We also pay for our oldest daughter's driving expenses. Her car was a gift from her aunt, so we didn't have to pay for that. We have had to pay for several repairs to the car, as it's 10 years old and has needed various things fixed over the 2 years that we've owned it. We also pay for the insurance costs. She just got her license in December; prior to that, we didn't have to pay extra for her when she had a learner's permit -- only once she became a licensed driver. We've had to pay for her car, however, since it was put on our policy. As for a bank account, our bank allows children under age 21 to have an account with them that's placed under our account. She doesn't pay any monthly fees for it, no matter what her balance is. She doesn't have checks, but she has a debit card and that's what she uses when she's out and about. We pay for her gas and other expenses during the school year. She drives herself to and from the community college twice a week. She earns her gas and spending money by watching her younger siblings for us. Our 7 year old has autism and needs almost constant supervision, when she's not in school. Now that summer is here and she isn't taking any classes, she's been using the money she received from friends and relatives for her graduation from high school. We've told her that we expect that money to last all summer! We'll see if it does!

I have everything finalized, except for art. Our homeschool convention is less than 3 weeks away, so I'll make a decision then. (I'm leaning toward Artistic Pursuits, but I want to see a copy of it first). And...I just ordered a copy of the Latin Centered Curriculum, so...I may be changing a few things, and I'll need to make a decision about a Latin program, too. I'm leaning toward Minimus for my 9yo, as he didn't care for Latina Christiana AT ALL. I'm considering Cambridge for my 15yo. Decisions...Decisions.... :)

Teaching Textbooks for my two boys (my oldest daughter also used it when she was homeschooling). I love the fact that every problem is solved on the computer, should they miss one. It's completely self-teaching and that's worth every penny! My youngest daughter is using Singapore Math in her classroom at school. She's a VERY visual learner and the colorful pages are a real plus for her!

We're very happy with TT as well! My oldest son has special needs and the fact that TT moves "slowly" helps to ensure that he thoroughly understands what he's doing. The layout of the textbook is another plus. Most high school math textbooks have small print and he had a harder time staying focused. I agree with the previous poster who mentioned accelerating TT. My 9 year old 4th grader used TT Math 5 this year and will be using TT Math 6 next year in 5th grade. Following this sequence, he'll be using TT Precalculus in 11th grade and that will give him time to take a Calculus course in 12th grade, before he leaves for college. (I'm hoping TT will print one by then! LOL!)

My husband and I were both raised in Virginia, but moved to Maryland when our oldest was just a few weeks old. We lived there for 14 years and then moved back to Virginia 4 years ago. We're now living 3 hours away from where I grew up, and 1 hour away from where he grew up. :)

LOL! I agree with this one!! Our idea of a traffic jam is when we're stuck behind a tractor or harvester. And no one honks...just plods along, going 5 miles an hour. ;)

We live in a rural area. Here are the worst parts: 1) No cable TV or high speed internet. It's satellite or dial-up. The TV doesn't bother me...the speed of my internet does! 2) Quite a few roads here are nothing but dirt and gravel. When it rains, they turn into a sloshy, bumpy mess 3) A trip to Wal-Mart takes 40-45 minutes. That's also how long we have to drive to find a library, a bookstore, a movie theatre, a shopping mall, or a Starbucks. When you need something, especially in an emergency, it's rough! It's also that far to the nearest hospital -- not a fun drive when a crying child needs stitches! :( 4) My oldest drives an hour each way to the community college. She's been doing this for two years because there's only one high school in the county and they don't offer AP classes or exams. She had to drive an hour to take the PSAT / SAT exams, too. Here are the good parts: 1) No crime. We never lock our doors, unless we're going to be away overnight. 2) My kids can roam outside without a care. They spend hours exploring the woods and building forts. 3) Plenty of room for the dogs. We have 3 acres of land and our house is 2 miles from the main road. I don't know what our two Labs would do if we had a tiny yard. 4) Nice folks live in the country! For all the whining and complaining I do about the internet and long-distance drive to town, I've met the nicest people I've ever known! Most will bend over backward to help you when you need it.

