Thanks Colleen and momof7. What he can comprehend is anything to do with surfing. He can tell you who is sponsored by Quiksilver or Billabong or Von Zipper. He can tell you which companies sponsor Andy Irons or Parko. He can tell you what the ratings are for each major surfer. He can tell you who the up and coming surfers are and where they're from. He gets all this from reading surf magazines and web sites. He can also understand fiction pretty easily. He used to be an avid reader of Famous Five books, Hardy Boys, the Stormbreaker series. I still make him read historical fiction a half hour per day and he has to write at least a sentence about something that happened in the story. Usually it's just a very short sentence, but at least I know that he read and generally understood. I know that he can understand things he's interested in and what he has trouble with is material he finds boring, but he needs to be able to make the effort even if he thinks it's boring. Honestly, if I tried to give him a choice about what to study, he would choose nothing. He's really not the least bit interested in academics. He wants to be a professional surfer. I read about a homeschool mom who designed an entire curriculum around her ds's interest in baseball. Math was all about baseball statistics, history was all related to what was happening in the world when, for instance, Babe Ruth was alive. Science was the physics of hitting the ball, etc. I wish that I had the time and creativity to design a curriculum around ds's love of surfing, but I would have no idea how to start and with 3 other dc, I just don't have the time to do that. I agree that learning the skills are what's truly important. Honestly, I don't care if he doesn't have a complete understanding of the human digestive system. My concern really is that reading for comprehension is a vital skill, and if he can't read the materials about the digestive system and answer some questions, then he won't be able to function properly in a job in the future. Because his chances of making a living as a pro surfer are not great. But then I ask myself why I want him to have that skill. Will he really have a job that will require it? Maybe, even if he doesn't become a pro surfer, he will work in the surf industry in some other way. I don't know. It's late and I'm rambling now. I guess I need to know if this is something I need to be concerned about and if so, what do I do. I will work on those 5 minute narrations and the other ideas. Thanks, ladies.

The print version wasn't available. I've been happy with printing things off the internet. There's been a bit of complication when we've been travelling and haven't had internet conneciton, but that wouldn't be a problem for most people. Overall I've been happy with it and would recommend it.

He's in 6th grade this year and I've struggled with him for years. I really thought the main issue was rebellion on his part - not wanting to sit still, not wanting to listen to mom. Things have gotten more difficult the last 2 years. We have done a lot of travelling the last 2 years and I'm sure that's taken its toll, but I've not noticed the same difficulties with my other son (10yo). At the end of last school year I was ready to throw in the towel with him and send him to school. I felt like he had hardly learned anything the whole year. Then I decided to take an easy year for him, letting him do Beyond Five in a Row and taking it at his own pace. At the last minute he begged me to do the same curriculum we had been doing in the past and promised that he would try harder. We've been doing pretty standard WTM recommended curriculum materials - Singapore math, R&S grammar (though we switched to Easy Grammar this year), LC (then switched to Latin Prep this year), MOH, Apologia science, WW, SW. The first couple of months of this school year went all right, but then I started facing the same rebellion and attitude that I'd seen in the past. I got so frustrated by Christmas that I decided I had to change curriculum to something that didn't involve me teaching him. I considered ACE and several DVD programs (BJU, ABeka), and finally settled on SOS for LA, history, and science, and TT for math. I know it's not 'WTM approved'. No bashing please. I'm just trying to find something that will work for ds. Anyway, he's doing great with math, and he likes SOS a lot more than what we've done in the past, I think because he can work independently, and he does pretty well on the lessons where he can go back to the reading to find answers to the questions. But when he gets to a test, he bombs it. He really doesn't seem capable of reading for comprehension. He can read other things and understand them, though. I've thought that it was a matter of him not being interested enough in school related things and I've talked about the importance of concentrating and reading slowly and reading through things several times. He says that he's really trying, but his scores are not showing that he's understood what he's read. I really don't know what to do. Is there some program that I can use that would help him? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm on the verge of sending him off to school in the fall. I'm afraid if I do, that he won't learn a thing, though. But he doesn't seem to be learning anything from me either. I'm extremely discouraged. HELP!

