I am wondering the same thing! My ds 12 has always been an OK speller. Even though he couldn't always spell a certain word correctly, he almost always knew when a word was wrong and would ask me, look it up, etc. Lately this is not the case, and it's not even with difficult words. He is also making reversals more often, which he did when he was younger but hasn't for some time. I keep hearing about puberty brain fog, but how long does this last? He also takes medication for ADHD, so I'm wondering if he needs an adjustment as he has grown over three inches this year. I'm so not prepared for this puberty thing!

This is definitely a concern of mine as well. SWB addresses this concern when she encourages us NOT to have them talk or write about every book they read. I actually like FS for this very reason, because it separates the learning of lit anal terms from the reading of whole literature. We started using FS this year, and we do it at a completely different time of the day than our lit readings. I also like that it uses examples from good literature to illustrate terms. We do it mostly aloud, and we create electronic flashcards of the terms. My dd 5th and ds 7th are actually using the terms irl which is fun to witness. Dd has been picking out every idiom we use in conversation since we learned that term. Also both have stopped me while reading aloud from The Hobbit to point out possible foreshadowing and use of imagery. For us FS would be tedious and too workbooky if we wrote out the work, but it fits well orally. I'm also a fan of TtC. We don't use a story map for every book we read, but when I want to discuss a book, it's a great tool to help my dc get the big picture before we discuss. The Socratic questions in the TtC book are helpful for discussion, or for dc to read and think about on their own. My oldest is doing the online class offered by Adam and Missy Andrews this year, and I can't wait to see how that goes! We watched his Wind in the Willows DVD discussion, and both dc really liked him.

We are Holy Family Academy. I look at homeschooling as a family lifestyle, so who better to have as our patrons than the Holy Family?

One fairly bewildered Catholic here. And, for the record, every Catholic I know IRL loves cupcakes! :D

:iagree: it seems to me that Sue thought she knew what you meant by RR, but wanted to make sure before she presented her argument. I fail to see how that is anti-intellectual. I don't know that I fit into your "Religious Right" category either. I am a Catholic and consider myself mostly socially conservative, but I also believe in theistic evolution. I have never considered that being socially conservative had anything to do with my stance on evolution. However, I cannot understand how anyone can argue that creationism is responsible for the state of science education in our country. The majority of students who are represented in national test scores are being taught evolution, are they not? I may not believe in strict creationism personally, but it cannot be blamed for our failure in science. That has more to do with policies of groups like the NEA, which are definitely not in the camp of the RR.

I have to say honestly that I would not recommend that with the number and ages of your children. I have been a med school wife and mom - my dh is out practicing now. I totally agree with the posters above who are living through the med school/residency time right now. The financial commitment is huge. You will be six figures in debt. In order to do well you have to put so much time into this process. They have changed some of the rules about how long residents can work, but I know several who say they are required to do paperwork, etc that doesn't get included in those hours. Both of our dc were born during internship/residency. My dh doesn't remember much about them as babies. It's sad to say that, but it's true. I remember taking them to see him for a few minutes in the hospital parking lot because they were almost always asleep during the few hours he was home. My oldest was so used to him not coming home at night that he used to say, "See you 'morrow, Daddy" anytime dh left a room. Dh has been out of residency for a while but we still have loans, and he works crazy long hours. Today he left the house at 6:30am and he is still doing paperwork at 8:30pm. Our family would not have made it through that without me being a full-time SAHM. There are many fulfilling careers that you could pursue as a mom that would not require such a sacrifice, and that would help you earn a comfortable living for your family.

I have been vegetarian for almost 30 years and I can't imagine being able to go back to eating meat. Especially if you haven't even been preparing it. I cook meat for my family and still couldn't possibly eat it myself. I guess it's possible that you could get used to it in time, but it sounds like you eat a healthy diet already.

The ebook works great on iPad. We used it as a supplement for Earth Science last year. This year we are doing the Life Science for our whole program. You can flip pages as well as skip ahead or back. The dc love reading on the iPad, and you can zoom in to see diagrams or charts. We also use the ebook with investigations.

We love it too! Of course, we love so many things in Chicago. We always have so much fun there. My brother went to college/grad school there, and I always thought that's where I'd live. Don't envy the winters though. We live as far north as my dh can handle:) We also love the aquarium/oceanarium, Museum of Science and Industry, Ravinia Music Festival(summer), and Navy Pier and just hanging out by the lake.

Drive. We find 10 hours about the border where flying isn't really worth it. That somewhat depends on your families attitude to driving trips, I guess. We can easily do 10 hours with two stops, and our kids don't mind being in the car. Also, the on property resort is really worth it IMO, and we have been to WDW a lot. It makes such a difference at the end of a long day to be so close.

I voted yes, but it would depend on the child's age. K-6, I would say a week off would be acceptable if the student was doing well/keeping up with work. Also, I wouldn't do this multiple times a year. I would try to combine it with a short week due to a vacation day or teacher work days if possible. Once a student hits 7th grade I would say this is probably not going to be a good idea due to more difficult work and test schedules. If there were some special circumstances and the school would work with the family so the trip wouldn't affect grades, it might be ok with an older student. We take several trips during the school year to take advantage of lower prices and crowds, but our oldest will most likely attend a private high school in two years, so we will have to shift to summer/spring break then.

