My husband follows my lead on academics since I am the one who sets the curriculum and does the homeschooling. Such privileges as media and outside activities are completely my call where the younger two are concerned. The one place where we disagree is our oldest. DH will allow him to go to Boy Scout and Venture Scout activities even though he is currently failing 2 classes. I, personally, would not. However, there are extenuating circumstances around DSS that make me take a step back and let DH deal with him how he may. If you are the one doing the homeschooling, you should sit down with DH and try to bring him on board with your standards. Perhaps he could work with DD on "project/time management" and that would help him see where she is failing. I can't remember what it's called but there is a time management program where you basically cut your day into 15 or 20 minute increments and schedule your entire day. You include everything from school, chores, hygiene, work, sleep, activities, and social/play time. It helps people see where they are "wasting" time. It helps with our oldest who swears he never has enough time but in reality spends a lot of time doing nothing productive.

History/Geography: SOTW2 w/ AG Our American Heritage Complete Book of American History Complete Book of Geography and Maps Science: WTM-based using Snap Circuits 750 with Study Guide, Fun with Atoms and Molecules, & Kitchen Chemistry Health: Abeka Health, Safety and Manners Math: CLE Math 300 and various Cuisenaire books and math games Spelling: Spelling Workout C& D LA's: Rod and Staff English 3 Handwriting: Copywork and narrations as well as Penmanship Mastery Latin: Song School Latin Bible: AWANAS handbook Music: Piano Lessons and composer studies Art: appreciation per WTM and ArtPac 3 for fun PE: Unit studies of various sports, swimming lessons, possibly martial arts Wow, that looks like a lot. The American History will be covered as an introduction prior to our family vacation in Charleston, SC. Geography and Maps is a "fun" subject for DS. Science is fun for us and health is required by the state.

:lol::lol:

I like flat front for women but I am not a fan of flat front pants on men. They tend to draw attentions to certain... endowments... Or maybe that's just on my DH! ;);)

I wonder if the districts are interpretting thing differently. It wouldn't be the first time!

BTW, my husband is on the District Training Committee. He suggests that you either go to Roundtable to find out what information they have on the Program or contact your District Training Chair to speak with them about the 2010 Program. The new manuals (Program Guide and Leader Manuals) are available at the Service Centers or can be ordered online. They will explain exactly what the program is since some of the web material is confusuing.

Nope. I find it difficult to play like I want to play in a skirt or dress. I'm too much of a tomboy. I have a good friend who loves to wear skirts for the same reason you state. She's a thrift store junkie and finds some beautiful things.

http://www.scouting.org/CubScouts%202010/FAQ.aspx The new program doesn't require regular summer meetings. It is written without dates so that the pack can rearrange the "curriculum" to what best fits their meeting schedule, be it year round or school-year only. If your Pack is choosing to meet year-round, you may want to look for another pack.

because I can take off the teacher hat and just be Mom!

I think that those comments are an easy way for parents to get out of an uncomfortable conversation somewhat gracefully. It generally ends the conversation and they can move on to other things. I hear it a lot. I only have one friend that I truly believe thinks that way and it's because her son has Asbergers (sp?), is very precocious, and doesn't sleep past 4 a.m. ever. The truth of the matter is that I don't think the rest of them understand our decision to pull DS from the same PS that was "perfectly fine" for their kids. By "martyring" me as the "patient one" they can avoid a conversation that may make them question their choices rather than mine. I'm not saying PS is bad. It's just not a fit for my son right now. And I don't believe HS'ing is for everyone. There are many days where it's not for me! I'm just saying that those comments are an easy way to end a conversation people would rather not have, either because they don't want to say something to offend the HS'ing parent or because they don't want to consider it for themselves.

I pulled DS8 from PS in the middle of the 2nd grade and pulled DD home from "preschool" (they bill themselves as a daycare/preschool/creative learning center) in January of this year. We have been fortunate to have Cub Scouts (your boys could start in first grade) as well as DS's PS friends in the neighborhood. However, if I continue to HS I am going to have to actively pursue more friends/playmates for all of us or we will go stark raving mad. Good luck. We're all in this together!

Generally I sleep 6-7 hrs/night. During the week, DD4 goes to bed at 8:00, DD8 goes to bed at 8:30, DS18 is in his room at 10:00, and then DH and I get an hour to ourselves before I fall asleep in my chair around 11:00. DH generally sends me to bed around 12:00 and he comes to bed around 1:00. I'm up and out the door for the gym before 6:00 a.m.

:bigear: When my dad died, it was a combination of Alzheimers and Parkinson's with a nice dash of acute lung infection that did him in. I need to find an alternative to my much beloved Secret Shower Fresh. It works well, but what else is it working on?

It's the first day of summer vacation for us so I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing and you can't stop me. So there! "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!!!!"

For instance, I came home from dinner with a friend to find him and our 4yo watching "Carrie." Oops.

