Ha! I had to do this too! The code for VA is 994-799, the same one the kids use for their AP tests as well as the PSAT. While you do have to renew each year, you don't have to resubmit a syllabus or anything each year, so I think I'm good to go for awhile!

This past year I've taught a biology course to 4 boys, including my oldest son. We're prepping for the AP exam, but I didn't get a syllabus approved or anything because last summer I was expecting my 9th baby, and I just couldn't do it. This year the AP bio exam has been redesigned, and so it's been hard to prep for. I happened to check on the AP bio thread over on collegeconfidential a few days, and I was so excited that someone posted a link to a practice exam that the College Board had released only to AP teachers! But it was very late at night, and I just bookmarked the site, instead of trying to save it or print it or anything (because it was 132 pages long, LOL). Of course the next morning, it was taken down. I was so disappointed!! So at 3:00 this morning, as I was nursing my baby (who has picked these past few days to go on a growth spurt or something and is no longer sleeping through the night), it dawned on me that the way for me to get access was to try to get approved as an AP teacher. It wouldn't be for this year, but I have 8 other kids, so I'm planning on teaching this a few more times! So at 6:00, after yet another nursing sessions, I started on my syllabus. It took me over 5 hours, but I finally was able to send it in at 11:45. I am so glad I didn't even attempt to get approved this past summer. I think it took me a year of teaching the course to even figure out exactly what the College Board wanted in the syllabus, and I'm sure it would have been a total exercise in frustration last summer! Anyhow, I then talked to my good friend, who got her econ course approved for next year back in March. She said it took 2 weeks to hear back from College Board, and well, the AP test is Monday, so that would be a little late for the practice test, LOL. But absolutely amazingly, I got an approval email back at 1:00!! And now I have access to secure documents, so my boys can take the practice test!! I'm still floating on air!! : )

My son is getting ready for Bio on Monday as well. I was so excited last night because I checked in on the "2013 AP biology" thread over on College Confidential, and someone had posted a link that a school had put up for the AP bio practice exam that the College Board had released this year for AP teachers! it had everything--even the words that the teacher will say before the sections, so that in taking it the kids could have as close to the actual experience as possible. It was a full exam too (all 63 multiple choice questions, plus 6 grid-ins, 2 long essay, and 6 short essay), unlike the sample problems hidden in the course description, which are about the only other released practice questions for this new exam. So I bookmarked it and didn't print it off, because it was a 132 page document. But this morning, the link was taken down. Sigh. I was so bummed! if only I had gotten my syllabus approved last summer! Oh well . . . I will say I'm more nervous about the exam than my son or the other 3 boys that I've taught the class to this year. I'm going to have an ulcer Monday morning, while they're gone!

Yes, I agree with this. It is easy to dismiss Weinstein as a nut (because he totally is, LOL), but in fact, he had a lot of influence on the Air Force Academy officials during the time we were stationed there. So for all you people thinking this is totally ridiculous and it could never go anywhere--I hope not, but you never know. He never ever gives up, and he hates anyone with any sort of religious bent at all, but especially Christians. He is definitely of the "freedom from religion, not freedom of religion" opinion. Also, he totally and completely misrepresents groups like the Officers Christian Fellowship (which we've been involved in for over 20 years) to make it sound like the military is peppered with rabid, Bible-thumping soldiers who harangue you until you convert. There have been occasional instances where people or even chaplains have over-stepped (sorry to hear your experience, Ravin--crazy!!!), but in general, that is totally not happening.

