What do you mean by almost done? (I mean that sincerely, no snark.) My children are beginning high school, and I'm already seeing the fruit of my labors start to emerge. Now and then. (Not today, which was, ummmm, really Monday-ish.) But I am confident enough from what I have already seen to stay the course. We have done WTM since the beginning of our school career. But I have not yet officially graduated anyone or had them accepted into college, so the jury is still out. ETA: I forgot to provide some of the specific answers you were looking for. 1. Years ago before WTM came out, I investigated all of the methods available at that time. I liked bits here and there but didn't feel like I really fit anywhere. I had thought I would like classical but Doug Wilson was the only game in town and he intimidated me, bigtime. Then when WTM came out, I found ALL the things I had liked about all the other approaches in there. I called it "the kinder, gentler classical education." It totally fit our family, and I've been there ever since. 2. We have been very happy with our decision. 3. My children are learning to think for themselves, and they are learning to write short persuasive papers right on time, after doing copywork/narration/dictation/summaries/outlines for many years. I really like Susan's sections on "What You're Not Doing" and "What You're Still Not Doing" in her writing curriculum, which have helped me stay the course when I got nervous in this area. My children are doing formal logic and are able to handle it because of the preparation she recommended. Their Latin really helps their language arts skills, and they are holding their own in Greek. Our WTM Great Books study is going well.

What Jean said.

Jean, I'm doing a two-pronged approach. My daughter LOVES Latin and is considering being a Latin teacher. Here's our cobbled-together plan: 1. Memoria Press book. They have been doing Memoria Press long enough that I do give them the book and let them work independently. I did put in the time when they were younger and do it with them, but I have too many irons in the fire now. It's not the most exciting but it gets the job done. 2. Translation tutor. I found an English teacher in a local Catholic school who does Latin tutoring on the side from Wheelock's. My daughter is her most advanced student; in fact, they are about at the same place in sheer Latin ability. So they end up working out the translations together. Together they mine Wheelock's and a third-party solution text, but the teacher is VERY experienced in overall teaching so it works out. But although the teacher is at or near her Latin ceiling, she has a tremendous interest in Latin, is very outgoing and engaging, and really loves the process of working it out. I really think the dynamic of an interested and engaging adult is the key here. The bookwork gives my daughter the technical background so that the translation sessions are the most fun. The teacher is thrilled that the gruntwork is accomplished at home so they can get to "the good stuff" in their tutoring sessions, not try to remediate grammar (as is the case with a couple of her other students who have no Latin exposure beyond what they get with her once a week).

Faith, that is soooo amazing! We are heavily involved in a NAR section (well, actually two now, long story) and so I know what this means! Our section has been thinking of starting a TARC team of our own. Best of luck to the team, and please keep us posted!!!!

Reading in some very old library. Oxford, Cambridge, Library of Congress, I would take even Monticello. Preferably a library that's been around a long time and has a lot of ambience and no chrome.

Biblioplan Memoria Press Latin Professor B Math

You can do it! Or, if you can't, there are super awesome helps, videos, etc. Can you really picture me teaching R calculus? Not. Happening. But Chalkdust videos plus a good text will be my friend when we get to that point. Even Logic II, at this point I'm merely the drone reading the answer key. If the children have an issue with it, I have to hand them the answer key and have them figure out the discrepancy on their own. SAT Math? SAT Math video course, baby. Khan Academy. EPGY. The key is, not always do you provide the instruction. Sometimes you coordinate it. Sometimes that does mean hiring an individual tutor who is expert in a specific subject (like I do with Koine Greek). But the cool thing is that ultimately you are in control. P.S. If you come to the conclusion that you'd like one-on-one tutoring for math, I can probably give you a couple of names to investigate.

Thread hijack: *Siiiiiiigggghhh* That sounds AWESOME. I'm jealous of your fellow hermit. Oh, I definitely have serious issues, but I don't like to hang them out on the internet. But I can definitely own the introvert thing.

I too agree that I would not enable the woman's seeming entitlement to see/hear about school work. But even better are these "Help me understand" questions. These are brilliant!!! :iagree::iagree::iagree:

