What about Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends"? That's very vampirey!

My 12 year old wears and likes skinny jeans and sweaters. I think it's totally age appropriate. Plenty of size 12 women's and size 12 girls out there, so double check the sizes... If in doubt, Pajamas, bathrobes, coats, gloves, hats, and tops might be easier to fit rather than jeans. But a return receipt probably will do the trick.

For my almost -teen Think geek t-shirt (Marie Curie) Gym bag for ballet LOTR wii game Wallet Book Cat Calendar

How did you make the weeping angel?

I'm of the mean-mom variety who wouldn't let it go. I mean, around the house is fine... But once outside of the house, the clothes and shoes my kids wear needs to be weather and occasion appropriate (and maybe sandals are weather appropriate in Texas winter, I don't know?) Anyway, I put away all flip flops and sandals and shorts after the summer in boxes so they are not an option. I make sure my kids have had a say in their clothes and shoes and socks, choosing something they like, but then they need to wear it. I have had kids refuse to wear appropriate clothes, but I make sure the power struggle happens in a way that will have a successful ending. It ends up with directions like - "If you'd like to go sledding, you must be wearing your jackets and boots." Or "We can go to the park when your socks and shoes are on" or "We can go to the party when you brush your hair." It usually only takes once staying home or being late to something fun and the kids get the message that what we wear matters.

Discworld books by Terry Pratchett have some fun vampires -- Carpe Jugulum has a lot but would make more sense if you already knew the witch characters... "Monstrous Regiment" has a great vampire character too and it's an awesome story.

Neil Gaiman is awesome and I love how he reads his own audiobooks.

Our main concern was fridge dimensions. We had a 33" width and wanted a french door with freezer on the bottom. Only one fridge met our requirements.

I have some weird neuro symptoms and have had full work ups and still don't know the cause. I figure either it's nothing (in which case I don't need to worry) or it's the start of something that will show up in 10 years or so (in which case I don't need to worry about it now). In your place, I'd see if I could ignore it... and if not, I'd go to a university hospital for a full work up. But be prepared to pay! MRIs and nerve studies and biopsies and such are pricey. Honestly, I think my money could have been a bit better spent since most of the results were negative. Still, sometimes reassurance is good.

Thank you! I usually just write out my weekly meal plan and shopping list. It'll be great to have it all online since I tend to repeat recipes pretty frequently...

I haven't used a teachers guide with Foersters, so I'm not sure what's in it. Generally, the way I teach math with Foersters is to start by having my daughter fix errors from the previous days work. Then while she's doing that I read through the next lesson and then summarize it for her. If there's a new formula or axiom or vocabulary, I'll have her write it down in her notebook. Then we do the sample problems together and check the work. I often have her do the oral problems, then I assign the regular problems for her to work on (usually odds or evens or every third). I let her work on it, but check in after the first ones to make sure she's on the right track. Math takes us 1.5-2 hrs. It's a bit long, but then I figure that an hour lesson plus 30-60 min of homework is pretty common for algebra, so maybe it's all right. The solutions manual makes grading easier, but you could probably do without it if necessary. I don't have a test book. Instead, I just use the chapter reviews as chapter tests.

Have you looked at Writing Skills by Diana King book 2 or 3? Also, I used to teach remedial and esl writing at colleges and had some leftover books lying around. So a few years ago, I started using them with my daughter and they were perfect for her - Very specific and straightforward and sequential. I sometimes skipped an exercise if it was not useful (aimed at non native English speakers), but mostly, it was just what I was looking for. Look at "First Steps in academic writing" and its sequels "introduction to academic writing" and "Writing Academic English" all published by longman - author is Ann Hogue. I also used another book called "Write Start" and may give "composing with confidence" a try. There's no teacher's guide really, just a clear workbook type writing program. If you explore this route, be sure to buy old editions - no need to spend more than a few dollars.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product_slideshow?sku=372049&actual_sku=372049 is aimed at grades 2-4 but not visibly babyish. It has a similar grammar/mechanics/writing feel.

