Young Person's Guide to Philosophy by DK books? - They have 2 levels with slightly different titles and the shorter one would probably be what you want.

We've been in several different charters. Each has its own personality so YMMV. We've done on-site classes for high school, mostly. These are 2-day/week classes with assigned homework, and for us they worked. These have included biology labs (not necessarily coordinated to our chosen textbook but to state standards), math classes (lots of at-home work and help from math dad for my struggling student, but much less stress for mom), history of rock & roll, art, and even TA-ing for an english novel discussion/composition section. My current high schooler enjoys the social aspect as much as the academic one, and I appreciate the improvement in our relationship that comes from somebody else both assigning and grading her work. She's made a couple of good friends that she gets together with outside of class occasionally. It would be more often if it weren't for all the driving, since kids come from all over the county for those classes. We've done 1-day enrichment workshops at the elementary level, too, which I did NOT feel were worth the time/trouble, tho' they were fun for the kids.

Another suggestion...get a few major homeschool catalogs (if your wife hasn't done so already) and look at the options that are out there. Guess what, you could get public school materials if you wanted them from most major publishers or used from Amazon, the VERY SAME stuff as at school. Or you can get new, creative, challenging stuff that suits your kid (and maybe you, too) like a tailor-made suit. Sonlight Curriculum is a great one to read through for its explanations of why/why not to buy and its pictures of homeschool families of all ages and stages at work; and the profiles of their scholarship winners are pretty impressive, too. Tapestry of Grace will give you brain freeze...as will The Well-Trained Mind on the first read-through. It very typically convinces people of how much they *don't* know and want to learn, inviting them to get on board and learn right along with the kids. The Rainbow Resource catalog offers everything under the sun and can be used for a doorstop or two years' worth of bathroom reading. LOL

LOL, Lori. I remember when my always-homeschooled ds hit community college at 16. His first english comp class they read John Taylor Gatto's "Dumbing Us Down" and discussed the failures of public school education. Quite ironic, really. He agreed with all the failures and suddenly realized he *had* had it pretty good at home after all. He is fiercely committed to making sure his kids (somewhere off in the distant future with some imaginary wife) WILL be homeschooled...but it was Gatto who convinced him of it, not me. LOL.

There's always strong pressure towards conformity, whether it's the best choice for your individual situation or not. Please remember that you & your wife make choices for your kids; your siblings make choices for *their* kids, not yours. Again, you haven't said your kids ages. When we started, our oldest was kindergarten age, but K is NOT mandatory and I considered it our trial year. I was working p/t from home and wanted to see if I could fit that in around the edges of my primary mission -- the best education situation for my kids. It worked and we've never looked back, although homeschooling has certainly looked different every year, as the kids' needs and the family constellation flexed. We started because we had a very shy early reader who wouldn't have progressed at a 60% ESL elementary school, and we couldn't afford private school tuition. We wanted to have our family time instead of having homework time (and if you're doing most of the teaching in homework time, why not do it at the beginning of your day and have the end left over for daddy time?). We've continued on for so many additional reasons. FWIW, homeschooling is widely accepted at many colleges. The profs who helped start the homeschool portfolio admission track at UCR were Ph.D'd homeschool dads in the hard sciences who've learned to respect the quality and commitment of college-bound homeschool kids that don't fit "in the box." There are so many, many success stories. But if you have littles, that's down the road a bit. Learning at home with little kids let you include every learning opportunity in your community...any day can be field trip day because early elementary school academics don't take that much time and often can happen on the road.

Some of our answers sound like reverse snobbery...I think it's a reaction to the stereotypes in the OP. Nonetheless, there is some good advice amidst the sarcasm. Do you research, yourself, and then we'll be happy to answer further specific questions.

Take a few days off work and go visit the public schools your kids would/do attend. Shadow a teacher and see how the classes and the lunchroom go. Look at the amount of homework that will have to be done *after* they get home. Find a homeschool family you can visit and observe or go to a local park day. Meet some homeschool dads for lunch and ask them questions. THEN re-evaluate. I think moms often come up with the homeschool idea first and dads have a bit harder time with it. (How's that for a stereotype?) BUT, I think it's only fair for dads to do their own in-person research to match the on-line research they expect their wives to have done. Then both of you will be speaking from experience and facts, not just emotion. Works a LOT better that way!! My husband went to our first homeschool convention with me (when our kids were 5, 3, and 1), which led to a *shared* decision...and he has happily stayed out of the mix -- except for math & science experiments -- ever since. He trust me...both to order materials and to teach them, AND to come to him with challenges and puzzles. I trust him to listen, foot the bills, and share some of the teaching load. It's worked well...as a mutuality, NOT as a "wife's idea on trial, I am duh judge" setup. *shared* *shared* *shared* YMMV

Thank goodness for leggings and camis! But it does get a bit tiresome wearing them with *every* outfit and trying to coordinate colors!

