I also wanted to add, depending upon the age of your children, to start a notebook with the names of key figures. If you do Current Events beyond a year, this may be a good challenge for year 2. **making assumption that OP lives in the U.S. and is an American Citizen** As people are mentioned in the news, write them down. 1) Heads of State (Foreign) or other international organizations -- This provides context for history and continuation as your children become savvy about world news. I've been following the news steadily since the early 80s, and it definitely helps me to see where a country has been. Examples: Russia: I remember when Gorbachev became the leader of Russia (formerly USSR). Then Yeltsin. Now Putin. Britain: I remember how revolutionary it was when Margaret Thatcher (a woman AND Conservative) became Prime Minister. Since then, we've had Major, Blair, Brown, and Cameron. When references are made to policies of Thatcher, I get it. I have a mental place already staked out for it. the U.N.: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, and Ban Ki-Moon the Catholic Church: John Paul II, Benedict, and now Francis When references are made of John Paul II, I remember. I have a place in my mind for that. 2) Leaders in OUR government. a) You don't need to write them all down. Just as they come into the news. b ) As Americans, we're rather embarrassing as a group. We can name our president with no problem, but a bunch of us have no idea who our vice president is. *rolls eyes* It's one thing if your children fall into this category in 7th grade, but puh-leeze don't let them grow up to be adult-citizens like this. c) start a page for: --Executive Branch: President, V.P., Cabinet Members, WH Chief of Staff, WH Press Secretary --Congressional Members: state, party affiliation, and any Committees they sit on that are mentioned; how many of these will run for president/be tapped for VP in the future --Governors from other states Example: I feel like I'm the only person who knew who Palin was before she was tapped for VP. And I'm a flaming liberal. From Iowa. And I had a positive opinion of what she had accomplished in Alaska. :w00t: None of my Conservative friends had ever heard of her. --Supreme Court Justices --Your State government We're embarrassing as Americans to not know our state Lietenant Governors, Cabinet Members, or Representatives. This is dangerous, because all politics is local. --Your City government Who runs Parks and Rec? Who runs the water system? Who is the police chief. All politics is local. --Presidential Candidates...then you will remember them when they run again in 8 years. It's amazing how many of these names recur in the decades that follow. Philosophy: Current Events is a story, a long story starting decades before we were born. If you jumped into the middle of a Harry Potter book, (and you had no cultural references prior to reading it), would you understand what was going on? Would you make good judgments about the characters??? Or not. Knowing the story from the beginning gives context. Knowing the history of the "characters" in our news cycle can help us to understand whether they are sincere in their policies. If their policies have generally hurt your class (income, race, religion, family type, etc) of people in the past, then you have reason to be suspicious when they want your vote or policy support now.

1) At the beginning of the school year, I pull out all of dd's books, workbooks, resources for the year. Sometimes I just go over a list with her. "THIS is what we need to cover for the year, because WE DON'T WANT TO DO SCHOOLWORK OVER THE SUMMER. We want to be done by June 1st so we can go swimming a lot in the summer." In this way, dd knows what is expected. She knows the long-term consequences of not working continuously on what needs to be done. Sometimes I re-evaluate mid-year and again mid-spring to re-emphasize what we have left to work on before the end of the year. (27 pages of Explode the Code, 13 lessons in Math, 5 more books to read and evaluate for Lit, etc). "We don't want to do schoolwork during the summer," is probably spoken weekly during the school year. 2) What is your dd's incentive for completing her work today? (You don't need to answer here; it's none of our business). In our household, dd has both a daily incentive and a long-term incentive. Daily: I mete out tv compared to what she accomplishes. She gets 30 minutes free tv/day. After that, she must complete 4 subjects to earn 30 minutes. Then 3 subjects for another 30 minutes. Then 2. Then 1. We always start with the hardest, most necessary, and most time intensive subjects (math, phonics, etc). By the end of this daily system, she is doing 1page of Explode the Code = 1 subject. I also suspect that since the number of subjects to earn tv reduces each time, she feels like she's putting one over on me by doing less work as the day goes on to earn the same amount of tv. All tv is educational (PBS or educational videos from the library) during the day. If she wants to save her tv time (and work straight through), it magically turns into Scooby Doo or Disney Princess tv time when Daddy walks through the door, whenever that may be. Long Term: Money. To me, it is worth the change in the bottom of my purse to not have to squabble over getting schoolwork done. Daddy gets paid for his job. If Daddy doesn't go to work, he doesn't get paid. Your job is schoolwork. If you don't do your work, you don't get paid. What would Daddy say if you didn't do your job? (I'm lucky because in our house, Loverboy backs me up that this is her job). She earns money for the work she does. Harder work pays better. This year she is in 2nd grade, so all of her 2nd grade work will be paid 7c/subject. Her math is 3rd grade level, so that will be paid 8c/subject. I pay 30c for piano practice (up from 25c because she now practices 30 minutes/day, up from 10 when we started at age 4). I pay a 25c bonus if she completed everything for the day, and I pay a $1 bonus for completing a subject. There are more details I could share about our philosophy of "paying for grades," and the benefits I have seen for our family. Let me know if there is more you would like to know. Disclaimer: The money system is what works for us. I would never pretend that it would work for everyone. Think long and hard before enacting this system. If you decide to do this, tell your daughter that you are just trying it out for [a period of time] and not to be surprised if the system is changed or eliminated if it does not work for your family.

