Bump

I'm doing a project for someone, and they're sending me info via an Excel file. I need to open this database, update it, and send it back. Our "workhorse" computer is a desktop PC, so I could do it there. But it would be much comfier to do it on the iPad. I'm still a bit new to the iPad. Is there an app that will let me do this? Documents To Go, maybe? Dropbox might be helpful? I know what I want to do; I just need to figure out how to get there.

Anyone used it? For LC1 or anything else? I'm considering it next year for 8yo DD. We've used PL this year successfully, and I'd never had a Latin lesson before in my life. So I figured we'd stick with MP for the next round. I'm debating using the online academy in order to 1.) not get in over my head and 2.) free myself up a bit for the 5yo DD. Just hoping for some feedback on those with past experiences with MP's online academy. TIA :)

We're on the verge of buying an iPad 2, but are waiting for IOS-5 to release on Wednesday. We're getting 32GB. You could get more, but also keep in mind that you can use iCloud staring on Wednesday also. In the course of our research, someone at 800-MY-APPLE assured me that I could store everything in the iCloud and keep just what I wanted on the devices (I'm waiting for the FedEx man to bring me my new 16GB iPhone 4s on Friday). Don't know if that helps or not, but figured I'd throw it out there if it helps anyone.

Hi Chicago Homeschoolers, Our family has been doing art classes at a local family-owned art studio called The Paintbrush for a few years now and have loved it. Two years ago, the owner offered a longer "art + sack lunch" class for her son's 1/2-day K class. They would have art class, then hang out for a bit and have their lunches that they brought, then take off for afternoon K. The owner kindly extended an offer to include DD#1 (K age at the time), and she LOVED it. So finally, at my nudging and nudging, The Paintbrush has offered a similar option aimed at homeschoolers to see if it "takes." I've forwarded their flyer onto a few other local families and plan to see if Moody Bible Institute will allow me to drop off a few there. Below is the flyer's text if anyone in the area is interested. (and if i'm breaking some board rule by publicizing this here, i am so sorry! i'm just trying to think of ways to reach out to the homeschooling "underground!") It’s the ART Class you’ve been looking for! Home schooled kids ages 4 through 9 come together for this special ART Class with a twist. Learn about a different artist each week; do a unique art project based on the artists’ works; listen to inspiring music; share lunch time with classmates, and before you know it you’ll have your own at-home art gallery created by your budding little Picasso or Monet! Fridays, 11:30-12:50, beginning September 9 The Paintbrush 2856 N. Halsted 773.636.1968 thepaintbrush@thepaintbrush.net http://www.thepaintbrush.net must call or email to enroll; no drop-ins 16 weeks $416 (enroll by August 1st pay only $395); 8 weeks $250

Just wanted to leave a giant THANK YOU! Each and every one of these responses has been hugely helpful. I'm not ruling out LL for future use, but after sharing all of these DH, I think we'll go with PL for starters. THANK YOU AGAIN!

Can you stand another Latin post? If so, I'd be most grateful for any insights. It's late, I'm planning for next year, and I'm overthinking the life right out of things! If you're at all familiar with both/either of these programs, do you have an opinion about which is preferrable? Keep in mind that I know NOTHING about Latin. I've never taken one single minute of any class. I'd be teaching this next September to a just-turned-eight child (her bday is early September). She's brightr enough, but like I said -- I know squat! I've surveyed a few friends who went to the "cream-of-the-crop" Catholic high schools in the city where I grew up, and they say they got the Classical pronunciation in class. Is the pronunciation choice an important one? Sorry. Digressing. Anyway, making myself mildly crazy and I go in circles. Thanks for any help!:001_smile:

Doing research for 3rd grade chemistry for next year and happened onto this thread. Just had to take a moment in case any of the posters see this to say WOW! THANK YOU! Bookmarked this thread and will be referring to it regularly.:hurray:

I've also ordered from the website and been happy. However, I lost DD#2's K-level handwriting workbook, and it hasn't surfaced. I went to order her a new one, but the shipping rate was a bit much for one item (I usually am ordering two books, one for each DD, plus paper). I went to the local teacher's store and learned that "Zaner-Bloser" is a trademark for what is commonly called "the traditional method." So I picked up a write-on/wipe-off book and am using DD#1's old book as a guide on what order might be helpful, plus all of the paper leftover from DD#1. Maybe a local teacher's store in your area would have a workbook that might be helpful? Ok, that was rambly and not exactly what you asked. It's late and I'm a bit punchy.:tongue_smilie:

