I am getting a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas and am waffling about the case. I'd like to get one with a stand for reading at the table, but I will also use it for reading in bed, so I don't want the cover to be super heavy/bulky. If you have a cover, which one has worked well for you? TIA

I didn't see this anywhere else yet. The paperwhite is a good deal--not sure about the other Kindles since I haven't been tracking those. Here's the link to the details: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=cbcc_kindle25_2015_vc?node=13341010011

I live fairly close to Scott. Homeschooling in IL is easy--no reporting, no oversight. I know that the Belleville high schools will allow homeschoolers to take a few classes or participate in sports. I don't know what O'Fallon or Mascoutah do though. There are a few co-ops on the Illinois side. In my experience, they're not particularly academically rigorous, but it's been awhile since my kids have taken local classes. There is a large co-op in south St. Louis that I'm told is fairly academic. In Illinois, if you want your kids to go to community college for DE then tuition is all out of pocket--$109/credit hour, plus fees. I agree that the weather is terrible. Summers are long, hot, and humid. There are glorious days in the spring and fall, but there are not nearly enough of those days. :-) Belleville is not a bad town--nothing like East St. Louis. A lot of military people live on the east side of Belleville and in Swansea, O'Fallon, Shiloh, and Mascoutah. Property taxes are high, sales tax is pretty high, and I'm guessing that state income taxes are going to rise since Illinois is a financial wreck. In state tuition is ridiculously expensive. Some of the universities in bordering states do have tuition discounts for Illinois residents though. The metro-east appears (to me) to be a buyer's market. I'm not sure that I'd buy a house here unless I thought I'd be staying awhile, but I don't live in the heavily military part of town so it may be easier to re-sell in those places. I'm sorry this is so disjointed. My kids are old. You'd think I could have 15 minutes without interruptions, but no...

Dd says it takes around 60 min when there's a problem solving worksheet. Other days only take about 30 min. At the beginning of the school year, it took her much longer, but it was the first time she'd worked from a textbook & had had outside accountability. It does take dd much longer than an hour to take tests. I don't know if the class works on tablets. She always uses a laptop. Edit: Oops, forgot to answer re: labs. Usually she does the lab on the weekend and writes the report on the lab due date. They do take longer than an hour, but it's not an overwhelming amount of time.

Just realized that my saying dd is not naturally mathy may be taken to mean that I think the class is easy. I don't mean that at all. At the beginning of the year dd cried over tests, but Mrs. Jetta helped her when she had questions and gave excellent feedback on tests. The class has stretched dd mightily and has increased her ability to think mathematically.

My freshman daughter is taking it this year. She is not naturally mathy, & the class has been really good for her. The teacher provides daily assignments, problem solving practice, quizzes, tests, labs, quarterly projects, and periodic live class meetings. She responds quickly to questions, and the class is well organized. I am planning to have my other child take the course in 9th grade as well.

Oh, and if you go to the City Museum, pay to go on the roof. There's not actually that much stuff up there, but it is my kids' favorite part of the visit.

After you go to City Museum, eat at Pi on Washington Avenue. Mmmmmm.

My rising 8th grader is going to be taking Young Writer's Workshop at The Harvey Center.

I don't have very much experience with this, but since no one else has replied... My dd took KWI and was awarded 1/4 credit. Expository Essay is another 1/4 credit. I think the courses are 6 weeks each so you'd have another 6 weeks in a semester to do whatever you want. I didn't think KWI was all that thorough, but dd did not take EE and it could be that EE builds upon KWI's foundation. I wasn't disappointed in the class exactly, but I did think that she would get more extensive feedback on her writing.

I don't know if I accidentally messed up one of my settings or what, but I can't get multiquote to work. Were you happy with the Saxon + DIVE combo for Algebra II Grace? I had planned on using Foerster for Alg II with the MWB companion, but I'm rethinking that. I agree with you re: the limitations of testing hepatica, but my dd is going to have to test & she's going to need scholarships so I need to make sure she's prepared. That said, I should be able to get prep materials to fill in gaps if necessary. Thank you for the course rec Rose! Unfortunately, I inadvertently overloaded my dd this year and I can't add another online class to her schedule. I am going to bookmark the site so that I can check into the class for my son when he's ready for Geometry. It would be lovely to get it over with in a semester. Thank you all for your help & feedback! I do appreciate it.

