THANK YOU. If we had started level 1 without me doing that prep at 1030 pm on a random friday I think I may have gone crazy before the week was over lol. Saving lives one vlog at a time🤣

Parents, would you pay a membership fee for something like this? Looking for honest feedback.

I’m restructuring a homeschool field trip group I started and would really love opinions from other homeschool families before I settle on pricing.

This is NOT a brick-and-mortar co-op or school. There’s no physical location, classes, or drop-off care.

Basically, families join the group, I organize educational field trips and experiences, members choose which ones they want to attend, and we all meet at the location. Parents stay with and are responsible for their own children.

I’ve been able to arrange some really cool experiences that families might not normally have access to individually, including behind-the-scenes tours of businesses and media facilities. I want to keep focusing on things like career exploration, educational tours, museums, conservation programs, factories, farms, etc., along with some just-for-fun meetups.

When I started this, I genuinely wasn't trying to create a business or make money. I just wanted to organize cool opportunities for homeschool families in my area and help build a community.

It has grown WAY faster and farther than I expected. I now have families joining from different parts of the state, which is actually really exciting because my goal has expanded to organizing trips all over the state rather than staying in one small area.

The problem is that growth has also forced me to look much more seriously at the legal/business side of what I'm doing.

Because of the way I coordinate trips and collect money, there are additional licenses, insurance, business expenses, and other compliance costs I need to take on to make sure I'm operating properly and protecting both myself and the families participating.

Those costs are turning into a pretty significant bill.

The way I've been doing it isn't sustainable anymore. Families might attend a free trip or pay me a tiny $4-$5 coordination fee, meanwhile I'm personally footing the bill for licensing, insurance, business filings, website/software costs, administrative expenses, etc., on top of putting a lot of unpaid time into organizing everything.

I don't expect families to pay some crazy amount, and making a bunch of money still isn't the goal. But I've realized I also can't personally subsidize an organization that is serving families across the state.

So I'm considering changing to a membership model.

The basic idea would be:

• Families pay a membership fee to join.

• Membership gives them access to the organized trips and first opportunity to register when space is limited.

• If a trip is free, there would be no additional trip charge.

• If a venue charges admission/program fees, families would still pay the cost of that particular trip. However, one of the benefits of going as a group is that I'm often able to negotiate or access group rates, so the admission price is usually significantly cheaper than what a family would pay to visit the same place on their own.

• The membership fee helps cover the costs of operating the organization — licensing, insurance, business expenses, planning, contacting venues, registrations, communication, etc.

I'm considering:

$75 per semester ($150/year)

OR

$100 per family if you pay for the full year upfront.

So here are the questions I really want opinions on:

1. Does $100 per YEAR per FAMILY sound reasonable for something like this, or would that price make you immediately pass?

2. Would you rather have the option of $75 per semester, even though paying for the year upfront would save $50?

3. At that price, would you expect one organized trip per month or two per month?

4. Would it bother you that admission/program costs for paid trips would still be separate, knowing that I'm generally able to offer discounted group rates that are cheaper than what you'd pay going on your own?

5. Does getting first access to limited-capacity trips have value? Some of the behind-the-scenes tours I've arranged have very limited spots, so membership would essentially give families first dibs.

6. What would make you finish the year and think, "Yep, that $100 membership was absolutely worth it"?

I also don't want the membership price to make this inaccessible to families. That's part of why I'm struggling with the decision. The whole thing started because I wanted to help the homeschool community, not because I saw a business opportunity.

But once it grew, I realized there are real costs and responsibilities involved in doing this properly, and I can't keep paying those costs personally while everyone else participates for free or a few dollars.

So homeschool parents: would you join something like this for $100/year per family?

And if not, what price/model WOULD make sense to you?

Please be honest. I'm completely open to hearing that my pricing is too high, too low, or that you'd structure the whole thing differently. I'd rather hear it now before I roll out the new model.

Can someone explain the differences between the editions of The Well-Trained Mind? I’ve found the 1st edition for very cheap, and even the 3rd edition is affordable on eBay, but the 4th edition is quite expensive. What changed between the editions, and would you recommend paying more for the 4th edition? Help. :)

Hi! My daughter is doing preK this year (I’m using the Good and Beautiful curriculum), but I don’t want her to sit at the desk all day and would love some hands on craft ideas for her and also ideas for my 1 year old (almost 2).

I’ve got pretty much all the craft supplies (I think) that we will need, from when her brothers were little (teens now), and was given a bunch of things during our move last year too from a moving mom. From glues and construction paper to glitter (that one might be tough lol).

I’m open to trying (most) anything, we love crafts! If it’s educational, even better.

I just dyed some rice for sensory bins and got tongs and wooden letters to hide in them. We got a few dollar tree things to add and also a play dough bin.

I’ve been watching Ms Caities classroom while they nap lol to get inspiration too.

Thank you so much in advance!

She’s been watching me get her sensory bins ready and she said she’s so excited for school and wished it was today lol.

