I don't know how!  

I do have a few ways to be more frugal with my purchases. I buy used books. I use resources from the library and the internet. I try not to buy totally unnecessary things. (I should be selling things I am not and will not use, also.)

Other than that I'm at a loss. I'm not a frugal person, not really, and I AM a book addict. A curriculum junkie...a bookaholic...with bookaholic, craftaholic children.

There are certain things that I feel are *needs* (of course that is subjective). These are the things that I think almost every homeschooling family should have. We can't buy everything at once, and those *needs* change with the season, year, and age. Nonetheless, these are *needs* and I buy them.

Then there are the *raves*, and of course we feel we have to have those. *Everybody* uses them...what would our lives be like without them. They eventually come to feel necessary. I fall prey to them...and buy them. Sometimes we like them, and sometimes we don't.

Then there are the things that we just want to try out thinking we will love (sometimes yes, and sometimes no). So I buy those things too. Granted, I will try to find them used, but if I can't I will just buy them anyway. They are to benefit our children, you know? So, I feel the purchase justified.

So you can begin to see through this picture I have painted that I spend a goodly amount on *school* things. (though a lot of these things are not really *school* things in the eyes of some...maybe I should come up with a different term for them...life enrichers ??) To think of *not* spending money for school...well...I just...

I know that I have learned enough in the last five years to be able to *make do* if we had to. I'm not sure how much I could make do though. I would still have to spend some money I think.

I feel like I'm having to make do this year, but in reality I'm not...we will be using everything that we wanted to use, I just cannot order it all new and at one time. That's not really making do...that's just doing better.

So if I know enough to make do, to school my children without spending money...homeschool on the cheap...then why do I not do that? Other than I don't wanna...? Well, that and I am lazy...?? It would be more work without all these resources.

These thoughts stem from a conversation I had earlier with another hs'er (with only young children, and only one *formal* schooling). Her and I do things very differently...and I told her so.

So, I'm wondering...do any of you try to *homeschool on the cheap*? How do you? What led you to do that? Was it just a financial decision or the thought of unnecessarily spending money on resources that could otherwise be had for free/minimal cost?

Yesterday I read a tip from someone, when asked how to cut homeschool costs. She said to make your decisions, then make your purchases, and STOP LOOKING!! Now that makes really good sense to me!

I have a chunk of money, from our income tax refund, to spend for school books/supplies for next year. I'll be able to buy things as needed throughout the year, but this is the BIG chunk to buy the more expensive things and the bulk of our material. I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to make some decisions.

I'm having a hard time deciding what we *need* (not just want), though I am thankful that we now have a few things that we really like and are not going to change. We've (I've) been so wishy washy with our curriculum in the past. It feels good to be able to say "yeah, we are going to use that AGAIN next year" sometimes.

Everything is so tempting, but I need to be realistic. We now have a farm, and that means lots of work. Lander is home a lot now, that means that there will probably not be time for lots of extras. They are going to be learning lots of things while working with their dad. Some new things..and some not, but taken to a new, higher level. Those things are important. They are REAL things that will be useful to life. Still, as Lander and I agree on, certain things need to be covered in a *schoolish* manner.

I have seen over the last year that my children learn more through real books than they do textbooks...and given the option of "covering history quickly to be done with it" or taking lots of time reading living books, my oldest quickly said that he would rather take the time to read the *good books*.

My lazy side wants to just use something where we could *check off the boxes* and be done for the day. It's easier to keep up with, and easier to let them do alone. In my heart I know that I don't want them to do everything alone though. I love the interaction that I have with my children now, and that they have with each other. The older one is studying a different time period in history than the other two...but they share what they have learned each day with each other. Today they went out to play *Civil War*...and in the past they have played *Joseph*. I don't want that to stop happening. They never did that when we were using the *workbooks* from a certain curriculum.

I don't want them to have nothing to discuss with me at the end of their school day because it was all so boring that they don't feel it merits discussion...or repeating even. I may not remember all that they tell me, but I do try to act interested. LOL I want them to continue to be fascinated by things they *never knew before*. I don't want school to be a bunch of blanks waiting for an answer that is written on the page before.

Having school this way takes more time (for me/from me). I can't just work for x-amount of hours and know that we are done because we've checked off all the boxes. So I'm wondering how it will work out next year when life is busier. It really doesn't seem to take us that long now (in the actual doing of it)...but we haven't added all the extra farm work yet either.

