I think if you can arrange for someone else to teach it that's a great option. My disclaimer - I take commitments I make very seriously. And I drive 30 miles to our group, so the drive isn't a big deal for me... I also leave home at 6:30 am to get to our group. And I get home around 6:00 pm to make it happen. But that's me... And we worked with this with my sister who can't drive (seizure disorder) but had to get to and from college. It was a hassle. I don't know the ins and outs of the schedule, but I can't help but wonder why so many hours at the college. Is there a reason besides the drive back and forth that he will stay all day there if there are only 2 classes? And even though the whole coop schedule doesn't work is there a way to just do the art class. Or do you have to be in the coop to teach. Could you just pull out your kids and still teach the class? I would drop him off - then teach the class and go back and get him and take him back again. I know it's a lot of driving if you aren't used to it. But for me it beats staying out there all day or letting down the parents/students. But again I don't have any idea of when you are teaching and when his classes are or why the day is so long. But if it were me, I would find a way to either change the time, find another teacher or just do it. It's quite possible another mom would be glad to do it or even an art teacher or something... Hope it works out well for you...

1)What does your ro. le as teacher at home look like? That depends - I like being involved. But a lot of parents don't 2)How much time during the week is required of the student? (see question 3 - is there time to assign other work?) We do 4 days of about 6 to 8 hours but that includes Latin and Math. 3)Did you find you were able to add in other work at home (i.e. keeping a real history thread going? More WTM-ish grammar, spelling, vocab.?) Not really. 4)Were there other subjects you felt you needed to supplement at home (besides history, grammar, spelling/vocab)? None but we do add Bible but I don't consider that a subject KWIM? 5)Did you use IEW before doing Challenge? If not, how did that work? We did Essentials, so we did IEW. 6)Did you have any personal difficulty with Bible-Based writing lessons used in Challenge A? (for example, did it bother you to do re-writes of Scripture?) No but if you do talk to the tutor. You are the teacher and your student doesn't have to do those if it bothers you.

Interesting - another thread that reaffirms homeschooling cause really none of this matters when you can adjust all the way up as needed. Homeschooling Rocks!

Hmm. Compared to other things we have looked at it doesn't seem expensive at all for what it gives you. That's why we choose it. We feel you can't do dialectic or rhetoric in a vacuum. We looked at on line classes - $400 to $500 for each class/year. Ouch for 6 classes! Local co-ops - $10 - $20 for each class each week - total cost depends on the length of the class. Again ouch for 6 classes. With CC, you get 6 classes for 30 weeks which is about $5-6/class. You could pull together a class and teach it using other materials. That's our other option. But I figured by the time I spent the time and energy to prepare for it and purchase all the teaching materials it was cheaper to hire someone else. (I also have younger kids so I would need to have child care and time is limited for me.) But this may be something you want to do. Have you looked at their syllabus? Take a look at it and see what you think. It can easily be replicated, but it will take time. I personally don't have that time, but I also have little ones. So I can't do something like that without child care. If you are simply looking for a pier group for discussion, you can do that with less effort than a whole big program. Personally, I was looking for someone to teach those harder things for me - Latin, Science and upper level Math. And I really wanted that common curricula with a solid group of piers for my kids. I like that they are all together for all their classes. We didn't get that online or in co-ops. We really like online classes, but we didn't interact with the same students from class to class. So while we still do use online classes in the grammar stage and for certain things. Their main group will be the Challenge class. We found the same with co-ops. It was much harder to connect with other students outside of class. There was little cross over with the other programs. So we were always working with different groups of students and it never went beyond that little project. I was hoping for more. KWIM? I agree that you should go visit. (Don't look at the level you are wanting next year only also look at the level before before those will your child's piers.) The group of kids really does make a difference, but a good tutor can turn a group of kids around. And you could start a Challenge program yourself so you can have the group you want for you students.

Well I am no help - I say read them all! They are very different and will give you very different POV.

