Audrey, thank you so much! After reading the information from the link you sent, I'm just going to enjoy the version I already have. I'll wait to try the new Onenote whenever we upgrade to Office 2016. Might be a long time, but that's fine. I really appreciate your help!

Audrey, I have not had a chance to try the 2016 version. I want to find out how it compares to 2010. I have not found from where to download it or if there is a charge. Can you compare it with the 2010 version and tell where to get it? I'll gladly stay with it instead of upgrading to the 2013 version. I didn't like that one at all. ETA: I've spent the last hour or so trying to find where to buy/download 2016. I guess it's just too late and I'm tired, but I can't find where to go. Audrey, it would be great if you could point me in the right direction. In the meantime, I'm giving up for tonight.

Happypamama, I tried to follow the bolded directions, but I just couldn't find a way. I see my list of notebooks, but I can't click on that list. The only thumbtack I could find was a pin-to-start option. Thank you so much for trying! Can you make this a little clearer? I'm going to keep playing with OneNote to see if I can learn to like it.

Just have a minute, but in response to happypamama, the biggest difference is the use of color and the way the subpages are organized. The version I'm used to has the notebook titles horizontally along the left margin. The notebook "chapters" are along the top edge, and subpages for each chapter are color-coordinated on the right margin. To look at it, the page looks beautiful, and more importantly, it is very user-friendly. The new version does not have the notebook titles along the left edge. There isn't color coordination between the subpages and the corresponding "chapters". It is not as user-friendly. I suppose just like with any learning curve, differences become easer with practice. We updated our desktop so that I could play with the new OneNote, but I don't think I'll update my laptop.

You know, I'm not sure if the new version I am trying is 2013 or 2016. How can I find out??? I still don't like it. :mellow:

I know many of you love to use OneNote. I'm trying the new version today. I love the 2010 version. I think this one must be 2013. So far, I don't like it. I'm sure there is a learning curve, but the new version isn't as user-friendly. For example, I'm setting up a trial notebook, and I can't make subpages like I used to be able to do. If you've figured out how to use the new 2013 version, please tell me if you like it or not and share anything you've learned to help make using it easier.

Thanks, YaelAldrich! I never would have thought of that.

I bought a mini crock pot at Target yesterday. It holds 20 ounces of food. I'd like to buy some crock-pot liners for this little pot, but I can only find the liners for a regular-sized crock pot- 3-6.5 quarts. Can I use the bigger liners and just cut away the excess?

Another question... After participating the first year, there is the option of joining the alumni group? Could someone explain what this is and what the student does if he is in this group? I'm loving reading about the experiences offered here. Ladies, thanks so much for all this help!

This is what my son has used in our speech and debate club. The book contains 105 questions each with an outline and recommended scriptures/commentaries to help the student answer each one. You would probably want to purchase the additional resources since they are referenced in the Fearless Apologetics book. These are the questions that the debate students draw and answer in competition as a type of limited-prep speech. http://www.theapollosproject.com/apologetics/competitive-apologetics/fearlessapologetics/ ETA: This book isn't limited only to a speech course or competition. It would make an excellent source to use for a student's quiet time as well.

Harriet, Would you tell me why you thought the fifth day to be a waste? My ds really prefers speech over debate in NCFCA... just a personal choice thing. Thanks!

Purplelily, When you say that, "It is a select few that discusses the bills..." would you explain this? I got the impression from reading on the web site that all of the kids have actual participation- not that some participate while others watch (?). Do they watch so that they then just check a box to vote? Voting sounds like a passive activity. I can't tell if this is good or bad. Is it better to choose to run for office rather than not so that you get more participation? But then, some may not really want to choose to do this. Are they at a disadvantage if they don't? Thank you for bringing up these points. This is the kind of information that bubbles up when experiences are shared that may not be understood when reading on the TP website.

Klmama, This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to hear. Thanks very much for sharing! Is there anything your kids would recommend to help prepare for attending? I'm trying to ask what we should do througout the year to set a foundation. I will have ds go through Notgrass Government because this is what we were going to do anyway. TeenPact won't start for us until the end of February/beginning of March, so we have time. I understand TeenPact has homework. We certainly would do that, but I'm wondering what would enhance the TeenPact experience to help ds look more forward to it. Suggestions?

Thanks, everyone!!! Excelsior! Academy, I don't have specific questions in mind. Since we've been a part of NCFCA, I have a sense of what the group is probably like. That helps. I am interested in hearing personal stories that describe the experience homeschoolers have had. High points or low points, I'm hoping to hear why we should either sign up and participate or why we should be careful before jumping in with both feet. I would love to hear from those who participated at both the state and national levels. I'll try to come up with a few questions.... Is the event more of a team-policy debate event or more like a speech event? What happens at the camp? After a day at the capitol? How did your students balance participation in TeenPact with managing school work? This is a big concern with us. Maybe that helps? Thank you!!!

The title says it all. I will have an 11th grader next year. This ds has competed in the NCFCA speech and debate organization last year and this year (9th-10th grades). We love the activity, yet the last two years have been very busy. We're hoping for a similar experience on a much smaller scale. I think I would like us to do both the state and national levels. If you've been to Teen Pact, please tell me about your experience. Thanks!!!

