I said no longer than seven days. We wash everyday, somedays twice daily. We hang dry our clothes and will only ise the dryer for emrgencies, i.e. my son special long jones and long sleve vests. If not counting underclothes my husband probably has enough clothes for over a month but he wears several sets a day. I probably have enough for over a month but most are ill fitted and since I am still working hard on loosing weight I only bought a few fitted sets. So if I want to wear nice fitted clothes I have to wash every couple of days. My daughter just grew out of many of her clothes but I think she could stil go over a week. My son has enough clothes for over two weeks but we only have enough sets for his special underclothes for two days so we need to wash and dry these every day. He has extreme allergies and eczema and has to have two layers of special tight fitted cotton vests, long jones, special socks and hand covers changed twice daily. We cover him up with cream and oil, then a layer of wet special clothes, covers and bandages and then a dry layer. After this then we put on his normal clothes. Therefore we have to wash daily...

Just keep in mind that we need to pay overseas shipping and taxes which can eat up to 43% additional expenses. Last year I spent around $2300 dollars for Core E & C with SL, SOTW books and CD, math and other stuff. This year am still deciding. We will be starting our new materials in June but we got lots of free resources from a local Missionary organization that were re-kitting their HS resources room. Am trying to spend less than $1500 but am considering the shipping charges I might be buying next year resources as well. We will also have to buy stationary, art supplies so will see... Just keep in mind that we have no decent libraries in the area and second hand resources are far and few between. Considering that we took the kids out of private school in 2009 and we budgeted US 15000 for the both to remain in the same school in 2010, homeschool sounds like a better option. My FIL and MIL used to pay for one of the kids at the private school and we would pay for the other but they both passed in 2010 so to have had taken them out of school really saved us financially. My friend is paying at the same school US 18750 for Grade 8 at the same school so compared to the expense of private schooling HS is really cheap. We would spend more but my husband was retrenched in 2010 and has yet to find a job so we have been eating into his 401 k and savings so I have to be careful with what I spend.

I find that the TM for Horizons are not very good in guiding a teacher. It gives the objecties for each lesson suggestion how to use some manipulatives and it reminds to do some skip counting or review some facts. I have only used these for the answers if my DH is helping me mark the books of on the rare ocasion I need to look up and answer because I do not undestand the question. On the TM there are only a few worksheets for Extra practice and math facts. From Horizon 4 the TM has 4 term exams. We use Horizons as our main and Singapore as a supplement. We only use the Singapore work books and CWP. Horizons has lots of repetition and it can take a while so you will find that every lesson they will have between 6-12 additions or subtractions (level 3) multiplication, division or fractions (level 4). After I am confident that my children have grasped a concept firmly I usually mark only half of those repetition problems. We will be starting level 5 soon but I am yet to look at the manual so cannot comment. The manual is sitting on the shelf somewhere. Hope that this helps...

Another vote for Horizons. We use Horizons as main and Singaphore as supplement. We only use the WB and CWP from Singapore. It has helped my kids retain so much more info.

All of the above plus a few extra things like: Driving around a few times before opening our gate if here are cars parked on the road that we do not know or suspicious people. Checking around when getting or out the car anywhere for possible attackers. But the I live in Gauteng, South Africa, gangster paradise where highjacking is a popular sport. We live behind nine foot walls with palisades. Our entire house as alarms even in the garage and we set it for stay at night... I cannot tell you how many times my husband has been up in the middle of the night and set the larm off by mistake. We have neighbours that have eletrical fencing around the house and laser detector in the garden... Our windows have burglar proofing everywhere and we have burglar gates in all doors or French doors. To this day nothing makes me panic more than a fire. I have been in this country for 18 years and still cannot handle these bars. I do regular fire drills and sleep with the sets of keys right next to me. The kids also have their own set in a special place in case they need to escape. We live in our own 'prison' but then on the other hand you do not have to worry about your teenager sneaking in and out. :lol: Too hard...

