She's been fine with it so far, but I've seen a shift since my oldest homeschooler is now junior high age. She wonders how I can keep challenging him. Um, this is the 6th grader that is doing Algebra? And I was a secondary math education major, and one of my good friends who I am co-oping science with got a degree in secondary science education? But, even without all that, ds seems to be doing pretty good. Even when I told her that despite being a "good" junior high, there are definite issues there that make most parents cringe when they know their child is junior high age. She said, "well, that's life - it's in most places." Nope. I've never heard of my husband getting beat up in the bathroom because that's the only place free from anyone in authority. Beth

So, I'm talking to MIL about how proud I am of my ds's initiative to have a lawn raking business in the neighborhood. He's conducted himself in a very professional manner with his clients and made sure they were satisfied before he accepted payment. He's one of those kids who will be an entrepreneur someday (well, I guess he is now). Anyhow, MIL says, "And that is why he should be in school! He could be the class president, a leader in the classroom, a leader in his school! You should really send him to school." So, apparently, he's well socialized in her opinion so therefore, he needs to use his excellent socialized behavior with the rest of the world! Yes, he is a leader. He has all sorts of ideas for fun with the pack of neighborhood boys he hangs out with. Yes, he could be one of those kids who leads the pack and is when he's around others. But, I still homeschool because knowing that he is a leader, I want him to be able to continue to think out of the box and learn how to follow God so that he is not "just" a leader, but an excellent one who understands how to first be submitted to God. Somehow, homeschooling has gotten him to this good point in his life, why would we want to change that. Have you ever run into this argument before? Beth

A subscription to Hulu or Netflix for a year? I second the boots idea. Beth

It inspires me to do more authentic science with my kids. The problem is, I'm not great with curriculum that has "suggestions". I just need something more concrete or else it will just not get done. What to do? Beth

I use TOG and plan the whole year out in the summer. It does take a bit of time (can't remember how much), but I do all the print-outs, plan all the activities that look doable - we do an activity every other week - and put all the books we plan to do on a 36 week schedule. I also buy all the supplies for the activities during the summer also. This way, all I have to do is find the craft supplies for that week, write the books to read in ds's schedule, and put the print outs (map and literature response sheets) in ds's folder. It becomes very open and go for me during the year and takes about 5 minutes a week of planning. I also do this for my 12 year old, although he is doing a TOG online class. He has a workbook with all the questions he needs to answer along with his maps and timeline figures for the week. He has to write his own schedule so his workbook is all the planning I do for him. I literally don't have to plan during the year. I did appreciate Sonlight for that open and go factor so I created open and go myself. I like TOG better than Sonlight because I didn't want to do the two core thing. It has a better "tweakable" level for me because it has more than enough to choose from. We don't do everything, but I find I can tweak it differently for each child and still have plenty more to choose from. Beth

This is exactly what we are doing for geography memorization. It seemed a better use of time to actually memorize current countries to me rather than random geographical points from the CC foundations book. We sing the songs on the Kathy Troxel CD (which can be pretty "retro") and then play the game. Ds 8 is working through Africa right now. He's a couple of weeks away from knowing the whole country. Beth

If you think it's boring in the samples, 36 weeks of it get really mind numbing. ECC turned me off of MFW forever because I reasoned that they were formulaic in their curriculum. My ds found it fine, I couldn't stand it, wound up doing two weeks together (and didn't miss much), and finished 36 weeks in 27. There are cheaper ways to do it and free geography games online that my 8 year old finds fun (seterra is one). You could easily replicate the whe thing based on the formula you stated in your post. Beth

We don't have debt, have the "required" emergency savings and are at about 6% putting money into a retirement fund. BUT, if we need something that we have savings available for, we don't follow his advice. For example, we needed different flooring for our son in a wheelchair. Technically, according to Dave Ramsey, we didn't have that money, but it needed to be done, so we did it. Also, due to the wheelchair issue, our home being paid off is more important because we are not able to live anywhere if the economy really tanks- a cheapo apartment does not work with wheelchair bound children. Beth

I'm wondering how much is her past and how much is her diet. I had her on the Dianne Craft supplement diet for months and have been slacking on it. In addition there has been a lot of sugar in the house due to birthday season. So, my first step is to put her back on that diet and see if that helps. I too am hesitant to put her into any school because she is so peer dependent. If the group told her to jump off the roof, she would. She's very social - she just has no discernment. I also have some suspicions of what happened in her orphanage due to her reaction to sick babies. I'll never truly know since they were viewed from a toddler's point of view and may not have the full picture. I am also dropping phonics lessons for her. She can do it, but they're hard for her. I'll try again next year and they should be a bit easier and less frustrating. Beth

I don't really use the teacher's guides all that much in the younger grades. As they get older, the problems become more difficult and those TM's are needed! I am using Math U See blocks to explain the concepts in level 2 right now and they do just fine. Another thing the TMs are good for are those mental math sheets in the back. I'm sure the program is a whole lot more fun if you do the activities, but I just stick to the textbook and teach from there. Beth

