Can I ask what the highest grades for these two curriculums are?

We're a camping family, and board games are great. But I hope you're not seriously ordering more than 2!! What kind of place are you camping? State parks usually have some great trails, fishing, biking, hiking, etc., and are typically a lot cheaper. We've been to a couple that had fantastic nature centers. Privately owned campgrounds come in a few varieties. You have your party campgrounds where people are up late, playing music, drinking, etc. A little "louder" atmosphere. Then you have family campgrounds, where there are activities, swimming, bunco, etc. Rent a canoe, paddleboat or tandem bike. Then there are state parks and campgrounds that are more geared toward the biking, hiking, nature trails, etc. They sometimes have packs that you can check out for free that are filled with activities to try, broken down by age group. Either way, there are great camping games like ladder golf, jarts, etc. Try some camp cooking with pudgie pies, foil pack meals, s'mores, etc. We love our dutch oven, but that's a bit more advanced camp cooking. Board games are great fillers, but i'd take advantage of some of the things you can't do at home.

You know, one of the reasons I chose MFW is to make my life easier. I wanted it all planned out because I'm a bit nervous about our first year hs'ing high school. We have co-op one day a week, so I like that Fridays are light in MFW, as that's the day we have co-op. MFW is really easy to implement. If you are set with math and LA, this won't be hard at all. If you go to the blogroll, look for mishmashmaggie. She's a popular one to visit, lots of videos and such.

I will be doing CtG along with AHL with my oldest, starting in a couple weeks. I am just getting the house/books organized and then we start. I also own MOH, and after looking through both, I prefer CtG. I am like you, I need things streamlined and laid out for me. I love the schedule, I LOVED the book basket suggestions for ECC, so am looking forward to that in CtG again. The message board at MFW is helpful, as well as the blogroll, so you can see how others have improvised/scaled back. If you have not done so, I would ask the same question over at the MFW board, concerning your youngest four. I do know the staff is helpful in making recommendations for how to make life easier/manageable.

Different math programs hit different skills at different times. Frequent switching can cause issues, sticking with one math and seeing it through will ensure that all topics will be covered. At least that's what i've gathered from searching WTM for long periods of time. ;) That said, different programs also have different levels of rigor. It depends on the student and what they are looking to accomplish long-term.

I ordered in the spring, box day is so fun! :)

I read it in high school. I agree, reading it too soon would be a disadvantage.

I want to say Astronomy...?

Personally, I would talk her out of it. Not homeschooling, but setting the expectation that she's going to have everything ordered and ready to go in 2 weeks for $200 and it's going to go hunky dory. She might get lucky, or be one of those super focused people who can do it, but chances are she's going to end up stressed out and frustrated. I'm going into year three and have spent more hours than I care to count researching curriculum, and i'm still not *there* yet. Especially if her son has been bullied, give him some down time. Let him learn to relax again and get comfy in his own skin. Get her a book about learning styles/teaching styles/homeschool methods...from the library. Get some homeschool moms together to hang out for a while, help her relax, bounce questions. If anything for "schoolwork", I would have her start checking into math curriculums, as math isn't something you want to fall behind in, but the rest will come.

The only exception, and I cannot speak to this with full authority yet (ask me in a year) is when you get in the upper grades. I have a poor speller who is going into 6th, but I am starting him in the 5th grade. Once you hit 6th grade, it goes to hardcover textbook.

Scotch laminators are reasonably priced and work well. I get the laminating pages at Sam's Club, though, MUCH cheaper. :)

N/m.

It was not worth it for us. I prefer Rod and Staff spelling.

2nd grade is print, 3rd grade has two lists, print and cursive side by side, 4th is cursive. Instructions are all in print. You need to look at the samples. :)

Not sure this would fit the bill but I like: "When I give what I make with my hands, I give my heart." Since she's not 'giving' it but displaying it, you could modify it to "Reflections of the Heart", or some such thing.

I've been watching for this, too. :)

I suggest the phonics as well because you said that your son needed speech help, and that his spelling is poor. Kids who mispronounce words tend to be poor at spelling. One of my ds was a late talker/ speech therapy kid; working with phonics was good for him. Many, many people adore AAS on this board, and the majority report good results. I used level 1 and 2 myself with my daughter. The system has a bit of a set-up, there are letter tiles you cut out and put magnets on the back and use them on a large dry-erase board. Some people use cookie sheets or just don't even use the magnets, ymmv. There are cards you go through daily, rules to memorize and then short spelling lists. My dd knew all the words in both levels,and knew capitalization and such, so it was just about getting the rules down for her. I got tired of the cost and keeping track of all the stuff, overall I found it to be a long process that my dd didn't need. R&S...for the most part is solid curriculum that is really boring, I will agree with that. Those who use it, like the simplicity of it, that it is solid, get it done and move on to other things. I have tried their math and english and have found other things we like better. The spelling, however, has been a breath of fresh air. It's simple, quick and painless, and it is really good. It doesn't cost a lot of money, you only have the workbook and TM to keep track of, gets it done so we can move on to subjects we'd rather study. My middle kid struggles with spelling, and I am actually starting him on R&S a year behind this fall. I have found it very easy to get caught up in the hype of certain curriculum on this board, and have bought a lot of curriculum that I could have done without. The websites for both AAS and R&S are good, both have samples. I would highly recommend looking both over and take your ds's personality into consideration for which method he would want to do.

