If I wanted to be a true cheapskate I'd send my kids to school. $20 in supplies a year is all I'd have to buy. However, because I homeschool I work only part time. This means I have to be frugal in every aspect of my life. That includes what I purchase in materials. How much I pay for their materials has nothing to do with my love for my children or the quality of the education I'm giving them.

Once a week. I volunteer there and it's the only place I get books for myself. Last year I read over 100 books and all of them came from the library.

Wow, I think you just described my own high school American Lit classes. Very eager to read more replies. The Help made me cry and Jack London is very depressing to me.

This would be so much fun to do over the summer. Keep my kids doing school without them whining about school.

You are trying to do what is best for your family. That doesn't make you a bad mother it makes you a great mother! I hope you find peace with whatever decision you make.

I don't bag anything in plastic. I have my own vegetable mesh bags for things like peas which would be messy in the cart but for the most part I put all fruit and veg directly into the cart. I wash it all anyway.

The big news for us this year was that many colleges in Virginia are dropping the standardized tests all together or putting a heavier emphasis on GPA. How exactly this will effect homeschoolers is not yet clear.

Thanks MarkT I think I'll have her do honors economics then. Possibly honors French as well. She wants to go into history so lots of languages at upper levels would be good.

No I don't, my children both have a larger vocabulary than their peers. I read to them every day and we listen to audio books in the car. I have always read books that are above their own reading comprehension. I made a perfect score on my Verbal GRE and love learning about new words and share with them. Also, one of my favorite vocabulary books for test prep is Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. It teaches through suffixes and prefixes and could be used for younger kids too.

My oldest, D, is going into the 9th grade next year. I plan to have her take at least French online through FLVS. I can't afford a tutor and my limited grasp of French + Mango has not served her as well as I would like. FLVS is free for Florida residents. My question is what else if anything should I have her take online? Economics? Geometry? Those are two I'm considering but that would be my limit as I like to still interact with her as much as possible. Any experience with online classes of this type? My second question is about honors classes. My current plan is to have her attend community college for two years after high school (again primarily for cost reasons) and then move on to a four year school. So is it important for any of her online classes to be honors classes? Will the four year school care at that point what she did in high school. On the flip side if she wanted to get a scholarship to a four year college then the honors classes would be a factor right? I have enough saved for two years of each but not enough for the full four years at a school where she isn't living at home.

My daughter will be doing the following: Economics (Online through FLVS) Ancient History (Using WTM outline with lots of outside books) Geometry (haven't decided on book yet) Biology (textbook with lots of added stuff from http://www.biologyjunction.com/) Spelling Grade 6 (yes she's behind my fault) French (online through FLVS) English to coincide with history PE soccer Choir (she sings for a local church and the city children's choir) Latin (just a little for choir, Linney Getting Started)

LOL I always try to at least keep chocolate chips in the house for this very reason.

Izzy tried 3 public schools in three years. For kindergarten I just needed a break and only read to her at home. Then we moved and she wanted to keep going to school. First grade I was pretty hands off, just reading to her lots still. She was miserable and bullied. For second grade I got her into a magnet school thinking it would solve the problems. It too was a disaster. She now had homework and was still bullied. I withdrew her a few weeks ago and the entire family is happier. When she was in school I hated asking her to do more school at home.

I used to tell guests to my home, "They'll never post in my obituary 'She didn't keep a clean house.'" Now though I don't even care if they say it about me alive or dead. My house is untidy, but my children are well fed, clean, and have clean clothes. I can't do it all by myself so I choose to skip keeping the house spotless.

Developmental Mathematics. Used it through Algebra for D. It is a fantastic program. Using it now for Izzy and so far so good.