We started IEW this year and my children's writing is incredibly better. We had been doing Writing Strands, but it gave them huge gaps in their writing skills. The dress-ups are actually what my children needed the most as that is taught poorly in WS. I'm not sure how WS compares to the program you have used, though. Anyhow, I would give IEW a try if you can find someone to borrow it from, since it is a bit expensive!

New editions are often more desirable because the consumable workbooks are current to that edition, but if you are in the upper levels where there are no consumables, the older versions are just fine. In Saxon, some of the newer editions have references to the past lessons for each problem, so that if your child has a difficulty remembering how to do a certain problem, he/she can look up the lesson for that problem. The older editions may or may not have that option. (I think all of my editions are now "older" but I've owned them for a long time and I'm perfectly happy with them.) Hope that helps!

I had to fix my pool liner all the time- here's how it works. Locate the hole! (not always easy) and clean the area around it if the pool is still dirty from winter. Most spa stores (even Walmart) sell pool repair kits. You cut a piece to the size of the hole, squirt on the glue (very, very sticky! watch your fingers!) and use your hand, foot, whatever to place it on the hole. Press down for a while so it doesn't float away in the water. Done! You don't need to empty the pool unless you can't find the hole. Good luck!

My neighbor used to catch and fix them all, then feed them like your neighbor. Eventually they all died away because they couldn't reproduce. He still looks for more animals because he doesn't think they should be killed but they are too hard to tame. I was glad he was the one spending the money since he didn't have kids...:)

I think there should be a fifth option: we have nothing in our home that produces carbon monoxide! (According to my firefighter brother) Our home is 100% electric. :)

I made up a recipe to add them to rolls, and I took them to potluck- now I'm not allowed back without them. They add a nutty flavor, in my opinion. Yum!

Yes, we have more than one. My brother is a firefighter and he even checks them when he comes over! Guess he loves us or something.:)

If you are still looking for colorful books with shorter stories I used A Beka's readers. My kids loved them and I never had a child bored with them. I only used them for 1st, sometimes 2nd grade because I wanted them to work their way into real books, but these were great starters.

We just finished MOH 1 this year with a 13yo, 10yo, 9yo. This was the first year we had all three in logic stage (I have a 14yo who is in her first year of rhetoric), but before this year I always did the same history and assigned different level books, writing, etc. I use sticky notes throughout the book to remind myself which books, Bible readings, etc. that I want to remember to do to correlate several subjects. I didn't do the MOH timeline because it was too much time for us, but we used the SOTW and WTM type of timeline and notebook. We have done those for so many years that we found it was just easier to keep that format.

I second on the Apologia elementary science books. Especially the Botany and Astronomy. My dd's would almost knock down their father when he arrived home from school (he's a teacher) to tell him what they learned. He was really impressed with their excitement.

I second on Detectives In Togas It also has a sequel called The Mystery of the Roman Ransom My girls also loved Little Miriam of Gallilee and Tirzah IF you approve of Christian historical fiction

My dh and I have 5 children from 14-3 and we have always homeschooled. We spend from $500-$1000 per year on 4 grades of school curriculum, etc. Yes, really! I buy from used book sources (auctions, sale/swap boards) and I do not pay for someone else to teach my kids. That doesn't mean someone else doesn't ever teach them, we just swap the teaching for something else, such as my husband giving them their yearly testing (he's a certified teacher teaching at a classical school) etc. I think that is the biggest cost- if you need someone else to teach a subject (we all do, I think) try to find it used on dvd or borrow from friends/ support group. Maybe you can find someone with children just older than yours that you can borrow from each year. I have a younger sister who has girls inbetween my children in age and I share my curriculum with her. She spends next to nothing for her homeschooling. Also, if you ever purchase something that you end up not using, sell or swap it at the used curriculum fairs/ swap sites. I hope that helps!

I didn't want my children to use a calculator with Alg but my husband is a teacher and he insisted that by this grade they had everything memorized well enough that the calculator is only a tool to help get it done more quickly, especially since I require every question to be done and all work to be shown. I give them a few drills to do occasionally just to make sure they aren't losing thier quick recall skills. I would only recommend this if you are sure that they know thier mult/div very well already.

My dd started 9th grade this year at age 13 and turned 14 during the school year. She's doing great, but if she wasn't, I would have simply re-labeled it 8th grade. That's the beauty of home schooling!