When I was in 7th grade, we had Current Events twice a week with Mr. Campbell. Each student had to find headlines of the 8 parts of the newspaper/news. 1) International 2)National 3) State 4) Local 5) Editorial/Editorial Cartoon 6) ??Feature?? Business?? Can't remember. 7) Sports 8) Personal At the beginning of the semester, Mr. Campbell went through the newspaper and talked about where one would find each type of story. We would write down the headlines in a list (as above) and read the stories we had chosen to write down. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As a part of the Extemporaneous Speaking team in high school, the ideal was that we read each of "the big 3" EVERY week. 1) Newsweek (liberal) 2) Time (moderate) 3) U.S. News and World Report (conservative) If you are not planning competition, probably just reading and discussing one would be adequate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Make sure that your student has a good grasp of geography. It does no good to know that we are at war with Afghanistan (and formerly Iraq), but not be able to find them on a map. It does not good to know that Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have Ebola, but not know where they are on a map. It is embarrassing to assume that Guinea and New Guinea are near each other...they're not. I would make sure that my child knew the location and capital for each country mentioned in the news. You don't need to know them all at once. Just pick 3 each time you do Current Events. Sheppard Software is a good resource for geography. You can also find hints on youtube for remembering the countries.

On our schedule for this year: 1) Rocks and Minerals coloring book $5 Dd7 is most excited about this, of almost all of her new school books. 2) Usborne Rocks and Fossils $6.30 I know I will need to read most of this to Dd7 (2nd grade), but I like Usborne books for how meaty they are. Don't forget the Usborne Quicklinks for this book. We read a couple of pages in an usborne book; then we use the quicklinks as enrichment. 3)We have Rocky Bingo (game) $14, but Rock On! Geology game ($25) looks like fun. 4) I have heard good things about "The Happy Scientist" resources for rocks. $20 for annual subscription. I haven't dropped money on it yet, but I am considering it for this year. 5) Rocks and Minerals Poster ($13.80) Our splurge for geology; it hangs in the hallway on the way to the bathroom. I hung up a half dozen new posters in the hallway for the coming schoolyear this morning. The rock one is the only one Loverboy noticed. :lol:

