I think this might be where you have a Google apps domain with 5 free accounts or something?

Did you give the correct birthdate for your 12yo? I tried to set one up for ds12 and it wouldn't let me because he's not old enough. Wondering how you were able to do that. You mean a gmail email address, right?

Phew - and used her real birthday?! That's only 2 months away, so we could wait.

I tried setting up a gmail account for ds12, and it said he wasn't old enough. I can't find info that tells the minimum age for an account, but from reading people's questions about it - it sounds like it is 18 or even 21???

Looks like you have to be 18 to have a gmail account?!!

Thank you. This is very helpful. Yeah, a few months ago I set him up a yahoo account, and could not BELIEVE the stuff I found in his box. Luckily it went into the junk folder and he didn't notice it! So I told him he couldn't use that one, poor kid! So then I got him set up with hotmail today, only to find that the contact manager is no longer offered. So had to tell him he can't use that one. He is being patient, but feeling pretty desperate at this point since he wants to do his fantasy football league tomorrow! I'm thinking I'll go with gmail. I just checked my account I've had for nearly a year and there is no spam there.

Thank you. Yes, kol is aol for kids. Which he doesn't want because it is a "kid e-mail"!

Wow - SCARY! So glad they are ok, that just freaks me out. And so sorry it was on your weekend. Not very relaxing with a call like that. Were the kids upset and scared?

What do you use for young teen's e-mail? As in making sure they don't receive all kinds of disgusting cstuff (which is what happened within days of setting him up with yahoo). So I was going to use hotmail with Windows Live/Family Safety where you can have an allowed contacts list...but they recently got rid of that feature!!! You can no longer manage contacts. He doesn't want a little kid sounding e-mail such as kol, zoombuh, etc. But I can't figure out what else I can use to block the nasty stuff. Ideas?

If you bring your kids, they'll excuse you for the day and then put you back in the system to be called up within 3 months or something. I've had jury duty postponed twice before - once we were going to be on vacation, once I had a nursing baby. But "excused" for those things (or likely anything) is only temporary. I do feel like we must take the opportunity to serve when called. The defendant deserves a jury of peers, and that might mean SAHMs, and maybe even homeschoolers! You never know what the case might be about. I know the babysitter issue is very difficult, but do you know another homeschooling family the kids could stay with? Also, most cities have babysitter services where you can hire someone through them. I have heard nothing but good reports about these. Or a homeschooling family with an available teen? Any chance your husband could even take them to work? Set them up in a conference room to do schoolwork, then maybe let them watch a movie at some point? I can't remember how old your kids are, or if you mentioned that. And maybe he could come in late, leave early to shorten their time there? I know this probably is unlikely, but thought I'd mention it since it would work in some places of business. Also, could you ask around to friends and neighbors about a sitter? Surely SOMEONE knows a college student available during the daytime hours.

Here is the link for Mrs. LaRosa's teaching materials: http://www.middleschoolscience.com/chemistry.htm She has a lot of science stuff, and seems like an awesome teacher! Scroll down and you'll see lesson plans for the Periodic Table, Atomic Models, Particles, Elements, Compounds, Formulas, Bonding, Chemical Reactions, Balancing Equations. Only bad thing is no answer keys! Well, I'd love the periodic table cutout thing! THANKS. And what about the chemicals - do you have enough to spare, and enough for me? Maybe it'd make sense for me to buy your extra? I haven't even really looked at prices yet. And what sort of container do they come in? I guess I'd still have to buy a container for each chemical, which might be more of a hassle than it's worth. No idea how much that would be! And a hassle for you to send.

