Really? Can I move to where you live?? :D Ugh. I can hardly go anywhere without screaming, nasty, angry little people. I'm sorry but... a little parenting will go a long way. I don't, and have never, made excuses for my DD just because she's a child. She is expected to act right in public. Period. I'd never sit in a restaurant and let my child cry, I can eat at home. No, parents don't have a right to go out to eat if they are disrupting everyone else. Everyone else didn't have a child... I get so annoyed with the "Stop crying or we're leaving" The crying continues and... no leaving! Well, of course those threats mean nothing, the child has learned that they mean nothing! Lol. Boy do I sound harsh! It really is frustrating though, when you FINALLY get a dinner out with a friend, with no children, and get seated by 2-3 children who are flopping around at the table, screaming, screeching, screaming, stinking, throwing, kicking, etc.

You DID NOT FAIL!! :tongue_smilie: Behind is a relative term. Behind, what exactly? I like to remember that there will always be children ahead of my DD, and there will also always be children behind her. Besides, as they get older they pick things up quicker, so she'll naturally accelerate. If you are really concerned about it, just always do math. Even on breaks/summer vacation, keep doing math. Not everyday mind you, but try and do it at least a couple days a week from here until you feel like she has "caught up".

I can honestly say I've never felt like that. Then again... I DON'T do well in real life conversations. I express myself much better over the internet. If not for this board, I wouldn't have any sort of homeschooling support group. I tend to disappear in real life conversations. Here I feel like I can say something, and have a shot of it making sense/helping someone else.

I think from the homeschooling programs out there, a child can be more than prepared to start in an advanced level of college language. My 4.5 year old daughter already knows almost everything I learned last semester in French. (Well, the vocab, the grammar is still a little above her head of course!) I think that a person could become fairly fluent in reading and writing a language just by book learning. This could even be accomplished on your own with enough diligence. However, having a real conversation with a foreign speaker is much, much different. I have trouble understanding my French professor when she is speaking at full speed, even though she is mostly using phrases and such that I already know! The only way to become truly proficient in conversation is to practice with native/near native speakers. No professional teacher needed, just someone to practice your skills with. And fluency and being successful in a language course are completely different animals alltogether!

No experience yet, but I'm hoping I've chosen the right career path for me! :D I'm in school for history, hoping to be a college professor. It offers a little more flexibility than a 9-5 job. I have one professor who lives 4 hours away 4 days a week and teaches her classes the other 3. I have previously had professors who teach a class on campus and 2-3 online. There is a lot of work that can be done from home, and there are part time opportunities. (Ok... I *really* want to be an author, but I need something that actually makes money while I'm trying to get published! lol)

I was in school. I would have been.... 11th grade? Yeah. I was actually in Latin class. They brought TVs into the classroom after the first plane hit and we watched as the second plane hit and then heard about the Pentagon. I lived in Charles County MD at the time, so EVERYONE knew someone who worked at the Pentagon. That day, we had a substitute teacher whose husband worked there. She left the classroom in tears and I jumped on the computer because my boyfriend at the time was working in DC and I was worried about him. I didn't hear from him until late that night when he showed up on my doorstep. It was horrible. There were a number of people from my town killed in the Pentagon, including a young man who was very well-known and well-liked. There was a run in his name for a number of years to raise money for ... something? It might even still go on, but I'm not there anymore.

Well, I don't know how well it would work but when DD is old enough, I plan on teaching a French literature course. It sounds like your daughter is fairly fluent, does she really need something to teach her French? Do you speak/read any French? What I'm envisioning for my daughter at that age is reading novels in French, writing some papers in French, finding some people to talk to, etc. Just everyday things to keep up the fluency (and continue to learn new vocabulary) as opposed to actually learning it as a language.

I said no because.. well, DD is 4.5. lol. I do plan to cover it though, and hope to read parts of it eventually. I'm happy I've read it, enjoyed making comparisons to the Bible, and hope to do the same with DD when she is old enough.

I was in high school in the 2000's..it was keyboarding then also. I took it. It was a full credit course, and wasn't required. It was one of a number of options for electives. It was quite possibly the most useless class I have ever taken. Then again, I was already typing about 100 wpm, and there were kids in the class who had almost no experience on computers!

