Jyhwmama, sounds like you are $100.00 ahead in any event! I simply cannot believe the prices I am seeing for teacher's guides! Ebay has the Jade teacher's guide for $399.00!!! Come on!!!

Looks like the Coral teaching guide is not available from Rainbow Resource just the student text and workbook.

I have the Jade teacher guide but likely will continue using it this fall. Try www.bookfinder.com that's how I found mine. I think it was on Amazon (used). It still cost me almost $70.00 with shipping. It's the two volume teacher set in one huge spiral bound volume. I have the Jade teacher guide, textbook and student workbook and will start soon with DS (7th grade). I would have started earlier but he was more interested in reading novels and studying them and I didn't want to stop him (!!) I would like to start Ruby next year with one of my DD and I think she will love it! I better look fast for the materials. Maybe we should all form a Mosdos fan club and resell the books to each other as we finish with them, ha! Last year, we did CLE English grade 2 and DD revolted even going as far as telling me to absolutely never use those materials again (too dry and repetitious for her) so I could never bring in CLE reading. This year we were using K12 3rd grade independently. I bought the teacher and student guides and readers on Ebay for almost nothing. It has been okay in terms of diverse reading selections that were interesting but not meaty enough in terms of teaching literary elements.

Really trying to finalize plans for my soon to be 8th grade DS but I'm sure some things will change: Mathematics: The leading contender right now is CLE Algebra 1 supplemented with Zaccaro Algebra and Problem Solving books Language Arts: Grammar—DS is behind where I would like him to be in Grammar due to going to public and private schools from grades 4-6 where grammar was not taught. at all. : Analytical Grammar in fall with me and Diagrammarian Barbarian online with Lukeion in the spring Spelling: probably Megawords books 4 and 5 Vocabulary: Witty Wordsmith: Greek and Latin Word Roots with Lukeion online in the fall and something else with me in the spring Literature—DS still needs some scaffolding with reading fiction so we will rotate among several things: Inference Jones Figuratively Speaking Reading and Reasoning Level 1 or 2 (Classical Academic Press) Movies as Literature with Workbook Mosdos Press Novel Studies with literature guides Composition: Continue sentence construction from Killgallon with me (for advanced style) IEW Student Writing Intensive B Online Class History—not sure yet but he will be studying the Middle Ages and it will be an online class; some ideas so far: Famous Men of the Middle Ages with Memoria Press online (only a fall semester course) OR Medieval Civilizations with the Classical Historian online OR Introduction to the Middle Ages with CLRC online Geography: World Geography course online but I'm not sure which one yet Science: Apologia Physical Science with Lab at local homeschool co-op Bible/Character: Twice weekly church youth group Morning devotions with dad Fine Arts: Drama at local homeschool co-op Physical Education Continue with fencing and ice skating

This year my extremely math phobic and anxious 7th grade DS is finally gaining confidence and some measure of independence with Saxon math! I resisted it as I am a Singapore, Beast Academy, etc., lover but, hey, the incremental, spiral review is what my DS desperately needed to build his confidence and lower his resistance to doing math at all. He has been doing Saxon Algebra 1/2 this year and next year likely will do CLE Algebra I (mostly because it looks better than Saxon Algebra I to me, the teacher). It's still spiral and thorough so I am not anticipating significant anxiety issues. Saxon is like CLE though, so if CLE was anxiety-inducing I"m not sure if Saxon would be much better, but you might give it a shot.

We use it as a supplement as it would not be enough on its own for us. My DD is in 3rd grade, enjoys grammar and is quite good at it. She loves diagramming if that gives you some idea : ). Her favorite program is Well Ordered Language from CAP. We are only in Book 1 of Fix-It and so far I would say it is too easy for us and repetitive. However, DD loves doing the story one, maybe two, sentences at a time so I go with it. I typically add more things to find than what is suggested (me: "is there a direct object?; if yes, where is the direct object?", etc.). It moves slooowwwly but maybe the later books move faster. Finding only nouns, pronouns and adjectives for weeks is too slow for us. I like it more for copywork, actually, as the sentences do utilize advanced structure and vocabulary. We also use WOL as I listed above and First Language Lessons 3, but that's pretty repetitive and slow for her as well so I generally end up blending 1-3 lessons together. We used CLE last year but that was a total dud for keeping her interest—repetitive and she thought it was boring.

