I can try to answer your questions, but I'm not sure how much help I can give you. My four kids have participated in our ALE since kindergarten, but they were always considered full-time until High-school when I purposely dropped their FTE and signed a Declaration of intent to homeschool. If she is only taking 3 classes, the school will only claim those hours. But it depends on the structure of the ALE. In my ALE, they limited the classes we could take to still be considered part-time. My oldest daughter was 97% FTE the year before she started running start as a homeschool student. We didn't have any problems enrolling her. I think a lot depends on the district. You'd probably get better advice from someone in your district who's "been there, and done that." What are your reasons for maintaining part-time status? Best of luck, Joanne Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

:bigear: I'm interested in knowing as well. When you say it's a lot of reading, do you mean they are reading the lessons off of the computer screen? Or some other type of reading? Thanks.

I just saw this post. Are you still interested in Wenatchee? It's a wonderful place to live with plenty of opportunities for homeschoolers. Here is a link to the local homeschool co-op http://www.cchcwenatchee.org. The kids can play sports through the schools and we have a lot of rec teams for different sports. Music lessons are also readily available. You can PM if you have more questions. Joanne

This is our third year using LOF as a stand alone. My son is in 6th grade and using the Beginning Algebra book. LOF has been a lifesaver him. He would never complete his math lessons until we found LOF. This year he is taking an Algebra class in which the teacher uses Keys to Algebra. We just met with her yesterday and decided to continue using LOF for my son and she would fill in any holes with the Keys books. I'm not exactly sure how that will work but she thinks LOF is sufficient and probably a little more than a typical Algebra book. If your child gets math and doesn't need the extra practice LOF is great as a stand alone program. But if she is like my dd and needs more repetition, you may want to look at supplementing. I have liked the Keys to Fractions and Keys to Decimals books. They really helped my dd understand those concepts and they would be easy to add to LOF but don't feel like you have to add anything. It just depends on how your child learns. Joanne

I got one. Thanks!

I have my order all set... just wondering if anyone had a discount code they didn't need. Thanks! Joanne

I've been using a non-coated Lodge cast iron on my glass top stove since Christmas and I haven't had any problems. I just make sure never to turn the heat past medium or a little over. I was concerned about this at first, but a friend of ours said that's what he did.

I just wanted to give another vote for Life of Fred. My math loving son loves it. We used Singapore, Teaching Textbooks, Math U See and Rod and Staff before finally settling on LOF Fractions. He always did very well and knew how to work through the problems, but math took him forever. His eyes would glaze over and he'd stare at the page for an hour. I finally realized he didn't need all the practice he was getting with the other programs. He enjoys LOF and he's learning. I am thinking about adding in Singapore Intensive Practice or Saxon (just having him complete the lesson practice and not all the review), but for now we're happy with LOF.

Thank you for your responses. That's pretty much what I was thinking. I know I have a problem when it comes to curriculum. I'm constantly looking at alternatives and worried that there's something better out there. I will continue with what we're doing, but I can't promise I won't look at ALL when it comes out.

I'm hoping someone can help me. I'm trying to figure out what grammar to use next year with my 5th and 6th graders. They are halfway through with R&S 4 and 5. I am contemplating using ALL 5 with both of them, but I'm not sure if it will be too much of a review for my 6th grader. I'm also not sure if I want to change programs without knowing the timeframe for the other books to be published. I really like the idea of them working independently for grammar which it sounds like the next book will have them doing. But if it's not out when we're finished with ALL 5, do we go back to R&S? And if so, what level? I'm already planning to use WWS for both of them. I've seen the samples and it looks excellent. It's one of the reasons I'm looking at switching our grammar. We are happy with R&S. It works and it's easy to implement, but I wouldn't mind something a little more up to date. I've seen samples for ALL 5, but I didn't see a table of contents so it's hard to compare to R&S. Thanks for listening. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I'm all ears. Joanne

I know this has been asked before, but in all my searching I have not been able to find an answer. I have four kids who will be 6, 8, 10, and 12 next year. We will be finishing Ancients this year using a combo of VP, SOTW, CHOW, and reading Augustus Caesars World (if we get to it). I would really like to use HOD's RTR and just read aloud the history and science to everyone. I am tired of trying to make my own schedule. Has anyone done this? I won't expect the younger ones to do anyone of the assignments. I would just like to keep us all together for the history cycle and I really like HOD's book selections. Thanks, Joanne

We are using SOTW 1 with VP this year. I actually bought a schedule from www.easyclassical.com. Unfortunately, it's not going as well as I'd hope. The schedule does not go in order of SOTW, so there is a lot of skipping around, which I don't like. We are also not using the additional activities from easy classical or the VP manual. I prefer to just use the SOTW activity guide. My kids enjoy the mapping and they will color while I read. I chose to combine SOTW and VP because I wanted to add more biblical history to our studies. But I don't like the flow of the cards. I prefer to just use a narrative story. All this to say, that yes, they do go well together. If you just want to use the cards and maybe the memory song, I think they'd work really well together. Good Luck, Joanne

Has anyone used the old edition of R&S Math for Grade 2? I'm wondering how it compares to the newer books. I've been using Singapore 1A & 1B for my soon to be 7 dd, but she's becoming frustrated with it. I'd like something not too teacher intensive that we can use to go back to basics. She understands addition and subtraction but she hasn't memorized her math facts yet. In their description in the catalog it says concepts are taught in the pupil's workbooks. This sounds easier to implement because she could work on her own after I have gone over the lesson with her. Would I even need the teacher's manual? Thanks, Joanne

It takes a little getting used to, but I'm finding it saves me so much time.

This is a yummy recipe for Nacho "cheese" dip. I put it on broccoli and my kids didn't notice that it wasn't real cheese. http://shmooedfood.blogspot.com/2006/10/nacho-cheese-dip.html