Thanks! This is what I thought as well. The short version it will be!

I would have your husband sit down with him and go over word for word what the song means. I've found that often times teens just don't know how explicit lyrics are. They understand the inappropriateness, but often don't know the specific meaning of each word. You can imagine how horrifying it will be to your teen son to have that experience!

I downloaded both GTD and a shorter version of GTD-as samples on my NOOK. Anyone have any thoughts on the shorter version? I'm the kinda gal that likes to just have the list of things to do---I don't always need all the theory behind it or the why something will be good for me stuff. Should I just get the short version or will I just end up getting the longer version after I'm disappointed about the short version?

I've been following along this thread through emails, but just now had time to sit down and read it from beginning to end. I would love to join in to an accountability group. I've just recently physically decluttered a lot of our home--still have more to do. I've found that I am able to function so much better now. I am more motivated to get stuff done. I didn't realize how stressful all the stuff surrounding me was.

HTH

I think what you are doing sounds wonderful. The discussions you are having are the basis of being able to make connections. I would keep doing what you are doing using SWB's program to get the writing skills solid. In 7th-8th grade, those writing skills and the discussion skills will start to mesh together and that is when more writing kicks in---at least that's the way it's worked for my kids.

Yes! Thank you so much!

There is a thread I read in the last few days. It is a spin off of another thread. It discusses planning, but not really planning homeschool. More along the lines of planning your life and home. Several books were suggested! I can't remember what its called and who started it or even what board it was on! Anyone have any idea which thread this was and where I can find it!

My girls are performing in a play this weekend and next weekend so I let them sleep in all week. They worked on math everyday. As usual when I leave them along, they work for much longer than the required one hour. We read about and discussed French Revolution and the period right after the revolution. We also read about the Haitian Revolution and were able to make the connection between that revolution and the American revolution. I then had the girls write a paragraph about what we had discussed. I-E finished up her first lit analysis. E-R is still working on hers. She had a hard time getting how to put it together. We read about and discussed what is going on in Eygpt right now. Got to logic three days. One day I was having a blah day, so we all laid around and read all day. Which led me to the thought of spending most of Dec. reading. My girls have really struggled with reading forever and don't really feel they are good at it. I've noticed they have improved by leaps and bounds this year. I've set aside at least an hour each day for them to read--and they are getting to the point where they look forward to reading. So I'm going to encourage that by mostly reading. I have a few lose ends to finish up this coming week and then we are going to read and work on math for the rest of the month.

I spent a ton of time cleaning and de-cluttering before Thanksgiving. I don't want to drag out a bunch of stuff! This weekend I'm attending a fundraiser in which I will have a chance of winning an already decorated tree! That's my plan for decorating!

I would go with the elementary series which consist of two books. Then move on to the two middle school books. I feel you need to add grammar.

Yup, we always have at least one and sometime more people like that at large family gatherings. You know what--we accept them for who they are and where they are at right now. It's looked at as more of --they are missing out on the fun part of the holidays. They don't get the joy of serving others or the comradary of spending time prepping with everyone else.

Halcyon, I've been meaning to get on the boards all week to see what the new challenge is and AAARRRHHHH!!!!! I'm scared of my kids' bedrooms. But off I go to just do something in there! Wanted to tell you how thankful I am for all of these challenges this month. When I was cleaning my kitchen to get it ready for Thanksgiving entertaining, I was so thankful I had done the kitchen challenges! And I've been working hard at keeping my living room up to snuff. I've been really thinking about what needs to be in there! So THANK YOU!

Here is a review of both the quest guides. http://missmoe-thesearethedaysofmylife.blogspot.com/2011/02/teacher-and-student-quest-guides-for.html If I had to pick just one of the guides to get, I would go with the teacher's guide.

Yup, use the soundtrack. Listen to it several times a day.

Thanks for the new list! I unfortuntually am going to have to move a lot of our school stuff into the garage just for this week, so we can have our Thanksgiving party in our living space. I hate to do the stash and dash, but it's needed for this year. Baseboards and floor are on my agenda today, as is sweeping my patio and finishing trimming a few plants out there.

There is always a time and season for doing different things. I think math and reading could mostly work for the ages of your kids as long as their days also are full of lots of experiences. They are playing together and alone. Have time outside in nature. Help mom and dad while they work around the house--and talk about everything you are working on. Muck around with crafts, cooking, playing in the mud, ect. I would say more language arts would be needed for your 8 year old. I don't think that needs to take all day. More like an hour and half spread through out the week. So about 20 minutes a day total of grammar, spelling, and writing.

We still have a few things to finish up this week. We are planning to take off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We are having a lot of people over Wednesday evening, so I have a ton of cleaning and baking to do before then. So school will need to happen mostly without me.

That requirement drove me crazy when I lived in your neck of the woods! It does not make any sense for elementary ages. So yes, I counted our math time to be an instructional hour when we completed a lesson. Of course, we completed more math than just our math curriculum with different crafts, games, cooking, ect. So that made me feel better about counting the time we spent as a full hour.

Yes, I use the worksheets for this reason as well. AND I let my kids write in the textbooks!

This is true---I have two kids in school that are a good year and a half younger than their peers because of the difference in cut-off dates.

This de-cluttering eposide has really caused me to think about why I am keeping things where I keep them. Why did I have my stamping stuff in the master closet? (because it was in a box that got put in the master bedroom when we moved :001_huh:) I'm really working hard on thinking about things before putting them away!

Feeling blah and unmotivated today! Am going to force myself to work for 15 minutes on bathroom drawers and cabinets.

I've found my teens really need a space to get away to be by themselves at times. That isn't a bedroom at our house as my girls all share a room, but somewhere private is good. You might want to keep that in mind. What could be done with the basement in the future? Would it have an option for a room or two?