We used Notgrass with MFW when my kids did AHL and WHL, so we have a little experience with it. For American history, we've done something different: TTC The History of America. You don't have to use that for for my suggestion to work. I'm sure Notgrass would work fine. We break American history into two years. Year one (11th grade) covers early American history to the Civil War. When the history begins talking about government, we take a break and do government (Notgrass Government) then we return to the history through the Civil War. In 12th grade, we pick up with Reconstruction and go to the present. We also do personal finance and economics along with this later American history. I don't test. In the 11th grade year, my kids learn how to take notes. (Not a help to you since TTC is a lecture course.) But, in 12th grade, we do projects! They have been wonderful! I chose about six projects to cover later American history. Dd has , given a bulletin board presentation (HUGE research on Civil War),done a Powerpoint presentation on WWI, written a 29 page story inspired by the Great Depression, and is currently working on a research paper on Dick Winters of Easy Company (Band of Brothers). Other kinds of projects include music/lyrics that made an historical event significant, give a speech, interview someone who has personal experience with _____. etc... Think of the kinds of ways that your student would respond well to. The sky is the limit! I posted recently about our projects on a different thread. You can definitely apply this "project" idea to Notgrass. I know for my dd, these projects have motivated her. She has loved Ameircan history.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. I'm supposed to turn in grades the first week in March, and without those grades, I'll just have to give a good estimate for an average for Spanish. I have no idea why the grades went "poof". I have emailed VLS, but they are not being quick about giving me an answer. Does anyone here have an idea what we might try to recover the grades? Thanks! PS. He is working on their Volume 3, and the program is installed on son's computer. The VLS company asked these about these two things specifically.

I can't answer your question directly, but I think I can offer "food for thought." When my kids were little and we were first starting out, I used Konos. In the beginning, it was wonderful. As we went on in the year, however, the new wore off;and I became frustrated with it. I must be clear. Konos is a terrific unit study curriculum; there is nothing wrong with it at all. I discovered that I was the problem! I struggled greatly with picking and choosing activities from a long list of possibilities. From then on, I focused on curricula that was more ready-made. What is funny to me is that the first time I read about TOG, I downloaded the sample plans. I loved it! I really wanted to use TOG! I struggled with not buying it! The truth was that I recognized it was built much like Konos, and I knew that in the end it would not be the right thing for us. I've used Biblioplan too at the middle school level. I mostly liked it, but I greatly disliked the companion text. Yes, it is colorful and looks appealing, but for me, it seemed boring... (ymmv). It has taken years of trial and error, but what I've come to realize for us is that by high school, I'm tring to major on subjects my children have great interest in and minor on the other subjects. This doesn't mean that history, for example, isn't important. It just means that my dd loves English. My ds loves sciece. I'm going to try to push these subjects in high school. There is not time to do everything at max level. I have to choose school curricula wisely and realistically knowing that there are limited number of hours in a day for my DC to get work done. We won't even talk about extra-curricular activities!😂 I chose My Father's World for high school. We only do Ancient History and Lit (AHL) and World History and Lit (WHL). I use other stuff for American history, government, personal finance, and economics. Scheduling is the primary reason for that. For example, dd really wanted to take American lit/comp from her favorite teacher locally. It didn't make financial sense to buy MFW. Not to muddy the waters, but you might take a look at MFW. Like TOG and Biblioplan, it integrates Bible, history, and lit. Lesson plans are written to the student, and the parent meets weekly to discuss material learned with student. It can be as involved or simple a discussion as you wish. There are no parent helps like TOG has, but none are needed. MFW seems to be more organized than Biblioplan. Honestly, MFW is a good middle ground between the two of them. Sorry to be so long! I feel for what you are going through. It can be difficult to choose just the right plan for school. I hope this has helped just a little bit. Edited for clarity. It's hard to get everything right picking away on my tablet!😊

My experience... unit studies are probably best for the 5th grader, but we've had some success in high school with American history. Dd is using TTC History of the United States 2nd edition. She clearly told me that she did NOT want to have to memorize a bunch of dates. She REALLY wanted history to be a story. I agreed with her. In our study of American history, in 11th grade, she studied the first part of American history with government. In 12th grade she is finishing American history with personal finance/economics. In 11th grade, we used the lectures as a means of learning how to take notes. We also discussed the content. However, in 12th grade, I planned 6 projects: Civil War, WWI, Great Depression WWII, Vietnam, Iraq War (I think), and present. She has to present these any way she wants to. For Civil War, she made a huge bulletin board filled with what the war was about, how it came about, the major players, how it resolved, etc. With WWI she did a powerpoint presentation. She broke it down to a mini report on the countries involved and how Hitler rose to popularity. With the Great Depression she has written a work of fiction 30 pages long. She loves to write. For WWII she is writing a research paper on Richard Winters. This is where she is at the moment. The Civil War project was the most like a unit study. I gave her lots of ideas about how she could report on these topics. Later I can come back and add them to this post. Time is not a luxury at the moment. She has LOVED this year in history. It has unleashed some creative juices. Learning has been fun. She has really LEARNED history-discusses it fluently. Is passionate about issues. It has been WONDERFUL. ETA: I wanted to come back and add all of the activities I mentioned above. This is a very rough brainstorm list because I wanted my dd to have an open-ended launching pad. The list is supposed to help her consider the history topic and choose one of these ways to demonstrate learning. Dd is not limited to presenting styles. She can construct a bulletin board or PowerPoint presentation. She can write a story or essay. She can give a speech or organize several tunes to play for us with commentary describing what is relevant with them. The sky is the limit! This kind of evaluation has made history meaningful. It has really worked well for us. Here is the list of rough project ideas... it's much like TWTM notebook topics. Use primary documents How music/lyrics shaped/reflected history Describe what science,inventions/technology was imporant What language and literature were important Biography-people of influence Philosophy- changes of thought- paradigm shifts Significant battles Significant strategies