I've replied earlier, but here are a few other thoughts on the subject: 1) As a PP said, you financially benefited from the prior tenant. You have more of a responsibility than the new tenant. 2) You are early in the relationship with the new tenant. You want a good relationship. You want them to stay for 10 years, because it is expensive (financially, and with an investment of time) to find a new, good renter. 3) What is the financial cost? Some say, "The price of doing business." Let's consider that the rent is $300/month. $300 x 12 = $3600. $25/$3600 = 0.7% of your annual rent income. (I was going to say "profit," but there are other expenses with being a landlord). Do you really want to poison this relationship over 0.7%? You want them to stay more than one year! 4) IF you reimburse this renter, type up an addendum to add to the lease as you hand a check to the renter. Have her sign it and staple it to her current lease. "_____________, the renter, will return the mailbox key to _______________, the owner/landlord, when the renter checks out. If the mailbox key is not returned, a $25 fee will be taken out of the renter's deposit." It may not be fair (because the renter has already paid the $25 fee once), but if she returns the key to you, she won't have to worry about it. *need an ambivalence smiley* 5) Renter advice totally unrelated to this conversation: In my last location, I lived/rented for 10 years. 3 months before the end of my annual lease, the landlord would send me a letter more or less saying: It's been so nice to have you as a tenant this past year blah blah blah --Are you planning to stay for another year? --Are there any improvements that need to be made around the place? The renter would know best about improvements because they live there. In this way, my windows were replaced (1/year). I got a new oven. The landlord built a platform/support for my window air conditioner. And the landlord build a storage shed out back to store our bikes in (recommended by the neighbors downstairs).

We live in a trailer park that has community mail boxes. We received our key from the park manager, and we were told that we would have to return it to her when we moved out. We were told that if we lost the key, replacement cost would be ____. We never had any dealings with the post office in this manner; it has all been through the park manager. They represent the property owner, so they handle the keys. One way or another, this needs to be mentioned in the lease. "Renter is responsible for contacting the post office to obtain access to the mailbox. There may be a $25 fee to the post office to re-key the lock." or "There is a $25 mailbox key deposit required as payment to the owner. This payment will be refunded on moving out when the key is returned." The only other detail is that if there is a lot of property damage (and I know some renters are that way), and someone doesn't deserve to receive their rental deposit, remember that the key deposit is separate from the apartment deposit. It just is.

This is Loverboy's recipe for Curry. --It is NOT spicy. I would not be able to eat it if it was. --It is easy to prep the extras ahead of time. We have a rice cooker where I can put the rice in the cooker and walk away from it. --It is so good, Loverboy's Indian boss asked for the recipe. --This is a good recipe for a large group of people (think Christmas, Easter, extended Family get-togethers, weekends that your college students bring friends home). Everybody fills their own bowl, buffet style, and ladles the curry sauce on top. --Our record is 19 toppings, but you don't need to do that many. We just do that when we have a houseful of guests. Just have every family member pick one topping on the list the first time you make it. Lay your toppings out buffet style for everyone to share. --Can be made meat-friendly by having chicken and bacon as possible toppings, but not necessary. --When serving this to someone new, I always give them a spoonful of just the curry to try, on the off-chance that they will not like it. Nobody likes everything, and I'd hate to have someone have a bowl full of food to eat when they didn't like the sauce. --For young children (who don't always like their food touching), we just give them a plate with each of the toppings they like, and the rice on the side. How to eat it: --put rice in your individual bowl --add your favorite toppings (so everyone picks what works for them). If you don't like pickles, don't put pickles in your bowl! --Ladle the curry sauce over it. The recipe: CURRY6 T butter 1/2 C minced onion 1 1/2 T curry powder 6 T flour 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp ground ginger 2 chicken or vegetable boullion cubes dissolved in 2 cups water 2 C milk (1 can coconut milk + milk to make 2 C) 1 tsp lemon juice **Don't forget to make a pot of rice!** 1) Melt butter over low heat in heavy saucepan. Saute onion and curry powder in melted butter. Blend in flour and seasonings. 2) Cook over low heat until mixture is smooth and bubbly, remove from heat. 3) Stir in broth and milk. Bring to boil stirring constantly. 4) Boil til slightly thickened 5) Add lemon juice. 6) Serve over rice and toppings. Toppings: raisins salted peanuts dill pickles crisp bacon bits chopped hard cooked eggs sauteed onion rings pineapple chunks durkee french fried onion rings avocado coconut Bell peppers Cheese Chinese hard noodles Olives, black and green Mushrooms Mandarin oranges Dates Beans (Kidney or other) ***Disclaimer: Don't think that you need to have ALL of these toppings available for your family. We only do that when we are cooking for a large group. The first time you make it, have every family member pick one thing on the topping list to have available for their curry. Lay all of your chosen toppings out, and fill your bowls buffet style.

