Thank you! I have been out of the loop for awhile as I used a virtual charter school for 2 years. They finally beat me with all of the admin requirements. I thought I would use Saxon next year, but have heard a lot of good things about TT. I did find a great thread on this, so thank you for your response. Have a great weekend!

For those of you who LOVE Teaching Textbooks- what do you love about it? Is it the ease of use, or are you additionally impressed with the substantive material and it's approach to math? For those of you who think it got your child behind in math- did you take a placement test to see what level was right for your child? If yes, did you find the placement test accurate? My son just finished K12's 5th grade math. He is a year ahead in math, but I don't feel he is ready for K12's 6th grade pre-Algebra. I want him to really master the basics before he goes on to pre-Algebra. I'd like to use Teaching Textbooks, but am concerned that it won't be challenging enough. Any thoughts? Thank you for any additional insight you can provide to help me process this decision!

We had a rental property rears ago.. A dog destroyed the wooden base boards and window sills. Have a good non-refundable deposit. I think dogs are much harder on a property than kids!

Great question! My 2 oldest children were in a CC group last year and they really liked it. This year we use CC at home and it is much better for us. I am better able to tailor our memory work to our curriculum, and I am able to stay more engaged with the CC material. It is fabulous as a spine for memory work in the grammar stage. We use the memory cds, and memory cards, and VP history cards. We began to use VP history, and like being able to memorize VP cards in order. I like the efficiency of using the program at home it has worked great for us without the added costs and time involved with a CC group.

I am a first year CC member. Two of my children are in Foundations. I was vapprehensive at firrst- I like to keep things simple, and have never done any type of group schooling. I constantly evaluate it for our family. For us, it seems to be wrking exceptionallly well. Both in theory and reality it works for us. Classical education is suppose to have memory work at the core of the grammar stage. I realized last year that although my children had great curriculum, they did not have a memory program. I did not feel they left the school table with the material in their brains that I wanted them to retain. That is when I learned of a CC group starting up in our area. Yes, I have restructured our homeschool curriculum so that it is in line w/ CC. That way, the memory work has a broader context and meaning for the kiddos. I like that CC requires a parent to participate and be present- they recognize that the parent is the instructor for the child. It is rigorous, but not unreasonably so. My kids love it. We h ave really quality people in our program, and it is great for my kids to interact with them. I have not seen or thought of a downside or negative to CC.

Your primary responsibility is to your family. Is your sanity and potentially sacrificing your family life worth it to try to pay back the debt? Is that how you want to live the rest of your life? We all make mistakes. I know that the personal responsibility angle is important. I think as a society however, we tend more to forget about the mercy angle. I would definitely talk to a BK attorney. Dave Ramsey is fine- but I think unrealistic in some ways. BK is not listed among the deadly sins. If you are a believer, please consider the Scriptures that speak against the rich oppressing the poor. God provided a year of jubilee, a means of forgiving debt. You are not a bad person b/c of some mistakes. I wish you peace in processing and solving this difficulty. I know a lot of anguish must accompany your situation.

Totally- I lock up curriculum not in use. I actually have two metal cabinets I purchased at Office Depot and put together myself. One is for school related curriculum, the other is more for arts and craft items. I have 5 children age 10 and younger- if I don't lock up these items, they get destroyed or lost. I need to keep these items organized and available. We have many bookshelves filled with books, paper, and pencils through out the house. That is very important- so the children have access to reading and writing materials in abundance, at their leisure. The primary curriculum, however, is behind lock and key. Oh- each of the kids does have their own box of books (like textbooks) and notebooks that they use daily, and that is not locked up. This system works well for us.

Good stuff, very on point! Many thanks.

Another question- if the end plan is Essentials in 4th grade, how is FLL vs. Shurley for preparation? We use FLL for 1st and 2nd grade, and enjoy. Not sure if I should start Shurley for 3rd grade before Essentials, or stick with FLL. Sorry to be so nit picky- I do tend to obsess!!! Frustrating when my "knowledge" is mere theory and not yet functional reality!

I have found Rosetta Stone to be useful. We have the HS version, so I can track what everyone is doing. We use it for Spanish. I've been thinking about purchasing the Latin program to add to our Latin Curriculum, just b/c it is so easy for the kids to use. I use it for exposure at an early age, then around third grade start written work. My 4th grader certainly has not mastered Spanish, but I think she has a good feel for the language. I really like RS, and do recommend it.

Another question. This year at HS has been about me trying to minimize chaos. Trying to break away from my obsessive, do-it-all perfectionist mentality and find a path on which my sanity and HSing can coexist. I have 5 children, 10 - 1 yrs., and have been HSing for 5 years. I am at a crossroads right now. I have got to find a way to teach multiple children at the same time. I would like to use Shurley Grammar for a 3rd and 5th grader. Any one familiar with Shurley Grammar able to tell me how it works with multiple children? I will also have a 1st grader, but expect to use FLL for her. Would I need to purchase both levels, or could I just go with the 5th grade or 3rd grade level? My future sanity thanks you for your gracious help.

Is there someone with a child in the Essentials level of Classical Conversations who can tell me if an additional grammar program is necessary? My daughter will be in the Essentials program next year. She will be a fifth grader. I have heard that the Essentials English is quite challenging. I am planning a big upheaval in curriculum choices for next year, trying to consolidate so that I am able to teach my 3rd grader and fifth grader grammar at the same time. I would like to use Shurley Grammar for both of them, but do not know if this will be too much for my daughter, with the Essentials program. Any thoughts? Thanks for help!