I like dd's teachers very much. I worry that in the long term her education won't adequately prepare her for college. I just feel that the system itself isn't working and I feel like if we decide to leave her in school we are taking this enormous chance that it (meaning the ps system) might fail my child. I'm really torn about having her continue there another year. She says she doesn't care if she goes to ps or is hsed next year. When she first started school last year she left for school and came home excited about school and learning. I see sparks of it this year sometimes but she often comes home tired and grumpy. She's a different child this year and I'm not sure I like some of the changes I'm seeing.

Math- I think maybe a basic math course from CLE and working through the Key to Geometry books. LA- Lightning Lit, Wordly Wise(both, dd's choices), thinking maybe the Stewart english program suggested in TWTM. Science- biology. I have a basic text, a biology coloring book, and I'm hoping to use one of the Labpaqs. History- really undecided! Today I'm thinking about maybe using a Teaching Company lecture series for a little US history. DD would like to do a course on political philosophy but I can't find good introductory materials. We may do philosophy instead. And dd would like to do a course on food and culture and I have a list possible books for that (thanks to whoever suggested that here!). We will also add in some Great Books study but won't stick to a strict chronological schedule. I'll try to vary the books and tie them in where I can with other subjects. And start practicing for the SAT/ACT exams.

I didn't save any money by buying the materials new from various sources. If I have the money to buy a full Core all at once it's just so much easier. Everything comes in 1 box and it's easy to track and quickly shipped. Con- biggest one is that I end up with some books that will never get read in my house but I can usually donate them somewhere. When I first started using SL years ago I thought I could get many of the literature books from the library but had a very hard time finding them when I wanted to use them because there were other people using the books at the same time. Since then I 've always bought the books I planned to use for the school year.

The 3rd edition has the most up to date curriculum recomendations. But I had a very difficult time finding affordable versions of the history spines for the logic stage. I did find available reasonably priced versions of spines recommended in the 2nd edition. I like the way science is covered in the logic stage for the 3rd edition much better than the previous 2 editions. But truthfully, I don't see a huge difference in the basic ideas that all the editions contain. (I love my first edition because it's bound up-side down and it's the first so I can't ever give it up. I write in the 2nd edition and it's the one I read most "cause it's next to my bed. And the 3rd is for reading out in public. But when there's a 4th edition I don't think I'll need to buy it unless I have grandchildren by then.)

No it doesn't have alot of sentence diagramming. But it teaches grammar well. DD who has to take standardized testing every so often always scored high on that portion of the tests. We used R&S for about 4 months and dd was bored to tears with it. We both felt there was too much repetition and it was very,very dry. (IMO, the writing part of BJU works for children who like to write; the natural writers of the world. It doesn't work for children who need to be taught how to write. I think WWE is better in that case.) I know lots of people love R&S and I wish I did but it just isn't worth having to put up with the groans of dispair I hear when my children lay eyes on those textbooks.

Love it that everything you need is there in the box and more than enough to do the experiments multiple times

Every new child that comes in to the school goes to a "math lab", an extra class held several times a week to help them learn the new program until their grades reflect that they understand the program and no longer need extra help. This year, my dd's teacher lent me an extra textbook to use at home so that dd and I can use it if necessary to explain terms or concepts if dd is having difficulty with her homework. More than once, I've also used the computer to look up how to do a problem (or gone to the Everyday Math website for possible assistance or the answers since they do provide some answers to some homework pages). Dd, who has always struggles with math at home struggles just as much with this program at school. Her math lab teacher, myself, and now her classroom teacher mostly are using traditional math methods to teach her now. If we were using this program while hsing we'd have dropped it long ago; it makes her cry.

consistantly gets a grade of "progressing" on her reading "recalls facts and details from reading" but she can answer all the questions in the Mosdos reading text we have at home. And part of the grade for every subject on her report card is "demonstrates effort and pride in work". She also gets graded on "characteristics of a learner". The grades are listed as "exceptional", "successful", "progressing", and "needs improvement". I see lots of time and effort in school being spent on math, a little less on reading and writing, much less on grammar, history and science. It's not unusual for dd to bring home math homework with a problem or two of some concept that they haven't been taught yet in class.