My 4yo likes to have her own "homework." I have a shelf of "school books" just for her. Generally she will ask what subject her brother is doing and ask for something similar but she is free to choose whatever she wants. Choices included coloring books, dot-to-dots (letter and number), cut and paste books, matching/opposites books, find-it-in-the-picture books, letters, numbers, and mazes to name a few. I try to put something "new" into the rotation every few weeks, even if it's just a Dollar Store coloring book or a new arts and craft supply. We have some great dry-erase workbooks as well as a board of her own. She also has the "bear family" manipulatives with 2 sets of activity cards, various flashcards (nature, animals, sight words, counting, numbers, letters, etc.), and access to Math Links and Cuisenaire Rods. She is also free to do arts and crafts at the table are play whatever she wants in her own room. She likes to listen to SOTW and color the pages and the maps along with DS. She will usually stick around for the activity too. She likes to listen in on readalouds and "help" with science experiments. She loves to watch the educational videos we get for science and history; we usually watch a video during lunch (if I have an appropriate one available) as it seems to keep DS from disengaging from school.

I haven't looked forward to a summer this much since I was in school myself!

I *think* we will, at least for one more year. I am hoping that the summer will give our family some time to regroup. It's been a wild year between starting to HS, bringing DD home from daycare, DSS's whole situation with his mom, DSS working on his Eagle project, senior project, and all of that, the business and the economy, and everything else. We need some time to pull in together and hopefully a fun summer will be just what we need to head into another school year.

DS misses seeing his friends and I miss the opportunities to talk with other parents.

based off the SAT.

He's finishing second grade. Math--end of 3rd. She said he would have done better but he stumbled on long division. Um... I've never covered ANY division but apparently he did OK on the short division anyway. Reading--5th grade Handwriting--end of 2nd, on target Spelling--mid 2nd He's not (obviously) a strong speller but I knew that. Otherwise he is doing great.

and I'm nervous. Oiy! I thought I was done getting nervous for tests!

It's currently a 3-yr doctorate, post-bachelor's degree.

:lol::lol:

:iagree::iagree::iagree:College has become as expected as high school. It is driven by money and greed in the world academia. Gone are the days of apprenticeships where you could try an occupation, really learn the trade, and make good money from it. Now it seems you need a degree in something just to try out a job. It's ridiculous. I also find it ridiculous that our military requires our officers to have a bachelor's degree but they don't care if that degree is in history, physical education, or basketweaving. When DH was in the Army, he had a brand new lieutenant who's degree was in Sculpting. Now how in the world does a BS in Sculpting qualify you to lead a group of Airborne Rangers? It doesn't. I think the system as it is creates a lot of unhappy people because they feel like they have to go to college to get a decent job but when they graduate they find out the job is not what they wanted and now they are "stuck" because a different job would require a different degree. As a Physical Therapist you are required to get your BS and then get a 3 year doctorate along with doing internships. Are we "Doctors" as far as the medical community and insurance companies are concerned? Nope. We are still PTs. And the funny thing is that the college I attended basically renamed their certificate program to a Masters and then later to a Doctorate because the level of education they gave the certificate students 30-40 years only required a few minor tweeks to become a Masters and then a Doctorate program. The education takes the same amount of time as it always did, it just costs more because the students are now considered "Doctoral" students according to the University's fee system. Very ironic indeed! How does she feel about the shift over the years? I come from a different "place" than many of you it seems. My parents are the children of German and Hungarian immigrants. Dad was born in 1926 and Mom was the youngest of 12 and born in 1930. Their parents were ultimately farmers but worked on the railroad, in meat packing plants and various other physical labor jobs until they had enough money for a farm. My parents and their siblings did not attend college but have all had jobs: secretary, billing clerk, military, sawmill/lumber industry, lineman, milkman, and so on. Their children (my cousins) have probably a 25% college rate, partly based on financial issues and partly based on desire. Many of my cousins followed their parents' footsteps and went into the military or logging or became hairdressers or whatnot. Among my siblings 5 out of 6 went to college but one went as a very non-traditional student when, after 15 years on the job, he was told he needed a degree to continue doing the same job he had for those 15 years. Among our children that rate has probably increased to 75% but only because they have primarily chosen to be school teachers. I have a Masters. My husband has some post-retirement technical training. He charges almost 4 times what I can make per hour without any "fancy book learnin'" as he likes to call it. As for my own children, I have an 18 yo with no direction whatsoever who will hopefully graduate in June. College doesn't appeal to him but neither does minimum wage or manual labor. The military would probably be the best place for him to finish growing up but our current world political climate makes that option quite daunting. As for the other two, I would love to see them choose a career that they enjoy, either a job that makes them happy or a job that makes enough money and gives them enough free time to do what makes them happy. I think given our national economic situation as well as the aging/retirement of the baby boomers and resulting changes in availability of workers, the world will be a different place again in another 10-20 years.