I saw something awhile back about how Saxon Math approaches algebra. I thought I had read somewhere that 8/7 and Algebra 1/2 cover mostly the same material. Anyone have any insight on this?? I'm trying to get my ducks in a row for starting high school math (this all seems WAAAAYYYY too soon :crying:!!). I don't want to duplicate, but I also do not want to skip pertinent information either. Any input would be great! Thanks so much :)

My sentiments exactly! DD (13) LOVES them!!!!!!!! I agree BJU does take alot more teacher prep, but the outcome is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than anything else we've come across so far! This is our first year using BJU. I must admit, there have been times I've questioned myself! But, when I focus on the amount of academic growth and maturity I've seen in both of my kiddos (4th and 7th grades), it's worth the effort. Thankfully, I'm at a place where I can spend the extra time pre-reading lessons. If I weren't, I'm sure I'd be beating my head against a wall :banghead: Don't toss it too soon! Evaluate if the time involved is worth the outcome you're seeing, then make a decision. Happy Homeschooling :)

How to Train Your Dragon series. That was the first real set of chapter books my son started reading -- he was about 8 or 9. He LOVED them!!

This was going to be my exact suggestion :) My kids LOVE competition! We do push up relays in the living room, plank contests, "15 / 15/ 15 warm ups" about every 2nd or 3rd subject --- 15 jumping jacks, 15 push ups, 15 sit ups, among other things. We also do Tae Kwon Do as a family several nights a week. So we practice our forms and the kids LOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEEE to "mock" spar in the house :boxing_smiley: All sorts of things to do! One recommendation --- rather than having one set PE time each time, split it up! Especially for kiddos your age. It helps keep the blood flowing and keeps them from getting bored with school. (And helps keep mom's nerves in check :)) Happy Homeschooling!

Wait til 8th grade :crying: !!

We're about halfway through Life Science (7) right now. We started the year out doing the experiments on our own, but after about chapter 4, the experiments began requiring supplies we didn't keep on hand. The TE is very good about giving substitution ideas, but the more we added up the expense of buying all of the supplies versus buying the Investigations DVDs, it was more cost (and TIME!) effective to go with the DVDs. Mrs Vick is AWESOME!!!!!!!! My 4th grader watches the labs with dd, too :) If / when we have supplies, we do the labs. But I'd say probably about 70% of them we watch the DVD. We've been VERY pleased! She's VERY thorough and dd has not had any questions. Hope that helps! Tammie

I don't know this is right, but I usually keep mine with his history folder. We test, so I'll have him keep his history narrations together in his history notebook so he can study. Happy Homeschooling :)

We're in tae kwon do. I know the main thing that bothers my hips is side & spin kicks. For my son, it's getting height to round kicks. He tries to do it without pivoting his base foot and puts too much strain on his hips and knees. He could have pulled something or it could be a combination of several things presenting together. Either way, if he has some sort of injury, you definitely want to determine what it is before letting him continue his regular activities. If it is some kind of hip flexor damage, you don't him to make it worse! Is there any swelling?? If you damage the tendon / ligament (not certain which it is that runs through there!) in that area, you'll usually see some "puffiness" around the joint. Poor guy! He's too young to be dealing with those types of aches & pains!

Your post mentioned "sparring." Is he in martial arts?? Hip flexor injuries are VERY common in martial arts! Pretty uncommon in kids, but it can happen. Another thing it might be is growing pains. My ds (almost 10) occasionally comes in almost in tears with knee and hip pain. We have an AWESOME pediatrician who saw the concern in my face when I took him in, so he did a full range of tests and xrays that would have caught ANYTHING. He said boys have a harder time with growing pains since their growth spurts are further apart and more intense than girls. Either way, I'd definitely get him checked out. Hope he gets to feeling better soon!

A month before I got married, my parents offered my hubby & I $5000 to ELOPE and have an after wedding family get-together --- SERIOUSLY!! Guess they knew more than I did at the time :lol: It'll be years before my kiddos are marrying age, but after reading your post, I'm thinking Daddy's offer was pretty good for all involved! Best wishes and good luck!!

I did, and have NEVER looked back! Couldn't stand all the "drama," even if I wasn't directly involved. What sent me over the top, though, was how accessible my information was! FRIGHTENING!!! One suggestion --- if you delete your account, delete ALL of your pics and personal information FIRST! Then, when your account is just a skeleton, deactivate the account. Otherwise, pics and personal info remain in the fb archive. I know once it's uploaded, there's always a chance that others can access it even after you've deleted it. But at least by deleting all your personal information first, there's less of a risk.

All of it... We school year round, so there's not typically a "beginning" and "ending" point for us. We have mini celebrations when we finish a subject and the next day, pull out the next book and keep on trucking :)

My reasoning for not encouraging makeup in dd is 3 - fold: This reason above Secondly, alot of times (not always!) girls get interested in wearing makeup just because everybody else is. That's one thing we try to avoid around our house. If she's going to wear it, it needs to be because it's what SHE wants to do. Not because she feels like the odd man out for not wearing it. Thirdly, alot of folks (not just young girls!) use makeup as an emotional "mask." They "feel" better with it on and would "never be caught dead" without. I'm sorry, but there's something REALLY WRONG with that philosophy! I'm 40'ish and ---- HOLD ON!! --- I don't wear makeup!! And, no, it's not a religious belief or anything like that. I just finally came to a place in my life that I'm comfortable with myself. I asked my hubby what he liked, and he said he's always preferred a more natural look. So, I tossed it! If we do pics or if I'm on stage performing at church or something I'll wear it for the lighting. I see nothing "wrong" with it. I just think we need to encourage our girls to ask themselves "why do I want to do this" with any decision in their life. Happy Homeschooling :)

