:grouphug: I understand you feeling hurt. I can see both sides though. It would have hurt just as much if they had come and told you that they couldn't avoid those foods and didn't think you could be included in their group. Either way, you would have felt hurt. Your friends probably were trying to avoid hurting you but in reality, it would have hurt whichever way they chose. :( It is probably a better idea to try to find families that have similar allergies and bond with them for that peace of mind. There is never a guarantee that parents of non-allergy children fully understand what is really needed. There isn't a total guarantee of that with parents of an allergy child but I would guess the risk of incident due to being less informed is significantly lower.

The whole grade thing is something I've played very loosely in our homeschool. For county requirements and paperwork I keep them at 'grade level' but when it comes to curriculum choices I go by what they are ready for. Mine are in middle school but I have them doing college level for some of their work and grade level for some. Holding back grades is not something you see a lot of in homeschooling. If I were in your position, I would not change her grade level. Instead, I would focus on the areas that will get her up to speed. Spend the summer working with good curriculum and you will be surprised at how the combination of being at home, working at her mastery rate and review will work wonders. My son spent his last 'school' year at a Montessori school with probably the worst teacher in the world and the net result was pretty much no progress in math. We began homeschooling. I spent the summer going through the grade again for less than an hour a day and the next year he tested two grades ahead. :)

I like going to the Staples and Office Depot Teacher Days because I get free stuff and they feed me Chick-fil-a, donuts and bagels. :)

My son uses Doryx but only when he needs it. We have mostly had good luck with a high protein diet that limits sugar. He is off the meds when we are really good with our diet. But when we fall off the wagon he usually has to take a day or two of Doryx and start watching what we eat to get things back in good shape.

Apologia has a Marine Bio course. MIT Opencourseware has some too. This one looks very interesting too: http://www.jochemnet.de/fiu/OCB3043.html

Teachers are mandatory reporters and the child's statements required action for if no other reason to protect the teacher and school from liability should the child do something to hurt himself. If he had hurt himself and it was discovered that the school had this information, then they would have been criticized for not taking action. The parents statement that she would pursue counseling is not a guarantee that would completely resolve the liability and mandated reporting responsibility. I think the school was between a rock and a hard place here and they acted according to what would ensure their protection and ensure the child had intervention.

You might check out CHOW (Child's History of the World) by Hillyer. Calvert School uses and sells this with nice supporting materials. Mine particularly enjoyed the interactive CD to go along with the book. http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/why-calvert/homeschool-enrichments/history-courses/a-childs-history-of-the-world http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/why-calvert/homeschool-enrichments/interactive-enrichments/a-childs-history-of-the-world-online-program

Cool! We have prime. Thanks for the heads up! Off to check out some movies!!

Maybe he could start a slow process of limiting her access to him. For example, start by cutting the phone contact by 50% by only answering half the time or by assigning a time when the calls will be accepted. Same thing for the texts. If she can't get immediate gratification every time she calls, she will hopefully be encouraged to move on. Sometimes a slow backing away from a relationship is easiest. Your son will have to be committed to staying the course though or it will not work.

Georgia, Arkansas, and Alabama homeschoolers are so lucky! They get the basic plan for free if they contact the pbs station. If you are looking specifically for Elementary Spanish just be sure that program is offered through whatever plan you choose.

It is the Spanish program that is available on Discovery Streaming (aka. Unitedstreaming). It is 50 videos and there are printable worksheets avail too. Homeschoolbuyerscoop.com offers a discount on Discovery Streaming. There is also a Middle School Spanish on Discovery Streaming too. :) These programs are by the University of Arizona.

I generally do not lend because my record of getting things back has not been good. I only lend to a good friend of mine now because she is super reliable. I never borrow because I just don't like feeling responsible for other people's things.

I watch netflix on my mac with no problems at all.

Are you in the states? Many states have a virtual school that offers advanced and challenging science courses. In FL we have FLVS that offers all their classes to homeschoolers. It is free and the courses have a teacher and strict accountability. Another possibility is dual enrollment at a local college. This might be your best bet if you don't have a Virtual School. Dual enrollment is usually free but we had to pay for the textbooks (still a great deal for racking up some college credits). Another possibility is checking out OpenCourseware. Colleges offer courses free online. We are taking Kitchen Chemistry from MIT and Roman Architecture from Yale this way. There are TONS of science courses you can get this way. It is a fantastic way to get some interesting and challenging High School courses. Hope this helps! Good luck! :)

MIT Opencourseware has a free course called "Kitchen Chemistry" and "Advanced Kitchen Chemistry". You can get all the materials at: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/special-programs/sp-287-kitchen-chemistry-spring-2009/ and advanced class is at: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-s16-advanced-kitchen-chemistry-spring-2002/ We're doing the first course right now. It has been very informative! The text reading and class questions are a must. It is a really good book. Some of the recipes are super yummy too! The pancakes are especially fab!

If you liked the movie, you should read her book "Thinking in Pictures". It has a lot more detail and is a fascinating read! :)

We are but just finished. We just did a fun grammar review. :) No day off for the college kid though. :(

It hasn't mattered for us. Mine have taken online courses and I put them on the transcript and no college ever asked if they were accredited.

I just found audio files for the book at: http://librivox.org/grammar-land-by-m-l-nesbitt/ From what I can find, it looks like it is for ages 8 to 12 on the average.

:thumbup::thumbup::party::party: Love our 'geography' add-on!!!

My friend has IPAD and she wasn't able to get US to play. She researched it and found that there is something that prevents it from playing. We did find that there is a workaround for this though and here is a video tutorial for it. I don't know if she ever got it to work though. http://ipadeducators.ning.com/video/united-streaming-videos-onto

We have both and for educational media and the support material I prefer Unitedstreaming. I like being able to immediately find a video to watch that supports what we are learning about. It offers more immediate gratification. With Netflix I find that a lot of the videos that I want are not streaming so we have to wait. Unitedstreaming offers tons of videos geared to an educational environment whereas Netflix has IMO a more limited selection. If I could only have one, I would personally take Unitedstreaming. We also hooked up the computer to the TV so we get to see Unitedstreaming videos in big screen. Good stuff!!! :)

Got a link to this in my email today and it looks fun. It would be a low-stress, easy review too for older children. http://www.letticebell.com/GrammarLand.pdf In this classic read aloud book, published way back in 1878, author Nesbitt creates an amazing fantasy land not unlike "Alice In Wonderland", where the citizens are the nine parts of speech (Mr. Proper Noun, Dr. Verb, Little Article, etc.) and all are governed by the stern but wise old Judge Grammar. It's a fun, fascinating way to learn some of the basic grammar rules all the while carried along by the very memorable characters and a wild adventure to boot. Here are worksheets that go along with it! Jessica at the "We Don't Need No Education" blog has created worksheets for each chapter of Grammar Land, incorporating the exercises woven into the story. You can download all 17 of these PDF worksheet files on her blog. They are loads of fun and a great way to make sure your kids "get" what is taught in Grammar Land. Here's a link to a page on her blog where you can download these: http://dontneednoeducation.blogspot.com/search?q=Grammar+Land&x=0&y=0

That was crazy! So sad that she got the wrong answer after all that work too! I can see using that to help illustrate the overall concept but there is no way I would have my child do the problems like that. It's a good thing I homeschool because I would not be a happy math parent if that was the curriculum in our school.

Computer, printer, filing system, book cases, pencil sharpener, stapler, 3 hole punch, papercutter, rulers, Unitedstreaming :) and the school cat (she keeps the kids in line-can't whine around her or she gets mean).