Other posters had good questions and comments already, so I would just add that, depending on your state, you may be able to "send" your child to an online school that is public, or supported by tax dollars, so tuition free to you. Welcome to homeschooling! : )

My DD (3rd grade aged 8) loves it! I was thinking it is a bit repetitious if a student "gets it" quickly but when we took some time off and returned, my DD needed to refresh her memory. That said, in the middle of a lesson it can get a bit repetitive—lots of similar review exercises over and over. My DD really loves "marking up" the sentences, though! She enjoys figuring out the parts of speech like figuring out a puzzle. She actually looks forward to grammar and that's something! We will be going on to Level 2 although I will be switching it with First Language Lessons for variety.

I used my free subscription for the first time last week—the Birth of Rocks mystery. We looked at a video about volcanoes (Could a Volcano Pop Up in Your Yard?) and then mapped the ring of fire. My DD thought It was pretty cool! I don't know yet if I would renew and pay for it. It looks like there are only 21 mysteries so far (?) Someone upthread mentioned the company will be adding 20-30 new mysteries for next year. I hope it will be possible to see at least the titles of the new mysteries without renewing first.

The Classical Historian has some ideas from full curriculum to books on their own. It looks like it could be pretty independent. They also have online classes. You could do the complete curriculum (pricey) or just a book like World History Detective alongside library books. http://www.classicalhistorian.com/curriculum.html

Yes, we co-op. All my kids attend a very large (400 kids) homeschool co-op that offers classes for preschool aged through grade 12. Pretty much everything is offered including languages not offered at local schools, all academics, arts, physical ed, lots of interesting electives,yearbook, band and orchestra. It meets once a week and parents pay tuition monthly or annually. Some parents teach but I do not. Teachers are also professionals in their field that enjoy teaching part time. Parents do service hours shifts like watching hallways and cleaning up after the co-op is over. My girls take two classes (drama and art) and my son takes 3 classes (drama, history and a social hour period). My son also does a science co-op one day per week. That serves about 125 kids ages 5 through 18 (grades K-12); DS does 7th grade Life Science there. He does lab work, discussions and dissections on co-op day and homework during the week. Parents don't teach—there are four or five teachers on staff. Parents do service hour shifts, however. Tuition is paid monthly or annually. There is also another co-op in town that meets on another day and vibrant Classical Conversation groups. I live in a small to medium sized town and feel very blessed to have many co-op options available. Even though the area isn't large there is a sizable homeschooling population that drives demand for co-ops and lots of speciality "homeschool " classes during school hours.

My DS has done some online classes this year including writing (with homeschoolconnectionsonline). He pretty much needs hand holding even though he is in 7th grade and 13 yo. Next year (8th grade) I am hoping for some more maturity. I will be there for him but plan on removing the scaffolding as he progresses. We have done IEW with me as the teacher and it is one writing program that works well for my DS mainly because of the structure part. He is stronger on the style and voice of writing and weaker on the organizational skills. Overall, his writing is fair for a middle schooler. It could be stronger especially with organization.

I'm specifically interested in hearing about your children's experiences with these instructors: Beatty, Cardinale, Osborne and/or Murphy. However, at this point any feedback about experiences with IEW's online writing classes would be appreciated! My rising 8th grade ds may be taking SWI B online next year but I don't know where to begin as far as selecting an instructor. Several time slots would work so it well may come down to instructor reviews. Thanks in advance! : )

I tried Level 1 with my DD at age 5 who is pretty mathy. She liked it at first but the story and concepts seemed to move sooooo sloowwwlly we just gave it up about half way through and continued with Singapore 1. There is a lot of repetition at least in Level 1 imo. I might look ahead but there are so many things out there I just may not get to it.

I saw cooking classes on Outschool.com that may fit the bill.

vonbon, thank you for the thoughtful comments! I had the opposite experience in school that you had—I struggled with memorizing algorithms and that was the only way math was taught. I really needed to see the "how" and "why" in order to understand. As an adult, I have had to teach myself math and have spent a lot of time researching math education. With my kids I really stress number sense and true understanding because I know how important it is!