Thank you, elizabeth! Thank you!!!! (consider yourself cyber-hugged)

Ok, wow, didn't realize I was opening the proverbial can of worms here. (deeep breath) 1.) My OP was a bit vague. I DO know the details. I was trying to be diplomatic/polite/private and just think out loud about an issue I am starting to explore. 2.) My second post was admittedly more flippant than it needed to be. Allow me to elaborate on my "bias" about this individual: He is a raging alcoholic with a LONG list of criminal arrests. In an effort to be thorough about who I am dealing with here, I have already explored that. You want to discuss whether or not alcoholism is a disease worthy of disability pay? Let's open a new thread and throw down on that. I have strong opinions, but like I said, was trying to start out as diplomatic and even a bit private. BTW, these arrests include beating his wife and narcotics possession, with a few DUI's thrown in for good measure. Maybe being the terror of the family is a disability. If so, and I mean this seriously, I will shake my head, throw up my hands, and return to minding my own business. I have known this person for over 15 years. For a while, he was increasingly encroaching into my life, but is mostly at bay for now. He will likely be removed from my (and my family's) life completely in the near future. He has not held a job since around the time that I first crossed paths with him. According to people closest to him, "He is too big of an ******* to keep a job." (including his own brother and uncles) (Oh, I'm sorry. Am I showing my bias here? Jumping to conclusions? Or was that what a few respondents were doing to me? BTW, I've worked in special ed before. I do not go through life assuming that someone has to be in a wheelchair to be disabled and do not appreciate the declaration that I do.) The relative-benefactor is also a relative of mine. She was in a position to offer him some financial stability in the hopes that it would bring him some peace. However, that relative-benefactor is getting on in years, and a few other relatives are becoming increasingly concerned about this relationship. He always seems to need MORE money, his offer to find her assisted living has turned into her living with him, and at least one anonymous call (not me) has been made inquring about elder-abuse. Wheels are in motion to have her tested for competency. I'm trying to figure out 1.) how disability works, how one qualifies, how one maintains in the program, etc -- the workings of the system (I already assume that it is maddeningly flawed, and I sympathize with those not getting what they actually need). Perhaps if I learn more about the system, I can figure out a bit more about this particular situation without having to directly encounter a psycho (sorry, is that biased?) and 2.) what the potential ramifications could be for having an alcoholic parasite with a history of violence and drugs investigated and potentially cut off, even jailed, could be for other players in this scene, including my family. A handful of us are trying to work different angles to solve this whole mess. Exploring this particular issue is my small contribution. (zaichiki, you and i seem to be in similar boats; my heart goes out to you) THOSE are my biases about this disabled person. THOSE are the conclusions that I've jumped to. THOSE are the details that I KNOW. To those of you who offered heart-felt and sincere feedback and insights, I am truly grateful. I haven't been on the board very regularly recently, so I didn't realize that postings about abuses of government programs happened regularly enough to be mocked (apologies for my lack of originality). I figured that there would be knowledgable people here with a variety of experiences. I also thought it would be a better place to "ask around" a bit since it offers more anonymity than Facebook. Some of you have helped to send me in additional directions for further research, and I really do appreciate it.

I said "receiving disability," not that he's actually disabled. He's able to get himself to the liquor store handily enough. And he's able to gamble a great deal, as well. And if it's coming out of his mouth, you can assume that it's a lie. As a taxpayer, I'm wondering if his whole situation is a scam.

Hoping someone here can give me some insight/feedback. Admittedly, this has *nothing* to do with homeschooling, so my apologies in advance... Say there's someone out there receiving Disability. Not much of a work history in the 10 years prior to starting benefits. Over the last few years, this person has been getting $3,000+ dollars/month from a benefactor-relative, so $36,000+/year. Is this the sweetest deal ever? Is it a legal one? Wondering if I should look up the phone number to report fraud. But I can't exactly un-ring that bell if I'm wrong. Thanks for letting me ponder out loud.

I go as fast as my feet will take me to the gym (about two and a half blocks away). Ok, the library is just down the street from the gym. I'm seeing more of the inside of that building too (usually, i put in my request on-line and run in just long enough to grab my stuff when it comes in). Wish I could be more helpful. I mostly white-knuckle it until spring.;)

Need the instructor manual? DD1 is about to finish B (sans instructor manual), and I'm planning to order both C and D at the same time. Thanks much!

How's the Discovery Science for a 3rd grader doing Chemistry? Worth it as a supplement? Kicking around ideas for next year and this thread caught my eye. Thanks!