As much as I wanted to homeschool, I had similar feelings on the first day of K for my oldest. He was missing out on the school experience, and honestly, so was I. Most of my friends were entering the "school mom" circle with field trips, room moms, and parent teacher conferences. I didn't know any other homeschoolers yet, so I didn't know about all the awesome homeschool experiences that were waiting for us. On top of that my family thought I was crazy. And surely breaking some law. On that first day I really felt like I needed God to send me a sign that this was right. About 4pm that day someone knocked on my door. When I opened it a nicely dressed women introduced herself as the principal of our local elementary(just down the street). I was so surprised and assumed she was there to ask about my truant son. I can't remember what I said, but it was probably something totally embarrassing like, "We are homeschooling and it's totally legal!". It turned out she was just there looking for a new Ker who apparently was lost on the bus ride home. They were going door to door for him. I told her that I hadn't seen a lost child, but would keep an eye out for him. Then I shut the door and said, "Thank you for the sign, God!" You are not alone in those thoughts at the beginning, but as my little Ker starts 7th grade this year many more friends are envious of our lifestyle than I am of theirs. Follow some of the great ideas in this thread for starting homeschooling traditions for the start of the year. We always try to start the week after the local schools. We do something fun each day and post our "NOT back to school yet" pics on FB. Have fun on your journey:) Btw-the little boy was found OK down the street. I think he got off at the wrong stop or something.

Naomi

It's possible. It would just dependon how sensitive he is. Our allergist told us that peanut proteins have been found even on utensils that have been washed. Our son is severely allergic, and our whole household has given up peanut products to protect him. It's also possible there was something in the environment that he reacted to. Does your son have a contact allergy? Possibly another person ate peanuts(they give them out for ice cream if you ask) at your table before you? That has caused our son to react before. Our son also reacts to airborne dust, so that's a possibility.

We are going mid-December for a long weekend. I wonder if they are taking official reservations? Time to call Disney Dining:)

I was originally interested in WPD software, but decided against it after not hearing anything good. I attended their first Q&A and didn't really get any answers. I ended up buying a subscription to HST online and love it. I was attracted to the pretty factor of WPD, but HST is functional, which is what I really need. I'm not a super techy person, but HST has been very easy to figure out. In three days I have about 75% of my planning in and will be ready to go when school starts for us in August. I'm just sharing this for anyone who is considering alternatives. I'm on a Mac, so HST wasn't an option for me until the online came out.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. He likes math, so something hands on and fun might work. I'll check it out.:001_smile:

I asked this over at the Logic Board, but thought some of you over here might have ideas on this as well. Thanks! My son is enrolled in the AoPS online Pre-Algebra class that starts October 16. We start our new school year on August 27. We will be on vacation for one of those weeks, so that leaves me with six weeks to fill. Ds is 12 and beginning 7th grade. He finished Singapore PM 6B in the spring and is working on a couple of 6th grade math/pre-algebra intro workbooks from the teacher store this summer. I'm thinking of having him watch the videos and use Alcumus, but I don't really have a firm plan. Any ideas?

My son is enrolled in the AoPS online Pre-Algebra class that starts October 16. We start our new school year on August 27. We will be on vacation for one of those weeks, so that leaves me with six weeks to fill. Ds is 12 and beginning 7th grade. He finished Singapore PM 6B in the spring and is working on a couple of 6th grade math/pre-algebra intro workbooks from the teacher store this summer. I'm thinking of having him watch the videos and use Alcumus, but I don't really have a firm plan. Any ideas?

I'm so glad this got bumped! Somehow I missed is thread when I was looking for CPO life science info. This will help so much! I love the supply lists.:D

I agree with the pp about asking if there is any way they will work with you since this repair has been done before. We have always had very good service at the Apple Store. Once they even replaced our hard drive that completely shut down with no charge even though it was out of warranty by a short amount. Thankfully we have a Time Capsule so we were backed up. My dh also had to have his trackpad replaced on his Macbook Air because of similar issues as you described, but he was in warranty for that. We always buy AppleCare now, though. Those are the only two issues we have ever had, and we've always been Mac users.

Thank you! I'm aware of the text being all online, which isn't my preference, but I can live with it if the quality is there. I'm glad to hear there is a lab kit. If you don't mind answering again, we're the labs good? Labs that don't work well make me crazy! I'm really leaning toward the k12 for my 5th grader and may consider the advanced Life for my 7th grader, too. I have CPO Life text, labs, and teacher guide, but I'm thinking the labs are going to be difficult to implement.

Has anyone used k12 science? I'm looking at grade 5 and the middle school earth/life/physical sequence. This is the one area where I haven't found something that's really a hit for us. I have CPO life that I may use with my DS 7th next year, but I don't know that it will be a fit for dd 5th. I'm thinking about starting her on the k12 sequence instead.

I have three answers for different reasons: Wilderness Lodge - this was our favorite when the kiddos were little because of its proximity to Magic Kingdom. We used to start out there several days of our trip then hop to another park. Magic Kingdom gets unbearably busy after about 2pm. Boardwalk - this is our current favorite because of its location on the Boardwalk. We like to walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, the kids current favorite parks, from this resort. Beach Club is also good for this, but for some reason we like Boardwalk more. Animal Kingdom Lodge - this resort has no strategic advantage, but is just a fun place! We love the animal viewing, the ambiance in the lobby, and the fireside stories. Location usually wins out because AKL is pretty far from things. This is not considering cost, as these are all deluxe resorts.

We are RC not Episcopalian. After looking into the curriculum and the groups in our area, we concluded that CC would not be a fit for us.