Put a piece of banana or other ripe fruit in a saucer and expose it to the fruit flies. They will lay eggs on the ripe fruit, and voila, a self sustaining fruit fly colony (if you replenish the fruit from time to time). I've read instructions for terrariums with a fruit fly->preying mantis (or fruit fly->spider, or fruit fly->venus fly trap) food chain, I think the book was something like "Bottle Biology." They recommended only keeping one mantis and releasing it as it grew (as its appetite outpaces the fruit fly reproduction!).

My son will be in 7th grade next year, and I have done some chemistry with him, but not all of the topics listed in Level 1. We've only touched on a smattering of physics and biology too. Would it be foolish to attempt all 3 next year? Thanks,

Fantastic! We will enjoy these - Thanks

This doesn't truly fit the bill as it's not a kit, but my 12 yo Loves Backyard Ballistics and Art of the Catapult. Almost anything in these books can keep him occupied for hour/days/weeks. My son is so dreading puberty that he's sometimes grumpy just thinking about it. Good Luck to us all!

Thanks all! I used to wear "Student's Levis" when I was a tall skinny pre-teen, but the don't seem to carry this style anymore - 29 should be OK with a belt. Land's End was my hope, but they just don't cut it. I'm excited by the Wrangler tall skinny styles - ds would still prefer to wear gym pants with elastic on any occasion, but pants that didn't need a belt would be the next best thing (ds is still lazy about things like belts and shoes that tie :001_huh:).

My son's measurements are 28 x 33. He is constantly in high-waters and still needs elastic waists. He just turned 12, so he's likely to keep up this trend. Any suggestions as to wear to find pants?

NO Way! I haven't read any of the other responses, and I'm sure that there are many perspectives, but IMO test results should never be given this much power. Just last evening, my dh finally prevailed on me to order the CAT for our 6th grade son. He wants some sort of objective measure of ds's progress. I agree on principle, but I dread the results. Ds is dyslexic, and although his reading is at grade level (finally), it is still slow, and his spelling and writing are years behind. Our discussion got a bit intense, and at one point dh asked if I wasn't just sheltering ds. I realized that my real fear was for myself. How would I be judged if my student's results were poor? I work and work to explain things to him, trying different methods, various techniques. I try to keep the atmosphere light, even when I'm feeling stressed (like when ds spells ducks three different ways in a single paragraph when the animal encyclopedia on his desk is opened to the "Ducks" page). For the first 5 years of homeschooling I heard constant suggestions to put him in school where the experts could teach him to read. The message was clear - I had failed, now let the professionals try. When I finally checked with a professional she let me know that I was doing everything and more than he would get in school, and advised me to continue HS as ds would be branded "stupid" if he was in school. I have digressed - it's a hot topic here. I have met lousy teachers: some are bored, some can't use decent grammar, some don't really like kids too much. These teachers should be reviewed and then fired. But no teacher should be fired because they haven't measured up on one parameter, albeit an important one.

1 bar soap (Kirk's Castile is what I use) grated into 1 qt. water until boiling and soap is melted. Pour the soap mixture into a large bucket containing 2 C. washing soda and 2 c. borax. Stir until powders are dissolved, then add 2 gallons of water. Within 12 hours it will be a gel - use 1/4 cup per load and stir before using. This lasts about 2 months with a family of 5. (But DS and I don't change often :D)

Right now my dh is 17 minutes to work, and he bikes all summer (about 40 minutes - but then he doesn't need to go to the gym, so his day is actually the same length). We are also currently looking at "our dream house," and it's about 30 minutes to his work, but almost all highway driving. We've looked at other houses that were a bit closer, but much of the driving was traffic lights etc, and it felt much longer even though it wasn't. My DH has made the drive to his work as part of our research with every place we have considered, and it is a prime consideration with us (35 minutes is our limit!) That said, I hope your DH goes for the drive - sometimes the dream house is worth it!

