I would never want to humiliate a nephew or niece of mine so I think that was rude or unkind. But-- I do feel it is my responsibility to watch what my children are doing at parties etc and making sure that they use good manners.

I have a question too? My dd10 took the Explore test this year but I don't really know too much about it. I know it is an 8th grade test by the same people who put out the ACT test. I was just wondering who takes this test - how many 8th Gr take it? Is it taken by most 8th Gr in public school? Her scores were shown as a percentile for 8th Graders in the nation but just wondered who are the 8th graders taking it.

Changing the temperature as described isn't cruel in my book. It's just recreating the temperature differences in nature so the animals ability to adapt can be observed. I haven't seen any experiments in the elementary science books that I've looked at that have actually been cruel to creatures.

Reading some of these posts has reminded me of several articles I read in the newspapers in England. Apparantly, due to the crazy assignments given out in some schools, parents very often actually did the kids homework for them. The parents were complaining that they had to do this in order to make sure their child kept up. Who knows, maybe some of the parents here (in US - not this board) are having to do that too!

I'm sorry for your Bear situation but your post just made me laugh so hard I have tears running down my face and my kids are saying "What, what is it!"

We attended a Nazarene church for about 1 1/2 years. We really liked a lot about it. However one area of belief that differed from ours was that of Eternal Security. The Nazarene church we attended believed that it is possible to lose salvation ( I think I'm right in saying that this is a core belief of Nazarene churches).

I don't know what you should do next But you really made me laugh!!

DD10 reported to me that DD7 had said to her "When Mom dies we're going to stab her in the back." We then discovered that she wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be burned to death when I was cremated ( I had said that I would prefer to be cremated rather than buried). When I asked her about it she said that actually she and sis wouldn't stab me but would make their husbands do it! I guess I'll just have to hope that my future sons-in-law can refrain from doing it before I die!!

I sometimes wonder if teaching essay writing is like some other areas. You can either spend a lot of time and energy teaching them when they are younger (not necessarily a bad thing), or you can gently nudge them in the right direction when they are younger and teach them much more quickly when they are older. It depends on the child's temperament (and the teacher's :)) which works out best for each individual.

I take it these games can be used separately from the whole program. I'l have to have a look. Thanks

We have been playing some games, maybe not consistently enough. I just am not sure if it is a systematic way of making sure they learn them, maybe would be if we were more consistent with it. I haven't heard of Sum Swamp - where would I find it? Thanks for your help

Several posters mentioned other methods than speed drills for learning facts. I wonder if anyone would mind elaborating on this. I really need to be working with my dds on this but they aren't too keen on speed drills. This is probably a stupid question but I am not very experienced teaching math.

Not sure whether a 5th grader should be writing a 5 paragraph essay or not, but that is certainly not the standard expected in the PS here (which is considered a pretty good PS). From what I've read of the recent writing threads, there seems to be some variation in expectations for writing at this age. I would say building a good solid foundation would be best for any child, so I would be inclined to start however far back my dc needed. My dh is teaching an English Comp class at the local community college and, almost without exception, none of his students can write a solid 5 paragraph essay. Not to say this is a good thing but maybe puts things in perspective a bit.

I, too, will be praying for you and your family.

Our state requires logging 1000 hours from July 1st - June 30th. Of those hours 600 have to be core subjects such as English, Math etc. The other 400 can be in other things like music, PE. It sounds like a lot, and last year (our 1st year), I was pretty nervous about it. But actually it is not difficult at all. I record in 15 min increments - ie. Math - SM 4b EX 12 - 30mins, Spelling SWO G less. 5 - 15 mins. I count lots of things for non - core (which were the most difficult to get for me) things like ballet, bike riding, walks for PE, and Awana and church for Bible. We don't have to start logging hours until school year after dc turns 7. So my dd7 has not had to have her 1st grade hours logged but will do next year. I am a little nervous about her hours because she is the type of child who does fine but can only tolerate short lessons in some subjects. I don't feel worried about her education - just getting the hours in. She does read for pleasure for several hours a day usually, so I will definitely be counting those for reading.

In Britain, at least in times past, it really does or did mean donkey. The word you're thinking of is spelled quite differently there.

I just wanted to tell you that often lumps in this area are just swollen glands from some infection/bug. My daughter had a large one at the back of her neck and with her it turned out to be Mono. I hope you can get her checked out soon and be reassured and I will be praying for you both.

In my experience it was really useful going to a convention the spring before we started homeschooling. I really did not know a lot about HS and the convention helped me to identify some of the things I needed to think about and find out about. It was also comforting to find out there were lots of others out there doing the same thing. Whether or not it needs to be a large convention, I don't know. I felt really overwhelmed about the materials available, but I went not really knowing what I wanted to use. If you have some idea about specific curricula then it would probably be really useful to see it in person. I should add that this is only our second year homeschooling so mine is certainly not an expert opinion.

I think Avia is kind of cool.

My kids are only 10 and 7 but i've already decided I want to be Grandmama ( accent on the first syl) :)

Praying for you.

Praying for you here too.

This is only our second year homeschooling so I don't speak from great experience. We started homeschooling when my daughter was at the start of 4th grade too and my youngest was just starting K. We just started with Ancients for both of them. I think the chronological approach is really beneficial and we intend to just work our way through 4 year cycles for as far as we get. You can always do something different 1 year (like study just geography or American History) if you want to get completely back to the book schedule but I don't think it's terribly important to do that. Also, I spoke to SWB at a conference about my dd only having 1 year of the Grammar stage. She recommended just letting her move on, not holding her back, and just filling in any gaps we might find. As far as Story of the World goes, I think there are other options, which others with more experience will tell you about. We really like it. It's interesting and organizes things well. We just add in extra things at each dd's appropriate level. Hope you enjoy your homeschooling experience. There sure is a lot of good advice available on this forum.

Will do. I'm going to be interested to see what happens.