We are one of those families that did Saxon 1/2 and Alg I, and one day just looked at it and thought this process is not good. Luckily, my son was only in 7th grade so we finished it early and started Chalkdust Alg I that spring (I picked up the book and solutions used cheap). My son loved it from day one and so did I. I love math so this was a huge relieve to me! I taught him Alg I, but I bought the DVD's for Geometry. At first ds would not watch DVD's and I went through the lessons and exercises with him before assigning the daily problems. Then one day he had to watch the DVD because I was out of town, and he loved the instructor. He has now finished Alg II, which he really liked, and he has started PreCal. We do a huge number of the problems, mostly because my son gets math, and he needs the challenge. We do all the challenge type word problems at the end of each chapter that they tell you to only give to someone "gifted in math". On the other hand, I have a dd who does not "get math" as quickly as her brother, but she is a strong student. She, also, loves the instructor on the DVD's, and the huge amount of problems works when she is stuck on something. If you have an engineer/math bound student, I would seriously consider chalkdust. It is very easy to resale, also. just my 2 cents. Good luck ReneeR

I started my own "Summer Reading Program" with my kids many years ago when my oldest ds was too advanced for the program at the local library. It seemed there was always a movie coming out that my kids really wanted to see. We don't do movies on a regular basis so this was a big thrill for them. My kids, also, love those expensive Smoothie King smoothies so I threw that in as a prize. I selected books bases on their age that I wanted them to read. For instance, when my dd was between 5th - 6th, she had to read Secret Garden, Heidi, Alice in Wonderland, and something else. PLUS 4 books of her choosing that I approved. She was a very slow reader so these were a challenge, and she selected Nancy Drew books as the other 4. After 1/2 the program was complete, she received the smoothie. After the program was complete, the movie pass. We usually only did it for about 6- 8 weeks during summer swim team time. This worked really well for my children, as they preferred the smoothie and movie pass over the toy. My children are now 9, 14, and 15. They asked the other day, since we are in the midst of a long distance move, "Can we still do our summer reading program?" I have had several public school moms from the pool copy it. I think that it is summer and a time for fun, but I also think that reading should be the first thing you think of when you think "summer"! Well, maybe, after you think "pool"! I DO!!! Good luck ReneeR

Colleen, I have struggled with this question, and I was so happy to see your post. My dd has been doing Chalkdust without DVD's - just Mom - this year. Although she has a 90 average, I just don't feel in my gut that she is ready to move on to Geometry. We have spent this school year traveling back and forth to Florida where my husband now works, so we have had a lot of interruptions with a week out of every month spent in Florida. We are moving in 2 weeks. YEA! A friend loaned me the newest Alg I with DVD's and my dd has been watching them. I think that what I will do is start school early like we used to do, and I will start her on Alg I taking the test of the first few chapters since they are usually review. Then we will move as quickly as she can through the rest of the book with the DVD's, and we can possibly start Geo next spring. I remember years ago dd had trouble about this time of year with long division. I beat myself up over it and we did 100's of problems. Then a wise home school mom said "Sounds like it is time for summer." So we did other stuff to finish the math book. In the fall, dd "got" long division and short division in one sitting. I think that as home school moms we have to follow our "gut" sometime. Someone suggested doing review over summer. I don't know about you and your son, but we need a break this summer more than ever! Good luck ReneeR

The one difference I do know about is that Chalkdust Geometry covered some trig - tang, sine, cosine, etc which I don't think TT covers. I only know this because my son was able to start physics this year before Alg II and a friend that tried the same thing after TT was completely lost in physics after a few chapters. He had not had any tang, sine, cosine. You can probably find the scope and chapters listed on a website for both of these programs and compare them. Good luck ReneeR

Ladies, My ds has done well on the ACT as a freshman and soph with his scores improving by 5-6 points in everything this soph year EXCEPT grammar/mechanics. We did Rod and Staff through 8th grade, but we have got to improve that score for the PSAT,ACT,SAT next year when they will all count. Does anyone have any daily program suggestions, besides doing the tests prep books? Thanks in advance ReneeR

Ladies, Have any of you used their history, especially honors US with gov't, for high school? I ordered the syllabus and tests for Hakim's history for my 8th grader next year and they sent me a catalog. It looks like they offer some scheduling suggestions along with tests. I was wondering about their literature, as well. We have used Sonlight for high school so far, and although I love it, I feel like my son is just reading all those books as fast as he can to keep up with the IG schedule. He likes a schedule, but Sonlight's for high school is just getting a little daunting for us, mostly me. I was wondering if he did more reading for depth and just a few extra books on the side, if this would not be a better approach for college. I appreciate any and all advice. Thanks in advance ReneeR I would appreciate any advice.

