Oh my! I just realized I never replied to this. Thanks SO much to you all. I shared some with my son and we are now doing all problems. It's a lot of work, but comforting to hear of all the kids doing so well after using it. Thanks so much for sharing your insight and giving me some peace:)

Hello Ladies! I've been offline here for a while but have a math qu and you guys are always so wise and helpful:) Ds just started 7th grade and has seemed serious about a potential engineering degree. We switched to Saxon math(8/7) from Math-U-See. I like it, but ds is already complaining about doing all the review of stuff he knows. Is it really necessary to do ALL the problems. We just started, but so far I've cut the warm-up math facts in 1/2, and I've scanned review qu and nixed 5-6 if they're problems I know he's strong in. Just wondering what others have done and still come out

Best wishes in your new phase:)

Interesting. My dd also started high school this year after always homeschooling. It's a strong private school, but maybe this would motivate her for some extracurticulars I'd like her to spend more time on....

Could any of her books be listened to(you reading or audio book) during meals?

My dd is a freshman at a private, rigorous high school. We used MUS and she completed most of Algebra in 8th(I ler her stop because I planned to have her re-take as a freshman to make sure she was solid in how they taught). All that to say that her school gives the option sophomore year of doubling up on Geometry/Algebra II. That's the only year they can double up. I don't see her going into a math/science field, but may encourage her to do this just in case. If she ends up not needing the extra math, she'll have the option of no math senior year. Just a thought:) I agree that I wouldn't move

In conservative homeschool circles/curriculum it seems that everyone is young earth. My husband and I are conservative evangelicals(hubby has a nearly completed PhD in theology) and we believe/teach that God created the world but there is no way to know how old the earth is. We have a friend who is a physicist(retired professor from Univ. of Chicago). He's a conservative evangelical, very studied in science/physics and says there's no way to know. If you pinned him to a wall he would choose old earth just because more science has been done in that area...but says it could very well be young ea

I was going to suggest Jump in, too:)

I agree those who mentioned SCM...Simply Charlotte Mason art portfolios are beautiful, simple to use, and cost effective:)

Just saw this. Prayers to you for God to give you all strength and healing.

Just wanted to note that some people who want to complete ancients in one year and use SCM skip their Bible readings (can sub in your own). It's neat how ancient history is tied into the OT...why it takes 3 years to complete ancients! But if you didn't want to spend that long, you can complete ancients in 3 years if you just do the history/geography assignments. And I agree that it's not difficult to sub out books (but of course that's taking away some from the ease of the family guides:)

It's what we use for grammar. I like that it's rigorous and gets the job done w/o spending years on formal grammar. It is pricey, but when you consider it's used for 3 years and the teacher edition can be used w/multiple kids and then resold I don't think it's TOO bad:) Cons....boring for my dd. I'm not sure what else we'd use. If I had it to do over I'd look at Our Mother Tongue, but she's almost done w/it and since I own it and ds is doing well w/JAG we'll probably just plug away:) Oh, and I think it does say no photocopying on every page!

I understand the fear...my oldest is in 8th this year, too!!! I hope others w/older kids will chime in, but I can share a bit of what helped to calm me some:) 1) Standardized Tests. I'm assuming you don't have a homeschool coop that offers these? We occasionally do them w/ours for the practice. If you don't have that option, if you or hubby have a college degree you can administer the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at home (can purchase from BJU press). I bought the Spectrum practice booklet and it's very helpful...filling in the circles and getting a feel for the types of questions. Also, in

I've organized co-ops/fieldtrip groups before and I like to start mentioning about now because some people are making commitments soon for next year involving other coops/groups. However, if the time commitment is minimal, I wouldn't worry about it:)

I do what @alef does w/my 8th graders math grade. For any test problem she misses, I let her go back and correct it and if she gets it right I give her 1/2 credit. I don't know if that's typical, but I know school's give opportunities for extra credit, so why can't I? :)