How much of this is because of recent state legislation (within the past few years) of "childcare workers and volunteers" being fingerprinted and background checked? Would that apply to airline employees that specialize in childcare? Disclaimer: I support these laws. Hive members have posted in other threads how these laws may affect their children's coop classes and sports teams. Our children's preschool (which is not associated with any sort of homeschooling) is a coop. Everyone takes a turn working in the classroom, so everyone needs to be fingerprinted and background checked. The litmus test in our preschool is "taking kids to the bathroom." So imagine this from the money-making pov of the airline corporate overlords (the ones making seven figures for income): --They now need to have these employees fingerprinted and background-checked. ($$) --They need enough of these employees to be vetted in this manner to handle, say, five or more different children flying through any given major airport. ($$$) --They need to make sure that they have enough of these special employees working on any given day (no calling in sick or going on vacation themselves). ($$) --They need to improve employee retention for these employees because they would be harder to replace. You couldn't just ask any random employee to step into this job at a moment's notice. You might need to pay *gasp* $12/hour rather than $10/hour. ($$$) I just can't see the corporate decision-makers in the aviation industry willing to make that investment in their employees.

When I was 18, I flew independently for the first time. At age 18, I needed help to get to my next gate. I had never had to read concourse, gate, or seat information before. (My one and only prior flight was when I was with the family when I was 9). Thank goodness for the nice lady who sat next to me on my first flight! I spent the second leg of my journey being sexually harassed by a steadily-getting-drunker doctor. I was young, and these were the days before Anita Hill I didn't know that I had a choice. This may be one reason why the airlines don't want minors flying independently. It would be expensive, but one of you could fly with her for the first leg of the flight. Or if its cheaper, grandma could fly to meet her at the airport for the second half of the flight. It's not a great solution, but it is a solution. :(

Congratulations on this new time of your life! May you have many joyous adventures!!!! :party: 1) Loverboy kept bees for a couple of years as a kid for Boy Scouts. He says the biggest challenge is convincing the neighbors. Ultimately, that is why they dismantled their hives after two years. 2) I asked my mom about why we never tried beekeeping when I was a kid. We lived in a neighborhood with a lot of unsupervised kids running around . . . that wouldn't always make good choices. (We lived on a tiny acreage at the edge of town). --Windows broken in our outbuildings by little boys throwing rocks --Our dog was tied to the clothesline one afternoon and was teased by another little boy. The clothesline broke and the dog chased the boy. My mom witnessed this as she drove down the driveway. Luckily, she arrived just in time to call the dog. --Our back field was once set on fire by a boy playing with matches. It was a big enough fire that the fire department came. Oh, the joys of free range kids!!! :scared: "All it would take was one little boy with a stick....." 3) As a tween, I visited a friend whose dad kept bees. He had a 5-foot-tall fence around their hives in the back yard. It was solid wood. You couldn't even see what was within the fence. The solid gate was locked (padlock? deadbolt?). 4) Ask This Old House recently did a couple of episodes on beginning bees. They make it look so easy. Setting up a Beehive Harvesting the Honey

Government schools SHOULD provide and excellent education for everyone, but they don't. There ARE excellent public schools out there. My town has excellent schools. However it would be naive to believe that everyone's schools are just like the ones a couple of miles from my home. What we know about government funding of programs: the most popular (and best) programs are the ones that include EVERYONE. National Health programs, Social Security, public utilities, highways, even public school being offered to everyone regardless of gender or color. The programs that include EVERYONE are the ones that get funded and protected. Everyone receives the same benefit. Everyone stands in the same line. Everyone gets to use the highways. Everyone can purchase safe drinking water and stable electricity for a reasonable price. And yet, children from wealthy families are told that they don't deserve to be in that line. This results in obvious disdain for the 90%. Possibly this disdain is deserved in this situation. If you want funding for public schools to be protected, then extend the same benefit to private schools that meet the criteria. Disclaimer #1: Trust me: I am NO lover of the 1%. I spent too much time working for them when I was young. I know too many of their secrets. Disclaimer #2: I am horrified by corporations trying to get into education. However, I refuse to paint ALL corporations with the same brush. In some areas, they may be doing better than the broken bureaucracy of an entrenched system. I am open to see what they can do. I am suspicious, but open to it.

