One time my glasses broke in the middle - rimless frames where the lens came unattached and I really couldn't see well. I was going fast coming out of a tunnel up in the mountains on I-70. I had to pull over at the next available turn-off and try to fix them. Wasn't there a recent thread about seeing stuff on the side of the road - tonight I saw a canoe on the side of the highway (next to the median, obviously fell off someone's vehicle). I guess it's summer lol.

I suggest starting out buddy-style like Letsplaymath describes above. Get a whiteboard and some dry erase markers. Go slow, no time pressure whatsoever. Think out loud about what might be tried. When he needs more breathing room, you need to go do something for a minute, someone else needs you, you need to visit the bathroom, switch the laundry, etc. The idea is to get him hooked on the thrill of solving the puzzle. (Ah, memories... My dd, a little frustrated: help me! help me! what do I do?! Me: well let's see... dd: NO DON'T TELL ME!!!) I agree w/this. My ds made it about halfway into algebra before accepting, grudgingly, that he had to write some things down. In AoPS Prealgebra, he did the occasional scratch work in a corner of the white board. Algebra was a muddle at home but eventually he went back to learning math at school rather than through our afterschooling. He had As in Geometry and Algebra 2 and I didn't have to pester, yell, or otherwise persuade him to write out the math properly... the teachers made it clear what they wanted and it didn't take more than two seconds for him to catch on. The sudden transformation was amazing LOL.

IIRC, college discounts are in the Apple education store https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop I don't see any current special offers. The differences are in the specs: speed, processor, memory, size of SSD, screen size obviously, and screen quality. What is your student planning to do with it?

Geoff, if you (or anyone!) have any thoughts on the following, I'd be interested to hear them. A new study came out the other day: Histamine modulation of the basal ganglia circuitry in the development of pathological grooming. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28584117 Might this idea hold water, that histamine as a neurotransmitter may have some importance in the world of OCD? I am putting it together with this one is from last fall: Histamine regulation of microglia: Gene-environment interaction in the regulation of central nervous system inflammation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27381299 I'm trying to connect the dots between infection (via LPS, I guess?) and the production of histamine in the brain (produced only in the posterior hypothalamus?) and, in turn, an insufficiency of brain histamine in the striatum - as a neurotransmitter - contributing to OCD. But I'm still confused on the specifics of the dysregulated neuroimmune responses. Alright, I'm going to add more confusion as to whether PGE2 increases or decreases brain histamine. I have read some studies from the 1990s suggesting PGE2 increases turnover of histamine by increasing both HDC and HMT. With PGE2 being stimulated by certain cytokines...(?).

What I'm trying to say is that I believe 25(OH)D is what has been run for years and years and 25(OH)D is what is referred to as the vitamin D level, and that I believe 25(OH)D is NOT the same thing as the D3 level. It is the D3 that is so close to calcitriol 1,25(OH)2D that they are sometimes used interchangeably (that is, some people will say D3 *is* calcitriol since they are that close, apparently). That may be somewhat newer info, but my kiddo's level of calcitriol 1,25(OH)2D was measured in Oct 2014 by Labcorp. I don't know how long Labcorp has offered it, but AFAIK it was not an unusual request. ETA, I see D3 is often used interchangeably with the other one so maybe neverrmind lol... i gotta run

Just to be clear, I think you are referring to Vitamin D level, 25(OH)D, not D3 ? D3 is chemically closer to calcitriol 1,25(OH)2D, so close that they are often referred to as the exact same thing, though my rough understanding is that they are not quite. Chemically, both are steps downstream from the Vitamin D level 25(OH)D. So, my son's vitamin D level, 25(OH)D, was around 28 or 30, but his calcitriol 1,25(OH)2D was 90-something, which is too high (a typical symptom of inflammation) and so we don't want to add any more D3. FWIW, there is some controversy over whether a low 25(OH)D measurement is merely a symptom rather than causative. See e.g https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4160567/ for some discussion and explanation. I don't know how correct this is; I just know that supplementing D3 is clearly bad for my kiddo (causes more autoimmune symptoms) (ETA, in his case, he has a homozygous VDR taq, though I can't remember whether it's an actual mutation or just a polymorphism)

I would tend to avoid any cyanocobalamin product. I would try methylcobalamin and/or hydroxycobalamin.

