The way of the peaceful birther by amy cox jones Really ALL pregnant women should read this book whether planning a natural birth or not.

I am really mulling everything over. I still think HS can be done in less time. He may just need some more guidance from me. We school year round because I have a big family, babies every other year, my husband is very busy with church responsibilities(LDS bishop) and I am a homebirth midwife. It sounds nice to give him the summer off, but it wont happen. We will take a good month off and the other 2 will be essentials only(3 r's). And we often drop school to go to the pool and such. But, we can't stop all together. It really is true that he is still young and without true deadlines to meet it is harder to get stuff done. I cant fault him for that. Needing the checklist of what to do each day really is ok still. He will do it as long as it is written down and he can plan on it. He doesnt like last minute additions or asking him to do more. This is the part I dont get. My husband lovingly calls me Hermione. I would have risen to the challenge(and did) of finishing a math book early and moving on. My son is not like that and I was taking it as lack of motivation. He does great in his outside classes. Gets everything done on time and does really well. Its just at home when things come up, like a baby being sick and me unable to do what I needed to with him for a few days or whatever. I know this is part of hsing, Ive been at this a long time. But with them getting older, I just feel so much more pressure to make sure they dont get behind our goals and that they actually put in the needed time etc. I have always loved hsing and I still do. But it is HARD having babies and teens and so many in between. That is why I wish he was more motivated to just do it himself and not need me so much. Many of you have confirmed that Im just not out of a job yet!:) I get it. Yesterday he completed all his work in a timely manner with the promise of getting to play around on inventwithpython.com. He has already done stuff on alice. He really is good about doing what I ask him to, as long as it is planned ahead of time and he knows what the expectations are. So anyways, I was gone for a bit and came home and he had gone through 4 or 5 chapters at the above website and was super excited to show me the 3 programs(simple!) he had done. We will keep feeding this interest and see how it goes. I would love to have suggestions of other websites and courses for computers. Thank you all!

Several people had brought this up so I wanted to clarify. "I" did not wish to send him. He was on the fence about wanting to go possibly. Dad was insisting. I talked to many people, some of whom had sent previously hs students to our high school. ALL of them said that the best possible situation for him was to enroll with some credits and not be considered a true freshman. Apparently, they stick new freshman in some academy thing and it was better if he could be ahead of that and able to have more freedom in class choices(one of my friends just got elected to the school board, she has always been super involved, this was coming from her! she has her kids skip the freshman academy by coming into HS with some credits. they have never been homeschooled:)) Our compromise was to get him some credits, including health(that was the kicker for me) and help him get through the local HS in 3 years instead of 4, by getting a jump start and taking some correspondance courses along the way. Since last summer when these plans were made, my husband has had a change of heart. He is willing to continue to hsing through HS. My son is still a little on the fence, but is leaning towards staying home. It WILL have to be his decision because I am not going to fight him. While I would prefer he stay home, I am ok with him going and trying it also. Im fairly certain though that he will still be home, so that is why I am moving ahead with our OWN HS plans and not feeling so locked in to making sure he can get credits(was going to accredit them through NARHS)

Thank you to all who have given the suggestion to give him another year and not push the graduating early. We will definetly give it some more consideration. Just to be clear, we were not planning to SEND him away to college a year early. We just wanted him to be done with HS level work early and begin aquiring college credits(distance, local U, CELP/AP etc). It really was a reason I wanted to homeschool. I dont think it needs to take 4 years to accomplish HS and then 4 years for a bachelors degree. I think it can be streamlined. And my son sees that vision and wants it. Hes just not on board in the day to day part of it. And that is where I am really having to drag him along. I was hoping there was a magic pill :D to make him want to study and work hard and not just get by with the bare minimum. It is a boy thing, I think, and I want to know how to do better by my boys(I have 4 so far) I appreciate all you have given me to mull over.

Im not sure how you could suggest that when I havent even said how we are doing it. Nor have I ever said it was a lost cause! He spells fine, for now, but I dont want him to be handicapped later(like on the sat) because of not being very comfortable with higher level words. I was justifying to others why were were still working on it. He can be done with where I want him to be by the end of summer(college level) and is not something he evens fusses(much) over. Quick and painless. However, I was concerned that lots of little things was adding up to being too overwhelming. I do not like the "well there is spell check" or "they will spell if they can read/as well as they can read" excuses I hear from HS moms all the time. My children will not leave my house(or gradutate to high school LA) untill they can demonstrate a profficiency in spelling. It is funny how threads take on a life of their own. Really I just wanted to know what to do with a boy who hates school and doesnt want to do any of it.

