It says the poll is closed...I was going to be different and be the only one to vote $15. I know my 9 year old would be thrilled to do it for that much. It works out to an hourly rate of around $10, which is certainly fair.

Honestly, as big a buzz word as "differentiation" is these days, I'm really surprised that schools would have a kid who's struggling only with reading repeat kindergarten. Then what happens? The kid starts out the year bored with everything except reading and then, at some point during the year, the reading thing clicks, and now the kid is bored with everything AND already feels the stigma of having been held back a year. It sounds like something that would be done for the convenience of the teacher and/or to drive up test scores, not for the benefit of the child.

If he's "behind" because he's not reading completely fluently at the start of first grade, that's a problem with this school, not with your son. My now 7 year old son started first grade struggling in reading, but by the end of the year he LOVED to read and was tearing through chapter books. You hear over and over again about kids (especially boys) who have a hard time getting started with reading then suddenly take off. A kindergarten or first grade teacher who can't differentiate enough to support kids who are at different but still age appropriate (i.e. there are no learning disabilities) reading levels needs to take a serious, critical look at him/herself. Fortunately, as a homeschooler, you don't have to worry about this. You can work at your son's pace and be content in the knowledge that he's making steady progress and having a great time learning.

My 4th grade DS reads for 45 minutes a day from the reading list I make for him. I'm guessing he'll get through around 20 books this year that way. My 2nd grader reads for 30 minutes a day, but his books are shorter, so he's already read 2 1/2 books in our first week of school. They both also read books of their own choosing at bedtime (or whenever else they want) (and we read a lot together at bedtime and for history and science).

I was worried that I'd be disappointed at the ultrasound for number 3 if it was a boy (he is), but turns out mostly I just felt enormously relieved that I could stop obsessing over it. Once she said "boy" it was just like, "well, sure, of course he is" and seemed like a much smaller deal than it had five minutes earlier. Of course, I'm sure I'll do the same thing if there's ever a number four. And then I'll be fine with it when he's born, too ;)

No, not really. This year some of my oldest DS' reading list is based on our history, but not all of it (maybe 1/4 of it?) I decided I don't want him to miss out on reading great kid's lit when he's at the appropriate age just because it doesn't fit in with our history program (if he were a less picky reader when he gets to choose and would take my suggestions more readily, it might not be an issue). It is still too early to say, but I think I'm more likely to have the kids' readings line up with history when they're in high school. For one thing, I think they're more able to see and study how literature evolved over time at that age. For another thing, I think that the themes in more modern literature tend, in general, to be more mature and better handled by an older student.

I just mentioned Friday Night Lights in a thread asking for TV on DVD recommendations, which made me think of Kyle Chandler, which reminded me how much I wish they would release Homefront on DVD. I used to watch it in high school. It was essentially a nighttime soap opera about life immediately after WWII (featuring a very young Kyle Chandler; also that guy with gray hair from Mad Men, who I guess was also much younger but looked exactly the same), and I loved it. My other one is I'll Fly Away, another period drama--about the early 60's and the civil rights movement.

We like a lot of the same stuff as you. We've enjoyed: Firefly Freaks and Geeks Undeclared Battlestar Galactica Big Love Mad Men ...and we're currently tearing through Friday Night Lights looking back, I'm not sure there's much consistency there as far as genre, tone, etc., but there you have it!

:lurk5: DS7 is finishing up book 4 right now. I already have book 5, so I'll have him do that, but beyond that I'm not sure. His reading has really taken off over the past few months and he's now reading very fluently.

My middle DS was almost finished with book 3 (midway through 1st grade) before I looked it up and realized what the grade recommendations were. He definitely did book 1 when he was 5, and I think also book 2. As someone else mentioned, the amount of writing was sometimes an issue, but I cut out some of that and/or wrote for him. I would say you can start the first book once they understand blending; if they're not sounding out CVC words fairly well, I think ETC would move too fast and get frustrating quickly.

I haven't done any of the half levels with DS (and reading didn't come particularly easy to him), and that's worked fine for us.