The d can get confusing. My kid has similar vit d level but but high calcitriol. Supplementing d3 makes his autoimmune issues worse as it makes calcitriol (1,25 D3) even higher. I don't know why more docs don't measure that...

There is a big difference between foreign language required for college admission vs college graduation - it sounds like you are asking about admission. 4 is ideal for selective colleges though I am under the impression that it's not likely to be a deal-breaker all by itself, i.e., 3 may be enough in certain situations. On the other hand, for selective admissions, students typically can use all the rigor they can get on the transcript. It's just another piece of the big picture. No idea what an adcom would say, but IMO the credit by exam is not relevant to admissions.

My rough understanding is that there is a little more advanced math on the test. Assuming precalc is her schedule this fall, I would plan to take it one more time in the fall, as late as is reasonable for her apps.

I have no idea about either the adrenals or the connection between mthfr and the salt. But just thinking out loud, perhaps it would be more wise to supplement a variety of minerals (including potassium and other electrolytes) than only the salt. (There are electrolyte supplements...)

nm

You might also post on the Accelerated Learning forum here. I second the recommendation for Silverman's writing, especially Upside Down Brilliance. For math, I would suggest looking at Beast Academy and AoPS for a strong VSL, whichever is the approprate level for the student.

I don't really see this as a matter of tolerability as much as a wrong idea for certain situations, as in, the immune system effects are backwards from what is needed. FWIW, it's not just what I've noticed. We aren't dealing with tics (as far as I can tell and thank goodness) but tics are a big deal in PANS world and it is actually well known that fish oil can increase them as well as other PANS symptoms, for some people. And yet, not well-known enough because I commonly come across people in PANS world who are not aware of the possibility. ETA, what I'm trying to say is that this is way, way, way more complicated, on a molecular level, than any one-size-fits-all protocol.

I don't know about damaging per se, but there are situations where fish oil is going to be a negative. Fish oil is known to increase tics in some people. For my guy, it increases ocd, and I may have figured out why, though I'm not entirely sure. Likely it depends on the person, but fish oil may push the immune system in the wrong direction - it may move the Th1/Th2 balance more toward Th2 (which is common in situations of suspected autoimmunity). I can't remember if it increases Th2 cytokines or decreases Th1 cytokines, but ultimately, for the wrong people, it's sort of trading one type of inflammation for another. In my kid's case, he already has elevated Th2 cytokines. Whether inulin helps or hurts SIBO is controversial, at the very least, and accordingly I suspect that too depends on the person. We have had mixed results with probiotics in our house - my child most likely to have SIBO asks for them (this child is scheduled for a scope very soon though I'm not sure we will go through with it); my other kiddo, the one for whom fish oil is bad, does not do well with probiotics either, but he has a seriously messed up gut. (I probably have a dozen different types of probiotics in the house right now.) The difficulty I find with any protocol where it takes a long time period of supplementation to see results is that, just like potential positives, potential negatives may take time to see as the effects build slowly. Where Nemechek is correct is noticing the connection between the gut (the immune system) and nervous system symptoms, though that ought to be common knowledge these days. But, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

A drive across southern WY is pretty boring, though you might detour up to Yellowstone, and of course Salt Lake City area is probably a cool place to explore (I've never been there). A drive through the Rockies may take you very close to some national parks (e.g. Colorado National Monument, Arches Natl Park in Moab, and maybe the Goblin park in UT) though truly one can spend buckets of time in the mountains if that's your sort of thing. The southern route has its share of nothing too, but would be the way to go if you like desert, want to do the Grand Canyon, Albequerque, etc.