Some of the review questions I would have missed ;)- Thank goodness the answers were right there printed out! We have a much better chance at really learning the stuff if we discuss it and I often re-enforce by listening to the audio tapes in the car.

Sounds like I'd better join the Oak Meadow Yahoo group and call Oak Meadow too. I was apprehensive that the OM group would be hesitant to suggest anything that wasn't Pro-OM, but it sounds like those folks have a genuine wish to be helpful (and not just sell their curriculum). Thanks too for the suggestions for writing - I'm so hesitant to purchase another "program" when I feel that we just need some basic guidance.

So, I'm almost convinced that next year I'll start Oak Meadow for my 7th grader. I only have a few more hesitations and I'd love some responses about them. When I design our program, most of the reading is historical fiction tied to the history we're doing (like Sonlight). I do try to add in a few "great books," but not as many as TWTM approach would. What do you think of the OM selections for 7th? Are they tied to the history? Are there lots of assignments built around the readings? If my son is an average reader (recovering dyslexic) could he handle the scheduled books plus a few Sonlight or "great book" selections? Could I substitute or would it throw the assignments out of whack? We have never hit on a writing program we truly like. My son doesn't like rewriting others' work (as we did for Classical Writing and IEW Medieval themed lessons). We never came up with much using Writing Strands. He's also an inexperienced writer due to dyslexia, altho he's doing rather well with grammar (he does well with rules). Currently, I give him a choice of assignments (mostly based on history), and help him brainstorm and put together a rough outline. Then he writes, keeping in mind some IEW tips like strong verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and varied sentence structure. He's doing OK with this, although I feel like I need help guiding him. Is there any writing instruction in the upper grades? I saw plenty of writing assignments, but no instructions in the OM7 samples. If I did need to supplement writing, would anyone have a suggestion as to a program that was just tips on how to improve your writing without assignments (I find it tough to do history writing, science writing and writing practice when I have a slower writer). Lots of questions! Thanks for the help.

We allow our read-aloud books to spill over into other time periods. I used to be concerned that it would somehow confuse the kids, but that hasn't been the case at all - in fact quite the contrary. Often my kids will bring up past topics that are related to current books, or will remember a passage of a book weeks later when we cover a related topic. Letting our read-alouds stretch like this has helped us remember the relationships between cultures and time-periods (and helps us avoid putting a culture in a box).

I'm thinking I will just pull in reading from core 5 along with OM7. I haven't researched OM7's history that well; my first impression was just that it covers a large span of time quickly (we generally get stuck - hence spending all year on the middle ages:)) We've been invited on a trip to Peru in the summer of 2011 (My FIL is Peruvian and he want to show off his grandkids!), so that's my other history project that I get to start pulling together. My FIL is someone who just loves to learn, and he's so excited that I can teach the kids about "Anything." He's the only relative I have that loves homeschooling.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't realize that Core 5 was more culture focused - such an important bit of information! I have read the Sonlight catalog until it's dog-eared, and quite a few of the "27 reasons not to use Sonlight" do apply to me - that's why I've stuck to planning my own studies for so long. :D I certainly do appreciate their taste in historical fiction, and it's so close to my ideals, just not quite there. Thanks again,

I'm finally realizing that I need help to keep school going into the spring, and I'm considering my options for a ready planned curriculum. We are just finishing up the European middle ages, and my plan for next year was to focus on the middle ages around the rest of the world for the first half of the year before progressing on to the european age of exploration. My son will be in the 7th grade, and this year we planned our history studies using K12's Human Odyssey and many of Sonlight's books. I love the sound of Sonlight's Core 5, however, we are firmly secular, and this seems to be the most "evangelical" of their cores, and I'm not sure how adaptable it would be, or if we could shortenit to half a year. Have any of you tried to eliminate the evangelical focus from Core 5? How did it work out? My other option is Oak Meadow 7, which looks more complete (I just can't afford SL whole program) but seems to focus much more on US History in 7th, 8th and 9th grades). We are firmly "eclectic," having tried classical, waldorf, and bits of many other styles. I love putting together my own curriculum, but I'm a market gardener, and when my season starts in February, I can no longer take all the time that I need to plan or teach (I never seem to get through the whole year during the summer). Also, I've found that with the advent of the logic stage, that my questions are not as thought provoking as they could be. Oak Meadown's writing prompts are so much better than what I come up with. Suggestions?

