I lived in Germany from toddlerhood until age 10. I also went to German ps. The last time I visited, I was engaged to my now-dhed, who was hs. Hsing is not legal in Germany, and much stock is put in "experts" in general. The whole concept of hsing was so totally foreign to my church friends there. They couldn't fathom how it could possibly be legal in the US, or how a mere parent could possibly teach their dc. I can imagine that a 17 year old steeped in that kind of culture would easily have the view he does. Plus Germans typically state their opinions quite bluntly; he probably doesn't think he's being rude, just "telling it like it is" :tongue_smilie:. All that is not to excuse his comments, but maybe it helps to understand where he's coming from a little :) Hope you can encourage him to keep the unhelpful comments to himself anyhow. Kelsy

If you're up to teacher-intensive, time-consuming spelling :blink: you might consider a Spalding program, such as WRTR (haven't used myself) or SWR (have used.) I used this for 1 1/2 years with my dc; it really teaches spelling in a very thorough way, and shows how some of the "irregularities" of English actually make sense. Even though we've switched to SWO (the two dc I've used it with really disliked it SWR, and they seem to get spelling pretty naturally so far) the foundation that SWR laid for them (and me!) is still paying off. I sometimes use what we've learned there to correct inaccurate spelling "rules" found in other programs. I've recently heard of another program called All About Spelling that uses the Spalding approach, but is more teacher-friendly, with the lessons all laid out. I'm seriously considering it for my dd (in the future...she's only 4 now :).) So maybe that would be another option to consider, should your ds continue to have trouble with SWO. (http://www.all-about-spelling.com/) HTH Kelsy

Strider - I know you're right. :iagree: It's hard enough trying to keep track of the order in which to multiply all the numbers and where to write what without having to think about the computation as well. The Quarter Mile program arrived yesterday, and I let ds try it out right away. He absolutely loved it; I had to kick him off the computer! Hopefully that will help. Verena - Glad that made sense to you. :001_smile: It was kind of funny...as I was typing, I was picturing the problem in my head, and realized that I came up with the answer much more easily than I would have had I not been picturing the blocks. :001_huh: (BTW, my kids are close in age to yours. I have a ds9, ds7, dd4, and ds2 :001_smile:) I actually decided to go ahead and have ds start lesson 1 of Delta yesterday. I think it was a relief to him to have something easy to do. I think I'm going to keep plugging away at Gamma as well, though. We'll switch back and forth, and see how it goes. Kelsy

My 2nd grader dictates his narration to me as I type it using StartWrite. It's usually about 3 sentences long. I print this out, and then he copies it onto his own paper. (He used to copy onto lines printed directly under the typed narration.) My 3rd grader prefers to write out his own narration. Just sharing what works in our family. :) Kelsy

The local honey & neti pot suggestions are good. I also take a Nettle supplement during allergy season. HTH, Kelsy

Ds7 is at the end of Rightstart B (1st grade program.) We did a bit of curriculum hopping at the beginning. (We had started with MUS Alpha, which was the math program that finally worked for my older ds. 2nd ds hated it, though, which eventually led to the switch.) Most of his work has been with addition (and some subtraction.) There have been other topics, too, but that has been the main focus. I do try to work through the lessons at a rate that will allow us to eventually "catch up", but only if he continues getting it. If we need to take extra time on something, we will. Kelsy

Yes! This has helped my ds also. (He prefers to draw columns on the workbook problems in the book, but the idea is the same.) He has huge, sloppy writing, which sometimes messes him up, but the main problem has been trying to understand, and then remember how to work the problems. He was doing OK with the 2-digit by 2-digit problems today (only missed one on half of a page, as opposed to only getting one right the first time yesterday.) I'm just worried that this will get worse as the lessons progress, and thought that maybe learning simple division might make sense before tackling the rest of Gamma. Any hints are appreciated, though, and that is a good one that's easy to miss. :) (When I went to school in Germany, we used graph paper for all of our math work. I still prefer to do math that way, as it is so much easier to keep everything straight.) I'm glad you like QM; hoping ds will, too. (Can't wait to get it! :)) Kelsy

I think he was trying to show visually what a two-digit by two-digit multiplication problem "looks" like. Say you're multiplying 13 x 15. You would build a rectangle that measures 13 units down one side and 15 units across another. You would end up using 1 hundred, 8 tens, and 15 units (or 3 fives, or 5 threes, whatever fits into that leftover space to make your set-up a rectangle.) I tried to explain this to my ds by building the rectangle, then holding a piece of paper so he can only see the "13" side or the "15" side. The point is, I think, to see that even though this is one problem, there are four sub-problems,which we can see as four separate rectangles within the big rectangle. They are the hundred square, the 3 tens at the top, the 5 tens at the side, and then the collection of 15 units in the corner. This is analogous to the four multiplicaiton actions one needs to take in solving the problem 13 x 15 (5x3, 5x10, 10x3, and 10x10). I can see how that could be information overload. I can see my son's eyes glaze over whenever this comes up, so we've just been working on the mechanics of problem-solving. I think he "gets" it, but the visual isn't connecting. That's fine with me. I thought the rectangle thing was really cool, though. It really helped me to visualize what's going on. I hope that my explanation wasn't even more confusing than the MUS one! ;) Kelsy