Lots of good answers here but I find that her therapists are a bit naive on SPD. Once a SPD chid starts to self regulate the child will usual put a lot of effort to keep in under control in certain situation, i.e. school, chrch. But after these activities the moment they get home they simply cannot hold it together anymore. When my son was in school I found out the moment he got in the call it all went topsy turvy. I cannot tell you How many times I had to stop on the side of the road on the way home until he clalmed down. A few times he got into fights with his siter and would start thowing things around and once even pulled my hair so hard that I almost crashed the car. This was also between 3-8 years. We had a long comute home from school so I found the easiear was to do some decompression before even entering the car, discussing expectations of behaviour, snacks and approved activities. Then at the first sign of problem stop, re-direct and deal with it. Even today we need to discuss expectations and rules always and my rule is stop, deal with it. Even though my son as SPD amongst lots of other nero and pshyc problems we always expect the best behaviour. It is very trying but we deal with it as and when it happens. I found that some decompresion in the right spots goes along way. The OT can show her. A cheap large gym ball can be used during decompression. Also havig a plan and being consistent with it. I also found since we started HS because he did not have to hold it in in school so much we have had less and less outburst. Hope it helps...

If you do not mind me ask what are you planning to use as a spine in Core G? Thanks...

I will be ordering Core W 4 days and IG for Core G. Am still debating IG for Core F, wanted to use it for Grade 8 but am now unsure. Will buy Core H IG before the changes next year. They are the only ones that ship AAS here so will be buying the next levels from them. Need to work out shipping charges because if I buy below 900+ shipping gets very expensive so it might pay off to buy Core H IG now as well. As I am not planning to use them for High School I guess this will probably be the last core I buy from them. I find it cheaper getting books from bookdepository, no shipping or from Christian books, 27% shipping and no tax regardless of the amount ordered. I have Core B, C, D, D&E, and lots of Core E books. If I can swing it I will probably buy for the next 2-3 years and that will probably be it.

I also have been toying with the idea to changing to TT. We have been doing a combo of Horizons with Singapore Work Books and CWP. I am thinking of either TT 6 or TT 7 for my daughter and the Keys to series with some cwp and TT4 for my son with the SP EP and CWP. They seem to do well with Horizon but they hate it. Am trying to find something spiral but not as much as Horizon. They have played with TT on line and love it...

:grouphug: Praying...

Since SL will only post the three week samples after April 2 then we will have to make our decisions in the dark regarding if we want Old Core 5/F with EHE or the new one...

By the way continental Portuguese food is the best and Brazilian food is not bad either but I love food in general.

Portuguese is my mother tongue although I went to French Primary School, local middle school, grade 4-6, and later finished my studies in English. I lived in Portugal for the first 12 years of my life and found it easier to lear Spanish and Italian because of my knowledge of Portuguese. I never formally studied these two languages but was able just to pick them up. With Spanish I find that I need to be immersed in it for a couple of days in order for it all to come back and the same with Italian. I can watch a movie or read a books in both languages and understand it. I would not say I am fluent because of my inability to write properly in Spanish and Italian. On the other hand I am knowledgeable in a few languages so maybe it just came natural to me. In order of proficiency I know Portuguese, English, Frence, Spanish, Italian, I unsderstand Afrikaans, a South African form of old Dutch and some Canton German. Took latin for several years and studied Koine Greek for 2 years at Biblical Hebrew for one year. Again with the Afrikaans and the German were picked up whilst living surrounded by it. It is very hard to find continental Portuguese resources and I am not to keen on the Brazilian form. On the other hand I am a terrible mom as I am only now starting to teach my kids another language. We are stating with French...

I wanted to do an hybrid from Core W with SOTW n Foster books on G & H combined with B & C for grades 6&7 and B&C with SOTW for my son Grade 4&5. Then I was looking on Core F for Grade 8, know they are really messing me up. I will not use their LA so that means I must place an order for 4 IG before 04/02/2012.?????