Debbie, I know that the price is a bit difficult to swallow. I bought the Alg I text/solutions manual on a used site for $15ppd. It was a steal, I thought. I, also, bought the Alg II with DVD in almost new condition on a used site last spring. I would just post on a WTB or start looking at the boards. I use this one, http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com, and vegsource.com to look for certain things. Good luck shopping. ReneeR P.S. Also, try eBay. You might find one there.

I can only commit on what I know, but the reply before me says much what I have seen. We have used it for Alg I, Geo, Alg II. My ds is a soph and is finishing Alg II this year. He is very quick with math and likes it. Chalkdust seems to challenge him enough, but he still enjoys the DVD's and all the problems. The private high school we looked at before choosing to stay home used the Larson texts for their AP courses. I spoke with the head of the math dept about them, and he said that the avg student just can not handle the depth of these books. Also, a friend that turned me onto Chalkdust, and has graduated 3 from college already, has always found them to work for her kids. Her husband is an Electrical Engineer professor and has written text books, and he finds them very thorough. Her husband has even called and had a conversation with the company founder. They follow Alg II with Precal. I hope this helps. My son also scored well for a soph, I thought, on the ACT. Good luck ReneeR

Ladies, We have hs our kids from K. Have any of your kids ever wanted to go to public high school, and you just said "no"? Our family right now is in some turmoil. My husband took a new job in Florida in Aug. The kids and I have stayed to sell the house. I thought that the kids would be happy staying, and we could get used to Florida by visiting once a month. HOWEVER, everyone now seems unhappy. My husband and I are planning on buying a house the first of April and moving in May, but now I have discovered my soph ds has been emailing my husband about going to school and ds has recruited my 8th grade dd onto his camp. Home schooling has allowed us to do so much family wise. I just don't think for many reasons that it would be good for them to go to public school now. We will be a family all together again and my husband works odd hours so they would not see him as much. We tend to travel when we want to see family, foreign countries, etc. I just wondered if dh and I decide that continuing hs is the best for everyone, should I feel guilty for saying "no, you can't go to public school"? There are good support groups, Young Life, swim team and orchestra (which my ds has already acclimated into), etc to make friends. I really would love to hear from you guys and I could use some prayers, too. Thanks in advance ReneeR

I would definitely recommend more salad/veggies/fiber. Also, exercise will help even 30 minutes 5 times/ week, and I don't know if you guys care for it, but red wine will help. A friend of mine lowered hers 50 points with her HDL going up to 108 by drinking a glass of red wine every night, and she and I walk 6 miles 2-3 times per week. My mom, also, lowered hers on Atkins. I think that has a great deal to do with eating good protein/good carbs - fiber, and a lot of veggies and eliminating processed foods (junk). Good Luck ReneeR

Tanya, We have done these in the past , and we always received them within 4 weeks time. It never took longer than a month. Good luck ReneeR

He sounds just like my son who is now 15. My son at that age LOVED the Redwall series, and I think that they have added a few more to the series since he stopped reading them. Good luck ReneeR

We moved to Chalkdust Alg I after my son did Saxon Alg I, and he and I, both math lovers, began hating alg. He was very young so I decided to look at Chalkdust. We both LOVED it. We did Alg I without the DVD's, and he moved through Geometry with the DVD's and is now almost done with Alg II. My daughter did pre-algebra with Chalkdust and is now in Alg I. My daughter needs much more review with some things so Chalkdust is great for us. It is challenging, but there are 80 - 100 problems in each lesson. So when she does not get some thing immediately, we can find more problems to work. She is now trying the DVD's on loan from a friend. I think that it is an excellent program. Having two different learning styles with my children, I really appreciate that they both like the program and books. Good luck ReneeR

If you are registered with the local school board, they allow one high school class taken in middle school to be listed and used on high school transcript (i.e. Algebra I). However, the umbrella school which I have my son registered under, allows you to list the classes and grades, but you can not include the grades in their high school GPA or use them as credit for high school. Hope this helps. Good luck ReneeR

My mom gave me one to read called "Lilibet" by Carolly Erickson. Erickson has written numerous biographies on royal figures. This one on Elizabeth gives you some insight on her early life, and I thought explained a lot about their present family dynamics. It was a very quick and easy read. Happy reading! ReneeR

I have had the same trouble with my dd who just turned 9 yr old last week . I know how well she reads, but she would read only the required 30 minutes. Well, it was those silly Junie B. Jones books. I dug them out, because I used them with my other daughter. She read them straight for 2 weeks and when she discovered she could read one in a sitting, I introduced Beverly Cleary. Have you tried the Magic Tree House books? OR the Encyclopedia Brown books? Or all the Bulla books? Or even those crazy Time Warp Trio books? Just keep trying until it clicks, and it will. Then there is The Box Car Children, Beverly Cleary, Trailblazer, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Roald Dohl etc. My second child, dd, was a reluctant reader because she had speech and reading issues. I learned early on that "long" books were stressful for her so I have made sure she always has shorter books and books she enjoys intermingled with her "school" books. Now in the 8th grade, she loves reading really good books. All I have ever wanted is for all my children to love to read. Some take different paths, and we have to try different books and formulas. Good luck. Sorry for the rambling - my husband is working out of town now, and some weeks are longer than others! Have a good week ReneeR

