It was his idea. I thought he was nuts. I'm really glad I married that nut!

I agree with the other replies. We did Chemistry before Biology and it helped a lot with the biochem in the BJU biology that we used. I'm not familiar with Apologia's Biology, but as log as the student has the math to understand Chem it shouldn't be a problem.

This will be my ninth year teaching my two at home, ds is almost 17 and dd just turned 15. I started homeschooling when we moved to our current town. The kids had been in a classical school before we moved and there was just nothing here that even came close to meeting their needs academically. I am a certified science teacher, had just finished up when we moved, so I started teaching middle and high school science classes for homeschoolers. I now have an amazing lab thanks to my dh's hard work on it! Word spread though, and now I have 3 science, 3 math, 9th grade Eng/Hist/Lit and 11th grade Eng/Hist/Lit classes scheduled for this year. It's hard work, but I love it so much. And don't tell the kids, but I just love that I get to really see them interacting with their friends on a daily basis.

My ds, 16, drinks a glass of milk before he leaves then eats an apple (granny smith, it's a rule) on the way there. He can go to MIL's (right by the pool) for breakfast but he usually eats what he had packed for lunch then calls and asks me to bring him more food when I come to town.

I voted Progeny Press, but I'm only really familiar with those and Memoria Press. I think the way PP are set up really helps with paying attention to what is going on in the story. And they are set up so that you can work through them in very small chunks if you need to. MP has a greater need for a longer attention span. But, like I said, I'm not familiar with the other two.

I voted yes but I am not usually the one who does it. Last one up gets to make it and that's not often me.

If you don't want to be onstage maybe you could be a stagehand, or lighting tech. As long as you are there "doing" it with her, she'll probably be happy.

We did 4 of us in a 27 foot travel trailer for about a year. Were there challenges? Yes, but not as much as you'd think. Dh and I just treated it as a fact of life and the dc accepted that this is the way things are. Not much space so we had a storage unit and changed out clothes, toys, etc. with the seasons. We made a great adventure of riding our bikes to the grocery store everyday to buy what was on sale for meals that day. I had a small store of nonperishables for bad weather days. We had one cupboard for school materials and everyone had a small space for a few personal items. There were times when it just felt too small, but 5 years later the dc still remark occasionally that they miss living in the trailer because we all got to do everything together. Now mine were 9 and 11 when we started so having younger ones may be a bit more challenging. So, all this to say that I believe it is very realistic and you may bring the family closer than ever.

I teach my kids, and other people's kids, at my home, and I live in Montana. Also, I'm really creative. :)

We love breakfast for dinner, usually bacon, eggs, waffles, fried potatoes. My kids also love to have leftovers from dinner for breakfast, usually without reheating. Not what I would want to eat in the morning, but if it's nutritious at 6pm, it's just as nutritious at 6am!

I've been teaching coop science and math for several years now and the best advice I can give is to meet with parents before it starts. The biggest problems I've had have been with students not succeeding in math because their parents think that dropping them off for class twice a week is the magic key to an A. Parents still have to be involved in making sure the daily work gets done and they have to either seek other help or call me if they are really having problems. The kids with parents that stay involved, even if it's just looking at their paper and making sure the assigned work was done, will be much more successful. I think you can do a great job with a coop class, but parents really have to understand that it takes cooperation!

There are study guides available for the ASVAB with practice tests. I can't think of a publisher of one right now, but they are the same companies that produce SAT, ACT, ect. guides. I've even seem them at our library. The practice tests should give you some indication of how he might do. The test is generally more common sense than academic. Hope that helps.

Chemistry 3rd Edition just came out last year. I used the labs with my co-op class because I really did not like Abeka labs and was looking for something new for this coming year (I do Chem every other year). I am fortunate enough to have an amazing science lab at home but I was really impressed with how BJU had redone their labs to make them more homeschool friendly. They give lots of suggestions for equipment and chemical substitutions or low cost alternatives. It really is much easier for home use than the previous version. And yes, this is the 3rd edition of BJU Chemistry. I should have been more clear, sorry.

I would suggest taking a look at BJU Chemistry 3rd Ed. Labs before you buy if you are going to convention. The 3rd edition has many alternate labs for homeschool as well as substitution recommendations to keep the cost down and still have a meaningful lab experience.

I used Abeka Chemistry to teach a co-op class for two years because that's the book we had. IMO (and I am a certified secondary science teacher) it is very weak. I had to supplement quite a bit to make it a complete program. It is intended to be teacher led. It does have a lab course, but not a homeschool friendly one. I am switching to BJU this year. The content is much more challenging and the teacher manual for their labs includes alternate plans for homeschoolers who might not have all of the equipment or desire to use all of the chemicals. BJU does assume that you are teaching the course, it is not really designed to be self teaching. If that is an issue, I've heard good things about DIVE cds, but I've never used them so can't give an opinion. This, of course, is just my opinion. You'll want to check them out for yourself since you get to go to convention (I'm feeling a little jealous about that!).

My ds(now 16 but read these about 12-14) is of the opinion that Once and Future King is the very best. The others he read once or didn't finish, but this one he read several times and recommended to friends. I don't really have an opinion, I'm not a big King Arthur fan really.

I did this and Intermediate Logic with my son and 2 other boys, we loved it. I didn't use the DVDs as I was fortunate enough to attend a teacher training seminar with the author so I felt really confident with the material. He also offers a supplement with lots of extra practice, I'll probably order this to use with the next group as I know some of them will want lots of extra practice. It is very Christian in view point if that makes a difference to you (I found it to be a plus). Many examples from the Bible are used and some Biblical knowledge is assumed. I really would recommend it, three years later and the boys still reference and apply the rules of logic they learned in this book.

Yes, there is a schedule in the TMs. Some more complete than others, but usually easy to work with.

My friend has a Matthew and little brother is Joseph.

Andrew Peterson, my all time favorite.

This year is always the hardest and looking back at the last year it was always easier. Next year will surely be the same, but I wouldn't trade one of them for sending the kids elsewhere. It may be hard, but we're all in it together! :001_smile:

My kids have always ridden their bikes in any weather, dress to stay warm and dry and have fun!

Both of mine were 3 when they learned. Dh felt that they should be ready to learn how so he sat them down and by the end of the day they had it down. I have no idea how he did that. I thought everyone learned that early until they got a little older and they kept tying their friends shoes.

I haven't used this program so I can't answer about scheduling, but Home Science Tools has kits for the program, or you can look at their order form and just order the things you need. They have great products, great prices, and really good service, in my experience. Hope that helps!

Check with your insurance company. Our insurer doesn't give a discount for driver ed courses but they have their own program that you complete at home to get a really nice discount.