I hadn't really thought about it, until a friend's daughter transitioned back to public school from homeschooling. A note was sent home that her dd was one step below where they wanted children in her grade level to be reading. The good news: The school assigned her time with the reading specialist to bring her up to level. The bad news: The only time available to do this was during math class. The result: within a few months, a note was sent home that she was failing math. :banghead: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peaceful Chaos, It sounds like your ds is in the same place as my dd of a similar age. Dd8 is in 2nd grade. --She devours graphic novels. (We are very lucky to have a library with a healthy collection). --She CAN read at a higher level. We do popcorn reading for nonfiction and chapter books almost every night. She reads great! --She browses ahead in the chapter books we read together, and she reads enough to tell me what will happen in future chapters. --She is simply not motivated to read chapter books independently. I have been trying to bring home some super easy chapter books (~80pages): Rainbow Fairies, Dinosaur Cover, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, etc. If she complains that she is out of Graphic Novels, I offer a chapter book. I worry that she will get stuck at Graphic Novels. I wonder if she was at public school with the friend on her left was reading Captain Underpants, and the friend on her right reading Junie B. Jones, would she have graduated to Chapter books through peer pressure?

If he's never typed before, DanceMat is a gentle way to begin. Advantages: --It's free. --It's very gentle. --Dd loved it so much, she did it twice! Disadvantages: --Online, so you need access. --No login, so your ds will have to remember where he was at last time. --Non-competitive, so he probably won't type more than a few words/minute by the end of the course. However, you son will know all the keys, and he will be ready for a next step. Disclaimer: It seems to have been updated since dd did it a year or so ago.

I have gone back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth on the school voucher issue since I first encountered it 25 years ago as a high school Extemp (Speech for Current Events) participant. Here's where I'm at now: 1) Just because we have REALLY good public schools in my town, doesn't mean that everyone has that. Some systems are just broken. I acknowledge that my reality is not everyone else's reality. 2) As a homeschooler, I acknowledge that no one system/class/teacher works for everyone. 3) Just because my family can homeschool (financially, with my abilities, with support from Loverboy), not everyone has that choice. I'd like them to have the choice of a different school. I support vouchers for education with two caveats: 1) The receiving school must be accredited. There are some VERY good private religious(and secular) schools. There are also some very bad ones. If you want my tax dollars, you will be accredited. No one is forcing you to become accredited. No one is forcing a parent to send their kid to an accredited school. 1a) Funding must be made available to help these smaller schools jump through the hoops of accreditation. I would hate for a really good program to not be accredited because they can't squeeze the $XXXX out of their budget for application fees. 2) Our public schools must be funded at 10% higher than their current student capacity. If I ran a private school with 200 seats, I may know by March 1st who my students the following autumn will be. I know I will need 200 desks; 200 sets of books; how many teachers to hire, how big my gym must be; how many recorders for the music department to order. If I run a public school, on the 13th day of class, 20 parents may show up to register their kids for public school. I HAVE to take them. If not that day, within a week. If I ran a private school, I can refuse education to any children who have behavioral issues or physical challenges. If I don't want to, I do not have to take children who do not speak English. I do not have to accept students that are two grade levels behind in math or reading. Even if I accept them, I can later say, "This is not working out. You're kicked out." If I run a public school, I have to accept these very expensive students, and do the best I can to educate them. The buck stops here. For these reasons, I support the 10% rule. -------------------------------------------------------------- The original question was (paraphrased) "Why can adult college students receive government money for religious colleges, but not elementary/middle/high school students (for religious schools)?" And the magic word is Accreditation. From the U.S. Student Aid for college website: https://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college/choosing-schools/consider "If you attend a school that isn’t accredited, you might not be able to get any financial aid. The U.S. Department of Education requires that schools participating in our federal student aid programs be accredited. Also, your state education agency’s aid programs may not offer financial aid at unaccredited schools."

