curr).

Warning: you may find that there is bad blood between Ken Ham/AIG and many of the members of this board. That said, DD10 has taken an Apologia class and learned so much. I don't do a formal science curriculum at home (we do notebooking and they do experiment-based classes at co-op), but I would choose Apologia or R.E.A.L. Science 4 Kids if I did. I have found them both to be age-appropriate in the information given, and the experiments are relevant to the content taught. I didn't find that to be the case when I used God's Design...it was Heat & Energy, which are more abstract topics, but the curr. was supposed to be gr. 3-8 and it was well over all of my kids' heads.

It takes about half an hour. The texture is different--drier but not crispy. It would be ok for bacon bits or possibly in a recipe. On burgers it would be ok. I don't like to eat baked bacon by itself.

I was firmly committed to Saxon for math, until I found out that all 4 of my kids hated it. :P I also hated Love & Logic until my oldest got to be about 4 or 5, now it's probably my favorite parenting philosophy. The only curriculum I've sworn I would never use is A Beka (we used it in the preschool where I taught before having kids), and I have no immediate plans to go back on that promise.