Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If I do decide to host a bee I will be sure to check for a regional bee that includes our county. Thanks for the heads up!

I had a feeling that was the case. Thanks for letting me know. So, if I set up my own spelling bee, do I have to do it through an official homeschool group or coop? Can I make one up just for the spelling bee? Is that how you did it Lucy the Valiant? I have a small group of homeschool friends that meet with twice a month for field trips but we aren't an official group and I can only think of 1 child that would be interested in the spelling bee. I think I can recruit a few more people in our area through facebook and email groups, though.

Our state does allow homeschoolers to participate in extra-curriculars and I'm pretty confident my local school will let us join in their spelling bee. My concern is being eligible to move on to the next round. Does Scripps allow that? Has there been a homeschooler who has done this?

Interesting idea. I might consider it. So the answer to, "Can I participate with our local public school?" is no?

I'm looking at the Scripps Spelling Bee website to understand how to enroll my DD. According to the website we have to pay $94 ($169 after Oct 15th) to enroll our "homeschool family." I'm not really thrilled with that price tag. Even if we did pay it, when and where would my DD compete? Has anyone done this? Is this really our only option? Can we compete at our local public school? We have no homeschool associations that sponsor a spelling bee in our area. We have driven far away to do a small homeschool spelling bee and DD easily won her grade level the past two years. They told us she can't advance because we don't live in that county. Any advice?

I haven't read all of the replies and I'm sure this has been mentioned in one form or another but I would really appreciate more information on homeschooling accelerated learners as well as children with learning challenges. Bonus points for talking about kids who fall in both categories. How does classical education work for these children?

I'd just skip spelling.

DD8 did saxon 1 and 2 in Kindergarten. It was so easy for her and the repetition was a downer. I moved to intermediate 3 in 1st grade and it was a little better, but not much. We were finished around Christmas and I did not want to do 5/4 so I decided to switch to Singapore 3A. What a difference! The repetition of Saxon really bogged us down. As a former math teacher, I think Saxon is a great program for many students and I wish I had taught from it instead of the terrible book that I used. For accelerated math students there are better options out there.

I plan 32 weeks following the public school schedule but taking an extra week off in the fall and spring and ending 2 weeks early. I then plan about 8 half weeks in the summer for make up and rabbit trails. The 32 week schedule takes us through our work a little quicker but I find it is better to be a little ahead in case things get crazy in our lives. We start to burn out the last month of school and it is nice to end early. If I get behind, it is for 2 reasons: 1 - The pace I planned is too fast. Remedy, slow the pace and readjust the schedule accordingly. 2 - Something major has happened and we need time off to recover. Remedy, try to quicken the pace over the next couple of weeks to get caught up. If it isn't possible to catch up, use the 8 half weeks in the summer to do catch up. If something REALLY major has happened, I trim down to bare essentials and readjust my expectations for our homeschool.

Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea! Is there a way to program my iphone to automatically go to 'do not disturb' at certain times? The few times I've turned my phone on 'do not disturb' I completely forgot to turn it back on and missed a few important calls/texts the next day.

I've gotten a fair number of texts during the night lately. At first I thought, "How rude!" but now I am beginning to wonder if the problem lies with me. My brother in law, that I am not particularly close with, texted me at 5:30 AM on my birthday to wish me a happy birthday. A few weeks later my sister texted me at 2:00 AM to ask me about a hoodie. Last night I got a text about midnight about a field trip in the fall. To me, texting is like making a phone call, and I would assume that a person's phone would make a noise and wake them up. Then I got to thinking, maybe it is socially accepted that everyone turns their phone off at night. Maybe I've missed this boat? Straighten me out here!

My child was much younger (age 4) when her anxiety made it impossible for her to attend a 3 days a week, 2 hours a day, play based pre-school. The teacher was amazing, the kids were kind and friendly, it was a great preschool! I struggled and struggled and struggled with the idea of pulling her out and finally did so in February of that year. The immediate relief was obvious and over time she has made steady improvement. She isn't 100% but I work with her almost everyday to help her see the world in a positive way and to face fears. I'm able to push her at just the right level to help her with out overwhelming her. I don't have plans to put her in public school but I know that now at almost age 8, she would probably do fine in a regular classroom. I'm so glad I had the courage to take that first step.

The best book I have read on this topic is "Siblings Without Rivalry." It won't solve all of your problems but will help you look at things with a new perspective.

I'm not sure if the museum is worth the cost. I think Greenfield Village is WAY more interesting but also over priced. We did the factory tour a few weeks ago and it was really interesting, too. Again, overpriced. We did the museum on a free entrance day, we did Greenfield Village with some friends who had a season pass and could get us in for free, and we did the factory tour with our homeschool group so it was half price. If you can get a group of 10 school age children you can get the educators discount making it more affordable. You have to reserve and pay in advance, though.

I taught both Pre-Algebra and Algebra in PS. Algebra was always easier.

Another thing to consider, accountability can vary from person to person regardless of their age. Consider someone who has severe mental handicaps. Are they are as responsible for their actions as someone who is neurotypical? God knows us and understands us perfectly and therefore can judge perfectly in each incidence of sin.

No advice. My MIL does this with her non-homecshooled grandkids vs my kids. She isn't anti-homeschooling but I can tell she has concerns about it. For multiple reasons (not just homeschooling) my kids really are more advanced then the children she is comparing mine with. It is awkward for me to talk about it so I try to do the whole pass-the-bean-dip thing but I can't say it is successful.

Thanks for the replies, I'll check them out. I've looked at a few things but haven't found anything that really seems to fit our needs. A few things we liked about The Elements: 1 - It is short, it has only taken a couple of months to work through it 2 - It has fun games that help my kids retain what they are taught 3 - It has the right balance of reading, experiments, and worksheets

We are just finishing up McHenry's "The Elements" for chemistry. My kids have loved, loved, loved it. We would like to do something similar for physics. What would you suggest?

The Maze Runner series. I can't believe I was tricked into reading a zombie book.

I've used several online free typing programs and I thought KWT was by far superior for very young children. It may not be worth it for older kids. My 5 and 7 year olds have really improved their keyboarding skills this year. We will be sticking with it for next year. We had no problem setting it up and it hasn't been glitchy like others have mentioned.

I put together a list of books that I would like us to read next year with DD7. Some she will read on her own, some we will read together, and some we will listen to on audiobook together. I plan to simply discuss the books with her. No projects or comprehension worksheets or anything like that. My goal is to expose her to good books on a variety of topics that she wouldn't necessarily pick up on her own.

We aren't required to test. I use the ADAM and DORA tests and I feel like it has helped me evaluate progress in my children. I don't think standardized tests are the gold standard but they can provide some helpful information.

As a former math teacher, I can tell you that in public school NO ONE finishes the math book entirely. They pick up with the next grade level the next year and everything is fine. If you are determined to take the summer off, I would just move on to the next book. Don't feel guilty. The best solution, of course, would be to continue with math through the summer. You have to decide what is best for you.