I'm afterschooling younger dd in math using Saxon 5/4. The only parts we skip are the problems in the mixed practice that I know dd absulutely understands and gets right 100% of the time. Right now that's any problems that ask about fact families. She needs the repetition. As an aside, I'd always avoided using this program because I heard the daily lessons were so long and I'd heard other hsers say it just seemed so laborious to get through each lesson. I finally decided to try it out of desperation because no other math program(including the one used at dd's public school) seemed to work. It takes us anywhere from 30-60 minutes/day to complete, really not bad at all.

Younger dd is right handed and does not. Older dd is right handed and has a slight hook. It used to be much worse but I would nag her when she was little about keeping her hand straight. She's also the child who used to cry and say writing hurt her hand. She did a lot of oral work when she was younger. She says she hooks her hand now so no one can see what she is writing. She says the more she writes the worse her hook gets.

Privileges are earned. But older dd usually gets to ride in the front seat because her legs are longer. As for adult children, I can say from experience that parents entitling oldest child to everything because he/she was oldest has led to some very bad family dynamics. Even if someday everything on the surface appears ok between everyone, it never will be. My children know that, no matter what, everything we have left when we die will be shared evenly between them.

1 it is then. Dd has absolutely no desire or ambitions to do honors level or AP courses. She has certain interests that she is willing to put effort toward but most are not academic. (And we overloaded on literature this year so I'm paring it way back for next year.)

If dd does 2 lightning Literature courses and at least the grammar portion of a textbook how many credits do I give for completion of it all?

It has the answers to questions in the syllabus, rubrics for grading assignments, and many teacher's resources pages for the labs. (In retrospect, I should have gone through the manual first, chosen certain labs and made sure I had materials on hand. )There is a midterm/ lab activity and final/lab activity. If you are using teacher support thru OM you wouldn't need the teachers manual.

and never gone back several times. I'll wait 30 minutes before I complain. I don't mind waiting if I just called that day for an appointment and they've squeezed me (or a sick child) in somewhere. But if I've had an appointment made more than a week in advance I don't think I should have to wait that long.

for second half of 3rd grade and all of 4th. Going to school was unexpected but maybe shouldn't have been. She's been begging to go for at least a year. It was her choice completely but now that she's there we've decided that she will probably stay until 7th grade unless she begins to have problems socially. She really struggled with math at home and she continues to struggle with it at school. We don't have time during the school year to afterschool most subjects but I try to make time to fit in math as much as possible. We are seeing very gradual improvement. School has allowed her to practice her creative writing. She's not a prodigy but she's not bad at it either. She's been on numerous field trips, participated in chorus , a play, a school dance,a school sponsored club, and weekly fun (but time wasting from a hser's perspective) activities designed to promote school spirit. She is outgoing (compared to the rest of the family) and loves the social atmosphere. She has had no issues socially. Her fourth grade teacher had a reputation as strict but fair according to my dd. She was wonderful. I told dh I'd happily hire her as my childrens' tutor any day. I think she knew each child as an individual, kept in touch with parents, and went out of her way to make the classroom a wonderful place of learning. I was pleasantly surprised to see bits of classical education in both her classroom and the school as well. It's taken me a long time to accept that school is where dd needs to be right now. She says she'd like to be hsed next year but she hadn't been home from school 2 days before the struggle to get her to practice her math began. Right now the school can give her things that she can't get at home. There's a lot that goes on in ps that we don't agree with (most having to do with state regulations) but overall I actually like the elementary school my dd attends. And sending her to school hasn't turned out to be the end of the world. Like I said above though, we will reassess when she will be entering 7th grade . At that point, the children have different teachers for each class and both dh and I feel that makes it much more difficult for both teachers and students to get to know one another and the students become less individuals than bits to be moved through the machine. Also, and just as important, that's when the social issues really hit strongest.

It is very thorough. It is very dry. It is very, very, boring. It's not fun or the least bit amusing...ever. It was sheer drudgery and we dropped it after about 6 weeks. I know it's supposed to be academically challenging and will produce children who know everything there is to know about grammar. But it was a dismal failure at my house. That was 7th grade English. I've tried it twice for math, once in grade 2, once in grade 7. Second grade math mostly covered addition and subtraction in depth all year. 3rd grade came and dd had forgotten nearly all of it. I suspect the problem was more on dd's end of things than the program itself but it doesn't speak well for that whole concept of "all they need to do is memorize the facts". I didn't like the 7th grade TM. It gave answers but didn't explain how they got the answers. There are other programs that are more user friendly. Older dd did say she prefered the math text over the english. It was a bit less dull to read.