I'm just going to continue to pray. As I've typed out this entry I have realized just how passionately I feel that we are on the right track (though we have definitely not arrived). I really think the problem with the way we are doing things is *me*. I've not been setting any guidelines for us. I have a plan in my mind, I follow it sometimes, but it falls to the wayside often. I'm motivated and inspired by others...but not diligent in doing. I'm not diligent in seeing that things are done...daily. I'm too quick to say "let's just do XXX today since (plug in any excuse for slacking)." I think we could accomplish more...not just more as in *amount*, but more as in *retention and content*.

Off to give this some more thought...

We are SO stuck!! Not just with one student, but with TWO!! I'm ready to yank my hair out...

First of all...A is planning to attend college, so this is what makes this a BIG issue. He doesn't want to just ditch it...he wants to do it, and move on to the next book.

A is doing Saxon Alg. 1/2 this year. He is *technically* in the 9th grade. I'm really not sure what the problem is. We noticed a few weeks ago that he was *failing* (I do not USE this word in my home...you do not *understand* something, you do not *get* something, but you are not FAILING). So, we decided that he would take a few days to look over his work and decide where he wanted to start reviewing. And so we did, we went over every lesson and all the ones that he missed...and some were common errors and he corrected them, some were misunderstandings that he fixed, but then we came to those that he just did NOT GET.

We tried to go back and find out where the problem was, review the lesson with the Dive CD, sit down and figure it out. The issue with that is *I* don't know how to do it to help him...and the DIVE discs are ONLY for the practice set (which is simple...and silly, says A). The practice set has the simple problems, and therefore he doesn't GET how to do the harder ones.

Ok, so we ditch it...and try to figure out what to do.

I asked A what he thought of Saxon (which he has used for years and always LOVED...til now), and he said, "I think it's for the Saxons...and the Anglos...and not for me) Har Dee Har Har...

I'm looking at Video Text Algebra, but I am not seeing GREAT reviews of it. A lot to invest in a *guess it might work*.

I'm looking at Math U See...but again, I'm not seeing great reviews of the upper grade math.

We do know of a few certain concepts that he is not getting, and have considered buying the *Key to.....* for those...but I'm not sure that it will help completely.

I thought of just buying the Saxon alg 1/2 solutions manual and trying to work through those problems that he doesn't understand...and I guess that will be our first step. If that doesn't work I'm not sure what we will do...

Now on to Older J...

He is in 5th *technically* and at the end of a third grade math text. *sigh*

He just does NOT get math at all. He has not been able, thus far, to memorize facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division). He can do the problems, but it takes him tremendous amounts of time to do small amounts of work AND in the end, he still just DOES NOT GET IT. *sigh* (can you tell we had a bad day yesterday?)

Anyway...I have been pushing forward (pressing is not a strong enough word) with his math at the request of Daddy L. He is not happy that older J is still doing 3rd math, and feels he must just move forward.

Umm...I am trying, but...does anyone else see a catostrophic math train crash in the not so near future??

I am considering starting over with him. Ordering Math U See (he is very much a *wiggly willy*) and having him and younger J do the same stuff. I'm not sure how this would make him feel, though we have basically no discussion of *grade levels* in our home and I'm not sure he wouldn't just see it as fun...with his brother...like history and science are.

I'm just really at a loss. I'm open to any and all suggestions...because I sure don't have any of it figured out. I'd just like for math lessons to stop ending in my being sweaty, exhausted, and hoarse.

A sidenote...most subjects do not stress me, but math does. I'm all for relaxed learning, except when it comes to math...I will admit it is probably just a hangup of mine, but Daddy L also does not want me to *relax* math.

I don't share a lot about our school days, so I thought I would start sharing about them. The good, the bad, and the ugly...and the neglected.

We started out with Bible Study Guide For All Ages. We do this daily, during the school week, and my boys enjoy it. I'm aware that I am not using it to it's fullest, but the way I'm using it works for us. We only started the study recently, so we are still studying Joseph...

After we finished, A went off to his room to do his work, and the younger two and I moved to the kitchen table.

We've been studying Egypt in Sonlight, but I haven't really been following the IG strictly. The Sonlight IG is my crutch...if I don't *feel* like digging deeper then I don't, and at least I know that we are still getting something done. We do our reading and move on. I do like to do some hands on stuff though...the boys really enjoy it.

