Do you mean tape as in audio recording or take like type/write? For typing, the notes app that comes with the iPad is fine. You can cut and paste from there. If you want to write with a stylus and/or make drawings or something you might try notability. I use both apps for various note taking tasks.

I read something recently about needing to prepare grassfed beef differently because of the fat content. I can't remember where I read it but I made a note to goggle and do some research before I cook it next time. I recently watched Food, Inc. and have been trying to locate grassfed beef in my area. I have a few leads to check out this week.

This is kind of what I do but not so structured or organized. I let dd pick 5 or 6 fiction books of her choosing. She often picks things like magic treehouse or fairy tale collections. Then I'll have her pick a biography, a science related non-fiction book, a living math book and possibly an art book. I also use the hold system and pick the books that go with science, history, etc. Plus, I will pick classic literature and put it in the bag. When I'm being a responsible, organized teacher/mom I have her read for an hour a day from my choices and/or the non-fiction books. I don't have to assign fiction reading because she'll do that all day on the days I'm not so structured or organized. ETA: I have book list on my ipad in the reminder app were I add books I read about or see suggested here so I can get them next time I reserve books or go to the library.

I now feel better about the fact that dd7 can't tie her own shoes well or ride her bike for more than about 20 feet...and then only if it requires no turns or adjustments in direction:tongue_smilie:

I feel your pain. Dd fluctuates between doing hours of beast academy and life of Fred reading voluntarily and crying because I asked her to do one page of simple fractions or division. If she doesn't know the answer immediately she acts offended. She rolls her eyes that the fractions are too easy but if left to her own will take an hour to complete the page. I have found her tolerance to be better with beast academy because she really likes it. I've found that for the last year math is the one subject where I must stay totally engaged the entire time she's doing it. She CAN do it by herself but she won't. Math is the one subject that could potentially push me to threaten ps but dd is too smart to take me seriously. She knows all the reasons we homeschool and that the ps schedule wouldn't fit our family schedule very well. I aree with Beth...so much comes way to easily to my dd that having to work hard in math is a necessary character building exercise. As we get more in to challenging problem solving I think she'll even like it better.

I also uses HWOT. We started at abut that age but dd wanted to do it much sooner. It immediately improved her printing and she still switches back and forth. We did change a few of the letters to make them look more like traditional cursive. I think lower case b is one we changed.

This is my basic plan right now too. However dd insisted on starting LOF at the beginning because she wanted the whole story so we have 2 elementary books left which she'll finish in a month or so and then we'll move to fractions, decimals & percents. She's pretty much done with BA 3a but we need to do all the toothpick exercises this week because she finished the book while traveling and we didn't have supplies or space to do them on the plane. I'm thinking about doing pre-algebra from mus, LOF and aops...and possibly hands on equations. At the rate we're going we'll be doing all this when she is 7 or 8 some I'm planning a deep and wide approach:lol: Of course, dh are self employed business owners so a lot of this plan depends on us having a good cash flow year so we will see.

You might try adding a little lemon and ginger to the green juice. I think it makes it taste better. I have been juicing since some time innate January or early February. Now I actually think the juice tastes good but it took a while for that to happen. I did a few days of straight juice and then juice plus one meal a day for about 14 days when I started out. Then we went to Disney and I skipped 2 whole weeks. There was a noticeable difference in the way I felt without the juice! For the poster who mentioned no carrots, try extra apple or add some kiwi or other fruit. The carrots add sweetness but aren't necessary. I make green juice a lot with kale, cucumber, celery, green apples, ginger & lemon. I also make about 32 oz when I make it in the am and take it with me to put in the fridge at my office. I know it is ideal to drink it quickly, and I do drink my first glass quickly, but I don't want to take the juicer with me and I've found the refrigerated juice with ginger and lemon tastes good later in the day.

The iPad connects to a computer with a USB cable that comes with it. Many sites that use flash have a mobile or iPad version which doesn't require it. There are also some alternate browsers that allow you to access flash content. I have one called proton that I use occasionally because I have an Internet faxed based system that uses flash. It works fine in proton. I thought that the lack of flash was going to be a big issue but so far I hardly notice it because of the availability of iPad apps for just about everything I want to do.

