Thanks - several of these are at our library. Peace, Rene

Are there any good movies or very easy books that would be appropriate to supplement Dorothy Mills' book? My 8th grader is using this book at her school and she hasn't studied much about Ancient Rome up to now. I'm looking for an easy way to fill in the gaps. Thanks! Rene

Double post. Sorry!

Shutterfly! I love that site; they always have sales, so as you get your books created, you can wait for a 40% off deal before you order them. Good luck!

The Frazier History Museum is great! Lots of hands on and interactive activities - still might be a bit museum-y for your kids. Sky Zone might be fun if the weather doesn't cooperate. Bernheim Forest is about 20 minutes from Louisville and it's lots of fun. If you decide to go, have fun! Rene

Thanks for the feedback. I was planning on adding some things to shore up weak areas. I'll certainly keep test prep in mind for a few years down the road. Peace, Rene

So, it seems we should do some work to improve these scores. She is a very bright kid; somewhat careless and very literal with test questions which doesn't help. Any suggestions? Thanks, Rene

I'm just wondering if there is any relationship between a 7th grader's ITBS stanine scores and future (college) achievement. We just got results back and, overall, I'm pleased and there are no real surprises. I'm just wondering if these scores can predict in any way how well she will do on ACT/SAT, college acceptance, etc. We don't do any test prep or teaching to the test and she is consistently in 6th/7th stanine. I've never been one to put much stock in standardized tests and aside from math/reading, I thought the test questions were fairly ridiculous. Can anyone shed insight on what these scores actually mean? Thanks, Rene

I also did this course and love how much better I look. I haven't been into clothes for years and had no clue where to start. Now when we look at old pictures, my girls say, "that's before dressing your truth, when you were beastly." Good Luck! Rene

I am an approved Stanford and ITBS administrator through BJUPress. Keep in mind that you are not allowed to administer the Stanford to your own children. We did testing through a co-op and I administered to other grades. It was a big pain and we did it in 1-1 1/2 days instead of spreading it out. I was exhausted, as were the kids by the end of it. This is our first year giving ITBS; I ordered a sample test that came last week. It seems pretty samey-samey to Stanford at first glance. FWIW, I would go with the easiest to administer. Good Luck!

No, I'm not willing to formula feed and I do everything in my power to avoid pharmaceuticals, but that is my choice as a participant in the economy. I would also never suggest that the pharmaceutical industry is a free market or that the FDA looks out for my best interests. In addition, I would not say that charter schools are the same as school choice. They are more of a pseudo-choice. (also not a choice in KY, where i live) They're still part of the same government problem. School choice, in my mind, means that my tax dollars follow my child to ANY school of my choice.

I don't see how this conversation can take place without considering how school choice would raise standards. One of the things free markets do best is to raise standards. One thing the federal government does best is lower standards. I guess I'll go get my tin-foil hat and get back to work.

My kids have been sick for a week, so instead of getting ahead on planning, I'm spending a too much time dinking around online, trying to figure out what I would like to do when this homeschooling gig is up, or at least becomes less demanding. I just took a Core Capacity Index test from a local broker to see if I'm a good fit to become a realtor; Surprise - I am. There are some things about it that has always intrigued me, and I think I could do well, but...I don't know. I'm just wondering if there are any realtors out there that manage to juggle it with homeschooling and what that looks like in your day-to-day world. How many hours do you put in the job? Are you available 24/7 or do you have fairly regular hours? Are you able to disconnect and be present for your family or do you jump every time the phone beeps. (This is probably my biggest fear!) Thoughts anyone? Thanks, Rene