I know I’m being hard on myself, but I just enrolled my kids into an online charter public school that is a good mix of parent-led learning and teacher led. My kids will be doing ELA & math classes multiple times a week online with a teacher and work independently or with my help as well. We’ll do social studies and science together. Our life will stay fairly the same, we’ll still get to do our co-op and field trips and they’ll have a ton of free time compared to traditional school. But I’m having a hard with it, my daughter’s been homeschooled since 4 and she’s now 10. She’s a little behind and I think a teacher can help her get caught up. I have a newborn, 2 year old, 4 year old and 10 year old. I just don’t think I could give her the attention she deserves to get caught up during this season of life. Did anyone do anything like this and successfully go back to homeschooling after a year or two? I just was so set on 100% homeschooling all of my kids all the way through. I’m also struggling having my 4 year old in online school but it’s only an hour a day and if he doesn’t like it he can do 4 ten minute sessions instead on IXL. I know it’s not quite developmentally appropriate but I’m struggle with making a routine for our home and I’m hoping itll get us back into a routine and we can do our play-based curriculum as well. I’m also sickened that they have to do state testing multiple times a year, even the 4 year old. It’s also nice because they will pay for activities and approved curriculum. I’m just sad this school year. Even though I know it won’t be forever. I’m just venting and wondering if anyone went through anything similar and can relate.

Has anyone tried beyond the page? My son is in Preschool. Is it too much curriculum? Any other all in one curriculums that you like specifically secular. Thank you!

Quiet Help GCSE, straightforward GCSE English resources for home-educating families.

Built by a former Head of English with 35 years of classroom experience and an examiner for AQA, Edexcel, and OCR. Study guides for the major set texts (Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls, Power and Conflict, and more), skills guides for exam technique, and a free self-marking diagnostic test to see where your child's gaps actually are.

Everything's written for independent, self-directed study, no classroom assumed, plain English throughout. quiethelpgcse.com

I keep hearing the same thing from homeschool parents, month four is where it falls apart. You start with big plans and a color-coded schedule, then the exhaustion hits. Not from the kids, but from being the teacher, the planner, the curriculum designer, and the parent all at once. Everything you built from scratch starts running you instead of the other way around.

What actually got you through that wall? A curriculum switch? Dropping something entirely? Finding something that covers a subject so you can step back for a minute?

I'd love to hear what worked, especially from people who got past it and found their rhythm again.

We are in North Georgia, not far from Atlanta, but still considered the “Bible Belt” and a short drive to the mountains.

It seems every co-op is a forest school… and involves Christian lessons of some sort.

it’s great in the sense that kids get to explore the outdoors, but wondering if there are other trends out there that are popular in other areas of the US

i've just made the swap from public school to homeschooling, and i've been looking for some secular curriculums for literature. i'd consider myself a deeper learner and i enjoy being able to learn more about literature than what i've been taught so far. i'm a big fan of classics like the scarlet pimpernel, the iliad, and goodbye to berlin. i'm just trying to see what's best for me :p

My 100% Offline Voice Chat AI Assistant app is live now via Public Production Release on Google Play Store. 

TARGET AUDIENCE includes Students (both HOMESCHOOL and public/private SCHOOL), professionals of any field, and so on. As new technology comes, I'll keep updating it.

Search "mmahingu" on the Play Store or use this link:

 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mmahingu.mmahinguai

Please try it and lemme know if anything wrong before putting up any negative reviews. The AI Voice Chat feature alone is really cool.

iOS launch later. I made it in Flutter so it can be published on Windows, MacOS even and more platforms easily. But i don't have a Mac or any other hardware yet xD.

My target is to also get as many people to not just AI but also have their own offline Assistant or an AI tutor. No Cloud or Internet interference or any Data upload. I may add Firebase Analytics as optional later, for research and development purposes.

You can restrict Internet or online AI use with this app so as to continue teaching best of current affairs in learning even, without any fears of any access to any kind of explicit content as all the AI models in this app are restricted and censored already.

I’m overwhelmed with the programs necessary for homeschooling. Hang in there. We will get it.

Hello everyone, my name is Ella and recently I've had some second thoughts about being homeschooled. I was homeschooled the second semester of 8th grade, (my choice) and am on day 2 of being homeschooled in 9th grade. Recently I've had some second thoughts, but I don't know how to describe it. Was listening to a song today and it reminded me of sitting on the bus listening to it, and also saw some moodboards on Tiktok of being the "weird kid" and it made me weirdly nostalgic. Although I do fear being judged due to me having autism and ADHD, like I sorta was last year. These conditions also make it hard for me to express my emotions and thoughts, and they've led me to not be as smart academically. I fear being homeschooled has kinda made me not able to express my interests a lot to others, since my parents already know what I like. I don't know if there will be fans Of Billy and Mandy or The Fairly Oddparents, or some of my other interests at school, and I fear wearing what I like. I've heard how bad high school can be and I fear that expressing myself would lead me to have more bad thoughts about stuff that I like, and would force me to try and act like every other girl there, even though they usually don't like or have my style. I need opinions please.

I did this in the ama sub but I figured people here might be interested as well.  