Had we finished SSL when dd was 6 we probably could have skipped the intermediate Prima Latina step. We finished SSL a year or so earlier than that ( memory is getting fuzzy now:tongue_smilie:) so I felt lfc was too big of a jump because of the grammar content. Prima Latina was a good intermediate step for us. I know I wrote this in another thread a while ago but I would summarize it like this: SSL is vocabulary based and has very little if any grammar content (again...the fuzzy memory applies because it has been a while since we finished) Prima Latina - vocabulary based and gentle grammar. I.e the lesson will give the definition of a part of speech and then say this weeks' vocabulary is a list of nouns, etc. There is also a long list of derivatives with each lesson. Dd still likes to tell people that she finds most boys to be too pugnacious :lol: Latin for Chidren jumps straight in to Latin grammar requiring the learning of declensions and conjugation from the very first lesson. The amount of memorization each lesson is also a step up. I felt we were ready for the jump having completed SSL, Prima Latina, FLL 1 and part of Grammar Island when it was time to decide what we used next. Latina Christiana, like Prima Latina, looked a bit dry and was a lot of vocabulary based review that seemed unnecessary for dd because she is a very fast learner. She was excited about the dvd's because there are kids on there and likes headventureland. So far I'm pleased with everything we've done and dd likes the classical academic press materials so much she talked me in to starting song school Greek this year.

Dd is resistant to sleep but also generally obedient so from about 3 on dutifully goes to bed when told but has been known to stay awake for hours talking to herself, singing, making up stories in her head, etc. The first time she asked to read a little never bed she was just barely 4 I think. I said okay assuming she woud read for a few minutes and fall asleep. I went upstairs to go to bed three hours later around midnight and she was still sitting on her bed happily reading to herself. We had to institute a time limit after that. She has quiet time in the afternoon but rarely falls asleep. Fortunately when she finally drifts off she is a very hard sleeper. It's like waking the dead to get her up! We started getting her up a bit earlier this year when she turned 7 but if I let her she would probably sleep until at least 10 daily. I think she has trouble shutting her brain off to go to sleep but by the time she does she is exhausted.

I plan to continue with lfc. I originally planned to be half way through lfca by now but life has gotten in the way of school quite a bit lately and slowed us down so I'm not sure how long it will be before we move to the next book. I have bought some supplements recently that dd likes (Minimums & a book of Mythology in Latin) and another poster Recommended this http://www.cambridgescp.com/Lpage_A.php?p=clc%5Eoa_unit1%5Estage1 Dd loves this site & the stories and it is a nice way to practice some of our translation skills.

We had to take a long break do to travel and other work related stuff. We were on chapter 10 before we took out break. We used those worksheets to review when we started back up. I didn't really get that we should be practicing with all the vocabulary each week. That kind of clicked when we started doing the review worksheets. We'll use them with each chapter from now on. We also listen to 1 or 2 previous lessons for review each week. Dd has an incredible memory but mine is not as good as it used to be so the review is helpful for me.:lol:

I have been a mus fan since we switched to it two years ago. After seeing your posts about algebra I'm excited to get dd there. We are doing fractions in epsilon and she had a blast playing with the blocks at the beginning of the book doing problems like, "what is 3/5 of 10"

We are using lfca and like it so far. We've had a lot of interruptions in our schedule lately so we are going through it slowly but dd enjoys it and seems to be learning a lot. I haven't planned out what we will do beyond lfc yet but for now plan to do at least lfca and b before deciding.

I am short on time so I didn't read all of the posts and I'm not sure from what I did read whether you are wanting a Catholic or Protestant but you might check out the books by Lee Strobel and/or Josh McDowell (sp) about how we know the Bible is true, etc. They are especially good for teens with lots of questions.

I have the jack Lalanne Power juicer. It works fine and is relatively easy to use and clean. I'm sure $2,000 one would be spiffy but I'm not willing to spring for that. We really got serious about juicing in early March after watching the movie and feel a lot better. We also watched Knives over Forks and Food, Inc and are moving to a more whole foods and plant based diet. We're not going totally vegan but are trying to limit dairy & meat to under 5% of our diet. It is a bit frustrating trying to completely re-learn how to feed my family but I'm working on it. The 100 Days of Real Food blog is a resource I've been using a lot as well.

It's interesting how children with similar ability respond differently to competitive environments. We did our first spelling bee this year and dd was completely oblivious to the fact that is was a stressful/competitive environment. She skipped to and from her seat and giggled. She wanted to win (even told me she was shocked when she came in second instead of first) but didn't feel anxious about it. Dmmetler, does your daughter have a carefree attitude while you are in the competitions or does she get stressed out? My dd is SOOOO emotional about everything I expected her not to do well in competitions but she loved it. I'm curious about how others react as well.