Depending on what community you live in and how much your property is assessed for. There are lots of jobs for skilled workers and quite a few in the food industries but not much "factory work" I guess you'd call it. You will probably pay more for your property the closer you are to a city. Rush hour in the small towns is from 7:15-8:15 am and 4-6:30 pm as people leave or arrive home. Right now good farm land is selling for $2000+/ acre. More if there is any building on it. Forget heading to any of our lovely lakes for the day...most of the property around them is privately owned and off limits to the general public. There are many parks though (but financial concerns mean the state and counties are threatening to close more of them every year) and they are very nice. Almost every small town that has a school also has a public library. For teens in the country there isn't much to do unless you like the outdoors or farm type activities. I drive my children 4 days a week to nearby cities for activities they are involved in. Many parents with children in the public school have their children involved in sports or afterschool activites to try and keep them out of trouble. There are hs groups around where I live but most are directed toward families with younger children. New York state leaves it up to the individual school districts to decide if hsers can participate in any school sports or clubs. Most do not though I know of two very small rural school districts that do or did in the past.

She says sometimes she likes it and sometimes she doesn't. "It's like 50/50" she says but can't be more specific than that. Last year when the school clesed for snow days she cried but this year she is happy when that happens.

Just got an e-mail from the company today that due to security concerns in the US airline shipping industry they are having longer than normal delivery times. Between that, the weather in the UK, and the US postal service I think dd will be lucky to have her most wanted Christmas presents by mid January.

Some people just can't do them. The most my 4th grade dd is usually expected to write in any of her courses is 1-2 sentences, just enough to answer the question. That being said, I noticed today that she can write 3-4 dictated sentences at a time after only hearing them once. She's a little slow at it but it'll likely come in handy when she starts having to take notes in class. Her teachers both this year and last year use tons of worksheets. I suspect many of them come from the internet. She only has a textbook for math.

Assassin's Creed 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV multiple times. Younger dd has never completed either one, she never does. Her characters spend alot of time changing clothes, buying things, and just running around,exploring. No one in my house is really into playing games with zombies and monsters though dh plays them once in a while. Most games get traded in eventually but we keep a few that the children like to play more than once. DH and older dd are playing Call of Duty but I don't think it will be a "keeper".

Most courses are about $100. I could use textbooks/living books for that price. I just choose to spend more to make learning more palatable/challenging for dd. And dd does dance which adds considerably more but I'd like to think she'd still do it even if she wasn't hsing.

The assignments are light but the comprehension questions require the student to pay attention to what they read and think about the answers. Assuming you have a student willing to put forth the effort (dd struggled with this her first quarter of the year). I also added in "On Writing Well" and Wordly Wise. Next year dd will probably go back to Lighning Lit since she says she prefers it. With teacher support since it's affordable and I really think dd needs to be accountable to someone besides me. I really like OM and wish I could afford teacher support but it's quite expensive. Dd is also doing OM Environmental Science which she finds very easy since she's covered much of it in various science classes over the years. And she is doing an art class through OM, as well. I have teachers manuals for the Science and English but the art class doesn't have one. At this point I do plan to have dd take OM's Biology course next year. She doesn't want to disect creatures and doesn't plan on a science career so the labs may be enough; I'll decide how to supplement later if I think it's necessary.

that it's the system itself that is so broken. It's a lot easier to blame the little people actually trying to do the every day work.

Although the student didn't copy an entire source word for word the teacher felt the student plagarized part of a paper and the student , upon having it pointed out, agreed. The student's paper was marked down a grade and the student was warned that if it happened again she would be expelled. This was an adult student. So I guess my own thoughts would be that it needs to be addressed with the entire class but no specific names mentioned (so that everyone is aware of classroom expectations) and privately with the student who may not have realized they did something wrong. I am seriously dating myself but I don't remember plagarism ever being discussed when I was in elementary or jr high. Citing sources wasn't taught until I was well into high school.

since they use Everyday Math. The hardest part is trying to do the math using the techniques they teach the kids in school. I get frustrated sometimes when dd sits down with her math homework and says she doesn't know how to do it because it wasn't something they've worked on in school. I think they sometimes give the kids things just to see what they don't know. Once or twice I've sent it back undone and wrote that dd didn't understand what she needed to do to complete the work. Other homework is usually spelling or LA that she can do on her own.