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

First of all, :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:. It helps to know that you are in another country. YOU HAVE RIGHTS! They might look/sound different from what we are used to in the U.S., but you still have them. I think NOW is the time to investigate them. If nothing else, they will empower you. And I suspect that you have more rights than you are being granted, so I think they will help clarify the situation for you. I would, for now, start with the language that melmichigan recommended, that "you want conversation relevant to the diagnosis and that is all you are there to discuss." I would repeat this mantra, calmly and with a smile, EVERY time you are there to see this woman. I would be furiously investigating my rights in the meantime, both medical and homeschooling. I might even make a copy of the homeschooling law to take in to her if you think it will help. Honestly, it sounds like the woman is on a power trip and might even be a narcissist (in the clinical sense) who has the whole organization cowed. The only way to deal with these types is to stand up for your rights but be very calm and boring. You also have to know EXACTLY where you stand with the law. I would be ready to literally quote chapter and verse, possibly backing it up with a handout. I would also talk to other diabetes parents. First I would look for other homeschooling diabetes parents, and failing that, just diabetes parents. You said it was a small town--this should work in your favor. Find out how they keep a positive relationship with this person. They might be as fed up as you are, and if you band together, you might get something changed. Failing all of that, I would take more drastic action if I can back it up through Australian homeschooling and medical law. You cannot just be bullied your entire daughter's childhood by this system. If I cannot do anything else, I do think I would pull her and try the other system two hours away. I am personally appalled that you have never met the doctor. You are using a different scale than I am used to. In the U.S., the target blood sugar levels are between 70-120 during the day, but they shoot for 140 at bedtime. But, no one gets too worried unless the blood sugar is over 200. Sure, they won't want to see long strings of 200s as a pattern, but no one gets their shorts in a knot. In fact, if we've only had one or two low 300s a month, the doctor doesn't bat an eyelash. He has very reasonable expectations. It's tricky--if you try to control the child too too tightly they end up not wanting to manage it at all and go off the rails. But it sounds like to me that this educator is being way more strict with "acceptable" blood sugar levels than is warranted. Have you asked her on what medical basis or authority she is narrowing the "acceptable" range so drastically? Any educator worth her salt should know that there are trigger foods; unexpected results from stress, exercise, or even cold/hot temps; and sometimes just downright unexplainable outliers. And a 6yo cannot even tell reliably whether she "feels" low or high, so it's tougher with small ones. I would also consider keeping a food diary with each and every reading and what was eaten or why you took it. If all else fails, maybe you can overwhelm her with data. I cannot imagine having to try to "remember" the circumstances and food every single finger stick over any period longer than a week. So I would go the documentation route if I were forced to. I would also start inquiring into her credentials. With a smile, and nicely, but inquire nonetheless. It seems to me that she is stepping way over the educator line when you want to see the doctor but get her instead. Is she a nurse practicioner in addition to being an educator? Otherwise, what are her medical credentials for taking over the child's care to this extent? Again, you need to determine your rights and stick up for them firmly, for the sake of your own mental health and your daughter's. Appeasing tyrants never works. It's not comfy, but ya gotta.:grouphug: Maybe you can bombard her with so many questions asking her on what medical basis she is asking/requiring all of those things so that she doesn't have TIME to interrogate your daughter!:tongue_smilie:

I like this wording, but I would like even better if you can arrange never to see that woman again!

My daughter has Type 1 diabetes and has no diabetes educator. I would start at the top of the list with the most stringent option and then work my way down if I was truly unable (for some reason I currently cannot fathom): 1. Call the doctor and say you are discontinuing the educator. Boom. I fail to see why you are "required" to see one in the first place. I think the worst that can happen is that it would be covered by your insurance but that you decline to take advantage of it. If the doctor balks, ask, "Is my daughter in compliance according to her last checkup?" Honestly, if the doctor balked, I would find another. And I know the possible cost of that. We have only one pediatric endocrinologist in our town--the next nearest is 2.5 hrs away. I wouldn't want to switch, but I WOULD if I were encountering what you are. The worst we have had to put up with is the doc having to be told Every Visit even after almost three years that, "Yes, we homeschool." 2. Take a letter from a lawyer stating that you are in compliance with the homeschooling law and that she is to cease and desist from interrogating your daughter. I don't think it would be out of bounds to state that stressing your daughter with continued interrogation not only makes obtaining answers that truly reflect her learning ability impossible, but that the interrogation risks her health because severe stress can send blood sugars out of control. I think a veiled threat that it might be actionable for a health-care worker to endanger a child's health might not be out of bounds either, although I would do some legal research first. 3. Take a letter signed by you and your husband stating that you are in compliance with the homeschooling law and that she is to cease and desist from interrogating your daughter. I don't think it would be out of bounds to state that stressing your daughter with continued interrogation not only makes obtaining answers that truly reflect her learning ability impossible, but that the interrogation risks her health because severe stress can send blood sugars out of control. I think a veiled threat that it might be actionable for a health-care worker to endanger a child's health might not be out of bounds either, although I would do some legal research first. If I were doing this on my own rather than through a lawyer, I would cite state or federal statutes chapter and verse. Honestly, I would not go "lower" or less severe than these options. I think this is something up with which you should not put ; ). Hugs to you. How horribly stressful.

. . . in this house. That is all. I guess I need to :chillpill:.

Fortunately, due to my long immersion in The Hive, I knew way better than to answer the door. :lol::lol::lol:

It sounds like a good idea to me to keep acquaintances casual while you evaluate. :grouphug: Here's hoping you (and I!) can shake off the tendency to attract takers.

Tale of Desperaux is pretty modern and very good. I second the Sonlight and Newbery suggestions.

Well, you could say I'm skipping it, or you could say I'm taking it late. We will be out of town a lot, including a mission trip to Mexico, between mid-April and mid-May, so I'm not taking a "spring break" now like a lot of folks in my town.

I think there are only two possible things wrong with you: 1) This is a "taker" from your previous overfunctioning style that you haven't shaken off yet and 2) You might have or have had a broken chooser. The only thing I would recommend is that you consider whether you might have a broken chooser. If so, why do you choose takers? Do you think you are worthy of being liked only if you are useful to someone? I am saying that with a great deal of compassion and no snark whatsoever. I have a tendency to overfunction and attract "takers" too. I have been doing better the last few years. But for now, sure, talk to the cat if that helps. :lol: Who knows, perhaps you might meet up with another introvert because of this post?

TMI!

Eh. Shrug him off. He doesn't know what he's talking about. You've gotten some terrific answers.

I am not cavity-free, but my DD15 and DS13 are. They must have inherited the "good teeth" gene from DH.

Absolutely. I once had a brilliant, terrific engineer boss who couldn't spell his way out of a paper bag. I was the technical writer for his group of about 40 people. He put me in his outer office so he could holler and ask me how to spell stuff. It was hilarious. I can't tell you how many people thought I was his secretary. I used to tease him that he was paying big bucks to have a personal dictionary on hand. (No, seriously, he was great to work for and I had very interesting and challenging work there.)

It's an awesome book.

Haven't read the other replies, but no, I would not hire a teacher who wasn't passionate about reading, ESPECIALLY an elementary one.