It's great to hear your dd loves her work. I think we've finally found a good mix for math here too. MUS is our spine with Singapore CWP, Life of Fred & Beast Academy as supplements. DD LOVES Beast Academy! It is the first math she actually asks to do more. I'm keeping an eye on your posts because at the pace we're moving right now we'll finish Epsilon in a few months and Zeta probably won't take more than 3 or 4 months so we'll be hitting pre-algebra or algebra around the same age you are. I'll probably add HOE at some point before we get there.

If it were me I would let her give it a shot. I find myself leaning a bit more towards student led learning lately. Maybe it's because out schedule has been hectic but we just haven't been getting to my "list" of curriculum stuff to do but she seems to be learning more on her own at times. Last week she pulled out the kit that goes with her science book and told me I wasn't getting around to doing the experiments so she was just going to do them herself. She did and probably got as much if not more out of it on her own than if I led her through it. It almost seems like some of what we are doing in the way of structure is holding her back. This entire year I've been struggling with balancing work, home & her schoolwork so I might be just looking for a way to delegate some responsibility but if she's capable, why not?

I live in Texas where participation is not allowed. I would say unless you have future football stars in your family that ps sports are not that important. There are homeschool or community based sports available for every sport except football around here. Even ps kids are often recruited by colleges because of AAU basketball (which is what I'm most familiar with) or the equivalent club type teams in soccer, volleyball, etc. Football is a different animal entirely. It takes too many players to form a team, too much time and too many coaches to pull off outside of a school environment. I think some private schools allow partial enrollment to participate in sports but you would have to research that in the area you would be living.

I work basically full-time because dh and I have our own business. I homeschool at the office while answering the phone, dealing with customers and agents who work with us and doing paperwork. We school year round to make up for all the days where she ends up doing more reading and playing than doing schoolwork.:tongue_smilie:

Have you considered juicing? You should still see a rheumatologist but if you haven't watch the documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead you might consider it. I believe the problems the gentlemen who made the video had were auto-immune related. I agree with pp who said some doctors discount natural methods too soon while others medicate too quickly. I would see a traditional md but also explore juicing and then add things back to your diet slowly to discover any allergies.

FWIW, my dd is a also not "mathy" but I've figured out she's still capable of working many levels ahead of grade level. She doesn't like math so it is a challenge to find a balance between forcing her to work on something that will actually challenge her and build character and making sure she doesn't dread doing it everyday. It's still an evolving plan for us (she's only 7) but we are kind of in a sweet spot right now moving quickly through our MUS spine to learn basic operations which she tolerates because there aren't a lot of bells and whistles, Singapore CWP's which are more difficult but she likes a little better, and Life of Fred and Beast Academy which she really enjoys because they are more language/problem solving based programs. As for language arts, I'm still not sure I'm pushing her enough but we've skipped ahead a year in FLL and WWE and added MCT. We moved up to more difficult Latin work and added Greek at her request. She also wants to add Hebrew and Spanish but there aren't enough hours in the day for me to organize that just yet.

That sounds a lot like my dd. I would encourage you to work on stretching the schoolwork and accelerating a bit more. I wouldn't know that dd should be ahead if I hadn't read a lot here and starting pushing a bit. I don't mean pushing in a negative tiger mom kind of way...just introducing more difficult/challenging work. I find that she is happier with more challenge. Apparently her work was way too easy and I didn't realize it. If she's more language oriented and your not doing so (can't see signature since I'm already typing) add Latin. Let her write stories, etc. Basically, I think it's unlikely that level of emotional giftedness is totally detached from any academic giftedness. I'm not saying you have to push for achievement but that it's likely that she will enjoy more challenging schoolwork. I've moved several years ahead in most subjects but I'm not sure we're even where we need to be yet. I think this is the type of child who might be overlooked in a ps setting because they aren't necessarily as academically motivated as some of their gifted peers but they are very capable and need to be stretched. I will also say that for me the level of emotional response was quite a challenge to say the least. I was/am a tomboy who rarely cries about anything. She cries about everything! She cries about books. She cries about movies. She cries if I am sick. She cries if she hears someone else is sick. She even says things like "I feel so happy I think I'm going to cry." It is amazing to me how insightful and emotional she is.