awesome! I had almost forgot about the virtual homeschooling website. Thanks!

Hello all. This year my oldest is doing the Apologia Biology (2nd edition) anyways, I'm wondering what a good schedule , if anyone has one , would be to get this done in a timely manner. Its a HUGE book. :tongue_smilie: How did you schedule the modules? Trying to figure this out so she has a good experience with it. I wish they had a DVD like they do for their physics. Can't afford their online classes right now either. No coops in our area either.

I feel ya. I'm not motivated either. I was , but it was squashed by lots of financial stuff that has creeped up on us so I"m totally stressed out now. My mind is now on other things other than school now.

Its one of those things that to each his own. Some children do well with mastery math and some do not. My oldest does well with mastery and my younger three do better with a spiral approach. For me I like whatever gets the job done.

Apologia has some science ones that are free for their Elementary Science. Just click on the book that you may want to do , like the Astronomy book. Then you will see little pdf files next to it and click Course Notebook,. They are pretty basic and you don't need to use Apologia to use the notebooking sheets. I'm noticing a lot of companies that used to offer free stuff are getting in on the sell it all band wagon. Whatever happened to helping out others? I understand that people need to make a living but seriously you can't keep out the free stuff for those who really can't afford it?

:iagree: This is what I noticed. My girls went to private school and that about sums it all up. Most of the time its kids getting in line and not being quiet when the teacher asks. My girls were always irritated with the kids that would talk over the teachers when they were teaching as well. There is more crowd management and disciplining than actual working. If you add it all up as to how much school work they do , it would probably be as much or not as much as we do at home. Actually even though we've been pretty 'lax' we do more, in less time. Last year my 12 yr old had very little social studies. The year before my oldest did Grammar three times the whole year. So yah, we do more even when doing less.

Hello everyone. I have been looking at this on and off through the years. My oldest will be a high schooler next year and wonder if anyone has used this. Did you find it helpful , did it help your child , and was it rigorous enough to prepare them for college?

I've used it to varying degrees with my 4 girls and the key to it is consistency. There is no need to redo a lesson because it continues to review words they are learning. I never did the writing in the book either. The only child it didn't really work very well with was my oldest daughter. But it was great for my other three.

"-take advantage of other people willing to take them to the activity. -invite other people over to your home for once a week classes or a playgroup -invite kids over frequently -send them to summer camps where they can make friends from a larger pool of kids. -Give them email accounts to keep up with those friends. -If *you* don't feel up to keeping them connected, you can help them take the initiative to make their own connections. As long as they ask permission, it's all cool. Let them be pro-active. -Search harder to find things you *can* make happen. If the issue is you aren't up to driving, well find activities in the evening that Dad can take them to. Many sports have evening practice or lesson options. -Take advantage of surrogates like Grandma. They can drive, take them on outings, teach them to cook or knit, etc. If you don't have a grandma figure, adopt one. " Your not alone. I suffer from thyroid problems and whatever else. I'm miserable and tired yet some how we get things done. I find that we don't do as much as we used to but we figure things out as they come. My youngest also has medical problems from a rare condition so life revolves around medical stuff here. We live day by day that's for sure. And honestly my girls aren't the worse for wear. I know they have learned to be more sympathetic to those with medical problems and for that I am greatful. I too have pangs of feelings of guilt. But after having my girls in school the last few years and them asking to come back home let's me know we are doing just fine. I do find that getting the girls involved with things forces me out and I feel a little better just for a little bit. I agree its a false guilt that you don't need to dwell on and know that they love you regardless of what you do or do not do.

:iagree: I couldn't agree more. Its personality, not the fact they go to school. I've had some wild n silly kids in my Relgious Ed class and they go to school. I think it has to do with their comfort with whomever they are with. I remember at the beginning of the year my wild and silly ones were very quite and not so sure. By the end they were silly and it could have been me,, just the fact I enjoy teaching and want to see the kids have some fun versus them just sitting there like lumps on the log. I do agree silly and wild can be sat on where as attitude problems can't. I'd rather have the first. With that said the kids in my class aren't running around, we at least have fun activities to do to get that energy out, and mostly we'll deal with the sillies though. My girls do the same thing as well but in certain circumstances. Its just something that has to be worked on and discussed. If you act this way XY and Z is going to happen. But it doesn't have to do with kids going to school and not. Just personality. If its any consolation to you my girls went to school too, they were still the same way at times. Silly and crazy, but not at all bad.

I read this book in 12th grade in high school and its not the fact its great literature in the way it was written but the time period in which many of the things written in the story hadn't even existed yet. If you look at the book and to know it has predicted many things that happen today that hadn't even existed at the time the author wrote it. Things like: Baby's being born outside of the womb ( test tube babies) People taking drugs to feel good ( look at all the drugs made by the pharmaceutical companies today to make people feel better against depression) People divided into sects , Alpha, Beta, Gamma , Delta ( almost like today,, seperation of rich and poor) The constant bombardment of things that give us instant contentment (hmm, sound familiar?) The control of hard fought liberties and freedoms ( look at how our freedom today is , well, less free) Promiscuity with no consequences I believe John Savage represented those who reject society's values and creates a life for himself, free from control ( does this sound familiar homeschoolers???? ) though he himself was a flawed character as well. I can go on and on. This book definitely makes the reader think about what can happen in a society that portrays itself to be perfect. That there are underlying evils to it and what the cost of that so called 'freedom' is. The book itself was not considered a classic in the way it was written but for the very fact it causes the reader to think about the future, and its consequences. This book was written in 1931 ,,, what a futuristic predication it has become. I really believe that in order to be a well read person and well educated, one should read this book. It definitely will be something my daughters will read at some point in their education as well.

