My oldest did US history along with AP US Government last year. It was a really good fit, and although he didn't spend what I considered very much time just on government, he was able to get a 5 on the exam. Many of the court cases, etc. were focused on in history, so they reinforced each other. He also did AP microeconomics that year, and he did AP macro this year.

My first name actually was Barbara, after my dad's oldest sister who was killed in a car accident when she was 18, years before even my mom came on the scene, much less me. My mom had always wanted to name a girl Claire after her grandma and sister, and she and my dad thought "Barbara Claire" sounded better than "Claire Barbara", so they went with that but always called me Claire. I was very shy, and I *hated* having teachers call me Barbara before they got to know me. My dad was Air Force, so we moved around a lot, and I went to different schools, thus leading to more new introductions and corrections. I really am not a fan of the whole "call your child their middle name" phenomenon--it was such a hassle for me, and it made me dislike "Barbara" even more! I got married at 20, and I decided I wanted to be "Claire MaidenName NewLastName". I got that on my new military ID card, but my college would not recognize my middle name as my first name without it being legally changed. So I got it changed legally! I was very happy when I walked back into the college office and told them to NEVER call me "Barbara" again! So I made sure to only name my kids the first names I was planning on calling them. And I named my first daughter Anna Claire, which was the name my mom had always wanted. So much prettier than Barbara, I always though, LOL!

"Claire" was #453 the year I was born, and I didn't know anyone else with that name until I was in high school. Oh, how I longed to be a Jennifer or Melissa! I was named after my great-grandma and my aunt, so I felt like a little old lady in elementary school. I like my name now, though. Last year it was #44, and I hear my name being called all the time in grocery stores, which is very startling for me. Lots of little Claires running around now--definitely not an old-lady name anymore!

Only because that is the exact one I used! It was cheap, and I found the matching student workbook easily. I think you could use any older edition though. I do not think there is any need to spend a ton of money on a new one. It's not like biology, where there has been so much technological advances and new discoveries. The structure of the human body on a large-scale has not changed in the past 10 years!

I taught anatomy and physiology in our small co-op this past year. I used Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology (4th Ed.) by Valerie Scanlon, which was recommended by someone else on this board. I *really* liked it. I thought it had good, clear explanations, but it was not so incredibly detailed that it was fit for someone heading off to medical school in another year or so. Plus, you can also get a student workbook to go along with it. This has activities for each chapter, as well as 2 multiple choice practice exams for each chapter. I ended up giving 5 exams over the course of the year, instead of one after each chapter, but I pulled a lot of questions from these practice exams, which was really helpful. For labs, I used a lab book by Marieb, which was good. I used some of her activities, and we dissected many sheep organs, which I got from Bio Corporation (they had the best prices). I think we dissected a sheep heart, brain, eye, and kidney. It was a really fun year--my favorite high school class to teach, I think!

Not just you! I feel the same way. I used to use them back in high school and college, but I could never fathom forgetting one and leaving it in--I was always *really* aware there was something in there, and I was terrified of losing the string and not being able to get it out. So I was just nervous whenever I wore one. And then I started having babies (and nursing, and then being pregnant . . . I actually have had very few periods over the past almost 19 years), and since you can't wear tampons for the flow after birth, then I just always wore pads, and now I honestly can't remember the last time I used a tampon. I don't have a very heavy flow, and I use those thin pads, so they are not uncomfortable to me. But I'll certainly tell my daughters about them and give them options. Makes no difference to me what they are comfortable with! But I also am not going to giving them the impression that *everyone* prefers tampons, because that is not true for me.

I made these tonight, and they were a huge hit! I doubled the recipe (although used more like 5-6 cups of chicken, and less green salsa than called for), and I filled 22 8-inch tortillas. I had 1 left over. And they were so easy! Thanks for the recipe--as one of my older sons said, "This one makes the regular rotation." :)

Us too! Although I will say we're stealing ideas right and left from others on this board . . . we're having an ice cream sundae bar, since the party is going to be mid-afternoon. We're also having a brief ceremony, and I made a photo book of DS through the years, with an emphasis on high school, that his friends can sign in the back. I love how it turned out--that was a great idea!

