I have absolutely no accountability right now to the school system - don't even have to tell them I'm homeschooling. Other states require testing, portfolios, teacher reviews, etc. So, the laws are really, really varied. I would personally have no problem with accountability because I don't think it would be a problem to live up to the standards set by the school district (they tend to be pretty low). I also have one child who has always gone to public school and have not had a bad experience with it. I'm homeschooling my younger children because of their learning styles and strengths/weaknesses and not because of a perceived deficiency in the schools (other than in how the schools would handle them personally). I'm also using secular materials so have no religious reasons for wanting them out of the public schools. I will say I'm lazy enough to appreciate not having to worry about portfolios or scheduling tests (not to say that others who don't want to do these are lazy - that's just my motivation for appreciating the laws of NJ :D). I do think that anyone who is handling the majority of their kids schooling and has to look for alternate socializing opportunities for them, should be accepted in homeschooling groups since that's what a lot of them are all about (at least around here).

I know in other threads/forums I've seen people who were concerned that it was going to lead to increased oversight by the state government/public school system, possibly leading to homeschoolers not being allowed to chose their own curriculum, etc. Others don't want to have to "teach to the test" although I don't know if that's much of a concern with a minimum basic skills test. I don't have any of these concerns but I also don't have any of the options for using public school services. If I could access the stuff I'm lousy at - Art and PE - I'd probably do it. Just wait until you go to a homeschooling board and see the debates on who should be allowed to call THEMSELVES homeschoolers. :tongue_smilie:

We don't get anything from the state here in NJ but we don't have to do anything either. The law actually states that we have to be providing equivalent instruction but that's pretty open to interpretation. If someone reports you delinquent, you have to send a letter saying you're homeschooling and that's it - the burden is put on the school district to prove you're not doing enough. Schools in NJ (especially right now) have WAY more to worry about that harassing homeschoolers. They have some serious budget woes right now. I read somewhere that in some states you can claim educational materials as a tax deduction on your state taxes. Anyone know about this and what states it applies to?

The fact that she ended up driving by the location you were at makes me think that she realized that she was at the wrong place. She may be the type who doesn't like to admit she screwed up so she went on the offensive in blaming you. I agree with the PP about how to handle it from here.

Your options are definitely limited. When we had our accident, we weren't sure if it was going to be totaled ($20,000 in damage but book value was still $35,000 at that point so nope) and we did some casual looking around. We needed something that would hold 2 adults, 1 adult-sized teenager (she's already 5'7") and any friends she'd bring along, 2 car seats, a large dog (Samoyed), gear for all of the above (we camp almost every weekend in Spring/Summer/Fall and DH fishes) plus haul the boat and have 4wd. We didn't really see much of anything that would work and be comfortable - everything we looked at had less cargo room (so no room for the dog), insufficient towing or seats that wouldn't fit at least one passenger next to two car seats. If you do find anything, make sure to post to let the rest of us know. :D

It sounds like your husband thinks keeping the truck will allow you to go longer before needing a newer vehicle? If this is the case, I would keep the truck. The difference in the amount of money you'd get for each is only $1,000-2,000. That could be gone quick if you need to buy another vehicle too soon. Why would car insurance be cheaper on the van than the truck? If insurance works in your state the same as mine, once a car is paid off (which you plan to do anyway) the insurance will go way down. Our Suburban doesn't cost anymore for insurance than our Civic. I wouldn't keep a vehicle just on the off chance that something might happen where you'd need it (the childcare). Has this situation ever come up before? If not, I would not use that as a deciding factor. If you find the interior of the truck inadequate for carrying groceries, etc. I know people who have used plastic bins in the back of a pick-up in order to hold groceries and purchases out of weather and elements. I believe the used the ones with side handles that lock down over the top (usually only around $10 at Walmart) and then bungee cords to keep them in place.