AmandaVT, thanks for that info! My DD will be taking the IOWA but the place I get it from only allows me to have it for about 4 weeks total so when I get it I pretty much need to be ready to test. It's good to know that what my DD has done will be enough for this year's test. I totally agree RootAnn that faster is not always better! Personally I prefer not rushing foundational concepts and procedures. Thanks to everybody else for their comments. You have been really helpful!

Probably not imo if you have a strong math background and are comfortable using manipulatives to illustrate concepts. The home teacher guide is cheaper than the school teacher guide, though, and you may be able to score a low cost copy on www.homeschoolclassifieds.com.

The plan is to do physics and chemistry next year and for chemistry I am looking at Real Science Odyssey for Kids Chemistry Level I. I am also considering Master Books: Science Starters Elementary Chemistry and Physics. You could use just the chemistry part, I suppose. Thanks for the NOEO idea! I'll go check that one out.

Thanks for the comment!! So, Singapore is kind of an "outlier" when it comes to early multilpying and dividing? I just don't want my DD to freak out when she sees her annual "state check up" test (she can be test phobic anyway). It doesn't bother me as I think we will be going back to Singapore for 4th grade (keeping in Beast for variety) and I know there will be review. This is the second time around for me teaching primary math so I don't have a whole lot of experience with what's "typical" for most 3rd grade curricula. It looked more like 4th grade to me, though, especially the long division with three and four digit dividends and remainders and the multiplying with three and four digit factors.

If your child is doing (or recently has done) 3rd grade math, what topics/procedures of multiplying and dividing is he or she doing for this grade? Background: My DD #1 is now in 3rd grade. Up until this year we were working with Singapore Math Standards and MEP. This year I changed over to Beast Academy (3A-D) and Math Mammoth (Grade 3) at her request. I happen to have Singapore Math Grade 3 from working with her older brother and was looking it over recently. To my surprise (because I didn't remember) the division and multiplication is more advanced than what is presented in Beast and Math Mammoth. This year, she has been doing basic multiplication tables through 12, multiplication and division fact families through 12, multiplying and dividing word problems and some basic dividing with remainders ( two digit dividends like 56 divided by 6). She also has been multilpying and dividing numbers by 10's (45 x 10, 568 x 100, etc). The Singapore 3rd grade program has three digit numbers multiplied by one digit numbers (with "carrying") and long division with three digit dividends. It looks more advanced than what she has been doing this year. So, now I am wondering if I should use the Singapore Math grade 3 materials as a supplement for multiplying and dividing? Or, is Singapore Math for 3rd grade pretty far advanced as far as multiplying and dividing goes? I know it's ahead generally but maybe its REALLY advanced as far as multiplying and dividing? She will be tested in about three months (for my state) but I cannot see the test until about 4 weeks before I use it so I don't know for sure what will be on it.

Michael Clay Thompson fell flat here. My DD #1 loves The Sentence Family. I saw The Humpties here: http://humptiesgrammar.com/wkb1-4.html

Wow! Thank you so much for the thorough review. Anyone else have experiences to share?

It has been great for us but I have been fortunate to be able to find the guides and some supplementary materials (like picture cards, teacher CD, etc) at a used curriculum sale. I paid like $20.00 for TM 2 and $25.00 for TM 3. Then, I bought the student sheets on their own at the Nancy Larson website. When I bought them I think they were $40.00. Any supplies I might need I buy separately and I supplement with topical books and DVD's from the library (also you tube videos). If I recall correctly, I think I purchased Nancy Larson Year 1 on Ebay and I did get the total kit except for the student sheets (I bought those on the website) for something like $70.00 shipped. It was a big heavy box full of everything for year one except the live caterpillers and live ladybugs and the student sheets. Check Ebay and homeschoolclassifieds.com for used Nancy Larson materials. If you have a convention coming up, or any other used type of curriculum sale, you may find Nancy Larson materials there, as well. So yes, at the cheaper prices it has definitely been worth it as a solid "spine." It's thorough and "serious" without being boring or over little kids' heads. It's very easy to use, my kids love it, science gets done, and the information is retained and these are all good things!

I'm looking for reviews of The Classical Historian's online classes, especially for grades 6-9, but any experiences would be welcome. If your child took an online class with The Classical Historian how did it go, what was the level of challenge, would you do it again, etc.. Thanks in advance!