I do have several of their abridged classics and a handful of student books I've bought over the years from CK. If I do use it, I will purchase the student books for sure. Still thinking about it actually. Thanks.

Thanks for all the responses. This was helpful.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with it. I appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.

What if I rephrase the question this way: has anyone ever looked at the Core Knowledge curriculum that is available for free download and considered using it for homeschooling but decided against it? If so, why? I like K12 but it cannot be reused from one year to the next. A subscription is needed to access the online content which is necessary to use the curriculum. With Core Knowledge there are engaging student books to come back to again and again.

I have used K12 for Lit, History, and Science in the past too. I wonder if I should just go that route next year. K12 is already set up so well for use in a homeschool.

The entire Core Knowledge curriculum that is available to schools is also available for free download on the Core Knowledge website. It is wholly geared toward a classroom setting. The homeschool sets available for purchase on the website are just printed copies of that free curriculum in a single-user set rather than a classroom set. But the person who created this website - homeschoolworkplans.com - did all the work of figuring out how to use the free, written-for-a-classroom-setting Core Knowledge curriculum in a homeschool setting. Her plans are incredibly thorough and detailed. It is not the same thing as the What Your __ Grader Needs to Know books which are a summary of what is taught in the Core Knowledge curriculum. I have used the What Your __ Grader Needs to Know books loosely as a guide in our homeschool for years. For various reasons, I do not want to piece anything together next year as I have done in the past. I want to start with the whole Core Knowledge curriculum and subtract bits and pieces as we go if needed. Just curious if anyone else has done that...

Has anyone actually used the Core Knowledge Curriculum ( www.coreknowledge.org ) for homeschooling? I am not referring to using the "What your __ Grader Needs to Know" books or to referencing the Core Knowledge Scope and Sequence. I am curious about the experiences of anyone who has actually downloaded the free curriculum and/or purchased the Homeschool Sets. I recently came across a website that makes it look doable to use Core Knowledge for homeschooling (www.homeschoolworkplans.com ) so I am considering using this for the coming school year. A little background on me - I've homeschooled for 18 years, and I'm looking at using this for my youngest two kids in elementary. I no longer have babies and toddlers in the house and am only homeschooling two of my kids now. I know using Core Knowledge might be a time consuming task especially at first until I get accustomed to sifting through the teacher's guides. I have always liked the engaging content in the Core Knowledge student books. For various reasons, I think it would be a good fit for us this coming school year. But I can't seem to find a single soul who has used it for homeschooling aside from the incredibly organized woman who created the site mentioned above (homeschoolworkplans.) Any experiences to share?

Swimming helps me tremendously. It's really the only exercise that doesn't cause me additional pain.

I continue to be amazed at the wonderful solutions motivated parents will come up with when they let go of what *should* be happening or what they *wish* and deal with what *is* happening. Meadowlark, I have no doubt you will find a way to work this out. Pray and then just take some small action in the direction you think you should go. There are few things I despise more than seeing a mom who is clearly pouring her heart and soul into mothering feel defeated and sad when things don't look the way she thought they would in her family. This is just a new challenge and there will be MANY more. Lots of homeschools don't look like the cover of a Sonlight magazine but the kids turn out fine. And lots of kids go away to even mediocre schools and are an absolute delight to be around. I know some wonderful kids from both situations. And if by chance I said anything helpful, it was not me, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit working through me. You see how often I post here. This isn't my usual mode of operation.

Yikes! I didn't get the impression the OP was shutting down her kids' communication by being overly punitive or not thinking through her homeschool methods. Quite the opposite actually. Some of my kids' friends went to school in elementary too. It took some work from all families but we somehow managed to maintain our kids' friendships. It was important to all of us and quite honestly the moms whose kids go away to school have expressed to me how helpful the friendships they have with the homeschooled kids have been to them. It lets their kids know that school is not the only place they belong. I don't live in an area with a large hsing community but even if I did I would still be working to be sure my kids had close friendships w kids whose parents share our values whether they hs or not. I also totally understand survival mode w kids. Don't beat yourself up for not being super woman while trying to keep your head above water. Take it one day at a time with prayer. God cares about those kids too. It may not be obvious as you go along but He will guide your path if you ask. I have the benefit of just a wee bit of hindsight w my oldest being 16. I can certainly see how the things I thought were missteps at the time turned out to be just what we needed.

And my neighbor has asked me every year when I will 'let' my kids go to school (in front of my kids). There is an assumption that any normal kid would want to go to school. My kids picked up on that and we did have to work through it. When I say I ignored the 'I want to go to school' talk I mean that I made it clear it wasn't an option in the near future (for my 8 or 9 year olds, it wasn't). I'm so sorry your kids felt singled out. That's painful for a mom too. Another situation I can really relate to. Everybody wants to feel like they belong somewhere. Where do your kids feel most like they belong? Can you give them more of that? Can you create it for them? When my oldest was asked if homeschooled kids have any friends, she laughed because she didn't think the kid who asked her that could possibly have been serious. But later when we talked about it and she realized that is actually what some people think (including our neighbors) she started to understand why some people think homeschooling is so weird. She was more appreciative then of the places and situations where she did feel like she belonged and where she didn't have to explain herself to other kids.

I can definitely relate to your post. Oh boy can I relate. I could have written it 7 years ago. One thing I did with my kids that helped a lot with the bad attitude was to tell them that I could not even consider outside activities of any kind unless they demonstrated for me the type of behavior I would expect of them in a classroom with another adult as the teacher. In other words, no fun science class at a museum, no co op, no nature hikes with the park ranger, whatever, until I saw a cooperative attitude for me at home. Then of course when I saw the first glimmer of the right kind of attitude I praised it and made a point of getting a fun activity scheduled asap. At the ages of your kids I mostly ignored the 'I want to go away to school' talk because it wasn't an option. But I did address the attitude issue. My oldest kids do go to a small Catholic high school but the youngers are homeschooled. I have had to address the attitude problem to some degree with each of my first four kids. The other thing I would add is that *I* had to stop wishing my homeschool would look the way I imagined it would and start accepting it for what it was. Mourn the loss of the imaginary homeschool you thought you would have and then let it go and find the joy in the homeschool you do have. And if ultimately you come to the decision to send them to school, well then that will be OK too because they obviously have a mother who is willing to turn her life upside down to do what she thinks is best for them. Hope it gets better for you.

I have the LA with spelling and handwriting for 3rd grade. I used part of it for my son. He liked the stories. They held his interest enough that he didn't complain about reading them to me and often finished them on his own. The rest was too advanced and too much writing for him. I set it aside. It would have worked well for my daughters who enjoyed writing and neat little workbooks at that age but it was a poor choice for my wiggly son who has no patience for sitting still and writing. HTH

I am considering using Aquinas Learning at Home with my 11 and 9 year old for the coming school year. (I will also have a 4 and 1 year old at home and a 14 and 16 year old in a brick and mortar Catholic high school.) There are no Aquinas Learning Centers anywhere near me so I would be using the curriculum without the support of a group. Does anyone have experience using AL at Home? Any tips? Things you really liked or did not like about the materials/methodology? I have been homeschooling since 2005. I tend to rethink my whole plan every year about this time and try to find the resources that will best fit my circumstances each year. Most of the seasoned homeschool moms I know tell me to stop doing that and just stick with something. It sounds like a good idea but it never happens that way for me. AL seems like a good fit for next year bc the two oldest will be away at school, and the two youngest won't need any formal schooling. With AL I think I can keep the 9 and 11 yo together on everything except math. I would really appreciate any thoughts/insights experienced AL users might have to offer. Thank you!