First, thanks for all of your help! To answer some questions, yes he was gung ho about graduating early. Now, not so much. He wants to, but is not really keen and doing the work to accomplish that. And I didnt intend on him getting a full years of HS credits this year. Sorry that wasnt clear. We were just picking up a few to get a jump start. I realise that the english really isnt HS english. Im ok with not giving that credit this year, I dont really think he was ready for it. I do feel the spelling is necessary at this point because he really does need to brush up and solidify HS level words. If cursive doesnt count that much on the SAT, surely spelling will?? He can work on it during lighter school over the summer and be done by the end of the summer. I still struggle with spelling as an adult and I feel it is still a relevant and needed skill, despite having spell check.(sometimes I cant even get close enough for spell check and have to change the word I want to use) On the cursive/copywork would you compromise and require school work to be done in cursive? Oh, how I am kicking myself for not doing this in 4th grade. He has GOOD printing. It is clear and neat. Better than many of my other kids. But it looks childish. His cursive is great, but he doesnt want to use it. Hence requiring just a little bit 2x a week. Spanish, the co-op class is mostly review/reinforment. He is using a course at home. He knows what he has to accomplish for it to be spanish 1. I am ok with doing really 9th grade next year and keeping him home another year. Getting college credits in HS and graduating early was a big reason for me to homeschool. I can let that go though. My boys will be going on 2 year missions in the middle of college and then likely marrying early and needing to support a family. While my husband and I made it(he graduated when we had 2 kids) I had hopes of helping my boys get a jump start on college, hence the gradutating early. Computers really is the only thing he wants to learn about. He is asking for an online course or something. I told him if he spends 3 concentrated hours in the am on academics he can have reserved computer time in the afternoon(we only have 1, trying to fix that, but we have a small house and not really room for another anyways) after read aloud and silent reading(lit and history) I appreciate the suggestion of a possible LD. I have never considered it for him. He has been easy to teach and picks things up quickly. I want him to have better spelling skills, but he is certainly ahead of what is coming out of our local schools(I've observed from kids at church and not text language. I mean when they are really writing something) My plan was to "graduate" them from family school and put them solidly in HS when they finished a few things. He can be done this summer and released from that time to hit HS learning hard next fall. On the schedule, I have tried to give him more reign over that. He begged for a daily checklist so he can mark it off and know he is done. I have contiuned to do it this year with the warning that it really will be over next year. I gave him more freedom in the fall and come to find out he didnt really accomplish much in several subjects. He asked me to spell it out and require bits everyday so he would stay on top of it. It is that lack of self drive/motivation that has me so frusterated. I thought at some point they would take over and I wouldnt have to be standing over them all the time. It overwhelms me. I still have 4 more students and 2 toddlers/babies. Thanks again for all the help.