A dear friend purchased Enki about 6 months ago, and is now wishing she could sell it. At first she was super gung-ho (which is how most of us are when we're doing the reading and the planning - like winter gardening :D). She went through many stages of disillusionment, but in the end her feeling was similar to Tara's: Too idealistic, too difficult to implement (whole lifestyle change, tons of reading), too rigid. If I could guess at what she took from Enki.... She has started singing different songs to indicate changes, ei. "I've Been Working on the Railroad" when they need to clean-up, "I Love to go a Wandering" to get ready to go out, "Day-O" when it's time to come in, "Twinkle Twinkle" for bedtime. This has really helped. I think the basics for a "Waldorf-influenced" K are: natural toys, singing, circle-time, outside time, rest-time, art - painting/modeling, weekly schedule (baking on Monday...), story telling as opposed to reading, and natural crafts (finger knitting, sewing little gnomes, dying playsilks). As to routine - figure out what you want to do during each day (use large categories like art, so you can do a different sort of art each day - try to plan out one "Master Day"), figure out how long each activity will take, including transitions, then try to arrange it in a way that alternates active times with more passive times. Once you've found a good fit and stuck with a basic routine for a week or so, your kids will know it by heart and love it. Another less expensive option with a good yahoo group is "A Little Garden Flower."

I think that your only problem would be regarding the competitiveness of your boys. I know that my 6 yo dd has quite an issue with losing (as did her older brother when he was 3 - 9ish), to the point that she doesn't want to play a game if she rarely wins. When I ask her older brother to play math games with her, I ask him to throw the game (I also make a point of losing). Currently she thinks that she is fantastic at math, so it's worth the deception :D. Not to hijack the thread, but I wonder if there is a way to make some of the more popular games co-operative, esp. for close ages like diaperjoys? Anyone out there BTDT?

Thanks to you both - I missed a day here due to vomiting kiddos :eek:. Anyhow, I think I've just been lured into complacency by how easy it is to use SOTW's AG. I re-read the HO chapter last night, and formulated some questions. This, in and of itself helped me out a ton (I had just breezed through the first time. This second reading gave me a much better grasp of the facts). I ask my son these questions, and was very surprised by the amount that he remembered - almost everything! He has a habit of playing dumb or goofy, and I was misinterpreting it as lack of comprehension ('cause it honestly sounded that way!). Making up my own questions will really help with both of us and make discussions much more natural. Thanks again,

We are in the logic stage at this point, studying Medieval times. The vast majority of the history of this age is the history of the conflict between the world's major monotheistic faiths. By all means, qualify the parts that are religious in their origins (Muslims/Jews/Christians believe... etc.). But don't omit these parts just because they are not in agreement with your own (or a partner's) POV. Abraham is a part of history because his story explains why Jews feel that the "Land of Milk and Honey" is rightfully theirs. With out this background, kids have no starting point for understanding what's going on in the middle east when they get to the logic stage. Just having an atheist perspective cannot undo a couple of thousand years of history, but it can be a lens through which one can focus one's understanding of what happened.

I just ordered this before Christmas and spent a good chunk of time pre-reading and planning history for this term. I really enjoyed the pictures, the format, and the writing. Today was our first day back and I'm kicking myself, because I didn't note any questions while I was reading the text. (and it's hard to know if ds in taking anything in - this text is at the very edge of his comfort zone). Does anyone know if K12 offers chapter questions, discussion starters or tests? Thanks!

