Hmm not quite. Visual Basic supports MFC and COM. It's way more than an update. It's almost unrecognisable as BASIC. It only shares the name. I highly doubt that qbasic does. Visual Basic is now considered a professional tool. Many many applications out there are programmed with VB nowadays. I did use it for a short while, even if my main programming was in C and C++. (I left when C++ was becoming the standard. It's now C#, and possibly even something else. C# should become obsolete pretty soon, its numbers of years are up ;-) However, I am now completely obsolete myself!)

One can also go with Visual Basic http://www.programmingtutorials.com/vb6.aspx The book Visual Basic 6 for Dummies is pretty much self-teaching, especially at the beginning (about its first third, I would say). This approach also means you have to invest in Visual Basic 6, from Microsoft. Not a bad investment though. One can do a lot of home programming, quickly and painlessly with it. QBasic, I used to use, eons ago. I don't know its current state. A quote on a site: About VISUAL BASIC 6 Visual Basic 6 is not your grandfather's BASIC! If your knowledge of programming is limited to the QBASIC you toyed with in high school, you'll think you've landed on a different planet. http://www.profsr.com/vb/vbintro.htm

LOL! My paternal grandparents met in Maine and moved to Quebec City, where my dad (and coincidentally my mom too) was raised. our grandparents must have waved at each other when crossing the border ;-)

My DS knew his letters by name at 10 months old. He would point them out when we asked a specific letter. By 18 months, he knew his letters, upper and lower cases, and his numbers. His greatest fun was to 'read' out loud license plates. But he wasn't talking. He was over 2 years when he said 'mama'. Bearing in mind that French does not require the same phonics training than English, he started reading at 2 years and a half. Funnily his first words were 'on' and 'off'. In English. ;-) At 3 he was reading picture books aloud to the neighbours' kid. At 5 he was into Harry Potter. Steady progression for him. At 7, he was reading in English, with no phonics instructions. In fact, with no instructions at all! The danger comes with the following child. The tendency to worry that the child doesn't know her letters by age 3 is big. And if you share that worry with an outsider, you'll get looks. Ask me how I know. :blush:

Welcome aboard! PEI is our planned destination for summer 2009!

yeah! My son loves it!

We found an old Commodore 64, believe it or not! While the BASICS it uses is obsolete, it's a great tool to learn with.

DH making money me paying bills me budgeting no one mortgage/loans both home repair/maintenance me banking/investments me taxes DH car care me health insurance me scheduling (making/keeping track of) me phone calls or correspondence re: all the above me teaching/school work or homework me discipline (planning and implementing) me spiritual guidance (who actually carries it out, not just the "head") me kids mornings me kids bedtimes me transportation for kids me grocery shopping me laundry me eating at home me eating away (pack lunch, etc) me daily chores/cleaning (really need sub-categories!) DH lawn care/snow cleanup DH garden or bed maintenance

*everyone* BUT my parents attended college in my family. My two grandfathers and one grandmother were college graduates. One grandfather was a doctor, the other one a lawyer. My grandmother was in litterary studies. All my uncles attended college, most of them as lawyers or doctors, and at least half of my aunts in various degrees. However, my own father left his family banging the door on his way out, and his dad helped by kicking him out even further (that fact was hidden from us for YEARS!). My father had a dream of becoming a pilot, and he did. Never attended college, even though he's got a very high IQ. He's a kick ass pilot though. Was stationned in Europe after the war, and in Africa. My mom left her family at the age of 12. She went to live with her sister and helped raise her nephews and nieces. As for my siblings and cousins, almost everyone is a college graduate. Out of 50 cousins, I can count 3 who didn't, one is my own brother who also became a pilot instead. We also have a high count of Masters and PhD... Let's just say the homeschooling plan wasn't appreciated by most.

Does anyone know if there's an electronic portable device for flashcards? (Other than cardboard, that is...) I'd love to have something for the car.

Oh, my middle schooler is studying with http://www.quickstudylabs.com and having lots of fun! Mr. Philips has a high school class that requires soldering and breadboard, and real parts. But we're not there yet.