Thank you Grace! That's very helpful. Did your daughters use TT for both Algebras & Geometry? VANURSEPRAC--I didn't use the MWB companion with Algebra because I was comfortable being the go to person for it. I'm sorry I can't give you a review for that! hepatica--Thanks for the rec! Was your child well prepared for testing?

My freshman daughter (who is NOT a fan of math) is currently going through Geometry: A Guided Inquiry along with the Math Without Borders Home Study Companion. She started in December after finishing Foerster for Algebra 1 & it seems to me that it's going really slowly so I'm considering getting something else for her to use. Basically, I want something that she can do on her own and that will prepare her well for standardized tests. I'd love for her to be done by December of this year so that she can get started on Algebra 2. At this point, I'm considering Teaching Textbooks or Thinkwell. She does not tend to be math intuitive & I don't know that she'll make leaps on her own. She's going through the Cothran logic books in an online class this year so logic is being thoroughly covered there.

I haven't used it yet, but if you don't get responses here you can go over to Ambleside's forums. There's at least one fairly long thread there if you search POWA.

We're planning to use this one next year. It's the translation recommended by Charlotte Mason Help.

Thank you!

Thanks! Did you also use the TM, lab manual, problem solving exercises &/or any of the other workbooks?

Thank you so much for linking that thread! I am going through it & it is very helpful. Which books did you end up using for your daughter's physics course?

Thanks! I will check it out.

Thank you for the rec for Understanding Physics. I've downloaded it & am looking through to see if it will work for us. Thank you for the info re: integrated chem/physics as well. She'd probably like that better since chemistry would be involved.

I have not looked at PAC. I will do that! Re: Derek Owens...I had originally though that she'd just need Alg 1, but then after reading on these boards, I decided that I was wrong. Thanks for the TM link. My student book for Conceptual Physics is the college version, but I could get a used high school book instead. Thank you!

I am trying to decide on a 9th grade science course for my daughter. She's an average student & does not have any particular affinity for science, although she likes chemistry & enjoys nature. In the past, we've done mostly reading/watching documentaries/nature walks for science. For 7th grade, she did Rainbow Science w/ the labs; in 8th she's read the Rainbow text (no labs), The Way We Work, The Way Life Works (Hoagland), The Stuff of Life, King Solomon's Ring, The Chemical History of a Candle, and, currently, Napoleon's Buttons. She does not want to do biology next year. I had planned to have her do Hewitt's Conceptual Physics, but I can't find a TM & I don't want to deal with physics without a TM. Plus, I can't figure out if it counts as "real" physics or not. I'm considering Derek Owens Physics, but I'd rather not spend money on that right now & I'm not sure if she'll have enough math background for the class anyway. (She's working through Foerster's Algebra I right now. I'm hoping she'll be done by the end of the summer.) Are there any other viable physics options for her at this point? If she were in charge, she'd pick chemistry for the upcoming year. I wanted to use Spectrum with her though & I'm just not sure she'll be ready for it this soon. I suppose I could have her do Apologia Chemistry instead. Any ideas? Thanks for any help!

Right Start

HSBC has Memoria Press for 25% off right now: http://www.homeschoo...memoria-press/#

My dd did Island & Town a couple of years ago. We ended up quitting due to a number of factors--I didn't want to spend that much; we were already doing Latin so a vocab program felt redundant; the writing books didn't work for us. Things have changed & we are going to revisit MCT next year. Dd will be in 8th & Ds in 6th. I'm going to do Town with ds & Level 4 with dd. I had thought about doing CE with dd instead of WWW, but the integration of the books is what draws me to MCT & I want all the layers of reinforcement. I will skip the writing books for both kids though. I'm planning on CC being our main program & will add in LToW. I also have a couple of other writing programs so I can pull ideas from those as necessary.