We have a Suburban but its a pretty old one - 2003. We haven't had any problems with it other than those that were related to a pretty bad car accident we had in it (hit a guardrail head on - $20,000 in damages) but those were eventually resolved. We still drive it and its going strong (knock on wood) with around 130,000 miles on it. We regularly take long trips and tow an 18 foot boat. I don't know what we'll do when this goes. Our other vehicle is a 2003 Honda Civic - can't even fit us and all three kids much less anything else (it was mine before remarried in 2004). We need something big - this past weekend we went camping without our oldest and still had the entire back (with the third row out) AND the one remaining seat in the second row AND a car top carrier completely full of stuff. Plus we were towing the boat. I'm sorry to hear the more recent Suburbans are having these kind of problems because it really is going to be an issue when we need a new one.:001_huh:

I would suggest REAL Science Odyssey, NOEO or The Lab of Mr Q. as Secular resources.

Under my original weekly plan, I was doing History 2 days a week and Science 2 days a week. This way, I'd be doing each for 4 days a week on alternating weeks so the number of days is the same. (Friday is our overflow, field trip day) I think this might actually go faster/easier since I wouldn't have to worry about finding where we left off and possibly having to review some of the things we already covered on a topic in order to continue on. Although, with four days in a row to cover a topic I may end up doing more experiments and larger activities so it may not go faster. ;)

:iagree:

We've had that happen a couple of times. I've always been amazed at the tiny little spaces the kids can fit into. In our case, our house is only 750 sq ft with only one closet they can get to, no underbed spaces (platforms with drawers) and a gate blocking the front door. There are only so many possibilities for them to hide so panic doesn't take long when we can't find one of them immediately. We recently had a neighbor lose her 6 year old son. He was playing outside and then he wasn't there. Our whole neighborhood is bordered by a river, we have bears, etc. She called the police, the whole neighborhood was searching, very scary situation. It turned out the kid had gone into the house without anyone seeing him and gone to take a nap in his bed. They found him sleeping calmly.:glare:

This sounds like a tough situation. :grouphug: I agree with the others about asking you dss what he wants to do but sounds like your dh may veto his choice anyway. Have you thought about a waterproof pad (the non-fitted kind) placed across the bed on top of the sheets? They have soft, flannel-like cloth ones that can be laid across the middle portion of the bed. Might not work if your dss is a very restless sleeper but its worth a shot (maybe safety pin it to the sides of the sheets). Bring enough for the week you are away and just seal each wet one in a bag to wash when you get home (you may want to rinse them first). Edited to add: there are also disposable pads that can be laid across the bed on top of the sheets. They are used often in convalescent homes. They are not as soft as the cloth pads and would be harder to fasten to the sheets to stay in place but its another possibility.

I'm wondering if anyone alternates doing a different topic each week for the entire week instead of a few days for each. For example, both History and Science are very important topics IMO. Both can take a lot of time with reading, projects, experiments, rabbit trails, etc. and I would like to be able to work on a topic without interupting to do a different subject. For my kids schedule next year (2011 so they'll be 6 and 4 - 1st grade and pre-K) I'm thinking of doing Reading (ETC), Writing (HWT), FLL and Math (MEP) every day (in the morning) and then doing a full week of Science, followed by a full week of History (in the afternoons). I feel like this would be an easier way for my kids to learn a topic than by doing a couple days of Science, then switching to History for a few days, then have the weekend, then return to do more on the same topic of Science. Since they are so young, we won't go into a huge amount of detail and I think most topics could be done in a week - if not we can easily extend it another week before switching to the other subject. Any thoughts?

I may have to rethink my plan. It looks like this may not have worked out for anyone. :tongue_smilie:

I was searching through old threads and I saw a couple people who were planning to use BFSU combined with RSO. I was wondering if anyone followed through on this plan and how it went? Did it turn out to be worth buying everything - BFSU and all the RSO units? Were there different activities/readings etc. in each? Or did it seem like too much to do or one piece of it wasn't used that often and was a waste of money? I've have the try-before-you-buys for RSO and have done a few pieces from Life when we did our human body unit. I liked the format and it seemed to work well with my kids but I like the idea of hitting on various science topics instead of sticking with one. Thank you.