I guess you could call me rebellious. I am definitely not conventional. I've lived an alternative lifestyle for a significant portion of my life. I've done drugs, drank way to much, stayed out way to late, and credit getting pregnant at 19 with saving my life. I have tattoos, dyed hair, piercings. I am not heterosexual. On the flip side.... DD and I dress fairly modestly, attend Church, we homeschool (Is that rebellious? It is, but in another sense it is somewhat a conventional, traditional type of thing to do. Not what you would expect from a young single mother, that's for sure.) I work hard at school and get a 4.0- in the honors program. I avoid labels like the plague. They never seem to fit quite right!

I think it depends on what you want to do after college, what your major is, and what schools you are deciding between. I'd never pick a school just because it was Ivy League if it didn't fit all my other criteria. Then again, I'm applying for graduate schools in about a year and will be applying to mostly top 10/top 15 schools for my field. But I've been told by my professors that going to a top school does matter when I enter the workforce, and the top schools offer more money. Some schools are particularly well-known for a certain field. In that case, it may make sense to go to that school, even if it is more expensive. But I don't think anyone can make huge generalizations about all Ivy League schools/all state schools, etc.

I do, actually I have two. A family and a homeschooling blog. I blog for... myself mostly. I am a horrible blogger though. I haven't updated in awhile. I actually have posts ready to go out on both blogs, just trying to find time to upload the pictures for them!

You are my Sunshine. (my only sunshine... you make me happy... when skies are gray... :D Now it is playing in repeat in my head!) I have sung it to DD since I was pregnant with her. I even have a sun tattooed on my back with DD's name inside it, because she is my sunshine after many stormy skies. Other than that.. wow. I could never narrow it down. I love music. All types, but almost always for the lyrics more so than the beat. I'm constantly listening to my ipod. And you can ALWAYS tell what mood I'm in by the music I listen to! (Saving this thread so I can look up all the songs listed within it! lol)

(Disclaimer... my daughter is only 4, so much younger) In regards to the handwriting, I agree with the other posters that I'd get an evaluation, just to rule out any possibly causes/sometimes the experts have tips and tricks we don't think of. Would he like having a penpal? It would be a way to encourage the practice. My DD has a penpal (just received her first letter!! :D) and is very excited to write back. We also make cards for friends and family, and I'll write out what she wants to say and have her copy it. In the same vein, she will often ask me to write something for her, and I'll do it. I guess what I'm getting at here is, is there something he'd be interested in doing as copywork? I decided to skip a formal handwriting program and go with just copywork. DD is fairly competent at copying the letters when she has them in front of her, and sees it as a fun activity as opposed to work. In regards to the writing... if you feel he needs to do a writing/grammar program could he do the actual work on the computer? Or could he dictate to you? I'm not sure it would work with a writing program, but for math this year I am doing all the writing for DD, so she can focus on the work and not struggling to form the letters correctly. Good luck!

Can I say it now? . . . . . . Congratulations!! You are going to be the (hopefully proud!) grandmother of a beautiful little baby in a few months. I know, I know... Not an ideal time, not the ideal situation... but sometimes God doesn't always wait until we are ready. Sometimes He makes his plans and we just have to deal with them! :grouphug: I was 19 and pregnant, and in a much worse situation than your DD. Things have turned out very well for MY DD and I, as I hope they will for your family.

Another vote for absolutely everything I've ever bought. (Um... which is only this year's curriculum... :lol:) But probably I am MOST excited about: Galloping the Globe, because we both really love learning about other cultures/peoples. Intro to Science - Elemental Science, because we really haven't done any science yet, and I think DD will love it. Plus the program seems to be laid out in a way that will make it easy for me to ACTUALLY do science! L'art de Dire, because DD LOVES learning French, and I think she'll move much faster without me to slow her down. and the American history program I am putting together myself, but I guess that doesn't count, since it's not really a curriculum (yet..lol)

We did school over the summer and are currently breaking. We will officially be starting kindergarten probably Oct 4th. Waiting for a few last items, then I'll take some time to get everything organized, read through, learn about what's expected of me, get books from the library, etc. But I'm considering everything we did over the summer as part of this school year so we can end in May/June. :D

I don't know about fun.... I try to keep things interesting, but I don't necessarily think that is the same as fun. There are some things that need to be learned, and there's no getting around it. Phonics practice isn't always fun, and let's face it, it isn't always interesting either... but you have to learn to read. And even more, DD WANTS to learn to read, she just doesn't always want to do the work to get there.

