Boy, it is really tough to find a source that lays out in layman's terms (and in an easy-to-read format) what is included in the stimulus package. That, in and of itself, is a concern, IMO. But, I did find this comprehensive list of proposed funding related to public education (below). Again, this is just the public education piece of the pie. Education and Human Resources: $100 million $60 million for Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program which encourages talented science, technology, engineering, and math majors and professionals to become K-12 math and science teachers. $40 million for Math and Science Partnerships which is a research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in math and science. After-School Feeding Program for At-Risk Children: $726 million $726 million to provide free dinners to at-risk children and to increase snack reimbursement rates. Child Care Development Block Grant: $2 billion $2 billion to supplement state general revenue funds for child care assistance for low-income families. These funds could be used to provide full-time child care services to an additional 11,600 children in California. Head Start/Early Head Start: $2.1 billion $1 billion for Head Start, a comprehensive education, health, and nutrition and social/emotional development services for low-income children. $1.1 billion to expand Early Head Start programs which provide services for low-income infants and toddlers. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department estimates that these funds will provide services to an additional 110,000 children annually, with an emphasis on early intervention services to infants and toddlers under Early Head Start. Title I Grants: $13 billion over two years $11 billion in additional funding for basic grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) eligible for Title I funds. The additional funding could be used to provide additional academic support to children from low income families who are failing or at risk of failing core subjects such reading, writing and math. LEAs could use the funding for after-school and summer programs to extend and reinforce the regular school curriculum. This funding could also be used to hire additional teachers or tutors to help those children who are most in need. $2 billion for school improvement grants. This funding could be used to further identify and address the needs of schools in program improvement, corrective action, and restructuring in order to improve student achievement. Impact Aid Construction: $100 million $100 million to support school construction in LEAs with high percentages of children living on Indian land or children with military parents. K-12 Repair and Modernization: $14 billion $14 billion can be used for health and safety repairs, facility modifications to provide access for disabled students, and educational technology, infrastructure upgrades, as well as projects to improve energy efficiency. Funding will be allocated to states based on their FY 2008 allocation under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act, after a 1 percent reservation of funds for outlying areas and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. States must allocate funds using the same methodology within 30 days of receipt of the funds. There are provisions for redistributing the funding. Current language notes that this funding will be used to supplement, not supplant, state funding for school construction. Education Technology: $1 billion over two years $1 billion provided through the existing Education Technology program for technology hardware, software applications, professional development and related instructional technology staff and services. Statewide Data Systems: $250 million $250 million to design and develop data systems that analyze individual student data to find ways to improve student achievement. These funds may be available to start implementation of recommendations in the McKinsey report on how to improve and expand California's education data system. Up to $5 million may be used for state data coordinators and for awards to public or private organizations or agencies to improve data coordination. Education for Homeless Children and Youth: $66 million over two years $66 million provided through the existing program to provide services to homeless children including meals and transportation when high unemployment and home foreclosures have created an influx of homeless children. This funding could also be used to provide tutoring and other educational services to help homeless children reach state content and performance standards. This funding could be used to purchase school supplies to students at shelters, temporary housing facilities, and other locations as appropriate. Other uses could be for before- and after-school programs, mentoring, and summer programs for homeless children and youth. Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities: $25 million $25 million to assist charter schools obtain financing for infrastructure projects. Teacher Incentive Fund: $200 million $200 million in increased funding for existing competitive grants to school districts and states to develop and implement innovative strategies that provide financial incentives for teachers and principals who raise student achievement and close the achievement gap in high-need schools. Funding would enable school districts to develop and implement systems to attract and retain highly qualified teachers and principals, and to align their pay with student performance. Teacher Quality Enhancement, State Grants: $100 million $100 million increased funding for existing competitive grants to states for reforming teacher licensing and certification requirements, providing alternative methods of teacher preparation, and providing alternative routes to state certification. These funds are administered by higher education. IDEA, Part B State Grants: $13 billion over two years (based on existing formula) $13 billion to increase the federal share of special education costs and prevent these mandatory costs from forcing states to cut other areas of education . Additional funding will assist school districts with paying for the rising cost of special education for students with disabilities. Although the number of students enrolled in special education has remained steady over the last 5 years, the severity of disabilities has intensified, including autism, which requires a greater investment of resources to ensure an adequate education is provided. The additional funds will assist school districts from further reducing funding for general educational operations during the current state budget crisis. IDEA Infants and Families: $600 million over two years (based on existing formula) $600 million to help states serve children with disabilities age 2 and younger. These funds are administered by the Department of Developmental Services. State Fiscal Stabilization Fund: $79 billion over two years $79 billion to provide fiscal relief to states to prevent cutbacks in critical education and other high priority services. $25 million is reserved for the Secretary of Education for administration and oversight, including program evaluation. $15 billion is reserved for State Incentive Grants. The remaining funding (approximately $64 billion) is allocated by the federal Secretary of Education to the states, of which 61 percent is allocated based on school-aged population and 39 percent is allocated based on total population. States shall use at least 61 percent of the funds they receive to support elementary, secondary, and higher education. These funds must first be used by states to restore state aid to school districts under the primary state K-12 education funding formula and to institutions of higher education to FY 2008 levels, to the extent feasible given available funds. Any remaining funds shall be allocated to school districts based on the formula under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. For each fiscal year, the Governor may use up to 39 percent of the funds for public safety and other government services, which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education. To obtain funds, the governor of a state must submit an application including assurances pertaining to maintenance of effort of state support for education, achieving equity in teacher distribution and quality, establishing a longitudinal data system, and enhancing the quality of academic assessments for English language learners and students with disabilities. The maintenance of effort level is based on 2006 expenditures. Funds must be used for services authorized by ESEA, IDEA, and Perkins. $650 million (of the $15 billion reserved for State Incentive Grants) can be used for an Innovation Fund to support awards by the Secretary of Education to recognize states, local educational agencies, or schools that have made significant gains in closing achievement gaps.