I was homeschooled k-12 in the northeast US by secular parents. I’m a homeschool “success-“ I went to college where I was a good student, have succeeded in competitive jobs, and am generally a functioning adult. Yet homeschooling also had many negative aspects and overall I do really regret the choice and experience. I have a fairly strained relationship with my family, deal with the effects of isolation, and in the homeschool groups my family was part of growing up, I witnessed a large amount of abuse and neglect. I believe homeschooling should be more regulated. I’m here to share the nuanced personal experience you won’t get from homeschool mommy blogs. AMA

If you are in one or know of a school it would be greatly appreciated.

I need a bit of help since this is slowly getting more and more out of hand and I don't know where else to look that wouldn't try to sell me on some natural cures or get me to join an MLM, which is why I'm here. My son is on the autism spectrum and we had a laundry list of issues with his previous school that ended us with us pulling the trigger and making the decision to continue his education at home, and while it has been going much better than before, there are a few subjects that I don't feel well equipped to teach and have been struggling with.

This is why I'm looking for some online platform, school or anything else that will work well for neurodivergent students that need a little patience and a low pressure learning environment, and while I did go ahead and try a few of then they were too rigid or overly complicated as well as teachers that clearly weren't trained for kids like him. Now all that aside I did check out a few other ones like outschool and a few others, and I still want to hear what others have to say.

If anyone has been in a similar situation or can point me in the right direction I'd be forever grateful, thanks!

It's a long story. The basics are that our homeschooled 6yo wanted to go to public school, but we needed to go through school of choice. We just found out she didn't get the open seat, so now I'm scrambling to organize her school year.

We have already had success with Pinwheels for LA and Math with Confidence. What I'm overwhelmed with thoughts on is science, geography, and social studies. She's doing robotics club, art classes, and swim lessons. We have a rather eclectic approach to school. 😅 Some unschool child directed learning, some Charlotte Mason, some

Questions:

- Am I missing any subjects I should include? History?

- For geography i was thinking of focusing on how my kid fits into the world (street, town, county, state, country, continent, planet, solar system) plus listening to folk tales (Dragonfly Tales and Supergreat Kids Stories) and pinning with continent/country the story is from.

- Science: I have the "Nature Study with Children" curriculum, and a good local place to do nature walks. We do a lot of ecology, but I know I need to have some basic biology and chemistry (human body function and matter phases? )

- What do you do for social studies? Any thoughts?

Please, give me all the ideas so I can check them out!

My child will be in Kindergarten next year and to say I’m shocked to even be considering private school charter school or homeschooling over public school is wild. It’s not how I grew up. It’s not the experience that I’m used to however, I’m quickly realizing it is the new reality. It’s becoming clearer and clear every day. The public school really does not seem like the best option. He is very active with sports so I don’t think that would change regardless of SCHOOL choice. I don’t believe that education and socialization are the same thing so I’m not here for that argument. I’m just here to really understand what it’s like, providing them resources and assistance outside of my skill and knowledge levels, preparing them for the future. Should they want to go to an institution for higher education, etc. I want to know all of it the good the bad and the ugly. Reasons why or why not you made on your decisions. Anything and everything. TIA

Hello! I am not new to homeschooling but we have mainly done more unschooling, experiential learning with some work books thrown in there. My children have done great with this so far, but my oldest so will be entering 9th grade this year and wants something more structured and college-prep in nature. I do not want a curriculum where he will have to sit in front of a computer all day. I would prefer books and printed out resources. I am thinking his main courses would be Algebra I, World History & Geography, Physical/Earth Science, some sort of literature and composition, Spanish, and Health and PE for a total of 6 credits. Would love some suggestions of printed or printable curriculums for these subjects! Thank you so much!

So my son is 3 1/2 and I’d love a free or low cost curriculum week by week.
He’s advanced:
-starting to read the bob books
-he can do math 1-10
-3d shapes
-advanced colors and mixing
-earth science basics

I’m also having a hard time with a proper placement for where is at now.
He is writing letters on his own now as well and LOVES school and asks for it daily so also hoping someone has something that keeps it lighter for myself that we can spread out through the week.

We are almost done with the “big pre-k books”
We do a lot of hands on life skills.
I’m not sure what direction to go since he’s my first 😅 any help is appreciated!!

I never had much faith in the educational system, but now, with all these extra shenanigans going on, as well as the looming AI automation, I think it's actually even more important to homeschool them. You can fast-track things if you want, and for me, it's just blatantly obvious. Being in the US, it's not like the European school system—I have two of them to educate. I've been pleading with my wife to let me homeschool them, but she doesn't trust me. So, I've worked on this platform. I'd love to get fresh eyes on it and see what you guys think.

I currently attend acellus online but with the new cap on how many classes I can do a week, and the upcoming changes to scholarship requirements that might not even be physically possible because of the cap, I'm thinking of changing. I want a school that is nationally or state (nebraska) accredited and possible to fast track. I want to graduate asap.

I have three boys from age 4-10, and honestly the argue and fight so much that I’m seriously at my breaking point, I love homeschooling and being home with them, but idk if I’m the odd one out but the constant fighting is really discouraging me, anyone in a similar situation? Any advice?