I have also noticed this in groups I have been in. I am definitely straddling both worlds, since my oldest is 15, and I am expecting #9 in a few weeks. My feeling is that new moms have often read a ton of stuff--books, online, etc.--and since I don't read Parenting magazine and am not up on the latest faddish techniques or what have you, then my advice is somewhat obsolete, in their view. They want "fresher" opinions, not just ones that have been proven to work! Also, I think as I have parented longer, I certainly have become more laid back about things, but that is not necessarily what they want to hear either. I clearly remember when my oldest was 4, asking a friend with several kids who had been homeschooling awhile what she did for preschool. This was an area of great concern to me at the time, since all my other friends whose kids were the age of my oldest were putting their kids in preschool, and that was all they talked about. But my friend was just like, "Eh, read a lot of books, work on character issues and attention span . . ."--which is actually great advice for preschool, and in fact is what I now do, esp. since I am so busy with the older ones, LOL. But that was not what I wanted to hear then!

I just got an email from our homeschool loop about this. I have followed her blog for years, so I am just in total shock. Definitely praying for her and her family now, esp. the boys with Downs. They must be so sad and confused. : (

We memorized that speech last year for memory work, and I made sure to mark this day on the calendar! We recited the speech today to celebrate. It's a rousing one!

Us too! We actually have 2 of them (plus another in our basement, but I can't find the hardware for it, LOL). And you'd have to pry those out of my cold, dead hands to get me to get rid of them! Especially my really old one that I got used for my second child--it has all metal parts for the drop-side. Hey, here's an idea! Instead of banning an entire style of crib because manufacturers are using crappy plastic parts, how about requiring them to be made with metal parts that don't break?!! Then those of us who are pregnant all the time and can't reach down to pick up tantrum-y toddlers in cribs while pregnant without lowering the side would have options! Grrrr . . . nanny-state government.

Hmmm . . . I'm teaching a biology class at our small co-op this year, and we are planning on taking the AP test in May. Before we decided to attempt the AP test, we decided to use DIVE with BJU. The boys are still using DIVE (and doing the BJU reading), but they are also using the Campbells book already mentioned in this thread. I do not think the DIVE/BJU would be enough to do well on the AP, although I do think those are a lot more rigorous and in-depth than other Christian science curricula. Campbells just has so much more, especially in up-and-coming areas like cell communication and gene regulation, as well as of course evolution. We are young-earth creationists, but you can't take a test like AP without thoroughly knowing and understanding modern evolutionary theory in a lot of detail, I don't think. Also, the test has changed for this year, as others have mentioned. The lab emphasis is different now (more problem-solving and designing your own labs, instead of following someone else's lab), and there is a lot more emphasis overall on making broad connections between different areas, as opposed to just memorizing facts. I've spent a lot of time on sites of other AP teachers to get a feel for how they are handling all this. DIVE just doesn't really do this, although I feel like it is good for the boys in my class to hear things from another perspective, or just hear the same info another time. But we definitely spend most of our class time on Campbells--DIVE/BJU is just extra, at this point. Oh--the boys in my class are all in 10th or 9th grade, and they have had BJU Life Science and BJU Physical Science, both of which actually prepared them quite well for the depth and rigor of Campbells. They all have taken Algebra 1 previously and are good problem-solvers (having had lots of Latin, logic, etc. previously as well). We'll see how the test goes in May! One last thing I thought of--the AP test prep guides out right now are not geared toward the new test. I bought on that came out in Sept 2012, and it is useless--not updated at all. One on Amazon is supposed to come out in February 2013, I believe, and I'll try again with that one. Not having any good test prep guides or old tests to study from definitely makes it more challenging, as far as making sure we are adequately preparing for the new exam.

