Similar question- what can just hook up a laptop to my tv? Think 10 year old tv? We've looked into Roku also, but just couldn't get everything we wanted. We also just want to watch what we can watch on our computer only on the tv. Beth

IEW First Form Latin

I have my 5th grader in pre-algebra currently. My btdt friend said the same thing about the SATs and accelerated math in the early years. It's because they hit trig early and forget a lot of it by the time the SAT rolls around. I'm not sure what we're going to do about that. I could always stall him with NEM or Aops. Extra work solidifying algebra is not a bad thing at all. Beth

Chiropractor! I had similar with all three of my pregnancies. Finally, with #3, I went to a chiropractor regularly. I had the intense/can't walk pain along with my entire right thigh being numb all the time. With #3 and regular Chiropractic visits, it was MUCH more manageable. Beth

I too would look at my son's tests before he took them (we live in a state where you are required to test each year). As he's getting older, I'm noticing more and more how teachers HAVE to teach to the test - especially the social studies and science sections (since we didn't study American Indians last year, ds didn't do as well on that section this past year for example). My favorite from 1st or 2nd grade was a question about how a woman can earn a living or some sort of nonsense like that. They had a picture of a professional woman at a desk, a hairdresser, and an obvious mom picture. The mom picture was I'm guessing the wrong choice in the testers opinion. I got irritated at what was a blatant social engineering question. On a testing note, my disabled/is only 2 years old mentally 7th grade son has to take a standardized test every year. His scores and his fellow special ed. classmates help to make our district a failing school because this particular group of children can't seem to improve from year to year. Most of his class can't even talk much less work hard on improving for a standardized test! The insanity of testing! Beth

I had a real crisis of faith when my first born son was born with a very disabling chromosome disorder. At 3 1/2 months old, he had his first surgery - at 7 months old, he had open heart surgery. Both horrible - horrible experiences that showed a taste of what life would be like with this child. I felt like God had deceived me and that He was not a God of love, but distant and uncaring. The decision came to either believing that God was who He said He was or choosing a life without God. I decided to believe God was who He says He is. That is where faith comes in. Just because I don't "feel" His love or "see" His love doesn't mean that His love is absent. The problem with being here on earth and being finite, we don't see the whole picture. With my son, I still don't see the whole picture. My whole life has changed completely because of him. I'm not one of those people who will sugarcoat it and say it has turned out for the better. It hasn't. We still live with the reality of a severely disabled child who will forever be completely dependent on someone. But, I've learned to live with the questions knowing that God does love me, does care for me, and does have a good plan for my life no matter what comes my way. We see through a glass darkly or in C.S. Lewis' terms - the Shadowland. Beth

I organized a TOG co-op for two years and now am a director for CC. I love TOG, especially for those dialectic years, but was finding a TOG co-op to be an uphill road. There is really no help for the tutors/teachers in what to do each week, what "craft" they should do or even help when those inevitable things go wrong. It's like I was trying to open my own sub shop vs. a subway. Subway tells you how to bake the bread, what the menu is, and how your restaurant should look. Your own sub shop could have better sandwiches, but the learning curve is higher. Now, both can be good. There is a richness that TOG has with history, but especially when we got to year 4, the activities that a co-op would do where just not there. Almost every week was a struggle for what to focus on and we were pulling crafts out of thin air. I like that CC has an art/music time each week and a science experiment (most times) that focuses on how to do an experiment. I like how CC has all the memory work listed and has tools to memorize their material. I was missing that in TOG and despite my attempts to include memory work into the co-op, it was lackluster at best. I also like that the students have to do a presentation every week and that specific time is set apart for that. We did do that in our TOG co-op also with varied results. Again, the lack of direction for even that segment made it harder. Here's what I wish for - a TOG/CC combination. The rich history of TOG combined with the structure CC offers. I may wind up doing both as my ds approaches middle school and the prospects for the CC Challenge levels in my area become slimmer just due to the size of our small town and the size of our community. That's why I haven't sold my TOG stuff just yet. How's that for a middle of the road answer? Beth

My daughter likes to sleep almost nakky. If she does, she wakes up because she's cold and then proceeds to wake up 3 more of us with her banging on the door usually at some . I put her jamies on backward (you cut the feet out) so at least she can have clothes on at night. Beth

:lol: A few years ago, my friend who is my age, was going to show some other kids what a somersault was. As she was starting to explain it, I realized that she herself was planning on doing one. Before I could get "wait, stop!" out of my mouth, she did one and it took her a good 5 minutes to recover. I knew what would happen because a few years before that, I did one and got SOOOOO dizzy. Never again. Beth

I was just thinking about my mom and grandma. My mom always mentioned that her mother was much older when she was born. My mom was the youngest of 9 and kept mentioning that her mother was just tired due to her age. So, I recently asked her how old grandma was when she gave birth to my mom. 40! Yes, 40!!! I was thinking this woman was in her 50s from all that my mom was saying. Now, at 41 years old myself, 40 is not all that old! Funny how perspective changes. I've also realized all those college students at our church? I could be their mother and it wouldn't even have had to be a teenage pregnancy. So when my husband says I could pass for a college student, I don't believe him anymore. Any stories you have? Beth