He is my oldest of 7. He is supposed to be doing a combined 8th/9th grade this year. It was in anticipation of him graduating a year early(and with the possibility of going to PS HS next year). This is not going well. Maybe he is just not ready. He is putting up a major fuss over school. Claims to hate it. Sees no point in any of it and doesnt see how/if/when he will ever care about it. He wants to go to a selective private university(BYU) and I keep trying to tell him that he must actually work hard in HS to get there, sigh. He is often in tears over school work. He does fine in math(MUS pre-A, almost done) but melted down today over being required to do some word problems from the first chapter in Challenge Math. I said it counted for math so it wasnt as if he was having to do both today. He is fine with math that is do this, then that and is very rules based. The word problems are hard for him(HATES the honors pages in MUS of which I have made him do every single one, but have had to help too) He is a very concrete thinker and loves rules etc.(maybe would be good at accounting?) He has no idea what he wants to do when he grows up. Not a clue. Loves to read, hates writing and science. Tolerates math(and it comes pretty easy to him) as long as it is straight forward. Seems to like history too(always been living books based) Here are his daily requirements: Math(4-5 days a week, 1 hr or less) LA: Spelling and Grammar Review(done with whole family at the board, 15 min tops, 4 days a week) Personal Spelling list(15 min a day, 3-4 days a week, this is to finish up SWR, he's not a great speller and I feel this is very essential to master this) IEW: Finishing up SWI-B, (2 days a week, 20-30 min) Copywork(to perfect cursive as his printing looks like a Kindergartner and someone told me the essay portions of SAT get better scores if written in cursive) (2 times a week, 5 min) Painless Grammar (3 days a week, 1 lesson/written excercise, 20 min?) Reading response Journal(2 days a week, he doesnt even do a good job on these, so I could see dropping it and focusing on other writing, 20 min?) Literature (3 days a week, reading off a chart Ive assigned based on AO lists, 1 hr) Spanish: 4 days a week, about 30 min a day, tops Health: 4 days a week, 30 mins maybe(this is needed as it is a HS 1/2 credit we are requiring in case he goes to PS HS next year, he WONT take it there as it does not conicide with our family values) Computers: he spends about 15 min typing a day. This needs to be fleshed out to be a 1/2 credit also, still working on that P.E. We require him to run 1-2 miles a day. He ran a competitive race(the Ragnar) last fall. He LOVES running and plans to go out for the HS cross country team even if remaining at home for academics Music: practice Piano and Trumpet everyday We do a co-op once a week where he does logic(his favorite) and a bit of science and history, spanish and orchestra. There is no outside homework. He also attends a TJed class once a week(key of liberty, missed first semester) and completes the homework for it(3 hrs a week average) I am not requiring any other science or history(except through lit and casual with family discussions at this point, oh wait not true, one of his readings is US history and goes along well with the class) We are done with co-op in 3 weeks and the TJed class soon after. We school year round. Okay so total hours per week: Math 5 LA 7.75 hrs a week(could I cut this down?) Spanish 2 Computers 1 Health 2 TJed Class and Homework 5 PE 2 Co-op 5 Music 5(week day only) 34.75 hrs or 6.95 hrs a day Hmmm... This was a good excercise for me. Is this too much? I mean it includes music practice and running, both of which he loves. Also, I am ok taking more than 36 weeks or 180 school days to rack up the hours needed for credits, but if he spends much less per day then he wont be able to get enough hours in(looking to next year especially) I planned to award him 1/2 health, 1/2 Computers, 1 English 9, 1 US history, 1 Spanish, 1 music performance, 1/2 P.E.and 1/2-1 Logic. I also had high hopes of him moving faster and finishing Algebra 1 by the end of summer so he would have that credit as well. He has not done all the required work for these classes yet, but i can see how he could by the end of summer if he would just apply himself even a tiny bit. When he told me today that he didnt know when he would ever care about school work, I told him that I would then continue to require it as the alternative(not getting an education and being able to support a family) was not acceptable. I just wish he would be even somewhat driven by himself. What is happening with him was a big reason I wanted to HS to begin with(BTW this child went to PS K only). I feel as if the same educational model that is failing boys is PS is failing my son at home(his 12 year old sister is nothing like this) and I have talked to many many HS moms who also struggle with their boys, but not the girls. There has to be a better way, what is it??? I searched and read some threads about not overwhelming them in early HS in fear of trying to catch them up if you feel there are gaps. And about simplifying the schedule/subjects so as to not have them flitting about doing too many different things. I can see how I am guilty of that and need to fix some things. But I really dont feel like he has THAT much to do. Help?!?! Thanks!

These are some interesting thoughts. Thanks for the discussion! I agree for the kids who dont have computers at home they are probably a huge blessing and a need. It just seemed that my SIL was spouting the party line of making smarter kids who can learn better and have more opportunities etc. And maybe that is true in a PS, but not in a homeschool. My kids certainly know how to use a computer and use nearly or everyday. But i dont think they need their own.

My oldest 2 children are visiting cousins for 2 weeks. The cousins are public schooled. They were on spring break last week, but are back in school this week. My oldest texted me this morning telling me that his 2 older cousins(15 and 17) have 2 macbooks each they got from the school for school. He said how great it was and since we know someone on the school board here he told me to tell her to do it for our local schools(not sure how he thought it would affect him, but anyways:)). I responded by saying something along the lines of it being nice for the cousins to have those but that our school district is struggling with funds and would not be able to do that. But it was ok because lots of $$ and fancy technology does not guarentee a good education, paper and pencil could do just as well, but Im sure they are fun to have. Apparently he was discussing this at the time with his aunt cause he came back with how important it was for our society to have the kids learn computers and how they would be smarter and would learn more because they had more opportunity. Also they have time to learn more stuff cause they can combine subjects etc. Now, my son is only 14 and Im sure thinks being given a macbook is the coolest thing ever. And I agree that having computer skills is ESSENTIAL in this day and age and for job market skills etc. And there are certainly good ways to use computers in education, of course! But, I just have a picture in my head of these computers actually being a distraction to teens more than this huge help to make them smarter, better educated young people. I am not against computers by any means, Im just wondering what the balance is, I guess. We have 1 desktop for 9 people and we do fine, but are getting another one soon. I would consider getting laptops for my high school age children but Im wondering exactly what they would be doing on them? Research? Ok. Word processing/excel/powerpoint skills? Great. Photo editing? Ok. Facebook? Skype? I KNOW my nephews are doing that! which is fine of course, but I dont consider it education! Computer programing would be awesome. But, what are these high schoolers really using them for? Please educate me. I need to think this through before he comes home because Im sure it will be a big topic.