You could easily fill a week in Williamsburg and surrounding areas. What to do depends on your interests. We enjoy the historic stuff: Jamestown (2 sites) Yorktown (also 2 sites) Colonial Williamsburg (easily 2 days! They have homeschool weeks with cheap rates!) Richmond has lots of great sites - Confederate White House, St. John's Church and many many more James River Plantations - I think only 2 of them are still open to visitors but they are wonderful Fredericksburg (north of Wburg about 1 1/2 to 2 hours) Has some great sites: Ferry Farm (Geo. Washington's Boyhood home, Rising Sun Tavern, Kenmore, Apothacary Shop, Chatham, and many more historic locations. There are 4 battlefields in the Fredericksburg area. You can get a lot of info on line. Bull Run/Manassas Battlefields on the way to DC Mt. Vernon near DC and Gunston Hall DC has a lot of great stuff and is worth a day even in traffic! Chinocoteague and Assateague are very close - I would go there too. There are lots of shops and other entertaining things in and around Williamsburg if you are interested in that. I think you could easily spend a week there!!

Xylitol isn't an artificial sweetner. There are products out there that aren't pure and natural, so you need to shop carefully. But here is info on it

It sounds good can you just ask your friend?

WOW! Praying!!

We had a similar issue with another device - we were told to just blow air canned air into it because it was likely just dust on the optical laser. Whatever was wrong that worked.

We got a Wii last Christmas and we love it!

Call Nintendo service! We haven't had any trouble with out Wii, but I did have trouble with one of our DSes. They were wonderful helping us out!!

Yep - this is very accurate and very much my thoughts!!

You might miss teaching him something along the way, but the schools will definitely miss things too. No one is perfect. From my point of view, he is wasting a precious year of learning time where he could advancing and exploring and doing things that challenge him. My goal for my kids isn't that we don't miss things (cause we will) it's that I teach them how to learn and where/how to find that missing information!! And that they love to learn so they seek out what they don't know. Once you have lost that it doesn't matter what they offer, he's not going to want to learn. The longer he spends in school the more his interested in learning will diminish. The longer he is bored and unhappy in school the more he will be discouraged and let go of his natural desire to learn. You can't do worse than they are doing right now - he's learning nothing. You could bring him home and do nothing and he'd be learning more. The fact that he's reading and doing math already shows that you are doing a good job as a teacher. Trust yourself and don't send him back!

Maybe if they use it to pay back the state/county or who ever else spent money on this!

My dd is taking Henle 1 with Latin and Classics at www.latinandclassics.com

I am so glad it was a good experience for you! I don't think I have ever had a good experience at our WalMart -although I have been to ones where I have had a good experience. Just no in this state! One year I went to Walmart on Christmas Eve to grab something. It was busy, and I was talking to the cashier. I commented on it. And she grumbled about how busy it was and she said to me "Why don't you people get your shopping done ahead of time? So it's not so busy in here?" Oh nothing like the Christmas cheer of a WalMart employee here!

Yikes.

:iagree::bigear:

For me the issue is planning time. He doesn't understand that at all. So have had a lot of weeks/month that weren't "planned" the way I would like them to be. Sigh!

WOW! That is very scary - Please do keep us posted on how they are doing.

We tease our kids all the time like that. If it were me, I would bake some cookies (or something) and take it over to the mom. Use that opportunity to make small talk and see if there are any Christmas things. Did they put up a tree? Are there presents under the tree? And ask - so are you all ready for Christmas or some other question to see what she says. She may not come out and say no we are broke. But I think you would be able to tell a lot by her reaction. If she says something like, no we bought the boys bikes and haven't put them together yet. You will know she was teasing. If she avoids it, then there is something to it.

I can't stop laughing - Truly laughing out loud at this!! :lol:

Okay I haven't read it yet, but I had to comment... This explains it all! Thank you for sharing this - I have been trying to figure out why my preschool and toddler boys are constantly climbing, jumping, swinging and just generally acting like clowns, acrobats, lion tamers, trained monkeys and sometimes the lion. I feel like a ring master some days! I wish someone had explained this a lot earlier to me. Duh! I am raising circus performers. I wouldn't have discouraged my 16 months old from standing on the back of the couch or climbing out of his high chair if I had known. I would have just installed nets to catch him!

:iagree: