It's Biblioplan. I have the companion and that's the thing giving me the yucks. It is so choppy and I feel like I barely read about one thing before another little topic comes up. I like read alouds and good literature and maybe this is what is tripping me up. I'm thinking of just going back to Sonlight. We had a decent year last year. Not the thrill of my life, but decent.

Not just a bad day, but a repeat from last year. I thought I had corrected what was causing the defiant meltdown which was math and have changed to the least work/ get it done/ progress her math that I could choose. Nope---Also, during history, there was a lot of dramatic sighing.

So, day 4 here in the homeschool...I tried a new history to make it less history "intense". I hate it. It feels choppy, I don't like reading it, and to think of doing this the whole year makes me cringe. Do I just ditch it and sell it? Or should I stick it out for a while longer? i'm not sure anything else will be much better at this point. I can buy a teacher's guide for cheap for the curriculum I had last year. ETA, I had a horrible day with dd that is a return of the horrible year I had last year. I called two charter schools to see if they had openings. That may be skewing my perception also.

We moved from a small town to a sprawled out city when ds was 14 going into high school. It was hard for a while because he left behind friends he's had most of his life. He was pretty lonely for a while. We found a great church youth group and his social life is much fuller than it was before. It's been a very positive experience for him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think what's happening is he gets up to go to the bathroom and then can't fall back to sleep. Then he gets thirsty, so he drinks a bunch. Then he has to go to the bathroom again because he hasn't fallen asleep again and the cycle continues. I also found out he's eating protein bars because he's hungry and they have some chocolate in them which may or may not contribute to the awake thing. I've been making him drink a ton during the day and watching that closely so his body is getting the proper water during the day at least. So, I've loaded him up on water today and he's gone to the bathroom once. So, he's dehydrated somewhat. I am going to suggest glucose testing. My neighbor took her son into the doctor because he wet the bed twice in a week when he was 10. He wound up having diabetes and she caught it really early so that's what's making me think that also. It may just be growth spurt too. My 15 year old has stretch marks on his back he grew so fast.

My 11 year old is falling asleep constantly. He has trouble sleeping in the night because he has to go to the bathroom all the time. My 15 year old went through a huge growing spurt around 12, so I have a feeling one is coming, but it's been a month where he is falling asleep all over the house. This is not normal for him. He's a sensitive sleeper and usually just can't go to sleep randomly. He says he feels fine and says he's happy with his life. U am bringing him to the doctor tomorrow. Anything I should be looking for or testing for? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Along with what others have said... Pros - Our main goal for homeschooling was to give our children a Christian Worldview. Public school will not give that. Also, my son thinks that having to listen to a teacher every.single.day would drive him bonkers. Cons - There is a reason high school teachers tend to (not always) major in college in the field their teaching. I feel like high school needs teachers who love their subject and are good at teaching it. i can't be passionate about every subject and can't be an expert on every subject. I don't know how to motivate or even know what is appropriate for grading and requirements. This is my big one---my son does MUCH better with outside teachers. He works harder and actually works to get a good grade. With me, he puts in half the effort and I am also mindful of relationship with him. Our solution - he will be doing all online classes this year. So, it's our best way to give him the Christian worldview we desire him to have when he graduates and still afford what I consider to be a private education.

My sister did a whole masters program paper (for graphic design of all things) on the death of cursive instruction. She came at it from the perspective of kids now not even being able to read all public uses of cursive for advertising/ brochures and how the graphic arts has to change design font. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had one done 3 years ago. It was tilting my head back on a pillow and just making sure not to swallow when they were taking the biopsy. No breathing tubes, no neck spasms. They didn't numb me up and it wasn't horrible because they were using really fine needles. I was sore to the point of not being able to turn my head well for a couple of days but didn't take time off of being mom to a physical special needs kid. Also, I had a nodule when I was 15. I didn't even notice the thing until it was large. They removed it because of its size but it was benign. The nodules was also hyperactive. This was 30 years ago though and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do things in the same way today. I have 3 nodules now that are just mostly annoying. Thyroid cancer is usually very curable from what I've heard. Thyroid nodules are very common. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a very social child at that age also. We never had the opportunity for co-ops and very little interaction with the local homeschool group just due to the makeup of our family. My son had one public school buddy across the street. Eventually, we got to know the other kids in the local homeschool group, but they were never his close close friends. Eventually, he made some close friends in church and now since moving, he has a good youth group with as many friends as he could possibly want. His life was not damaged by our isolation of a social child (by circumstances). He has matured into a very socially adept young man. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought they showed that at least some of the plagiarism examples could be misconstrued as plagiarism when they were not. Regardless of which way you lean, the response was HORRIBLE! He attacked her character first to show that she was vindictive and therefor could not possibly be right even if she was. He sounded petty and snarky. A good response would be to go through each of her examples and politely show a refutation. I think that would have gone much farther. And if they couldn't refute her examples well, at least say, "Perhaps we were wrong."

Buy a few packs at a larger price to get you through the first month and then go to Target or other school supply stores after school has started for about two weeks. Then buy a ton at their super sale price. I usually buy my filler paper at about 25 cents for a pack. I stocked up too much two years ago. I still am working through that pile!

Yes, whatever situation you are in, God will give you what you need. That is His nature. He loves His children and He knows what we need. Before my oldest son was born, I was pretty certain I could never handle a special needs child. Much less one with huge medical problems. But, that is what I got. Honestly, it's been amazing the stuff I just "knew" to do. Has it always been easy? NO WAY! But, His grace has gotten me through to the point where I can still find joy in the day to day. I find that to be the amazing part - I can still find joy. I also know that sometimes there are things we just can't handle alone. That's where I've had to find support for me through Christian friends (I've never found that help to be in one particular church but in the "church" meaning a larger group of interdenominational people). The biggest thing that keeps me going is that I know I can't see the bigger tapestry that is being formed around me. For example, sometimes, I feel like I got the color black. I think, "What a stinky color". But what I can't see is the larger picture being formed around my stinky color and that's a beautiful tapestry. God WILL work out all things together for good for those who love Him. It's a promise. You may not see it now, but you will see it. My seeing it may not happen in this lifetime and it's grace to be OK with that.

Also, a side note - I have outsourced my 15 year old completely this year. It's not that he doesn't listen or resists me as the bigger problem, it's just that if it's an outside class, he does much better and actually tries to do well. With "mom" classes, he doesn't seem to care too much about doing well. So, outsourcing has worked very well for him overall and I highly recommend it.

My son has been doing TPS for three years now. From their site, TPS English classes can be considered Honors level work. If you want your son to write well, I highly recommend their classes even if he places lower than you think he should. If he gets 4 years of TPS writing instruction, he will be well prepared for college level writing. Just for your reference of what kind of work is required, I've enclosed two paragraphs from my son's English 2 class. There is a lot more to this paper, but I didn't want to bore people. It was a persuasive paper on Animal Farm. For this level of writing, he got an A-. Animal Farm by George Orwell: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Pigs. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.†This quote by Lord Acton depicts the reign of of the pigs on Animal Farm. Animal Farm by George Orwell tells the intrepid story of a group of farm animals and their overwhelming desire to overthrow farmer Jones. While the animals revolution succeeded, they found themselves under the communistic rule of the pigs, the animals who led the revolution in the first place. Gradually the desire for an extravagant lifestyle overtakes the farm’s leader, a pig named Napoleon, and causes him to rule with an iron trotter. Soon all the animals, besides Napoleon’s friends, plummet into a pit of drudgery and despair. Without a doubt, the subservient animals in Animal Farm can receive little blame for their misery and stupidity because of Napoleon’s alliances , manipulation, and the destruction of history and memories. Unions between Napoleon and other animals allowed Napoleon to make life miserable for everyone. By recruiting and partnering with other animals, Napoleon received support and assistance for his communistic reign, objectives unachievable without the help of others. Squealer the pig, a valuable asset to Napoleon’s team, craftily deceived the other lowly animals. Through his compelling lies, Squealer created the false notion that the quality of life on the farm rose compared to when Mr. Jones possessed ownership of the farm. Life appeared miserable to the other animals, but Squealer persuaded them using rousing speeches about how much better life became after the rebellion. Although Squealer convinced the animals of their conditions in a superb way, the gullible animals believed Squealer’s lies too easily. Animal Farm states, “In any case he (Squealer) had no difficulty in proving to the other animals that were not in reality short of food… but in comparison with the days of Jones, the improvements were enormous. (112)†Unfortunately, the animals are partially to blame for their conditions, because of their gullible minds and inability to see the horrendous decline of Animal Farm’s living conditions. Napoleon’s alliances allowed him to reign supreme on Animal Farm and destroy the other animal’s way of life.

