Wow, you guys are great. This will keep me going for quite a while. My sons like Clive Cussler quite a bit. Ds11 has learned alot from him LOL.

he would also like . . . I'm looking for reading ideas for this guy. He liked Joel Rosenberg's novels although they weren't very well written and he doesn't want the gratuitous s** either. Thanks so much!

South Western Ontario here. Happy Canada Day!

Welcome. There's a number of Canadians here. Where abouts are you?

:mad: :grouphug: Praying she's going to be okay. And praying that the medical team will support everyone right now.

I so agree with you. If it doesn't have a current date on it, I don't even bother to google it. I can't believe how unlikely I am to take those seriously anymore. That said some have been legit. I've put the worst offender on ignore.

No you do not need them. You can likely find some online if you look, or you can make your own, or you can just use regular paper. All they are is a 3 column sheet with 25 numbered blank lines for the child to us. I started making my own, but we just use regular lined paper now.

At least he's still alive. We had a little guy die in the front dash when I was pregnant with ds11. Dh took everything apart and still couldn't fin the thing. I had to drive with the windows down and my head out for half a summer. :scared:

My guys like getting their airsoft guns in the US because you guys have bigger, more powerful ones available. One was even bought in Ohio. LOL. Like the other said, eye protection is a must. I find the safety depends on the kids playing. Some are very competitive and will shoot at close range with not regard for people's faces. The rules around here are no close shots, shooting downed players and anyone firing intentionally at the face or neck area is in real trouble. Now my guys don't have that killer instinct so I don't worry about them. Some of our guests have had it and the guns go away then. My olders are very responsible with their long guns. And of course, the only time they've held a handgun was in the States. So glad they're not here.

I also use the Canadian Test Centre in Markham for the CAT tests. I'm stalking the mail lady right now for the results. :001_smile:

Glad to hear that Bent Wren. My ds11 is also benefiting from me being present during lessons. In his case I'm noticing that he isn't thinking through easier ways to do problems as well. We also don't do more than an hour/day (more likely 45 minutes).

Thank you so much everyone. I have some ordered for my guy. I hope he'll take to Isabelle and Martine. LOL. You have saved sooo much frustration trying to find stuff.

My ds11 is looking for easy French books to read. We all ready use some of the books from the library, but many in his reading level are preschool. I'm trying to figure out what may interest him, but be very simple. In the same vein, could anyone recommend a beginner's French Bible story collection? Thank you soo much.

We are currently using the grade 7 BJU online science and we love it. One thing that we did here is buy the $99 special in December and then found a $5 used textbook on Amazon. There is no way I could teach as well as Miss Vick. This has been one of the best investments we've made so far. We all ready have a microscope etc, but I don't find we use them all that much - likely not worth the $$. The only drawback with the Jan-Dec schedule with the special, is that we have to be very careful about getting things done no matter what so we'll be done by December. However I've decided that even if we don't get done in time, it's still cheaper to buy 2 years of special than 1 year at full price. We are using it 1/2 year ahead with my grade 6 guy so there are no fears about being behind. In his case we only did a few chapters of grade 6 science before starting grade 7. I will do the same for my younger fellow except he'll have all of grade 6 science completed before starting 7.

Oh, Rosie. I just found out. (((((Hugs)))) and love.

I haven't used anything for years due to sensitive skin kids. I missed the scents for a while, but now when we receive a batch of donated clothes, I find the scent too strong. I'm looking into those woolsies.

I haven't been, but dh and ds 16 went last year. They only spent a couple nights in the PAP area in a compound. The rest of the time was in the north country where there wasn't really a compound. That said ds did go for a walk through some of Fermanthe and was fine. They only ate food that had been prepared for the Canadians, so care was taken to protect them. I don't believe anyone got sick at all. They also brought lots of granola bars with them more for the picky eaters who didn't care for so much rice. The wildest part of the whole trip was the airport which I've been told has been improved since then and the very bumpy ride past Gonaives. Oh, and ds had someone try to pick his pocket at the market one day. I would get all the recommended vaccinations as PP have suggested. Do you know who will be with them? Do they know the culture/area well, or are they only occasional visitors? For my guys, they were with people who have lived there for many years and know the language and culture very well. I'm hoping dh and I will get to go next winter for a wedding.

My daughter did French Immersion until grade 9. It is common where we live. For her, it was a great experience. One thing I've noticed with many young teaching grads is that the ones who have French are easily getting jobs whereas others are just not. Keep in mind that this is Canada.

When I read your letter, I thought of this video from a pastor I know. He was born and raised on a local dairy farm. The promo is off topic, but near the end he shares the result of a letter he wrote that might inspire you in your letter writing. It's convicting me to write to some kids I work with. https://www.dropbox.com/s/34c2n6po3ydtlaq/Andrew%20Preaching%20Promo%20(720p%20@%2050%25).mp4

I've done this a couple of different ways. First of all, yes, I do think there's value in the program even without the spelling portion. The language arts portion is strong and all my guys have learned well with it. Sometimes we've done the penmanship portions in the books. Right now we use a different program, not so much because there was anything wrong with CLE, but because they wouldn't get around to chasing down paper to do it, and I didn't tend to think to check to make sure it was done. So I got them actual workbooks. As far as spelling, I've had both my guys do the spelling portions, but not done the testing. We use another system that's kind of like Sequential Spelling that focuses on spelling at their level. For my older guy, I've stopped having him do the CLE stuff because the workload was getting heavy. My older fellows didn't always do the spelling either.

Thanks everyone. I've suggested that he go see his doctor before this becomes worse. I'm passing on this info to him. :glare:

He did start eating more rice crackers, then switched to rice cakes. We don't do corn or soy although I've been using almond milk as a substitute since I don't believe anyone has nut issues. He's also had some oatmeal (yes, I know there's traces of gluten in it. I'm working on that).

Well, I've been trying to find out why my dh is having recurrent gut issues. Life at work is getting a tad uncomfortable for him with having to go to the bathroom 2-4 times/day. I suggested he try cutting out dairy, gluten, and a couple of other things for 3 weeks, then introduce things back slowly. Within 3 days, he was running more often and pretty unhappy - on top of missing the verboten foods. I'm trying to brainstorm why he's worse cutting out foods, and how to go about helping the guy. Anyone with experience have any ideas? BTW, he gave up the "diet".

We do devotions at about 7:15 as soon as everyone is up. They last about 1/2 hour or a bit longer, then everyone has breakfast and does their chores. Then Bible is often the first thing done in school. We used to have breakfast and chores first, but then some of the kids would be waiting on others, or have to have their school interrupted. We have also tried Bible later in the day, but found that it was not consistently done.

What grade level are you considering?