I am watching a Netflix instant streaming show called Survivors. It's not Survivor, like with Jeff Probst and tribal council, but is a British show about a modern times flu epidemic gone bad. It has twelve 50 minute episodes. I like it.

Colleen, I am so glad that 1) you understood what I meant. I was afraid I was not getting my point across clearly and sounded like a dope. 2) you agree. You always have great advise concerning the use of R&S and am so glad you posted. It's a weird lesson...(ha)this use of ellipses. Dd13 didn't do fabulous on the ch.3 test, but the section on ellipses through me into a tail spin. I am little by little learning to weedout what is and isn't important in our curriculae, and learning to relax and not sweat what doesn't make sense. For instance...(ha!ha!)Ellipses. But like you said, if there is anyone who has a better defense of the use of ellipses the way R&S has it laid out...I am all :bigear:. I will TRY to stop using ellipses now.:lol:

:confused::angry::banghead: I need help.............................please.

So I read the lesson about inserting dashes and ellipses. Seems very practical. You use them when YOU are writing to imply something is missing. Here is my gripe...(ha)the ch.3 test has several sentences that you are supposed to figure out where the ellipses are supposed to be, but they have used sentences that make it nearly impossible to figure it out because as read they could be percieved differently. Other than using the ellipses to infere missing words in a direct quote, I always assumed that it is a stylistic tool used by the author of a sentence, etc. for emphasis and style. HOW CAN YOU TELL WHERE TO PUT THE STUPID ELLIPSES...if you are not the author of said sentence. I find this infuriating and annoying. Please help.

If it's anything like the school system here, I would go through private practice. I have heard from other moms in town that have had their kids in ps that they only do group therapy. Your kid is grouped with others with similar issues and do group speech excercises once a week. I don't see that as effective from any angle. We have tried to get dd13 speach therapy in our district and was denied, even though she got therapy in a neighboring district from a very qualified therapist (Phd). The therapist in our district was not friendly at all, in fact, very anti-hs. She tried to tell me dd13 didn't have a problem at all and that the last therapist was waisting tax payer dollars. It's a bi-lateral lisp, severe enough people have made fun of her...and she told us there isn't an problem. We would have to drive 35 min. both ways to a private practice, likely 2-3 times a week, to get to a private therapist. And the bottom line is that dd13 doesn't want to fix it, she doesn't think it's that bad. I know what I have already said may not be of much help, but the bottom line in your success is going to be how willing your dc is to work on it. I would see a private therapist for analysis and see if they can make a plan that works for you financially. It sounds like your district isn't willing to help you, and that may affect the attitude of the therapist making it not the best treatment environment for your dc.

What!!??? What asteroid? I dont' have cable or the paper. Now I'm a little freaked out...and my husband is on the other side of the state hunting, out of cell coverage. I need to go pray now.:001_unsure:

The fleas are bad this year. We had to spray the whole house...twice. The Advantage we gave our new kitten did.not.work. The local vet from whom I bought the spray said it wouldn't matter this year if you used Advantage or not...and that we should spray our yard and hope for an early freeze. Well, dd13 is one of those kids that bugs really love, the ones that always gets eaten alive by mosquitos on a camping trip. Well the fleas really like her too. Then to make matters worse her body started having an allergic reaction to the bites, and was covered in lots of little hives. Just at the start of basketball season, when you have to wear shorts, middle school girls...she felt humiliated. She ended up on antibiotics and prednisone for the week and is getting better...finally. Came home from grocery store last night to find the cat sleeping in her bed...accidently let in by little brother who doesn't close the door behind him...more bites appeared this morning....vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, wash, wash, wash. Seriously?

For us Saxon has been open and go for one student, but not another R&S English Spelling Workout Abeka Math (k-4) RS4K level 1 Apologia GS and PS, my student lets me know what she needs for experiments. So far Rosetta Stone Spanish is very open and go, but that might not be a good thing...jury's still out on that... And finally, I have been shocked at how smoothly IEW SWI-B is going. All I have to do is edit papers...it's wonderful. They watch the DVD, they write, I correct, they revise, done. But that's not counting time spent watching the TWSS. Almost forgot to mention WWE...but only if you use the workbook.

:bigear::lurk5:I will be watching this thread closely. This is an issue that we have really been struggling with lately. Our oldest, dd13, is a very solid Christian kid, but has been sheltered for the most part all her academic life. She started out at a very small Christian school, then we brought them all home to homeschool when she was a 6th grader. She has played sports through the local Boys & Girls Club and that has given her opportunity to mix with the local ps crowd, but every season, she ends up being the odd girl out as the goodie goodie because she doesn't swear, smoke, or have a boyfriend. 4H here is predominately homeschool kids so that hasn't been a huge witnessing opportunity. We want to let her be more independant, and involve herself with other non-believers but the middle school and high schools here are a cesspool. The middle school has been off and on the state watch list for behavior and the high school has a 40% graduation rate. We also want to be able to drop her off at the library for a few hours, which is her favorite place in the whole wide world, but that is where all the sex offenders sit and look at their 'favorite webistes'. This is confirmed by local law enforcement. Ugh. We feel at a complete loss as to where and how to give her opportunities to grow in independance. I am listening to all the wisdom in this thread. We have discussed and prayed about this at length and have no answers yet. We have discussed letting her go to the ps for an elective like art or keyboarding just to get her exposed, but the thought of it makes me sick.:tongue_smilie: In just a few short years, she'll be driving and then what?

