We are making a yearbook(more like a semester book) for a class right now. Easiest class I have ever taught. Not much planning on my part. We are using Picabooo yearbook and the kids(ages 10-13), are doing it almost all themselves.

I don't think it gives clear step by step instructions. My daughter likes it and it has worked well for her, but I think it would be a terrible fit for my son. In fact I am attempting to find a writing program that will fit his logical brain. He needs very clear step by step. I think Writing and Rhetoric is a better fit for natural writers.

My daughter went to Jousting Armadillos and loved it. She loves that it is written to her and challenging, but not overly so. My son will finish 5B in the next two weeks. We will be doing Football Math, Challenge Math, and the sample chapters of AOPS Pre-Alegrbra. If the sample chapter goes well then we will probably go with AOPS next year.

I think many are forgetting an important factor. Many adults may be okay with these boys in the locker room, but what about tweens and teens. My daughter would be very uncomfortable with a boy near her age in there.

My son had an imaginary friend he never played with because this friend never lived in the same state as us. This imaginary friend moved a lot, Maine, Texas, Florida, Oregon... I guess they kept in touch with imaginary mail or phone calls.

My girls both sleep like that, minus the napping. However, my almost 7 yr does need to lay down everyday for a little while. Everyone thinks it's crazy that my 11 yr old sleeps so much, but it's what she needs. My son, however, doesn't need quite as much sleep, 9 pm- 7 am.

My 5th and 3rd graders asked for grades this year. I guess they heard public school friends talking about grades. I graded a few easy to grade assignments, math, grammar worksheet, etc. After a few times they stopped asking.

We skip the textbook sometimes, just depends on the kid.

Yes, this was me. Latter-Day Learning has something kind of like that. I have never used it, so I can't give you more info.

We had a class similar to that once called Zoomania.

I was wondering that too. In my state, UT, tons of the online charter students opt out of standardized testing. That can really mess up the data if they are only looking at the whole.

I totally feel the same. I could have written the same post, including the ballet and 104 temps. I have not been brave enough yet to ditch all the homeschool group stuff.

We love Meet the Robinsons!

I have a friend who moved from northern Utah and told us there were no problems like this up there. But Southern Utah is hard. It is the heart of the TJed movement. But I have gained a lot of insight and empathy from these experiences. Who could have guessed that living in Utah, for this and other reasons, would be the hardest years of my life so far. As far as the Bible Belt... I started my own group and participated in a group where the statement of faith did not have to be signed. I had LDS friends who joined groups where they had to sign, but thought of it as "this is not exactly how I believe, but will be respected by me while participating with this group."

I had no opinion on TJed before I moved to Utah. I had read the book once, it wasn't for me, but whatever. Then I moved to Utah and WOW, I was shocked at what I have seen and experienced. I have never felt so judged and excluded. Being LDS in GA with all the statements of faith was easier than this. Many, not all, of those who do TJed here won't even give me the time of day. Many believe it is the only way to homeschool. The results I have seen are not all that great. Most have horrible math and science skills. I saw first hand as some attempted to take a HS Bio class I taught. Also, the community here has a negative view on homeschoolers because ofany in the TJed community. Things like the kids being really behind, exclusiveness, and taking poor care of the building they meet at has made it a fight for my family to prove to others that we are not like that. Mostly I just hate that it is treated like the one and only true religion. It has made leaving here a very hard experience for me. Three and a half years and I still am not sure I like it here.

We are having a creative writing class in our co-op next semester and they are going to write and perform a play. This is a group of 9-12 year old girls.

It does show a lack of intelligence to not check for a careless mistake. I am not talking about misspellings on a note or text. I am talking about a sign, banner, flyer, professional letter, etc. An intelligent person would check for mistakes and have others check it before putting it out there for all to see.

Okay, so I do not think your spelling ability equals your intelligence. But I do think it shows a lack of intelligence to have a misspelled sign. They could have easily asked someone to check their spelling, or look it up, etc. I had to have someone double check my work today. I too am a bad speller. I get it.

We have tried many different ways to incorporate poetry and nothing worked until a friend told me about Tea Time. We set the table, including a table cloth, set out some sort of snack, make some "tea" (we do hot chocolate), and read poetry. The kids love it. They beg for Tea Time each week. One day we will do more, but for 9,6, and 5, this works great.

Cinnamon works wonders if you sprinkle where they are coming in. Of course it is hard to find where they are coming in from sometimes. There was a house I lived in in Ga that I could never keep them out for long. They were always getting in. nothing seemed to work.

Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate all your views. I love reading threads here because of all the great thoughts. This particular situation is a group of homeschoolers who treat their method like a religion and think the rest are doing it wrong. If fact I think many are not aware of all the other methods. Many had never heard the Well Trained Mind when I mentioned it when I first moved here. Thanks for your thoughts, I will try not to be offended and just realize they are uninformed.

Do you think the term school-at-home can be considered offensive? I know many homeschoolers try to avoid recreating public school at home, so it seems they may not like other homeschoolers to say this to them. What about if someone believes their method is the only way and everyone else's is school-at-home. Would you be offered? I am mostly just talking about homeschoolers saying this to other homeschoolers.

Okay I had to chime in. I HATE it when people say daycare is expensive. The average is 3-4 dollars an hour! You think that is too high for someone to care for your child all day? Including activities and food! Yeah it may be hard to fit in a budget and take up a good portion of income but it is not expensive for what you get!

I think you should check out the LDS (mormon) church. It will explain number 4 particularly well.

And you are one the people who would just let it go and let her get bullied till she kills herself! NO ONE can EVER judge how something is affected someone else.