I am an afterschooler, so I don't have any tips on HSing. But, I am also bipolar, and want to second this recommendation. Fish oil supplements really help my mood (they also work well for my husband). Hugs.

I am also looking for kits to go with BFSU, so giving this a bump. Kristen, thank you for the Pinterest links.

I just want to give this a big fat ditto. There are two HUGE threads on Mothering.com about how much Waldorf has screwed up kids. Not my cup of tea at all. I find it cultish and frankly, based on the teachings of an anti-Semitic, racist.

Anyone?

We will be afterschooling my 4.5 year old accelerated learner while we will be living in Mexico for the next few years. I really like Nancy Larson because I want a program that has everything I am going to need and is easily implemented, as we will not be HSing full time and not all things will be easy to find/have shipped while in Mexico. My issue is that, NL looks a little watered down, when compared to BFSU. So, I am wondering if anyone has combined them? I would love to stick to BFSU, but I just don't see me being able to pull it off given our circumstances. But, perhaps these two could complement one another. Any thoughts or experiences on using both? How did you combine/organize/structure them?

I am a CMC graduate ('97) and am happy to speak with anyone about the school. I actually transferred to CMC from USC because of CMC's stellar reputation with law schools. About 25% of our grads go to law school (or did, before the recession). I graduated from Stanford Law School, and I know that CMC played a large role in my admission. I did double major in Russian, which was at Pomona, and am happy to answer questions about the different flavors between these two schools -- because they are *very* different.

I completely agree. I find some of the comments in this thread to be highly exclusionist and, frankly, pretty repulsive.

I have lived and worked abroad in many different countries for many years, and speak Russian, French, Spanish, and some Hebrew. I am certainly sensitive to language fatigue, as is my husband who is a non-native speaker of English and immigrant from Quebec. I like your suggestion of laddering, and appreciate all the feedback. I certainly would not be taking away from his afternoon activities -- playing soccer, hanging at the beach, exploring, etc. I am really only thinking about an hour of actual instruction, broken up into smaller increments in the evenings. But, we would, of course, be flexible. HIs attention span is very good. We currently read picture books for ages 4-8, and some chapter books, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and he can sit for a very long period of time listening to books. He can also do more than one lesson of Reading Eggs at a time, and it is not review for him. He told me the entire Passover story the other day in quite good detail, which he learned in Hebrew School, and we talked about solids, gases, and liquids this morning in the car and he got it all. So, while I don't want to overload him, I also really understand what it is like to be bored in school.

Hi Danielle, Thanks so much for this. He is enrolled at Colegio Salzmann in Bucerias, about 20 mins. north of PV. We are still in San Diego at the moment, so I don't know all the details in terms of school hours and book lists. The school came highly recommended and I had a local American friend, who was a teacher in the States and considering enrolling her own daughter, do a site visit and she liked the school quite a bit. Since my son has already been in immersion environments for the last two years, I am not super worried about the transition. I am thinking of a schedule something like this, with 20 minute lessons (approximately an hour total), separated by breaks, in the evenings. He normally goes to Hebrew School from 930-12 on Sundays, so I added a bit more to the Sunday schedule. Friday night to Saturday evening are the Jewish sabbath, so I have not scheduled any school work. He will likely do some afterschool sports or hang at the pool/beach (we will be living two blocks away) to get downtime in the afternoons. The school is walking distance, so he will have that fresh air as well. My husband will be able to help me quite a bit as well. M Math Art Logic T Reading Writing Spelling W Math Science Logic TH Reading Writing Spelling F Free ST Free SN Hebrew Torah History Geography Thanks so much for any input!

We can get any website outside the States with a VPN, which gives you a U.S. IP address. I don't know the hours of his school yet, but I would imagine it would be something like 8-2:30, as he will be in a private school. I do not work outside the home, and my husband will also be able to assist me quite often (he owns his own business and has flexible hours).

Hi, long-time lurker, first-time poster. I always learn so much from this board, so I hope you don't mind me posting an afterschooling question here. Our family is moving to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in June. My son (age 4) currently attends a French immersion preschool 3 days per week, Spanish immersion 2 days per week, and Hebrew School (in English) one day per week. I have always supplemented his education, and I think that he is currently at about a K-1 level. Some background on where he is at: He knows all letter sounds and is learning to read with Reading Eggs and simple readers like the Bob books -- he can currently read short CVC sentences (the cat sat on the mat, etc). He knows 1-20 pretty well (definitely 1-10 in Spanish and French, but not down cold above that). He has a good general awareness of 1-100 (90 is bigger than 40, etc.). He can do some basic addition and subtraction, like in playing Sum Swamp. He will be attending a private Mexican preschool in the fall at the PK4 level. It is almost entirely Spanish immersion (they will have one English class and will add French in the 1st grade). I would like to continue to supplement him, but now that he is going to be a bit older, I'd like to do it a bit more rigorously than in years past. With that background, my husband and I are hoping to afterschool him with the following programs, and we were looking for feedback on age-appropriateness, quality and fun-factor of these curricula, and whether you all think this is doable given that he will be in school for half the day. I understand that we may not be able to cover all of this in a traditional homeschool year; my goal is just to keep him challenged and to avoid gaps because he is enrolled in schools where his foreign language proficiency might impede his ability to learn the fundamentals. Also, although we are Jewish, we still believe in evolution/the Big Bang, etc. So, I am not looking for anything that is overtly Christian/New Testament or teaches from a New Earth perspective. Math: Miquon Orange and Red Math Mammoth Dreambox Thinking of adding Life of Fred Reading: All About Reading OPGTR -- Hope to start with OPGTR and will switch to AAR if my son is bored/finds it too dry Now I'm Reading Books, Bob Books, Scholastic Readers, Reading for the Gifted Student Writing: HWT K and 1st Grade StartWrite Spelling: All About Spelling Level One (after he gets a good handle on reading and writing) Logic: Lollipop Logic Books 1-3 and other advanced logic books after LL is completed Art: Meet The Masters Judaism: Hebrew: Aleph Champ (White and Red) Aish and Akhlah for Torah study Geography: Evan Moor and Sheppard Software History: History Odyssey Ancients Adventures in America Science: Nancy Lawson Science 1 Bill Nye, Discovery Streaming, Brain Pop If you have made it this far, thank you! Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Please delete. My apologies.