We sold our home and made the closing two months later. After we had a contract, we put a contract on the new house contingent on house #1 finalizing. We close on house #1, packed it up on the moving truck and closed on house #2 the following day after having wired the money. We've also closed on two houses within hours of each other. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am looking for audio books for ds12 and dd9 for us to listen together. My plan is this. Due to me having to drive two days a week for about 40 minutes to an hour, I have decided to use audio books to save me some homeschool time. I plan on getting the book and reading where we left off in the audiobook on the days I'm not driving. It will help my sanity and help me accomplish a goal of mine to read aloud more to these two. So, give me your best audio books that you love. I already have the Hobbit and the Green Ember on my list. Any others? Not too violent or my daughter will be chiming in with "THAT'S AWFUL!!! What is wrong with those people!!!" and make us lose the flow of the book. Also, is a subscription to audible.com worth it? I am planning on using the library system as much as I can, but there are a lot of homeschoolers around here and a library that has long waiting times for the more popular books.

I am following the public school schedule for the most part. They start August 3rd but have some very nice breaks throughout the year so the year doesn't feel so much like a sprint. For example, they have two weeks off in October. I can't follow it exactly because I am required by law to have 180 days and they have less than that. Go figure... My bigger issue is that with all the classes I outsource, I am having to coordinate four different school schedules. That gets a little confusing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My driving is mostly picking up my ds from the community college 20 minutes away twice a week. (I also have to drive/pick up my oldest from school each day, but that is already my normal). That doesn't seem like much, but my margins in life are so small. I have decided to pick read alouds that have a book on cd option so the days I'm driving, we can still do our "read aloud". I'll just pick up where we left off in the car. Most efficient use of my time at this point. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

She hasn't had any evaluations done lately. All I know is that she uses language appropriately for her age and due to being read aloud to, has a very decent vocabulary - to the point that she will use almost adult sounding language to express herself. I just asked her what big words she knew -- expedition and adventurous were what came to mind.

It's outdoor pool and there is very little outside noise since her class is very small and there are only two other small classes in the pool at the same time -- not a lot of external noise. And add to that is that she has one ear plug in to keep water out of an ear with a small perforation so she is really only listening with one ear. Maybe that's part of it also? Yet, on the other hand, she did a sample Veritas press lesson where she had to listen in order to answer questions correctly which she was able to do with no problem. APD is something I will have to look into. She has a cleft and as a result, came to us at 2 1/2 with two ruptured ear drums. She needed hearing aids for moderate hearing loss and got them when she was 3. Until that time, most of her language was grunts and other non-language sounds. Now, her ears can hear within normal ranges. She has no trouble reading to herself or out loud though and no trouble using language to express herself.

Yes, math is her biggest issue. I switched to rod and staff math halfway through last year and it went much better. I can see though that she needs to focus on one concept at a time. Math u see is our try next year and I think that will mostly solve the problem of "what" and we'll have to work on attitude or just drop back a level if needed. She just needs more time with a concept before she gets it and doesn't feel frustrated which turns to anger. She can read well and likes to write paragraphs. I decided to unschool science because she does like to read science books on different topics and learns a lot from them. I have note booking pages for her to write what is interesting for her and a color printer so she can copy pictures that she likes related to her topic. I'll just follow her interest that way which will be a load off of me. Her main issue is ADD and adoption issues. Part of it is just me. Her first years with us were tough and I still feel like I'm trying to develop affection for her. She has a very strong personality and I get the brunt of her negative emotions. The other part is plain old ADD. I see it with her swim lessons even. She can't focus on the full instruction and only gets parts of it so she has to be constantly corrected because she didn't pay attention long enough. It showed up on her standardized testing also. Her listening scores were in the 20th percentile. So far, I'm able to see her progress in homeschool but if it doesn't get better, the subjects will get harder and her concentration may need a little prescription help. I do have a one day a week co-op where I don't have to be there. Last year a lot of those days were spent doing errands. I'm going to guard that day a little better this time around and use it to recharge. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think my daughter would do a veritas press online history lesson, but my 12 year old would not like that. He doesn't like online stuff and still wants to hear me read history to him which means my daughter would be there also which ultimately means, I can't pawn off history. I do like to read aloud to them both. Maybe I just need to get my big girl panties on and figure out how to love this journey.

I don't know of any that my daughter could take. My 15 year old has all online classes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't want to homeschool my daughter. I've had a pretty busy summer and the driving I will have to do next year fills me with dread. I've made my 6th grader as independent as possible and enrolled him in an online writing class. I still have to teach my daughter most things as she is in3rd grade. I just don't want to do it. Last year we had weekly battles mostly over math. I have since changed the program into something that will work better for her, but it's the stress of last year carried over into summer that is being carried into our new school year. Public school is not an option. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk