I haven't run a team, but I did host a club one year. That was a fun way for the kids to try the math (via worksheets not live competitions) without committing to full participation. A club might be a good way for you to get your feet wet and it's free. Good luck!

I don't think you need another recommendation for it, but Analytical Grammar. :laugh:

I bought it years ago and my 8 yr old is watching them now. I paid more than $5 and it was a great investment. Enjoy!

I am right there with you! Unfortunately, I do not have the answer. After MUCH thought we decided to go with Apologia Chem next year for my 7th grader. While there are religious elements, I have not found them to get in the way of the science (we are Christian). It seems to cover a lot and I loved the ease of experiments that seem meaningful and relate to the topics. I choose this over a 'regular' textbook because my daughter and I enjoyed the conversational tone. Apologia also has a pretty cool looking bio program since you might want to head that direction. I had dismissed Apologia for years due to the author's religious teachings within the books, but after a lot of searching it came between that and a dry high school text. You do need alg 1 to do the Chem, but not the Bio. If you find something wonderful PLEASE post it. :drool:

There is a lot of chatter here for the younger guys and even the older ones, but I'd love to hear what worked for your upper el to middle school kiddos. What has worked for us (different kids): Character Quality Language Arts Analytical Grammar Supercharged Science (DVDs only) Sonlight

I have only used it for elementary so I can only answer from that perspective. The supplies were easy to gather. I do much, much, much better if I gather almost everything in a box at the beginning of the year, except for things that I have in the house all of the time (eg., salt, baking soda). My child read off of the computer screen. I only printed the activity sheets and some of the labs. Most we just read off the screen. I prefer a printed book, but I'm adjusting! I did just plan a year for my rising 4th grader adding in other books to support Mr. Q. That's not because it's not meaty enough, but that's how we like to do things (using lots of sources.) I hope someone using it with older kids can answer your questions.

The beauty of Khan is that if you don't know it yet, you can go through the exercises and videos to learn it. My daughter used Fred pre-alg before Khan.

My daughter just got an Asus Transformer and loves it! It has a mini-USB port and came loaded with MS Office (full versions), flash. It can be a tablet or you can dock it to type. She is 'medium' sized and likes the size of the keyboard. I'm sure my "extra large" husband would prefer a full size. It was $375 on Amazon.

I had some tough days when my kids were K/3/6 so I am familiar with your concerns! I have some suggestions that might work for you, but patient direction is your best defense against chaos. I don't like schedules, but I planned my day to spend time with each one, working especially on the subjects that s/he needed the most instruction. The two older ones began their day before the younger. I also started using some Khan Academy and other online sites/games/etc. to help them learn without needing ME. At some points I've given each child a checklist so s/he knew what to do next. (I never bothered with a morning meeting). I've also gravitated toward curricula that doesn't require a ton of my input and instruction. Some of my stress comes from everyone needing me at once so I try to set them up for success. I've prepped science activities or craft projects ahead of time so the child had everything needed and I didn't have to gather it all right then. If Ms. 8 is at an activity, maybe you could spend that time with another child. Sure gymnasiums and soccer fields are not always the best environments to learn, but sometimes it can work. I'd also like to suggest carpooling. If you have to drop off and pick up an hour later your 'lose' a big chunk of time. If you can carpool, you will only be interrupted once. I also notice that your kids are in a lot of activities. Make sure that s/he loves each one. I know there is value in each thing you've listed, but value might be lost by doing so many things. Best of luck!

I've hated most "curricula" we've used for science, too, but I haven't let go and *just let them read nf books about science (although one of my kids does that every day.) Science Fusion was a big dud. While the books are fine, the website needs work...a lot of work! It would not save the schedule I assigned the kids. It isn't set up so that you can look at the student pages, labs and teacher's items all at once. You have to exit one, go back 3 screens, then go into another. Each step is about 6 clicks and waiting for pages to load (I have a fast internet connection so it wasn't that.) So much for using curric from a large, textbook producer. :glare: I know you've eliminated The Rainbow, but I had to say to others it was a huge disappointment. You do NOT get everything you need in the kit, the experiments/activities are simple, but also quite uninteresting for middle schoolers, and the lessons do not contain much info unless your child hadn't read or been exposed to much science at all. How about letting the kids learn about electricity through snap-circuits? You could try one of the kits with simple machines in it and get them some books about physics. That would give them the hands on aspect without having to collect items for them. Best of luck, fellow frustrated science curriculum seeker.

We were debating about using just the book or the book and CD. I knew that if I bought them separately it could cost me an extra $10 (at the time), but if ds didn't need/wasn't going to use the CD I'd save even more so I risked it, The book is very thorough so he didn't need the CD and I ended up saving so you might want to try that route.

Staples (in NJ) has school glue (not sticks, like Elmer's) for $.01 as well as pocket folders and a pencil case. I can't complain about anything for $.01! I, too, have the problem that many things I like to use (like vinyl folders and heavy duty notebooks) rarely go on sale.

Our fees are around there for a family (2+ kids). Nearly all of it goes to rent the space. We have 50 families so about 150 or so kids participating. If only we could have the space for free, but there are too many of us. In our co-op, no one is making any money! I think you should start a small co-op in a donated space. I was part of one that was $25/year and it was great. There is no reason you can't get a church, library or community center to give you a room once/week. Best of luck!

I bought a rug from Costco to put under after I got tired of the big plastic thing.

I really like Staples. I just bought pens and index cards for $.01 and notebook paper for $.25! I often shop around during the summer weeks and pick up the loss leaders at the office supply stores (Office Depot, Staples, WalMart). Target and Toys R Us are almost never the cheapest. This year I purchased the Staples Back to School thing for $10 so I get 15% off my office supplies purchase which works out very well with rebates. I bought printer paper for $8/pack, got 15% off then got my $6 rebate. Good luck!