In CA, if your kiddo is in elementary school, they'll usually just place him/her by grade. You can then ask for gifted testing or talk with the teacher about supplemental materials or, conversely, an IEP. So, in that setting, the school asking for all kinds of documentation is a bit over the top. And it's not the sort of detail they'd receive from another public school...altho' they would probably ask for copies of a report card or standardized test scores. My approach might be the opposite of Ellie's (I tend to overcompensate), as in showing up with a cart full of books. In the past, when we used straight Sonlight materials, the scope and sequence they provided, along with the book list was quite sufficient to satisfy the charter school we were entering. I have also written to a publisher and asked for their scope and sequence to justify counting something for college prep high school credit (in that case it was Artes Latinae, and they were *quite* happy to help and sent a document several pages long that made the charter school quite happy). But, most charter schools are at least halfway to "getting" homeschooling. I haven't heard that standard classroom schools are quite that understanding or adaptable. And some charters are set up to replicate the classroom down to the level of textbook and take-home worksheets (yuck). So, YMMV. As they say on the college board, ask the school. It might be helpful to say the reading/grade level of the books you used.

As for moving on, when you've spent 20-plus years at this, your experience is valuable and your viewpoint should be considered worth listening to. And let me tell you, it becomes a part of WHO you are, not just what you do with your kids. I happen to think that's a good thing. YMMV.

CHSPE is presented as *not* having the downside of a GED. My ds took it at the end of his sophomore year (it took him 2 tries, and the test is around $125 each time) and has gone on to success at the CC, no problem with unit limits, etc. The CAHSEE (CA high school exit exam for public school students) and the CHSPE are supposed to be pretty closely aligned now. You can find CHSPE practice questions on line for the two sections (math & english); it's a timed test, which is why my ds had to re-take it as he'd run out of time before finishing the 2nd section. He had to pay the same for the 2nd test but had 3 whole hours to spend on a single section, which was helpful. I don't know if the CHSPE affects scholarship opportunities; I have heard often that too many CC credits will affect scholarships. My ds right now plans to get a dual AA and then stop until he knows what he wants to do...not sure we ever totally figure that out. ALL of the CCs have a list of classes that are required to transfer into a UC/CSU. Make sure your kiddo meets with the counselor. I went the first time ds had a counseling appt. but after that it's been up to him.

When I first started homeschooling, I loved the ads. I signed up for all the catalogs I could find to help me understand what was available, the goals of those companies, how it would fit into my budget. I think that defraying the costs of the support you offer the homeschool community by including ads for the benefit of "drive-by" readers is a great idea. Go for it!

Another thing to note is that GOP mostly goes with excerpts of poems. He recommends you scan only the first 4-6 lines, at most. He does use some well-known and classic poems, but starts off with nursery rhymes to make things more approachable. AOP seems to use whole poems and more challenging than typical "childhood poetry."

I've looked at Art of Poetry online and will probably use it next year. This year we did Grammar of Poetry with a small group of close-aged kids. GOP does a really good job of explaining scansion (counting the meter/rhythm/rhyme of poetry) and goes over about 5 figures of speech. HOWEVER, it does not really address *meaning*...but I think Art of Poetry will do that very well. I like doing them both...and I think GOP is better done first. BTW, I stop the video and we talk meaning with GOP *before* we do the scansion part.

The problem with shopping in the girls' dept. for young ladies with developing figures is that girls' sizes assume no bust/hips. They're just straight. My 10yo wears a 34B, for pete's sake. We shop the jr's or petites dept. @ Penneys and pick up tank tops wherever we can (and then I shorten the straps so they're not so low in the front).

One of dd's best friends @ college, a fellow senior, was struck by a car at the crossing just beside the school. She was going from class to her studio to work on senior project stuff--all the students use this crosswalk, which is yellow flashing lights for pedestrians, NOT a real signal. It was nighttime, and the driver who hit her was an 85yo tourist. Nina is in a coma with no brain activity, and her parents are going to turn off the machines and donate her organs tomorrow. They have been most gracious in allowing as many of her fellow students as wish it to come and visit in the hospital. DD is, I think, going today. She had to work the weekend and had a great deal of trouble keeping it together...she is worried about what her management is going to say to her at her next shift. Anyway, we've been there by phone and are praying for Nina & her family as well as for dd and the rest of the students. I wish there was something more we could do to offer support...any ideas from the Hive? I keep thinking of those parents (who live out of the area) getting that call in the middle of the night.