My daughter is in a private, not a public school, but I don't think the LA curriculum is much different than our local public schools. She's in 5th grade and so far this year they have done a unit on fables and are now working on writing one of their own. They have done a few short papers related to the history they are studying, where they make a visual for one aspect of an ancient civilization and then write a couple of paragraphs about the subject. Oh, and I just remembered the first two months were devoted to poetry, so they wrote LOTS of poetry. At first she thought she wasn't going to like it, but then she really got into it.

Here in Ohio we pay $25 for each 30 minute lesson plus the cost of the books

My 10-year-old daughter and I are listening to the audio book of the first one. She likes it, but it's a little more creepy than the Hardy Boys and it started out a bit slowly for her. I had to explain a little about the idea of subliminal messages, because that's how the bad guy is trying to take over. There are three in the series but I've heard the other two aren't as good. I'd love to hear opinions on those.

My kids and I all loved Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland. We read it out loud to each other and it's very funny. It's contemporary, but the main character longs for a more romantic time, so she tried to speak and sort of dress like a character out of Jane Austin's books, all while she is playing matchmaker for her older sister and various other people.

I'm sorry to say I tried to read the first one aloud with my daughter when she was nine without realizing there was going to be the part about the dog, and she hated it. I don't think she'll ever go back to them. My son loved them, and I made the mistake of just assuming she would too. If your son doesn't like other books where animals die, I'd be careful about this one.

Wow, great ideas on here. I'm going to check out some of the ones I haven't read. One of my all-time favorite books is called A Short History of a Small Place by T.R. Pearson. It's one of those books you both laugh and cry through. I'd also add: I, Claudius Catch 22 All the King's Men

It's fine if you cut them back now, but if you're like me, you might want to wait until spring so you can remember where you planted it. Another interesting thing about smoketrees is how they are a good choice if you are ever studying tree identification. They are easy to identify even by the twig. If you cut a twig in half, the pith is orange and there is a resinous odor.

Smoke trees can actually come back from the roots, so just keep watering it even if it looks dead and plant it when you get home. It may not show any signs of life until next year, so don't forget it once you plant it! I used to teach landscape horticulture courses and was amazed to learn some people cut them down each year to keep them in a shrubby form.

Thanks all. I'll check out the links. The book is called Fizz, Bubble and Flash. I like the experiments, but there isn't enough explanation of what's supposed to happen.

I think I misunderstood something in the directions for the experiment we are trying. It's an experiment to show how flouride protects teeth, so we coated one egg with toothpaste, let it sit for 24 hours, then we took it and an uncoated egg and soaked them in vinegar. I thought the uncoated egg was supposed to fall apart, but the toothpaste one is disintegrating. What's going on?

We used the Learnables a few years ago, but it wasn't a good fit for us. I think I'm finally going to spend the money to try Rosetta Stone this year.

My son's favorite series at that age after Harry Potter were the Artemis Fowl books and the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. It sounds like your son likes fantasy so he might also like the Gregor the Overlander series. They are by the same author who wrote the Hunger Games.

I don't know if Blockbuster would have it, but my 14-year-old loved the Andromeda television series, especially the first 3 seasons. (some adult content though)

Along the same lines as Encyclopedia Brown (love those!) are the Henry Reed books by Keith Robertson. They're at about a 4th grade reading level.

My children and I loved GREGOR THE OVERLANDER by Suzanne Collins on CD. It's a five book fantasy series for the 9-13 age range.

Will Hobbs writes outdoor adventure-type books For fantasy, I'd recommend the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins and the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. Both are about unlikely heroes.

How about The Stowaway by R.A. and Geno Salvatore? The authors are father and son, and R.A. wrote a seriers of sci/fi-fantasy novels for adults. The Stowaway is for teenagers, and has pirates, dragons and other fun things.

My favorite classic mystery writer is Ngaio Marsh. Her books all feature the same detective, so it's good to read them in order to follow along with what's happening in his life as well. The first one is titled 'A Man lay Dead'.

Just one little safety note, especially if she'll be taking any night classes-Make sure she knows to be wary where she's walking. I taught at a tech/community college for 9 years and always worried about some of the younger students getting to their cars at night. Since I'm a mom/worrier, I tried to make sure no one walked to a remote parking lot on their own, but I'm sure many other instructors wouldn't even think about that. Some community college campuses are large, and with budget cuts, security is not always what it should be.

I agree with everyone above. Bella is so passive, it's disturbing. And just an aside-I've only read the first book, which I enjoyed, but I had to wonder, if you were going to live forever as a vampire, why would you choose to spend eternity in high school? At least a college freshman would be slightly better!

I agree with the above recommendations to start small. Most vegetables like as much sun as possible, so if you can use the middle area, that would be great. In my experience the easiest plants to grow (from starter plants, not seeds) are tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and basil. They also make a great theme garden, a pizza garden. Oregano would be good too, but I have a feeling your conditions are too wet for it. Green beans are easy to grow from seed, and if you want your kids to get more experience with plants from seed, you can border the garden with marigolds to give it some color. Have fun!

I'm a huge movie fan, so I think this is a great idea. I found a site that lists good history movies, and I agree with the list. I think I've seen all but two. About half of the list is American history, which may not be what you are looking for, but the last part covers world history. Here's the link: http://www.epinions.com/content_1965662340

My daughter and I like a book called ELSKA. It's about a horse in Iceland in AD 1000, so there's quite a bit of interesting history thrown in. It's by Catherine Hapka and is about 100 pages, so it may be too long for what you're looking for.

I've been happy to find old friends on Facebook, but it didn't occur to me that I would have to watch out for what some people post in their updates. My kids like to see my Facebook page, but some updates other people make, I don't want them to see.