Hugs from here, too. Homeschooling is hard. Drop the co-op. Just. Drop. It. If the kids don't like it (and it isn't necessary for their souls), drop it. "Feeling committed" is not the same thing as a signed contract:). If the benefits do not outweigh the disadvantages, drop, drop, drop.

I am doing ES Chemistry with my third grader and we absolutely love it. I would say that the materials are appropriate and sufficient for an 11-year-old. The Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia, especially, is plenty dense for an older student. Most of the links available through this text are more appropriate for the older student anyway. You would just have to pick and choose which ones you wanted to do. Off the top of my head, here are some items I would tweak if I were doing this class with my 11-year-old: instead of narration pages with cut-and-paste pictures, I would have the student write the definitions on 3x5 cards which I would store in a 3x5 card binder skip the pictures (except maybe the picture of The Periodic Table) at least double the number of definitions, pulling words from the Usborne book add more biographies (which you'd have to find) If you use tests, you'd probably want to beef up the existing quizzes Or, another option could be to use the program, as is, and just do it in half a year. Huh. You know what? That is a really good idea:). Leave the program as open and go (but still skip the pictures and still check out additional Internet links) and just do it fast. Or, now that I really think about it, ES Chemistry, as is, is probably more science than I did with my oldest when he was eleven! So, I guess it just depends on the student and the family - lol!

We have 2-sided and that works out fine. I remove the pages from binder (even though son is right-handed) - easier to do that way.

huh. This is interesting to me because, while I have not done a thorough analysis of this, I cannot imagine it costing more to print at home. Let me give it a go, here: Printer cartridge cost $30 Advertised number of pages printed by cartridge- 1200 To be conservative, cut estimated pages printed in half - 600 Price per page to print - $30/600 = $.05 (probably at most) Price of paper - I get paper cheap, in bulk, at Staples for $30/5000 = $.006 So, unless I can find copies for less than 5 cents, which I know I can't in my town, I am better off printing in draft mode (MAKE SURE EVERYTHING YOU ARE PRINTING PRINTS IN DRAFT MODE) at home. HTH:)

My favorite reply to that one is similar to those above: You would, if you thought it was in your children's best interest. I have to say, though, that I receive far fewer negative or questionable comments these days, compared to when I started homeschooling seven years ago. Actually , I get far fewer questions, now that I think about it. And when people do ask, they generally finish off with - I think that's great! Interesting...

lol. a. the only time my children share their learning is to correct a mistake by a grandparent, and you can just imagine how appreciated that is. b. my son is hard-wired to soak up this chemistry information. what your program does, Paige, is give him a tool that works really well for him. Thanks!! c. ES story for today. He is doing his book report on Marie Curie and after 15 uncharacteristically uncooperative minutes when he claimed to not know how to figure out when someone is born, he discovered her mini-bio in the Usborne book. He then went on to write, from memory, her discoveries, including the discovery of polonium. Me: "She discovered polonium?" THomas: "Yes, mom. Right here. [turns to page in fizz book] Don't you remember? Geez. Me (wondering): do we capitalize the names of elements?:)

So, the word "lithium" on a flashlight box caught my 9-year-old son's eye at the store today. So, I said, tell me about lithium. He went on to tell me the characteristics of lithium. He said it with conviction, so I assume he was correct:). So, ES has been a success for him. For me, maybe not so much...

I have the five-day, and we just do as much as we can each day. We generally do science for about 30 minutes, three or four days per week. We started in September and we will be done by the end of May. We never do school five days a week. (I only have one child at home, though:))

You can try the For Sale boards here. They sell really, really fast, though. But, it was with the intention of ultimately selling it that I decided I could afford to buy it new. I spent $120 and I've seen it sold for $90. I figure that means that my final cost is about $30 (give or take with shipping). I am working really hard to keep my books in excellent condition:).

Ahead for the first time ever. Shocking. Homeschooling one is VERY different from homeschooling three:).

THANKS for link-naming info! I've always wanted to learn how to do that but haven't stopped long enough to ask:)

We are in week 12 or 13 of chemistry. I like ES chemistry for several reasons: The experiment book has (mostly) sufficient explanations of the chemistry (since I am in WAYYYYYYYYYY over my head). The experiment book has experiments that (mostly) work. The writing and cutting and pasting required is perfect for my handwriting/fine motor-opposed son (science is his favorite subject, so he doesn't balk nearly as much as he does about handwriting in any other subject). I like the finished product of summaries that is being created by my son, and how easy it is to use his work for daily review. I like the quizzes and reviews. The incremental schedule is easy for me to follow (although the layout - center justified - is hard for me to read...but I'm weird that way). I don't care for Usborne or DK books, in general, either. But, the links are VERY cool, especially the K3 BBC ones. We are supplementing with the Basher books (note to self...must learn how to rename links) http://www.amazon.com/Basher-Chemistry-Getting-Big-Reaction/dp/0753466155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291989251&sr=8-1 AND http://www.amazon.com/Periodic-Table-Elements-Style/dp/0753460858/ref=pd_sim_b_2 My son LOVES the Basher books, but these books do classify the Periodic Table elements into different categories, compared to the text that is used in ES Chemistry. But, my favorite outcome from ES Chemistry is the explanation of polymers I overheard my 9-year-old chemistry son giving to his 13-year-old brother:). (I still don't understand polymers, but I'm glad my son does...as far as I can tell:).)

