I haven't spent much time with Saxon (though used it as a kid), and we only had one attempt at TT and I wasn't super impressed, though I think it has a place for some families. But... I know the feeling of wondering if some other curriculum is better or cooler than what you have now. Steel yourself. Resist! If your son is happy and learning with Saxon, then stick with it. If you are concerned about finding that he has surpassed your abilities to teach him... there are videos that go along with Saxon, or the possibility of outsourcing. Or even using TT in the future. But I really would recommend staying with what is working until it no longer works.

Yep! I got one last May and it's been awesome. We keep it sitting on the table for quick references, games, youtube videos.... I have the "Homeschool Helper" app and use it consistently for lesson planning and grading. We didn't bother with grades or quizzes in the past, but I figure it's about time and my middle school girls respond well to it and like to see their grade rise or fall with quizzes and tests. And of course, the IPad also serves to entertain me while kids finish work!

Stop the thyroid madness book and website are a bit too full of pseudoscience and quackery for my tastes. I do take 112 synthroid and don't have any issues, but I imagine if I took Armour, it would probably be fine too. It's really a choice of synthetic drug vs slaughterhouse by-product. I honestly don't know which is better.

Even with night owls, I try to preserve early bedtime at all costs. Not only do we adults need time to relax, kids do too. I'd have both kids in their rooms by 8, but let your younger have a reading or quiet playtime until 9 or whatever.

I've stayed at the St Paul's youth hostel in London with my daughter twice. Great location! I book air travel on expedia. Definitely have her stay at youth hostels, not in hotels! In a hotel, you get your key and go to your room and meet no one. In a youth hostel (in either a private room or a dorm), she'll have a lot of interaction with other travelers, and there's usually a kitchen or cafeteria, and activities offered, and plenty of people who want to go sightseeing. It's much more fun than staying in a hotel.

I find when my kids act like this, it's because it's worked for them before... but when the action doesn't get their desired response, eventually they'll stop. Has there been times when their whining has been successful.. when you have given in to their requests or bargained with them? If so, you might have inadvertently created a situation where they believe you will give in to their demands if they just whine and cry enough. And I would send them to school if we were unable to work together... not as punishment, just as a way to maintain our relationship and keep them learning.

Get your googling and fashion skills ready... I need your help! My brother is getting married in San Francisco in August. His fiance has asked her two sisters to be her bridesmaids and my brother has asked my two daughters (10 & 12 yrs old) to be his "groomsmaids". I'm not sure what the bride and her maids will be wearing, but it's an outside wedding and she doesn't want to spend too much. My brother will probably be wearing a 3 piece slim-cut suit, maybe blue or grey color... definitely not a tux. They're kind of young hipster types. My older daughter is somewhat petite (5'2) but has a grown-up figure. She'd need to be in a women's or junior size 0-1 or XS. She's a ballet dancer and loves willowy, ethereal, vintage clothes. My younger daughter is very sporty looking. She's still in kids sizes (no waist or chest), but needs a size 14 or so. She'd wear anything happily. I don't think that they need to wear the same dress, but they should fit together somehow. I started off looking at Modcloth, but there seems to be so many options and then I don't even know that I'd be able to alter a dress to fit my younger daughter if it had darts at the chest. But when I look at girls clothes, they all seem so tacky or else look like flower girl dresses, which my brother specifically did not want them to look like -- he wants cool and hip groomsmaids. So where does a cool, hip girl shop? What would a hipster groomsgirl wear?

This year from my dad, I got what appears to be a set of mini pitchforks. Apparently I should be using them to to turn a turkey over. My funniest gift ever was from a group of my elementary school students in Poland. They pooled their money and on their own went and bought a mug for me at a local shop. They were so earnest when they presented it to me... What they didn't realize was that it was an 'adult' gift featuring hundreds of colorful little phalluses covering it and saying (in Polish) "you are my big cup" which has a slightly naughty meaning that the kids didn't get. Anyway, I thanked them profusely and later laughed and laughed.

The funnest we've encountered is Ellen McHenry... The activities and games are very popular here. A second idea would be to choose a topic and build a course yourself using the "horrible" science series, documentaries, you tube clips, and a science kit on the topic. Less fun, but still good is Story of Science. We've always enjoyed learning science from a historical point of view.