We use these, but we also use the maps from Hold That Thought: http://www.holdthatthought.com/hist2.php

Same here. This involves reading (from MOH or Kingfisher), discussion, writing (IEW's history-based writing lessons), literature (novels related to the historical events we are covering), time lines, map work, and an occasional hands-on project.

We converted our guest bedroom into a schoolroom / library / office, and that's where we do school. We have a huge whiteboard on the wall (homemade version, using tileboard), and just use a folding banquet table for a school desk (which gives us room to spread out books and papers during the day). We also have a daybed and easy chair in the room, when we want to relax more for reading or whatnot. (The daybed has a trundle unit, too, so if we do have extra guests, we can put away the school table and still use the room as a guest room. But, with my oldest DS off to college, we usually use his room if we have overnight company, and haven't had to use our converted classroom for guests yet.)

I voted notebook and homemade. I used Adobe software to create my own timeline pages that fit into a 3-ring binder, and we use the figures from Homeschool in the Woods. However, we also made a timeline out of construction paper for JUST Egyptian history, based on a design from Teacher Created Resources. That helped to see the big picture of that empire at a glance... but then we still added info to our regular notebook timeline, which helped DS see how those events happening in Egypt coincided with and related to other events in history. We will do the same with our Ancient Greek unit, I think. (Make the separate timeline, that is.) I would have done a wall timeline, if we'd had a wall to put it on.

For the OP -- Just from my own experience, I can say that I really, really wish I had homeschooled ALL my children. One of my biggest regrets, for sure. May I suggest that you let the 7yo homeschool with you for the rest of the year, with the understanding that this semester is a "trial run" and if it doesn't work out, she'll be back in PS next year. It would be easier to pull her out half-way through the year (to homeschool than to send her back half-way through the next year if it ends up not being a good fit for you (or her). Just my $0.02. As others have said, though, only you know what's best for your family.

DS19 stays in regular contact. He usually calls at least once a week, and will send short text messages every couple days. His emails are more irregular, and he rarely leaves me comments on FB, but will respond to comments I leave for him. Through FB, though, I get a window into his world there at school. I am also "friends" with his girl friend, and I have really enjoyed being able to chat with her and to see their pictures, etc.