Neither of these is a guide, but both of these books influenced our family mission statement. Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey helped us write our mission statement. Do Hard Things by Brett and Alex Harris is an outstanding book. My son read it last year when he was twelve and he has voluntarily re-read it several times since. It is written by homeschooled brothers, who were not yet twenty at the time of publishing. The book makes the reader aware of the low expectations for young people in our contemporary culture and engagingly explains why "doing hard things" is a better way to live. Really, really good book. I think I'll re-read it myself:)

To me, this is a skill vs. will question. Is it that she CAN'T do better or that she WON'T do better? My teaching approach is different, depending on the cause of the problem. Spy Car, as usual, offers excellent advice - have her explain her thinking on drills. I approached a similar situation with my oldest child from a different angle. I strongly suspected his silly errors were carelessness and laziness. So, one time I offered him an outrageous sum of money (I think it was $20) for a perfect math test. It worked - my assumption was correct. So, he and I both knew, going forward, that he was perfectly capable of excellent work. I never paid him for his work again - I simply expected excellence (not perfection, btw). Now, every child is different. I would have never taken a similar approach with my daughter, because she would have figured out my manipulation and would have thrown the test on purpose to prove she couldn't get a perfect score:). And I would never use such a tactic with my youngest, as it would give him paralyzing anxiety. But, for each child, I've tried to come up with tools that will tell me if a problem is "can't" or a problem is "won't." It is extremely difficult to differentiate between skill and will. You may get it wrong, but you'll probably get it wrong less often than a teacher with 24 other students:). As an aside, I believe one of the most compelling reasons for homeschooling in the grammar years is the limited ability of a classroom teacher to diagnose skill vs. will. Kids who actually "can't" but who are expected to perform at the level of their counterparts become defeated. But, to me, just as debilitating is the soft bigotry of low expectations for those who actually "can" produce excellent work but "won't" and/or don't have to.

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205791

I'm with you - my first hour or so with MCT left me a little bewildered:). I also did not find the RFP animated graphic schedule helpful at all. However, I did find a forum post that has schedules written by two different women. I'm using Mandy in TN's, which I simply copied into Excel. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205791 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We are about half way through MM3 and this is the first time we have used it. I switched from Singapore. We LOVE LOVE LOVE MM. IMO, MM is complete; however, it does not have review questions in every lesson. Some students prefer daily review and one way to accomplish this is to use another curriculum for supplement. Daily review is not a good match in this house. However, weekly review is. I use the MM tests, cumulative reviews, and topic supplements (like subtraction and time) about every four lessons. When the time chapter was difficult for my son, I bought the time supplement (about $5 I think), printed it out, and interspersed it through the semester. Same for subtraction. This way we only review that which needs reviewing and I don't get a floppy son who just can't function when he as to do stuff, "I ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO." KWIM?:)

I once said that teaching my oldest son spelling rules would be like having someone explain how to do laundry to me during every load. How annoying would that be! Spelling is like laundry because, for some folks, there is a natural rhythm to it. Errors (a pair of white undies surreptitiously makes its way into a dark load/a misspelled word looks not-quite-right) stand out and can be corrected.

Yep. Excellent spelling. Our younger two did not get wired that way. But, he did. We did do some (but really not much) vocabulary work. He also instinctively picks up on most new words he reads and since he reads so widely, his vocabulary is extensive. He is now a seventh grader at a Jesuit middle school, taking ninth grade honors English and ace-ing his vocabulary tests. Skipping spelling and vocabulary instruction doesn't seem to have damaged him:). YMMV I did start out doing spelling and then a vocabulary program with him. When it seemed like a waste of time, we focused on writing during the time we would have otherwise been doing spelling/vocabulary. Now, that instruction was not a waste of time....

I just skipped it altogether with our now 13-year-old. Never regretted it.

Um. What she said:) (KarenAnne - can you just sit down and write posts like that, or do you ponder them? You are such an articulate and compelling writer. Do the words just come out that way, or do you edit? I'm fascinated... since it took me forever just to write these questions:glare:.)

I also do audio book for hard books like Door in the Wall. I don't remember who the reader was for this book - but he had a great voice!

How do you know if you are challenging your child? You don't always know perfectly. But, you still know better than anyone else:).

When my youngest gave up that glorious nap, I hired an 11-year-old home schooled girl to be a "mother's helper" two days a week. Her mom even transported her for me most days! She played make-believe with our toddler for hours and hours and hours (in the basement and out of sight). She was (and still is!) such a gift to our family:).

I'm not sure I understand your question...but let me clarify what I meant... My son is doing MM3 using the worktexts (A&B), which we have un-bound and placed in a 3-ring binder. Time-telling and mental subtraction were not immediately clicking for him, so I purchased the Worksheets by Topics (green series) downloads for subtraction and time. I then inserted a topic sheet into upcoming chapters (after every third lesson, or so). In this way, I was able to make MM more spiral (every third lesson or so is review), but spiral to specific topics for my son. We also use the MM3 "supportive material" which includes tests and cumulative reviews. This is the review material for the level which he is working on. But, I do not have him do the test for the chapter we have just covered. At the end of any chapter, I have him do the test from the previous chapter. This gives me a better indication of how much he has actually retained over time and if there are any gaps we need to go back and review. Another way to make MM even more spiral would be to intersperse the "supportive materials" - the tests and cumulative reviews - from a previous level into this otherwise more mastery-focused curriculum. If your student is best served by every day review, then have the student complete some portion of a review or test (either from the current level or from a prior level) every day. This approach accomplishes much of the same benefit as supplementing with an alternative curriculum. And, there are probably benefits to doing review with a different curriculum (being able to read directions that are written somewhat differently, for example). I supplement within one curriculum because it is easier for me:). Oh, and it works for my son, too:D