We just found out there is about a 90% chance my husband's job is going to take us to South Carolina in a few months. (10% chance he will stay here, work from home and travel to SC once a quarter.) We'll be moving to Columbia. Of course, my first thought was about homeschooling. I've been reading what I can find about laws etc but would love to hear from people there as to how it works and what their experiences are. 1st option, 3rd option-what do you use and why? (I can't really find much on what the 2nd option is.) Also, what is the library system like? Is there much in the way of cultural arts? We love visiting the art museums here, attending plays and the symphony etc. my son plays cello and my daughter is learning ballet. What about outdoor recreation? We have access to so much hiking, so many gardens, so many biking trails,camping places etc here. I wil be sad to leave all this. We live in the outdoor capital of the Midwest right now and I love it. Will I find (free) outdoor recreation opportunities in Columbia? I have lived in Ohio for most of my life. I love it here but I am excited to experience a new place. Just a little nervous as well. :-)

My youngest loves getting his older brother's clothes. The other day I pulled out a bunch of long sleeved shirts and he jumped for joy. He remembers his brother wearing some of them and is thrilled to be wearing something his brother used to wear. My oldest is on the small side for his age and my youngest is big for his age so things rarely get packed away. By the time the older is done with them they are a perfect fit for the younger. My daughter, who is the middle child and only girl, even pouted a little because her brother's clothes don't usually pass on to her. She does occasionally take a t-shirt or pjs but that is it.

I echo what most everyone else has said. When we first started homeschooling I really felt like I had to be in a co-op. I stressed about it a lot. I tried one but I was not the right kind of Christian and couldn't sign the statement of faith. Looked into another that I finally nixed because it was almost an hour away and it was costly. But i was panicking. I had to get my kids into a co-op. Started attending an all inclusive co-op that met once a week for field trip like activities. It was nice for awhile but I didn't feel like it was worth taking almost a whole day out of our schedule every week. We dropped out. I realized I did not need a co-op after all. We were doing just fine. The thing about homeschooling is I like being at home. And, frankly, I am glad I never got involved in an academic co-op. the reason we chose to homeschool is so that the academic stuff would happen, well, at home. We are involved in a few extra-curricular type activities now. Cello, ballet, scouts etc. during the winter months I sign them up for art classes and every few months they attend free PE classes put on by the local parks district. My oldest is asking about the acting class at the community center. There is the occasional zoo class or class at the museum too. We do those kinds of things but no official co-op. I can pick what we sign up for and when we attend. If life is stressful we don't sign up for things. If we've got time and are interested, we sign up. A lot of people I know are starting to homeschool so we are also starting to hang out with them more. Just had a Halloween party with about 30 homeschool kids. That was fun and I hope we do more activities like that, just not every week.

We pay $70 in dues, have a $200 in popcorn sales minimum or a $60 payout. The pack provides a book and neckerchief each year and that is about it. I had no idea there are packs with accounts for the scouts. Maybe selling stuff wouldn't be so annoying if that were the case with our pack. We did the payout this year because, A.) we were out of town for most of October and B.) They have no good popcorn flavors this year! We usually do show and sells and then I buy however much I need to to make the minimum. This year the flavors are not appealing (bacon and cheese etc) and I am not spending that much money on gross popcorn. Where did the butter toffee and chocolate Carmel go? And the quality of Trails End is disappointing. Honestly, I am not terribly impressed with the Cub Scout pack we are in and would bail but my Eagle Scout husband wants to keep our son in and our son does enjoy it, so we carry on.

These all seem so very public schoolish yet I keep coming across homeschoolers who do these things. And they all seem so elaborate and time consuming. Big fancy boards with dozens of activities etc. Whatever math skills they may use like tallying and graphing they do in their regular math work already. The counting days and place value activities etc just seem so redundant as we learn all that during math as well. I can see tracking the weather during a study of weather or for a few weeks each season (my son did this for cub scouts once) but every day, all year? Not necessarily criticizing, just curious why? And what the benefits are? We do have what we call a morning basket. We do recitation, (they learn days of the week, month etc without all the extra fancy printables etc) timeline, picture study, play a thinking skills game, and read-a-loud. I always thought one of the benefits of homeschooling was the fact that things can be streamlined and simplified. The big, fancy morning boards and binders etc just leave me scratching my head in wonder.

I use them and love them!!! They are much more sturdy, erase easy, are larger and just all around better. Sheet protectors make me cranky. :-)

Ellen Tebbits Jenny and the Cat Club 26 Fairmount Avenue series Socks

We frequent 3 library systems and they are all different. 1 is unlimited number of items and 99 renewals ( as long as no holds are on it). Another is 50 out at a time. I have 3 cards there, so 150 at a time. The third is 100 items and we have 4 cards there. We don't ever max all cards at all libraries out though!!! My biggest complaint is the library that only let's me put 10 holds on my teacher card. I am always hitting that limit and end up using my regular card for requests so don't get the extended borrowing time. But, with the number and types of cards we have it is rare when I can't get a book I want or keep it for the amount of time we need it. As far as keeping track goes, we have a library day so everything is always due back on the same day of the week every week. The night before I print off a list(s) from the library websites of what is due and the kids scour the house for the items. They sort them into stacks for each library and then put them in the library cart and or bags. It has all become much easier since the kids have taken over the task of gathering/sorting.