Hmmm, I forgot about Noeo. That DOES look good. A long-term plan... uh, well... I hadn't really thought about it! :blush: I have our history planned out long-term, but not science. I guess I assumed I would follow the "typical" public school route (and one that's common among HS'ers, too, I think) for middle school and high school science: 7th grade: General Science 8th grade: Physical Science 9th grade: Biology 10th grade: Chemistry 11th grade: Physics or Human Anatomy 12th grade: Physics or Human Anatomy So, in that case... which Noeo course would you recommend for 6th grade? Biology II, Chem II or Physics II? And, as these are geared for grades 4-6, so you think they are challenging enough for 6th grade? I really dropped the ball this year. I started the year with a different curriculum, an all-in-one unit study that included science, but not to the degree I was happy with... and then I actually abandoned the program altogether in favor of something a bit more rigorous, and science fell by the wayside. :sad: I tried to recover by using CGC (as mentioned in my OP), because we had started that at the end of DS's 4th grade year, but hadn't finished it. After Christmas, I picked that up where we left off last year. So, I'm kicking myself for not doing CKEB or RS4K, or Noeo Biology this year, so we could do Chemistry or Physics next year (6th grade), and then start the middle school / high school science schedule. But, what's done is done. The question is, what should I do for 6th grade, to prepare DS for upper level science classes?

:iagree: I wanted to homeschool my DD when she was in elementary school. I didn't, to my regret, because I was overwhelmed, didn't know where to start, and the couple women I knew who were homeschooling (and who I'd asked for help) had been doing it for so long, they'd forgotten what it was like to be new at it. Five years later, I KNEW I needed to homeschool DS ... and it was Cathy Duffy's book that really got me started, helped me to know I COULD DO THIS, gave me info on curriculum, and inspired confidence. The descriptions of various homeschooling methods, learning styles, and teaching methods were immensely helpful and were written in a way that a complete novice could understand. If I'd read TWTM first, I would have been in a complete puddle on the floor.:svengo:

:lurk5:

Mindy, that is encouraging to read. Do you plan to do Apologia Physical Science in 7th grade, then?

Thanks again, everyone, for your responses to my questions. I think y'all have sold me on this!

Great! Thanks!

Thank you, everyone, for all this great information! I have been out of the house all day, and have just now had a chance to read through this. I *think* my son has a fairly decent grasp on grammar right now, but I wonder what you all mean by "having a good grasp on grammar." We have been doing Easy Grammar this year (and the last quarter of his 4th grade year, which is when we started hs'ing). He could identify most parts of speech -- preposition, verb, noun, adjective, adverb, infinitive, etc. -- at least, so long as we are in that unit. EG doesn't have daily review of previous concepts, just a cumulative review at the end of each unit (although the student often has to apply previously-learned concepts while doing exercises for the new concepts). I will say that neither of us knows how to diagram a sentence. I knew a long, long time ago, but couldn't do it now to save my life. So... do you think he could switch to R&S English 6 coming out of EG5? (The R&S "grammar" reference threw me, too, when I went to Google it; but most people here seem to refer to it as such, so I did the same in my topic heading.) I can't imagine starting him back in R&S 3 or 4. I wonder if there's a placement test of some sort... Is this a good fit with IEW? We'll be doing the Medieval History writing lessons next year, for the most part. I have never seen an R&S book, so I can't really comprehend all that you are talking about, with the workbooks, the writing, etc. I gather there are a lot of writing assignments, but some of you skip those because you feel the writing is covered sufficiently in IEW, is this correct?

Trying to think through our coming year, in hopes of buying used curriculum now with our tax refund. :001_smile: I have been looking at Christian Kids Explore Biology, Real Science 4 Kids, and Apologia Botany, among others. My main concern is that, being a 6th grader, would CKEB or RS4K be challenging enough? As for Apologia Botany, I *know* that, given our personalities, both DS and I would be ready to move to something new by the middle of the year. (IOW, as great as it is, we could not do Botany all year long, in which case, I'd still need another program to flush out the year.) I briefly considered Apologia General Science, but wasn't sure if my son's math skills would be strong enough for that level. Has anyone done this with their sixth grader? If so, was your child really strong in math, or not so much, and did it really make a difference? We've been kind of weak in this area this year, I confess. I don't want to make the same mistake next year. This year, we have been using Considering God's Creation for the most part, but much of it is a repeat of things he's already learned, without adding anything new. I do like the hands-on aspect of it, and the notebooking pages that are a little crafty, but not excessively so. So, the ideal science program would be challenging enough for a 6th grader, with hands-on activities that don't require a huge investment of $$, and some notebooking/lapbooking thrown in for good measure, because we kind of like that. :001_smile: Not too tall an order, right? TIA for your advice and suggestions!