I don't know if this helps or not.... I'm rather new to homeschooling, but here's how I've organized myself. We're doing 36 weeks of school. DH is a teacher, and I want to be finished the week before he is. The 36 weeks are actual school weeks, not including a week off for T-G, Xmas, etc. So for example, FLL, Lessons 101-200: I want to hit Lesson 150 by the start of Week #18, so that means Lesson 125 by Week #9, therefore Lesson 175 by Week #27 and end of the book by Week #36. Easy with WWE, as it it a 36 week plan. Some weeks I double up Days 1 & 2 into one day, as we have activities that eat up one full day a week for us right now. SOTW 2 had extra chapters, so DH and I sat down and discussed which to cut out in order to have 36 chapters. Figured out from there where I wanted to be by Weeks 9, 18, etc. If we're running ahead of schedule, I don't slow down without cause. We lost the entire month of February last year due to the entire house getting strep, then stomach flu, then a death in the family. So if we're ahead, I let us stay that way in case we have another round of unforeseen setbacks. The rest sort of "goes with the flow." I let 7yo DD do math at her pace. We wing it a bit on what we find with science every week. We finished OPG last year, but I tackled that with a whole different system. If you want to know it, I'll let you know, but won't ramble on about it otherwise. As the day progresses, I write down what we did in a weekly planner that I keep just for school. Today's was: Spelling ex. (I spread out MCP Spelling Workout lesson to last the week) Writing - Wk 11, Day 4 FLL - Lesson 132 ETC - 15 min (Explode the Code on-line, via homeschoolbuyersco-op.org) HW - p42, 43 (handwriting) Math - completed Lesson 35 (saxon 2) 4p - Spanish class On Fridays, I get a sense of the week's accomplishments and can just reassure myself that it all got done! I hope that this helps...... I can get yammery.

Thank you, everyone, for such speedy and reassuring feedback! I'm off to check out cnet.com and probably to Best Buy this weekend. My kids are about to become so familiar with the term "Mamarazzi." ;)

Are you happy with it? We've been in dire need of some sort of video recording device for family travels, piano recitals, soccer, etc. I'm missing WAY too much stuff! I tried researching at Consumer Reports, but they don't seem too enthusiastic about any particular thing. How about you??? And one more quick question... can I buy the new iPod Touch and get a decent enough video camera in that? Or am I looking at a separate purchase. I'm so behind on technology..... Thanks so much for any insight!

I took DD#1 to be tested for Chicago's Gifted/Academic Enrichment schools last winter. DH & I didn't care about if she got in anywhere or not; we just figured that it was a free test, so why not? Last year, for the K entry test, she scored in the 99.7th %-ile, but wasn't admitted anywhere. We enjoyed the results and continued happily on our way. This year, the scores were broken down into Reading & Math (they don't do that for the K test). She scored in the 99th %-ile for reading and the 97th %-ile for math. Needless to say, it took our breath away. Then the kicker -- she was admitted to the #1 elementary school in the state of IL. Honestly, I only put it down on the form for laughs. They have one K class and one 1st grade class, so obviously most of the K kids will roll over into 1st grade the next year. I've been a deer in the headlights since.:blink: I haven't blogged this out in detail yet, but certainly this covers the important points. Anyone else had a situation like this? Did the world end if you took a pass? I know that if we keep hs-ing that my side of the family will think we're taking this too far. (we won't even bother telling DH's family about it -- they think we're off the deep end for hs-ing in the first place) Thanks for any feedback. I only know one other hs family IRL.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/increasing-number-of-parents-opting-to-have-childr,17159/

Just wanted to say a GIANT THANK YOU for posting this and for all who replied. I've been in the same boat lately with my 6.5yo DD. :tongue_smilie: Big sigh of relief to be in such good company!

Fellow Cook County dwellers, do you file a Statement of Assurance with Chicago Public Schools? You're not legally required to, right? Is it easier to have one on file if you want you kids to take the standardized tests at the local public school? I'm looking at these two links and thinking out loud: http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Illinois.pdf http://www.cps.edu/Programs/Academic_and_enrichment/Pages/Homeschooling.aspx Thanks so much for any insight. DD1 is 6yo, so we haven't had to concern ourselves with this just yet. Wanted to make sure we were clear on things before she turns 7yo.

Three words: Chicago. Public. Schools. DH has been in the system as a teacher for 18 years. The first real-life homeschooling parent we ever met was a colleague of his. Several other of his colleagues are homeschooling -- they won't even think of putting their own children into the system in which they work. And this is at one of the city's best schools, where students have to apply and be tested to get in. We're homeschooling for as long as we can.