Things that have changed: --my politics --my religious views --my environmental views --my relationship with science --my views on music --my views on abortion and capital punishment --my views on vouchers for schooling --my views on Israel and the Middle East --my views on mental illness --my views on unions --my views on childrearing The cost: My relationship with my parents, siblings, aunt and uncle, and cousins. One uncle; one cousin, and my elderly grandma in a nursing home remain. Things that have not changed: --Good ideas can come from both sides of the aisle. --It is important to read things that are uncomfortable, even if you don't agree with them. It is important to learn the other side's POV intimately. Read from a variety of unrelated sources. --We need to think in terms of decades, centuries, and generations, rather than months and years. Something I have become less tolerant about recently: --Political name calling: just because I belong to one party or the other, does not mean that I am a "Rethuglican" or a "Libtard." If those are the names you are calling me or people like me, we are done. I wish I was a more forgiving person on this issue, but I'm not.

If they truly want to quit, I would expect at least two good reasons WHY they hate it. Examples: I hate it because I miss my favorite tv show. I hate it because the teacher treats us like babies. I hate it because the teacher always lets the girls pick instruments first. I hate it because one of the kids pinches me. I hate it because the songs are dumb. I hate it because we spend more time sitting and learning things I already know, rather than DOING. I hate it because it's (new and) too hard. I hate it because the teacher makes us sing/dance I hate it because the kids/teacher laughed at/chastised me the first week when I said/did, "XYZ," and I don't want to go back out of embarrassment. I hate it because the teacher won't let me go to the bathroom when I need to. I hate it because I'd rather do art. Or learn to play a real guitar. Who knows what answers your sons will give, but their answers will give you information about: 1) if anything can be fixed by a discussion with the teacher 2) whether this class is salvageable or not 3) what to look for in future activities for your boys

Carol's Affordable Curriculum It comes with everything but glue and tape. We also used different bins of toys/activities on different days. Let me know if you want a list.

Today's Geography Quiz: or simply to explore the National Geographic website.

Sheppard Software for Geography, learning the periodic table Free Rice for Vocabulary, although they have many topics now. Anatomy Arcade for bones of the body, etc. This is a basic website. If your child is on their way to a human biology career (medicine, exercise physiology, pure human research), there ARE more challenging and more detailed games on the web; I have seen them. Let me know if you need help to find them. SciShow for science stories. There is also SciShow Space for your budding physicist, astronomer, or astronaut. ***May contain evolutionary or old earth content.*** Crash Course for history overview. Also known for Psychology, Literature, Ecology, Chemistry, Biology. Splurge on a video program from The Great Courses. Recently there was a thread about TGC and the best teachers and the best prices, but I can't seem to find it now. If someone else can find the link, please list it. A news source. As teens, it is time for them to be aware of what is happening in the world. Choose the news website that works for you. I like PBS News, CNN, or Public Radio, but you may prefer a different news source. I'm sure there are News Feeds specifically for teens, too, but I haven't found any that impress me yet. Maybe someone else can post a good link. Also, consider a subscription to the local newspaper. It IS true: All politics are local.

(intended in jest): Somebody needs to make a comment on how well Sadie's teens are controlling her! :D My kids are much younger than teens, but they do a lot of the things on the list, too. :thumbup: Maybe I'm being controlled, too! :eek:

Warning: Science content may follow. We watch a Petra Lingua Chinese Lesson online. Older sister answers the questions, but younger sister can watch the videos with us. or We take turns picking videos from The Kid Should See This. or We take turns picking videos from SciShow. or We watch a few videos in or (if the computer is not working) I read library books aloud to the girls.

What is it with men and stonewear? Shortly after Loverboy moved in, I went out for an evening. Ironically, it was to a Pampered Chef Party. The good news: Loverboy was washing the dishes. The bad news: as I entered the house, he was scrubbing the stonewear bar pan with a thick coating of SOAP. :crying: (If this ever happens to you, buy a couple of cheap sugar cookie mixes. Bake one, and then the other, and hopefully that will take care of the soap. Toss the cookies, of course).