Ugh - I can't imagine planning science units! I thought I'd probably laminate the cards (because I could even have my younger kids play with them to lay them out like the Periodic Table). I wonder if I should have ds color them the "correct" color to match the Table? That might be good. I'll also laminate the board game. I was just thinking I'd lay the 4 pieces next to each other. Did you tape and fold yours or what? We have a Toy and Science store a few blocks from us that I'd like to support, and they carrry used items (flasks, test tubes, etc.). So I need to go there first before ordering stuff. But of course I can't seem to find a time that works. Not really wanting to take the younger kids because of the "Toy" part! I know it'd be so much easier to order online! Which curriculum are you doing first? Have you seen some of Mrs. (Liz?) LaRosa's chemistry stuff? She's a middle school teacher that has put together some great stuff - worksheets, Power Point presentations, games (I think), other. I downloaded some of her files. Let me know if you want the link (don't know it off the top of my head) or the files. She has a sheet called "Element of the Day" - kind of a simplified version of the page McHenry uses. She has some great-looking information/worksheets for learning about balancing equations, I think including a game.

I'm impressed! Have you ever used a curriculum that took this much prep time?! Maybe it's because I printed out the lessons one-by-one, flipping them over and printing backsides, etc. Printing on cardstock is next. Not sure what I'll actually laminate. Did you laminate all those element cards? That might be a good idea. I think they're something that would be used even for high school chemistry quiz studies, don't you think? We're going to do McHenry's Elements first, partly because it makes sense, partly because I'm excited about it! We're going to do Chemistry twice weekly, so I think 8 weeks on Elements (one lesson/week) will give us plenty of time for playing the games, etc. I picked up about 11 books, each one on a different element, at a library sale. They look pretty good. So I think after doing Elements we'll extend that topic a bit and he can read those books and then either make more trading cards or fill out the report pagea. Do that for 5 weeks. Then we'll spend about 20 weeks on MCS. OR we might do MCS directly after Elements and then the library books last. Gotta look at our schedule, see when it would fall during the year, etc. I'm excited about this because my son is also excited about Chemistry. This summer he is working through "Exploring the World of Chemistry" (because one chapter = 15 minutes of playing Madden on the computer!). He really enjoys it, and requires no help from me. It's sort of a history of chemistry, and focuses a lot on interesting discoveries and facts. Reads kind of like articles from a magazine rather than a textbook. At the end of each chapter there's a short multiple-choice quiz.

He sounds like he was an incredible person. I'm sorry that the world has lost him, and your family as well. What a tragedy, and just a month before school. I'd love to read the biography, but the link goes to the facebook page.

Yikes, I did not know this was the recommendation. That is hard! Have you seen this website? Shocking and eye-opening! Great visual, especially for kids. http://www.sugarstacks.com/

I haven't ordered anything yet, but plan to this week. I wanted to download all of it and McHenry's Elements and look over all of it before jumping into the supplies.

I think a lot of men might not realize how disruptive it is. Not that all men are this way, but plenty are...partly because they often don't tend to be as organized as women, etc. Anyway, so that's the first thing. But why is he having you watch her? What is he doing? That would figure into if and how often I was willing to watch the child. Since you do like having her there sometimes (even if it's mostly for her benefit), I would tell him that you'd be glad to do it but that it's been difficult when he calls the night before and doesn't pick her up when he says he will. And maybe say that Mondays just won't work. I think you can tell him these things nicely without any hard feelings if he knows you want to help and to see her. I'd be pretty firm about having him arrive when he says he will. As far as hanging out to watch TV for a COUPLE OF HOURS?!!! WHAT?! No, no, no! Is the TV already on or something? Make sure it is OFF, and hide the remote! Surely when you tell him he needs to be on time because you need time with your family, need to get dinner ready, need to do school, etc.... then he will not stay! Maybe be outside waiting with child when he comes to pick her up. Or if you need to be inside, then get her to him quick and make your parting words clear as you stand near the door. Or if you feel like that is rude, walk them outside and sit on the step for a few minutes - then back inside without them. Tricky situation and you are good to watch her. I think I'd send a few books home with him as well, telling him how much she'd love to have him read them to her.

I got the same e-mail today. I didn't know you could copy from a pdf file???

Wow, I'm impressed! The main thing that struck me is how clean your bathroom must be!!! I'm not sure what wiping down the bathroom even means (is this different than cleaning it?), but I'm starting to feel like I've got a few things to learn...and work on!