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with DP. It irks me that they place so much emphasis on protagonist/antagonist and that their definition of protagonist (the character who pushes the action forward) is one I've never heard before anywhere (and I've looked for it since reading the book, thinking perhaps I'd somehow missed it in high school/college/grad school classes; but as far as I can tell, the authors just made it up based on the word stems rather than using the accepted working definition of the terms). The controversial definition wouldn't bother me if they didn't place so much importance on it, to the point where their interpretations of some of the books really don't work at all if you don't accept their definition. I also feel like some of the discussions they describe display what I see as a potential pitfall of attempts at socratic discussion: that it becomes something of a game where the students try to figure out the "right" answer that the teacher has in mind, and there's no room for give and take or alternative interpretations. But then I felt like this in some of my grad school seminars, too, so it may be that I'm just particularly stubborn in my own interpretations sensitive to this sort of thing ;). It's tricky, because, well, there ARE bad interpretations of literature; you can get it wrong. But there are also multiple defensible interpretations; lots of smart people like The Giver after all. All of that said, I think there's some great stuff in there, too. I like the way it guides you through the discussions and make them seem so doable. I like the way the way they explain analysis as being a book detective. I like the way they insist that young kids can think seriously about literature. And the title is awesome. Deconstructing and Penguins are both great words that should find their way into book titles far more often.

I've been poking around the blog a bit more, and it's actually a pretty nice website all around. The latest entry lists all kinds of resources (books and websites) for mythology.

I've looked for this before and not been able to find it, so just thought I'd share the spoils of today's googling in case it helps anyone else....a list of all (well, as of 2009) the "You Wouldn't Want to Be..." book series in chronological order, with dates. One would think the Scholastic website would be a good place for this, but, far as I can tell, they don't agree. http://teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/you-wouldnt-want-to.html

A lot of smaller schools don't have frats...DH went to Oberlin, and there certainly weren't any there. My experience with a big state U (UGA) though, is that the population is diverse enough that you can find whatever kind of social experience you're looking for. Avoiding Greek life was not difficult for me at all.

It's NOT an individualized tour plan. There's a ton of information on TGM, and some of it's very helpful, but I definitely wouldn't pay for it a few days before your trip. There are a couple of different touring plans per park (based on what kind of group you have, kid ages, etc), and they're very detailed, but there's not a way to tweak them on the site. The other big feature is a guide to which park is best to go to on which day to avoid crowds. In your situation, I'd go with touringplans.com instead. They're cheaper, have a lot more touring plans to choose from, and have a similar feature for picking which park on which day. It's also much easier to navigate and just find the bare bones information there. TGM can be overwhelming and takes awhile to get a feel for.

In general, private school salaries are lower than public schools. We've looked into it a bit around here; even at the very expensive, exclusive private schools, the salary is sometimes competitive with public schools, but the poorer benefits make it impossible for us to even consider DH working at one.

DH had so many people asking for tutoring that he had to turn some away last year (he works full time teaching, so he only tutors 8-10 hours a week). I imagine it has to do with being in a relatively affluent school district, though...and with Georgia's new math curriculum.

A quick google search for "insurance company denies surgery" is a fascinating read. I could post a story like this from some local news outlet in the US every day and never run out. The fact that it makes national news when it happens in Canada might be the real story here.

My husband went to Oberlin, and its conservatory was one of the big deciding factors (he's a math major who plays piano).

DH tutors high school math, and charges $40/hr. He's a high school teacher, though; I imagine a student would charge less. It's also the sort of thing that varies greatly by region.

1. Charlotte's Web 2. Ramona the Pest 3. The Tale of Desperaux

ooh! ooh! Southern Savers just posted a preview of next week's Staples ad (starting Sunday) http://www.southernsavers.com/2010/07/free-backpacks-at-staples-july-25-31-deals/ Also: My son's been bugging me to get him a backpack, and I've refused since he doesn't really need one (what, with being homeschooled and all). I wonder if you can only get one, though--I think my other two are going to want backpacks, too, if their brother gets one.

I think it's possible because I've heard lots of people say this is what their relationship is like. It was actually something of a revelation to me, though, when I realized lots of people are happily married to someone they don't consider their best friend. For ME, it makes me sad to think of DH not being my best friend.

Honestly, I can't imagine being "passionately in love" with a man who isn't thoughtful, helpful, and involved in raising our children. I'm not trying to be difficult, I just really can't imagine it. So, yeah, I guess I vote neither. ETA: I mean, I guess if I have to vote, I vote for 1. But neither sounds especially appealing.