We left out the missionary stories and I let dd opt out of some other books that I didn't feel were important from a literary POV. Dd's least favorite was Heart of Darkness. She just couldn't relate to it at all having no historical perspective to put it in. She did feel the Core was a little heavy on depressing WW II books too although she liked Parallel Journeys. She says she finds Hemingway's writing confusing and doesn't like it for that reason. We use Sparknotes for a few books for lit. analysis.

She said at least the princesses wore hats whereas Beckham's hat looked like a unicorn horn. Anyway,aren't hats worn for such events meant to be fashion statements rather than practical? Though I think I'd have worn a hat with a brim wide enough so that no one would know I was faking singing or how bored I might have been.

It can take them a couple of days to be able to fly well enough so that it isn't noticable. If in doubt you can always call a local wild life rehabilitator or even a zoo. A zoo won't take the bird but they might be able to direct you to someone who can. Also vets offices sometimes or a nearby college or nature center might give you answers. But I've been told by a wildlife rehabber and the staff at the wild animal hospital at Cornell that birds who can fly are best left outside on their own. I'd try to find an area to take it away from cats and cars, the edge of a field or hedge row where there are trees and bushes would be best

the commentators knew who all the arriving guests were and there was no unpleasant chit-chat and speculation. Older dd loved the dress and all the females in the house liked seeing what everyone was wearing. Sometimes it's just nice to see something pleasant happening in the world.

Which is one of the reasons we started hsing in the first place. No experience yet with taking a child out of school although younger dd who is currently in ps will probably be hsed again next year. From what I have seen of families who did take children out of school it really only worked well when the child(ren) wanted to hs. All of them who had children who didn't want to be hsed ended up putting those children back in some sort of school.

taste different from the cheaper eggs. The yolks are a darker color, the shells are thicker and don't crack as easily. When we first switched to free range organic or cage free I noticed a difference in the taste but I don't notice it anymore because that's the only kind we eat now. I usually buy whichever the store has as long as the chickens are at least cage free. Dh likes organic eggs best because he says he can always tell the difference. Dh says no live chickens at our house because we would name them, turn them into pets, and refuse to eat them.

My older dd has always been hsed. She has spent a year and a half on the equivalent of Algebra 1 and she gets the basics of it but as the year is ending, she tells me she really doesn't feel she knows what she is doing. She is 3/4 of the way through her text and will probably not complete it. She gets frustrated when I try to sit down and explain it to her. I plan to have her do Geometry next year and I will do it along with her although I have to say I am not looking forward to it;I dislike the whole thought of it since it's part of mathematics that I don't feel at all comfortable with. I will not count it for credit unless she finishes the texts. She has never scored well on the math portions of her standardized testing although that may have been because we took a mastery approach rather than spiral (because spiral didn't work for her) and the years she tested she scored well on the questions that did cover what she had studied that year. This child will never do Algebra 2 or calculus unless she does it in college. I suspect she may have to take a remedial math class when she gets to college. I'm not sure how to make higher level math easier for her. The only thing I feel like I can do now is to make sure she has basic math down cold and takes a good consumer math course. I really can't help but think that I should have done a better job. Younger dd is in ps now and has been for a year and a half. She struggled with math at home. I tried 3 different math programs before she went to school including Rod and Staff for second grade which mostly just covered addition and subtraction and when she went to school she was still having trouble with that. She consistantly scores 1's and 2's out of a 1-4 grading system. She works with her teacher in school, has a math tutor, and works at home with me. She's slowly getting the basics but they move so quickly through the curriculum so that they can get it done by the end of the year. I've talked to her teacher, her tutor,and a retired teacher who still subs, all tell me not to worry that she may eventually get it. Although her teacher was honest and said some kids never really do get math but that her abilities might lie elsewhere (perhaps a kind way of telling me that my child may not be scholastically inclined?). Now dd wants to come back home, in part because of the math struggles. I always said I'd never use Saxon math but I've bought the books and started to work with her a little. She may be hsed next year, we haven't made a final decision yet but are leaning in that direction. At this point I sort of feel like I have to because we are all so frustrated by what's happening.

when are you, as a parent, supposed to worry that your child is behind where they should be academically? I feel like all these experts are telling me not to worry but I feel like they aren't the ones that have to take care of my children for the rest of their lives if they can't/ won't get an education sufficient to get them into college (they are girls with little aptitude or interest in any trade-type employment). Thoughts, experiences, reassurances, anything?

