I was a very jealous 12 year old middle child... Apparently, I would count Christmas presents and get upset when my brothers got more than me. That Christmas, my mother was going to give me a pack of 12 socks (we often had practical gifts). So she individually wrapped each pair in various exciting packages (with a brick added, with a bell, with a tennis ball that rolled back and forth when you shook it) so that on Christmas morning I saw a bunch of interesting packages all addressed to me... only to find individually wrapped plain white athletic socks.

I second HWOT - the workbooks are cheap and my kids have improved a lot. I disagree, however, that the HWOT font is ugly. I kind of like it, actually. It's very vertical and simple and not pretentious at all. And really, my kids are always adding their own special 'flourishes' to their writing regardless of the style introduced.

I've seen several posts recently from parents asking if other 8 yr olds (or 6 yr olds or X yr olds) are equally difficult. There seems to be some agreement that two is a terrible age. And early puberty is notorious too. Anyway... I'm curious if there is any consistency in difficult ages or if it is pretty individual.

My 8 yr old has become quite moody in the past few months too. I actually think it might be puberty related, as she has had breast buds for about 6 months now and appears to be in a massive growth spurt. All I can say is that I'm sure I deserve this and much worse given the torment I put my own parents through at this age.

Our First Grade plan: Math: Math mammoth - Subtraction 1, Add/Subtract 2a, Place Value 1 Reading: Explode the Code - Book 4, 5. 6 History: SOTW 1 Handwriting: HWOT 1 Music: My first classical music book Science, art, woodworking - outsourced to PS Soccer and gymnastics at YMCA

I've never met a fluent speaker of any language who didn't have contact with another speaker of that language. So I would teach him whatever other languages you speak. If you don't speak any, I'd sign him up for a class or tutoring with a native speaker -- so choose whatever language is around your community. Or else perhaps teach her a classical language where the focus is on translation rather than communication.

We use this: http://www.amazon.com/Chore-Board-Helping-Around-House-Game/dp/0811863980#reader_0811863980 It's not really a game though... Basically you list (in dry erase marker) all the possible chores your kids could do. They write in the prize at the end. Then they have little magnetic characters (like "sweeping beauty") and they move one space each time they do a chore. There are a few interesting things along the way. Presents when they complete it have included: a ten dollar bill, webkinz, new books, snorkel and mask, tiara. I let them choose the prize individually. It's simple enough to work well in our house -- we've been using it for a year now.

I think I'd leave reading instruction alone and move to spelling. Your son is reading appropriately for his age and he'll continue to improve with or without direct instruction in phonics. As long as he keeps reading regularly! You've gotten the ball rolling and it's not going to suddenly stop. If you do go with spelling, I hear good things about AAS... Or if you felt he really does need more specific phonics work, you could use ETC as a phonics/spelling combo. They're pretty inexpensive books. I'm not sure which level would be right -- at least book 4 or above.

We've got the same thing here. I bought it with high hopes... My 8 yr old just loves history and would spend all day curled up with various historical fiction or non-fiction books. She actually learned about ancient history last year (with a different text), and she has begged to do it again. I thought it'd be great to combine the two of them and go ahead. So we started last week and my 6 yr old just couldn't care less. She's into the coloring and isn't particularly disruptive, but she has literally no idea what I just read about. In terms of retention or understanding, I honestly might as well be reading to our family dog. It's very weird to have a super motivated academic child and then one who is oblivious to books (but, of course, awesome in other ways). I think I'll probably just plow onwards, lower my current expectations for her and keep up my hope that she'll begin to catch on as she matures.

At our local YMCA, we pay $25 for 8 half-hour group lessons or $25 for one hour of private lessons (or $12.50 for half hour). That said, it seems really cheap -- when we lived in CT, we paid twice as much.

We have it ready to go for the fall for my 8 yr old mythology lover. I thought we'd do this and then move to Minimus Secundus in the spring (we finished Minimus last year). It's pretty light, but then again... we're doing Latin just for fun at this point.

How about a nice long soak in oxy clean? Or Bac-out? Or bleaching them? I'd do these before tossing them out. The worst thing that happens is that you ruin them (and they sound almost ruined already).

I live in a very liberal community and in my everyday life, I know only a few people who consider themselves conservatives (and those are pretty moderate in the scheme of things), so I'm sometimes weirdly fascinated by some of the opinions on this forum.

My daughter is an Emily Dickinson fan, so her two favorites are: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me. and There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is the chariot That bears a human soul! I also like e.e. cummings: maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach (to play one day) and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were; and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles; and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone. For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea

We have charter and I don't care for them at all. I've had some weird customer service and installation issues. Once everything is established, however, it's fine as long as I don't have to talk to customer service.

:iagree:

We drink tea several times a day. My girls like chai or earl grey with milk and sugar... Or peppermint or spearmint with sugar. Or fruit tea with sugar. Really... I think they like all kinds of tea, as long as they're sweet. They'd probably also like iced tea w/ sugar too, but I don't think they've tasted it.

Do a search for it on this forum to see if it might be a good fit (you might search under BCM too). It's basically a remedial math textbook used in community colleges for a one semester pre-algebra course, but it's popular among homeschoolers for middle school grades. It starts with arithmetic. An added bonus is that your 9th grader may get a confidence boost by seeing that it isn't childish at all. I used it years ago with adult math students I was tutoring and found it very straightforward. You should be able to get an older edition for a good price.

They're cool pictures, but I'd only do one of those on that wall.

How about Lial's Basic College Math?

Don't forget that you can often negotiate with moving companies. We were debating between PODS and ABF U-Pack last year when we moved from the east to the west coast. We got a quote from ABF that was significantly cheaper than PODS, so I called PODS and asked if they would consider lowering their price. They were happy to! In the end, we paid half of the original quote.

Unless you would like your child to begin college earlier or later than 18, I would use age rather than ability in deciding which grade to officially call a child.

My girls *loved* staying in a covered wagon on the Laura Ingalls homestead in Desmet. Badlands National Park is awesome. Stop at the pharmacy in Wall, SD for an ice cream or malt. The Jewel Caves were really interesting, but you need to make a reservation in advance. Don't forget Crazy Horse monument. At Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, and Yellowstone, kids can do the Jr Ranger program.

I flirted with various religions as a teenager, but didn't have the resources or dedication to follow through. I think it was appealing because I went to a pretty hard-core fundamentalist Christian school. As a kid, I continuously got the message that there was "only one way" to be a Christian -- and I had been told by my teachers that I was possessed and that I was going to h.ell. So I think it was kind of natural to look for alternatives. In the end, I needed to find a place for myself within Christianity -- and I eventually did. So in your shoes, I'd do a lot of reading. Try books like "Who needs God" by Harold Kushner. You might look into the Unitarian (UU) church as a denomination that is open to a variety of faiths.

Whenever this happens to me, I always think of the Eddie Izzard sketch about fruit being rock hard... waiting until you leave the room to ripen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jSE3JANx14