You need a bus pass!!!! The universe is trying to tell you something! :laugh: ------------------------------------------------- Seriously though, I am sorry for your experience. :grouphug: Changing cars is expensive; and accidents ALWAYS cost money, even if you are not at fault. And most of all, I hope that you family heals well medically/physically, and this string of bad luck turns around. Be well. -------------------------------------------------- Loverboy and I have been together for ~9 years. In that time, we've only discarded my old truck (it was on life support for more than a year before doing so). We've been lucky that our current cars we bought new, and they have mostly lived in a garage. We are so boring that we don't drive many miles, and we drive the speed limit. We expect to drive both of these cars until the wheels go square.

Why I turned away from Christianity? 1) I read the bible. It's pretty violent. It's pretty abusive to women. There's a lot of sex in it, too. And a lot of contradictions. It reads a lot differently if you read the whole thing and see it through the lens as an adult than as the whitewashed stories we read our children. 2) I value the bible as a historical document, not as the Word of God, and NOT as literal history. It makes a lot more sense if it is read through the eyes of Bronze Age and Iron Age people, in the context of that time period and the historical and political atmosphere. There is philosophical value in the bible, but the Christians I know are so far divorced from what I get out of the bible, I see their eyes glaze over. Examples of philosophical value: After all the Adam and Eve have been through: getting kicked out of the Garden, the earth is cursed and they must labor, Eve suffers in childbirth...and now one son has killed another. What a nightmare for any parent! And yet, they had another baby. His name was Seth. And this shows that whatever they had been through, they still had hope. Noah is told that all the creatures of the earth will be destroyed in a great flood. God tells Noah that there IS a way that he can save himself and his family, BUT......he must also save all the animals, too. That's the deal. What lesson does this have for us as humans today? 3) An insistence by the denomination in which I was raised that the bible is superior in knowledge to our current medical, scientific, and cultural (example: equality) knowledge. It's just not true. The average 5yo knows more than the writers of the bible. 5yos know that germs cause sickness. They know what penguins are. They know where the sun goes at night. They know that girls are just as good as boys, and that skin color is less important than one's character. 4) The level of oppression historically used in the name of Christianity and backed up by the bible to harm others, again and again, even in our country. --against African Americans to justify slavery, and Jim Crow afterwards --against women to bar us from everything from property/wealth ownership, suffrage, education, job opportunities, protection under the law, equal pay, and our own children --and now I hear it quoted again and again against the gay community. Do you really want to go there? Do you really want your holy book used in this losing battle? Christianity comes out looking like the advocate of discrimination and inequality of opportunity...and that is very unAmerican. 5) Whenever I espouse what one would consider to be a Christian value (because it was advocated by Christ), I get shot down my very Christian relatives. Then they quote Paul to me, not realizing that Jesus and Paul disagreed on a boat full of stuff. Why would I hang out with a bunch of people not interested in actually following what Christ said?

I don't have a specific Spanish curriculum for you, but I wanted to share "My Language Exchange" with you. For a modest fee ($6-24), you search for a native speaker to Skype with independently. You can explore the site and make a profile for free. I have two Chinese partners to Skype with. Sometimes I read my Chinese lessons to them to practice pronunciation. Sometimes I ask them specifically, "How do you say _______?" We discuss geography and history and politics of China and America. My Chinese isn't quite good enough for a whole conversation, so I work on what I can. Whatever you choose for a curriculum, My Language Exchange may be a way to "fill in the gaps."