This has been our third weird week in a row. Nothing really major, but lots of pestulant type interuptions that have got us a little behind. I am glad the week is done so that I can plan on a full week of school next week. Our washer has broke down 2x in the last 2 weeks...yesterday it acted up..then decided to work again, so I stayed up till 2am getting laundry done before it acts up again. bfast/lunch-whatever weekend plans- Last week was end of soccer so all we have is dd13 doing violin performances at several of the local Christmas bazaars on Saturday. sickness- I am coming down with a cold from being too run down. Dd13 is on antibiotics and prednisone for allergic reaction to flea bites from new kitten. Thankfully she is getting better quickly.

My husband was the same way. He threatened to record me for years. I found it so annoying because everytime he complained, I always felt like I was awake. Well, I finally had a sleep study done and the tech told me I snore 'like a rockstar'. Great. After the apnea diagnosis dh has stopped making fun of me knowing what all it entails...not so funny anymore. I am sure the recording has made for some great laughs, but do keep in mind the possibility that there is an underlying condition that needs addressing. Snoring can seem very benign, but sleep apnea needs treating. All that to say...I need to go back to the doc. The CPAP thing is not working for me and I have let it go too long. Hmphf.

well, the twins were born the end of october and I think that in February and March we were still into our freezer stockpile. It was a huge thing. Especially the last few weeks of pregnancy -- we were able (b/c I was on bedrest) to dip into the freezer stockpile and not be concerned b/c there was so much. WOW! This is really impressive...so, so smart because you never know when or if you will be on bedrest...and to have meals past the first few weeks that your friends bring them...fabulous. YOU MUST DO THIS! We got away with having one crib for about 3 months, so if you don't get a second one right away it's no biggie, you've got a little time. Double strollers are essential...if you want to leave your house. You can get away with leaving one in the infant seat and carrying one on a front carrier...but only for short outings. Other than what's already been mentioned I can only think of a few other things mostly pertaining to diapers. If you plan on using disposables you could start stocking up now on various sizes. Also, if you have a Diaper Genie...it will not handle the load (Ha!) and you will go broke buying the refills. You need a Diaper Champ. You can use your own kitchen trash bags, it holds way more, and I thought it was better at sealing in the smell. It's also way quicker to use...no twisting, twisting, twisting...just insert, flip the handle, done. Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Showers are elusive...so for the days that I didn't get a shower or didn't get one until late...the inexpensive body sprays at Bath and Body works were wonderful. It really helped me feel a little more presentable and was a great mood lifter to smell nice amongst the chaos. Wishing you the very best in your pregancy.:grouphug:

I was told by the folks at MFW, that if you use their curriculum guide(has additional activities and projects) with the software, levels 1-2 would be equivalent to 2 years high school Spanish and that level 3 and above would only be necessary if you are planning to study Spanish at the college level. Their homeschool package includes the software and the currriculum guide at a pretty reasonable price for what I've seen others selling Rosetta. Their package does not include the workbooks, and there is an explaination in the curric. guide stating that they don't feel like they are helpful and tend to cause frustration. We started dd13 on it 2 weeks ago and she loves it. However, she has also mentioned that it is easy and that she wishes she had an actual book to go along with it. She is doing well with the vocab and I feel confident she is getting her pronunciation correct, but she does often have questions about verbs(conjugation), and how they work. This might be the weak area, but like I said, we're only 2 weeks in. I would love to hear ideas on how to supplement Rosetta Stone Spanish. I took 2 yrs. of French in high school so I am really not much help so what ever we do it needs to be very student lead. All in all, if you are looking for a FL program that is NOT teacher intensive, very student independant, this is a great option...but I might find a Spanish book to refer to on occation.

We are using books A1 for ds11 and book B1 with dd13, hoping to do at least 2 books each this year. There is a post test for each book, but no review type quizzes, etc. Not sure how to work in more review that they can do independantly...flash cards? How do YOU do Word Roots in your homeschool?

Sorry, I don't know how this got posted here and I can't figure out how to delete it or redirect to other board. :tongue_smilie:

We have been using the Word Roots workbooks for dd13 and ds11 along with their spelling programs, and I am a bit uncertain of what we should be doing other than just doing the excercises. There is a Post-test for the end of the book, but we should be doing a some review also. Because we just started using them this fall, we started ds11 with the A1 book and dd13 with the B1 book, and plan on moving through a couple books a year. How do YOU use these books? Do you have them do a weekly quiz that you put together?