Oh no! We were gearing up to use dive for our co op biology class. We like that there is a choice of textbooks since we can't all agree :-) are there other simular choices? I'm not looking to entertain the kids but don't want to torture them either.

Checking each others work did not work here(character issues) between the oldest 2, but I can sometimes have an older check on or help a younger. Here is what is working this year for us: I don't do a lot of workbooks, mostly math. The 2 middle boys do reading comprehension that they check themselves. Writing for IEW is edited/checked by me on the computer before printing and then checked again by my teaching partner at co-op. I have the staples desk top apprentice(LOVE IT) and that holds all teacher manuels etc. There is a hanging green folder for "in" and a red one for "out". When they finish math, or there are a few other things I check for my oldest, it goes straight to the green folder. I dont even worry about it that day or evening. The next morning, the desk top apprentice gets moved to the middle of the table. We do a few group lessons and then everyone works on language arts on their own level. This involves copywork, writing, reading comp etc. I am not really needed during this hour(except to work with the 5 year old) and to write spelling words on the board when anyone needs to know how to spell something(those are gone over as a group the next day). So I sit at the table and check yesterdays papers and place them in the red folder. When any student is ready for a subject which requires the papers to be turned in, they go get the previous days from the red folder and look it over. They fix any mistakes and turn it back in(sometimes I have a min to check it right then) before moving on to that days lesson. This is the ONLY method that has worked for us consistently. This frees me up from the interuptions of being shown work all day long when working one on one with someone. It is also immpractical for me to be checking papers in the evening. If Im not plain too tired, we have other things going on usually. BTW, I have 5 students in K, 3,5, 7 and 8/9 as well as an almost 3 year old with special needs and a brand new 1 year old. It is tough. The toughest year we have had. I am trusting that it will all work out in the end! I hope that helps!

This makes me happy to know we aren't the only ones to struggle with this. Its mainly one of them and we work on it often.

I voted yes, but wasnt really referring to academic reasons. I feel it is necessary because of social reasons. I have been homeschooling for 8 years and have seen almost all the kids go to school once they hit high school. Now I realise that some of that comes down to parental choice/responsibility but the fact is that the kids were lonely at home and went to school to get social needs met. One of my friends daughters friends even told her that she knew that academically it would have been better to stay HSing but she wanted to go be with friends etc all day. I am probably biased cause I run a fairly large co-op. But one reason the other leaders and i have put so much time and energy into building a good program is we wanted it in place when our kids hit high school. They have a solid base of friends, they love coming to co-op and they have a place to belong and feel a part of. We offer both electives(orchestra, choir, art, dance, pe, foreign languages etc) as well as core classes in latin, science, writing, literature and history. Families are welcome to pick and choose which classes work for them. So the families who want/need help with academics find our classes work well for that. And the kids who just want to come and do fun classes and hang with friends have that available to them as well. It is working out really well. My kids LOVE co-op and I see many many benefits for our family. Having said that, it does take a bit of a balancing act to make it all work. And I can understand some families would just choose to stay home and concentrate on school there. But for us it is working. For reference I have kids ages 1-14. So maybe I will change my tune later down the road!

Can you laminate small items like 3x5 cards and cut them apart with this one? Some I've seen only seal the edges.

My son is 14. He has been accumulating some high school credits this year(8th)with the intention of graduating early. However, he is only now finishing up pre-algebra. We work year round, so I expect him to be nearly 1/2 way done with algebra 1 by the time the fall rolls around. So I still plan for him to take 4 years of HS math, in the next 3 years. He went to PS for K, but has been home since. He has done MUS all the way and LOVES it. He does not wish to change. He does not know what he wants to do when he grows up:) yet but I want to be sure I prepare him for anything/everything. He has no learning challenges. The only reason he is not further along in math is because I didnt really plan very well and push him to move faster when he could have in elementary. He is very logical and extremely rules driven. Not really an outside the box thinker. I could see him possibly in Law or Accounting. He also has an interest in computers. One reason he didnt move faster in math was because he COULDNT skip pages. Really, it caused meltdowns if I didnt allow him to do every.single.page. He is over that, but I am just trying to give you a feel for his personality. He is doing great in MUS pre-a. I have made him do every single honors page, but he hates them and needs some help working through them. He's not super good at thinking abstractly. For example, manipulating multiple variables drives him NUTS, because he cant get "the answer" because he wants to know what each variable IS. I hope that makes sense. Something like this: solve for x 2x(ab)=x+c where x ends up equaling a bunch of variables makes him crazy, or did. He's getting better. Like I said, he doesnt want to change. And I am happy with MUS. But I hear conflicting things about it and I just dont want to short change him. I want to be sure I prepare him for the ACT/SAT and to do well in college. I wouldnt call him gifted in math(but he is my oldest and Ive never worked with any other kids aside from my own so I wouldnt really know) but it comes very easy for him. Except for the honors pages this year he has never had to try very hard in math. Im just now realising I may have not handled things correctly but here I am. Does anyone have any thoughts for me? Thank you so much!