We did this with another family for about 8 months. They were (are) some of our very best friends. We were stationed in Colorado, and I had just had our first baby. They transferred to CO and were trying to sell their house back at their previous duty station, but it wasn't selling. So they lived in our basement until it sold and they could buy one in CO. It was too expensive for them to keep up their house payment and rent a 3 bedroom apt. in CO (they had 3 kids at the time, and that required a 3 bdrm. apt in CO). It was WONDERFUL!! We had the best time. I would cook one week, and they would cook one week. Their kids were 8, 5, and 3 (and she was expecting--delivered a few weeks after moving into their house), and it was SO helpful for me as a new mom to see parenting in practice. Their kids are just wonderful. Now they are mostly adults, and they are still wonderful--we're close to them all! It was fun too. We'd put the kids down, meet on the middle (main) floor, and have a fire, pop popcorn, play games, etc. We had a year-long hunt for the best pizza in Co. Springs. We went camping and hiking together. I can honestly say I probably wouldn't be homeschooling now if we hadn't had that time with them. They homeschooled, and again, seeing that in action was really inspirational for me. Now I don't think this arrangement would work with anyone. In fact, I can think of a great many families to whom we are very close where it definitely would NOT work, LOL, just because of personalities or whatever. But for our 2 families, it worked really well. In fact, for our last assignment, we picked VA largely because they were already stationed here. Now we are both retired, but we live about 2 miles from each other and see each other frequently!

Practice Makes Perfect is what we use as a supplement (well, I don't teach Spanish, but my friend who teaches Spanish in our little high school co-op uses it!), and I think it has been very helpful to my boys. My oldest son is using Breaking the Barrier 3 this year, and he is quite fluent now.

Another dinosaur here! I have always loved reading the paper. We get the Washington Times, which I absolutely adore, except for the fact that they don't publish a paper on Saturdays and Sundays. I love having it around on the table--my boys will read articles they never would search out online, but since they are right there in front of them . . . it definitely contributes to family discussions.

That's what I consider big. With 7, you need some kind of big vehicle. Like someone else said, as long as we could all fit it our 8-passenger Sienna, it seemed like we were just an average-size family! Now we're expecting #9, and I definitely feel like a big family. The food! The laundry! The time homeschooling! The food!!! It's a ton of fun, though.

LOL, you and I are tied--my last was 10 pounds, 8 ounces as well! I must say I am hoping this current baby (also a boy) is not that big though. I expect him to be at least 9 1/2 pounds, since I've had 2 other boys that big, and even my girls were all in the high 8's--I grow big babies!

Thank you both for the replies! I think he's going to show up at the store early tomorrow and see what the situation is, and order online as the backup plan. OR--maybe we'll just get the iphone 4S. I don't know that we absolutely need all the newest bells and whistles. Dh is concerned that Apple won't support the old phone/network, but maybe it won't be a problem for the 2 years we'd have it? We are definitely not the biggest tech users!

So we have never had an iphone. In fact, we just got smart phones back in March (droid bionics). I greatly disliked mine from the get-go--it wouldn't connect to the internet, so the nice guy at Costco had to take things out of it, reset it, etc. to get it to work. Then it would randomly turn itself to airplane mode, causing me to miss calls because I had no idea it was off, and it would take longer and longer to actually answer, causing people to hang up on me, since they thought I wasn't answering. At one point I couldn't access my messages for a few weeks! I kept taking it back in to Costco, and the nice guy would fiddle with it, take out the sim card, put it back to factory settings, etc., and it would start again. Well, all that was cured back in August! We were in St. Louis for a wedding, staying in one of those suite hotels, and our 16 month old microwaved dh's and my cell phones in one of those conveniently-located under-the-counter microwaves, with a dial! Ack! DH's phone was totally fried. Mine miraculously still works somewhat--the touchpad works, and it still makes and receives calls, but the buttons on the bottom don't work, so I can't go to my "home" screen, or back out of an option or anything. I leave the phone on "dialer" and only call numbers I know, LOL. But it no longer turns itself onto airplane mode!! My dh traded his number to the "dumb" phone we had gotten for our older boys, and they are using a really old phone a friend gave us. I kept using my phone, but we're paying for a smartphone, when the phone is definitely no longer smart, LOL. So we're thinking of getting an iphone as a 4th line (we already have another dumb phone we got off Amazon to be for the boys, and we would switch my number or dh's to the iphone). Dh called the Verizon store to ask about how to get one. They said they sold out online in an hour, and that if we order online now, it would be months before we get one. So now he's thinking of going to the store tomorrow early (how early?!) and seeing if he can get one there. Has anyone ever done this? I have never paid the slightest attention to the previous iphone releases, so I have no idea if this is a reasonable plan or not. Is it like the really cheap laptops that stores get for the day after Thanksgiving, where there's actually just like 3 in the store, and you could wait for hours and be out of luck? Will there be people camping out for hours or days before tomorrow at 8:00 when the store opens? We're having another baby in November, so I'd like to have the phone by then, so we will have internet access at the hospital (it's a military hospital, and wi-fi has been spotty in the past). Otherwise, we could just order online and wait.