Our ski shop had a three year "junior exchange program" where we bought skis, boots and bindings and had them fitted and then returned them each spring and picked up another set in similar condition each November. In the third year, we kept the skis. Check if there's something similar in your town. Also, out town has a "ski swap" for cheap kids skis.

We went from SM6b (4th grade) to Galore Park Book 2(5th grade) to GP book 3 (6th grade) to Foersters (7th grade). We also did Keys to, HOE, Zaccaro, CWP 5,6 etc... I can not imagine jumping straight from SM to Foersters in one go. I'd definitely recommend at least a year of pre-algebra.

I think I read In n Out may open in Medford next year.

It looks like In n Out is dominating eastern Oregon, but there are no In n Outs in Oregon at all. Unless maybe I'm confusing the colors and it's Sonic?

I wouldn't worry much. It's unlikely she's not as academically prepared as all other kids. In the spring before she goes, she could read some books that involve school kids, visit a classroom, look at some student homework or samples of work or textbooks so she doesn't stress about it. Teach her the pledge of allegiance if they do it at your school, tell her about raising hands and riding buses and eating in a cafeteria. If your materials don't include it, show her how to answer cloze (fill-in-the-blank) and multiple choice questions and how to put her name and date on her papers.

It could be a dialect thing - What area of the country is he from? Speech perception is interesting... I'd probe the issue a bit -- Is it only before an ng? What about before other consonants?What about It/ate? Win/wane? Tim/tame? Pin/pain? What about pin/pen? There is a well-known merger of short i and short e sounds before m, n and ng. Maybe that's what's going on? Regardless, It's notoriously difficult to teach people to recognize and pronounce sounds they can not distinguish. (Think - trying to teach a color blind person to distinguish two colors...)

My 12 year old can do a lot of independent work, but math is not a subject I trust her to complete on her own. Review type topics are no problem independently, but I absolutely sit next to her for complicated problems and complete them in my own notebook, comparing answers after each one. It helps for a few reasons... It keeps her on track, it allows me to be truly aware of the time it takes to complete a problem (I used to assign too many problems, not realizing how long some problems take), it allows me to know exactly the areas she struggles and excels in, and (as a bonus) I have been learning problem-solving techniques that I either forgot or never fully understood.

Thank you! That should be enough to do the question!!

My daughter has a question to ask: Hi-I need some data for a math question (Foerster algebra 1, p. 335). I'm supposed to survey my classmates but (obviously) have none. The question is about comparing shoe sizes and height. Could you please tell me the height in inches of your family and what (American) shoe size they are. (eg: 62 inches and an 8 in women's shoe sizes. Or 42 inches and a size 9 in kids). Thank you!

Take a look at them on the cle website. You have to sort through the home ec 1 and 2 courses to pick out which are cooking oriented. I got some snarky comments at the start regarding the pictures of Mennonite girls and "Gods light in electives" on the front cover, but the instructions are specific and the worksheets and quizzes allow me to assign things easily. Having a curriculum rather than just handing a recipe to a sarcastic 7th grader shifts the burden off of me (As in, "It isn't *mom* reminding me to wash my hands and telling me to bake fluffy biscuits and clean up after myself, it's those ladies who wrote the textbook.") Also, there is some gender/religious/cultural stuff, but it's subtle in the cooking units.

If you don't want to let her loose, and don't want to pay for a class, you could plan/teach/control by including cooking in your academic day. I have a daughter who proudly insisted she would never cook and will live her entire adult life on top ramen and take out. I decided she needed cooking lessons. We've done a few of the cle light units on home ec and they have a lot of worksheets and assigned simple recipes. We pair it with Alton Browns good eats. I just plan units on different foods - cakes, pies, meats, bread, vegetables, etc... She hates it. Sort of. Actually I think she secretly loves it. Anyway... You could put together your own cooking class for her.

We're going to give Saxon a try for geometry when we finish Algebra 1 (Foerster). I'm curious how it'll go... My daughter is good at math but dislikes it, but we've come to a place where she no longer complains. I don't try to find ways to make it fun or relevant or cool because she just wants to do it and move on. My thinking is that she'll appreciate the plain pages, straightforward lessons and consistent number of problems. I'm hoping that the amount of algebra in the book will keep it fresh for her.