I have a BS in Chemistry and dh has a BS in Physics.

We are starting August 22nd. And oh I wish we had a beach two blocks away :001_smile: We just have Amish.......

Julie, I know what you mean. I saw this my my middle dd. We tried Algebra 1 in 8th grade and for awhile she was ok. But it got to a point where the thinking was too abstract and her brain wasn't ready. She imploded! We took a break and restarted Algebra 1 in 9th grade and it was like a light bulb went on in her head. It was so much easier. That is the big reason we are just doing pre-algebra this year with ds. I don't want a repeat of that again. :tongue_smilie: Thanks for the encouragement!

Thanks for the encouragement Brenda! I am excited to start Lials with him. Math used to be his favorite subject and I hope we can regain that in the future. :001_smile:

Well I finally got my son to sit down and look at both math programs. He liked the Lial's. He told me he finds Saxon frustrating because it only teaches a small part of something and then jumps to something else in the lesson. He would rather learn one concept and move on to the next. So it looks like we need Lial's. Angie: I will take another look at Thinkwell. I actually remember seeing it this spring when we were almost to the end of our school year and was wondering why I hadn't heard about it sooner for my dd. I also know he did struggle with some of the equation manipulation. That is why I have decided to do pre-algebra this school year. I learned with the oldest that math is not a race. I need to build a solid foundation or it will be an uphill battle. Thanks!

Hi all, I am trying to decide what path to take for math with my ds. He will be starting 8th grade in the fall. He has been doing Saxon math for the last 2 years. He completed 76 and 87. Prior to that he had used Abeka and BJU. He did fine with Saxon 76 but last year was rough. He really began to dislike math. I am not sure if it was the Saxon method or that math started to be come harder. I have all the Saxon textbooks on my shelf through Advanced Math. We had used Saxon Algebra 1 and 2 with my oldest and it was a bomb. We actually repeated Algebra 2 using Lial Intermediate Algebra. I did not even try Saxon with my middle dd. She has been using Lial's and is doing well. I really want to like Saxon and use it the entire way through. However we have Lial's here and I love it. It also worked very well for my dds. I just received the prealgebra text in the mail today and love the looks of it. I know that he will receive solid math instruction no matter what road we choose. My biggest concern is what we will do for precalculus (he will definately get there as he wants to be be a computer science major in college). My oldest did Lial's precalculus last year and it was extrememly difficult for both of us. We never finished the text and called it College Algebra on her transcript. There were days where I thought I would pull my hair out trying to understand it so I could explain it to her. I don't want to wind up in the same place again. There is so much support for Saxon and I that is my main reasoning for sticking with it. Plus I have also heard from several people that Saxon doesn't prepare students well for the SAT. Is that true? I guess I want someone to say: "Take this road and stick with it". I have tried asking my ds what he wants to do and he really has no opinion. Help!!! :confused:

Threads like these make me sad. I am always truthful with my sellers and these people make it more difficult for honest people to sell their used curriculum. I just don't understand why people find the need to try and scam others.....

Thanks for reposting this! I am planning on doing Core 5 with my 8th grade ds this fall. Just yesterday I began to doubt my choice. I have always wanted to do Sonlight but never took the plunge. Then I saw this thread and I feel good about my choice again. Thanks for the encouragement!!! :001_smile:

Pride and Prejudice! My dd's and I read it last school year and absolutely LOVED it!

I haven't decided yet. The curriculum is a step up from the life science we did last year. We will have about 6 more weeks to get through the material. I plan on starting with the syllabus and see how it goes. If we have extra time at the end of the year, I will add in the last few chapters of the book.

My ds just finished life science as a 7th grader and I have taught earth and space at our co-op for several years. I will say the earth and space curriculum is more difficult than the life science. There is more material and the question require a higher level of thinking. Most of the life science questions my ds answered could be done in a single sentence. That isn't the case with the space and earth. I would say an 8th grader could handle the course. In my case it would have taken help from me (above and beyond what I did for him in life science). HTH

This is the syllaubus I wrote and used last year at our co-op. I replaced some of the investigations with things of my own because I couldn't do them in a co-op setting very well. It is also written for 30 weeks so it moves at a fairly quick pace. In addition some of the chapters are skipped as there was simply not enough time to do the entire curriculum in 30 weeks. I am going to be using this at home this year with my son and will be spreading things out more so it doesn't feel as rushed.

A homeschool friend of mine lost a baby last year due to Trisomy 13. The ultrasound detected a cleft palate at about 20 weeks and a few other developmental issues which led to the testing that confirmed Trisomy 13.

We belong to a mega-church and are in the process of finding another church home. This has been a tough decision for us. Here are the positives. We really like the music and the community focus the church has both locally and globally. It has also provided opportunities for our teens to participate in some life changing mission trips. Now for the negatives. The preaching just scratches the surface. Most of the sermons are taken from those preached at Willow Creek or Saddleback. They tend to preach similar topics every year. Aslo we just feel lost. We are encouraged to be part of a "life group" but we have tried several and never clicked with the people in the groups. I volunteered with the high school ministry but never felt connected to anyone. Also the high school ministry attracts a lot of kids (many from non-church backgrounds) but there never seems to be life change. This can be an issue if you are concerned about the influences on your children. I knew this going in as this is a very seeker friendly church. I knew that I was just planting seeds. For us it all boiled down to who would we call if we needed pastoral help? I wouldn't even know where to start. The only pastor at the church who knew my name was the high school pastor. We have come to realize that a "church family" means so much to us. That's what we are now searching for in our community.

Jean, I have taught the BJU Earth and Space science the last several years at our homeschool group. I personally think the curriculum is plenty meaty for high schoolers. Sometimes in teaching it, I think it is a bit much for 8th graders. I would have my high schoolers do more of the math oriented investigations. Also the investigations on topographical maps are pretty intense. If you want to beef it up, have your high schoolers write up lab reports for some of the investigations. So I would not hesitate to use it with all three of your dc. HTH

Thank you all so much for the wonderful replies! I have looked at all the suggestions. I was thinking of using Computer programming Pure and Simple (since I have it) over the summer. Then he will move to Scratch and follow that up with Alice. I really like the look of the AoPS class and after we get through Alice that may be the next step. Thank you all again for the great advice! :001_smile:

Hi all, I am trying to lay out high school for my ds. He is very interested in computer programming. Can anyone recommend some texts to get us started? He is very computer savy but has no experience with programming. My goal for him is to eventually learn C++ as a programming language. Any ideas where to start? Thanks!

We are having an informal drop in/pool party celebration. I am leaning towards the following: Pulled pork sandwiches Mac Salad Potato Salad Baked beans Veggie Tray Fruit Tray Cheese and crackers A beautifully decorated cake.....

We currently do have Erie with a clean driving record. We are paying 2400 per year for car insurance. Is that just the best we will be able to do??? My husband thinks it is outrageous but maybe it's just what we have to deal with.

Hi all, We are looking to find less expensive car insurance. We have 3 older cars currently on our insurance and one only carries collision. We are going to investigate Geico and Progressive. Does any one have experience with either of these companies? I appreciate any info you all can provide. Thanks!

Has anyone used this for US history? I have the book and really like it. I have been exploring the website and it looks like something I could pull together for my 11th grade dd. We would be doing the book over 2 years. If you have used it, did you request access to the exam section? The objectives have some nice questions that we could use for essays. Just interested in the thoughts anyone would have on this. Thanks

Sue, Thanks for suggesting this. I downloaded it a few minutes ago and I can't wait to listen to it. My ds used to be the most compliant, easy to school child and now that hormones have kicked in, we are in a new place..... I how to glean some wisdom from this lecture!

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. After reading all your replies and discussing them with my dh, I really feel it is a combination of readiness and hormones. My ds says he really likes Saxon and doesn't want to quit the program. We are going to stick it out. One thing is for certain. This has definitely made my decision about whether or not to place him on Algebra 1/2 or Algebra 1. It will be Algebra 1/2. Thanks!

Some of it is careless errors. Some of them he doesn't seem to understand but then when we talk through the problems he tells me he understand them. I feel like the algebra concepts Saxon introduces would be better understood by my ds by teaching them all at once.

Hi all, My son (7th grade) is using Saxon 87. Last year we did Saxon 76 and he did fine. We have been ok up until a couple of months ago. He is routinely missing 5-9 problems in the problems set and test scores have be 75-80%. We review the problems he misses and he seems to understand but then the next lesson back to the same..... I am starting to question whether or not the incremental approach works for him. He is a great math student. I just received he IOWA test scores and he is in the 98th percentile for math. For those of you who used Saxon and switched, how did you know it wasn't a good fit for your dc? Thanks