More than I want to put down in writing.... If you count only what I end up using and not "geting and reselling," then I guess around $1,000 for both kids. Then add co-op to the tune of $160 per month Sept thru April. Then, add basketball and soccer fees, camp fees for the summer (basketball $150, Christian Camp $235)...and, of course, books, materials, etc etc etc, I don't even want to try and fathom the true "total."

NOEO has been good for my ds9. Next year, we are doing a living book Science that marries to the History they are studying using Heart of Dakota. We are really excited to give it a try.

I learned a long time ago that this is MY life and not my moms. She raised her kids...she made her mistakes and good decisions. Now, I will make mine. My advice is not to listen to one word of it. She raised you...now it is your and dh's turn to raise your kids in the way you see fit. My mom wasn't gung ho on homeschooling at first...neither was my MIL. Now, they are both all for it because 1. they see how well the kids are doing and 2. they don't have a choice in the matter. ;)

My kids refuse to let me throw away their teeth. They write a note to the Tooth Fairy (at least my oldest did when he still believed) and ask to keep the teeth. They each have a medicine bottle to put their lost teeth in. I make sure not to ever touch that medicine bottle, much less, look inside! LOL

Singapore and Math U See are good mastery programs.

Oh Lord - it would probably be easier to list the stuff my kids DO like. :( Calvert (math, science, Grammar) Writing Tales Singapore LLATL Spelling Workout Growing with Grammar I am sure I will log in and add to the list later...LOL

I wouldn't do Song School Latin with a 4th grader. It is designed for 4-7 year olds and really just starts a foundation. A 4th graders, I would start in Latin for Children Primer A. :) The rest looks great!

CLE Sunrise edition is nothing like Alpha Omega. I have used Singapore and now use CLE. Both are great programs. 1. Drill/repetition: Singapore repeats concepts at the beginning of each year. CLE does it daily sometimes, weekly other times. CLE is spiral, Singapore is Mastery. My son was forgetting facts with Singapore - even simple addition can be forgotten when it is not used often. 2. Practice: CLE does a much better job at giving a complete "lesson" in a concept than Singapore does. CLE does it with one book while, with Singapore, I was always having to use all 4 or 5 books to get the same results. In the end, my son did not do well with this method at all. I always felt like I needed to "beef up" the lessons in Singapore. My son would do 4 practice problems and then 15 problems in the workbook and that was all that was scheduled. For extra practice, I had to pull out EP or IP and schedule on my own. Sometimes that was too much...other times, still not enough. It got frustrating. 3. Teacher Hand holding. LOL No better way to put it. CLE holds my hand and says, "Rebecca, teach this!" while Singapore doesn't. At. all. Not even in the HIG, in my opinion. That was okay in the easier math, but got a bit tough when we hit things I had forgotten or never did well with in math myself. Singapore also "assumed" you were memorizing facts and number bonds and such in the younger grades when I had no idea we were even supposed to be doing that yet. There is no "method" for memorization in Singapore. CLE starts each day with short flash card drills and tells you exactly how to help your child commit these things to memory. I like both programs, but CLE is so much more of what my kids and I need. Lots of people make Singapore work beautifully for them - we just weren't those people.

Sad to say that I am right there with ya. Mine is not math facts or the kids forgetting things (though it can be irritating to tell my 5 year old who can read at a 3rd grade level to "sound out" a word he doesn't know and hear him suddenly go blank at what letters say!), but my older son is ADHD with an attitude and boy, can we sure go head to head sometimes. It is nauseating really. Some days I feel like he would be HAPPIER if I carted him off to public school. Then I come here and type and read and calm myself and I manage to remember all the reasons I love teaching him at home. Some days, I am at the computer for a.long.time. LOL

I graduated with honors from a private school at the top of my class and I went to a state University....wouldn't have gotten into Harvard if I had TRIED. (I didn't try!)

LOL...they figured it out...but they obviously didn't get the message! :lol:

This also is just an exact mirror of what my son went through with his bully. The child was nice one minute and my son WANTED to befriend him. He desperately desired for everyone to like him and accept him and the fact that this kid did not drove him insane. How weird. Is this just bully 101 or something. :glare:

We have so BTDT! Down to the letter - large kid very emotionally unstable and my hyper, wired kid who just didn't mix and it came to blows. They were also 9. Ours ended in the kid telling my son he would "die tomorrow" on the playground, the school doing NOTHING about it and blowing it off, and me finally pulling out my older to homeschool. I witnessed the boys coming out of class one day and the child waited on my son and punched him. My son kept walking and paid no attention, but I actually told the child to stop hitting my son or we would see the principal. He knew he had been caught, so he then told his grandmother (his guardian) that I called him a "stupid fat bastard." Of course, I didn't and there was a hall full of people to prove I didn't, but the whole thing left a BAD taste in my mouth and is 60% of the reason my older son is now home with us. ETA: The bully my son had also broke down crying when confronted. It was part of the "game" for him.

Are you enrolling your kids in ps or just having them tested there? I don't understand how they can refuse the testing - in TN, they can't. The parent requests it and they have to do it. It takes them forever, but they have to do it. Your plan sounds like a good one - give him 2nd grade work (age appropriate) and show them that he can't do it. (The ps sure knows how to make a kid feel bad about himself, huh? :()

We love CLE. It is slower and more thorough than Horizons was. Horizons went too fast for ds. I feel like it is better laid out, the lessons are in good sized "bites," the drill and repetition is quick and fun, and there is a lot of hand holding for the teacher. Oh...and the best best best part is that I can use it all the way through their schooling because it goes into Algebra and Trig. :)

Honestly, I would not LET the mother have the child back. No telling what she will do with her if/when she gets her.

I am so sorry! :grouphug:

We save a large amount after Christmas and through March for the bulk of the curriculum in the fall. Then I have a $50 monthly budget for anything else that might tickle my fancy/we might need. I also sell a lot of items and use that money to buy other items through the year.

I agree...why fix what "ain't broke?" (as they say here in the south LOL)

I have 2 kids who are 4 years 2 mos apart. I find that teaching them is a BREEZE. My older is very independant (other than a few subjects) and my little one takes very little time to teach. So..I get my older started by explaining math to him and such, then I let him go. If he has questions, he asks, but otherwise, I work with my little one while my bigger one is working on the stuff he can do alone. When I finish with my younger, I do whatever needs to be done with my older. It is a wonderful setup having them so far apart. I don't know how people do it when they are bouncing back and forth between the two the whole time. :) ETA: I do not combine my kids at all. We do Heart of Dakota each on his own level.

I really like CLE's LA. We use level 300 for ds9 and he is really thriving. The spelling is right on level for him (he was not a great speller and he is doing great with the CLE lists). In fact, I like it so much, I am moving my little fella over too. :) I did not care for the Reading by CLE. I much prefer living books.

That seems like a LOT to me. I posted to your list on another thread. WOW. A lot.

We vary. My little fella has just started losing teeth and the first tooth was $2. From now on, we are going to be doing something like a "gold" dollar coin. :)

For a 1st grader. WOW...

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory Science and History Language Arts: CLE LA 1, CLE "Learning to Read" (then Emerging Readers from HOD), ETC Books 4-6, Copywork/spelling from HOD CLE Math 1 CLE Bible 1 Map Skills Geography Song School Latin ETA: We do music, Art, and Gymnastics through our co-op. :)