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meet me in paris

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  1. Lisabees, we are in the same boat! My dd is in 8th this year and in a full time ballet conservatory. Her schedule leaves her little time for school and I am worried about starting high school next year. We are also looking into online options. I've been watching the older girls this year and how they handle it all. The majority of them do public virtual school, and they are pretty stressed out. Fall was especially bad with Nutcracker rehearsals and YAGP preparation. Most of them spent their entire Christmas break catching up on school work. The kids in the program that are doing a more traditional homeschool program are less stressed, that is for sure. Because of that, we are looking for an online program that can be used independently (not an accredited version) so that we can shave off some of the busy work. We use HomeLife Academy for our record keeping, so we are not worried about diplomas, transcripts, etc. One thing that has worked in our favor is that dd has one night off a week from ballet. She comes home early that day and has a large chunk of time to devote to school. Since your dd is not in regularly scheduled classes but working with the directors one-on-one, maybe you could adjust one day in the middle of the week to allow for more school work? Good luck on your journey!
  2. Thanks, Lanny. The students here are not using K12, but we have been down the K12 road and it was a bit overwhelming for my two! Year-round schooling is not an option for us... dd goes to ballet intensives for 9 weeks this summer where she is dancing from 9-5 five days a week, plus half a day on Saturday, so summer is busier than the school year. I really need an option where she can get her credits in during the academic year. She is not college bound (at least not right away) so we are looking for something engaging that will not run her into the ground (and that can also be done almost completely independently). Does this perfect thing exist? :)
  3. Help. I'm going round and round about what to do next year for dd's 9th grade year. We have a unique situation... been homeschooling since the beginning, but as of this year she is in a full time ballet conservatory, so she is gone all day. Because of that, we need curriculum that she can do very independently. She is not a stellar student (she is my artsy dancer!) so this year we have gone with a combination of LifePacs (LA, Hist, Sci) Saxon Pre-Alg w/DIVE CD, and Fluenz French. Originally I had planned to continue our hodge podge, but to be honest she's not learning a lot from the LifePacs. She can do them (the science is difficult on her own) but I don't think she's retaining much, and it's boring as heck. Saxon math is fine. I'd like her to do a more traditional French program for French 2, something that has more grammar and writing built in. I'm seriously considering BJU Online and getting the whole 9th grade package. The content looks great, the lessons are much more engaging than her just reading everything on her own, and I like that we can personalize the course selections based on her strengths and weaknesses. My main concern is the TIME. She really has about 4 hours a day to devote to school work, no time for homework on most nights (home about 8 and exhausted) but can do some catch-up/studying on the weekends. When I called BJU and asked about the video lessons, they said they ranged from 15-30 minutes per class. If that is the case, I think we could work out some sort of block schedule or some other way to cut the homework time down. Proposed schedule would be: LA (prob. the 8th grade level, as I've heard their language is tough) Alg 1 Earth & Space Sci Cult. Geog. French 2 This is probably close to many 8th grader's schedules. Has anyone done this in about 4 hours per day? I realize that she would not be doing every lesson and assignment in this time frame. I just don't want it to be overwhelming and frustrating. Most of the kids in her Conservatory are doing the state virtual school and many are burned out, behind and miserable - something we are definitely trying to avoid. Is BJU online "tweakable" if Mom is not there in the room? Can anyone verify if that is indeed how long those video lessons are? Thanks!
  4. :lol: that's a good one! Our pack out is still a bit up in the air, but it's with the booking agent now, so it looks like we might get out of here next week. We'll miss our closing by 2 days, but the bank says we can do it by mail. If that's the worst thing that happens, we're in pretty good shape! My last day at work was today. It's starting to feel real.