Not a solution, but this article may make you see insomnia differently. Busting the 8-hour Sleep Myth According to the article, WE'RE the normal ones. :D

I have had sleep issues for as long as I can remember (since childhood;I'm mid-40s now). At least twice a week, I wake in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. My rule for myself is that I lay in bed for an hour, hoping to go back to sleep. If I can't sleep in that time, I get up. Usually, I get up. :( Last year I had a sleep study. The results were (paraphrased): "You have sleep issues, but it's not a big deal. We have no recommendations for you." When I filled out the review for the hospital, I mentioned that I had a lifetime of chronic and frequent sleep issues, but their lab and professionals hadn't been able to help me at all. They sent me an apologetic invitation for a second test, but I haven't followed up on it. Loverboy needs to take time off work, and we have a little one that still nurses to sleep. I dread the number of wires they attach to me. -------------------------------------------------------------------- My super awesome general practitioner has recommended a Pulse Ox test next. It won't tell us as much as another sleep study, but I can take the finger attachment home and wear it overnight. I will return it to the doctor's office the next day so he can evaluate the data on it.

Two computers (one for each girl, with extras: headphones, mice, etc), passports, a camera, credit cards, and LOTS of clean underwear.

They are dd's favorite. We bought ours for a reduced price from Homeschooler Buyers' Coop.

Another activity: When you take children to an art museum, make an immediate detour to the gift shop. Buy an art postcard for each person in your group. Confirm with the cashier that each art piece is in the museum somewhere. Play scavenger hunt to see who can find what is on their postcard first. --This gives young children something to do in an art museum. --Children must actually LOOK at the art as they wander through the gallery, because they are trying to match their picture. --The postcard makes a nice souvenir to use as a bookmark or to hang up on the wall by the child's bed or workspace when the child returns home. --The postcard gives the the child fond memories of visiting the art museum, and hopefully they will want to go back.

That depends upon: 1) the age of your child(ren). Some things are just an age-appropriate thing. 2) your goal (as the instructor) for arts education. Do you want your child to play at Carnagie Hall? Are you an intensely musical family? Do you have internationally-known artists in the house? For our household: Music: Goal: To learn a skill. To have passing knowledge of music, music history, and composers, "I've heard of that before!" Dd8 practices piano daily. She colors in a calendar square every day. If she misses, I color the square black. Every 10th day in a row, she gets a break from the keyboard. Things we do on the 10th day: --play music theory games --read from the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers series; then listening to a YouTube video of the composer's best known songs(s) --read from a story of the Opera or Ballet;* then listening to a song or two on Youtube of what we just read *Preview these stories. I have one version of Swan Lake for kids that openly discusses suicide within the story. Not everyone wants their kids exposed to such ideas so young. We also have Beethoven's Wig in the house. Again, my goal is, "Oh, I've heard of him." Art: Goal: To learn a skill (Drawing, and use of art supplies). To have passing knowledge of art, art history, and artists, "I've heard of that before!" When we get to art, we alternate our focus: 1) Drawing. We use Ed Emberley books and Usborne's What Shall I Draw? Whatever we draw, we draw 3 of them. Dd only needs to color in her favorite. Drawing things repeatedly results in: --drawing something better through repetition --remembering how to draw something through repetition --soothing of perfectionism: "Remember, you need to draw it two more times. It will be better next time." --Creativity on the child's part: draw an owl, then an owl with babies in a tree, then an owl with a wizard. 2) For art projects, we have been using Home Art Studio with Lindsey Volin. It is a good fit for us, but there are also many good art programs out there. We just finished the 1st grade videos, and Ms. Volin discussed several artists and countries (types of art around the world) throughout the first year. 3) Usborne Art Cards.: I tack one up on the bulletin board next to dd's workspot. (Put it in a quart ziplock if you don't want a tackhole in your card). We read the back and discuss it. I request children's books from the library on the artist to give a story of the artist's life, discuss his art, or even as a boring biography. (Type "juvenile [artist's name]"). Sometimes I have to order an adult book from the library. We don't read it, but we flip through it and discuss and paintings that are interesting to us. Our most recent card is Manet, and I am outta luck for what our library offers. Fortunately, I found a Manet for kids website through one of the museums. The Usborne Art cards are not changed by a regular schedule. Whenever we get around to reading what the library has to offer, then we choose a new card. 4) Calendars: One of my big splurges for the past two years is to have "Art Calendars" in the house. Loverboy gets them for me for Christmas. One is tacked next to dd's chair. This year we have "Italian Masters" and "Georgia O'Keefe." Last year was "Magritte" and "Modern Art." The year before that was "Rob Gonsalves." At the end of the year, we cannabalize the calendars, and if either dd has a favorite, she hangs it on the wall by her bed; because if you really want to know a painting well, you buy a poster of it, and hang it up. The rest goes in the trash.