We started cross-country skiing when we were stationed in Colorado, but we also did it when we were stationed at WP. Downtown somewhere--Triangle Park maybe?--had really nice groomed trails after big snows. It was a lot of fun! Dh wrecked his knees at USAFA, so he can't downhill ski anymore, but x-country skiing has been okay for him. It is a good workout! Funny story--we moved here to VA 8 years ago, and we have not had tons of x-country skiing opportunities, plus it seems like I've been pregnant or had a newborn most winters we've been here! Two years ago we had several huge snowstorms, and tons of snow, so dh and I got our skiis out of the basement storage room and skiied around our neighborhood. Our kids, especially the younger ones, were just like, "WHERE did you guys get those things?!" I was happy to remind them that Daddy and I actually had a life together and did lots of fun things without them, especially before there were so many of them, LOL. It would be tons of fun to get more pairs of skiis and do some skiing with our older kids. I would think 10 would be a great age to learn!

Why does your 6th grader have to do labs? Can't she just observe her older brother? I guess I don't really do a ton of labs until middle school, or even really high school, when they can actually understand what they are seeing and doing. I use the earlier years to build a general base of scientific knowledge, but not trying to do formal labs. Is she really advanced in science?

I'm using IGHBE with the boys in the high school biology class I teach. I also teach a jr. high life science class, but we use BJU Life Science for that, and we just do the labs associated with that. IGHBE is laid out really well and gives clear explanations. I really like it! I don't see why a jr. higher couldn't use it, except that they probably won't understand quite fully all the concepts about each lab, unless they are pretty advanced in biology. But they could probably follow the instructions and do the labs. I agree with the previous poster though--what will you do when you hit high school and need a high school level lab course? I would just have the 6th grader observe, I think, but not really "do" the labs. Save it for high school, when they will understand and appreciate the actual science more!

We're in VA. I have a lot of kids, so I really never have left anyone alone. I started leaving my oldest in charge for brief periods when he was 12. Now he's 15, my next oldest is 13, and they are both very responsible and capable. I leave them in charge of everyone most of the time when I have some kind of appointment , and especially whenever I have an OB appointment (I have to travel to the military hospital in Bethesda, MD, which is about 40 minutes away--and I don't think our big van, which we need for all of us to go, would even fit in their parking garage!). This morning I had to leave at 6:40 to take my 3 hour glucose test. The boys got everyone up, changed diapers, got breakfast, got everyone started on schoolwork, etc., until I got back at 11:30. They would much rather do that then sit in a waiting room, keeping all their siblings entertained! They (all) realize it is a privilege to be able to stay home and not go with me, so there are few problems. I don't have any really wild kids, where you never know what they're going to come up with, though. I have a cell phone, so they can call if there are problems, plus we have good neighbors and very close friends who also live nearby. I don't worry. They will be great dads! And they would all rather stay home WITH siblings than without--the next set of boys (almost 11 and 9) think that sounds a bit scary, LOL.

My older boys use this in their lit class. We have the workbooks. They are bigger, with space to do the exercises (consumable). Their friend has the textbook. It is smaller, with no extra room for answers. The content isn't different, as far as I can tell.

