I see I didn't completely get the gist of the question. I agree with forty-two in that I'm not sure how she would diagram a sentence without the understanding. I stick by what I said that it can wait if it's a struggle for her but then I would also have her wait on the whole thing, including the diagramming.

I would say eventually he or she does, but if it's a struggle it doesn't have to be in 6th grade IMHO. My DS is just really getting this nailed down in 8th grade and not knowing for grades 6-7 hasn't been detrimental at all.

Great question! This is our third year for my oldest and the first for our youngest. It never even occurred to me that they might do other sections on the score sheet. (We did look at them afterwards though.) Apparently my strict rule-following has nipped me once again.

Not that some states haven't tried. Before he retired, my FIL was a professor for a well-known state university system. When they tried to change the promised benefits everything ended up in court. After a protracted and nasty legal battle, everyone was back where they started, minus lawyers' fees. So rather than finding something in the middle by reducing the current promise and giving more to the newcomers, they ended up giving a lot to the faculty that was grandfathered in and almost nothing to the new faculty. My FIL was of the mind that it should be more spread out not just for fairness, but also to attract better young professors, but it was not to be. My in-laws ended up donating money to the school instead, which they still feel was a second-best option.

I thought I didn't know any alcoholics until it turned out one of my employee's friends did an intervention, sent her to directly to rehab, and left me a voice mail telling me she would be out on medical leave. She was punctual, friendly, got all her work done quickly and well, and I ate lunch with her most days.We went hiking together for a few hours each month. She would drink a glass of wine at company dinners or holiday parties. It turns out at night she would lock the doors and put her car keys behind a combination lock and drink at least 2 bottles of wine every night. Her friends found out when they came over very early one morning and she had somehow left her home and fallen asleep in the gutter out front. I'm happy to report after a couple of relapses she's been sober for a decade or so.

We are using Joy Hakim's History of US this year for both my 13yo and my 9yo. My 9yo loves it. She studies and memorizes less of it and doesn't do as much writing, but it works well as a story. It's a lot to read aloud so we have the audiobooks from audible as well. In the audiobooks the sidebars are not read so I do that part and discuss maps and other images. There's also a free PDF teaching guide for it here.

When I was a teen I attended a 7-week session with the Student Conservation Association. Our leader I think was taking a gap year. Looking at the web site those are now 21+, but they've also added some programs for younger adults: https://www.thesca.org/serve/young-adult-programs https://www.thesca.org/serve/program/gap-year

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter. You were very blessed to have her, and she was very blessed to have you. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

We did Singapore K-5 with DS and skipped 6 and went to AOPS. We found AOPS too wordy (despite having loved BA) and switched to Dolciani thanks to great advice from Jane in NC. Even though we didn't stick with AOPS, I don't believe doing another year of Singapore would have changed that or been a good use of time. All these programs have a fair amount of overlap built into them and I think whether one does Singapore 6 depends on how solid the student's number sense and arithmetic are, and not because it has topics the student won't encounter elsewhere. When DD9 gets to Singapore 6 we will definitely be skipping it for her as well.

SWB's advice of picking either a snack, a shower, a nap, or exercise hasn't failed me yet. A few times we've needed to combine a couple of those. It's a given in our work now that if I tell them to choose one they know they're being grouchy, are going to take a break, and are expected to rejoin with a better attitude after the concession to growth spurts and hormones.

When I was 9 our family went to France on a vacation. Sitting at the next table were some English speakers, which was more rare in those days than it is now, plus they had American accents. We started chatting and found they lived 2 blocks from us.

I'm not an expert; my oldest is only in 8th and I've been reading about high school planning and college visits. I've read reports from students (not here, on CC and elsewhere over the last few months) saying that they wished they had taken calculus at university even though it wasn't required of them. What situation exempted them I am not sure, perhaps AP or DE or some other school policy. As a personal anecdote, I took AP Calc in high school, earned top scores on the exam, and am still grateful someone gave me the advice to take the university calc course before embarking on my degree. It was much more dynamic and interesting, and integrated well into the rest of my required courses. The downside was having to take more credits that I wished in order to finish on time. So I was coming at it from that angle as well, and if I were visiting I would ask what was suggested for this particular program. I'll rephrase my question: Would you recommend a student who would be exempt from taking calculus at the university take it anyway if pursuing a physics degree?

Will a typical high school calculus (or diff equations, depending) class be good enough, or should the student re-take the class at the university to succeed in this major?

That's what I was thinking. In our neighborhood if I saw a kid going through their own trash I would remember friends having to do that at school or restaurants to find retainers. Other people's trash would be a different story, but I don't know all the kids on our long block so I wouldn't know if it was their own trash if I drove or walked by.