I have looked at TT for math for next year, and think I'd like to go with it. I do have a question, though -- if you have two children in the same grade level, how does that work? Can you set it up for two children to use at the same time? (I only have one HS child, but I might be taking another one under my wing next year, so I wondered how or if TT would work in that situation.) TIA!

S/O from another thread... I see many of you use R&S for grammar. What do you like about it? Do your children moan and groan when it comes out? If you aren't using it anymore, why not? DS will be in 6th grade next year. That will be our second full year of homeschooling. This year we are using Easy Grammar, and like it OK, but I am intrigued by R&S based on all the rave reviews it gets here. We also use IEW for writing, BTW. TIA for your feedback!

If you are looking for a way to make the solid/dashed lines for beginning writers, you can try a couple of these free fonts from DaFont.com. http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=602&nb_ppp=50&classt=alpha Scroll down and look for "Penmanship Print" and "School Script Dashed." Don't worry about whether you like the printing or script writing -- the point is, it gives you the ability to create a row of plain "handwriting" (solid/dashed) lines. On the Penmanship Print font, I think all you have to do is hit the space bar, and it enters a section of blank line. Just hit the space bar across the page to create a whole row. Change the font size to make it as big as you need it. All you really need, then, is Microsoft Word or something similar. With Word, you can insert a graphic (search Google Images for public domain images), type the words/phrases to copy in a basic font (whatever you have on your computer), then use the "penmanship" font to create the handwriting lines. You can even add a border around the page. Once you have created one of those copy sheets, you can just open it, replace the image and the words for the next copy sheet that you want to make, and voila. (As simple as that is, I confess that I get all obssessive about our notebooking pages, etc., and use Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator to make ours. I usually spend waaaaay too much time creating them.) HTH (and that I correctly understood what you were looking for!) :001_smile:

Same here. As a military wife, I've had the great privilege of living all over the world, and making many new friends at each new post. I usually had one very good friend from each duty station that I kept in touch with regularly through email and (before that) actual hand-written letters.* There were many other friends and very good acquaintances that I would have loved to have stayed in touch with, and did for a time, but eventually we lost our connection. Through Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with many old friends, and have been able to share a bit of their lives with them. It has been a pleasure meeting up with folks I haven't seen in a long while, and may never see in person again -- high school and college classmates, former colleagues, and other folks I've met through the years. Catching up with these old friends has been one of the highlights of my FB experience. I also am able to be more connected to my college-age son, who is 10 hours away from us. I get a glimpse into his life there at school, the new friends he's made, etc. It's not a clingy relationship -- we might chat on the phone once every couple weeks, and I will leave him the occasional message on his "wall" or comment on his status, to let him know I'm thinking of him. And, for those friends on FB whom I also see IRL on a fairly regular basis... well, it has strengthened our bond. Kate CA said it best, so I'll quote her and say in advance, "I agree." As for the original OP's question as to why she wasn't contacted by her friends directly with their exciting news, and instead heard it second-hand from people who had heard it on FB... I think it's a problem with the friends, not with the technology of FB. Either you're not as close a friend to them as you thought you were, or they lack social graces. Most people I know who use FB, even teenagers, would call (or text or email) close friends with their exciting news before posting a bulletin or note on FB. * I'm not so good at the hand-written letters part, anymore, but wish I were. Good intentions and all that, but no follow through.

We use Easy Grammar. I liked their approach (starting with recognizing and eliminating prepositional phrases, which then helps you determine the other parts of the sentence), their lessons are short, and my son "gets" it. He doesn't moan and groan about grammar because it's quick and painless, and yet he's learning. The drawback, if you consider it such -- the review of past lessons comes only at the end of each unit. So, after each major unit (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), you'd have a few days' worth of cumulative review (covering EVERYTHING learned to that point). The daily lessons don't go back and "review" past concepts per se, although in many cases the student has to apply what they've already learned in addition to the new concept (if that makes sense).

:iagree: Very well put. Count me among the knuckle-dragging barbarians; I thought it was awful.

