Well. The usual groceries, no gas needed I bought a new cookbook (The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook) because I couldn't renew it from the library. We has loved every recipe I had made from it during the three weeks. I'd call that mindful yet not-absolutely-necessary spending. Some social spending last night---went to a tapas restaurant with friends before a concert (season tix to the university series---this was an amazing saxophone quartet). But big discretionary spending on the horizon. Dd asked to attend the four week Arabic session at an immersion language camp (Concordia Language Villages). She actually had to present the idea to dh as a pitch. We paid the deposit yesterday. She is writing the scholarship application as a condition to attend. We doubt she'll get any of the (need-based) money, but having to "express why you wish to become proficient in this language and on now learning this language might make a difference in your life" will be helpful to her in the late when she has to convince the university Arabic faculty to let a sophomore in their class! And then dd was officially invited to TX to spend up to two weeks with her bestie who moved away. We knew that was going to happen :) So she'll need (affordable, thank goodness for Southwest!) airfare and a smidge of spending money. I forsee babysitting or tutoring in dd's near future!

Nasty, nasty winds here today. I doubt we'll leave the warm house for the gym! So I can climb stairs. I can do Pilates. I can do more core work. I can walk circuits around the house. I could use the elliptical in the basement but it's 40F down there and I don't feel like bundling up to exercise :lol: So we'll see what happens :)

The wind is just horrid! I'm so thankful we didn't lose power. Up ahead: --start beef burgundy later --do FAFSA, yuck --have dd think about application for a PA Homeschoolers AP English class --plan what dd and dnephew will do tomorrow for their APHG meeting Dh just called down---the pipes in our bathroom froze overnight :( Crud.

It was my fault the snow stopped :( Maybe if I post about the awful winds tomorrow they'll just go away too... Out to dinner and the concert--see you all tomorrow :)

Dh bought ours from LandsEnd. I doubt he did any comparison shopping :lol: You cannot feel any wires at all inside the mattress pad. Ours has an auto-shut-off after so many hours. We preheat the bed for half an hour on high. Our bedroom is really, really cold (above the garage). I am able to sleep as nature intended with just the mattress pad and flannel sheets ;) Winter teA brewing is much more enjoyable now!

We are outsourcing the subjects I do not wish to teach, English and foreign language. This is the second year for English (and with the same teacher, Christine Proctor from Blue Tent Online). Discussing literature, teaching writing, and grading writing stressed me out so we decided to go with an outsourced class beginning in eighth grade, to make sure she was truly ready for high school writing. It worked very, very well :) The class is asynchronous which works well for our schedules this year and last, but there are optional scheduled chats with the teacher and very active discussion forums (required participation each week). Dd wanted to study Arabic, a language I do not know (I could have muddled through the first two or three years of Germany with her, but that's it). Apparently the language is the right fit for her because she has a 99% average in her online class. The class meets twice a week for 1.5 hours each time, which gives her good live practice speaking and writing the Arabic script. Immediate corrections are always the best. We will continue to outsource English and foreign language throughout high school. English will be all online (PA Homeschoolers, Blue Tent, and Lukeion are options) The Arabic will switch to in-person classes. This summer dd will spend four weeks studying Arabic in an immersion program (at Concordia Language Villages) which will give her another credit. In the fall she will begin Arabic at the university where she will continue until she runs out of classes :lol: We will be outsourcing math to the university for following year. Originally we had planned on this next year but have switched in favor of Arabic there and calculus at home. I can handle the calculus. I think.

(Shhhhhhhhhhh it's been snowing for more than an hour. I don't want it to stop!)

I love, love, love the electric mattress pad with dual controls. In our case, dh bought it for an anniversary gift :D I think he was getting tired of me wearing layers to bed :lol:

Well, the gym workout was 30 min elliptical, 3 sets of my core exercises (up from 2--yay me!), and some arm/shoulder things using resistance bands. Dh helped time my planks. There were just too many people on the weights this morning.

Thanks Debbie :) How many hours per week would you say your dd puts in?

New bras=new woman!

Oh geez, I need to turn the compost pile! Today: gym w dh--hopefully upper body weights if there aren't too many people in that area (still intimidated lol)

Today: --dd to ballet 11-3 --gym w dh --pick up some meat for tomorrow at the butcher --emails --research more options for next year --dinner and concert (saxophone quintet--excited!) with friends tonight I'm sure I have a zillion other things to do :) Wish we'd get some snow this winter :(

Thanks Jetta. My older kids received their 4s and 5s when the teachers sprinkled mc and free response questions throughout the school year (which is not teaching to the test, btw----they still had papers and regular tests). I suspect dd will be the same. I noticed one PAHS teacher said that her class includes 8 weeks of exam prep at the end (this is in the description for this year's class; she hasn't updated for 2015-16 yet like others). Other teachers did not state anything specifically about exam prep.

(I know. I have to find those papers...)

Those of you who have/had students in the AP English Language from PA Homeschoolers, have the teachers included any AP test prep in the course? If so, was it sprinkled throughout or in a concentrated burst at the end of the course? And please give the teacher's name :) Thinking through all sorts of options this weekend after we just signed dd up for the four week, for credit, Arabic camp at Concordia Language Villages!

Hot dog! :party:

Did the course include any test prep or would a student need to work through a prep book as well? We're considering DO for next year if dd takes Arabic at the university instead of starting the calculus sequence...

Noooooooooo :eek:

Yay! May I be nosy and ask what major he is considering?

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Dd is feeling much better today so we're playing catch-up with her non-outsourced classes. She'll have to work tomorrow and Sunday, at least in part. Dh and I went to the gym when the windchill was -9F :eek: I'm on load three of laundry. All the other housework is done. I spent more time digging into language learning links, trying to find other opportunities for a high school student with interests in unusual languages. I scribbled more options onto my "plans for next school year" page in my planner. We had a second pot of decaf. Living large, I tell you. Still to do: --lunch :lol: --chem, math --emails --register dd for Arabic immersion this summer at Concordia --grocery store run (two stores) --perhaps a stop at the library if holds are in --dd ballet 6-8 --dinner will be Moroccan chicken w almond couscous and something green

Thinking of you this morning :grouphug: I remember the awfulness last year :(

This morning the wind chill was -9F when we left for the gym. I could kiss my garage :lol: Did 30 min of cardio and then core work. My favorite parts to work? Probably core and arms. Core because I seriously can tell the difference after six weeks of focused work (there are muscles under that layer of squish!) and arms because the trainer forces me to keep going by telling me I am so much stronger than I think :)

The AoPS geometry class was the first time dd ever had to work at something academic. She took it March-September, beginning in her seventh grade year. (She had used the AoPS books for pre-algebra and algebra, getting up to chapter 13 with completing squares.) She is visual in her math. She had difficulty with manipulating tetrahedra in her head (and drawing them on paper!), which happens near the end of the class/book. I think her biggest challenge was deciding how to attack proofs. I would help her by going over different strategies---draw whatever you can, label whatever you can, have you seen anything like this before?, and so on,

Whoa, thanks for that information! Today's reading after the gym!