You are doing just great! They will get there! Consider that it may take 1000 hours of reading aloud to/with kids to get your kids to be good readers. We do a LOT of Shared Reading here. FTR, I remember doing it in elementary school as a kid. We all opened our books, and one kid would read at a time while the rest of us followed along, changing readers with every paragraph. I use shared reading to nudge my older daughter (and the kids I taught to read as a nanny) to a higher level. It starts out with the child picking out the words they know in the sentence. Then they are responsible for the first sentence on the page, then the first two. We alternate paragraphs (which is great for dialogue!). Currently, I read the first half of the page, and she reads the second half. ***The advantage of Shared Reading is that the student can learn the vocabulary of the book (names, places, subjects of conflict) by listening to the adult read, then apply the same vocabulary a minute later when it is the student's turn to read. We started doing this with picture books, but we have graduated to easy chapter books (American Girl, Dragon Slayers' Academy, Buddy the Dog, and Captain Underpants). I suggest a few books, and the child picks from my suggestions. DD7 has not started to independently read chapter books yet. Intellectually, she CAN do it; she reads just fine for a 7yo when we read together. She's just not ready to take on a book that would take her more than a sitting to read. All I can do is prep her intellectually for when she is ready to make the maturity jump. I don't dictate what she reads on her own because I really want the reading to be pleasurable for her. She won't feel pleasure if I tell her she has to read at a higher level than she feels she is ready for. In the meantime, she reads a lot of Graphic Novels. She CAN read picture books if she is motivated to do so (if she wants to read a book a second time after bedtime reading together). I suspect the leap will come for her when she has a friend who also reads Chapter Books independently. :grouphug: Hang in there. I have been lucky enough to teach other kids to read, and it truly IS a marathon! There are steps up, and lag times as the student gets ready for the next leap. Just keep doing what you are doing. You WILL get there! I'm experiencing this now with my younger. She can read AT. She can read MAT. SAT flummoxes her. (She knows all of her letters and sounds). She can sound it out; she just can't put the sounds together. She just needs a little time to process AT and MAT before she is ready to expand her application of the sounds she knows.

These are the questions I would ask. You don't need to answer them here. It's none of my business. 1) Do they read for pleasure on their own? You have said your children are not natural readers. 2) Is there something specific you would want them to read? A higher level? An early chapter book? My kid would just read graphic novels. Would that bother you if your child used this time to read something you felt was at a lower level than you wanted them to read at? 2) Could everyone pick out specific library books to read at this time? "Now is the time to look at your library books." In this way, everyone would be interested in what they were reading. 3) Do YOU need a quiet time every day? Many moms have "free reading time" when the baby nurses to sleep mid-afternoon. Or 15 minutes of non-chaos while you prep supper. The rules are, "You need to be quiet on your bed. You can sleep, or you can read." 4) Would your kids do well with a "read to a pet" time of day? Last year (1st grade), I had dd reading almost daily to her little sister and the cats. The cats don't care if she misses a word, but it gave really good extra practice.

--I'm less concerned about what level your daughter is at (or my daughter is at) than the habit of "We get up in the morning and we do schoolwork." (How your family defines schoolwork is up to you.) Parents of older homeschoolers tell me that that is not a lesson you want to start teaching your kids as teenagers. --Similar to what a27mom says above, I would lay things out and say, "It all needs to be done; what do you want to do first?" --I would prioritize Math and English/Spelling, unless she has proven that she can get it all done on her schedule. --We've also had luck with limiting TV/screen time. She gets 30 minute free/day. After that, she must earn it. 1)She must complete A-B-C-D to earn 30 minutes of TV time. These are the tougher, more necessary (Math, Phonics), and more time consuming classes. 2)Then she must complete E-F-G to earn 30 minutes of TV time. 3)Then she must complete H-I to get 30 minutes of TV time. 4)Then she must complete J to get 30 minutes of TV time; however, by the time she has done EVERYTHING on the list, I just let her watch tv the rest of the day if she chooses. We've also found that by the time she gets to Step 3, she may as well complete Step 4 and be done. All tv during the day is educational (PBS kids or educational videos from the library). She also can hoard her tv time for when dad gets home. When he walks in the door, it magically turns into Scooby Doo time or Disney movie time. If she is mad that she cannot watch tv in the meantime, I tell her that is not my problem. She can earn tv time RIGHT NOW by doing her schoolwork. ----------------------------------------------- Money. Yes. Money. I pay for schoolwork. To me, it is worth the change in the bottom in my purse to avoid squabbles over schoolwork. Philosophically: --There is no allowance in our home. --You don't get paid for chores; that is part of living in a house: everyone cleans up. --Daddy gets paid for his job. You get paid for yours. Your job is schoolwork. If Daddy doesn't do his job, he doesn't get paid. If you don't do your job, you don't get paid. What would Daddy say if he knew you weren't doing your job? --This has helped our older dd learn to manage and save money. She has saved enough for her first U.S. Savings Bond this autumn. She also understands "how much something costs" when I tell her "you can buy that item, but it takes all the money you earned from working for 7 school days doing EVERYTHING." She often reconsiders, but not always; the choice is hers. --By age 7, she knows that if she goes to the store and sees something she wants, but doesn't have the money, then she is not allowed to complain...but I am very willing to work with her to go home, do more schoolwork, and help her earn more money. She often returns home motivated to work! I don't pay for one's age, but for the level of work one does. For example: K work: 5c/page (or lesson) 1st grade work: 6c/page (or lesson) 2nd grade work: 7c/page (or lesson) I offer a 25c bonus if all of today's work is completed. Mom determines what "a lesson" is. Sometimes this is a timer set for 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Sometimes it is the division in the curriculum. I pay 25c for piano practice. (upped to 30c, because dd now practices 30minutes/day). This is a household choice because I believe in how good music is for the brain, and it is important to me (Mom). With this system, dd is paid at different levels for different grades. She can work at her own pace. She is a year ahead in math, so she will earn more for math than for Phonics. --This is incentive to tougher subjects first (Piano, Math) because they pay better. --This teaches that higher level work pays better, and that education pays off. My preschooler has just started earning money for preschool activities (gluing, cutting, identifying letters, shapes, colors). She does not get paid as much as her older sister. In the same way, a college degree usually pays better than a high school diploma. A graduate degree usually pays better than a Bachelors. If younger daughter wonders why her older sister gets more money, it is because she is at a higher level. If you want to earn 3rd grade pay, I will work with you extra hard to help you get there. If older daughter wonders why younger sister gets paid for cutting and counting, I will ask her if she wants a pay cut. Disclaimer: If you choose to do this route, think long and hard how you want to set it up. Be upfront with your daughter that you are just trying this for a period to see how well it works.