Google is a problem, I agree. That's one of the reasons I won't use Gmail. It is ironic I suggested Googling Cambridge Analytica. ;)

I have FB although I only check it a couple of times/year. And it did come in handy when a close friend went off her psychiatric meds, left the state, and stopped responding to all manner of communication. We were able to locate her because she was using FB to check in to various places. Just to point out I'm not completely anti-FB and I agree it has some really good uses. The issue for me is not that people can find my physical location, which is publicly listed all over the place. It's the online tracking and selling of my data. It is absolutely not my intention to veer into a political discussion here, but my intent is to show what this kind of data can do so for those who are interested, Google Cambridge Analytica. Their techniques may be used for all kinds of things and again, my intent is not to be political; any company could buy the same data and use it, it's just happens that CA is in the news a lot lately for political connections. In fact they have both a political division (in the news a lot lately if you Google) and a commercial division for product and service advertising. That aside, I do agree people need to have a way in which they are digitally accessible these days. I am in favor of considering internet access to be a utility because it's so important to include people has much as possible. The idea that someone is going to call you with only the stuff that applies to you is an idea whose time has mostly passed unless you have very severe income restrictions or have a disability that gets in the way.

You might be surprised. My dad is the least handy person ever. (He's a bookish professor type. He came here from a country where labor is so cheap it's normal for even the middle class to have drivers and people to repair everything.) While I didn't turn out handy at all, my brother taught himself many things. He can repair cars, install stuff, do some easy electrical repair, some plumbing, and re-roof. I think it happened for the most part because my dad was so bad at it; he kept assigning my brother to take care of things because he had no idea how to do it! This was pre-Internet so my brother read a lot of repair manuals at the library. Now with youtube it's easier.

I don't think the article said that, no. I felt the conversation was turning in that direction and I thought I could see what both MinivanMom and AM were saying (coming from a place of privilege vs learning a useful skill and building confidence) so I was hoping to bridge the gap. I may have misread the room, though. Would not be the first time. After I posted I was fixing lunch and I thought about fasting. We are Muslims so my son fasts for Ramadan. (DD is still too young.) It builds great character. We do point out to our son how difficult it is to concentrate when one is hungry, and how much harder it is to make an effort to do physical tasks. We explain to him that he is getting a taste of what it's like, but he has the privilege of having a hot meal at the end. I would be appalled if he told people he knew what it was like to be poor and hungry, or starving. So I think of the car repair in the same way. It's a great skill that develops self-reliance, builds confidence, and saves money. But it's still privilege to have access to tools and catch a ride with another family member if your car is not working.

I can see it either way and I think it depends on how the parent presents it. Character and skill building are wonderful. But if the parent just hands them a bunch of nice tools to repair a car they bought for them and tells them "this is what it's like for poor people" (paraphrasing, but you get the idea) than it's not a good exercise for that. There's a world of difference between not having the right tools and having to fix a car vs doing it to learn skills. If one acknowledges the difference, it's fine. If one thinks that by fixing up the car they've been given insight into what it's like to need to get to work to keep the heat on in subzero temps and the car won't start, that's different. I'm probably not explaining it well, but it feels like one of those images like the vase and the two faces. Depending on how it's viewed it's either a good skill building exercise that gives the children pride of accomplishment, or it can lead to hubris and thinking one knows more than he or she does about what it's like to be poor.

I grew up in Southern CA like this family and the LA Times had good-sized ads every Sunday for fishing jobs in Alaska. I can see needed more cars when you have 12 kids, but getting 2 or 3 used Honda Civics and having the kids give each other rides and carpool would have been a good experience too. One of the tradeoffs to giving each of your kids their own thing is not having them practice cooperation. Coordinating rides would be a perfect thing for them to have all worked on, not just for developing character but also to benefit both the environment and the family's budget.

Yeah, sure, forget the $400 car. I'm more interested in the insurance for that many teens who have no less than 450hp and few safety features. He could have gotten them bus passes and helped pay for college instead.

Agree with those who say this is heavily cultural. Personally if I were having a sit-down dinner party I would plan everything out and not want extra mains or sides. If it was a more casual potluck, or game night or whatever it would be fine. i'm pretty sure my guests would know the difference. In my culture of origin it would be very insulting to bring over any main or side. People might bring some sweets to enjoy with tea after dinner, or a food gift for the family to eat on their own after the party. But to bring a main or side would be like saying you don't like the host's food or you're worried that can't afford to feed you or don't know how to plan well. The funny thing is that all the people who have immigrated from that nation to the U.S. have picked up the practice of bringing mains and sides to dinners here, even with each other. But put them back in their country of origin and they go back to the way things are done there. Sort of like the way the follow all the driving laws and are careful here but then drive like maniacs when they're home. Social code switching at its finest. :laugh:

Oh my goodness you've summoned a forgotten childhood memory of people (not my family) doing this at birthday parties and even at my school by teachers in front of all the kids.

Carrots are good right now. Glazed carrots, roasted carrots, or carrot salad could all be good. Brussels sprouts, roasted or shredded and eaten as a salad. Stuffing Creamed onions or creamed spinach. Stuffed onions can be good because you can do them by the each.

I'm so sorry to hear this outcome. Holding you and your family in my heart.