Horace Kephart wrote a book about the Cherokees in the Smokey Mountains. Here is a PDF of a pamphlet I've got: http://smokiesinformation.org/images/uploads/Cherokee-Indians.pdf Found a copy of the Kephart book. It is short and only$5 but contains good info. http://shop.smokiesinformation.org/products2.cfm/ID/955/name/Cherokees-Of-The-Smokies

We have Keekaroo chairs for the kids. They are like the Trip Trapp chairs only a little less costly.

Double post.....

It was pretty obvious. He always uses his left hand.

I got a mini earlier this year. My first ianything. I'd always claimed to be a semi modern day Luddite. I did't want or need any of those type of gadgets. Now, after only 4 months it is like an extension of my being. I use it for everything. It is such a nuisance now when I have to turn on my laptop. Other people have already listed most of what I would list. It just makes life easier. It has really been great for homeschooling. Reading, research, videos, quick look ups to check something, notes and lists. So, so many uses. I still don't have a smart phone, and I'll never get one. I have no use for a gadget like that. (I've never said anything like that before....)

We love Peep!! We always checked them out from the library until I bought a big stack of them at a used bookstore. We have most of the episodes but there are a few on Netflix that we don't have.

Humming, singing all the time here. All the time. I don't help matters though. I am always singing or humming something myself. We even have times when we sing instead of talk. Like we are living in our very own musical. My youngest (3 years) likes to accompany us on the air cello. We can get a bit....interesting here.

I can't help with info about 08 schools but... You only have to test at the 25th percentile in Ohio. That is pretty low and barring any LDs pretty attainable, I think. I order the CAT from Family Learning Organization. They mail me the materials, I proctor it myself, send it back and receive the scores within a week. Easy peasy. You do not have to go to a school or have a professional administer it.

We have a choice, test or portfolio. So far I've gone with testing. I order through Family Learning Organization and proctor the tests at home. I use them strictly to make the state happy and they have no bearing on how we homeschool. All our scores have been in the 97th or 99th percentile which I imagine would mean something if we were in ps but I just tell my kids good job and go on with what we are doing. Even if the scores were lower I would still say good job and continue on. I don't to portfolios because I don't want to take the time to organize paper work, drive to meet an assessor, take the time to sit and chat and go over everything etc etc. Testing is easier and faster.

I live in a state that has regulations and there are still plenty of unschoolers who spend their days playing and not doing any constructive learning. They still homeschool year after year. No problems. I know of one portfolio assessor who has groups come to a park to play and at the end she signs the paper work necessary to turn into the school district. No actual evaluation of the student or work. Regulation will not stop radical unschoolers from doing what they are doing.

Send it to the superindentant for the school disrict you live in. My district sent me a letter informing me I have to fill out their form and send it to the homeschool liaison. I will do neither. The law clearly states I notify the superindentant and does not say I have to fill out any forms. I know the letter will still go to the liaison and I know she will send my excusal letter but I will do as the law is written and notify the superindentant.

Same here. Just a simple list of textbooks. For example: Life of Fred math All about Spelling Story of the World Daily Grammar Etc I also include a line at the end that reads something like "any other books, magazines, DVD, as needed."

Ice cream from putz creamy whip or graeters Union terminal rotunda tour Eden park Khron conservancy Pyramid hill sculpture garden ( you can rent golf carts) Carew tower Fort ancient Hopewell culture nhp There are absolutely dozens of parks and reserves Civic garden center Civil war tour Sharon woods Gorman heritage park Grant birthplace Harrison burial site Taft NHS Cincinnati art museum Fountain square I could go on...

I am starting the year with a re-read of Northanger Abby. What better way is there to start a new reading year than with a re-read of Austen? :001_smile:

I often think about this. My husband and I dream about getting an RV and living life on the road. If that were to ever happen we would, obviously, have to downsize a lot. Homeschool materials and books would be the first thing downsized. I think I could do it. It would take a whole change of mindset about what I really need to have on hand to teach with but it could be done. Mostly, I would need an ipad, my laptop and lots of e-books. I think the bulk of the space would be filled with paper and art supplies. Those are very important elements of our day to day life and can't be done on an ipad or with PDFs. :)

Let me start by explaining that we visit 2 library systems twice a week. Between my personal cards at both, my teacher cards at both and the card my kids have we can conceivably have 300 items checked out at once. While we have never hit that limit, I won't say we haven't come close. I have always and will always read pretty much anything my kids want me to and will do so for hours a day. (I do refuse to read any "character" books like Disney, or other movie related books. :tongue_smilie: If my kids really want them read I will delegate those to my husband.) We will keep books until they are due and if there is a book my kids just love we will renew it until we max out our renewals. Rare is it when a book is returned unread. Before I even had a thought towards homeschooling we would read, read, read. We would go to the library, come home with a towering stack of books and sit together for the afternoon reading. Right now only my oldest can read so most of the books we check out are still read-a-loud by me. Today I think I read 8 picture books and about 30 pages from a chapter book. That is low because Monday is errand day so we are away form home more and therefore have less time for reading a-loud. My son does read while we are running errands and the other two bring along a bag of books to look at. So, long answer short, no. I put no limits on the number of books they can check out or the number of books I will read to them.

nm