Always start with level one. Its easy in the beginning , but it does begin to teach spelling rules. Level 2 gets a little more meatier. If your able to buy 1 and 2. Go for it. Starting at level 2 , your child will have some disadvantage but it is doable. You would just have to linger on the first few lessons for a while before moving on.

There is also the YouCat book as well. They can also continue with their religious ed (CCD) program at their church. As far as I know there aren't any Catholic resources in the Rainbow Resource catalog. But you may want to direct her to companies like : Seton ( http://www.setonhome.org) Catholic Heritage Curriculum (www. catholichomeschooling.com ) Emmanual Books ( http://www.emmanuelbooks.com) YouCat (http://www.youcat.org/) And my favorite resource that is totally free: That Resource Site : http://www.thatresourcesite.com/ I use a lot of the resources from this site for my religious ed class and its all free.

We're Catholic and we've studies mythology as well. I just let them know this is what the Greeks believed in that time period and we enjoyed reading about it. Its important that we understand other religions. If we understand that we can understand the time period and what other people believed that came before us.

do they still have the free printables? Where can I find those? Was hoping to get the Journals because I really do like them, but they aren't in our budget at the moment.

No, my oldest is like this, and somewhat my 2nd daughter. Its hard I know. Sounds like you need to take a good break for a little bit. Trust me it all will pass. My older girls were finally got off the spoon feeding band wagon when I bought Christian Light. Definitely more independently set up than the curriculums you mention.

Yes, they are equally as rigorous. Though R&S goes up to 8th grade and CLE goes up to 12th. The only differences between the two are they are created by different publishers , and one is workbook form and the other is textbook form. R&S uses a mastery approach. So one chapter will be (for example) devoted to nouns. Where as CLE uses the spiral approach and teaches concepts a little at a time where it eventually builds up. But everyone on the Christian Light Famlies yahoo group definitely feels they are both rigorous programs. Just depends on whether you want your child to work more independently (CLE) , or if you want to be more involved ( R&S). I have used R&S English, and I have the extra help pages for CLE's Grammar and really you can't go wrong with either. Though I will admit that CLE is a bit more gentle with its teaching so much that kids have no idea they are learning complex concepts. It just depends on what you want and what your looking for in a grammar program.

You could try out Khan Academy, they earn points for answering questions right and can 'buy' avatars with them. My oldest likes it.

I think the loss of freedom is not being able to toss out something when its just not working. Being held accountable to someone else too. We've been with cyberschools for one year or another during our homeschooling journey and there has been times I'd just like to throw out the subject because its one working well for my child. For instance K12's new math is AWFUL with a capital A. But you still need to go on, do the assessments and if your using something else instead it may not line up with their assessments anyways. I know last year the reading didn't click with my youngest for some reason. Two years before it worked well up to a certain point for my third child and I finally had to stop and take out my 100 EZ lessons to get her up and reading again. K12 also makes you start with the grade your child would be in. So if you have an advanced student you are wasting tons of time going through assessments to get them to where they should be. Did this last year with my daughter. She got bored really fast doing it that way. Or if you have a child that is behind. I had this problem with my 2nd daughter. She did well with all the subjects BUT math. She needed to be put in a grade lower but they would not do it. She struggles with math and its not her all time favorite subject. And to get them to change , well they wouldn't. They just would say that they could work slower, but then when they weren't meeting objectives then they would complain they weren't where they should have been. So maybe this is what people are referring to. Not being able to make your own decisions and your own choices concerning where your children should be. If anything I know our K12 claims to be flexible in their commercials but they are anything BUT flexible.

Christian Light's website is http://www.clp.org I think their website maybe having some issues ( or its my computer not sure) but keep trying.

Out of all of the stuff we've used for K. I enjoy the Rod and Staff ABC series. I know Christian Light is coming out with a kindergarten series, its in its preliminary stages but they are selling it. But its simple , all you need to do is open the books and go.

Okay , so I bought this for my two oldest daughters. I figured I could start them both at the same level and work our way from there. My oldest is 14 and is such a horrible speller. I wished All About Spelling had been around when I first started homeschooling for her. My 2nd daughter is a good speller. Not a natural speller but she is good yet still needs to work on spelling since she'll be a 6th grader this year. But my girls wanted to see easy and hard words, not just all easy so I went ahead and ordered Sequential Spelling. Now I've looked at the manual and am a little bit confused. Are you supposed to teach them the word family word? Or do you do the test , correct each word before introducing the next, then go over the word family word? I'm sure I'm making more out of it than it should. Is it really that easy , just give them the tests?

I've been thinking about this. We actually have a wall map and to be honest I'm not thinking my girls look at it as much as I thought they did. I am really wanting to give Confessions of a Homeschooler's Expedition Earth a try. Its not very expensive and its looks like fun and is hands on. http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/world-geography

You could try Christian Light math. Its inexpensive and would definitely prepare them for Saxon math. Its the only other math program that comes close being similar to Saxon math ( http://www.clp.org ) You would have to take the diagnostic test to see where they are at and then go from there. It has a similar make up to Saxon math and many transition into Saxon math after completing their 700 /800 level , though now they do have Algebra 1.

I used to have that feeling all of the time, every year. That is until my girls actually went to school. Now they are all back home this year and I know without a shadow of a doubt we definitely do plenty here at home. My girls didn't do half as much being in a private school. I know when my oldest went the year before, she told me at the beginning of our school year we were going back to homeschooling that they did NO English at all the entire year. My 2nd daughter informed me today that they did very little American History , and the World History book I bought came in the mail today. Thinking that I was going to bore her with doing another year of American History. Ugh. Trust me , you are doing enough and you are doing plenty. Just take a deep breath and know your doing just fine and you are doing more than any private or public school will do with them.