The thing I don't like about DIVE labs is that there are no written instructions. He acts like you could just follow along and do your own experiment at home, but in reality I think that would be pretty difficult without some written instructions to follow along with. And he gives very brief instructions about how he does calculations and analysis. Unless you already understood what he was doing, I think it would be very frustrating. Also, as far as the DIVE bio kit goes, it didn't seem like it included materials for very many of the experiments, other than the dissections. Look at the list carefully! I am just finishing up teaching biology in our small co-op this year. Our original plan was to use DIVE with BJU as the text, and we did a lot of labs from Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments. His instructions are very good and clear, so that might be an option. you can read through and figure out which experiments go with which biology section. Actually, I think Mr. Thompson has a list somewhere that correlates his experiments with the BJU text. Hmmm . . . where was that? We actually decided last summer (right after I finished buying all the lab equipment for the IGHBE experiments!) that we would try to prepare for the AP exam, so we did watch and work through a lot of the DIVE labs (because a lot of them worked for the old AP exam format, and we discussed how the new labs would differ), and we dry-labbed most of the other AP labs as well. Definitely not the recommended way to do things, but I didn't have a budget left, and the AP labs are sooooo expensive!! And I didn't get my syllabus approved or anything, so it's not technically an AP class, so I'm just not going to feel guilty, LOL.

Ooh, good point. Venting should be okay, and we wouldn't need gas. Hadn't even thought about the electric though. Thanks to all who responded! I'm going to keep looking into the idea.

We have a really small laundry room off our kitchen. You come in from the garage into this room, make a quick turn and go into the kitchen. We have tons of kids, which means tons of shoes, jackets, etc. There isn't enough room for laundry baskets and so on because we had to put some shelves in there to store the massive amounts of food from Sams and the commissary that we need to feed all those kids! I never dreamed we would retire in this house, but here we are . . . So I have been thinking about how I could possibly move the washer/dryer upstairs. We have a wide hall area, with a weird angle, which we could box out, and put a stackable washer/dryer in there. The area is right over our main floor bathroom, so we theoretically should be able to get water up there and back down. But I've never paid much attention to stackable washers and dryers. Obviously I'd need ones with a lot of capacity because with 11 of us, there is a LOT of laundry. Do those exist? Do they work? Are they a total pain? Is it too hard to get stuff into whichever one is on top? (Dryer, I'm assuming?) Would this arrangement make the house shake so it seems like we live next to a train track, LOL? The last thing I'd want to do is spend lots of money and end up disliking the whole arrangement even more than the current one! Thanks!

I did similarly to others on this thread--I taught Prima Latina, then LC 1 and 2, and then I taught them through Henle 1 (this would be my oldest 2). I had no experience with Latin whatsoever before starting to teach them in elementary school. They scored really well on the NLE I exam last year (oldest son was a freshman, 2nd son was in 7th grade). They are doing different things now, so we aren't doing anymore Latin with them. Now I'm almost done with LC I with my second set of boys. I think I will move them on to First Forms, and then we'll do at least Henle I. I'm hoping to get through Henle 2 this time around! I do feel like since I took it at a slow pace, with LC 1 and 2, it was not hard to stay ahead of them. I could not have, say, picked up Wheelocks and started up. I simply could not have remembered and retained it at all! Doing it slowly has allowed this old brain to learn some new tricks!

Well, I can tell you to definitely not get the Princeton Review one! It said it was updated for the new test, but it totally wasn't, and so is a complete waste of money! I also bought the Barrons one that came out in February--it is better, but still not ideal.

Apologia biology, advanced or not, is not anywhere near enough to prepare for the bio AP exam. In fact, there is not very much anatomy and physiology on the newly redesigned test--the only systems covered are the nervous, immune, and endocrine. Knowledge of the other systems is presumed and can be used as examples, but the main focus is more on cellular communication and signaling, as well as scientific reasoning. Even BJU biology, which is much more difficult than Apologia, isn't enough detail for the AP. When we were planning this school year at our little high school co-op last spring, we decided we would do DIVE biology with BJU and have the boys take the SAT II. Then over the summer we decided we would in fact also prep for the AP test (I think we were temporarily insane, LOL), but we would continue the plan of using DIVE and just add Campbell and Reece Biology (the college text for majors one). That way I would not have to develop tests, since I was pregnant with #9, and I wouldn't have to bother with getting the syllabus approved by the College Board . Well--I still have the boys read the BJU text as an overview of what we are discussing, but we spend 99.999% of our class time on Campbell, and the class has turned out to be tons of work for me, LOL. And keeping with the DIVE has actually been burdensome, because it does cover stuff like the other body systems, which are really not needed. So during those "lighter" weeks, I gave them tons of assignments to review the stuff that was actually really important and emphasized--genetics, evolution, biochemistry, etc. We'll see how it all turns out after May 13 . . . it has been quite a year for me though. I will not be sorry to be done with biology, even though it has been very rewarding!