I am not happy with all the changes. In the past I found their IG's very flexible due to our life circumstances for the past two years since we started HS we use first 2 IGs, 2 cores. Then my in-laws came to visit for three months and we fell behind but the kids got to enjoy their grandparents during that time not knowing that was the last time we would spend with them. Then mom and dad in love died on a plane crash in May 2010 after leaving us in South Africa after a long three month visit. We took 12 weeks off school with trips to and from Lybia to get them and have a funeral. In the mist of this husband was laid off and I run a business from hime, still I could make SL work. So when we 'settled' decided to combine the kids in Core 3 (D) and that also worked. Then we had two deal with the estate, their posesion moving and renovating two houses and all kinds of stress. So I moved from a five day to a four day schedule with not much hassle. Then last year we decided to change on week 24 in Core 3 (D) to a combine version of Core D & E (4 days), started that one on week 12 and it worked. Once again we started of with a 5 days and changed half way to a 4 day schedule, it worked. Husband fell off roof whilst fixing our rental property, our old place we moved into in-laws place, and has been going to hospital almost every day. Three ops later to fix it. Then my son got very ill with a routine hours that can take up to three hours daily and a special allergies diet. Still we adapted and SL seem to work. OK we took longer than one year to finish our current core D&E (will be starting our new core in May this year). My kids want to study the Ancients and Middle Ages. Spent a long time planing our next two years. Was happy with plan but these new changes on the IG will not work. Never really liked their Bible and their LA is pretty much useless for us. I bought SS1 and it never worked. These new IGs will not work for us. I had planned an hybrid Core W/B&C (already own B&C) with SOTW in Core G and H and some other history books thrown in... I am not happy with the company but christianbooks.com takes over 12 weeks and SL is the only ones that ship AAS to South Africa so SL will still get a substantial order from me this time but in future I will plan ahead of time and most of my orders will be done at bookdepository and christian books.

Up unti 03/24/2012... Just saw a preview and up to page 7 the books were all $1. Over 400 books at $1. Just really want to buy lots...

Congratulations. As a fellow PCOS sufferer I understand my son is 10 and still no more babies here.

In front of our previous house we had one of those merry-go-rounds on which both my kids and even the neighbour's teen would spin trying tomake someone get sick. When we go back to get our post from our tenants or to pack, unpack stuff from garage and store room (we rented the house but kept the detach garage and storage room for our usage) my kids still have lots of fun thid one. Also it has a very high metal swings that the kids try and swing as high as possible and jump off. No special covering just some weeds covering the ground and lots of rocks and stones. Our HS co-op meets at a park that has a high witches hat, some metal monkey bars, a very large see-saw an octopus and some questionable swings and slides. But we live in Africa, I have to say my kids enjoy it but sometimes my stomach churns.

My son has SPD with associated Anxiety Disorder, OCD, ODD and ADHD. The ADHD is not treated with medication at the time because he developed a heart murmur whilst on Concerta. He also has severe allergies (too many to list both enviourmental and food related) and eczema which agravate the SPD. He is 10 now and has been in therapy since he was 2 1/2. He really battles with reading and I find that the only way for long term retention in math is by using a spiral program like Horizon and suplement with a mastery one like Singapore. We are using Horizon and the Singapore Math workbooks. ASS and OPTRG for phonics and reading, FLL, SOTW with CD. We also use lots of LA Spectrum books because he likes work sheets. We divide our school into: Bible reading and Bible Worksheets Math 1 Therapy OPTRG Math 2 Elective (Poetry/Music) LA Work Books (a couple a day) ETC Reading in his child Bible Story Book FLL/ASS Reader We are focus on reading at 10 we need to get his reading to a reasonable level. Unfortunately the above makes for a long day so we are now trying for listening to SOTW CD at bedtime while they 'work' on their student workpages and some RA's. We have SL but cannot use it all at the time because of our special needs. We have a medication, bath, cream and wrappings session twice a day that can take over two hours, plus his special foods prep, de-stressing sessions for SPD several times during the day, mini trampoline, gym ball exercises, compression points, brushing, music and sound therapies so we have to be flexible. Focus on the 3 R and the rest will follow up. I find that FLL has been good fit and will probably add WWE when we start our new curriculum in May this year. SOTW with the CD is easy to implement as it does not matter how tired I am it can be done without me. Bedtime or in the car... We have science resources but never seem to be able to get to these. The Discover and Do DVD's get watched, so these are great, lots of science documentaries on National Geographic, I just remember we have the Lyrical Science sets need to remember to take these and use in the car. Take care...