So, yesterday we did not do any reading from books for history. I had purchased a kit from Hands and Hearts and an accompanying  History Pockets book on Ancient Egypt and we started working on the first pocket from that, Introduction to Ancient Egypt.

This is the first *pocket* book that we have ever done, and I'm thinking, now that I have seen them, that I could easily do them on my own with stuff printed from the internet...or some variation of them.

Anyway, the boys are enjoying doing this because it's not just reading. We made the pocket and labeled it, made our bookmark of info, read the background information, looked over the map and colored it. Cut, paste, and color...always lots of fun for my boys.

Then we did our science. We are using Apologia's elementary Botany study. I realized that I had not been doing enough each day that we had been doing it, so some things had been forgotten when I asked the questions. It's all done orally, so no biggie...we just reviewed. Maybe it will stick, and maybe it won't. I think it will be more fun as we get farther into it...but I'm honestly hoping that Daddy L will do all these projects. The thought of making some of this stuff just makes my head hurt. *sigh* (so much for FUN mom)

Next we moved onto our Sonlight reading...

Leading Little One's To God (mostly enjoyed, but WAY below my boys' age level)

Missionary Stories with the Millers (still one of their favorites)

and

Understood Betsy (which they are still amazed at loving...they were quite sure this was going to be some boring *girl story* about a pitiful little girl who was whiny)

Young J did math (fact families), handwriting, and read to me (from a SSRW book).

Older J did math (polygons), handwriting, Daily Grams (which has really helped with his retention...but we are still struggling), and LLATL. I can't remember now whether he did his handwriting or not, but I think he did.

When we were finished with our lessons, A came from his room to tell me "I still do NOT get this math!" *Sigh*

He's using Saxon, with the Dive CD's, but some of the things are not sinking in. He will do the ones that he can do...but what do we do about the ones that he can't do. (there will be a WHOLE blog on math later)

So, after telling him that there is NO WAY that I can help him, we decided to just ditch it until I can figure out what to do. (Which I will be discussing in that other blog entry later)

A is doing really well using Easy Grammar Plus, and Writing with the Best. He loves to write, writes all the time, has 200 pages written of his *novel*...but detests the subject of writing. In my mind, I have figured that it is the *chance of failure* and the *not knowing what to do* that paralyze him with fear (learning some things from Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks book. Honestly, if a child can write a 200 page novel with PASSION, then he could write a 2 page paper on John Deere without saying "I don't know what to doooo"?? He seems to like Writing with the Best, so we'll see how it goes.

He also did a lesson in art and listened to a lesson in spanish.

Later we read another chapter in The Magician's Nephew...

and that was pretty much all of our *formal* learning from yesterday.

I still have a hard time figuring out just what kind of *schoolers* we are. Probably pointless to even try to figure it out really. I know that I am not nearly as pushy as some would think I should be...and time may tell the tale on us for that. Sometimes that thought brings fear into me, but I know that fear is not from God..so I try to push it aside. Yet, I wonder if it might not be fear, but a warning nudge to do a little more...especially for one that might want to go to college. I am praying about it...sometimes I forget that, even for school issues, I should be doing that.

The younger boys and I are doubling up on our Sonlight to try to finish it early. I had ordered Core 1 because I had one student 1st grade, and one 4th grade...and I didn't want to skip anything.

It really was not reccomended to me to order such a low core, but it has worked well for us. Older J really loves it, as he is one that becomes extremely frustrated at being overly challenged. He has made great progress since I have slowed things down for him and allowed the natural learning process to take over.

We will be finishing up week 14 on Friday. We're studying Egypt and are so enjoying all their book reccomendations. Had I been a little more organized I would have tried to beef it up a smidge...considering the ages of my children. I'm so thankful for a company that offers such great books, and without my having to search for them though.

I'm hoping that Daddy L will do some of the hands on stuff with them on Friday. We ordered a kit from Hands and Hearts (I think I put it the right way..I have reversed it before) with all sorts of hands on Egyptian things. I just haven't dug them out and done them yet...that's really more Daddy L's *thing*.

We're reading Missionary Stories with the Millers also, and my boys (real boy boys) LOVE this book. It's a bit graphic, and I would not reccomend it for children who have been very sheltered. My boys haven't been so much so, and it doesn't really *bother* them...

We finished up Henry Huggins today and I have to say that we have really loved this book. I love reading it aloud because I like to be very expressive, and this book allows me to do that...it's a hoot!

