I have a friend that just told me about it this week. Her middle school son is taking their computer course right now so I'll hear how they like it when they are done. I'm thinking of the world history course next fall. I'd like to hear more too-seems like a great opportunity.

Haven't read all the posts but my son is in 7th this year and reading Hakim's Story of US as well. He takes a few weeks for each book. We don't do any tests or papers but he does give me a narrative after a few chapters in each book. He likes the books and doesn't complain about reading them at all! ;) I have not read all of them but I have read bits of each and I like them too. I can't comment on the accuracy of everything, I'm not a history buff, but I've felt comfortable with the major events discussed and nothing jumps out at me as "questionable" or overly liberal.

Nothing changes unless someone steps forward. I hate it when I hear "we've always done it this way" or "what's the big deal?" about things like this. It's because most people are used to living in a homogenous environment and don't think about others different from themselves and ASSUME it's OK. It's not OK, there should NOT be a prayer at a public school function. I'd send a note.

Yes! That is it! I was on a first name basis with Linda when she worked there full time years ago LOL Sooo worth the trip if you anywhere close to the Seattle area.

Oh yes, that's something I would do! ;)

Oh yes, I love that store too! I had forgotten about it though so will have to add that to the list. :001_smile: Also love the teacher store in Lynnwood!

you are planning a vacation to Seattle from the Midwest and one of the top things on your list to do is visit the used homeschool bookstore! Seriously, there is an AWESOME used homeschool store that I bought most of my stuff from when we lived there and I MISS it. I could browse for hours in there ;) And last time we went 2 yrs ago I actually bought a used large cooler from Goodwill and filled it with books (needed something sturdy!) from the store AND the Seattle Library book sale and brought it home as a checked bag! :tongue_smilie: I think I'll just pay for media mail this time around.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to get my hands on a copy in the next few weeks so I can look at it more. But I think I'm going to keep looking for something else.

thanks! It worked but didn't bring up what I was looking for....maybe it was a different board ;)

I know there is a way to search for a specific title or phrase on these boards when you search on google but I can't remember how to do it. I know you need "+" or something between each word in the search. ??? I've done it before but it's been awhile and I can't seem to get it right. I'm specifically looking for "Essential World History" that was discussed at some point in a history thread. I can't search directly here because too many things come up with each word in the title. Anyone know what I'm talking about? :tongue_smilie: Thanks!

I don't have any idea how "biased" this curriculum is but just curious what other secular hsers have to say. Our homeschool assistance program uses Apologia biology even though it's through the public school system :001_huh: I have no idea how they get away with this. I'm trying to decide if I want to have my son take this or go with a truly secular program. The idea of taking it as a co-op type class through the homeschool program is appealing ;) I've heard that Apologia science for high school is very good but I prefer to keep religion out of our schooling. But certainly willing to consider if it's not too "heavy handed" in the religious bias and the science is all fact based and no opinion. Obviously most of the science in biology, chemistry, and physics is pretty black and white-but still want more info. Thanks!

I have the teacher's manual but do not use it. It's got a lot of classroom activities in it and extra activities for spelling, etc which we did not need for this program. The workbook gives good examples of all the lessons so you know what to look for in the final result. You don't need the teacher's manual for that. I think that's one reason my son responds well to this book, since he can see exactly what is expected. It even says how many paragraphs to write for a persuasive paper, for example. It will say to use an outline to design your paper and it should have an opening, 3 paragraphs, and a closing statement-as a sample. Then it will give blank lines for an outline in the proper format.

I don't consider them vital but I enjoy them. I see them as a way for me to get re-charged and motivated at time when I am typically burned out a little. I usually make a family weekend out of it and we stay in a hotel. DH takes the kids to a zoo or museums for the day while I'm at the conference so everyone is happy. I've been to a conference about 4 or 5 times and I don't buy a lot but I love Miller Pad and Paper and stock up with them!

Here's Writing Skills: http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=2561M If you click on the book it will show you a sample I think. You can get these at Rainbow Resource or amazon.