Arcadia, are you saying that the percentiles reported were also identical between the tests (I am assuming they are not talent-search percentiles)? Or were there slight differences? Thinking out loud, I imagine you might expect some growth over time, and that's why I wondered how much time occurred in between.

At least a few selective schools reported separate middle 50% scores for New and Old SATs, and the New ones were similar to, or lower than, the Old ones. There is some question about the accuracy - perhaps quality would be a better term - of the concordance tables and whether selective colleges are actually using them. I have also seen speculation that the New SAT may be "easier" in the middle percentile ranges but harder in the very high ranges that would be relevant to selective colleges. Arcadia, how much time passed in between your kids' ACT and SAT tests where the scores did correlate per the College Board's concordance tables? ETA, it is probably just my imagination, but reading a few individual SAT discussions over at CC, it seems as though there may be a good deal of variability in difficulty between different administrations of the New SAT.

FWIW, I think Keurig tastes more acidic or something, though I have only tried the re-packable little cup. I prefer a paper filter (not sure if the Keurig cups filter with paper?).

I'm no coffee expert, but I don't care for bitter coffee either. I prefer a cone-shaped coffee maker/filter - our flat-bottomed Mr Coffee tastes more bitter. For coffee, I use a brand from Costco; I think it's called Pinon (red bag with yellow on it). I only use 1 tbsp per 6 oz water; 2 tbsp would be way too much for me.

I just skimmed. The author's conclusion about there being a middle ground is correct, IMO. He quotes Phil Daro toward the end and while I probably agree with much of the quote, I would argue that Daro's own position isn't in the middle ground. Daro (who does not have a degree in mathematics; IIRC, his degree is in English) was in charge of adopting the NCTM standards in California in the early 1990s. Later, Daro likewise used a lot of NCTM language and ideas when writing the standards for Common Core, which, it is thought, is a reason some of the first CC published materials have a fuzzy math vibe (publishers taking signals from the language of the standards in pulling from already-published materials). Daro now works for Pearson. Daro has been outspoken "against answer getting." I haven't watched the famous youtube video yet. I imagine that I might agree with him on many underlying ideas, though IMO that title sounds pretty darn fuzzy.

How fantastic that it helped your kiddo! I think the Nemecheck protocol is intriguing but a little overly simplistic - or rather, a little overly one-size-fits-all. For one thing, not everyone can tolerate fish oil (like my kiddo), and that seems to be a key piece of the protocol. For another, I vaguely recall that there may be a need for prescription rifaximin, which would involve a doc willing to get on board. Third, I've read conflicting things on inulin generally with regard to the microbiome, though anything is possible there.

I don't know, but I can make a lot of assumptions. (1) Most people taking subject tests are doing so in order to apply to the selective schools that recommend/require them. (2) Accordingly, most of them tend to be on the more bright/advanced side and may be sufficiently far in math to take the Math 2. (3) The scoring curve on the Math 2 is known to be more generous, i.e. easier to get an 800 (while at the same time, an 800 may seem like a low percentile at 88 or something around there, because so many kids score highly on it). My understanding is that while the Math 1 material is less advanced, the curve is not as generous, i.e., just a few wrong drops the score significantly. I think the answer for a particular student will depend on the reason for taking the math subject test. If it's for selective college apps, it sounds like the Math 2 is the way to go. If it's just to check some sort of homeschool requirement box for less- or non-selective apps, then the Math 1 would be easier to prepare for. But I haven't BTDT. Hopefully soon someone will come along and confirm this.

There are two, Math 1 and Math 2. My understanding is that Math 2 should be taken after precalculus. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/544815-saxon-advanced-mathematics-and-sat-math-level-2/

What level of Saxon did the 6th grader use and how well did it go? What do you think the 6th grader needs help with? What did the 6th grader use before Saxon? visual - are your kids big-picture, visual-spatial thinkers? BA is fun but is also designed to be challenging.