For me it comes back that it would costs us over US 18 000 year to keep our kids in a middle of the road private school in which they were getting less than ideal education. Then because we have two kids with LD there were all the additional therapies, remedial classes and the 4-5 hours homework daily. We were doing 3-4 hours minimum homework with both kids then in grade 1 and 3, what I found out is that they were not being taugt in school and all the teachers were claiming was more therapies, more medictions. ' I am all for therapy and medications but this was out of control. The way the National Curriculum is set the teaching is lacking; , OBE based, sight word reading methods, route math facts memorization. I remember looking for paper plates at 5 am to explain fractions to my daughter so she could proceed with her homework. This is the child that has been doing Horizon and Singaphore math for the past two years at home virtually without any help from me. Hand her the book, mark the lesson and let her ask me ocasionally when she gets stuck or re-do the ocasional exercise when I see the same error. Mosts of her tests have been over 90%. I justify all the money because compare to our previous spending for schooling HS is actually quite cheap and the kids are getting a better education. Also in South Africa there is no such thing as free schooling, we have to pay school fees, which in our overcrowded local school, 42+ kids in grade 1, would cost US $110 per child monthly, plus school uniforms, school shoes, stationary and books which can set you back another US $250 per child. This does not include fund raising, school trips, extra materials for additional projects, school lunches, extra murals... Well it was actually quite nice to write it all down because if I am under US $3000 we are still below what would have costs for public schooling here. I know this is not much help but... if I was really broke I would use free or cheap resources like Spectrum books, we use these has additional LA workbooks, my kids love workbooks?!? and then something like Ambleside, Old Fashioned Education... Just remember that our school expenses are on average higher because our shipping and taxes costs can be as high as 30-38%. Sorry for the long dissertation but just remember that you are doing a great job and giving your children a great education.

I have to agree that it is cheaper than private school and that in the long run they are getting a better education. For us the problem has been that my husband lost his job in 2010 and we have been living off savings and his retirement funds. Well we will have to restart saving for our old age again. Also my business / work from home consultancy has had its ups and downs in the past two years and when I see what we are spending on HS I cringe. But compared to the private schools previous costs it is less than 1/6 of the previously private schools expenses per year. I just have to control myself not to overspend. If I was not working and looking after an extremely sick child; special cleaning routines of his enviourement and washing bedding and towels a couple times per day, special diet, medications, nebulizers, vaporizers and taking care routine like bath, cream and wrappings that can take over 2 hr twice a day. A child who screams in pain half the day. I know could put on more together myself but I feel that I need easy to use materials due to our life demands.

I started HS in 2010 and all the changes really grind me the wrong way. If it was only a couple of books but now with all the changes in the IG. Between Shipping and Tax I will pay over 38% on top of the purchase price and this is if I order above $900. I had a plan for the next two years and have bought over $3000 from them (not counting the shipping charges). It is really annoying to spring these major changes and only give us a couple of days to decide. It is not like I can really afford to return the stuff seeing that shipping and tax is so high over here. I think I will go with the old ones as there was more flexibility...

I looked into TOG and it really looks good but the prep involved really scares me. I work from home and have limited amount for prep and being box ticker am scared that TOG would be too much. I have thought of just buying W and do my own schedule for SOTW and add in UHE and/or KHE. I had seen a schedule somewhere where all SOTW books were listed with these two resources. Does anyone remember where a schedule like this would be.

It would be nice to have Core W IG with LA but my problem is the shipping. If I buy G & H now it can cost up to 87% shipping. Oh my I must just stick to my decision and just buy all the stuff asap... Thanks for your reply. From all my research they are the only ones that sell a schedule that cover SOTW in two years. What really grinds me is every year since I started HS in 2010 they have had all these changes and then they give us tid bits of info...

Thanks...