I'm teaching biology right now (planning on the boys taking the AP test, but didn't get syllabus approved) for our little high school co-op. The boys have taken BJU's physical science last year (and BJU's life science the year before that) as their preparation. BJU's physical science is a good, solid course, and they have seemed to have no problem with the chemistry/biochemistry part of AP biology. I guess we'll see after the test though, LOL.

Ever since I had gestational diabetes with my 7th baby, I have eaten bran flakes with milk and a hard-boiled egg every morning for breakfast. I like routine, and I don't like to think in the mornings! If for some reason I don't eat this (like we're traveling or something), then I just don't feel like my day is really started right, LOL.

My second DS took it as a 7th grader last year, but it was in a small class (5 kids, and I taught it), rather than on the computer. It is a difficult class--the BJU book is very detailed, and I didn't feel like they did a great job of always explaining concepts very clearly. That is where I think it was good for DS to have an actual teacher to answer specific questions he had. He did really well in the class, but it was definitely not his favorite. The math is not actually that technically difficult--they really just need to be able to manipulate equations--but sometimes it is not clear right away how to apply the math for a specific problem. It is a very thorough course, though, and an excellent preparation for higher level sciences!

I'm teaching bio (using Campbells, prepping for AP test, but no approved syllabus) this year to 4 boys--my son is in 10th grade, and the other 3 are 9th graders. I taught them BJU physical science last year, and BJU life science the year before. Those 2 classes seemed to be enough prep for the biochem part, although we will see for sure after the actual test!

Wow, I could have written this, except that we just had #9 in November! I did not really feel like a big family until maybe #7, because, as others have said, that's when we had to get a 12 passenger van (we also have an 8 seat Sienna). I love our babies too, and it is also really hard for me to think about not having more. I just had my 6 week post-partum appointment today, and the doctor was asking if I thought we'd have any more. I don't know! For the first time, I am feeling like I would be okay being done. The hard part for me of having lots of kids is doing the high school thing at the same time as the nursing baby thing. I'm teaching an honors biology class for our small homeschool co-op (we're prepping for the AP test, but I didn't bother getting my syllabus approved). Prep for that class takes a TON of time--and I'm still teaching kids to read and working around a nursing infant! And as the kids get older, there are necessarily more outside activities to get them too, ones that can't just be skipped. My oldest wants to go to the Air Force Academy like his dad and grandpa, so there have to be sports, leadership activities, volunteer stuff, etc. . . . and so on for a lot of other kids too! I sometimes miss the days of only have 3-4, when we could skip a day of school with no regrets, and we just didn't have as much going on outside the house! Of course, now I LOVE having older kids who can stay at home with everyone so I can run errands, and with whom I can have great conversations. And I think I enjoy my babies more now when I have so much other help, and I'm just not so NEEDED all the time by some many little people. Now there are others who can help put on shoes and make lunches. It's so nice! I never in a million years thought I would end up with so many kids. It just sort of happened, and sometimes I look around the table and think, "How did I end up so blessed, when I didn't even know this is what I wanted?!"

With my boys (6 pregnancies), I have had no symptoms of early pregnancy except having to get up and pee in the middle of the night. No nausea or anything, though. With my girls (3), I have always felt nauseous in the first trimester. Not "I'm going to throw up" nauseous--just an underlying twinge of unsettled tummy feeling. That's about it though. I definitely carry exactly the same.

We have a Bosch that we got about 4 years ago. It was around $600 with a stainless interior. I was pretty happy with it for the first few years (well, except for the top rack--I don't like the way the "prongs" are arranged--my bowls don't fit, and I find it hard to load efficiently up there). It is very quiet. Actual dishes get dry; plastic things do not, esp. those on the top rack. This past year, however, we have started having a problem with things (again, mainly on the top rack) just not getting clean. Our cups are always getting this gritty stuff on them that is really hard to get off. And we have the same problem with goop in the filter! I have started rinsing everything off before putting things in, because that helps the gritty goop problem, but it doesn't solve it entirely and--what a waste! I will say that this dishwasher gets a LOT of use, since we are a big family (11 of us). My brother got the same Bosch model the same month as we did, and they have had no problems whatsoever. Of course they only have 2 kids, who are in school, so I don't even know that they run it everyday, whereas we often run it twice a day, LOL.

