I was told that the ebook would be about half the price.... I think it's time for our family to move on and find something new. *Just* when I had everything laid out for next year lol

Yes... I emailed when I saw the price on christianbook.com... I was hoping to be told it was a typo! LOL

Direct from the email to me: Actually the suggested retail price is $132 for the student book, and $42 for the Teacher Guide. CBD must be offering a discount. No apologies here, though. The student guide is a textbook and workbook together in one and it's over 750 pages (so no need to buy a separate workbook). It's a whopper of a course and more than twice as big as any other RSO course so far. That price was determined by how much it costs to print as well as the 5 years of work it took to create it. The Teacher Guide is about 250 pages. I appreciate your concern, though, and one hear sometimes. Look for a mini-dissertation (soapbox time) from me regarding the price of textbooks and "sticker shock" soon on the FAQ page of the Pandia Website.

Totally feeling sticker shock over the new Level 2 Biology.... It was confirmed by Pandia that the SRP for the student book is $132 and the teacher guide $42. The reason I was given for the price difference was 1) the printing cost for the much more lengthy than typical book and 2) the 5 years it took to create it. :glare: Christianbook.com shows an estimated release date of March 18th. I have loved RSO and so have my kids, but I don't know if I can justify the cost...especially considering the additional cost of lab supplies on top of it all! Ugh.

My ds9 typically spends anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, sometimes 45 if he needs extra practice.

We love LFC in this house. Here's how we do it: Day 1: Go through vocab/grammar together, He watches DVD, he makes vocab flash cards Day 2: watch DVD, complete worksheet, Day 3: listen to chant CD, do 1 page from activity book, practice flash cards Day 4: listen to chant CD, do derivatives section, 1 more activity book page Day 5: Watch DVD, take quiz, work on translation We do one lesson a week. We haven't used the website yet, but that's simply b/c we are so slammed with things lately that I haven't had a chance to pull it up and bookmark it for him!

Sadly, I, too, know a family or three who fits that profile. It is out there and that mindset does exist in fairly healthy numbers. It's unfortunate, though, that this pastor has made such a sweeping generalization about homeschoolers based on what I figure is a pretty limited experience with them.

That's exactly what I ended up doing this morning and it went well. In fact, I got him calm and I said to him, "Tell me what you need me to do to help you." And he thought for a minute and asked me to read one sentence at a time. I've not seen the video... will have to check it out! Thank you!!

I've been looking at IEW and considering it.. but holy moly what a price tag! A friend and I went to see Mr. Pudewa speak a couple years back and I was riding high on his understanding of boys and how they learn. I just cannot pay that price for one specific part of our studies. Ouch. I totally agree that a frustrated child is not going to learn. I am seeing it here. This morning I ended up breaking down the dictation into smaller parts and he was just fine. I guess sometimes I get so caught up in the way it's "supposed" to be done and I forget that part of the beauty of homeschooling is that the rules CAN be bent and/or broken to meet the needs of an individual child. Duh. Perhaps I can break out the level 3 book again and work on those dictations with him, and just continue with the level 4 narrations/OSEs....

I haven't heard of it, but will definitely take a look... especially as I'm in the process of trying to decide what writing and grammar we'll be using next year once FLL 4 ends.

I have a 9 y/o reluctant writer. Pencil to paper for more than a sentence or two is torture for him. We've been using WWE from the beginning and loved it at first, but my son is progressively increasing his level of frustration and disgust with it since about half way through WWE 3 and through the first 6 or 7 weeks of WWE 4 that we've done so far. This is a kid who LOVES FLL and shares my disappointment over the fact that there will be no ALL in the near future. He'll diagram sentences 'till the cows come home and really knows his rules. He also is an avid reader. Part of the problem with WWE, I believe, lies in his ADHD issues. It is very difficult for him to execute these longer, more complex dictations that we're seeing in WWE 4. Often, he is reduced to tears or pitches a major frustration fit. (not avoidance techniques, but genuine despair and frustration with himself over the fact that he's not "getting it" as easily as he thinks he should) The narrations and Original Sentence Exercises aren't as bad, some reading selections work better for him than others. I just hate that he hates it so much. While I want him to be challenged, I don't want him to be tortured. I am really not sure where to go from here. I see the value in what we're doing, I know that these are very important skills, but I'm wondering if we need to backtrack and maybe go back and start level 3 again or if I need to find something else entirely. I'd be so grateful for your suggestions and input!

We are on our 4th year of History Odyssey and I have noticed the issue about which you are complaining. Some weeks I feel like we blow through a topic, other weeks I feel like we are overwhelmed with work. I especially noticed that last year when we were still using History Pockets. There was absolutely NO way we were going to be able to complete a whole pocket in a week in addition to all the other work. I ended up just trimming it down to a manageable level. It's less of an issue this year with Modern-Level 1 because there are no History Pockets. My take is this: History Odyssey is a framework for us. I add in more where we need more and I eliminate the excess when we are too overwhelmed. I'm basically paying for a plan every year that gives me an idea of what kind of work I should expect from my child and helps me fill in my own personal weaknesses with certain topics. ~Lauren

Just an FYI, I called my Staples here in Richmond, VA and was told that there is no restriction on the binders you can turn in for recycling...and the $2 can be used toward any binder.... I"m so sick of my binders falling apart half-way through the year.... and hey, I can't complain about the pretty colors! lol ~Lauren

THat was us! He really wanted to start cursive....his manuscript was sloppy but that was more because he just hates to write and will do it as fast as he can to get it overwith. I was stunned to find that his cursive is BEAUTIFUL. I never thought I'd use that word to describe his handwriting!

For my child, who has difficulty focusing for long periods of time, we broke up our saxon math lessons into lots of bite sized pieces. We'd start the day with the meeting strip/calendar (it just seemed a logical way to start our whole day) , which he would do on his own for the most part, then move on to another subject....then come back and do the fact sheet, etc... We also worked out the problems on our big white board with lots of different colored dry erase markers. My reluctant writer would gladly write anything on a whiteboard with a neon green dry erase marker lol I also was quite lenient with the worksheets... if I felt comfortable with his understanding of the subject matter, we might do half the problems... It's such a strong Math program and it has given my son a solid foundation! I figure without all the colors and artwork and pictures it's less distracting anyway :-) ~Lauren mom to ds (8) and ds (4)