Thanks for the replies. He could definitely know his multiplicaiton facts better. I did make sure he knew them before progressing to the next lesson (when learning the basic facts) but they seem to have flown out of his head since then. I do have him use the online drill at MUS's site, and I've recently ordered Quarter Mile math with the hope that the excitement of a race might make things stick better. I've used Calculadders, too, but not much. He's fine with addition. We have actually slowed down to 1/2 page per day, out of necessity. Last Thursday I tried to get him through one page and it took hours! Not my idea of fun. (Or his either, for that matter!) :tongue_smilie: Kelsy

What about the Key to... series? I think they are written by the husband of the Miquon series author. Kelsy

I posted this question on another board; thought I'd try here as well. :001_smile: My ds9 is working on MUS Gamma, and has started having a bit of trouble with the mulitple-digit multiplication (lesson 24 right now.) We've slowed down the pace, and he's getting it now, but I'm wondering if it's just going to get worse as we progress. (We had some REALLY BAD math days last week!) I've read that others have hit a hitch at this same point in Gamma. So I was wondering if anyone has taken a break from Gamma and started on Delta, then switched back to finish Gamma later, then finished Delta, or something similar. If so, what exactly did you do? Did it help? Any advice? :confused: (I asked him today if he'd rather switch to TT, and he said he wanted to stick with MUS, which surprised me after last week.) :001_huh: TIA Kelsy

I don't have the workbook, but I did buy the book for full price, and regret it. It's a nice idea, but poorly executed IMO. My kids didn't learn anything from the book; I've thought about buying the workbook just so they get somthing out of it, but haven't for fear of it being as useful as the book.:tongue_smilie: HTH Kelsy

You could definitely do without the Primer. I bought it for my 2nd ds when my older ds was working on Alpha. ;) 2nd ds had good fine motor skills, so the writing in each lesson was no problem for him, but it would have been a disaster for my older ds who has fine motor difficulties. Mostly it's just an intro to MUS with topics such as learning which colors represent which numbers (and counting along with that), some simple time-telling, and simple addition, subtraction, and skip counting. Everything taught in Primer is repeated in Alpha (except telling time, which is covered in Beta, although I think I recall an appendix in Alpha covering this as well. While it may have some value for a child that really wants to do a workbook, I think it's really not worth the money. HTH, Kelsy

I don't use MOTH, so can't comment there, but wanted to mention a kid chore system that works for those of us who can't/don't like to stick to a strict schedule. It can be found here: http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/Zone.html I bought this a while back and started using it with my dc. I love how it breaks everything into managable tasks. We moved a few months back, and I need to start this again. :D That said, if you know what kind of chart you want and how to make it that would probalby be the cheapest/best approach.:thumbup: Kelsy

I would go to the Doc at this point, too. :iagree: For future reference, though, I've often found it helpful to massage a few drops of warm olive oil (or garlic-infused olive oil) in the hurting ear several times a day. Usually that clears things up for me, when just waiting hasn't helped after a few days. HTH Kelsy

Hmm... not really a farm girl either, but we did have chickens during some of my growing-up years, and I've seen chickens mate plenty of times. However, I'm still not sure I know the answer to your question.;) Here's what I could observe: the rooster mounts the hen, and the hen sort of squats. It takes all of about 20 seconds (maybe less.) Not sure what parts "connect" though. :confused: Hope you get some clearer replies than mine.:) Kelsy

Another source is Tobin's Lab. (http://www.tobinslab.com) Their owl pellets cost $3.99. Nice hs family-owned company. I've ordered from them before with no problems. Kelsy

I'm not familiar with the original thread, but I had really bad eczema as a girl (only occasional flare-ups now) and my mom figured out that I couldn't wear any synthetics. Don't have a problem with them now, but boy did my skin flare up next to anything polyester or acrylic! Kelsy

This sounds like me. :) I have trouble falling asleep most nights, no matter how tired, and trouble waking up in the morning. This was definitely way worse in my teens than it is now. I haven't found anything fabulously effective, but the following sometimes help: I read somewhere that if you don't fall asleep within the first half hour or so, to get up and read a boring book until you feel sleepy, then try again. There is a homeopathic product I found at Fred Meyer called "Moon Drops" which works when I use it. I only use it rarely, though, because I don't want to have to rely on something to help me sleep, and falling asleep with something sweet in my mouth makes me worry about my teeth. I hope others have some good suggestions. Kelsy

It's been a while... I lived in Kiel (in Schleswig Holstein) as a girl. Moved back to WA after 4th grade. My last visit was over 12 years ago... Kelsy

(New to the boards here...:)) I haven't personally used either of these, but Pandia Press, the publisher of History Odyssey has also put out a series called R.E.A.L. Science. I don't think there are many science books available, though. Here is a link: http://www.pandiapress.com/real_science.htm HTH Kelsy