These are great, thank you! We'll go through them together and see what he gravitates towards.

We do have a decent system, and I've heard the children's librarian is very knowledgeable. I'll try there, thanks. He does have a kindle, but I have access to loading it and am kind of out of ideas to look for. Thanks, he's not interested just in Sci-fi, he just likes series a lot. I want to give him freedom to read what he likes, but also steer him towards quality books. Thank you for the suggestions .

I have lots of booklists, and yet I still feel like I can not keep my 12 DS in books. He's read through a bunch of the major series that I'm aware of: Narnia, Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, Redwalll, anything Riordin. Plus, he's read through most of the major classics for his age. Help! Any suggestions for a 12 boy, who reads well, enjoys a variety of genres, and doesn't want boy/girl storylines? Thanks!

We had one when my boys were little and one when my girls were little. None of my kids played with them. They preferred playing with my kitchen stuff :)

I came across this great article, "How to Think Like Shakespeare", from a college professor, to the class of 2020. I found it a great read and an encouragement to me as a homeschool teacher, and a life-long learner. I thought others here would enjoy it as well. http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-to-Think-Like-Shakespeare/237593

I, too, am dance-challenged. I have really liked this guy's you-tube videos, He breaks down the moves and then slowly puts them together. I feel like, if I can do it, anyone could :lol:

There's a beach in CA were clothing is optional.

I'm in SLO county. Inspire Charter (public school charter) just started here, we joined but there are a lot of kinks to get worked out when it comes to ordering/receiving curriuclums and getting vendors. It is the only funding provided charter covering SLO county.

Thank you! I will go check out the yahoo group. I have looked at the catalogues, but didn't realize exactly how it all worked.

What do you mean missing units? I do have the TWSS, but have not sat down yet this summer to watch it. I was going to watch that, but hopefully have my boys somewhat independent in writing this year, by having them watch and do the lessons from SWI. Will they be missing out on things?

Thank you!

I would like to start both my 7th grader and my 5th grader with IEW this year. They have done WWE 1-3, and CAP previously. Will I need SWI B for the 7th grader and SWI A for the 5th grader? 7th grader is a good writer and a great reader. 5th grader is average in both areas.

I had an SCH with my last 4 pregnancies. It caused some bleeding with each pregnancy, that resolved by 12 weeks. It was nerve-wracking, especially because the first time it happened was following a miscarriage. But, there were never any complications from the SCH. Best wishes!

We have 5 kids: three boys and two girls. We have 3 bedrooms. The boys have a triple bunk bed. We've had 4 bedrooms and tried to separate them and they all cried all night and so we've kept them together. The girls have two twins in their room. Our next and final house (due to HCOL area) will be 1550 sq ft.

You should have had the Gaines do your house for you! J/K But, aren't they in Waco? I love their Fixer Upper show. We've moved 4 times in the last 4 years (including one 2 cross country moves) and we have one more move in August. It's hard, but you can do it!!!! Best of luck!

$1Mill +

Have they talked to the person officiating the wedding about premarital counseling? In all the churches I have attended or DH has worked for (he's a pastor) premarital counseling is required if they want one of our pastors to officiate. But, premarital counseling might help them (letting them start their life together discussing the big things that can come up as a married couple) and perhaps it would help you, too. It would give you some peace that they are talking and the things that you've mentioned that are tough for you to watch them go through: finances, inlaws, careers, etc. It sounds like you have been doing a great job of supporting her!

I hate the forms asking about race. Why is it that to mark White it always says "White-not Hispanic"? As a kid, I felt to check that would perhaps describe my outward appearance, but it would feel like I was denying my Grandparents. I also have a name that is very often associated as African American, for which I've had many, many comments all my life. I feel like I shouldn't have to explain myself to people. I am who I am, the name and genetics, I had no control over, but I embrace it all, and those who have issues with it, oh well.

I was wondering the same thing. I have 1 full Mexican Great Grandparent, 1 either Native American or NA and Mexican Great Grandparent, and 6 Western European grandparents. Some of my cousins, and several of my Uncles are very dark and have very distinct NA features. My brother and I do not. And it has always bothered me that people have issues with my claiming anything other than white.

I called yesterday, the guy I spoke with was very nice, but he didn't know exactly what all the replacements were, I was asking about multiple grades. He was going to transfer me to someone who knew more, but they were on another call. He said I could always email and they can tell me. He also mentioned that for K they were rewriting the Teacher's manual so that it would be considered secular, too.

Thank you everyone who has responded. I am looking into everything shared. It's so great to have this community to see what other's have done or experienced!! This looks like a great planner! I'm glad to hear the MP leads to independence in study. I called MP and they are able to make their sets secular. I guess they get the request a lot for homeschoolers using public charter funds. I'll look into this, I hadn't heard of them before, thanks!

Thanks, I will. I need to ask them about 5th grade and K.

No, a charter doesn't care if it's easy to secularize. But I could purchase the non-secular items of a program myself, and then use charter finds to purchase those that are secular, for example the readers, read alouds, latin, math (obviously not Rod and Staff), etc. And they don't care about lots of workbooks, but I do. I'm trying to find a balance between giving this particular DS the education I want him to have (classical, heavy lit, discussion based, non soul crushing), and the one he needs: easy to implement, more independent, check-boxable. I'm not seeing any one boxed set that is what I want/he needs. I might piece together, but not the same teacher-intensive curriculum we've been using. That also means I might need to make up his own daily/weekly schedule. Any good schedulers/planners?

That reimbursement and fund dispersement sounds awesome, unfortunately they don't service our county. We're going to try Inspire and see how it goes. They've said there are no problems to withdrawing at any time if things don't work out.

I need secular for our charter to cover the purchase. And we have never done a lot of workbooks, so I don't want to do too many. I don't know. In the past he's used TOG, AAS, MM, W&R, FLL, and pieced together science. But, I think he'd benefit from having a clear checklist of requirements and maybe not MM or AAS.