I too really hated the disrespect both of them showed the moderator and each other. It looked like a couple of naughty children who whined about getting their fair time and "he got extra, why can't I?" arguments. They should cut off their mikes and let them know, "this will happen, be prepared". We might actually get a good debate instead of what we're getting. Half the time, you can't even make out what either candidate is saying because they're both talking at the same time trying to get more time for their point of view. I've watched very civil and ordered presidential debates in the past where each took his turn and time was honored. This whole thing is just sad. Beth

My dd has been with us for over 3 years. The first year or so was pretty rough as she is a strong willed child. For the past year, she has been well behaved, snuggly, comes to us when hurt, overall a pleasant child (even considering her feisty personality). Recently, my oldest has been having back issues and I have needed to take care of him quite a bit. It seems like the bottom has dropped out of this child who I thought was properly attached. She is hiding from us, running from us, and I am likening it to hugging a viper. She's screaming at me over little things and has gone back to hitting me (which she literally hasn't done in two years). She can go from sweet to venom in less than a minute. Her sweet side comes out as acting like a baby. I have no idea what to do. And please don't suggest counseling because that would require an hour's drive time and I am barely hanging on with a thread right now. I am thinking seriously of sending her to preschool because frankly, I'm totally overwhelmed with her brother right now aside from homeschooling the other two boys (homeschooling has become a highlight in my day - I do enjoy it). The last time my oldest had back issues, it took months before he was back to normal. I feel like maybe if we were away from each other, it would be better for everyone involved. She wants to learn how to write and read and I think even that would be best to stop right now due to the chaos she is putting on us. I'm at the end of myself. Beth

I thought brown rice from California was ok. That's the rice we get in bulk. Am I wrong? Beth

I think it's due to e-mail warnings that I've had from friends about what is happening in doctor's offices with 13 year olds being separated from parents and being asked very personal questions about sexual activity and other things of a personal nature. I actually didn't lie and say my 13 year old has the mentality of a toddler so no, he doesn't know, but even if he was a typical kid, I shouldn't have to tell him/her. I'm their parent and don't need their permission to talk about their medical needs! Beth

I called up our medical insurance carrier with a question about medical coverage for some medical equipment. Before she could answer my question, she told me she had to ask a question. She was apologetic in her tone with a "I know this is silly, but I have to ask. Does your 13 year old son know you are calling about him?" What?!?!? Since when do I have to tell my children I am calling about their medical benefits? What has our government unleashed upon us?!?!? Beth

I don't read the teachers notes because I just don't have the desire/time right now. My ds#2 has an online TOG class and my other two are LG. I schedule history with them twice a week and do a hands on project every other week. I alternate with science experiments on the off weeks. That way, they're doing something hands on each week, but I'm not driving myself crazy. We do maps, a history response page of some sort, and the literature sheet (only for ds #2) during those two days. Beth

When my son was in elementary school, they videotaped the whole class. In order to release any of it to the parents of those students, they had to have permission from every parent. I would require permission personally. Beth

I personally use TOG because of the age difference in my home, but I have a friend who has always used the core of the oldest child as her main read aloud core and then everyone down from there just does the readers at their level. She also has always done science that way also which in her house means her 12, 10, and 7 old are all in Apologia general science and the old Sonlight core 7. She figures that they pick up what they pick up and has had the youngest in the family answer comprehension questions better than the oldest. So, if you love Sonlight, this is a way to make it work. Beth

The question is how do you schedule the word problems. Foersters has a different sequence than Saxon.

I like Psych. There is usually an 80s reference at some point. It's about a guy who says he's psychic but is just observant. Beth

I have an old Foerster's Algebra book that I got for $4 (included shipping) that has good word problems and the answers to the odd problems in the back of the book. I may have ds do 2-3 of them each day as a supplement and toss the Saxon word problems. We'll see. The only reason I didn't like Saxon was the lack of good word problems so this may solve my issue. Beth

I went back to Saxon Algebra. I don't care for the word problems, but it seems like my ds does well with little bits and pieces and the ability to practice those bits and pieces before he moves onto other bits and pieces. I think he will just do better with this approach. Am I just killing any future math in college and beyond? He's got a good entrepreneurial sense about him and does have a very logical math brain. Should I supplement with a good Discovering Mathematics word problem every once in a while? Beth

I have the Bosch grinder attachment. It does a decent job. I guess I've never thought about how fine the flour is. I grind all sorts of grains ad no one has ever told me their cookie was gritty. I had one break on me (only because it dropped from the counter with the Bosch still attached) and I went and bought a new one right away. Beth

My ds is 8 and is half way through level 3. Beth

I've waited until they are able to read easily. I started ds#3 with AAS when he was reading well - he zoomed through the first level and is now on level 3. There's no rush. Now, with my dd who is on lesson 7 in AAR, I will definitely wait until she is a lot more fluent. I don't want to frustrate her. Beth