Well, my plan is to do French, German, Latin, Greek and another modern. In that order. French first because I wanted to start with a modern language. It is easier to pick up the accent and such as a child, and accent doesn't matter in Latin or ancient Greek. French is also the one I know most and am able to help with. We started this at just turned 4. German next, again with the modern before dead language. I am also studying German and will be able to help her by the time she starts. We will start this around, 6 or 7, depending on how strong her French is. Latin next, to get a good foundation. We'll start around 8 or 9. I want DD to be solid in Latin, not just passable, so we are starting early enough to ensure that. Greek next. Probably Koine, maybe Ancient, still undecided. We'll start this around 11 or 12. Hopefully by this point we will have been able to drop French as an official language study and just use it to keep up the skills, so it'll be 3 languages. Then sometime in high school, hopefully by her soph. year, I'd like DD to pick another modern language for a couple years. Hopefully by then we will have enough German to drop it as a language study and just read/speak to keep it up. I chose French and German because those are the two languages I will be able to help her with. I considered Spanish, because I do have some background in it, but I'm much more fluent in the other two, and I'm continuing my study of them. Have you asked the children which language they'd like to study?

My blogs are Morgan Classical Prep (our homeschooling blog and what we call our school... lol) and Not The Whistle Stop. My english professor said something along the lines of "It is the journey that counts, not the whistle stop" during a discussion once, and I just really liked it. I have no suggestions though... I'm always really bad at coming up with names... blog names, user names, etc. :tongue_smilie:

Let's see. This semester I am paying approximately 3300 in tuition. I spent 600 on books (one semester! and I already had books for one of my classes!) and that was with buying some used. I spend 40 dollars a week on gas. I spent 100 dollars on my parking pass. If I want to eat at the Commons (the big dining room) it costs 10.00 a meal. Sodas are 1.25 from the vending machine. Copies at the library at .25cents. What else... lol. I'm sure I'll come up with more!! :D

:grouphug: This is a tough situation you are in, and I can't pretend to know what you are going through. IS there a chance it could be innocent? Could that friend just have been informing him? Or does she maybe not know that he is clean? Or maybe she is trying to intice him to come out with her? If it were me, I would drug test first before making any final decisions. To be honest, I have friends that will text me and tell me when they are high, or if they are getting some weed that night, etc. I've also had friends text to me find out if I wanted some, not realizing that I don't do that.

I would be just as upset if someone wanted to burn a stack of Bibles. I think that burning the Holy Book for any group is incredibly ignorant and disrespectful. Especially when the actions that are supposedly being protested against are only performed by a small minority of the religion. ESPECIALLY when it may put others at risk, including soldiers and civilians. We can't control what others do, but we can control our own actions that may incite others. I have been floored lately, by the various conversations held with family/friends about this and the building of a Mosque in NYC. I didn't realize how... intolerant some of the people around me are. It makes me very sad. (I'm not referring to anyone on this board... it is your right to think differently from me, but some of the people I've spoken to IRL are just flat out intolerant towards others.)

Hm. My family is... well. At first they were not really for it, but I think they've seen how it really is the best place for Jenna, both academically and emotionally. My family (and my best friend) do worry about me being overwhelmed. I already have a pretty heavy load with my own schoolwork, and they check in often to make sure I'm not feeling too stressed or like this is my only option. My best friend also worries about my emotional health, she thinks homeschooling Jenna gives me another excuse to be anti-social... :tongue_smilie:(The way I look at it, it forces me to talk to people, to make friends and set up activities for J!) But overall, I think my family is pretty used to my oddball ideas about parenting and keeping Jenna out of the mainstream. I think it is more of a shock to them than anything, since I used to be so wild myself, to see how I've settled down into becoming a pretty darn good parent, if I may say so myself!! lol.

Nope. I am super excited to start everything. DD and I have been watching the boxes show up for the past 2 weeks and she is ready to start, 2 weeks ago!! :D I think I'm matching her in excitement. I spent a long time picking out stuff that I think she'd enjoy... in fact, pretty much everything except handwriting she will love. (And she actually likes to write, just doesn't like being told HOW or what to write!) Then again... this is our first year using what I would call "real" curriculum. Up until now we've used mostly worksheets I found online, workbooks bought at Target, and lots of library books. Ask me again in a couple years... :tongue_smilie: Maybe by then I'll have found something that we just don't like doing.