Thanks, all. I really appreciate your answers. My ds read the responses. In all honesty, math is the thing that scares him the most. Jennifer, it was comforting to read about your son who never seemed to love math. Mike, it was a wake-up call to read your comment about video game developers who have extremely strong backgrounds in math. No doubt, math will be the determiner for the major/career choice. Jennifer, sounds like your ds bloomed in math when he got to college, so maybe the hard computer science/graphics/AI fields aren't completely out of reach. I think the geology field would be awesome. I just happen to love geology after watching a Great Courses lecture series. With ds's love of dinos, archaelolgy, and related topics, I think geology would be an option. It's way early in the game for him being in 10th grade, but I'm trying to get him to start researching and asking himself the hard questions to narrow down his options. Arcadia, thanks for the link. When we heard the boy scout describe his experience, it was truly inspiring. Dh is a mechanical engineer, so we have his expertise in that field to explore here at home. :)

Asking for ds- Can anyone share experience with a career in video game creation/production? What would you major in for this career? Would you recommend pursuing this for long term? What are related fields in case this particular career isn't marketable in years to come? I would love to broaden ds's thinking so that he has inspiration to consider related fields. He LOVES dinosaurs, and he naturally gravitates to all things biology. He has made clay models of dinos and found all kinds of bones on our property that he has reconstructed. He is a talented artist, and he LOVES to work on his computer. He has an interest in animation, and he and his dad are working on a Raspberry Pie together to learn how to program. He has not taken any programming courses, but I think he has toyed with some programming. He has been part of a local robotics team for a couple of years. He is involved in a local speech/debate club and is very comfortable speaking to a crowd of people. He loves to teach/lecture on subjects he loves. He says that he wants to go into compurter science, but I just want to give him other choices. Math is not a natural strength, but he is a smart kid. VERY CREATIVE. VERY CURIOUS. He thinks out-of-the-box. One example of what I'm looking for might be something like what we heard from a local boy scout. The boy scout explained how he was part of a robotics team. He was inspired to create a prosthetic type hand that allowed amputees the ability to use the new "hand". It was an amazing story. So the related field in this case would be something like whatever major that would teach how to build prosthetics. This isn't anything like video game creation/production, but it is something that my ds's natural talents would support. If you've read this far, thank you! A little inspriation will go a long way here! ETA: Ds just turned 16 in January, and he is in 10th grade.

Ok, thanks!

Thanks, Lizzie and lailasmum. Honestly, I never thought that there would be any kind of app to put on my current phone that would help the camera. That sure would be cheaper than getting a brand new phone even though a new phone would be fun. I love new gadgets...the practical kind. Lailasmum, I read about the new LG g5 which is due to be revealed in February, I think. It looks like a great phone. (Except that I think the batteries are unremoveable.) Details are still unclear, but I did read that the cost of that phone would be around $900! Choke! The $500 or so for the LG g4 is even too much for me to swallow. If I were to get that one, I'd wait for some kind of deal. So, as far as the g4 camera not comparing to any of the newest higher end phones, I think that it is a good bit better than my Nokia. I would love to have the best of the best (wouldn't we all), but I just can't stomach paying so much! Isn't it crazy? Makes my already-paid-for Windows phone look more attractive especially if I could get an app.

Thanks again, everyone! Lizzie, how does Cameringo work? Would I download it from my smart phone to use? Lanny, thanks for the Motorola plug. I have not really considered them because on my hunt for a great camera phone, that company has not popped up. Like you, I don't like phones that don't have a replaceable battery. That seems like a mistake. I'm actively avoiding those. I considered the Samsung s5 which has a replaceable battery. Comparing it with the LG g4, the camera was not as good. Everything else about it looked fantastic. Sometime soon, I'll need to just go to a store and investigate all of these choices in person.

Thanks, ladies! I really do appreciate the input. We don't use iproducts, unfortunately. Guess I should have repeated that part. So, as for android type smartphone cameras, does anyone have one that takes fantastic pics? I'm leaning toward the LG g4, but would just love to hear from you with personal experience with your phones. I hope to wait for a sale. Verizon is our cell carrier.