We did Sophie's World this summer and to go along with it we used: Philosophy for Kids : 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder About Everything! by David A. White Each Question highlighted a different philosopher and it had interesting discussion questions. The girls enjoyed it.

Too many carbs and I get headaches. I can feel it happening within 20-30 min of eating then my joints hurt too. I'm doing no carb/no sugar now (yet again I should say). This is no carb day 3 and I'm already feeling better.

The college degree did help me get to a higher level in my job but overall my degree wasn't that monetarily helpful. I have a BS in Business Admin. and to really make it worth it I would have to finish my Masters (stopped over halfway through when I became preg). Psychologically however, it did wonders for my confidence. I found that I could do anything I really put my mind to. I did poorly in school when I was growing up and always felt somewhat inferior based on those bad experiences-but nevermore! That was the true value and well worth it. One of the best things I've ever done. :001_smile:

We found them to be pretty close. :)

This happened to my son several years ago. It was a local writing class that was conducted online. The initial hype sounded good but little by little the instructor started screwing up. It started taking longer to get feedback then when feedback was finally given, it was haphazard and it was clear that the instructor either did not know the material or just wasn't invested (too bad, we were $$). I ended up emailing her to give her notice that we needed feedback sooner and I got the "I was gone for other engagements" story. This happened about 2x more before the end of the class. We never signed up for her follow-up courses and never recommended it either. It was right up there as one of the worst courses and a complete waste of money IMO. In retrospect I wish I had just told her to issue a refund or a pro-rated refund instead of having to gripe at her until the worthless course was done. From that point on, it was the FLVS online courses we would only sign up for. The FLVS courses are consistently good.

I keep them grade level for ABeka math but they both do Life of Fred together. For history, science and LA I keep them together at the older child's level. For online classes it depends, they do Spanish together and are doing geography together. With the exception of math, I try not to duplicate since they are so close together in age.

If you have exhausted all other possibilities then IMO the college comes 1st. What about asking the coop to get a substitute that you can give the weekly plans to and the substitute/parent stand-in can deliver the info to the class. You would still have responsibility for the content and the work of planning but a sub could attend to the class. As long as you made it easy for a sub, you might get volunteers.

Hummm...If I had that: I'd use a section for my whiteboard, flipchart and chalkboard supplies. Another section for post-it notes & highlighters and extra pencils. Another for flash cards and small educational tools. Another for math manipulatives or supplies like a compass, ruler, and protractor. One for science manipulative or supplies. And finally...one for my chocolate stash. :D

We're spending around 5-6 hours per day for both dd in middle school.

I have a dd in ABeka 6 and we're supplementing with LOF Decimals & Percents. We did the fractions last year. I personally would not use LOF as our only program. IMO there is nowhere near enough review and I like more traditional programs for my main curriculum. Adding LOF after your daughter is comfortable with the fractions is a great idea because being able to do the problems without stress makes the story and essence of LOF much more enjoyable. How are you using ABeka? We do every problem even though there is a lot of review. The ABeka Math moves quickly and is accelerated so I think the review they have is a good thing. You might consider backing up to where she began experiencing problems and take it slow and do lots of drill until she is comfortable. Maybe draw in some videos from the net that might make it clearer. Do you have UnitedStreaming? They have some great math videos.

Exactly this! And repeating...NO GUILT and not a second thought.

I might come off as hard-hearted here but oh what the heck... My impression of this situation (particularly since she is calling and specifically asking to talk to you) is that MIL has keyed in on the fact that she can manipulate you. Otherwise, why isn't she calling her son? :) She is already trying to drive a wedge between you and dh and she hasn't even moved in! She has you targeted as a soft-touch. So IMO, you should get a grip on the 'feeling sorry' impulse and see it for what is may really be, a classic NPD manipulation. JMHO. Sorry I'm being blunt but I see serious danger signs. If you are concerned that she is a danger to herself and others due to possible Alzheimers then you can call Adult Protective Services for an assessment. I used to work in the field so we did these quite often. They will go out and check her over and if there is a need, they will take action and monitor her. You can even have this done anon. (which is what I would recommend). There are many other ways to have MIL's care managed that do not involve her moving in and disrupting/destroying your family.

No slacker here. I'm very organized and OCD about our schedule so we get things done. Now if you ask me about our diet then I'm a complete and utter slacker and we eat irregularly and the diet needs drastic improvement.

I guess it depends on what kind of online you are talking about. I've known a couple of hs'ers who plant their children in front of the pc and let the kids play on sites doing flash cards or ed games. I personally consider that 'extra'. However, we do Florida Virtual school as homeschoolers and there are teachers and lots of accountability with pace charts and grades and the teachers are available almost 24/7. So it just depends on what kind of online you are dealing with. Some is a lot better than others IMO. Personally, I consider myself the teacher and anything outside or online is done with my supervision and is just an 'outsourced' or 'elective' activity.

As a person who has first hand experience dealing with NPD relative and dementia, my advice is to let your dh handle it the way he feels most comfortable with. She made his life miserable when he was growing up. He has no obligation to take her in especially with dementia on top of NPD. You are asking for trouble...big trouble. Explore assisted living alternatives when it comes to her not being able to live alone. Be wary, NPD's like to divide and conquer. Meaning they will manipulate and play one person against another and I suspect she may already be doing this in your case. Let dh make the decision and support his need to be done with her.

I would check with the Bureau of Vital Stats for the county she died in. That way you can get a copy of the death certificate and then you can go from there. You will most likely have to fill out some forms because of confidentiality but that is the route I would take.

"Grazing in the Grass" "Groovin" "Stand By Me" "San Francisco" (Scott Mckenzie) "Sailing" (Christopher Cross) and of course anything from the Beach Boys!

We referenced a Visual Basic Dummies book when my girls were taking a programming class this fall. It has some of the best ratings on Amazon so we went with it. I hate the name of these books and I personally think they did themselves a disservice from a marketing perspective but the content of the book was spot on for our needs.

I didn't get a chance to read the other replies yet but my recommendation is to register and fully comply with your state regulations. If you don't you are putting yourself in a bad position. You wouldn't even be able to claim ignorance at this point. My recommendation is to get completely well versed on your regulations and then submit your Notice of Intention and DO NOT allow that woman to bully you. Her job is to adhere to the regulations as well and if she gives you any problems, I would go over her head or report her. Going 'underground' is not something you need to do these days.

I used to during the pet food scare. I mainly focused on meat and no grain or veg at all. I also didn't use store ground meat. I bought muscle meats and liver and cooked them in a crockpot then ground them with the food processor and bagged a daily serving in freezer ziplocks. I would do about 2 weeks worth at a time. I cooked the meat because we don't do the BARF diet since the vet was against it.

Congratulations!!! That is fantastic news!!! She is beautiful!!! :)

My dh installed some in one of the kids rooms. It took him a couple of days but he said it was easy. It is hard on the knees so make sure you get some of those knee pads. It looks nice!! He is a programmer and he had never done anything like that before either. :)

I started at 2 yrs with my 2 youngest. We did a age appropriately modified 100 EZ Lessons then went onto the entire Explode The Code series and the BOB books on up through the Hello Readers working through all the levels. Both of mine were very good readers by 3. Our lessons were very short 10-15 min a couple times a day and fun flashcard games.

Oh yes! I think I'm always in 'planning' mode though.

:grouphug: I think they were just plain rude. Once the mom saw you and talked to you she should have explained any problems right then and there. She didn't so I wouldn't expect any answers. Some people just don't think much about how their actions can hurt others. :(