Just yesterday, I recommended to a friend and fellow hs'ing mom that she buy the KF encyclopedia, either the 2004 (red) or the 1993 (white) editions. Then, I went to Amazon to see if there even were any of the 1993 versions available (there weren't) -- and about fell out of my chair when I saw the price on the red book starting at $295!!! :eek: That is absolutely insane. There were some other red book versions going for $65. What is driving this price gouging? I got my red book for around $25 about 9 months ago, and the white book used for $10 just two months ago, both at Amazon. If anyone is interested in buying the red book, it's available for $25 plus shipping at Scholastic: http://preview.tinyurl.com/KF-History-Encyclopedia

A recent blood test revealed that my Vit D levels were way down, so I got a weekly mega-dose jumpstart for a month, and then will take this megadose monthly. BTW, on my lab results, there is a note that says this: "Recent studies consider the lower limit of 32.0 ng/mL to be a threshold for optimum health." And they site some medical journal. If you have kidney problems you should be careful about talking excess Vit D without first talking with your doctor.

I found that I had to make this a "subject" like I do math and science and history. I slacked off for awhile, but now I'm back to using it regularly. (It tuns out to be perfect timing, as we will begin studying Latin roots for body parts at the same time we begin a human anatomy unit in science!) Anyway, this is what we do: 1. We use these color-coded notebooking pages from NotebookingPages.com (only $1.60 for the download): http://tinyurl.com/Latin-Greek-Word-Study 2. I usually introduce one or two roots in one lesson (and we usually only do one lesson a week in which he is introduced to new words, mainly because of time constraints). I write on our white board the root word, and DS tries to guess what it might mean. (This gets more fun for him the more words we learn, because he is casually introduced to root words he hasn't yet "learned" when he's learning derivatives for roots he *has* learned.) Then I write the meaning, if he hasn't already figured it out. 3. I ask him to think of English words that might use that root word. 4. Using the EFTRU word list on each page, and the notebooking pages I referenced above, we usually write six derivatives for each new root. Some of the derivatives are just that -- forms of the root. (E.g., "fix" is a derivative of figo; there are no additional roots combined with it to make that word.) However, if the derivative is a word that is a combination of root words, I will write the roots up there and ask him if he can figure out the word. Here's an example: Let's say we are learning "tele." I might write this on the board (see below), but I don't actually write the English derivative or definition. I try to get him to figure out the derivative and meaning based on the roots and their meaning. tele + skopeo = English derivative (far away) + (to see) = definition After guesses, I'll write the answer (if he hasn't figured it out). He then copies that on his notebooking page. 5. The next day, I have him use his notebooking sheets to make note cards as directed in the EFTRU book (index cards with red or green borders, the root word on the front, the definition and some derivatives on the back). That is reinforcing the word and it's meaning (I hope). 6. I make a variety of review worksheets for him, and we usually do one per week -- matching, fill-in-the-blank, crosswords, word searches, etc. I always ask him to do as much as he can from memory, but when he gets to a point that he can't remember any more, then I let him use his note cards or notebooking pages. 7. We play Rummy Roots, and also use the notecards as flash cards. We use other activities suggested in the new Illuminations curriculum, but that is their intellectual property, so I don't feel comfortable sharing it here. 8. I make an occassional quiz or test -- about every 12 roots we learn, after a sufficient time of review, he takes a no-notes-allowed quiz on those roots; then, I give him an occasional test on ALL the roots learned thus far. So, that's how we are using it. But, I am really interested in hearing how other veteran EFTRU users implement the lessons. Check out this site, as well, for flash cards, etc.: http://quizlet.com/18070/100-greek-and-latin-word-roots-flash-cards/

I wish we *could* school year-round. But, DD15 is in public high school, and it is hard for DS11 to be "in school" on the days his sister (and neighborhood friends) are off. I might try the year-round schedule in 8th grade, as big sis will have graduated by then. Does the year-round schedule still work for high schoolers?! I imagine it would... unless I enroll him in special classes (I'm thinking some science classes like chemistry that are offered to homeschoolers). That might throw things off a bit. Ah, well... if only I had started homeschooling 15 years ago, when my oldest DS was starting kindergarten... then we could have had our whole family on a year-round schedule, and would have been free to enjoy more travel time when we lived overseas! 20/20 hindsight... *sigh.