Up Hill. I also like "Lois Lane."

If you are looking at microscopes, consider a plugable (into the computer) digital microscope. We have used ours for everything from dissecting flowers to filming our pet beetles. You can photograph items, and you can add a title and a "scale" to your photographs of what you are seeing.

I have looked briefly at the kit. 1) We buy the bug cups in bulk from Home Science Tools. 2) I bought our butterfly net from Home Science Tools. I recommend them. This ($11) is the one we have, but Home Science Tools has many to choose from. 3) If you have access to water in your neighborhood, look for a pond fish net. Make sure that she has access to an ice cream bucket. I don't remember where we got ours from; possibly Bass Pro Shop. Here is one for a good starter price, but I have never purchased from this vender. 4) A larger aquarium (1-2 gallons) for keeping larger bugs overnight. We have several. One has tiny snails from the local pond (grown from eggs). My daughter's friend keeps a Praying Mantis as a pet most autumns. Insect Habitat ($7.50 from HST) or Critter Habitat ($7-12). 5) Loverboy bought his binoculars from Sam's Club: 2 pairs for ~$50. This may have been a decade ago. Dd took one to Nature Camp this summer. 6) Beginning Birdwatcher's Book w/Stickers from Rainbow Resource. ($5) 7) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a bug aspirator ($11.50)from Forestry Supplies. They are handy for collecting small specimens and beetles. Dd7 is a pro with hers! Be unafraid to get a killing jar, pins, mounting block, and a bug collection box in the future. 8) Magnifying Glass -- a BIG one; a GOOD one. 9) A good hat. 10) A vest. ($30-35). Would she get $35 worth of use out of it? 11) Save many little containers for Nature Treasures. We save the little cups and lids from salad dressing take-out. Many have wrapped parts of bird shells, cockleburrs, bugs that are not mounted yet, and seeds. Spice jars also work. 12) Handheld GPS 13) For night: Small flashlight with red cellophane to cover at night (to help your eyes adjust). Green laser pointer (because green is the best for pointing out Constellations). Book: 365 Starry Nights by Chet Raymo ($14) 14) Nature Journal book, and a printed off list of ideas for Nature Journaling like making a tree rubbing, drawing an insect, drawing a tree in 4 seasons, making a list of all the species within a hulahoop on the ground, a running list of all the trees, plants, insects, birds in the yard. I can't find the website I've admired in the past (which had seasonal lists), but this is a good start. 15) North Woods Field Guides We've gotten the most out of the Trees and the Wildflower ones. 16) Small Camera Remember: You don't need to get EVERYTHING on the list today. Christmas IS coming (as I make the religious privilege assumption that you celebrate Christmas, and that you do so with gifts).