I think waiting until a child is 18 to introduce some semblance of responsibility (at least for themselves) is asking for trouble since this is the age when many of them go off to college on their own. If they've never had any chance to be responsible or make decisions the excess of freedom can lead to serious problems. I was raised by a single mother so I was home alone with my brother (2 years older) from about 11 years old, walked to the strore alone from about 10 years old, had my first job (newspapers) at 12 years old, had regular chores including doing my own laundry from about 6 years old. But, in many other ways my mother was overprotective and when I went away to college I wasn't prepared for all the freedom to make my own decisions. My younger two are too young to ever be left alone (or even turn your back on them for very long :glare: - ask me how I know) but I do allow my oldest some freedom/responsibility. She's allowed to go to the mall alone with friends, go to the movies with friends. She babysits, does her own laundry, ocassionally cooks for herself, cleans her own room (in theory), makes decisions about her own money. We currently live in a town that doesn't believe in sidewalks on heavily traveled, windy, hilly, narrow roads so she doesn't walk anywhere from home but I've let her walk into the center of town from school (about 2 miles) with friends. She has gone out to a restaurant with a group of friends where there was no adult present and work out the bill, tip and take care of paying. I think there has to be a balance between protecting your children (especially once they're teenagers) and allowing them to make some mistakes and learn from them. BTW - I'm also in New Jersey and grew up here as well.

:iagree: I always hate when we go to pool parties or large gatherings and people talk about "they'll be 25 adults keeping an eye on them". To me, I'd rather one designated person watching all the time rather than 25 "keeping an eye" because there could be that one moment when all 25 are distracted.

I print them out because writing (especially small) is still a challenge for my son and I will have him do the actual assignment on the larger copy masters. If he wasn't so easily distracted, I might have him look at others on the computer screen rather than print them.

If you google my husbands first and last name, you'll get at least 5 others in our state with his exact name - 2 in our county. I don't come up at all with both first and last name. It's a little comforting to live in a state with a huge population. ;)

This is it: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2010/04/26/queen-european-hornet/ Ugh, gives me the creeps just looking at it. We definitely need to check for a nest. If we're lucky, it was a queen and the nest hasn't been started yet. On the bright side, they usually aren't aggressive unless protecting the nest.

Hi, I'm Dorothy, been married almost 6 years (this time). My oldest is in public school partially due to a joint custody arrangement. We plan to homeschool our younger kids at least until high school, more likely until college. I worked almost 20 years as an Executive Assistant for various small pharmaceutical companies and DH is a VP and analytical chemist for a small generic pharmaceutical company. I have degrees in Business Admin./Marketing, Biology and everything except my student teaching for Elementary Education (I like school :D). I'm still getting used to being a SAHM since I've been home less than 5 years and I'm probably the worlds worst housekeeper. We have the best of both worlds in that we live in a very secluded, forested neighborhood but within 15 minutes of major highways and employment.

My youngest will be 3 this summer but she's a big girl - taller than most of the 3-4 year olds in my Mom's club. She measures 15" from the top of her shoulder to her opposite hip.

My oldest is in public school and it varies depending on the grade. Usually grades have to be turned in a few days before the end of the year (so that report cards can go home the last day) so they aren't doing anything "gradable" the last week. In elementary grades - she often cleaned out her desk, did art/craft projects, watched movies, played games and did fun stuff toward the end. In high school/junior high school - they spend the last week cleaning out lockers, turning in text books and borrowed supplies, cleaning up classrooms, organizing class room equipment (mostly in science or art classes), etc.

I thought about it being a queen but it seems unlikely we'd see two of them in one week. DH just bought it back home (he had taken it to work to check with one of his employees). In looking at it again - the abdomen is furry but the thorax is not, which from what I've been seeing online indicates a wasp rather than a bee (bees have the furry appearance due to little hairs that collect pollen). Okay, a little more searching on the paper wask idea and I think I know what it is - a European Hornet. Related to the paper wasp but larger, considered an invasive species that has been introduced in this country. Thank you!

We have had a large bee or wasp appear in our house twice in the past week or so. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before. It had a brown face with black eyes; black/dark brown abdomen; biege thorax with black stripes; slightly fuzzy and HUGE! DH caught the second one in a jar and we were able to measure it - it was slightly under 2 inches long. DH thinks it only has one set of white, membranous (sp?), veiny wings but its hard to tell for sure if there's one set or two. The first time I saw one it was first thing in the morning and it was buzzing around the skylight trying to get out. Last night it didn't become active until we had turned out most of the lights and it seemed attracted by the light from the television. Any ideas? This is totally creeping me out. I checked a bunch of identification websites and didn't see anything like it.