I would have to say it depends. How well do you know the 21 year old. How responsible are they? Is there any chance they would be drinking? How mature is the 14 year old. I would lean towards no but after that initial response I thought of one or two 21 year olds from church that I might trust if it were the right situation.

I wouldn't hold him back but you might try writing numbers 1-9 (2 sets) and the =,+ & - signs on index cards and playing a game where he makes math sentences. I did things like: Here is the number 5...please make me 4 different sentences that equal 5 with these numbers 2, 3, 7, 8 We did this a lot when we were learning math facts since she was not that great at writing things down.

If you are 5'9" I think it's likely you're starving yourself at 1400 calories with the amount of exercise you're doing. I would also suggest weight training like the pp mentioned. It's very important for women and while you'll see a temporary increase on the scale when you first start, in the long haul you'll burn more calories and lose. This is over-simplified and you can get more specific calculators online but you should figure out what your calorie intake needs to be to maintain your ideal weight. If you want to weight 150 (total random number...that might be too low for 5'9") the amount would be somewhere in the range of 1500 calories per day (depending on your metabolism). You then need to calculate based on your weight how many calories you're burning each day in exercise. If you burn 300 calories running 2 miles you would need 1800 calories that day to maintain your weight. If you wanted to work out something like the Wendi Plan you should aim for a calorie shortfall of only about 2000 calories for the whole week which would allow for a healthy 1 - 2 lb loss per week. So if your number is 1800 per day (with exercise) to maintain your weekly target should be about 10,600 calories ((1800x7)-2000.

We bought the first stylus for our iPad at best buy for $20 and lost it in 2 days :001_huh: then I wisely ordered these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HO86P6/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details They have a cord to plug in to headphone jack to attach stylus to iPad. So far we haven't lost this one but I ordered 2 just in case. I love my iPad so much more than I thought I would. I can't wait to get dd and dh their own! I use noterize to write on pdf's and dd loves doing her math on the iPad. Sometimes we do it on pdf's and other times we just use th doodle app...ifnindon't feel like I need to keep the worksheet. I could definately spend $85 on apps, books and/or renting movies. Search previous threads because there have been several good lists recently of apps to buy.

Thanks for the feedback. She has mastered her facts but I think after reviewing the samples I'm going to just start with Apples. It will be easy...and she will go through it quickly but I also think she'll enjoy it. Since math isn't her favorite subject and we're not in a hurry I figure it can't hurt to start at the beginning. I was worried about the cost but I showed dh the samples and he agreed with starting at the beginning and said to just order the first 4 books so when she finished the first one we have the second one ready to start.

I know there are others who are in about the same mus spot as us who plan to supplement with Life of Fred and thought I would ask for some input. We are 17 lessons in to mus delta. I took the advice from another recent thread and we've just been watching the DVD and testing and moving through the lessons. We've done 17 lessons over the last week. I'm sure we'll slow down when we get to long division. I'm wondering what the best time for starting LOF would be and which book to start with. Now that they have elementary books are most of you starting with those or with the fraction book?

You might try prima Latina or Latina Christiana. Both are more vocabulary based and don't get to far in to grammar. Theresa's just a simple workbook & pronunciation cd.

My dd who is now 6 sounds a lot like your son. I can say as a parent who is very proud of her that when I teach the her class once a month it's quite a challenge to deal with. Not only does she know answers that others don't...she's perfectly happy to blurt them out without waiting her turn. Unfortunately, the other children are usually content to let her do all the answering. When I'm teaching I would like to know that all the children are engaged and attempting to answer. I've spent a lot of time working with dd about being patient, polite and waiting her turn. I try to balance letting her answer some of the questions with making sure everyone participates. One thing I've done lately is to address particular questions directly to a specific person. That gives everyone a chance to attempt to answer. I also give her the more difficult questions so she'll feel challenged.

Another vote for ETC. It's inexpensive and easy to use and very effective.

I was thinking the life of Fred would be more of a fun thing. I didn't' remember there being a recommended starting place in wtm so I'll have to review that. I probably need to go look at the Fred books again to because for some reason I had in my head that we were waiting to get to fractions not long division which is why I was planning to wait until we started epsilon.

@DanRP your quick response and concern for your ad content made me go right to the app store and buy Rocket Math. I'm sure by this time tomorrow my daughter will have a new favorite game.:)

After reading the comment from pp I looked a little further and it seems the authors for memoria press come from a diverse Christian background. Some are catholic and some are Protestant. Henle seems to be the only text they sell that specifically states a Catholic point of view.