At 33 I was incredibly fit and very pregnant with a one year old on my hip - so NO! Now, at 45 I am starting to feel "tired" but not old. I think young teenagers and early morning swim practices are the cause of this! ReneeR

Have you ever tried http://www.freerice.com? They have multiplication tables, and my 8 yr old loves watching that bowl fill up with rice. She really feels that she is helping someone somewhere. ReneeR

We are a huge fan of 7th Generation. We have a septic tank so we use all non-phosphate detergents of all kinds. It gets everything clean, and I generally use the economy/light wash on my dishwasher with only 1 dispenser cup unless I have fish or the dishwasher is really packed - then I use both dispenser cups. I order it by the case from http://www.drugstore.com. That seems to be the best price I have found. Target now carries the Natural Dish Liquid but not the dishwasher gel. The liquid is very gentle on your hands. I have two kids with eczema issues, and they use the Dish Liquid to wash their hands without any problems. Hope this helps. Drugstore.com offers free shipping on orders over $25 which is a savings on tax/shipping, also. ReneeR

I agree with the other ladies. I would just keep reading to him, and I would require him to read 30-45 minutes per day on his own. Sooner or later, some book will click and he will take off. As he grows more confident, try to pick books that have series like Magic Tree House, Beverly Cleary, etc. My 3rd grader was the same way last year. She was so reluctant, and it drove me crazy because I know how bright she is. She even balked the summer before last at reading anything - I mean, it was summer. One thing that I let her start doing last year when she was in 2nd grade was reading alone. I did not require her to read aloud to me. She loves reading in my bed so I let her do her 30-45 minutes of reading in my bed. She loved Garfield comics so I bought her a book of them at the used book store to keep in the car. Once she discovered that she could read a Junie B. Jones book in a day, she took off. Now she will read anything I give her plus Usborne history/geography books in the car. Just keep giving him books that he can read well. I think that I tried to push my daughter in to chapter books too early, and it scared her a little bit. Sometimes looking at the "size" of a book can be scary for them. Good luck ReneeR

Years ago I started when the local schools started, but then one year I noticed that my kids were sad and bored after summer swim season ended and some friends were on vacation. I decided to start school then. We start school at the end of July when summer and USA swimming end/break. We get alot done because everyone is taking last minute vacations so there are no distractions and it is usually quite hot, sometimes stormy. We school for 4-6 good weeks, and then we would take a trip in Sept. We would take little time off for Thanksgiving and the week of Christmas, and we would go away in the winter to a warm island. NOW we take breaks at Christmas and go to Florida, because February is full of high school state or USA championship meets. We take a week off in the spring so we will be finished the 2nd or 3rd week of May. Last year, we schooled through alot of the holidays so we could be finished May 4, and we left for Europe for the rest of May. I think that is one of the great things about home schooling - flexibility to your own family's schedule. My husband has odd hours working in the Emergency Room, but when he is off, he is off. As the kids have grown older our schedules have changed because of their interests, but we still try to plan a big family trip once a year - something that we can all talk about and remember for years to come. ReneeR

My kids of all ages have loved this set of books. We have read them through twice now, and they were a huge hit both times with girls and boys ages 6 through 13. The sequel is called "The Mystery of the Roman Ransom". They are fun historical books.

This is a difficult one. I have read Across Five Aprils out loud now twice, and I loved it both times. However, my son read Rifles for Watie, and he then asked if he could GIVE the book to a friend if I was going to sell the curriculum. I told him to give the book to the friend, and I count that as one of my "most special" home schooling memories! I would read Rifles aloud so you can share the book with your child! ReneeR

What about "Under the Tuscan Sun"? It is nothing like the movie and talks about recipes throughout. Also, if she likes Agatha Christie she might like "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith. There are several of these if she does like it. ReneeR

In the last few years I have had this problem horribly. I was to the point of a prescription when, I believe, Gillette put out a clinical strength. Of course, it is in the men's section. One thing that the literature inside the box said was to put on the deodorant at night so that it could sink in and start to work on the sweat glands. I never thought about that! Anyway, it, also, said that you could put it on in the morning again and to avoid putting it on right after a shower/bath when your armpits were still damp. These were all new ideas to me so I tried it, and boy, I have really seen a difference. Even during the day when I walk, I get sweaty around my face but not my armpits - and no smell. It really has been incredible for me. I hope it works for her. ReneeR