I've looked at several books of that type. The biggest differences I can see from textbooks is that these type of books lack the colorful pictures, the teacher's manuals, and, sometimes, tests. So I think, if you were going to use them, that the student would have to be very self motivated or the parent would have to make sure to follow up to see that the student is doing any extra work such as answering questions or doing the self quizes. A parent would also have to be available to explain difficult concepts or to direct the student to where she could find the explanations to things she didn't understand. I doubt the student would get much, if anything, out of just reading the book. I'm planning on adding in several biology websites which were mentioned in a previous biology thread, Princeton Review"s "The Biology Coloring Workbook", and labs. My oldest dd finds textbooks highly irritating, does not want me to lecture to her, and prefers the "just the facts" approach.

most parents don't have the luxury of waiting and hoping that their child will eventually get math concepts. My dd who goes to school struggles horribly with math (and she did at home too) and I'm worried about what will happen when she gets to high school and she is still struggling and not understanding the basic math concepts and they will want her to be taking algebra and geometry and passing the state mandated test so she can graduate. When I discussed this with a retired teacher who still subs, she said "Well if she struggles in high school they can give her a private tutor paid for by the state and if that doesn't work and she can't pass the test they will label her and have her take a different version of the test." Great, so my child has to consistently flunk math for years before anyone besides her parents worries. Ultimately, it does come down to us, as her parents, to find whatever works to help her succeed and we won't be doing her any favors if we take a "just wait and see" attitiude.

DD goes to ps, her first full year there. She just brought home her report card and all her grades have dropped. What happened? I've seen her work she has brought home and I don't see the drop in grades reflected in the grades on her papers. Is it that her teacher may have higher expectations now that the year is almost over? Is it that dd has decided she wants to be hsed again next year and isn't trying as hard in school? Her grades on the work she has brought home hasn't changed.

Same reason I don't post my own first name. Though my board name is a variation of my name and it's possible that someone could guess and figure out who I am.

and decide to order something on the spur of the moment but have no access to a computer. By the time I do get to the computer and I've had time to think about it, I've also had time to think that maybe I either don't need it or can get it cheaper somewhere else. If they can put in all that print about how much people love their product why not some prices? I've spent a lot of money with Sonlight over the years and I really have no desire to order anything from the new catalog since I find it more frustrating to use this year than in previous years. I think I'll order the few things I need to get from them soon while I still have my benefits from ordering last year's core. And why do they keep adding cores for the younger children but keep those same few cores for the high school years? My local ps offers more elective classes and choices in history than these hsing companies provide.

Her choice. She wants me to help her with things she doesn't understand. She wants me available to check her work sometimes, or more often, to discuss things. She doesn't really like learning from textbooks and doesn't use many. She doesn't mind workbooks but prefers real books mostly. We have answer keys and IGs but don't use them very much. Younger dd, who may be coming back home next year, is requesting textbooks. Sigh...they're so pretty when they are brand new and all shiny but so boring to use.

lots of work with hands on/ practical applications and is roughly 4th grade level. Something that is not computer based please. I think it needs to be a spiral math program, not mastery for this child. There are so many math ptograms out there and I'd really like to find a good fit for dd. Thanks-

I think they may be just the thing for students that take a "just the facts" kind of approach to science. I don't see the point in paying for a textbook just so my child can look at the pretty pictures. If there are things she doesn't understand I can supplement with library books and computer resources. Most of my science curriculum funds are going to buy the materials needed to do experiments. Don't get me wrong, I love the shiny new textbooks just as much as any educator does. But my children don't go back and re-read their textbooks for fun like they do other books so it's hard to justify spending over $100/textbook year after year, textbook after textbook. At least, not for older dd who really despises textbooks.