Ok, they lost my paperwork once. But they are responsive. While dh's frustrations are equally divided between how the school does things and how the state does things, mine are almost wholly caused by the state. It frustrates me to know that my child will spend at least half the school year studying for the state mandated tests. I think that the schools did a better job when they had more autonomy.

won't release individual test results? I wondered why we hadn't heard dd's test results from last year so I called the school; individual student test scores haven't been released yet by the state and the new school year has started. Teachers and parents are supposed to figure out what each child needs to work on based on...? Right now dh is leaning toward not sending younger dd to ps next year. Hearing this was just one more nail in the coffin, so to speak. It isn't the school's fault, it just doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence in the ps system at all. I'm not sure how our little experiment in hsing older dd will eventually turn out but I feel like sending younger dd to school is just as much of an experiment and right now the outcome doesn't seem quite as positive as I want it to be. I'm trying not to sound whiny because I really want to stay positive about dd's school experience. She loves it there so much but I'm not sure that keeping a child in a place that isn't achieving the goals I want just because she thinks it's fun is a really good reason.

She does most of her work independently and I just check her work every few days. If I don't think she's answered a question with enough thought put into her answer I will ask her to explain and we discuss her answers. She checks some of her own work herself. We do not go over her work every day-maybe only 2-3 days/week. Some days she works completely independently. I try to work just ahead of her or along with her in math. We each do the lesson independently and compare our answers with the answer key and whoever gets it right has to explain how we got the right answer to the one who got it wrong. Sometimes we are both wrong and looking at the answer allows us to figure out our mistake. I try to read most of the books that dd is reading for school credit either before she reads them or while she is reading them. We are reading the Aenid together through the year (we read a certain number of pages/week) and we discuss it briefly each week. It seems like a lot when I write it down but we really don't sit down at the same time every day and "do school". I usually do my reading and math before the children get up or after they are in bed or while they are at karate and dance. Sometimes I take it to work and read it on my lunch break. I know what my dd is working on but she generally doesn't like me to "lecture" to her so I try not to. In general, my daughter has said she doesn't like the format of any teacher standing in front of a class giving a lecture so it's not something I've pushed to duplicate at home.

any more than I'd assign them to read the bible. I will suggest they read religious books for reference to other literature and cultural things (like movies and tv shows) but if they aren't interested I won't force it on them. Many of the books that had the most influence on me were books that I read on my own; the ones I was forced to read were usually quickly forgotten.

to hold a whole class up. I've seen it happen when I was in school. It may be that the teacher is overwhelmed having to deal with some children with behavioral issues and isn't getting the support she needs from the administration. There is a such a huge push for schools to do well on standardized tests and "teacher accountability" based on test results that there are time constraints being placed on the teachers. There are certain things that have to be taught for the tests and the teachers have to cover those things at the expense of other subjects like history. My younger dd who went to ps for the last half of last year said that every day there was practice for the tests, the teacher talking about the tests, and some days some subjects were skipped so the students could practice for the tests or go to assemnblies about the tests. Those tests put huge pressures on the kids and teachers. IMO, if your dd wants to come home and you are willing to hs her then just do it. You don't need an excuse to take her out of school. I absolutely firmly believe hsing is best for most children but I wouldn't march into my child's school and demand my child's teacher explain her discipline policies to me. It is her classroom, not mine.

at the end of Mockingjay he is starting a new singing program. Which made me think of things like American Idol and all those so called reality shows and Deadliest Catch where they showed Phil Harris getting ill and several shows after that leading up to his death (don't know if it was actually on camera 'cause I thought it was too morbid to watch) and just how much we are being manipulated by the media. And then there are those comparisons to the last days of Rome and how the emperors kept the populace entertained so they wouldn't turn against whoever currently held power. Maybe instead of team Edward/Jacob/Peeta/Gale we ought to consider Katniss vs. Bella. Uggh... Bella wants Edward.That's all she wants. She's not a heroine that I'd like my daughters to admire or that I admire.

because the one college she expressed interest in had sent a representative. It was very helpful because he gave me the e-mail address of the person who handles homeschool admissions to the college. Talking to him and many other representatives from other colleges gave me a sense of what colleges want to see from homeschooled students. Dd wants to go to college out of state and though there were many in-state colleges there were lots of out-of-state ones (including a few that I would love to go to myself). Many of the teens were brought by their various schools but there were a quite a few with at least 1 parent.