Also, it may be a developmental thing. Fifth grade was the year that my daughter was incredibly moody. In math, she got frustrated so easily and had no ability to persevere in math. It might be that no curriculum you choose is going to make her happy about doing math. In your place, I would go back to Singapore or else get the math mammoth (which is useful to have on hand anyway) and just persevere, slow and steady, every day. In addition, have her play Timez Attack on the computer. It painlessly helped my kids with their multiplication.

Yes! Nutcracker is over! We don't live anywhere near a big city, so schools associated with a professional company are not possible. But we do have a local ballet school that is very good and has been sending one or two kids a year off to apprenticeships and companies. They put on a surprisingly good show. This year, my 11 yr old was cast in four roles: soldier, party girl, gumdrop, and Chinese corps. This is her fourth year as a party girl, and at 5'1, I think it's likely her last year. She's only been working on pointe for a year, but there's a good chance she could get a more advanced role next year as the school will have only a handful of older dancers and a ton of younger kids coming up behind her. So who knows... Without rehearsals, she takes 7 classes (5 technique, 1 pointe, 1 contemporary) which works out to 10.5 hrs/week. I think it's about right for her age and level.

I'd look into Galore Park So you really want to learn English 3 or English year 9. Alternatively, there are plenty of literature books that are published through the major school publishers. Just google things like Holt literature or Glencoe or Pearson or Scott foresman or prentice hall. An older edition will likely be quite cheap.

I considered using a high school biology textbook last year for bio and decided against it. My reasoning was that while the girls could handle it fine, they just didn't need to do it. I figured that there will be later opportunities for high school bio, but there won't be other opportunities for a light, fun romp through biology. So instead we used a combination of Ellen McHenry's Cells, Botany, Brain and Human body supplemented with lots of documentaries, Crash course and Khan academy and YouTube lectures, bio zone Evolution, interesting readings, a visit to a pathologists lab and a zoo and natural history museum, lots of microscope usage, growing bacteria in agar, dissections of chickens (we raise them for eggs and slaughter them for dinner periodically). We had a great time and learned a lot. Ellen McHenry's cells, in particular, was meatier than many high school textbooks chapters on cells and much, much more fun. They'll get biology with a single textbook in high school, but by that time they'll be a bit too old for all the stuff we got to do and I wouldn't feel like I could have as much freedom to play around with science as we did in a middle school context. Anyway, just because a child can be absolutely successful with a heavier course, doesn't mean that you have to go there just yet. It's okay to do something more playful while you can.

We've been using this : http://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Folktales-Pantheon-Folklore-Library/dp/0394751884 and http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060932570/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1387807606&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40 The Yolen book is a compendium of folk tales, the second involves some pictures and summaries of stories.

Yep - I agree 100%. I've been through teacher training and taught in public schools and found myself so frustrated by this.

Talk to Rivka! Also, my daughter did the middle school program through her youth group (a 4 church collective). It was put on by the UCC, not UU... So that might also be a source for the poster interested in finding the class locally.

I did the free download of the human body worksheets in Ellen McHenry's website to be used with an anatomy atlas. It was basic, but worked well. I found some cool videos and documentaries also.

Also, I should add that you can always turn down requests for fostering. We have several times! Once because the medical concerns were too much and once because the boys were just too aggressive and once because I just couldn't bear the thought of potty training yet again. We have never given up a foster child who was too difficult, but twice we've taken foster kids from other foster parents who couldn't handle them. It's a fairly common experience and both of those families went on to foster more kids. I feel too strong of a sense of responsibility to admit defeat like that. Our placement worker has always been great with giving us the lowdown. Nothing is spared... They tell everything from the allegations of sexual abuse and parental drug abuse during pregnancy, to kids who have a history of out of control daily tantruming and animal cruelty. I like knowing what we're getting into. Sometimes it's not as bad a picture as they paint. Sometimes it's worse, but I know they'll give me all the information they can. Finally, I should add that it's a family decision. We all have to agree -- including the kids, that it's the right thing to do. Also, we take breaks in between kids... it's good to have a month or two without the driving and stress.

