I've had dealt with bad acne since I was 12 years old. It cleared up a lot on my mid 20s, but came back with a vengance after my youngest son was born 5 years ago - worse than it had ever been. I've tried so, so many things. I finally found a protocol that works for me - once daily retin-a + twice daily anti-biotic + benz.peroxidde soap (OTC) twice a day + clindamycn antibiotic gel once a day. Obviously everyone's different, but I never would have found what works without a dermatolgist. I really wish my mom would have taken me when I was a teenager, because it really affected my self esteem and was very, very painful.

We used 18 cubic meters last month (which is, I guess, about 4700 gallons) for a family of 5. I live in Mexico, so the rates will probably just make you want to cry - our bill is 230 pesos, which is about $18. I know my mom in San Diego pays way, way more than I do, and probably uses a lot less.

From your numbers, I got a 64.7%, which would be a D. Where did you get 80%? If it were 80%, it would be a low B, but she'd need 14 correct to get that.

Thank you SO much for the number card link! That will easier than writing them up myself. Thankfully, the school actually had an alabacus in their stock room (or, if it's not made by RightStart, it looks just like the ones they sell. I have them hunting for a second one so my kids can each use their own). Shipping isn't an issue - we live very near San Diego and have a post office box to ship to. Two more questions - how important is the "Yellow is the Sun" cd? It's really cheap and I can order it - I'm just curious how necessary it is. Also, though the games look fun and I think my kids would enjoy them, how necessary are they? I will probably get them regardless, but how frequently they are used might dictate how quickly I get them.

I prefer the Time Machine, myself. My son has only read War of the Worlds, but he really enjoyed it. I don't think you can go wrong with either one. But, like a PP, I really like time travel stories.

My charter school is buying RightStart Levels A and C for my two youngest kids, but they don't want to buy the manipulative kits because they already have many similar things in their own inventory (things like tanagram pieces and geoboards and centimeter cubes (and even an alabacus) ). If I can't convince them to buy some of the more unique things (like the math games kit) I'll probably buy them myself. But I was wondering if the place value cards are something that would be easy to make - they look like they would be easy to make on card stock. The abacus tiles also look like something I could construct with the hundreds tiles I already have - by coloring dots on the squares - and they would hold up better than the card stock tiles they have for sale. Is there any reason I would need the ones sold by RightStart? And is there any reason I would need the following as sold by RightStart rather than one the charter might have in stock as generic items?: geoboard tanagrams color tiles fraction chart geometry reflector geared clock individual items in the drawing kit - t-square, trangles, or Safe-t compass It would be easier if they would just order the kit, but it doesn't seem like it will happen! I'm hoping I can get them to order the math games set, or else I'll order it myself :) Thanks

Since part of it is resistance to starting back with school work, perhaps a more gentle easing back into the routine would be helpful. Also, if these were review problems, perhaps it was actually unnecessary for him to do them (I'm not saying that he gets to make that call, as it doesn't seem like that's how your house operates, but that it's something for you to consider when deciding what work to assign. It can be frustrating to have to re-demonstrate your proficiency at something). Also, since he seems like an easily distracted, wiggly kid - maybe some of the problems could be done orally. Obviously none of that addresses what to do in the middle of a tantrum, but heading it off seems to be the most effective plan.

When my kids have trouble focusing on a subject we are working on, we just move on to something else and come back later. I don't think it's something worth an hours long power struggle about. Aside from that, if my kids feel like spending their time screaming for hours, they're free to do that as long as they do it in their room. I don't see it as a particularly fun or productive use of their time, but if that's how they chose to spend it, it's no skin off my back.

I thought you could apply for one online, but I just checked and I guess you can't :(

You can start whenever you want! You could wait until January if you felt like it :). However, if your son knows you were planning to start and is excited about it, you might do what a pp suggested - start with some especially fun stuff for the next couple of weeks - art if he's a crafty kid, lots of read alouds, math games, field trips to museums or zoos nearby, park days with local homeschool groups, etc.

I'm using Rosetta Stone for myself, and there is plenty of pracice of the first person. I'm in level 4 right now.

Nope. Sometimes I read along with them, or after they're done if the book sounds interesting. Sometimes I'll read a book for me that I think my oldest would enjoy, and I pass it on. But I don't purposefully pre-read.

If you have netflix, you really need to start trying out streaming. It's a really, really great feature and I can often find things to stream that are related to what the kids are learning. If you have a Wii or an internet connected blue ray player, you can even watch them on your TV instead of the computer. I did try Blockbuster several years ago and wasn't a fan. The service wasn't very fast and the selection was a lot lower. They also won't carry any movies rated above R, and while that's not a problem when it comes to what the kids watch, sometimes I want to see an unrated director's cut of something, and that's not possible with Blockbuster. The plus was that, at the time, Blockbuster allowed you to change out your movies at a retail store rather than waiting to mail them. I'm not sure if they still do that, but even if they do, with so many of their retail stores closing, it would be a lot harder to use that benefit.

I'm technically a minority. I'm Caucasian, but I live in Mexico, so when I'm here, I'm a minority. When I'm in the US, I'm not.