I really like the Writing Skills books because they teach how to write step by step which is what my son needed. I also like that it teaches how to do basic outlines for his paragraphs-something else he really needed. You could easily double up lessons and get through this book faster and then go to another that might work on his weaker areas. I went through a lot of writing programs before I found this and suggest it often now. It's one of those hidden gems for people needing a good basic "how to" writing program. It''s only about $12 and does not need a lot of teacher prep or have tedious silly "filler" activities.

Can't wait to hear from you! Be sure to post your experience! Good luck!

Too bad the family sleeper car makes it MORE than airline tickets. Even the 2 person sleeper car makes it the same as airline tickets.

The more we talk about it, I think we'll drive too. We were thinking if we could do 10 hrs a day of driving we could get there in 3 days/2nights if we drove straight through but I think we might spend a night or 2 in Glacier Nat'l Park. If we didn't have a gas guzzling suburban that got 11 miles to the gallon it wouldn't be so bad :glare: But at least we'll travel in comfort!

Bump for the lunch crowd-anyone else?

We are considering taking the train from WI to Seattle. It's 41 hours :blink: It's certainly better than driving (our original plan) and about the same cost between hotels and gas. The sleeping cars are not an option because that puts the cost the same as plane tickets. So we'd be in the seats for 41 hrs. Yikes. 4 kids ages 2, 7, 10, 13 I know that they are comfy seats and lots of room. I know the kids can walk around and stretch out. But the idea of being cooped up for 41 hrs STRAIGHT is kind of scary to me. :tongue_smilie: At least when we are driving we get to stop as needed, shower each day, have a little privacy when scolding my kids ;) and not have some one see me when I sleep :001_huh: But that would be 4 days/3 nights of driving. Thoughts? Experiences?

Oh, I just found the leveled readers :001_wub: They look great!! So my biggest question is this: Is the homeschool pkg the same as what the schools get? Any differences? I don't want to buy it and then find that the leveled readers are not included or some other component. KWIM? I'm not able to see a complete homeschool sample like the school one that was listed so can't compare.

THANKS! My kids were able to watch a whole lesson so I could better judge content and they could see what they thought. (I'm surprised it's not password protected too ;) ) I think this will be a good value when it get's to 40% off, which I'm sure it will. I don't like the 1 year usage from date the date you select, but I get why they do it.

My kids are 10 and 13 and I check their writing and grammar daily or every other day at least. They are doing TT for math so I ask them what they got each day (such as 21 out of 22) but I check the gradebook each week to verify and see what problems they missed. If they miss more than 3 I always sit down with them to review what they were having issues with. I made the mistake of NOT checking the gradebook for my oldest earlier this year for about 6wks since he was telling me what he was getting. Well, he was lying and had not completed a bunch of the lessons for some reason. So he had to go back and complete all those lessons and we had to review some a lot because he wasn't "getting it." I always helped them before when they got stuck, but in this instance, he decided he just didn't want to do them so skipped them :glare: It took us 3 weeks to get caught up! I learned a lesson there-no matter what program your child is using to learn, the parent is still ultimately responsible that they are learning and needs to stay actively checking progress!

If there's one thing I learned from these boards, you can't please everyone! ;) Every parent and child has their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. You could pick ANY program and find opponents and proponents. Sometimes very VOCAL ones. LOL I think TT is a little more debated because math is one of those things that parents really fear their child falling behind in for some reason. Same goes for writing programs. But someone here posted a great post once about all the flip flopping parents do with math programs and how there's this fear of gaps. Of course, there will be gaps if you are going from one program to the next. All programs cover things a little differently and in a different sequence sometimes. It doesn't matter if one program does division before another or if one covers fractions in a different way than another-if they just stuck with ONE program, it would cover all topics eventually and that child would come out with a complete math education in the end. I'm not saying to stick with something that is absolutely not working, but don't switch out programs just because "someone" says it's behind a grade level or not covering a certain topic like another program.

check out http://www.homeschoolshare.com Here's one on fairies: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/kk_fairytale.php As far as math manipulatives-anything can be used as counters such as pennies, shells, marbles, etc. Cuisenaire (sp?) rods are popular but we never used them. Our main thing was an abacus. We used it for years.