I asked my husband what he thought of "Lord of Flies." He said he loved it, but was a little older than DD when he read it. Of course, he also loves reading and watching horror so I guess it makes sense. I'm pretty sure I'm going to pass on Lord of the Flies for her. Sounds like the kind of thing that would give her nightmares.

I'm considering suggesting it to my 13 yo, because she likes dystopian story-lines. However, I've never read it myself. She has already read and enjoyed The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. Is this much more graphic or emotionally intense than those? Also, do you know of any other good dystopian novels for young teens?

Not me. Some I'd already read for my own pleasure like The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. For the rest I read reviews on amazon and goodreads, check out sites like Common Sense Media, etc.

My 13 yo loves to read, but is a slow reader, so she got through 13 books this year. Some were pretty long (e.g. the Harry Potter series). For this particular child, assigning reading books is counter-productive, so she chooses her own stuff (within limits) and reads at her own leisurely pace.

I used to be a lot more relaxed, but my younger daughter was exposed to some stuff online marketed to tweens/teens that did real damage that she still hasn't fully healed from. So, hell yeah I censor. Unapologetically. Garbage in, garbage out. I can see the big picture in a way that is impossible for her right now. I think fiction is much, much more likely to include sexually explicit material than when I was a teen. It would be unfair of me to expect her to navigate modern YA fiction on her own.

I agree with whoever it was that said that we should be protecting our schools like we protect our banks. These children are priceless. You can't count on bad people doing the right thing (following the law). We have to campuses that are more secure and plenty of good people who can fight back. I think there's a bill right now in the CA legislature to give money to districts so they can add "Columbine locks" to classroom doors. I don't know more details. Here's an article that discusses the issue, though: Lawmaker: California has ignored school lock problem for too long. That's where my head is right now: how do we secure campuses without making them feel like prisons?

And here we go again. Child Abuse Case in California Spotlights Lack of Oversight in Homeschooling The lack of critical thinking on the part of those who would increase homeschool regulations is appalling. The family did not comply with simple homeschool regulations, therefore it is safe to assume that they would not have complied with stricter homeschool regulations. We could not have legislated this situation out of existence. Enrollment in a conventional school would not have prevented this. THINK. To our legislators I have this to say: I've made hundreds of phone calls to you and your colleagues. I've gone up to Sacramento more than once. I've stood in line for hours to voice my opposition to increased regulations. I will do it again in.a.heartbeat. Go ahead. Test me.

Me, too. I do question how much the children in the most recent case were actually being educated. I mean, yes, it's possible, but with raising10 young children (an enormous task on its own) and both parents working full-time (sounded like dad worked days, mom worked nights) it means that there was very little time the kids had an awake parent to help them. Again, maybe they found a way to make it work, but I'm skeptical. One good thing about this case being made public is that it serves to highlight the fact that regulations - even EASY ones, as is the case in California - do NOT improve student safety or academic outcomes. Abusive parents will abuse, regardless. This family refused to comply will CA's regs, do you think that if we had regs like PA or NY they would magically comply with those? No. Of course, homeschool skeptics will fail to put two and two together, but in this case the facts speak for themselves.

If the house has multiple bathrooms - and, elsewhere it's described as a large house, so it probably does - that bathroom might be designated as the one for the litter box, etc. Still GROSS and smelly and unacceptable, but it's possible there's a more normal, messy-but-functional bathroom somewhere else in the house for people. The only pictures I've seen are the gross bathroom and a really, really messy bedroom(?).

When the story originally broke my first thought was "PLEASE don't be homeschoolers!!!" We just got through fighting a couple of asinine bills (AB2756, AB2926) as a result of the Turpins. Hopefully, our legislators were sufficiently intimidated by 2,000 protestors showing up at the Education Committee meeting last month to prevent them from politicizing this case and attempting to increase regulations.

It's okay as an option. Listen to your gut, and do what honors your child as an individual.

I've come to the place where I couldn't possibly care less what the public schools are doing. I'm in California where I have the freedom to design our own graduation requirements so I'm considering what will serve my daughter best in life. I'm guided by practicality. What will she use? I'm not willing to waste her time with math that she's unlikely to ever need. She has some significant LDs but is not intellectually disabled. She also has zero interest in college or a career that would require higher math. Thus, she will be MUCH better served by a simple intro to algebra and geometry followed by lots of work in personal finance and business math. I figure if she ends up wanting to pursue college at some point she can go to community college and sign up for remedial math along with all the other high school grads from conventional schools who've already forgotten their Algebra 2. My younger daughter is her own person with her own trajectory that will likely include a more traditional math sequence.