We did this a few years ago - not the updated current guide. We started out great, but about 1/2 way through it got very repetitious and boring for me - so much so, I accelerated it just to get through it so I could be done and go onto something more interesting. We did all the crafts and the meals but it just got boring. Beth

I'm looking for facial moisturizer. Beth

I am looking for a fairly natural moisturizer for dry skin. I have been recently trying coconut oil. My skin can't handle Olay stuff - it breaks out. I am willing to make it, but don't want a lot of different ingredients (multiple essential oils for example) because if it doesn't work, I don't want to have wasted money. Any suggestions? Beth

When God talked to me about adoption, I found out later that the month I felt like we were to adopt was the month our now 4 year old daughter was conceived. God had been planning all along to have her in our family. I can always tell our daughter that she was always wanted and always planned for by us! Beth

I have a 5th grader using it. Like others though, he is pretty well versed on science so far. He answers the questions well and seems to understand the material. He likes it a lot because it came with the cool science kit. I'm not sure I would have used it when he was in 7th grade. Some days, there are only 2 pages of material to read. As with others, more is sometimes just "more" and only needs 2 pages to really explain the concept. Beth

For some reason, there are more than a few threads about the lack of a good education the "masses" are getting. This is not to bash public schools, but think about it; if what we are seeing in small amounts (about public school students not getting educated well) is actually a much larger problem, what is that going to do to the future of our country? If homeschoolers, good private schools, and good public schools make up a small majority of students getting a good education (decent literacy- ability to understand applications, ability to read at more than 8th grade, writing ability - beyond tweets and text messages - the ability to write a well thought paper , ability to do math beyond balancing a checkbook), how can our country expect to survive as a democracy? As a "super power"? Already colleges are providing more and more remedial courses because their students are not getting the basics in their schools. Could part of our nation's personal debt problem really be that people do not have the education to even understand what the credit card bill even says about their balance? Or what a mortgage application really means? Or if what a political candidate makes sense or is just a bunch of empty promises that would never hold up? So, the million dollar question is, what can we do beyond just educating our own children? Is there anything that can be done? And I don't believe political action is necessarily the place to go - it seems as if the wind changes too quickly and too often in that area! Beth

I too thought the homeschool students were more articulate and more varied in what they said and what they were involved in. Even the public school students (whom many of them couldn't seem to write well at all - sad sad sad) admitted that a homeschooler would get a better education but be unable to "socialize". What is the point of adolescence? To learn how to be a teenager or to learn how to be an adult? It seems that the version of socialization we keep butting our heads up against is really focused on getting our children to learn how to be adolescents rather than adults. Would you rather have your child learn how to relate to a wide variety of ages like adults do or learn how to relate to their own age peers. We spend most of our lives as adults. Think about it. For a real boost to why to continue homeschooling read The Dumbest Generation. Beth

Can I just say that I am loving first form latin? I am learning with my ds who is 11 and I think I actually have a chance at learning a foreign language! As a side benefit, my ds's two good friends are also learning with this program. They have figured out that Latin will be a good code language because, "those public school kids will never learn Latin". So, I'm all about encouraging that code language. Also, for those interested, I am making vocab games on purposegames.com for each of the lessons. Just look up First form latin in the search. Beth

My son is not one to read "classics". I am wondering if any of you have gotten a Kindle for your children, downloaded classics, and now they are reading them? I don't want to buy this wonderful thing and have my son be disgusted that he can't get junk food books on it without paying for them. Beth

Rainbow Science?

A little Princess Little House Series (maybe partially because I watched her on TV every week) Beth

I went through teacher training for secondary education in mathematics. The MAIN teacher training was being a student teacher for a semester, observing two classes for a semester, and tutoring a kid for a semester. Everything else was theory (and a lot of talking about classroom management). So, professional teachers pretty much learn most of what they learn with on the job training. How do homeschooling moms learn to teach their children? On the job training! But they already have a head start because they actually KNOW their students. BEth

We have had the same thing happen. Our home insurance is higher because our debt load is only our mortgage. We've haven't had a car loan in over 5 years, we pay off our credit cards on time and never carry a balance and our mortgage is less than 1/2 of what our home is worth. The insurance couldn't budge and she told me to call my state representative who was partly responsible for the law. Apparently, those who are "poor" have been found to be more irresponsible when it comes to insurance and so they made a stupid law that also penalizes people who have little debt. And they wouldn't base it on income or anything else but a stupid credit rating. It IS annoying! Beth

We are currently doing Latin's not so tough. We're doing OK, but the lack of explanation is starting to become a problem. I am VERY hesitant about teaching Latin. Ds is in 5th grade. I'm wondering if we should change to First Form Latin or Latin Christiana? Beth

For CC: http://www.classicalconversations.com/component/findcommunity/?state_id=46 beth