I think it would completely depend on the curriculum...... We use Rod & Staff Grammar and Spelling, Saxon Math, BJU Reading (4th grade) and Literature (7th grade). My scheduled time slots are as follows: R&S Grammar: 1 lesson per day 4th grader: 15 mins / 7th grader: 30 mins Saxon Math: 1 lesson per day Lesson includes DAILY facts practice, mental math and DIVE lesson (yes, I have them do all 3 daily :001_smile: ) Both grades take about 45 mins daily R & S Spelling: 1 lesson per day / 1 supp worksheet per day 4th grader: about 30 mins (he HATES writing!!) 7th grader: about 15 - 20 mins BJU Literature (7th): 1 lesson per day About 30 mins Lesson entails about 10 mins of discussion and then she reads the selection and we do the comp questions orally BJU Reading (4th): 1 lesson per day He uses the DVD for this subject. The reading teacher is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! The dvd lesson, reading the selection, and worktext questions takes about 30 mins daily I'm curious to hear other responses. Yet AGAIN tonight I had a parent assume we're finished with our schoolwork in about "3 hours a day." I can see lower grades taking a shorter amount of time, but once we hit about the 4th/5th level, our school day lasts about 6 hours easy (on a GOOD day!). Happy Homeschooling :)

My kiddos prefer the Dive :)

MOST definitely!! Well, if you're not a "lit" person. We swapped from ABEKA to BJU this year, and I've been AMAZED at how much more "user friendly" the BJU teacher guides are! The ABEKA guides assume you (the parent / teacher) already know what you're teaching. BJU may go overboard with explanation, but I'd rather have the explanation available than try to figure it out when it's not included. ABEKA is more "fill in the blank" while BJU is more about giving the student the information and them applying it. Deciphering the how's and why's rather than just spitting out an answer. HTH! Happy Homeschooling :)

My oldest (dd13) was a pretty easy "fit" into a standard curriculum style. She loves textbooks, workbooks, online --- ANYTHING!! Ds(9) on the other hand is another story entirely!! He's more intellectual where dd is more artistic. So keeping him engaged is a bit more challenging. Trying to find things on his level that challenge him enough but not too much is a tough balance to strike. I personally believe curriculum choices must be decided on an individual child basis. No two kids are just alike, so no two kids are going to learn just alike. Having an idea of the goals we as parents / educators have for our children is one thing, but we must keep in mind we're teaching them. If it doesn't engage them, the greatest curriculum out there isn't going to work! For us, BJU has been a HUGE blessing! The elementary levels are tough enough but not so much that it's insurmountable. The jr high level definitely kicks it up a notch! BJU isn't touted as a strictly classical curriculum, but you can easily see classical threads throughout. They work on a mastery approach, LOTS of memorization, notebooking, encourage outside reading / investigation for studies, the same topic being taught simultaneously in multiple subjects, etc. Definitely worth looking into. Happy Homeschooling :001_smile:

One thing my kids LOVE is the DIVE discs! Its funny, though --- they like the older edition ones! I showed dd (12 at the time) a sample of the newer Saxon Teacher disc and she was very adamant she wanted to stick with "what I know I like!" So, I usually have to buy it used so I can pick up the older editions. That's a small price to pay, though, for something they love and they're learning! In the primary books, the meeting strips got a little "monotonous," so we opted to do those every 2 or 3 days instead of every day. They still LOVE the drill sheets! We make it a game to beat their best time! Good luck!

I must admit, I'm a little confused :confused1: ?? I never realized so many people were unhappy with Saxon math. My kiddos went from tears in ABEKA (lower grades) to math being their favorite, and now, BEST subject! We've used it from Saxon 2 through 6/5 (about to start 7/6). Maybe it's just the fact that they've never been exposed to anything else. Just proves every kid is different :)

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ms Vick :hurray: . Kiddos flip through the catalogs just to see what classes she's teaching! I honestly believe she could take ANY course and make it something any kiddo would love!

This is just funny :) We use Rod & Staff (grades 4 and 7) -- have been using it since 2nd grade. I've TRIED to get my kids to change, but everything else is too "scatter brained" (in my dd's vernacular)! I figure I can keep suffering through it as long as they like it, they're learning, and my 6th grader last year scored on college level on her standardized testing! Happy Mother's Day to all!

:iagree: Good Point!! So many times as homeschoolers, we're able to get everything finished without needing homework. We (or I) often forget about the intense CULTURE SHOCK that will await them when they enter college if they've never been required to do homework! I've always been pretty tough on outside projects and deadlines, but not so much on actual homework. Thanks for the reminder! Happy Homeschooling :)

:iagree: I wasn't near as far along, but I lost a set of twins when my kiddos were 5 and 2. It's hard on the parents, obviously. And, in our case, it was just as hard on my hubby as it was on me! So many folks think it's just the mom who hurts, but it affects the whole family. Being there to watch the other children so she and her husband can have some alone time to grieve and heal would be a HUGE blessing to them! And, even if you can't "relate" entirely, just being there to listen is a help that only a true friend will be able to give her. The pain she's feeling is something she won't want to open up about with just anyone. If you're close enough to her that she's comfortable talking to you, when the time comes and she's ready to talk, just be there to listen with lots of hugs and Kleenex. She's in my prayers!

We do --- every weekend! We don't do evening "homework" (extra work) as we have extensive extra-curricular obligations. We usually do the equivalent of a full day of independent work on Saturday and any unfinished work or extra study on Sunday afternoons. They don't seem to mind, and I've found it helps keep their "brain function" running more smoothly! Especially with Life Science (pre-biology) and Pre-Algebra :blush: Hope that helps! Happy Homeschooling!!

Planks and -- believe it not! -- an old-fashioned regulation push up is GREAT for abs at any level.