No, she's actually mature for her age and is well-liked by kids and adults alike, despite being naturally shy and preferring small groups. She was adopted from a chaotic situation at 5 mo old. I think being the oldest child contributes to her maturity and leadership. She definitely has stuff she's working through, but socially and maturity-wise she's fine.

OK, that does help, as does the worksheet sample. Thank you for taking the time to share the info and pictures. ❤️

I am SO on the fence about this decision. I'm really drawn to this program for her because she learns best through reading. But in some ways, Saxon has been amazing for her. She has made huge leaps in her math ability over the last two years. I honestly credit it to the spiral review that slowly increases in difficulty over time. On the other hand, though she has very good procedural understanding, there's usually a sense of her being a little lost. As in, she can do the problems but doesn't know why she needs to learn this stuff or why it even works. Enter Principles of Mathematics as one possible solution. About half of vol. 1 would be pure review. The other half would be either taking a fresh look at an area she's weak in (unit conversions, I'm looking at you!) or actual new material. Although, she might end up covering all or most of the "new" material by the time we finish Saxon 7/6. So... all that to ask: How frequently are the tests scheduled? One thought I had was for chapters that I *know* it's all review, have her read the chapter and then just take the end of chapter test to make sure she's solid. Would that work? It would certainly make it do-able to finish vol. 1 in a semester without too much stress.

The MLM hype makes me sad because it pushes people away from thoughtfully considering whether EOs might be helpful (or not) for their family. So... yeah. I'm a big fan of EOs for some things and not a fan at all of MLMs (I never buy from them).

I use them and see benefits, but EOs aren't a cure-all for everything. Peppermint is absolutely MAGICAL for getting rid of my tension headaches (I rub it where it hurts and within seconds the pain is gone). Lavender calms me and promotes a general sense of well-being in me. My funky blend of eucalyptus, peppermint, and lemon in the diffuser doesn't actually smell that great, but it gets me moving when I feel totally blech and unmotivated. I had a weird blemish/rash thing on my face, and tea tree oil applied nightly healed it over the course of a couple of weeks. So, I've definitely seen benefits and plan to continue using them, but in a home remedy way, not an obsessive "I have cancer, pass the Frankincense" way.

Was this vol. 1 or vol.2 (pre-algebra)?

Thanks, yes, that does help. I'm about 80% sold on this program. We're Christians, so the God part is a bonus not a drawback for us.

Yup, and even academy isn't *really* $500/mo. I've heard that everyone who applies gets a scholarship/discount that brings it down to $80? a month.

I love how you're collaborating with her to give her what she'll need and not just check off some boxes. I just discovered this gem: Customer Service Academy, AND our local CC is participating. Since older DD will be working with the public and likely own her own small business eventually, anything that builds up her business skills is a huge plus.

That's helpful. Thank you. Is there enough practice to master the concept or would I need to add in extra drill? This kiddo needs the drill/review. I'm not opposed to adding it in, but I want to know what to expect.

Here's a link . Has anyone used this? I am intrigued. The narrative style is interesting, as is the way the author spends time playing with numbers and number systems in the first chapter. At least in the sample I read, it has the feel of a living math book. However, it's pretty new, and I haven't noticed many people talking about it yet. I'm thinking about switching my very literary daughter from Saxon if we can find a better fit. Saxon is working okay, but she sees little connection between what she's learning in her book and the rest of the world. (Don't suggest LOF. I know you want to. It's on the tip of your tongue. Fight the urge. She's horrified by Fred for some reason.)

Finishing year 9. Know that saying, "Wherever you go, there you are?" Yup, that describes my homeschooling. For a long time, there was this awful conflict between what I thought our homeschool should look like and what it actually did. I was relaxed, eclectic, with a heavy dose of unschooliness. But I wanted to be this super-structured, rigorous, CM/neo-classical/living books homeschooler. Never worked. We always defaulted back to relaxed, etc., because wherever you go... Anyway, at this point, I've just accepted this is who we are. I won't be embarrassed about it and I've given myself and my children permission to be who we are as homeschool mom and students. So my ideals and self-confidence have changed. But how we actually do things over the long haul has remained stubbornly the same, so I guess I'll just roll with it :)

RIGHT?! His question was so simple: We collect data in order to do something with it. What are we going to do with this data? Medina: "Um, well... Turpins... blah, blah, blah... just kind of curious... yada, yada... nothing sinister planned...." Kiley: "So what are you going to do with the data?" Medina: "<various random phrases that circumvent the question>... people shouldn't be so paranoid... but in closing: James Madison said if people were angels we wouldn't need laws, so, yeah...." And, there you have it. Well played, Asm. Kiley.