I used the program with 2 children and it worked great for us. Mine were very young when I started (around 2) and we didn't do the writing. I tweaked it for their age and we worked with flashcards. They were both reading early chapter books when they were 3. It is a program that requires real consistency and review but it worked for us. :)

I would have told that boy that unless he was going to work on a worksheet then he had to leave my son alone until it was officially playtime. I don't mess around with that sort of thing these days.

I'll try to remember to post a reminder to the board. It looks really interesting and a nice way to break up the study day. :)

Tomorrow, Tues 16th there is going to be a live thirty minute webcast field trip to meet a Pilgrim and a Wampanoag—straight from Plimoth Plantation. It is free and sounds like it might be interesting. The time is: Tuesday, November 16th at 1:00 ET (10AM Pacific) Link: http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/letters_signup.asp Here's some more links: http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic%5Fthanksgiving/voyage/

We just did this cool astronomy study this morning. It is called Journey To The Stars by NASA. I was lucky enough to get the teacher's kit before the demand caused them to stop sending for awhile. They are going to resume though so you should put in your request. It is free too. The video is AWESOME! The teaching kit is very nicely done too! More about it here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/07jun_journeytothestars/ To request the teacher kit: http://www.journeytothestars.org/

BYU has 2 free middle school astronomy courses. Scroll down-they are toward the end. http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/free.cfm You can also download a free planetarium software called Stellarium. It is a nice addition to an astronomy program. Shows a realistic 3d sky. http://www.stellarium.org/

Pickles can get old and moldy but a week shouldn't be a problem. I personally store my opened pickles in the fridge because I like them cold. But the vinegar acts as a preservative for certain amount of time even after opening in room temp.

Sounds like you have a new pet! ;) Don't feed her anymore tuna. It is not good for cats. It can lead to b1 deficiency and that causes big problems. Here is some more info on it: http://www.connollyac.com/showpracfaq.cfm?FAQID=168&Private=0 My kitties only eat canned Fancy Feast. The vet was very specific. It cannot be any of the 'gravy' or 'grilled' varieties (vet said no gravy at all) and it cannot be any of the 'fish' varieties (linked to crystal probs). We get the 'classic' style and stick with beef, liver, turkey or chicken. I also add about a half can of water and mix. The added fluids are good for my cats that had UTD (urinary tract disorder). We've had problems with UTD and since adhering to these food rules there haven't been anymore probs (or huge vet bills or sad cats). Whatever you choose, rule of thumb for canned brands: Go for higher meat and less by product and grain. Avoid dry food if at all possible. Dry food was source of many problems with our cats. We avoid it like the plague now. Canned is more expensive than a bag of dry but believe me, I'd take the expense of canned any day over the whopper vet bill I had over urine crystals in two of our furbabies. About her belly, she could be pregnant. Females can have babies quite young and if they are stray the odds are pretty good. You might consider taking her to the local humane society to have her checked out. The prices are better and they can also scan her to see if she is microchipped. They can give her any shots she needs and do a worm check (this is very important too). I'm glad you have taken her in are are caring for her. I bet she will make a great addition to the family. :grouphug:

Aaaaah....I would have scooped them up and made them pets. I'm so bad that way. I'm a sucker for animals, especially babies.

I agree, it was the score. My son was accepted with his ACT score. They only requested the transcript after he was accepted and it was a procedural requirement. :)

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

My girls are both doing NaNoWriMo and they love it!! It is one of the best things we've done in a long time. It is great to see them excited about writing.

Some stores that specialize in music boxes also sell snowglobes and you can customize the song choice. I'd check online for music box sellers.

I'm with the others. You HAVE to take to the boy's parents. The boy is a minor right? If your child was acting criminally negligent you would want to know. Acting now may very well prevent a tragedy later. This could have been the tragedy and you are very lucky. You must report this. If the parents don't take act responsibly upon hearing about this, I'd seriously consider calling juvenile authorities. This is way beyond a trust issue between you and your son. Your son needs to understand that this event could be a sign of serious anti-social tendencies and going unaddressed can lead to serious consequences. You're in a position to potentially intercept an escalation to something tragic. IMO there is no question about it. You must inform the parents.

Have you looked into dual enrollment? We got 3 years of HS done and only had to pay for the textbooks (you can check half, ebay etc for good deals on those).

That boy's mom is not a friend. It is shocking how he is allowed to talk to your daughter and you! That is toxic and I'd be out of that coop in a flash. That sort of disrespect the children are displaying makes me wonder what kind of friends their parents are to your family.

My dh will help with specific hsing tasks if I am very specific about what I need. I don't ask very often though because while he is very supportive about the hsing, he isn't that good at it without direction. He is the provider that makes hsing possible for us. :)

My main objection to her has nothing to do with her position as a dr's wife or her personal opinion on religion and more to do with her apparent fixation on one particular person. This seeming obsession with Pioneer Woman undermines any possible credibility she may have because it is disturbing. Pioneer Woman doesn't even appear to acknowledge her. Maybe that fuels the fire? Narcissists hate to be ignored or dismissed. She claims that she used to be Christian and was probably as judgmental about non-Christians etc. when that was her 'thing'. So, now she is Atheist and that is the fad of the moment. What's next and why does she blog about this insanity anyway? Reminds me too much of the middle school days when the ‘confused girl’ would try on different identities in a search of something real. Blogs like hers (and I’ve seen a few others) are good examples of why NOT to blog. The revealing nature of this sort of public spewing is saved for posterity and if and when maturity and reason is achieved it could be an everlasting source of embarrassment.

Check out CLEPing the course! You can get the study guide and if he passes the test you can also get college credit (check the individual college regs on CLEP).

Love, love, love the PW cakeballs! She puts a lot of work into her site and it shows. I've gotten some great tips and recipes from her. I especially like her photo tutorials. It is so nice to see what something is supposed to look like along the way.

Gossip...I don't think so. It is a discussion about a public blog. Isn't that the idea of a blog? To stimulate hits and comments. Both parties have blogs. My verdict: not gossip. ;)

I think she sounds like a bad atheist too. :D She comes across as a really mean person. I know plenty of atheists that are the nicest and most considerate people you could hope to meet. This blogger isn't one of them. She just sounds super angry and mad at anyone who is more successful than herself.

There is a twitter for pie near woman made by the same gal and linked on her blog. It is vile. She does seem like a jealous, insecure stalker. She has a real chip on her shoulder about homeschooling too for some reason. She's a nutter! :eek:

That would be funny if they didn't know each other or were friends. If she is a stalker type, it is a lot of trouble to go through to be mean. :(

We're doing Lit lessons from Lotr. It has been good except for some editing issues that we've had to overlook. MIT open courseware has some great free classes. We're doing Kitchen Chemistry and it is a lot of fun and educational. Many colleges offer open courseware classes. We're taking a Roman Architecture course from Yale open courseware too. Universal Class has a lot of interesting and unique courses. We've done a few of those too. The Jason Project has some interesting and free science units. We just did the meteorology one this summer. Freely Educate has a lot of interesting and mostly free courses.