Love this topic! I have Laurel's Bread Book and King Arthur's Whole Grain. Love them both. King Arthur's has the simplest, best sourdough starter method around (IMO). I've been making fantastic sourdough breads that my whole family loves, and I love that this is expanding my experience as a baker. KA also has a wide array of other whole grain treats, although many are made with barley, oat, spelt, rye or some other flour that I would have to make a special trip to purchase. Laurel's was a gift from my dh years ago, and it's practically falling apart, I've used it so much. My kids miss "regular" bread sometimes, and I always fall back on her potato (or oatmeal or featherpuff or buttermilk ....:001_smile:) bread. I have found that I don't make my breads 100% whole wheat any more, however, so I generally alter these recipes slightly (which I do with the KA recipes too, I guess) Put them both on your list - you can get Laurel's for only $7.03 (shipped) from Better World Books

And kind of dreading it too! :D There is a special name for this cleanse (which I forgot...), and a lot of expensive supplements to buy (which I skip or substitute with cheaper alternatives), but the basics are as follows: 1st week I supplement with an over the counter colon cleanse (Trader Joe's is about $10. It's mostly fiber and milk thistle capsules), daily multivitamin and omega3 fish oil. No alcohol, nicotine or caffeine No sugar - or honey, maple syrup or dried fruits:willy_nilly: A breakfast protein shake (this is one of the supplements, but it looked like whey and some vegie powder. I just use plain kefir/yogurt, a frozen banana, spinach and a scoop of protein powder. Unlimited fruits and vegies Olive oil, coconut oil herbs, spices, vinegars, salt & pepper 1 cup cooked lentils or 1/2 cup brown rice daily I also add a handful of nuts daily when I'm just too hungry to bear it...;) 2nd and 3rd weeks Same as above, but you can add an egg or two, and a serving of lean meat daily. You should be done with the colon cleanse. This is severe and very difficult, but it isn't anything absurd (like existing on lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper :confused:). I do it because I have a tendency to eat a ton (I'm reasonably athletic, but now that I'm over 40, I'm finding that I can't eat like a teenager without gaining weight). This cleanse really shrinks my stomach, and makes me much more aware of when I'm satisfied (versus full to the gills:D). It also helps me lessen my desire for sweets and especially chocolate:glare:. The last benefit is that to fill up one must consume lots of fruits and vegies. I find that generally I just reach for whatever is available, which is often a cookie or granola bar, or popcorn, chips, whatever. This cleanse makes me eat more of what is good for me, which I wouldn't normally do. The best thing is when it all over, a raisin tastes like the best treat on the planet - it makes you so much more aware of and thankful for the bounty that we have around us daily. Good luck to us both!

I've not read many of the responses, but you are describing me at age 12. I loved to read, and did well in school, but never understood grammar. I was just unable to grasp the idea that any word has, simultaneously, a definition, a part of speech, and a role in a sentence. I learned to write purely through imitation (thankfully, my folks encouraged me to read well-written books). I think this is just a lack of a certain type of intelligence.... I also have trouble strategizing and thinking ahead to make plans :confused: - maybe there's some linkage. If we think of clear writing as the goal, and grammar as one tool toward attaining that goal, then dropping grammar and pursuing other methods of writing instruction has a certain logic. It's what I would do. Good Luck!

Some suggestions for lower cost (but not do-it-yourself) vet care: Local APL, SPCA - They also provide low cost spay and neuter services. One of the local foster organizations (search on Petfinder.com for puppies in your zip code, and call a place that fosters pups). Often these good folks worm and vaccinate pups before adopting them out, and they might help you in your circumstances. PetSmart and other pet store will sometimes sponsor low/no-cost vaccination events Call around with local vets, and let them know you have a stray and ask about financial aid. We were once in a similar circumstance. We were able to provide baseline vet care for our 2 dogs when one went into kidney failure (group farm setting and one of the guys fixing an engine left out anti-freeze:(). Our vet asked if we wanted "cadillac" treatment or "volkswagon" treatment. I told her we needed "bicycle" treatment. She taught me how to do most of what our girl needed, and gained us as clients forever (will bring her Christmas cookies tomorrow when we take in our newest fluffball). Good Luck and enjoy!