Haha, that was certainly the attitude of my 2 oldest sons as they headed off to take that exam too! They will not be sorry to see the end of all those similar terms and vague nuances in questions!

When we bought our current house here in NoVA back in 2005, we wrote a letter. All houses were being snatched up immediately, with multiple offers and escalation clauses. We only had one week for house-hunting, and it was incredibly stressful. We saw the house on a Sunday, and their realtor was waiting until Tuesday to present bids to the sellers, so we put one in and wrote a letter. We could tell from the house that they had a big family (5 kids). We had only 4 at the time, but we wrote about how we could tell their house was a good one for a growing family, and that we loved kids and hoped to have more. We also photocopied a little wallet picture of our family onto the letter. Although we "only" offered the asking price, with no escalation, we were picked. We are still in contact with them (such a lovely family!), exchanging Christmas cards and visiting when our next-door neighbor hosts him annual Christmas party and invites them back (they just moved farther out west). They were glad to sell to a family with similar values.

Epidemic of Absence by Moises Velasquez-Manoff is a book that discussed this hypothesis thoroughly. It was really interesting and made a lot of sense.

That's what we are planning to do too--ice cream sundaes and cookies! I don't think we're going to do anything else, really.

I would say 12 for me, but sometimes I let an 11 year old sit in the front. That's because I would rather drive our minivan than our big van, and it only seats 8. So if I'm taking the younger 7 kids somewhere, then the 11 year old sits in front with me. I think I'm a better driver in the minivan, so I choose that risk over having everyone in the big van and having to drive that boat. But usually I'm not taking all 7 younger kids, so it's not an issue. I really, really hope carseat busybodies do not push for more and more stricter laws about this, because I greatly prefer being able to make my own decisions about risk factors and how I address them.

Haha, I just shouted to all my kids (without covering the speaker), "Hey! Those computer scammer people pretending to be from Microsoft finally called US! Ha!" Then they hung up really fast, LOL.

I just saw this on facebook too. I am so sad for her family, but what a beautiful testimony of God's grace in difficult circumstances. I'll be praying for comfort for her husband and kids.

This post describes me perfectly as well. I have a degree in biology, and I teach a well-respected AP biology class where my students, including my own children, do very well on the exam. Obviously I can and do teach "both sides", giving them a solid basis in evolutionary theory so they can do well on the exam and decide what to believe. But thank you all for assuming my intellect is lacking! For what it's worth, I often monitor College Confidential threads on AP biology, and when the PS students are covering the chapters of Campbells on the beginning of the earth, the posts are often about how exasperating the chapter is, and how they can't wait to get through all the crazy stuff because it sounds made-up. These are public school students who I don't think have ever remotely thought about anything other than evolution, but you know what? That chapter in Campbells (sorry, book is not right here and I'm nursing) is sort of hooey-sounding. I personally find astronomy and physics arguments much more potentially convincing. But what do I know--I'm obviously crazy!

My 3rd and 4th sons are playing rugby this year for the first time, and for reason, I have had such a hard time getting them to their practices! I am having some kind of mental thing with the day/times or something. A lot of practices were cancelled when they started back in January because of weather, but for the past 3 or so weeks, they've had practices. Yesterday I completely forgot about practice until I looked at my watch while I was nursing and it struck me that practice was actually starting *right* then--20 minutes away. (Okay, we have our co-op all day on Tuesdays, and I teach one high school and one junior high science class but still . . .) Twice in the past week I have had the total wrong time in my head for when the practice started (they tend to start at different times if they are in a gym or outside, so it's not totally crazy that I have mixed them up, but still . . .), and I've misread emails several times too. The first outside practice I sent them and dh off to the complete wrong field because somehow I read the email wrong. I keep thinking, am I actually reading these emails in English?! WHY am I not comprehending them correctly?! WHY can't I remember the times?! I think I'm developing a complex now, LOL. Actually, I think I've finally just gotten to the limit of what I can handle . . .

