I recommend focusing on how you want to teach reading. There are lots of choices to look at and you probably want to start with something that you are comfortable or happy to teach. Some programs include Progressive Phonics (print from online), OPGTR (Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading), plus a myriad others. Once you are happy with that, turn your focus to math. Again, crazy number of choices available. Look for something that makes sense to you. Some popular ones to start with are MEP (print from online - Mathematics something something), Miquon, Math Mammoth, Singapore, etc. Third, choose a handwriting program - if you want to use one. That covers the basics. You can start them as you pick them, or start in the fall, whatever makes sense for you. After you've picked you can think about things like art, history, science, foreign language, as you move forward. Small steps!

Congratulations. Thank you for working this all the way to the possibility of a change/improvement. In my state I wouldn't even have that letter, so thanks for starting the ball rolling in their review of policy.

Sounds like once you get it set up you just do (eat) the next thing. Having to continually make "good" decisions is often my downfall. I hope tomorrow goes just as well.

My dh listens to podcasts from "John in the Morning" at KEXP in Seattle. DJ John is a runner also and has some podcasts specifically for running. My guilty running pleasure used to be the downloaded album All Day by Girl Talk. It is like club music, so no breaks between songs, just transitions, some explicit lyrics, so don't put it on when you are driving your kids somewhere! It is almost completely a mash-up of pop music overlayed with popular songs from the 70s and 80s.

Has he seen Jane's All the World's Aircraft? Maybe have him start identifying aircraft in the "neighborhood". If there is a small airport nearby you could probably arrange a sampler flight. Really, the actual background is good basic science, particularly physics. Actual jobs in that field are almost always specialists within the larger field (one exception might be fleet management). Can you couple his aero interest with design, testing, materials, electronics, mechanics, all of the above? Try poking around the NASA and Smithsonian websites, too. The Air and Space museum has a nice kids room that covers the basic science behind flight. If you are in the Midwest, Dayton, Ohio has an impressive aircraft museum. So does Tucson, at the Pima Air Museum. Kind of random thoughts on my part, maybe if you can share what his interests are more specifically I could give done more targeted ideas.

Aww, ((hugs)) hard to see your kids struggle with this kind of thing.

I'm sorry for her. Losers. I'm glad she is taking it okay, but it's painful to watch your child go through that.

I liked that it was capitalized, though. That made me read it twice. ajfries said what I was going to say, although the material can make a difference. On a few materials, the stitch holes wouldn't seal back up (like taffeta).

Just don't try to return anything!! That's where it all breaks down. I stopped thinking of them as "generous" and started looking suspiciously at anything that wasn't on sale, then a wedding registry disaster means I am unlikely to return, despite the fact that they sometimes have pants that fit me (unlike the rest of the world). But really, I'm glad you all had such a successful trip!

"Crockpots" didn't close the thread, but "take or leave leftovers" might do it! I remember Marney from before, cuh-rah-zee! Good luck, Quill. Let us know how it all turns out.

I'm not on the west coast, so it wasn't full, but still interesting to watch!

Doesn't seem like you have much to lose. Plus, by raising your offer 5k it seems like you are showing the kind of negotiation you were hoping for in the first place. Good luck

This is what we have done. GSWL it's a nice introduction to the language that you can take at your own speed. It is very parts-to-whole, so everything you learn gets used right away. This was a nice precursor to Lively Latin where you memorize some chants (a few lessons) before you officially learn what they are. I have no Latin background, so this may be different for you if you already have some familiarity with the language.

I find lettuce hard, Spinach slightly easier, Chard is what keeps us in greens. We still talk about "the year" we had that good lettuce crop. It was 2003. Ha, ha.

Will you assign books, in which case ebooks might be handy. If you want them to self-select, though, they might need to see the books in order to pick them. Tough decision.

True Meaning of Smekday - Adam Rex (mixed race protagonist, awesome book, audio version has a great performer) I'm reading the sequel, Smek for President One, Crazy Summer - ? Garcia-Williams (only half-way through as a read a loud, so I can't completely endorse it yet)

I listened to News in Slow Spanish way back when it was free. It was nice for practicing my rusty Spanish, but would have been difficult to use for formally learning.I haven't been able to justify passing for it just to listen for my own review. I really liked the focus on current news, though.

Perhaps you want to put a horizon on the enterprise, also. I listened to an interesting radio story about baseball players that go from high school into the farm system. After 10 years they are making 40% of what their non-sports playing powers are making. The story implied that a lot of the players aren't aware of the statistics - low likelihood of success at this point, and also don't know how to step away from the sport. I have no idea if this type of situation happens in the soccer world. I'm just thinking that if you decide to pursue it, it might be worthwhile spelling out amongst yourselves what a reasonable test period would be, along with evaluation criteria. Just a thought from the outside.

I did that in college through a club. The guy I took lessons from also worked for a Dr. who owned a multi-engine and a small helicopter so I was able to get some time in both of those. Starting single-engine is nice because you get comfortable with all the basics of flying, flight plans and radio for less per hour. Then helicopter can be a smaller (but more expensive) amount of time focused on getting the hang of the mechanics. Know the requirements for the license, and then I would call around to compare costs, probably try to interview instructors since you will have to coordinate with them a lot and spend a lot of time with them, check out limitations on flight times (can you reserve the plane whenever you want or is it shared with a lot of other people, etc.). I learned at a tiny airstrip with no tower, so having to communicate with people on the radio was always a bit uncomfortable for me (lack of practice), but on the plus side, I usually only had to share airspace with the daredevil guy who flew parachuters. One thing that surprised me was the amount of stuff that you have to do before you fly - every time. Definitely different than driving. Give it a go! You won't regret it, even if you don't finish for some reason.

I looked in just to say exactly what Farrar said a year ago. LOL Shows where I get a lot of our book recommendations from.

You are right, of course. Sorry!

We print Lively Latin. It isn't whimsical, exactly, but it does have cartoon images. My 10yos work through it on their own easily when I'm not available to helicopter. :-)

Can you tell me how you use the book? Do you walk through the chapters together, or does your ds read it on his own? Do you assign problems or work then together? Do you need answers or are the problems straight forward? I have a copy and was matching up some chapters to BFSU 2 for next year, but I'm unsure how to plan those.

Our family has been using the free website Arttango. They have at lessons laid out for K-5. We're using grade 4, since that is where most of my students are. The lessons build on each other, which is nice. They are free, also nice, and material costs so far have been none. The lessons are not too involved which works well for my audience. One possible "con" is that because you done have to pay for it, it might not get done as regularly. I also dislike it's scripted nature, and since it is written as a big block of text I find it difficult to edit on the fly. I just point out my problems with the script and move on.

Thank you for the links. My web search was unsuccessful, so I explained to myself that I didn't need any more curriculum right now. I was okay with that, but now that there are links! I will merrily go check them out.