In the last chapter today, Henry almost loses his dog, Ribsy. My boys totally related to that, as we have a stray dog (we are apt to pick them up, care for them, and find them new homes...sometimes) that we dearly love. His name is Timmy, and he's a housedog. He thinks he's a cat...and everyone who has ever visited us has asked us for this dog. He's just THE perfect dog.

After we were done with the book the boys started calling him to see who he would come to...who's dog was he *really*. It was cute...and showed me that they were really interested and listening to the story.

Sonlight has brought some wonderful books into our home that we would never have read...Sonlight ROCKS!

We've been discussing, as a family, what we need to do to finish up this year, when the year should be finished, and what we want to keep/change for the coming year.

I think we have decided that our year will end the last day of March. We will not order our new Sonligth Cores until the middle of February, so that will give me enough time to get the order and go through it all. It's like Christmas when we get that big ole box full of books! Can't wait!!

We won't be taking a break really, we take too many breaks throughout the year...and every day is a day to learn something.

Young J will be finishing up his math workbook right after New Years so I am ordering his new math next week. I kind of let him work through it at his own pace. Sometimes he likes to do a whole chapter in one day. Hey, he's in 2nd grade so that's still possible...and he thinks it's fun.

Other than math he just reads to me...and does the same Sonlight Core, with me, as older J. I'm not *planning* to add anything for him this year...though we may look at Sonlight LA (we already have it and it's very relaxed) when we get our new Core). I've seen from my experience with older J that certain things come so easily after a certain age, and it is not worth struggling to make them learn it when they could learn it easily later.

Older J has math and LLATL to finish up. I do need to sit down with the books and plan it out a little. We are kind of relaxed about things, so most of the time it does no good to really plan. I cannot use a *teachers planner* because we just cannot always do certain things on certain days. We get sidetracked to easily...and life happens before *formal school*. I do need to see if it is possible to finish those two things by then. 

We'll continue using Spelling Power with Older J the way that we do...not the right way, but what works for us. The thing that has helped Older J the most is the desire to write. He's always carrying around a notebook and copying things that interest him. When he writes he asks about spelling, and his spelling has improved 100% in the last 6months. It's amazing really, and a real eye opener. We use the SP just as a *list of words*...as I said, not the way it's meant to be used, but it works well for older J.

He also uses Daily Grams and Wordly Wise...and he enjoys them. My children actually like some bookish work, and I have found that if I say "we're having school today" that they just naturally pick these things up...instead of just saying "oh what do we have to do...?" meaning what's the least we can get by with to satisfy Mama.

I have Apologia's Botany for Younger J and Older J to start in the spring. We really haven't done any *formal* science for the year, but we live on a farm...daily life is science. I purchased the Botany during the summer, and after looking it over I decided it was better suited to be done in the spring. I don't look for it to last very long, and I think we are going to do Considering God's Creation after that..or maybe another of Apologia's elementary science programs.

The younger two are doing Core 1 in Sonlight. Even though most would consider older J too old for this Core, it is the perfect fit really. His attention span is very short, so even though his reading level test normal for his age, he actually does better with things that require less concentration (lower level). Anyway, I did ask them if they wanted to quit Sonlight (because it is soooo much expense at one time) and they said "NO WAY!"  So we stick with it for them...honestly, it would have broken my heart if they had asked to quit it.

Anyway, we want to finish up Core 1 by the end of March...but will probably be done with it before that. Sometimes we start reading and we just don't want to stop...and Mama is a meany and stops anyway.

*A* is doing Core 100. He's so enjoyed this Core that I am sure we will all be sorry when it is over. Even though he is doing all the reading on his own, we are discussing what he learns as a family. He's always telling us new and interesting facts. One day he made the statement, "God really had His hand on George Washington" and proceeded to tell us how many times he had near misses...and even had horses shot out from under him. Yet he walked away without a scratch. He saw that God has a tremendous plan for Mr. Washington, just as He does for all of us.  

He says that he can finish his Core in the timeframe that I mentioned, but I'm leary of that. He loves to read, and he says he wants to finish when we do...so I guess that I will just let him do as he wishes but I will not pressure him. That's a lot of work....

He also needs to finish up his science and math. Science is no problem, but I'm not sure about the math. He's done really well in it...I'll just have to see how many lessons he has left.

The other things that he uses for English are not on any kind of timeframe, so we don't have to worry about those.

We kind of dropped the bar with our extras (Spanish and Art). Maybe we'll plan those better, and pick them back up...maybe.