Been there - done that! About to do it again with #2! We're in Virginia, so your state's requirements may vary. First, she went to the DMV and we picked up a book to prepare for the written exam. She spent a month or two going over the manual and then passed the written test and received her learner's permit. Then we had to find an approved classroom driver's ed program. We used National Driver's Education Training (I think that's the one). I assigned all the units and she took the exams online. Then we had to mail the "she passed the classroom portion" letter that I received from the driver's ed program to the state and they then sent back a letter, giving my husband permission to teach the road portion. They required 50 hours of driving instruction, 10 of which had to be at night. My husband handled all of the in-car driving! My nerves just couldn't handle it! We live in a rural area and, for a week or so, he just had her driving the back roads in and around our neighborhood. Then, for a week or so, he had her driving around town. Granted, our "town" consists of a post office, a diner, and a Food Lion. Not exactly hectic driving! Within a month, he had her in the "big city" -- which isn't very big! -- and driving around the shopping malls. Over time, he had her go over the big bridge into the next state and took her driving on the interstate. She was allowed to take the road exam after having her learner's permit for 9 months, but she wanted more time and more practice. She ended up having her learner's permit for 13 months before she took the road test at the DMV and got her license. She's been a licensed driver for almost 6 months and hasn't had any problems. No speeding tickets, accidents, etc. (Her car broke down on the side of the road one night, but that wasn't anything she could've prevented! She pulled it off to the side of the road, called us and arranged for a tow truck. We were so proud! LOL). Our oldest son is eligible to receive his learner's permit this November, so... we're about to go through it all again!

Hits: Sonlight Core 4 - my son loved it! Teaching Textbooks Math 5 - loved it! IEW SWII-B - best writing program I've ever used! Phonetic Zoo Spelling Level A - I love it! Misses: Trail Guide to US Geography -- just couldn't get into all the mapping Sonlight Science 5 -- too disorganized; not enough experiments

I highly recommend Handwriting Without Tears' Can-Do Cursive. It's their recommended workbook for 5th grade and it's excellent! I believe you can view samples at HWT's website or at Sonlight.com

It works very well for my oldest son!! He has high functioning autism and TT is just right! We've tried other math programs and this one just works for him. I like the fact that, if he misses a problem, he can plug in the CD and it's solved for him! And it's less confusing for him than trying to get Mom or Dad to explain it! ;) My youngest son is also using TT and doing very well with it. He's advanced in math, so I'm not sure if we'll use TT for high school or not. I have a few years to figure that one out!

We live in a rural area, too, so no cable TV or high speed internet. We have HughesNet (satellite) for internet and it's not bad. Definitely faster than dial-up!!! My only complaint is that when it rains or it's really cloudy, you have no internet. We keep AOL as a backup for rainy days! For TV, we have DirecTV and we haven't had any problems with it at all. I would just recommend patience as you adjust to your new surroundings! We've been here for 4 years and I'm still not used to driving half an hour to get to Wal-Mart! ;)

Woohoo!!! Mrs. Mungo's back!!!! Yippee!!!! :party: I've missed you!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!! :party: My oldest daughter is due to receive her Black belt in Tae Kwon Do August 8th!!

I've always loved Sonlight Core 2 for my 2nd graders! I'm looking forward to using it for the 4th time this coming fall!! :)

Our county's public school budget is over $33 million...and there are only 3800 students in the school system!! That works out to nearly $8700 per student!