  5. My 14 year old has, in this last year, become obsessed with being an archaeologist. I have no idea if that will really happen, but I'm glad she's got some motivation for something! :)
  6. I knew as soon as I ranted something would happen! :D Just checked online and the orders are in! We are saved! LOL. Thank you for giving me a safe place to have a pity party. Now, the fun begins. Throw up a prayer that PSD can get us outta here next week. :)
  7. Good questions - I neglected to mention that if we don't get the orders, USAA won't give the final approval on the mortgage. This is a blessing/curse - we're out of the contract but we lose the earnest money, etc. So, not stuck with the house, but back to square one. We're not sure if we should ask for the closing to be pushed back or just bag it. The orders haven't changed and probably won't - it's a weird situation. Another officer was granted a humanitarian move to this area, so they did a "duty swap" between him and my husband. That guys orders dropped about 3 weeks ago. Since his was the humanitarian move, they waited until everything had final approval before they started the motion on ours (THAT would have been great to know ahead of time! LOL). Since his are a done deal, it seems unlikely that ours would change, since that guys job will be vacant and my husband's replacement will be here in September. We're mostly worried about the fiscal year end. It could be that we're not funded until after 10/1. which would stink.
  8. We are in the WORST place with our PCS right now. I need virtual hugs and all the positive energy you are willing to give! We were told in January that they were moving us this summer, 1 year early. We have done 4 moves in 6 years, so this was not good news. In May we found out where we were going, and the detailer confirmed that it would indeed be this summer - specifics to follow, orders coming soon. We looked at rentals in the area - most were way above our housing allowance (we have already been stationed in this area 3 times, and have always had to pay over our allowance, so this was not news, unfortunately). Decided instead to buy, since the prices and interest rates are so low right now... and we know this is a high military concentration area and we can rent the property when we move. I went down in late June and found a house, put in an offer, and we have a closing date for 8/7. We were hoping to schedule the pack out next week (7/31-8/3) and drive down for the closing. Today is 7/25, and we have NO orders. STILL. Every day they tell is "should be later today", "it's in the last stop", etc. Last week the personal property office told us that they were pretty open and could still schedule us next week, but this is cutting it so close that I'm beginning to panic. At what point do we throw in the towel? We would lose about $2000 if we back out of the sale - not the end of the world, but... uncomfortable. And I know the minute we back out, our orders will come in about 15 minutes. Hubby has been in the military for 16 years and we have always rented or lived in housing, so please no speeches about not buying! LOL. This is purely investment and not because we can't stand to not own our own home. BUT, it was with the assumption that we would live there for a least a couple of years and hopefully longer (we have the opportunity to do 2 back to back tours at this station). Any words of wisdom? Encouragement? Cookies?
  9. I just revamped. We're doing: Saxon 6/5 Easy Grammar Grade 5 Easy Writing Lit from Vertias Press History Odyssey Level 2 Ancients Sonlight Science 5 (or F or whatever they call that now!) Minimus Latin Art??? (help?) Guitar Lessons Dance
  10. Thank you, Stacey. My daughter is "artsy" so she likes creating stuff much more than answering questions or writing about things! LOL. Thanks for the info on the time requirement... I'm trying to keep history to 3 hours a week, and it looks like we might be able to do it. :)
  11. Thank you! Exactly what I was hoping for - I'm glad it eases them in gradually. =)
  12. I'm looking at History Odyssey Level 2 for my rising 5th grader. She hasn't done anything near this level yet... we've been bouncing around a lot, but it's time to buckle down! She hates history (?) so I don't want to bog her down with tons of reading but I do want something solid that will prepare her for middle school level work. How difficult is the outlining piece? Is it well explained? How many hours per week do the Level 2 courses take on average? I've only had experience with H.O. Level 1 (it's the only history she actually liked) and I'm not sure how it compares. It seems like a HUGE leap, but I'm hoping it's an easier transition? Thanks!
  13. Minimus! Lots of pictures! http://www.amazon.com/Minimus-Pupils-Book-Starting-Latin/dp/0521659604
  14. Thank you both! She definitely is more interested in Greek than Latin, but is definitely willing to do Latin if I want her to. I'm having a hard time finding a Greek 2 that will follow Greek 1... Lukeion is the only one I'm seeing, and I haven't read stellar reviews of their language courses. I only want to switch her over to Greek if she can get her 2 consecutive language credits out of it. What have other people done for higher levels of Greek?
