Homeschool Chat

[DisneyMom5]

Joined HSLDA 2 nights ago. I don't think I knew I was gonna get a membership card. That's awesome! And should be very helpful!

You SHOULD get it in the mail, if not, you can print one off from online. It has their emergency contact # on it also!

4. Are there certain curriculum publishers out there that are more "credible" than others? The reason I ask is when the kids get to college apps and such will I have put them at a disadvantage at all if I didn't get them "the good stuff" (whatever that is)?

As the other poster said, you don't list curriculum on your transcript.
You just list what they studied.
I don't believe there IS a curriculum that a college would prefer, unless maybe it helps to have used all Bob Jones stuff when you're applying to Bob Jones University. LOL

Relax, you can do this! Happy Schooling!

 

[mariezp]

I haven't posted on here in quite a while. I have a 3rd and a 7th grader.

We are trying switched on schoolhouse this year and I am having a problem. I have installed everything and I had it assign a sample lesson. During this, when you try to answer the questions it pops up a script error everytime you click or try to type. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Please help...

Have you checked their site for updates? That would be my first stop. If they don't have a fix I would contact their tech support. They have an excellent staff!

 

[Disney+Family=Fun]

Just wanted this to be the place I made my first post with my new username- that doesn't relate to my email. Oh, the lessons we do learn... Don't use the same name for everything I get smarter everyday

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Just wanted this to be the place I made my first post with my new username- that doesn't relate to my email. Oh, the lessons we do learn... Don't use the same name for everything I get smarter everyday

Ha!!!! Hope you get it all straightened out!!Did you have many posts? I was wondering if you can get all that 'transferred' over and just have a name change.....I have thought about that before for me...what if you just get sick of your screen name? I guess you just have to start over!?

 

[Denine]

We booked Homeschool Days in Williamsburg for September!!!! I am excited. The program looks really fun. It will be our 2nd trip there this year, but we won't be able to go at all next year.

We used Calvert for 4 years (PK-2), this year we will be using Sonlight. I am looking foward to the change. We will still be using Horizons for math. We start August 2nd.

 

[wvdislover]

Homeschool Days in Williamsburg sounds really fun! And their rates can't be beat! Just wish I could go sometime...maybe in a couple of years after DD8 starts homeschooling.

 

[Denine]

We had a lot of fun at Williamsburg in March. We also went to Jamestown and Yorktown in March. We are only doing Williamsburg this trip and maybe take in some of the extra activities that you have to pay for and maybe some evening programs. It was a bit chilly at times in March to do anything in the evening.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Thanks all for the responses. I appreciate ya!

I'm such a flamin' noob the way I'm pouring over and over the curriculum stuff. I'm so afraid that with a 9th grader and just starting homeschooling I can't afford a margin of error because this is the beginning of high school where even my goofs in choices will be in his transcripts. I'll be okay. That's just my inner-worry-wart showing itself.

I'm glad to hear the input on the MUS. I went back to my big '100 Top Picks' book and poured over Cathy Duffy's reviews again. Then I did some searching online for reviews in the upper levels for MUS. I'm not so convinced now that it's the best for us. I did, however, find 'Chalk Dust Math' which looks to be a good fit for us. It's on the pricey side, tho. Fortunately, at the end of this month Chalk Dust will be at another homeschool conference in the Houston area so I'll be able to see it with my own eyes before I plunk down that kind of money.

Here's a question for you seasoned homeschoolers: do you resell your curriculum when you are finished using it? I saw that there's co-ops and such but didn't take the time to check them out yet. I hadn't really thought of the reselling until I was looking at Chalk Dust and reading that it's a sought after curriculum for resales. That makes me feel better about spending more up front if I know there's a possibility of recouping some of that $$ down the road. Obviously I'd need to keep the books in as good a condition as possible. Do any of you actually go thru the workbooks and make copies of all the pages so you can resell those, too? Is it worth the time & effort to do that or do you just leave it to the next family to purchase another workbook at their discretion? Just curious. I'm always looking for ways to pinch a penny! The more pennies pinched, the quicker we can get back to our happy place!

 

[NHWX]

... I'm so afraid that with a 9th grader and just starting homeschooling I can't afford a margin of error because this is the beginning of high school where even my goofs in choices will be in his transcripts. I'll be okay. That's just my inner-worry-wart showing itself.
...
I did, however, find 'Chalk Dust Math' which looks to be a good fit for us. It's on the pricey side, tho. Fortunately, at the end of this month Chalk Dust will be at another homeschool conference in the Houston area so I'll be able to see it with my own eyes before I plunk down that kind of money.

Here's a question for you seasoned homeschoolers: do you resell your curriculum when you are finished using it? The more pennies pinched, the quicker we can get back to our happy place!

You can homeschool a ninth grader! My oldest started out in the public high school and by Christmas had decided that he needed to come home. I felt like I really scrambled - I made some mistakes but was able to fix them also.

Yes, I do resell curriculum but I also keep it for my younger son. I generally try to get about 40-50% of the original price.

About Chalkdust - I've been looking at it also but really need to find a place where it isn't full price. Does anyone have any suggestions?

NHWX

 

[bentleygirl22]

has anyone ordered their Homeschool days Yes tickets for sept yet and got them in the mail yet?

if so where your names printed on the back of the tickets or does it just say youth (even for the adult tickets)?

