Another math idea that I heard one time and I am going to try with our kids... Have them each take a turn budgeting the family's money for the month. Let them see what the income is and the set expenses. Then have them decide what meals and groceries the family will need. Let them go to the store and make all of the choices. Then if you have bills like car insurance that is paid every six months have them estimate the cost for one month and put that in savings. Then have them put a percentage in savings on top of that. They will also have to figure all of the families pop up expenses and plan for them the best that they can. The key is that at the end of the month whatever extra money they have AFTER all bills are paid and the savings percentage applied to the saving account THEN they get to keep what's left. Talk about being resourceful and only using what they need. They will be creative. The family that did this had several children and they let each of them do a couple of months worth of bills and budgeting. They said that they didn't stop any child from buying the groceries they chose. One month one kid picked all pizzas because that was his favorite. Everyone in the family ate pizza that month. But the next time around the child had learned his lesson and chose more variety because that didn't work well. As an extension to this activity you could have the child who is doing this for math to have a lesson series in home ec. They could cook the foods that they are using in their budget. That makes them choose foods that aren't complicated and won't take you all day to cook. This can be logged as non core time as long as it is the first time that they are learning the skill. In other words, if they have cooked pizza 5 times and already know how then it wouldn't count, but if it is the first time or if it is the second or third time and they don't remember how you may continue to teach and log it. Plus if they are making something that requires measurement then it would be math as well. Or cutting pizza could turn into a lesson on fractions. Then you would choose where to log it or split the time.

Another great health lesson is mypyramid.gov. My husband and I sometime get on there and plan meals to help us have a balanced diet. I showed my first grade class this site and they thought it was really neat.

Textbook tip for homeschooling parents!

Search individual subjects textbooks. You don't have to go through the same company for all of your textbooks. When I look at textbooks I always find that one company is strong in one subject and one in another. Don't just search homeschool curriculum either. You can search "science textbooks" or "reading series textbooks" and find a lot of information. My personal favorite for reading is the Treasures reading series. It comes with grammar (separate, but follows the reading), reading (focusing on each of the 5 areas in EVERY lesson), writing, and spelling. I think it is great. I think you would definitely needs the teachers manuals and the student hardback and workbooks (grammar, spelling/phonics, and either the approaching (below) practice, on level practice, beyond (high) practice workbook. All of the rest of the stuff that they will want to sell you, you can do without or make yourself. Plus they have resources on their website. I have no idea what it costs for a hoemschooling family. I know that I taught out of it last year and was highly impressed. Website: http://www.macmillanmh.com/reading/ If you are teaching handwriting to a 3 to 6 year old I would recommend "Handwriting Without Tears." It makes every letter using only four different strokes. The preschool loves it for their 3 and 4 year olds. Abeka is a great homeschooling program. I don't think that there science and social studies are very strong in the younger grades though. I would either really add to them or not use them in at least K-2. I like the Scott Foreman Science series. I did supplement a lot in first grade, but I really like science. I do think that the material taught is excellent. Social Studies is the most challenging for me. I haven't found anything especially in Geography that I like yet. Maybe you will have better luck. Let me know if you find something good.

Math Website

I am a firm believer in repetition. I will do drill work especially in math until every child has mastery of a subject. This can take some time, but in the end is worth every ounce of effort. One way that I have found to quickly make a new math worksheet is a great website called superkids. http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/