I've got to change my board name to something more interresting!

Ellen always went by Helen, but I inhereted Ellen as a middle name. Rosaline was Irish, but her name was spelled the 'British' way - I have no idea why. So when she had a dd, they named her (my aunt) Rosaleen (spelled the Irish way). Then, when Rosaleen had a dd, she named her Rosaline (after her mother). When Rosaline had a dd, she named her Rosaleen (after her mother), as did a couple of Rosaline's sisters (my cousins). When I had to choose a confirmation name, I chose Rosaline (after my grandma). So we have LOTS of Rosaline/Rosaleens in the family. The trouble is remembering which way to spell it. :)

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I'm not sure of my great-grandfathers' names.

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It had 2 queen sized beds and a pull out sofa bed to sleep 2. And it only cost $10 more than the Best Western across the street. Ask for a discount - I'm sure they have a military discount - and then ask if that's their best price. We stopped on our way up to NC and the guy in reception went down from $129 to $89. On our way back down to FL a different guy was at reception and he said the price was $109. When I mentioned the $89 from the previous week, he matched the price. My only advice is, make sure you don't get the room over the indoor pool and spa. I thought we were going to roast.

I've been using R&S grammar, Spelling Workout, Wordly Wise and various curriculum for writing. This year I switched to Easy Grammar for my 6th grade ds and it was sooooo much easier than R&S grammar. The only area that I really felt was lacking was in diagramming. I'm considering doing Easy Grammar for ds going into 5th grade next year. Is there a diagramming workbook that I could use for him? And can you think of anything else that I would need to add for a complete language arts program?

There are PG-13 movies that I won't let my 12yo watch even though 'all' his friends have seen them. Stick to your guns and do what's right for your dc.

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The only book still available is the one I'm least interested in. So I'm open to suggestions for an alternate program. Thanks.

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Ds is in 4th grade and has already completed PL and part of LC I, but when I teach Latin again with younger dc, I'm going to start off with LL.

MWS started a couple of years ago when my oldest was too old. I loved the look of it, though, and I've been waiting for dd to be going into 1st grade so I could use it. I just tried to check the web site to decide which program to use next year and it's gone! What happened? What other science curriculum is similar, using living books, a fun introduction to science for a 1st grader and preKer?

I've used it for a few years and my only real complaint is that each page has to be saved as a separate file. Other than that minor point, I've found it very easy to use and very versatile and effective.

I've always gotten prompt replies when I've e-mailed the author. I would just ask if I were you.

I've moved through SOTW fairly quickly with my 4th grader this year. I've gotten it scheduled out so that it will take about 24 weeks, doing history 4-5 days per week. We've basically just read through SOTW and done the outline and map from the activity book. For a few topics (Civil War, WWI, WWII, Depression, Victorian England) we took a few extra days for supplemental reading. I know ds is not getting a deep understanding of modern times, but he's only in 4th grade and we'll be covering it all again, so I'm not worried. He's getting a good basic overview.

Life doesn't always allow me to keep it, though. :001_smile:

Now that we're in the UK again I'm catching up on my British cuisine.

You've gotten a lot of great ideas. The only thing I thought of was getting a couple of sets of Speed Stacks and splitting them into relay teams. Hope the party is great!

I've been off the boards for a while. We went to the US in mid-Nov, were in California for 2 months, where we had limited internet connection, then went to Florida where we had no internet connection where we were staying. I could only get online if I was at someone else's house. So, suffice it to say, I've not been able to get on the boards much. We got back here to the UK yesterday and now I'm going to have to catch up on 6 months of posts! Anything especially interesting happen that I should know about, aside from the obvious new board style, which is going to take a lot of getting used to for me - eek. Hope all is going well for you and your boys.

At the time we only had 2 dc, but we have 4 now. What did you have questions about? Are you working for the US govt? Or is your dh's company moving you over here? If so, I expect a lot of details like visas and hiring movers would be handled by them. We moved on our own, and it was hard, but doable. I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can.

Then I was distracted and later couldn't find it. It was still on the counter with the spoon still in it. You're not alone.