How to Get What You Want From Customer Service (from my friend Mary, who has worked in Customer Service in years). IF you choose to keep pursuing this, keep a list of whom you have spoken to and when. Nothing scares people in power more than documentation. For everyone with whom you speak at the company, get their name and title/position. Start a master list of date, time, individual spoken to, title, and any quotes or promises they have made, like "a refund will arrive by January 15th" or "we will look into this promptly" or "we will be sending you a replacement by February 1st." Do not get off the phone with a representative until you get a specific date by which it will be resolved. If it is not resolved by then, you can call again. Do not tolerate a date of any further out than a week (unless there are extenuating circumstances given, like family illness, travel, or the birth of a child). If "Bob" normally handles all refunds but he is out of the country, then ask what day "Bob": will be back in his office, and a number for his office. Write it on the calendar. If you need to re-telephone the company because the situation is not resolved, you can start out with, "On January 17, at 9:14a.m., I spoke with Jennifer DeWitt in [insert department]. She said that, 'she would look into this' by January 24th. And then on January 26th, at 9:32a.m., I spoke with George Mills, who is her boss and director of [insert department]. He had assured me that, 'A refund was being processed by February 1st.' Today is February 3rd." Documentation is your friend. Keep good records. Be unafraid to speak to someone's manager (or to ask when you can call back to speak to a manager), and keep moving up the chain of command. Don't get stuck at a lower level if they cannot-havenot-willnot solve the problem in a timely manner. Ask to speak with the manager, someone's boss, or whomever is the next person is in the hierarchy. IF you choose to pursue this, good luck.

Not a documentary, but if you want practical astronomy: Star Gazers is a 5-minute weekly show that talks about what is in the night sky this week. They teach you how to find constellations and comets, and they teach a little general astronomy. I've linked to the website, but for us, it plays late Friday or Saturday night on PBS. Fire up the TIVO to make sure you don't miss it, and invest in a green laser pointer to help your kids see what you see in the night sky. Episodes can be seen online, too.

A second vote for these. We LOVED all of these. Thanks for the thread! We will look into the other suggestions, too. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Evolution or a billions-of-years-old universe is incorporated in all of the listings below. ***Note for below: I link to Amazon for reviews, but I have listed Netflix availability*** 1) We have just started watching Wonders of the Universe, but I don't think that we are "into" it enough to make a judgment. Available on Netflix by disk, but not by streaming. 2) The Voyager Odyssey is a bit dated, but it is Voyager Mission(s) as they happen. When I first saw this documentary more than a decade ago, I sat at the edge of my seat with each discovery. It made our universe real in a way that my daughters don't comprehend yet. It fills in the the gaps of "why" and "how do we know?" for me. Rather than just knowing that a planet or a moon has shifting ice or volcanic vents, I am a spectator to the original discovery and the explanation of WHY. I am awed by the scientists that worked their brains out in a race against the clock to make Voyager I and II happen. If they hadn't met this deadline, it would have been over 150 years (168 years?) before all the planets lined up so perfectly again. I am humbled that these discoveries were made just a few short decades ago, within my lifetime. I am saddened that some of these planets haven't been visited since then. I plan to share this documentary with my children with they get a little older. I hope they share the wonder and inspiration that I encountered in viewing it. Disclaimer: pictures of the planets are a bit dated in color and clarity. It can be like getting a child interested in a black-and-white movie. Not available on Netflix. 3) Growing Up in the Universe (Richard Dawkins). This is Dr. Dawkins giving "children's level" lectures during the Christmas season. It's a great introduction to evolution and physics. Not available on Netflix. 4) Origins - From the Big Bang to Extraterrestrial Life, Neil deGrasse Tyson (NOVA) leads us through the latest research to answer the question of "Where did we come from?" Available on Netflix, but not by streaming. 5) Becoming Human (Human Evolution) available through both Amazon Streaming and Netflix (disks).

As my neighbor lady used to say, "Three is just Terrible Twos with a year of practice." :)