I imagine it would work great in a co-op. You could just use the questions for group discussion. I have not had any trouble finding the movies or books. Many movies are available on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Also several of the DVD's can be purchased used or even new for under $10 from Amazon. If you have Prime, they offer many used books and movies with free shipping. Also you have the ability to skip around in the book, you do not have to do all the movies or do them in order. The program is very flexible, and my son really enjoys it.

My 8th grade son is doing this now. He is interested in film studies so it is a perfect fit. We are really enjoying it! Most of the movies and accompanying books are easy to find and cheap or free (we have Netflix and Amazon Prime). On day 1 he watches the movie straight through without interruption. On day 2 he watches the movie again and answers the very in depth questions. On day 3 he compares his answers with the answer key. He watches the movie one more time after checking all of his answers. After that he reads the matching recommended book. After watching the movie one more time he writes a 5 paragraph essay. Each movie takes about 2 weeks. There are 18 movies in all, making it fit into a typical 32 week school year. I would have no problem giving using this for a High School lit credit, as long as the suggested book was read and the essay was required. I would also grade the questions myself. Since my son is only in 8th I let him check and grade the questions on his own and leave the process very informal, but if he were using it for High School I would be the one checking them. They are not easy questions and require long, well thought out answers. Letting him do it on his own takes the pressure off of him, because otherwise they would be overwhelming at his grade level.

My husband did this once, somehow he managed to get a new laptop out of it. :001_huh:

A very similar incident just happened to me the other day. I went directly against my husband's wishes on something, with the internal excuse that I would "surprise" him. It ended up being a nightmare of a mistake. Thankfully I was able to fix it but I just kept beating myself up over it, I felt so stupid. My husband wasn't even upset with me, he was just relieved that I fixed it. He just told me to let up on myself and not get stressed out over it. But the problem is I can't afford to make mistakes like that, my family depends on me not to. I think as moms who try to do so much for our families we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make perfect decisions. Unfortunately everybody makes mistakes from time to time, just when we do the fallout tends to be pretty serious. This is probably the same type of pressure many husbands feel about finding & keeping a job to provide for their families, not an easy thing in this economy. At least we care and are trying, right? :grouphug:

I agree that a bath immediately would probably be too traumatic, especially since most cats really hate water. Pet stores now carry "pet wipes". I would purchase a package of those and give them a good wiping down. The kittens would probably actually enjoy those, maybe even warm the wipes up a bit in the microwave first.

There is a certain person on my "friend" list who married into my family. She is always posting negative things about sahm's. She herself is a mother and always comments on how glad she is that she has a job and doesn't have to stay home all day, because it would be so boring. I don't take the time to reply or argue with her because to be honest I feel sorry for her.

This is what I am using for my 9th and 8th graders this year. I have looked through it and really like the way it is presented and laid out.

Make sure you go to the right page (I went to the wrong one at first), there is a Fairbanks Orthodontics and a Fairbanks Orthodontics Group you want the one that says group, just scroll down a bit and you will see the pic. Good luck OP!

I used to do this until I noticed the "good bits" were getting picked of of the mix leaving the other stuff behind. :glare:

:iagree: My teenagers eat a lot of food, and they never gain weight. They take after their dad that way, mad fast metabolisms. I did not want them to feed themselves a ton of junk food, and they can clean out an entire stocked pantry & fridge in less than two days. So to avoid going broke I buy very few processed snacks. I stock up on massive amounts of pretzels (cheap and sugar free). We do have popcorn kernels, for use in an air popper or on the stove top, and I will buy a large bag of veggie straws or veggie chips from Sams as a treat once a week. Thankfully my kids love veggies and yogurt! So we have a garden that brings in large amount of fresh veggies that they snack on throughout the day. We always keep eggs and cheese on hand, so they often make eggs with veggies and cheese. I make homemade yogurt in the crock pot a gallon at a time, which the kids eat with fruit. I make homemade Popsicle's using juice, yogurt, fruit, milk or whatever I have on hand, I toss it in the blender then pour it into the molds. PB&J sandwiches get made a lot. Occasionally, I pick up a large bag of pre-cooked & peeled shrimp. All of my kids know how to bake so they often make their own desserts & sweets. I also found an amazingly simple granola recipe that I double and always have on hand. Granola Recipe: Ingredients: 1/3 cup + 1 Tbs. butter or oil, vegetable, canola or olive 2 Tbs. water 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey, molasses, table syrup or mixture of two or more) 4 cups old-fashioned oats 1 cup wheat germ 4 Tbs. brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 4 Tbs. ground flaxseed (optional) 2/3 cup coconut (optional) 1 1/2 cups nuts (almonds, pecans, sunflower or pumkin seeds or other nuts, mix and match or just use one) Adjust oven racks to middle positions. Preheat to 275 degrees. Coat two metal cookie sheets with cooking spray or oil and set aside. Bring oil, syrup, cinnamon, water to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat. Mix oats through nuts in a large bowl. Pour oil/maple syrup mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture onto two prepared cookie sheets. Working a handful at a time, squeeze granola to form small clumps. Bake for 30 minutes. Stir and continue to bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes longer. Let cool. Granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

It has been a few years since I have read this book, but it is one of my favorites. The story is admittedly less than stellar, especially the peculiar ending, but the story is not the main focus of the book. What makes Brave New World so compelling is it's vision of a Utopia. The idea presented by the book is that a Utopia would not be a paradise. The feel of darkness and despair comes from what is supposed to be a perfect world. I found this book to be a much easier read than 1984 which has a similar allegory though with a different viewpoint. The sexual content was utilized to represent how the sexual revolution has become a type of "soma" for our society. It is being used to control the minds of the masses. This is what Huxley was seeing the beginning of while writing his book, and it was fairly prophetic in nature. We are a society which is inundated and controlled by sexual images and references in the name of "entertainment". A lot of the problems with Brave New World come from the fact that it is pretty much a science fiction novel. Science fiction is often dark, irreverent and shocking. This is why many people avoid the genre.

I think we enjoyed taking a couple of years off from a rigid structure. We were really getting stressed out over lesson plans prior to that. We would get behind on one or two subjects and then I would have to rewrite everything or we would fall behind trying to catch up. I was a bit worried that without lesson plans we wouldn't get anything done, but I think we actually made better progress. We were able to take our time with subjects the kids were struggling with while not falling behind in the ones they were not. That being said, we are definitely ready to get back to a set schedule. I actually like the fact that Kolbe plans are broken down by subject. What I did was divide all of the lesson plans into their own binders, sorting by subject & grade level. Then I took out the exams and AK's and filed them. This way the kids are free to grab the binder they need, as they need them. I am hoping this works out well since it does give them some flexibility with pacing.

Thanks for this post! We too will be using Kolbe this year, although we won't be starting till October. This will be my first attempt to homeschool for high school. I sent my oldest son to ps for his 9th and 10th grades. But we recently decided to pull him out and use Kolbe for high school for him, 11th, and my entering 9th grade dd. I have been organizing all the books and lesson plans and it has been a bit overwhelming. Kolbe is a huge departure from the "do the next thing" method we have been using since I stopped using lesson plans two years ago. The kids and I are going to have to get used to sticking with a set schedule again. I am scared and excited at the same time, your post gives me hope that I can do this! Which diploma are you going for? My daughter is going for the Summa, and my son the Magna, he will be doing all of the work for a Summa, but transferring students are not eligible for it.