1) I'm partial to movies like The Wizard of Oz or The Sound of Music. Watch for movies which show up later in many cultural references. Example: "A Bug's Life" has a homage to Star Wars near the end of the "show" scene in the city. And I wonder, "Has my child seen Star Wars?" 2) Read Newbery Award winners together, and watch the movies. I am surprised at how many of these have been made into movies. Example: Holes or Ella Enchanted 3) My personal favorites: Princess Bride Willow Dragonheart

I don't know what Apologia covers, so I apologize if any of what I recommend is too tough or too simple for what your budding scientist needs. I don't have any specific chemistry text to recommend, but here's what I would look into. CURRICULUM AND OTHER ACADEMIC SUPPORTS: 1) Organic Chemistry Model Set - I love this set, and I still have mine from Organic Chem 2 decades ago! I have used my set to have my dd (age 6 at the time) and her friend to make some basic molecules. 2) Ellen McHenry's The Elements and Carbon (Organic) Chemistry - Everyone raves about these curriculum. They are of Middle School level, which would be before most kids have had algebra. Or, as a homeschooler, skip the math part. Disclaimer: I have not used these curriculum, but this is what I would look into. It would give my child exposure to Organic Chemistry before college. Ask a specific question of the Hive of those who have used the McHenry Curriculum to see if it is a good choice for you. 3) - I love Crash Course! These are free youtube videos that cover Chemistry topics. Did I mention they are free? 4) Khan Academy: Chemistry- Also free. Supposedly at a beginning high school or college level. Or, if you are richer:5) Great Courses: Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. The Chemistry is actually on sale for $100, down from $374. 6) This PDF on Chemistry around the house. 7) This list of chemicals around the house 8) Hands On Chemistry - I haven't used it, but according to the reviews, other homeschoolers have, and liked it. (I stumbled across it looking for the textbook referenced in #7). One parent spoke of using it to teach a middle school son. Another parent spoke of his/her 8yo reading it for fun. I would ask the Hive if anyone has used it and liked it before dropping money on it. 9) Get a General Chemistry Set and start doing experiments. See what you can apply from what you learned in last year's Apologia. I don't advocate specifically this set, but there are good ones of this caliber out there. FILLING IN THE GAPS: 10) For fun: Nova Video: Hunting the Elements. And David Pogue is hilarious! Only 2 hours. 11) For fun: The Kid Should See This This is a fun website of kid-cool videos on all topics. Do a search for Chemistry. I watched "The Spectroscopy of Stars" and "Testing Fireworks." Unrelated: See the video on Dominoes and Physics MUST SEE. 12) For fun and context: Chemistry Now - website for chemistry in our everyday lives. Buckyballs to Cancer Screening. Geared for adults, so make a judgment of how much your child will understand the topics. 13) Discuss the Nobel Prize. Discuss it now. Nobel Prizes are awarded for exceptional contributions to Science (or Literature, Economics, Peace). It is the highest award one can receive in a field of science. Usually they are awarded for a lifetime of work, so most Nobel Prize Winners are very old. Only one "project" for Chemistry wins each year; up to three researchers on the project can share the award. Because the Nobel Prize is so rare, we watch the Chemistry research of the winners to shape and understand our world and our future.