We've been doing foster care for 2 years and will continue to do it. We do take kids under the age of our youngest, so far this has meant ages 3-6. Here's what I would think about: - How do you feel about difficult kids -- Biting? Hitting? Swearing? Bedwetting? Fights at school? Can you handle difficult situations without compromising your family? - How do you feel about driving -- doctors, psychologists, therapists, visitations (In our experience 3-4 times per week...), DHS, WIC, Headstart, out of district schools etc... - How do you feel about difficult social workers? We have a great relationship with our certifier, but have not been lucky with the kid's social workers who seemed to alternate between totally distant and unresponsive to emails and phone calls and totally annoying and invasive. Do you need much handholding? Are you okay to have a visiting social worker show up with little notice? - How do you feel about saying goodbye to a child? What about when you are fearful about where they're going? - How do you feel about giving love and affection and making sure that both your own kids and your foster kids are getting their needs met and not feeling like second-class family members? It's a little weird to hug a young child who is not your own and telling them how special and loved they are when you barely know them. Can you do it? -How are your own kids going to deal with the new arrivals? We have a rule that kids can't go into each others bedroom unless invited. Do you have a way to preserve their privacy? Are they up for helping diaper changes and help out with dressing or bedtime? Our kids generally have stepped up to the challenge and I think it's been a great experience for them... but there have been difficult times. - How do you feel about working with difficult bio parents? - They are likely disenfranchised and angry and have poor coping skills and addictions and criminal background and psych history. In our experiences, the parents were extremely young and needed a mentor and needed to feel that their child is taken care of and their own voices were being heard.

I should add that the very best cooking lessons come from making terrible cooking mistakes. My daughter's sugar cookies made with 1 1/2 cups of salt instead of 1 1/2 tsp of salt taught her to notice units better than me hovering nearby reminding her about measurements. She *needed* to make that mistake for herself and has always been meticulous about measurements since.

My 9 yr old loves to cook independently. She started with cookies last year and now makes dinner weekly. I looked at kids cookbooks for her, but found they weren't what I was looking for because the recipes are too frivolous and not hearty enough for our family (pinwheel sandwiches? Fairy cakes?). Instead I got her the 'Can't cook book" aimed at a novice adult cook. It's perfect because it presumes no prior knowledge and offers lots of pictures. Also, I disagree with the idea that kids shouldn't operate kitchen equipment independently - though they absolutely do need instruction first. By 9, my kids have been totally capable of using knives, ovens, blenders, food processors, stoves, even pans of hot oil for doughnuts, etc... In fact, I taught those skills to them at around 5 and 6 and supervised them until I had confidence in their ability to use equipment safely. Anyway, I wholeheartedly approve of unsupervised kids in the kitchen! They feel so proud to set dinner on the table or bring a cake to a potluck. It's empowering and a skill they need to be competent adults.

My middle school girls finished The Elements and needed more. Besides Carbon Chemistry, I have us watching Crash course chemistry and supplementing with online worksheets or from http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Science-Grades-12-100/dp/1568221886. We periodically use Conceptual chemistry to reinforce an idea. They also take notes and have quizzes using their notes, so it's also a note-taking practice. But I would not recommend crash course for elementary aged kids as he goes really fast and often throws in young adult humor that some might find offensive. At 7, I would stay away from formal chemistry textbooks and focus more on discovery learning. Get him a chemistry set and a chemistry book and let him play and research as he needs. Then in a few years, cycle back around and give him a real chemistry course when he has some more algebra under his belt and has the stamina to tackle a heavy dry textbook.

I'm eager to hear other ideas. I can say my daughter loved reading Freakonomics and superfreakonomics -- which isn't about economic systems or even necessarily about money. Rather, it's based on population data and looking at cost and incentive in various topics (some more or less child-appropriate). Definitely accessible and interesting and based on evidence rather than ideology. I also would suggest doing a history of economics approach. You could read a bit of Plato and Aristotle and Aquinas and Smith and Locke and Marx and Mill and Keynes. I'm probably skipping a bunch of important economists, but my own poor economics education was limited to them. I think putting the theorists into a historical context makes sense... And then seeing how the economic theories actually worked when applied to real humans.

We finished SM6b in the summer before 5th grade and then did Galore Park SYRWL Maths 2 in 5th and now Maths 3 in 6th, along with Zaccaro and CWP 5 and 6 and Keys to Algebra. Next year in 7th we'll officially do Algebra, though she's really mastered almost all of first year algebra already. Still, I'm glad we've been taking our time!

I don't know what's going on in your district... but in ours, meeting the Common Core standards have actually forced our district to give up their TERC Investigations (which did not teach standard algorithms) and take on a new program (Math Expressions) that teaches a number of ways to solve problems. I'm quite happy for the common core standards! I think it's raised the bar for our district. The kids and teachers have had a rough time since they were a bit behind, but are adjusting fine. I'm really pleased that my child will now be taught long division!