I don't. Partly that's because we have a big van (12 passenger), and we use most of the seats (there are 10, soon to be 11 of us). There is only one position where the carseat fits rear-facing, and that is in the middle of the bench behind the driver and passenger seats. So it is really hard for anyone to climb over that carseat to get to the seat on the other side. But it is very helpful to have kids on either side of the baby to entertain, so I don't want to never be able to use that seat. Also, we often carry an extra kid or 2 places with us, and then we definitely fill up all the seats. I'll wait a few months past a year, but I've never lasted longer than 14 or 15 months. Frankly, I think doctors would rather we never drove our kids around, or put them in giant bubbles or something. They are always making more and more rules, but I'm not convinced safety goes up exponentially with each new rule. And many of the rules just don't work if you have a bunch of kids. So we do the best we can, and I feel comfortable with our decisions. So far we don't break any laws (i.e. we keep them in boosters until they are 8, etc.), but I don't know what we'd do if they mandated the extended rear facing. I would be highly annoyed, for sure, and grumble excessively about nanny state governments, even more than I currently do!

Yeah, LOL. I was looking around a (small) homeschool science fair last year, and I really wasn't all that impressed with the level of scientific inquiry there. One student wanted to see how fast different different deli hams would go bad, and if smoked ham lasted longer than black forest ham. So basically he took 2 slices of the different ham, put them on paper plates in the basement, and checked on them for 2 weeks. Neither one molded. That was it for the experiment! It made me laugh! I hope no one gets sick, but we also have eaten deli meat that is that old and been fine. Good luck! :)

I have had a similar experience with my droid bionic, which we got in March. It will start taking longer and longer to answer calls (like up to 10 seconds, so people hang up while I'm frantically saying, "Hello? . . . Hello?!") and eventually I won't be able to access my voicemail. It will randomly turn itself onto airplane mode, so I miss calls because I don't think to check that it is actually receiving calls. When it gets annoying enough, I take it back to Costco, and the nice guy there takes everything out, puts it back to factory settings, etc., and that fixes things for a little while. VERY annoying. I don't recommend the bionic! Of course, my dh got the same phone at the same time, and he really hasn't had any problems with his, so most likely I just got a lemon. But still . . . I'm not impressed!

Hi! I'm attempting it this year! I teach at a very small co-op (5 families). We did BJU life science 2 years ago, and BJU physical science last year. This year we decided to use DIVE to help me with the teaching load, since I'm expecting #9 in November. But then we decided that we would like to go ahead and attempt the AP Bio test --well, all but one family, so we are still using DIVE, but I coordinated those lectures with corresponding chapters of Campbells, so the boys will have to do that extra reading, and we'll be doing a lot of discussion and test practice. I downloaded several sample AP bio syllabi from the college board website, and those really helped me see how to pace the course. I am adding in extra weeks to discuss evolution as covered in the Campbell book, since, like you said, evolution is a HUGE focus of the new bio test, and they want it related to everything. Basically the entire second semester of DIVE (all the different phyla plus an overview of all the systems) is not really covered at all in the new AP course, except as examples of evolutionary processes and cellular communication/pathways. The new course is very different from the old one, from what I can tell. I am really looking forward to when the new test practice books are released, so I can better see how to help the boys prepare and focus. They don't come out until September at the earliest, from what I saw on Amazon. Should be an interesting year!

You know, my sons' squadron has an email list through something--Reichertech.com I believe--for all their communication. Maybe you could suggest that?! It's a whole lot less intrusive to get emails than deal with facebook--and wouldn't some of the cadets be too young to have their own accounts? Seems like that might be a character issue . . . LOL.

Yes, when I called to check on my order from 7/5, the lady I spoke to said the same thing--a problem with Paypal. My order is just fine and is being shipped tomorrow! I paid with a credit card.

Thanks for posting! I placed a big order on 7/5 and never got a confirmation email. I did print out the page from my shopping cart check out. I'll definitely be calling tomorrow to check up on it! I placed a large Home Science Tools order not too long ago, and I also didn't get a confirmation email, but that package got here with no problems, so I really didn't think too much about not getting the confirmation email from Rainbow. But now I am concerned!

Office Depot does this as well. I can't remember what the price per pound is, but I remember seeing the signs advertising it when I went in to make copies!