 

[Michelle and crew]

We did the 7th grade general math review with chalk dust for my son's 5th grade year. It was very thorough, and my son did well with it. That was the year before we went to mus. (Math is his thing.) I liked it, but was grateful that there was a good program that wasn't so expensive.

my bff's use Saxon and Abeka, and they have all done well, also. My middle son who is decent at math does ok with mus, also. He has just completed his Algebra 1 course. I think that sometimes you just have to tinker with what works best for a child/family.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

You can homeschool a ninth grader! My oldest started out in the public high school and by Christmas had decided that he needed to come home. I felt like I really scrambled - I made some mistakes but was able to fix them also.

Yes, I do resell curriculum but I also keep it for my younger son. I generally try to get about 40-50% of the original price.

About Chalkdust - I've been looking at it also but really need to find a place where it isn't full price. Does anyone have any suggestions?

NHWX

Thanks for the encouragement. I just hate the thought that my learning curve could even remotely be detrimental to one of the kids. I'm sure we all feel that way at some point. LOL!

Yeah, when I was looking at the initial out of pocket for Chalk Dust it was a bit of a --> moment then I realized I could resell the basic at the end of the year and reuse the pre-algebra for the youngest next year. Yay! I imagine a lot of the curriculum will be like that which takes some of the sting out of the initial start-up this year.

I wish I could help you find it for resale. I wish I could find it for resale! From what I read it when it's available it's not available long. That's encouraging for reselling it when I'm finished!

We did the 7th grade general math review with chalk dust for my son's 5th grade year. It was very thorough, and my son did well with it. That was the year before we went to mus. (Math is his thing.) I liked it, but was grateful that there was a good program that wasn't so expensive.

my bff's use Saxon and Abeka, and they have all done well, also. My middle son who is decent at math does ok with mus, also. He has just completed his Algebra 1 course. I think that sometimes you just have to tinker with what works best for a child/family.

My biggest thing for math in particular is finding the maximum amount of instruction (dvd) & support from the curriculum to minimize the need for assistance from me. Especially with Algebra on up I am all but useless for now. I never got passed pre-Algebra before I left school when I was 16. My plan is to learn along with my oldest so that we both can be of use to the youngest. I'm a mom with a plan & purpose! WooHOO!



Again, thanks for the responses! I appreciate you!

 

[jetprincess]

We got ours! Ours don't have our names on the back either. Also, all of the tix say youth on the back. I didn't get separate tickets for the YES programs either.

has anyone ordered their Homeschool days Yes tickets for sept yet and got them in the mail yet?

if so where your names printed on the back of the tickets or does it just say youth (even for the adult tickets)?

 

[NHWX]

This past year we used:

Jacob's Geometry with this DVD instruction guide, teacher book, etc. http://shop.askdrcallahan.com/ I did have some problems at the beginning and the customer service people were very kind in explaining geometry to me. It was a really long time ago when I took that course. The text does have some questions that seem to be answerable in more than one way so I'd mark my son's correct but give him the answer that the book had. Usually they were interpretation questions, not just plain math problems.

We also used (my guy is a math guy) this Algebra and Trig course http://www.mathwithoutborders.com/Algebra-II/index.html I liked it a lot though unlike the Dr. Callahan course, there are no set problems or already designed tests. We're not doing every chapter either. I plan on having my son do another year of math before calculus because I think it's so important for this to be really grounded in his mind.

Hope this helps someone!

NHWX

 

[NHWX]

Me again!

With our older son, we used Spectrum Chemistry which had great labs and an OK textbook. I'm considering ordering the consumable materials for the labs along with another lab notebook for our younger son but using a completely different textbook. But... chemistry was and is not what you might call my strong suit. Does anyone have a suggestion for a really well explained but still complete chemistry course? It has to have good explanations and plenty of worked out problems so I can get through it with my son but in-depth enough because this kid will go into some sort of science or math field. (I think. I hope he doesn't end up working at Dunkin' Donuts for years like my nephew.)

Thanks for any suggestions,

NHWX

 

[Denine]

Anyone use Prima Latina? I have the program and was wondering how easy it is to teach. I did not buy the DVD. Do I need it?

 

[DisneyMom5]

We booked Homeschool Days in Williamsburg for September!!!! I am excited. The program looks really fun. It will be our 2nd trip there this year, but we won't be able to go at all next year.

We used Calvert for 4 years (PK-2), this year we will be using Sonlight. I am looking foward to the change. We will still be using Horizons for math. We start August 2nd.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Sonlight! Have you joined the Sonlight Forums? Worth their weight in gold!

Hope everyone is having a good summer, we're still doing school, but very lightly the last week or so.

 

[BelleRocks]

Wow, has anyone tried these? I ordered Medieval World for my dd and just got it yesterday. Typically I spend hours online looking for resources. This book has great info, plus each page has a link to the Usborne site that has links to websites that expand/explore/entertain (like a site where you can dine with Ghengis Khan, or play a game throwing tomatoes at a prisoner in stocks). It's awesome!

I will definitely be ordering more of these.

 

[adisneymama]

Just got in our 3rd grade materials from K12. So far I am very pleased. Using K12 for LA, math and science. Abeka for history and some reading. We will be starting in about a week. Has anyone used the First in math website? It is one the school was using for DD and does seem reasonably priced. Was just wondering if anyone knew anything about it.

 

[Denine]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Sonlight! Have you joined the Sonlight Forums? Worth their weight in gold!

Hope everyone is having a good summer, we're still doing school, but very lightly the last week or so.

Thanks.
Yes, I did join the forums. I also get info from a Sonlight Catholic Yahoo group.

I read the first reader so I know what DD will be reading and it was actually a pretty good story. It was The Corn Grows Ripe. They have us doing it for 2 weeks, but I am going to shorten that to a week. I looked at the study questions and how much DD is supposed to read and it will not take us 2 weeks. That will give us time to spend on other books if we need it.

Just bought some school supplies today.