This year I have organized our work time into "Priority Blocks." Some time will be spent on Level 1 priorities; some on Level 2; and Level 3 is mostly independent work, but some days are that way. Level 1: Piano Math: Saxon 3, Math facts, Daily Math Phonics: Saxon 2 Writing: finish IEW's PAL Writing (section 3); lots of creative writing exercises Chinese: through the local Chinese school, so we can't fall behind. Petra Lingua Chinese as a supplement. Level 2: History: History Odyssey 2 (Middle Ages) Science: Science Odyssey 2 (Earth and Space) 10 Terrific Weeks: Finish Human Body; begin Space Geography: finish Top Secret Adventures Computers: Windows 8 for Dummies, Microsoft Office for Dummies, and an animation program Spanish: Finish FlipFlop Spanish 1 books. Start level 2. Petra Lingua Spanish. Sequential Spelling (possibly) Level 3: Explode the Code: Finish the series. Spectrum Test Practice 2 Wordly Wise 2 DinoLingo Russian, Petra Lingua Russian. Lit: Read and discuss many, many Caldecott books. Song School Latin Disclaimer #1: I am not worried about finishing any specific curriculum in a given year. We can continue some things at a later time. Level 1 subjects are the most important, of course. Disclaimer #2: We do not do every subject every day. For example, I plan to do history in the fall, and do science in the spring. Or vice versa. If ETC is finished, we will double down on Wordly Wise.

I watched it with dd7. Thank you for sharing this!

1) I'm sorry that you have to go through this. It is apparent how much you love your mom, and you want to handle this well. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: 2) In my family's situation, my grandmother had a fall, broke a hip, and lay outside in the Iowa winter until the mailman rescued her. It was my uncle who convinced her, "Mother, I just won't be able to sleep a wink always worrying about you!" He lived a block away. 3) As grandma came out of the hospital, we got her to agree to LOOK at the new assisted living facility in town. She was pleased enough that she agreed to the move. She took what she wanted, and my folks and uncle cleaned out the rest of her house. 4) My uncle worked for years as a nursing home administrator. Always be sensitive to what you SMELL as you enter a facility. It can tell you a lot. 5) Loverboy has an elderly uncle that consistently spends the winter at the local nursing home, but he returns to the farmstead to raise a few chickens and work in the garden every spring. His daughters don't have to worry about him shoveling snow on the farm, or being isolated if he needed an ambulance in the worst of winter. (Not all roads in Iowa are maintained well in winter). Could you ask your mom to try just the winter? 6) If you mother moves to a facility, would it be better for her to move to one in her hometown, or be near you? If she is near you, you can visit at least once a week; possibly more often. If it is in her hometown, she may know several people there already and have an automatic social support system...but it may depend. My grandfather (on the other side of the family) didn't want to move into the nursing home. On the day he moved in, it took 20 minutes just to get him to his room because he was saying 'hi' and visiting with all the folks he knew. (Consider small town Iowa, and he had lived in the same town for over 5 decades. They all went to church together, shopped at the same grocery store, and sent kids to the one and only elementary-middle-and-highschool system.)

We do this. We also do a lot of fried rice. We use leftover rice, leftover pork (bacon or ham or sausage), 1-2 scrambled eggs, a little leftover onion, and miscellaneous leftover vegetables. It cooks up fast (because everything except the onion and the eggs are precooked and precut), and our girls eat it well. You could add whatever seasonings you want to it, but we just use soy sauce on our individual bowls.

We've had good experiences with Geopuzzles. --You can also order the puzzles individually. --They are not made of wood. Sorry. :( --Even the 3yo helps for the U.S. puzzle. We have used them in conjunction with Sheppard Software's Geography drills. --Free --Online --We set a timer for 10 minutes, and did whatever continent that held the country we were studying at that time.

I think that the amount of technology learning (computer-as-teacher) will increase. In the older grades, it will have limited success depending upon the type of student. Students who: 1) are self-motivated 2) learn well from a computer model, and 3) are able to find independent information on their own will do well with and beyond this system. But, especially for young children (elementary), there is no substitute for a quality adult spending time with your child.

:iagree: The problem with "Cooperative Learning" is that there is no clear leader. Supposedly Cooperative Learning helps students to learn to work together in the adult workplace; but I have yet to see an adult workplace where there isn't a boss to divvy out work assignments, reassign projects as needed, and say, "Give Jane assistance on this project if she needs it." The boss also has power to discipline or fire you if he/she sees you are not carrying your weight. The teacher cannot micromanage this group learning, and the peers have no power to tell you to shape up and quit screwing around. An educational nightmare from elementary through college. I hope that Cooperative Learning dies a quick, painful, and complete death, with no resurrection possible before the next decade ends.