I love mine and use it for all kinds of stuff. I have an app for accessing my laptop when I'm out of my office& haven't carried my laptop anywhere since I bought the iPad. We use all kinda of apps and several people have mentioned a lot of the same educational apps we have so I'll mention some others. I use the reminder app for keeping all kinda of lists (grocery, apps to get, books I want to read, books for dd to read, field trips I want to plan, curriculum to buy or review, library list, etc). I use an app for household management which lists daily, weekly & monthly activies that we all select forms and track in a chore app. My husband & I have spent a lot of time playing scrabble in bed. The iPad is a Lot easier to hold/view on the couch or in bed than my laptop which makes it more convenient for watching movies or reading. Reading - I had an ereader before but never used it. I use iBooks & kindle app for books & for the PDF teachers manuals for things like wwe & fll. I use noterize to write on pdf's and even let dd do some math worksheets and things when we travel. I put my weekly meal plan in noterize or PDF expert so I can check of items as I buy them at the store & then read the recipes on iPad while I'm cooking. (I bought a cheap stylus & stand) I use logos free app for bible study Basically, I use it a lot. If it wasn't for the lack of flash player I would be tempted to buy a Bluetooth keyboard & get rid of my computer altogether. That's a strong statement coming from a former I.T. Consultant! I like it so much that I'm planning to buy 2 more pretty soon so dd & dh can have their own. I am planning to get refurbished ones from apple because they come with the same warranty as new ones.

This is a timely post for me because I just found out about a local spelling bee and was considering it for dd6. I had the same concern about her not doing well with losing but I'm thinking we're going to do it for all the positives you mentioned. I googled and found a list of potential k-3 spelling words used in local events and she was able to spell almost all of them

The way they work the problems is odd at times and so is the way they word them. We're going to try for a while and see how it goes. When do you plan to start life of Fred? I was debating whether to start it now or after we get to Epsilon.

I had to go look up the literature materials because they weren't referenced in anything else I reviewed. I didn't buy them And there was no reference to them on the schedule sheet that came with the level one packet I purchased. Maybe others haves used it but I don't recall anyone mentioning it recently. On the recommendation of several others here I'm planning to get the book "deconstructing penguins" to use for literary analysis. It's a lot less expensive so I'll try it first.

I've done a lot of math in my life but don't remember anything like the bar models. It's definately a different approach. We did a couple of problems yesterday. Some she understood on her own & some I had to hel her think through the process of figuring out what the question was asking. One she understood what he was solving for she didn't have any trouble with the actual math so I think we're okay with the level we chose.

I just bought this as a supplement for dd6. For those of you who are already using it, what's the best way to implement it. We are happy mus users but she I flying though it and I wanted to add something a little more challenging. We are halfway in to Delta book which covers division. I looked through the books and selected grade 3 because it looked challenging but not too far ahead.

Dd6 liked it so much she read the entire grammar island book the day it came in the mail. I definately don't think it's dry. I don't know that I would use it as a stand alone grammar curriculum. Others do but I prefer it as a supplement to fll3. I see it as kind of a bridge between grammar & writing.

My dd struggled with book 4 (flew through all the others) but we moved on to book 5 anyway. I never went back to 4 1/2. We are now on 8 and it asks lots of syllable questions and she's not having any trouble with it. My guess would be if your kids didn't have trouble with 4 you'll be fine without the review.

I love my iPad but the spelling correction is killing me and I can't get my changes to save when I try to edit. I promise I can spell & write coherent sentences but the iPad has a mind of it's own at times:001_huh:

I have an androids one & an iPad. I'm not willing to shell out the extra money form an iPhone right now (saving to buy 2 more iPads instead). I set up the sync pretty easily. Once I added gmail account in the email section on the iPad my email & calendar started syncing automatically. It did take an extra step to get my contacts on the iPad but it was simple. I got a link to the instructions from someone on this board. I add contacts and calendar events online & they show up on iPad. Yes, I have games & apps on iPad l can't use on my phone but most of the things I would actually do on phone have their own apps (mobile banking, amazon, etc). My kindle & kobo reading apps stay synchronized on both devices without having to do anything special. I can't envision getting an iPhone for myself anytime soon and I'm not even sure I need one. For now, the droid/ipad combo is working great for me. I bought a good case for the iPad & it fits in my purse so I find myself using my phone as phone & the iPad for most everything else other than reading occasionally. The screen is small & not as convenient as the iPad but for right now we have 1 iPad for three people so I read on the phone when dh & dd are using the iPad....or when dh & I play scrabble on the iPad & I need to entertain myself while he spends way too long deciding what word to play!

Thanks for the simple suggestions & the instructions for the head wrap. I'm going to let her look at the list and decide.

Bumping. Although it would be easy to find I'm pretty sure dd doesn't want to go as the devil for her favorite bible character. Any other ideas?

This week is bible character costume day for awanas. Any idea where a costume could be purchased in Houston. If not, ideas for making one that require very little artistic skill? Dd is 6.