This is a great recipe for a gathering like yours that is always a hit here with adults and kids both: Pepperoni Bread. 1 package Bridgeford frozen bread dough (3 loaves); 1 pound thinly sliced pepperoni; 1 dozen eggs hard boiled; 1 pound mozzarella cheese. It's very easy to make ahead. I usually assemble it before guests arrive, then pop into the oven. Let dough rise (approx 7 hours?); separate dough into two sections (1 1/2 loaves and 1 1/2 loaves) Roll one dough section flat and place on pizza stone (you can also use a lightly greased glass pan if you don't have a stone) Place pepperoni slices in layer on top of dough. Slice boiled eggs and make layer on top of pepperoni; Layer shredded cheese on top of eggs. Roll out other dough section and place on top - kneading edges of top dough to bottom dough, let rise, preheat oven to 400'. After dough seems to have risen place stone or pan in oven for 15 mins. @ 400' then lower to 350' approx, for 30 mins. then brush top of bread with thin layer of egg yokes - let bake for approx another 10 mins. - Remove from oven when top is golden brown, brush with olive oil. If you braid the edges of the dough together it looks very rustic and chic when you serve it. Slice with circular pizza cutter.

I can't even describe how relieved we are! The lesson: backup, backup and then backup some more! Enjoy Thanksgiving!

Update: Scrivener's tech support was very helpful and after working all day, we were able to recover dd's manuscript. YEA! :hurray:

Well, my 12yo lost her entire manuscript in Scrivener. She was up to about 4,000 words and they are all gone! I've checked all the back up files and nothing. I've opened every .rtf file in the folder and there are some character notes, but the actual manuscript is just gone. I've checked Scrivener's forum and she is not the first person this has happened to. I'm waiting for an email response; maybe there is something else I can do to recover her work. I'm heartbroken because I was the one that suggested she use Scrivener instead of Word and I should have been backing up her files manually. Hence, the PSA: even if you save your work in Scrivener, compile it to a manuscript regularly! (File, Compile...) This will create an .rtf file that would at least keep your work safe.

I should have known there would be a Black Friday website - I told you I'm an idiot!

I want to buy Kindles this year and I'm wondering if there are any anticipated Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. Any last year? I've never shopped on Black Friday and would rather keep it that way, but I'm looking for a deal. I also would like to get my shopping done before Thanksgiving, but don't want to kick myself for not waiting. Any help for the shopping impaired? Thanks, Rene

Anyone done both? How do they compare and which do you prefer? I'm doing e-mealz now for the 2nd time; both times I've loved the first week or two, then none of the meals really sounded all that great, so it peters out. I'm wondering if it's the menus or if I'm just not a "use someone else's menus kind of gal". Any thoughts? Thanks, Rene

I'm surprised at the disparity in word counts from the calculator to the ones posted above as well! This is our first year doing it and I think the calculator came up with 65,000 as their goal! They adjusted it down to 50,000. I'm just wondering: How much time your kids spend on the project? If I'm reading this correctly, we can change our goal if we're really off base, right? From the NaNo website: "Note: The deadline for changing your word-count goal is 11:59 PM (your local time) on November 24, before winning starts." I don't want to be a "dream-squasher", but I want this to be realistic. BTW, my dds type about 20-25 wpm. Thanks! Rene ETA: Egads! Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is 77,325 words! I would say we need to seriously adjust! Why would their word count calculator be so off base?

I started this fall using Logic of English with my 5th and 7th grader. They also are good readers, but after getting their standardized test scores back from last year, it was clear that we need to do some work on spelling. I can't stand the "workbook" approach to spelling, so last year we did Spelling Wisdom. I like the approach, but it didn't really help with the phonics rules, etc. and our test scores showed it. I like that it's scripted. It's fairly easy to adjust your speed on each lesson and there is lots of review. I think it's very appropriate for an older child that is a good reader.

Thanks everyone, this is helpful.

I would love to participate in these projects, but my fear is that they will overtake our "skill-building" time during school, e.g. grammar, outlining, spelling, etc. I know they will learn a great deal working on these projects, but I just don't know if it will be enough. Maybe I'm missing the forest for the trees? If you participate in the large projects, I'm wondering how you schedule it into your school? I'm hoping to get a poll attached, but we'll see how it goes! Thanks, Rene

A few questions for those of you that have done this before: How do you schedule it? Does this count as all your Language Arts for October & November? I would love to do this, but I'm not sure about dropping all of our other "skill-building" work: outlining, spelling, grammar, etc. I would love to hear your thoughts about this. Thanks!