I havent seen chemistry before biology listed anywhere. Why do you say that? I thought the reason they said bio first is so that the kids would have enough math to do chemisty. Please enlighten! I was hoping that if we knew a few years ahead of time that we would be able to have the kids in line math wise since we would know. Does anyone have any other suggestions for us to avoid teaching 4 levels of science every year? Is there another way? We will have a small group of high school age children next year(3-6) but LOTS coming up the ranks in very committed families, highly unlikely to put kids in school at any point. We want to have a plan laid out so that we dont have to re-think it every year. Having lab sciences is a huge priority for us. We wont have any kids older than 9th/10th grade this year, unless new families join. Thank you!

We are mapping out our high school program at our coop and want to have it set and rotating. Will it matter if some kids take physics b4 chemistry when they are juniors? We want to offer 9th grade physical science and biology every other year and then chemistry and physics every other year. Is this going to be problem? Thanks!

I recently asked about using Signapore word problems and someone(sorry I dont know who!) suggested Challenge Math. I bought it and it looks great, but I am unsure of the logistics of using it. The text seems to be written in such a way that the children should read it, but I was kinda planning on teaching the lesson(at the board) to all my children(8,10,12 and 14) and then having the work which ever level of problems I felt appropriate. Should everyone read it individually and then we work a few problems on the board and then they do the levels? Would I copy those pages or just have them take turns with the book? This is complicated byt the fact that my older two are going out of town for 2 weeks and I was planning on sending a few chapters with them to work on. Then I would do the same chapters at home with the younger 2. I cant quite wrap my brain around how to do this. I mean, I can copy the first 2-3 chapters and send them along, but as far as on a regular basis. I wanted it to be something the family could do together, but I am not quite getting how to present the lesson. And then sharing the book 4 ways would end up being a pain. I was considering having the spine cut off so I could easily copy the problem pages. I know I am probably overthinking this, but could someone let me know how they do it with multiple ages/students? Thanks!

I am sorry for so many questions! But we dont have the materials in hand and are trying to decide if we will use this first and how much the cost will be per student. Are the labs done in class the same ones done on the dvd? Is there a reason then that they couldnt watch the dvd at home and do the labs from the appologia book in class? Or are those the same/simular?

We are looking at using the DIVE program with our co-op next year. We already wanted some kind of option where people could use the textbook of their choice since not all want to use appologia. This looks like it will work(and we dont have to re-invent the wheel) The children would read the lessons at home, watch the DIVE dvds and then come together once a week to do the hands on labs. 2 questions: Can the lab kit be shared with 2 or 3 students working together? Also, are there labs for each of the 32 weeks?(minus test weeks) We are looking at a 1 hour class. Is this enough time to complete the labs? Thanks!

This is the funniest thread I've read in a long time. Maybe ever. I am a knitter but not a spinner. I might take it up though if presented with a big bag-o-fleece. My aunt raises alpaca for their wool. She'd know what to do.

Should I get the sandpaper letters or the moveable alphabet? This is mainly for my 5 yo daughter who is forming letters ok, learning to spell with SWR and starting to read a bit too. But I also have 2 more coming up the ranks(so far...) and I know the next one down is going to need LOTS of multi-sensory help with language.

I have had this reccomended to me. My son is resistant to trying anything other than MUS which he has used since 1st grade. Anyone have expereince with video text they want to share? Thanks!

Thats what I thought. Ok, now to get him to move a little faster :-) I thought he would be done with Pre-A by now.

My son has just turned 14 and is doing a combined 8th/9th grade in order to graduate early. I intend on getting him through homeschool high school in 3 years, not including this one. The college he is looking at states as a requirement that he take 4 years of mathmatics. He is finishing up Pre-A right now and then we plan to start right in to Alg 1 and continuing through the summer. Do I count Pre-A as a high school and therefore one of the 4 or do we just start with Alg 1?