Can you ask your DH what he means by that? My own DH is an electronics technician, and electrical engineer. He thinks Snap Circuits are great, although we agree it's not for high schoolers.

I'd be programming computers. For which company, I don't know. Last time I worked, I was helping Bill Gates to get richer.

Have you considered Math U See? The student book has NO drawings, no visual clutter at all. The content is in the DVD, so she gets to watch TV. That's a big selling point here.

Hmmm. we have a hamster !?!??:001_huh:

Due to the bad legalities about homeschooling here, if I get a full evaluation done, and something comes back as 'out of the ordinary', I have a 50-50 chance of losing custody of the child, and/or face forced schooling. Would you get an evaluation done under these circumstances? I wouldn't...

Did you get the CD rom? Maybe he can listen to the audio instead, and try to figure out what was said? You did start with Chapter 1, did you not? I did translate this one when I started. I needed the crutch. I let go of translation bit by bit, not right from the start. Now I no longer translate (I'm in capitulum X) What I did was work through the first three chapters with translation. Then I went back to chapter 1, and yup, I could now read it without translation .I added chapter 4, went back to chapter 2. By chapter 3, it was taking me more than one exposure to the chapter to 'get it'. I usually work 2 or 3 chapters at the same time by now. One chapter to mastery, one to remind me of what I read, and one for exposure. Works for me.

My dad's cousin was chief archeologist for Sumer... He was also curator of Le Louvres museum in Paris. http://archaeology.about.com/od/pterms/g/parrota.htm Mentionned elsewhere, Louis Hébert, first apothecary and first european farmer in North America.

I'm assuming you're talking about Guillaume and Guillaumette. Guillaume is still well used, but Guillaumette, as a name, is completely forgotten. I'm a descendent of Guillaumette.

Nope, not Champlain. I think he died childless anyway. Since Helene Boullé stayed in France for most of their married lives... My ancestor isn't that famous, you probably wouldn't know him, but he's got a statue in Quebec City. Here's his Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_H%C3%A9bert

No, he doesn't learn other things. The heel was an example of what I'm trying to express. He doesn't learn proper swimming techniques either. Or proper gym techniques. Anything physical, if he can't do it right the first time, he will never do right. And to muddy up the waters even more, he just brought me his writing. There's a spelling mistake he's been doing for YEARS. He knows the spelling if I ask him to spell it out, but each time he writes it, bang! the mistake comes back. I feel like I'm dealing with multiple issues here (and none of them are that I want him to become a swimming and/or dancing champion!) I've been noticing for a long time now that this boy cannot 'unlearn' a bad habit.

100% French. Historians did my maternal ancestry (I have a famous ancestor...) and it seems everyone was either born in Quebec from French ascent, or freshly of the boat from France. No native blood, no Irish blood, nothing else but French. As for my father's side, it looks the same way, although the possibility of native blood is there. Some people who married into the family tree may have been metis (half native half european, not sure of the English word for that). We'll never know for sure, but that's at least 4 generations back. Btw, on my mother's side, we were in Nouvelle France 400 years ago, at the foundation of Quebec City. On my father's side, it's *only* been 200 years in Quebec. I'm pretty much the closest thing to a pure-bred French-Quebecoise that one can get.

You might want to use this site http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/gdt.html (for technical words) or this one http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/bdl.html (for usual words)

The video approach has not helped at all. It only served to discourage him. And the funny thing, is that my son *is* a kinesthetic learner. Whatever he's got to learn, he has to move when learning it. Kinesthetic does not imply coordinated :blink:

Oh I did that many times already. He does care, but he seems unable to do anything about it. I was just talking with my mom. Explaining that, when someone has problems with mathematics, one can go get a tutor. But with anything physical, the tendency is "just let him be". Btw, the whole thing has a social aspect to it too. As I mentionned, his friends are moving up, he's not. He's becoming the butt of joke. Other boys don't want to be with him, etc... I don't want to turn my son into a champion - he'll never be one. I do want him to be able to pass a doorway without bumping the walls :001_huh: (ok, he's not that bad, but not that far either!)