We currently live just north of LA and love it here. Before we have lived in IN, NH, MA, RI, and WA. Life here seems to be more relaxed, the kids have far more freedoms than they had on the East Coast, weather is great, traffic in general not too bad. Cost of living seems to be higher but then we don't pay thousands of dollars per year for heating fuel so I think in the end it all evens out. We would stay if we could and are considering coming back here after hubby retires. Drawbacks are definitely housing costs and air pollution.

We homeschool through a public charter school. Our only requirements are to turn in 1 sample of work per subject per month and to take the STAR test. However, the kids get as much time as they want to take the test, the parents bring in munchies and drinks, and there is no pressure on results as it is expected that what is taught doesn't necessarily line up with what is on the test. All classes and field trips are voluntary. There are no grades until high school, you determine whether they pass or fail. Since it is a public charter school they will receive a regular diploma and all materials are free of charge. I find it very easy to homeschool here and sort of dread moving next year.

Ha, I am meaner than you. We do Latin, Ancient Greek and German. In seventh grade French will enter the mix :-)

Our public charter school doesn't give out money but materials and classes are free. Everybody gets the standard textbooks for CA schools and then you can put in requests for whatever curriculum items you wish to have. In addition you can put in requests for particular classes and if there is enough interest, they will be offered (Math, Science and Spanish/French, and Art on various levels are always offered). Field trips are typically organized by parents and incur a small fee; the school subsidizes if necessary.

We pulled the two youngest in March midway through 3rd and 5th grade for a myriad of reasons. That said, the actual day we pulled them out we had a meeting with the principal that was so horrific, my husband and I got up, went to the office to sign the paper work and took our children home. The second oldest one just finished 7th grade last week and will be home schooled for 8th grade and high school. The oldest is in public school in Germany and loving it (pulled him out for a number of problems here in the US but somehow it didn't occur to us to home school then). Best decisions we ever made, only wish we had done it sooner.

I ordered two books because the excerpts looked promising but was disappointed. My children and I stumbled over the way the books are written rather than the math. I.e. in "Honey" Fred deals with a leaking fish tank and all of a sudden there is a reference to the many colors of the plants. No plants were mentioned before so for my 3rd grader that was a leap in assumption. As said, the tank leaked and Fred threw it in the dumpster; we had another discussion about what happened to the fish which must have surely died without water since the tank was empty. From there it goes to Fred running up stairs two at a time wishing he was tall like Alexander. My daughter couldn't figure out what running up the stairs had to do with how tall his friend was. I think it definitely depends on your children but mine tend to take things very literal and we spent too much time on interpreting the story rather than doing the math.

LOL, I couldn't wait to get away from there. We are originally from Lafayette and will be back in August visiting family. Best wishes for your move, hope all goes well.

We use ours every day, use filtered water from the tab and bought the insert which allows us to use our regular coffee rather than the K-Cups. We also use it as a water heater for tea. Diane

Hello Everyone, after having read extensively for the past six weeks I should probably introduce myself. Hubby is in the military and we have 4 children (3 boys, 1 girl) in grades currently in grades 3-10. We started to homeschool the two youngest ones about six weeks ago and our 7th grader is finishing out the year in public school. The oldest attends school in Germany so I will have a year before having to deal with high school. Our#2 is currently in a gifted program, #3 is as unmotivated and fidgety as they come and #4 just wants to get her work done. The kidlets are bilingual for an added challenge. I really appreciate the wealth of advice and opinions on this board, it has been of tremendous help over the past few weeks. I look forward to being more active on here. Thanks, Diane (who will try to figure out how to add a signature, post privately and use smileys :-))