I would definitely say no to Spelling Power. It's a simple program made complicated by wordy instructions, I think it would frustrate you and not be a good fit for your description of your son. AAS is good, everyone starts at level 1. Look at the program, see if your son would like manipulating the tiles, it has multi-sensory options to it. R&S is my favorite of the three. If your ds has poor spelling, and you want him to learn the rules I would buy R&S 2nd grade along with their phonics package. It's user-friendly, good price, works great and not frustrating for the kiddos. Don't worry about it not being grade level, you want him to learn to spell. Mind at ease. :)

I think you're going to get a resounding result for AAS...but I preferred R&S for 2nd grade. It was a lot cheaper, two days a week of one workbook page and then test on the 3rd day. I believe R&S has a phonics program that goes along with it, but we just used the spelling. DD did AAS 1 and 2 prior to R&S. She didn't like the tiles with AAS, so she either used a lap size dry erase board for her to write them, or she recited the words orally. She preferred to do the page in R&S and be done. Both are great and get good reviews. I would choose based on the type of learner you have.

Just wanted to 2nd the fair part, some families volunteer for everything, some don't do the fair at all. My family has a great time working the eat stand for our 4H fundraiser, which is again good for the kids to work for the benefits we utilize during the year. As far as record books, I held my kids hand quite a bit through the first year, this year, not so much. The idea is to transition them to doing it themselves, which while time consuming for me at the beginning, will pay off once they learn to do their own record keeping. I agree, 4H is not for all families, but for many, it's a great activity.

It could be a switch, timer or belt. If you've got a handyman in the family, we've had success by googling problems and fixing ourselves, otherwise call a repairman.

We just finished our 2nd year with 4H, my dh grew up in it. I'll admit there is a learning curve to it. Our clubs are run out of our local extension office. There are monthly meetings as a club and then you sign up for whatever projects you want to take. The leader for those projects sets up meetings and kids gather and learn about it. Some projects don't have a leader, so you can teach your own kids or outsource it yourself. There are enough clubs in our area that we joined the one who had leaders for what we are interested in. A couple we do ourselves. My kids do things I could not teach them, like robotics. We have a leader who starts the youngers on Lego Mindstorms and then as they are older they make their own robot out of other materials and really get into the programming. I can't do that. They also do things that would be fun as a group, like Foods and arts and crafts. We have club musicals, each local club finds a musical to perform, then there is a night in the fall where they all go to the arts center and perform their musical in competition. One goes to the state fair to perform it. There is also a communication arts festival where the kids have to present how to do something. Some of those go to competition as well. The monthly meetings *seem* boring, but the kids are learning things like Roberts rules of order, the treasurer keeps track of the money, Secretary has to keep records, etc. My son was Reporter this year and he was in charge of taking pictures and writing articles and sending it in to be published in the county newsletter. The County Fair is a highlight for the kids. They have to go before a judge with whatever project they decide to enter and describe what it is and how they made it. They get placed and here they get money, not much, but it's something. Their project is displayed for everyone to see, which they like, and they also enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to, it gives them ideas. Then there is the dreaded record book. Some don't do it, but it's not too bad. You take pictures all year of what they are doing, and the kids have to create a binder of it all, with descriptions, newspaper clippings that they were in, etc.. It's a really good practice of keeping accurate records. The best is when you can get another family to mentor you through the year. They help you along with what's what, and it makes it so much easier. As with any club, some are great and some are not so much. I giggled a bit reading this thread, a lot of the complaints about figuring out how it's done, who to talk to, what groups there are, paperwork to fill out, etc., are the same complaints I hear about homeschooling. ;)

I don't know what to say for advice, except that I would try this. Maybe taking away the "audience" would take the gratification out of it for her. There may be other issues, but I am not qualified to speak to that.

We liked Rod and Staff. One page a day for two days, test at the end of the week. Fits all of your criteria. :) I don't think I even used the teacher manual.

I, too, am on the mailing list, and I buy from them, and don't always receive notices. I really appreciate those long threads where people give the heads up about them, and share which ones they've enjoyed. :)