  15. My rising 9th grader is registered for Latin 1 online with Visual Latin - we started the DVD course in 8th grade and got through about 10 lessons... she liked it, and did well, but it was always the last thing to get done so we dropped it halfway through the year. That was the main reasoning behind the online course for 9th - it will force us to keep up and not let it fall by the wayside. She really, really wants to take Greek. This is a kid who wants to study classics/archaeology in college, so I think it's a good idea in theory. She's also taking the Mythology Alpha/Beta online with Lukeion. She would HAVE to take Greek online because I cannot facilitate Greek - it hurts my brain. Her schedule would look like this: Mythology online w/Lukeion for LA credit: approx 1 hr/day & meet 1 hr/week MUS Geometry - 45 min/day Oak Meadow US History - 1 hr/day Oak Meadow Biology - 1 hr/day Latin 1 online w/Visual Latin 1 hr/day and meet 1 hr/week Greek 1 online w/Memoria or VP 1 1/2 hours 2x week (leaning toward VP Scholars) She swims 5 days a week - either early mornings or late evenings We're doing NO co-ops, no other outside activities, and we've dropped music lessons as of this summer so I do feel like her schedule will open up a bit. Is this too much for a motivated but middle-of-the-road student? Is taking Latin 1 and Greek 1 concurrently a recipe for disaster? Or is this something a lot of people do? I'm stumped.
  16. I ordered during the sale and got them just a couple of days later.
  17. It's my understanding that she purposely left it out so as not to exclude anyone. Since there's no Earth Science course, it's easy to skirt. ;)
  18. Easy Classical schedules SOTW reading with the VP history. Might be a nice combo for you?
  19. I love this! It sounds exactly like the planner we used to have for Mac several years ago... the company disappeared, and I had to quit using it because the calendar "ended". I would like something relatively simple - HS Tracker is way too complicated for our needs and far too time consuming. I'd like to be able to schedule multiple lessons, add assignments to multiple users and print daily schedules. The kids would like signing in and checking off assignments on the computer. :) Something where they could customize their desktop/home screen would be a plus in this house, even if it's as simple as color choice.
  20. My first masters program was like this. It was much like being in a classroom - we had lectures, group work, etc. during our class time on top of our other assignments. It was incredibly demanding. Plus, we lived overseas, so my classes "met" from 12am - 2am or 2am - 4am. :ack2:
  21. That tilapia is the *best* for fish tacos! That's a staple for us. We always buy: frozen Chimichurri rice (super yum!) Dunkers cookies goat cheese w/honey sea salt chocolate almonds licorice doggies frozen eggplant patties (cover w/sauce & cheese and bake for eggplant parm - so easy) frozen bolognese sauce strawberry yogurt jojos cookies sushi platters (9.99 for a giant round platter. seriously.)
  22. We're doing this same thing this summer. My almost 10yo loves dance... the studio she is at now is affiliated with a pro company and she's getting excellent ballet instruction, but she's dying to do contemporary dance. There's a studio across town that is more focused in that area, so we're trying out their summer program. It's hard to know what they're going to like as they get older. M always loved ballet, but she's burning out on it. She has no patience to be at the barre for 45 minutes every class. That said, she loves dance. So, we're looking at our options. She does need to stay in ballet for technique and discipline, but I'm not going to make her take 3-4 ballet classes a week if she's dreading it. She wants to take classes in lyric, modern, jazz, etc. so we're supporting that. Stay put for now, but keep your options open! :)
  23. I cannot wait to see this movie! I think I'll go this weekend, whether my husband can make it or not. ;)
  24. I would go with the company that offers no surprises. In our experience, some movers purposely estimate low to reel you in, then end up charging you twice as much because of "overages". By that point, you're stuck with them and you have to pay it. Go with the one that seems reasonable, not the one that sounds like a deal.
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