Anyone else have a child who does this? My nine-year-old reads words fine, but has difficulty reversing numbers, which has caused a lot of problems with multiplication, so that he's quite a bit behind in math. For example, today he said 9x7=36.

You all were very helpful when we were planning our east coast trip. Now we are taking Amtrak cross-country (4 days!--any tips for that are welcome, too). We will arrive in Oakland, and we have 10 days (some of which we need to spend with family). We'll be going as far south as Monterey Bay Aquarium and as far north as Redwood National Park. We'll spend a couple days in San Francisco, but I feel like I know the city okay. It's the other areas I don't know. With limited time, I don't know that we'll get to Yosemite or the other national parks. So, any must-sees or travel tips for the area?

My daughter is 12 and my son is 9. We do the majority of our reading as read-alouds. We are currently working our way through the last several years of major award (and honors)winners: Newbery, Orbis Pictus, Jane Addams, Coretta Scott King, Scott O'Dell. We are having a great time!

If you go to Mike's Pastries for cannolis, you may decide this is not a one-time trip. ;-P

And...one of those moments where you read through the post and responses, thinking of what you can add. Then, you reach the last response and know immediately that the op is years old. :-p

If this topic of primate "kidnapping" interests you, you might be interested in the 2013 Newbery Medal winner, The One and Only Ivan. It's a quick read (though it's not a picture book), and it's really good, based very loosely on the story of a real silverback gorilla.

Right--I hope you don't think I was being critical--I was saying the additional accreditation was a good thing.

Yeah, I'm not sure--I only know what I've heard in probably-liberal-biased media, but this did remind me of one other thing. In addition to regional accreditation, TTUIS is also accredited by the state education association. Most online schools are not--I don't know if this is a difference in what states accredit or if this actually says something more, but it may be a consideration for some, as it is an additional level of accreditation.

I've only seriously considered TTUISD, University of Texas Austin, Missouri, and Indiana. Of course, the Texas schools use the Texas-specific textbooks, and I'm afraid our family's politics may be too liberal for that to work for us. Between Missouri and Indiana, I like the interface of them both, with Indiana having an edge. I like that Missouri seems to have a broader range of classes, but I like the very clear 3-program track of Indiana. We have friends who have attended and taught at Indiana. So, that's what we're weighing. :-)

Greta, if you considered Indiana, can you tell me why you ruled it out? It's our frontrunner right now, though I also like Missouri (but they want students to be 14+).

My daughter's only twelve, but I've fallen behind in the mandatory teaching of French (we're in NB). I thought perhaps I would have her take a course through a university-affiliated online high school, such as Indiana University. I know there are numerous other possibilities, and that Texas Tech. is quite popular. Any opinions on such schools would be appreciated. :-)

Lol. She's wise. Yes, I have "locked down" a lot of internet on her computer.

I'm just starting to get it together for next year. I'd love to hear what others with these grade levels have planned or have just completed. :-)

Thank you all for this--the livejournal sounds like a good idea; I also heard about something called dreamwidth.

Thank you--she reads and writes My Little Pony fanfiction. there is a FIMfiction site that focuses on this, but there is some really inappropriate content there.