I would say the subjects I don't want my kids hovering around while I am discussing are generally homeschooling/child-rearing ones. Because I have a lot of kids, and because I now have some older ones, a lot of people come over and discuss these things with me, usually as their kids and mine are around. I don't really want my 13 year old (who tends to be my hover-er) listening in and putting in his 2 cents about what he thinks about homeschooling decisions I have or am working through, and certainly not about anyone else's decisions! Or struggles someone is having. I've had plenty of struggles with my kids in various areas, and if someone is wanting to talk about suggestions I have, then I don't want my kids offering their opinions, or even knowing that someone else is struggling! I think it is a little funny to say on this forum that we should be sure to talk to real life friends about various situations because after all, how can a message board really know our own personal situations, but then turn around and say well, we should just share on here to get advice, so no kids have to hear personal things and can instead be a part of all conversations!

SOOO exciting!!! Congratulations!! What is he leaning towards?? I am curious though--for USAFA, did your ds get a portal update, or a phone call or . . . ? . . . to let him know?

We used BJU chemistry and prepped for the SAT 2 last year. It worked fairly well. Ds1 got a 710, which was not as high as I really wanted, but he also did not spend as much time doing practice problems as I would have liked either, LOL. The thing about the SAT 2 is that you just don't have very much time--1 hour only--for all those questions, including the weird ones where you have to figure out if part 1 is true or false, if part 2 is true or false, and if part 3 is the reason for the first part to work. Weird. So even though we covered all the content areas thoroughly, ds just wasn't fast enough to work all the problems, and I think people who have taken actual AP chemistry are just that much faster and more familiar with the equations. (But with about 1 1/2 or 2 hours, like if I gave him extra time on practice tests, ds could get pretty much all the questions.) I definitely do not think BJU is enough for AP chemistry, even though it is a solid, rigorous course.

I made 2 meat pies for dinner using leftover roast (okay, I had to make extra when I was cooking the roast last week, so more like "planned-over" roast). For dessert I made a brownie pie with cream cheese/powdered sugar spread over it and tons of fruit on top. I also made a chocolate pie using Pioneer Woman's recipe. It was sooo yummy. I used semisweet chocolate chips and an oreo crust, though. Very, very yummy!

So this makes me think she really should consider a military academy. There she will have to participate in sports, either intercollegiate or intramural, as does every other cadet, so labs, etc. won't have the scheduling problems there would be at other universities. Many cadets are engineering majors, and even the ones who aren't still have to take a series of core STEM classes. And even if later she decided she didn't want to actually compete intercollegiately, she would not be kicked out or have to pay a single cent. She would just then be a regular cadet who now had to participate in some intramural sport every day.

Our elementary co-op (and the high school one associated with it that we don't participate in) do scrip, and it is very successful. The lady in charge sells cards usable at the local grocery chain that is in the program, and we get a percentage of what amount is sold. We make several thousand dollars a year, and it pays for (both elementary and upper) co-op insurance and some field trips. My family pretty much only shops at Sams, Costco, or the base commissary, so we haven't done much with it, but for people who do a lot of their shopping at the local grocery store, then they just make sure they always have some of the cards in their wallet to use when they stop in. Also the grocery store sells gift cards to other stores (like Home Depot for example) or restaurants, so the scrip lady is always encouraging people who are thinking of giving gift cards as coach's gifts or Christmas presents, to buy that amount of scrip and then turn around and use it to buy the gift cards from the grocery store. Also if you knew you were going to be buying a new appliance at Home Depot or something--buy scrip to cover the cost, then buy the Home Depot card from the grocery store to use to buy the actual appliance. It's a good fundraising option because it's for what people are going to buy anyway--no guilting people into buying a lot of knick-knacks or over-priced food stuffs.

I love reading this thread! Congratulations all around! My ds1 just got accepted to VA Tech, into their engineering department. Now he can accept his AF ROTC scholarship, since that was his first choice civilian school, and he needed to have an acceptance letter to show the ROTC people. Still waiting to hear from USAFA . . .

We are using that text this year, based on the recommendation of someone on this board last year, and I have been very pleased with it. I feel like it is more of a survey course than the deep course chock-full of tons of memorizing that pre-med students would need or something. I also bought an anatomy book by Marieb, and while I liked the illustrations more, it was considerably deeper in content, more than what I was wanting for this year. There is also a study guide you can also buy that goes along with it, with answers in the back and even 2 practice tests for each chapter! That has been wonderful. We're using the 2003 edition, and it was one of those penny books plus shipping on Amazon.