Dd13 just started fiddle lessons, casually, after 9 yrs. of classical violin. Ds11 just started 5th year of piano, ds/dd8 twins just started their second year of piano.

A friend of mine has an English Jack Russell. They specifically got the English type because they are supposed to be a more mellow variety...and the dog they have has been great, not hyper at all. The English type is also a bit shorter in stature. I know it's not a lot of info, but maybe enough to spark your interest enough to research it. I don't normally like little dogs, but I love this particular English Jack Russell, so sweet and well behaved.

I voted very busy. I really don't know how to be less than very busy with 4 dc, especially the ages they are. Music lessons and 4H are part of the educational 'big picture' here and I suppose we consider sports in that category too for excercise(PE) and social time. The older 2 also have youth group once a week. We like to cook from scratch as much as time allows, which is also time consuming. I do freak out a bit if random things interrupt our schedule like illness, car repairs, etc. I have had no time to spend on hobbies since we started our homeschool journey. Hundreds of dollars of scrapbooking supplies have laid idle, sewing machine covered in dust, not to mention the condition of our garden. The house is mostly clean, but cluttered because we are constantly working on something...but not allowing time to put the stuff away. My own fitness is very hit or miss, right now, it's not happening. I feel like to get everything done that I want to, I would literally have to not sleep. :tongue_smilie:

We have dd13 (8th grade) working on reviewing and cementing concepts in Algebra 1/2 before starting Algebra 1. Our ds11 (6th grade) is working in the 8/7 book. Forgot to mention that we use the Saxon Teacher CDs.

I looked at the Key to Pre-Algebra components, and for some reason I just keep going back to staying with Saxon for review at this point. I am positive it was the jump from our previous program to Saxon that created the problem to begin with so I'm a bit gunshy to switch again. So I got the Saxon Alg 1/2 book, and we are currently testing through to see where we need work. She took test one, and only missed 3, 2 of which were of the "I left my brain under the pillow" computational flubs, and 1 was a clear "whoa, lets spend more time here", and has been about the same for the first 3 tests. I don't anticipate going very many more days of testing through before we have to just stop and do each lesson, but it has been a good start and she is loving only having to do the 20 problems instead of the usual 30. Seeing smiles instead of tears is a very good thing. I can already see the review is building her confidence. My wishful thinking is that when we do finally get through to the Algebra book, it will be a breeze. Thank you everyone for your insightful thoughts and advice. I know this means the possibility of dd and ds doing Algebra 1 at the same time, which is not anyones preference...but I think it could be a good character building experience. Not everyone is good at everything, he certainly isn't the writer that she is, so we need to learn to gracefully accomplish what we must without criticism or comparison.

We usually get the double pack of Oroweat 100% Whole Wheat from costco, no HFCS. They are nice bigger than usual loaves so they last a little longer than the smaller ones you get at the regular grocery store. If I am not able to make it to costco, Franz bread has some really good healthy breads that you can get on sale for about $2.50. Do you have a bread outlet close by? The next town over from us is both a Franz and an Oroweat outlet that if you get there early in the day, you can get a loaf for as little as $.99, and have punch cards for how much you spend. That could be a great option as well.

I am hauling myself 1 1/2 hours tomorrow morning to the nearest decent homeschool curriculum store, so I will definitely be checking out the Key to series and Math Mammoth. Thank you also for the Donna Young tip. I go there for other things, but didn't even think to look at the math tab. My tenative plan is to get the Saxon Alg.1/2 book and possibly start with taking the tests and on the concepts she misses, go back and do the lesson, again. If things go sideways...we'll just start at lesson 1 and go through the book. Praying for a used copy to show up at this store, as this is really a rather spendy plan. Sheesh. I will keep an open mind and consider the other books too. Please pray for me. This is more of a delicate situation than meets the eye. She is very sensitive about her math skills and knows that most other 8th graders are doing Algebra 1, and when we have to have the "this is what's best before we move on to Algebra", it isn't going to go well. In addition ds11 is very good at math, and if I keep her back in Pre-Algebra for the rest of the year...they will be doing Algebra 1 together next year...her as a freshman and he as a 7th grader. I really don't want to hold her back, but I will never be able to live with myself if she starts Algebra is unsucessful. Still taking advice...thank you all for your thoughts.

She has fractions, decimals, percents, ratios down pretty well other than the sloppy decimal placement most of the time. Finally, combining like terms is coming along, and she is improving on pos/neg integers but her sloppiness gets her the most on those. What she doesn't get are the dice/card probability problems. She gets close sometimes, but hasn't gotten a single one right. Unit multipliers are also hit or miss. I feel bad for her because she is trying, and honestly I do have to use the TM to help her through most of them. The most frustrating thing is she will do great on a concept for a while...then...whooosh....it's a mystery. Any more suggestions? We have been using the Saxon Teacher CDs and a little Kahn.