How about Verity, which is from the Latin word for truth? I think that's what we're naming our next girl, if we should happen to have another!

I think there is a way to directly post pictures from my iphone to my blog (hosted by blogger), rather than putting the pictures on my computer and then blogging from that computer, which is what I do now! But I can't figure out how? I am so non-technical! I have an iphone 5, if that matters. Can anyone help? Thanks!

I wish I knew! I just got home from being in the hospital for 3 days (I had a uterine infection and had to be on IV antibiotics). The floor I was on didn't have internet access, so I was glad to have my iphone. I tried to download the IPS community app, but I entered the wrong address for the forums, and it totally doesn't work. And I can't figure out how to fix it, or re-enter the address or anything! I'm so non-technical, it's not even funny. Gah!

I had my 9th baby on Nov. 30 (I blogged the birth story here). So it's been 11 days, and the last 5 days or so I have had to take 800 mg motrin pretty much around the clock to be able to function. When it gets close to 6 hours, I feel like I'm running a fever--headahe, shaky, sore skin, achy, watery eyes, chills, etc. But it really isn't registering as a fever on my thermometer! Sometimes it will show that my temp is 99.1 or something, but I feel like I'm running a big fever. And about an hour after I take a motrin, then I feel like my fever is broken--I break out in a sweat, my headache is gone, etc. What makes me think it could be a uterine infection is that I definitely have a "foul-smelling discharge", a phrase straight from the instructions sent home with me from the hospital. I did have some troubles after the delivery with bleeding, so I had 2 have 3 doctors do manual uterine extractions (and I previously thought fundal massages were painful--HA!), and I had some antibiotics while I was in the hospital. But clearly something is up. I'm going to make an appointment to go in and see someone tomorrow. I just wondered if anyone had any experiene with uterine infections, since I have never had this complication!

Yes, I really miss the hybrid feature as well. That saved me a lot of time when first looking at the thread, plus it was easier to follow the conversation.

So my dh and I are trying to come up with our 6th boy name. We only use Bible names and we don't repeat initials. I have always liked the name Peter, but my dh doesn't, because "it's a name for a male body part." I grew up in a military family, so we moved around alot. I went to Christian schools wherever we lived, and I always knew Peters, but never had any negative connotations to the name. Is it a regional thing? My dh grew up in PA, southeast of Pittsburgh, and he never moved at all. His family was Catholic, though, so you would expect a positive connotation for Peter! Anyhow, just wondering if you think negatively about the name Peter, and if so, where you grew up! .

We love the name Verity! We may use it if we have another girl! My dh has vetoed Peter, a name and Biblical character I love, because he has some weird Pittsburgh association with that name as a male body part. So now we are expecting boy #6, we only use Bible names, and we don't repeat initials--and we are having a very hard time figuring out a name that fits our criteria and that we haven't already used as a middle name for someone. Peter would be perfect . . .:glare: LOL!

We so far have had 3 kids get palate expanders. (We are a family of narrow-jaws, unfortunately for us, LOL.) My second son was the first. He had adult teeth coming in WAYYY above the gum line because there was just no room. We turned the expander key each night for several weeks, like a previous poster mentioned, and then that last setting was glued into place for awhile more. It was amazing to watch the high-up teeth just drop down into place! I also had a bunch of teeth pulled as a child, so I had the same thoughts as you. And to some degree--I still wonder. I mean, I never have had any problems with my missing teeth . . . but anyhow, for whatever reasons, they just don't pull teeth to make room anymore, it seems, and the expanders do work tremendously well. The main annoying thing, other than the cost, is this vacuum-sucking noise the kids make to clear stuff that gets stuck up there. Blech! And they make more saliva and sometimes talk less distincively.