Looks like it's been said...but: - Movies/TV - Reach out to the Spanish-speaking community and find friends and mentors - Spanish-speaking high school/college students. Pay to come for an hour twice weekly to only speak Spanish/play games, etc. I think you could do that for $20/week or less. Just make sure they talk a LOT. I tried that once and got a shy boy who hardly opened his mouth! Worked a lot better with a chatty girl. - Pick one day a week and call it "Spanish day" or "Colombia day". Have the kids try hard to speak only Spanish (which will be hard with the youngers not remembering, but I'm guessing they could still understand some) and try to participate as best you can. Maybe buy some board games in the Spanish version and play it that day, watch a special movie in Spanish that day, cook Columbian (or Latin American) food that day. Read one of your books about Columbia on that day. Fun day for the kids. - This might be fun: once/week (maybe on Spanish day!) have each kid pick 3-5 things (or whatever number you think will work) that they want to learn the Spanish word for. Have them make notecards for that stuff (Spanish one side/English other) and tape that notecard - Spanish side onto the item (mirror, chair, carpet, fan, etc.). This will be good for the little ones, and the older one can tell them how to pronounce it. My sister did this for French words in high school all over the house. It drove me crazy at the time (signs everywhere!), but she sure learned those words...and so did I!!! Anyway, after you take them down you can use them as flashcards for review. - What about Spanish audiobooks? Surely there are easy kid books like that, then longer chapter books for your older daughter? - Other Spanish CDs. We have some - nothing great for conversational Spanish, but ok for basic vocab: several Beth Manners CDs, Rock-n-Learn Spanish. Most of these are things that are good for your kids to HEAR Spanish, so I'd really try to get them speaking. Even if it is just your older daughter teaching them little rhymes and poems and songs. If you haven't already, I'd try to get her to remember any nursery rhymes she might have learned and write them down. Have her say them to the kids and then them back a LOT.

Ok, hate to be Debby Downer...just started wondering if PVC piping is safe for kids to play with? I know there is concern with PVC in toys (phthalates, but those are softeners that I wouldn't think would be in the piping?). And it's damaging to the environment (so I don't like being a part of that). But I can't find much that convinces me either way that piping is ok or not for my kids to build with. Here is one short video, but it seems to have confused me more! http://www.monkeysee.com/play/11339-is-pvc-piping-dangerous Anyone have other links or information? I was super-excited about this until I started wondering about the safety of it. Hoping it's safe!

That is WAY cool!!!! Did you guys make that?! What are the yellow things and the flippy car-wash looking things and how did you attach them?

Yeah, but they didn't break it all down by household items, etc. like you did! But I feel bad that you went through each lesson to see what was needed?! Ugh! Well, still - the categorization of where to buy stuff with tips on specific stores is awesome! I had their list already (sorry, I thought you had used that to make your own!!!), but am using yours as well.

Another thing I noticed that isn't in the mega-doc download for this. The Elements Cards for Chapter 4. Dawn, you may have noticed this, but thought I'd mention it. They go along with an activity for Chapter 4, Lesson 2. So if you go to the page for that lesson you will see the download. I noticed there is also a special download for Chapter 6, something about a pH color chart. I'm guessing that's the same situation - it probably isn't in the big file. Too bad they don't have a note next to that file that there will be a few other things you'll want to download in addition to that file. The tests especially!

Yeah, I was going to then post that I noticed it wasn't in the document for the entire book (or whatever it is called). I went looking there after I posted here, thinking maybe the tests w/o answers were in that doc. I had originally downloaded that big doc, but realized it was too much to print. So instead I am just printing student activities and will read the rest on my computer. If you go to the page for each chapter lesson, there are individual downloads for: - student activities - the answers for those (are those in the big download?) - teacher pages - extra teacher background info downloads for some activities (not sure those are in the big download?) - student reading - "test banks" - this is what I'm asking about On the page for each lesson there are also the multimedia links (I think little movies and stuff?). Anyway, I was going to e-mail about it. But thank you, Dawn (maybe our new ACS MCS Chairperson) - glad you've got made a "friend" there that might hopefully have the doc without the answers printed in red!