My oldest daughter has done well and is starting college next year but I would like to have more knowledge and more of a plan for my other children. With oldest daughter, I only had her take the Stanford Achievement test in 8th grade and after a lot of prep she took the ACT once in 11th and once in 12th grade. Now I know there are other tests out there that serve different purposes but I am uneducated about them. So what kind of testing do you do starting in 7th grade and what purpose do they serve? Thanks so much!

Hi Mandy, do you have time to add links? thanks!

do you recommend any books Katie? (anthologies, teacher references?)

I am looking for some recommendations for ideas to teach poetry besides just reading it. I am not looking for anything complicated like MCT. Any ideas?

Excellent! Thanks Regentrude, Mandy and bobbey! These are some excellent suggestions.

I am not looking for transcripts actually, I am looking for ways to organize the high school years materials, activities, etc... to help create transcripts. I am also looking for general planning ideas for all grade levels and even long term planning. I have my own methods, but was wondering if anyone had any new ideas for me.

I can't seem to find a lit guide for Matchlock Gun online. Anyone know of one?

We use them a lot as they are scheduled in our curriculum, HOD and Ambleside Online.

OK, I realized I was calling it the wrong thing. I went and looked at our taxes and what I really mean is Earned Income Credit you can only claim 3 kids.

I am looking to see if there are any good record keeping systems that you all have developed. I am graduating my oldest this year and I wish I had kept better records because it was quite a task to write her transcripts her senior year of high school. I also feel that I should have planned better back in 7th or 8th grade to know what courses I wanted her to accomplish which years as a framework. I would allow it to be flexible but it is easier to have a plan and modify it rather than have no plan and realize you should have done xyz already and now you are behind. So how do you all accomplish this? I have 4 more children to get it right with. Do you purchase something like this: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/025264/261ee3ea4c1b74ff3795951b or do you create your own forms? I would love to see some examples!

Actually I mean you can only claim 3 for the child tax credit, correct?

If my ex and I have 4 eligible children to claim (oldest is 18), all of them live with me 100% of the time, I claim 3 (max you can claim on taxes) can he claim the 4th on his taxes? I ask because we are working on our dissolution and my aunt, a lawyer put the following in the forms before she refused to help us any longer. I am confused if this is even legal... Tax Deduction: The mother shall be entitled to the tax deduction for the three youngest minor children in all years beginning with 2012. The Father shall be entitled to the tax deduction for the two eldest children in all years beginning with 2012. Father’s right to claims said minor children shall be contingent upon him being substantially current in his child support obligation.

Right now it looks like this: Handwriting - Pentime Reading - Bob books, Explode the Code Next year for first grade I think I'll do the following: Copy work Handwriting: Pentime Rod and Staff Spelling 2 Reading aloud

The idea to try it out is a good one. Here is my daughter who temporarily dyed her hair for a church activity. It washes right out the next time you shower. HOW TO: 1. Wet the hair where you want the color. 2. Using CHALK pastels from your local art store, draw right on to the wet hair. 3. Let dry.

Resurrecting this old thread to ask if anyone ever thought of using ACE Biology Paces and Lab DVD's with Biology 101? The actual DVD lessons are $274.00 but if I were to use the Paces + Lab DVD's + Biology 101 it would only be $131.73 versus $357.39. Any thoughts? I need something for my daughter next year.

I am looking for some options for high school science for my daughter. I really don't know what I want to do next year. We use Heart of Dakota but I am not loving the price of the Science they are planning for next year. I am not loving the topic all that much either. Here is the link to what they are planning. Basically it is Integrated Physics & Chemistry Full Course Kit $199.99 and MicroPhySci Kit $159.95 Frankly, $360.00 is too much to spend on Science as far as I am concerned. So I am looking for some options. She will be a Sophmore. This past year she did Heart of Dakota which was an introduction to chemistry, with biographies of 20th Century scientists, and a study of Creation vs. Evolution. So I am pretty open to anything. So what are you doing for Science for high school for your non-sciency kid?

Have you ever considered purchasing a pop up camper? I have seen them for sale for very little money and you can pull them with a van. They sleep 6 usually.

Shut down screen use about 2 hours before bedtime. The light from the screen stimulates the brain keeping it in an awake stage. Have him get to bed by about 9:30/ 10:00 instructions he can read (not on a Kindle) for about an hour.That will quiet his brain sleep. You might also want to include a daily run and vitamin D supplements.

I e-mailed them awhile ago and never got a response.

I noticed awhile ago it looked like this. I have a hunch they are struggling with their business. I wonder if they are no longer keeping inventory of anything except their exclusives? It also looks like they may have someone else taking over the company. On this page http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com/about_lbc the Carroll's are listed as the founders but there is another family pictured at the top. I actually have never met anyone who uses their materials. I have always thought it looked great, but each year would find something that didn't quite work for me.

Are you asking me about the George Foreman? If so, then I make the size I have work with a family of 6. It is a family size but I can only fit about 5 items on it if I squeeze. It is really best with 4 items. BUT it cooks so fast I can quickly slap another item on and serve it all hot. I like it because it saves on counter space but I wouldn't be opposed to getting a bigger one. :)

Hey everyone, Last year I was asking about getting a dog, what breed, etc... Anyhow, I got one Feb. 2012 as an 8 week old rescued Golden Retriever puppy (He is 1 year and 3 months old now). I put in quite a bit of time when he was little training him. I did a lot of research about it and it went pretty good. He is very friendly, lets the kids do whatever they want, obeys my commands for the most part and has learned many tricks such as "leave it", "fetch", "sit", "paw", "wait", etc... The one area I have not been successful with (and I'll admit I have somewhat given up on) was walking on a leash. He pulls, pulls, pulls and makes going on walks miserable. The last time I took him on a walk I fell and skinned my knee. I don't really know how to train him on this. I don't really have the money to go to training school or believe me I would. I am willing to do the work but I need tried a true methods. He is such a good dog in every other way. He has stopped chewing up stuff and only chews his toys, he can be left out when we leave, he never has accidents in the house it is just this one area. So I would love advice! He is a strong dog and I won't take him on walks if I can't conquer this and that is one of the main reasons I wanted him.

My George Foreman has changed my life! I love the thing and I use it daily. I just had a delicious, juicy hamburger patty this evening. It only takes about 5 minutes to have a perfectly grilled burger. It also works great for chicken, hot dogs, brats and even things like grilled cheese. I have used pillsbury pizza dough to make pizza rolls. It is an amazing little tool. lol I bought mine brand new in the box at Savers for $11.00. Savers is a thrift store. I have seen them at garage sales. People don't know how useful they are. My grandma had one for years and didn't start using it till I told her how amazing it was. She uses it all the time now. lol

So much to learn and figure out and so little time!

OK, I have to go to bed, but I'll check back in the morning. This has all been incredibly helpful. I noticed the Smithsonian museums have Sunday hours but all of the National Sites only have M-Sat. hours. Should I plan to go a second day during my trip? If so, where do I park my van and how should I get around. I am really clueless about this. OR should I just visit the outside of these places and call it good? Need lots of help with DC!