We use the CAT Tests from Seton Home Study http://www.setonhome.org

When you mentioned that she struggles to get the words out, it brought apraxia to mind. Sentence order (syntax) is an issue as well, which is why her sentences lack order. I would strongly suggest having her evaluated by a speech and language pathologist. If you have health insurance, I'd start with your pediatrician / family doctor and ask for a referral. Most hospitals employ speech therapists and you shouldn't have too long of a wait to see one. Your doctor might also know of any private therapists who would be available to see your child. For the other poster, therapy for homeschoolers through the public schools depends on where you live. I live in Virginia and therapy is available for homeschoolers. My youngest daughter has autism, and a severe language delay, and she receives speech and occupational therapy free of charge through the public school system. However, we have, in the past, paid for private therapy because private therapy is NOTHING like what you receive in the public schools! In other words, the school has to provide the service -- but it doesn't have to be perfect, or tailored specifically for your child. And the therapy would be provided for your child at the school system's schedule. Two years ago, the local elementary school's speech therapist had 95 students on her case load. There was simply no time available for her to see my daughter, so we took my daughter to a speech therapist for private therapy. It was $55 per session, if you're interested in a ball park cost figure (and that was 2 years ago). I hope this helps!

We have a pair of 3 year old Labs (one black and one yellow). The big yellow one loves to camp out under the school table! The black one usually isn't in the way during the day. The kids share in the care of them. The 9yr old is responsible for food, the 14yr old is responsible for water, and the 18yr old is responsible for making sure they get daily walks for exercise. We have a fenced-in backyard, so we just let them out when they need to go. We have hardwood floors on the main level of our house, so I do sweep them daily to keep them dog-hair-free.

Thanks everyone! I just ordered one, too!! My oldest is graduating on the 17th!

Another Handwriting Without Tears fan here! I use their curriculum from preschool through 5th Grade. My older ones both chose to learn calligraphy in high school, just for fun.

Definitely! My oldest is 18 and she's been babysitting for us for 4 or 5 years now. The younger ones know that, when she's in charge, they listen! Of course, she doesn't 'babysit' the 15 year old, but he gets along very well with her, so there aren't any problems. We're just now starting to leave the 15 year old in charge and that's new for the two younger ones! But the 18 year old is in college and has her own car, not to mention the social calendar that comes along with both, so she's not always available for babysitting. My 7 year old listens very well to my 15 year old...the 9 year old boy? Not so much! ;) We're working on that!

My daughter will be continuing with Singapore Math 1 after finishing Earlybird. On a side note, my daughter has autism and we enrolled her in public school about a month ago. She's in a special class for children with autism. Her teacher used to homeschool her own children and she loves Singapore Math! I sent my daughter's Earlybird math books to school with her and she uses them as her math curriculum! If she returns to school in the fall, I'll be able to do the same thing with Singapore Math 1! We may homeschool her again...we're undecided at the moment!

I agree completely with this!! I read a book recently about children with autism and food allergies. The doctor who wrote the book commented that eating a single crouton can set a child back for two weeks. You have to be 100% diligent to see results. If you're concerned about soy, for example, it means reading every label and even 'organic / gluten free' items can contain soy leicithin. It means not eating out if there's even a chance that it contains something your child is allergic to. (We thought we were GF/CF, for example, but we took her to McDonald's for fries twice a week after her therapy sessions -- McDonald's french fries contain dairy and gluten!) But, after clearing out our pantry diligently, and not allowing anything else, we saw results very, very quickly.

My oldest son (who has high functioning autism) had great success with the Feingold diet. We went through the diet process when he was around 7 or 8 years old. Prior to trying the Feingold, and eliminating food coloring and preservatives, he was a very anxious kid! He cried at the drop of a hat. We then discovered that he was highly sensitive to red dyes in his food. He still avoids anything dyed red! (The gluten-free / casein-free diet didn't do anything for him, btw!) My youngest daughter (who has autism) is on a gluten-free / casein-free / soy-free diet because she's actually allergic to all three things (with soy being her worst allergy). I know it works for her because she breaks out in rashes if she eats anything with wheat or dairy in it. Soy just drives her into hysterics. If she has soy, she'll scream repeatedly and bite herself. If you're still wondering if a certain food is causing problems, you could try eliminating one food you're suspicious of for a week or two and see if it helps. With my daughter and her soy allergy, we noticed the difference *immediately*. We eliminated soy and it was an instantaneous change for the better. It took a week or two to see the change when we removed dairy because it took time for the rashes to go away! Wheat took a little longer to notice an improvement...around a month.