Charleston. We live 2 hours from there, and it provides a great mix. You can do the beach at several locations, from Folly Beach to Isle of Palms. You can take the harbor boat out to Fort Sumter, see some of the oldest churches and homes in the US, tour the USS Yorktown, tour an antebellum plantation. Endless options

Thanks!

I wanted to address your DH's concerns about school... DS17 sounds a bit like your DD...4 years ago he was very bright, mature in discussions, comfortable with adults, but a bit immature with respect to peers. For several reasons, we enrolled him and younger DS in a small private school. The first year was hard, but now I see DS17, a rising senior, with an excellent academic foundation and, more importantly, a poise and confidence that I could never have imagined. The smaller school with its emphasis on respect was perfect for helping him learn to navigate those peer issues with lots of support (teachers who knew him, parents), and he had an opportunity to develop skills as a leader. I'm glad this was all happening while he was still at home rather than a few hours away at college.

I read this book and, though harsh, it was also uplifting in the way the poorest of the poor didn't necessarily just give up. I really liked it, and a friend who had recently returned from a 3-month stint in an orphanage there said it was pretty on target with the depiction of wealth side by side with poverty.

I started to write a reply, but this says what I wanted to more elegantly. After watching DS17 tackle 5 AP classes to date, I've concluded that they just do not reflect college level thinking. The teachers were good, but when students are typically taking 6-7 classes at a time, there just isn't enough time to go as deeply into an AP class as might be desirable.

I wouldn't worry about the details of the specific questions and tests for now, but I might start doing some standardized test questions together every once in a while. They may not matter while homeschooling, but someday your kids may need/want to take PSATs/SATs/ACTs where it does matter for colleges and scholarships. Test taking is a skill - reading the question carefully, understanding what is being asked, knowing how to narrow down possible answers. Some kids do this intuitively (my DS15 is good at it), some need explicit instruction (my DS17). I know there are many flaws with standardized testing, but it is a fact of life.

Sending good wishes! I hope this gives him a positive taste of PS and makes him excited for next school year.

I'm surprised. Where we live - a pretty nice, smallish town, it is well-known by kids and teachers and parents who aren't naive that at least half the teens are drinking and/or smoking pot. Not every night, not even every weekend, but often enough. Nice kids, kids with good grades, kids who are in Young Life (I've heard stories from the post-Young Life meeting parties). DS17 shows me some (though definitely not all) of the Snapchats, where these idiot kids actually film themselves doing this stuff then post it online. DS has been invited to several graduation parties the last few weeks. He declined most, because he knew many of the kids would just head out back and drink. One host parent even told me she offered that anyone who wanted/needed to could spend the night because "she didn't want anyone drinking then driving." She wasn't supplying the alcohol, but she knew it would slip in, and she felt like she couldn't monitor every room and outdoor space. ETA: When I was in school in the dark ages (1970s), there were lots of parties with drinking. I was such a goody-goody that I didn't go. Heck, most of the time my friends didn't bother inviting me. And I hung out with the high academic crowd.

I'm sure DS will discover that the soccer tickets are expensive and hard to come by? Didn't know about the Egyptian temple - DS15 is excited!

I'm really sorry. It sounds like a horrible conflict. Maybe we should secretly hope for so much rain that the game gets postponed?

We are going to Spain for 8 days in November. Not enough time, but we are limited by B&M school and a challenging senior year schedule for DS17, so I want to make the most of our time. We will fly into Barcelona and out of Madrid, and I think we will base ourselves in those 2 cities rather than multiple lodging changes. It is easy to find lists of "must sees" for each city, but I would really like to find some places off the beaten path. Also, I would like to mix up the history/art/culture type activities with...a hike? Some other outdoorsy activities? This trip is a sort of "consolation prize" - we were going to Costa Rica (I was so excited about rain forest hikes and monkeys and sloths) until DH started stressing about Zika (especially as more is coming out about secondary Guillain-Barre, since I already have an autoimmune disease.) Any ideas most appreciated!! P.S. I thought DS17 would be disappointed about the change of plans - he has loved sloths since he was little. Nope. My soccer dude, who always requests Rinaldo's number 7 for his jersey, instantly began Googling the game schedule for Real Madrid and elicited a promise from DH that if he can get a ticket, he can go.

Could there be a book more perfect for homeschoolers? A book about the nuances and power and poetry in words? "A dictionary is a ship that crosses the sea of words." I was clueless regarding the challenges and intricacies of developing a dictionary, yet once revealed, those challenges were obvious, and I very much enjoyed learning about the process. I loved all the characters, their dedication to their chosen passions (not just the lexicographers, but Kayuga) and their kindness to each other. I loved Majime, whose hobby is "watching people get on elevators," develop from a fumbling, rather isolated young man into a capable leader with a strong network of people. My favorite character might be Nishioka. He does not share the passion of the lexicographers, and early in the book I thought he was destined to be the sarcastic cynic, but that didn't really happen. Instead, he served as a bit of an outsider, perhaps like the reader, looking in and marveling at the eccentricities and passion of the others and doing whatever he could to bolster them. The only books I've read set in Japan had an earlier setting, where WWII played a role. It was refreshing to read one set in modern-day Japan, with the culture and implicit in the characters lives. I have read some reviews criticizing the translation - maybe I just don't know enough, but it seemed excellent to me. The writing was clear and spare and poetic.

She is a US citizen? If at any time in her life she anticipates living in the US and partaking of the rights of citizenship, I strongly urge her to take a combo US History/Gov class. You cannot be a good citizen without understanding where we came from and how our system operates. As she studies, it might be interesting for her to compare what she learns to what she (I asssume) knows about British history and government.

Me please! Halfway through, lovely book.

Prayers

Another vote for burning. A few years back I found a journal I had in high school, when my family was going through a bad patch. From an adult perspective, those times no longer seemed so tragic, but just reading that journal, written by a moody, dramatic teen, made me feel horrible. I got rid of it.

You are both lucky!!

I do think he could tackle it, but his school doesn't offer it, and with his wide range of interests (drama and a couple of varsity sports), he might not want to spend the necessary time. And if he does BC junior year, I have the "what to do senior year" dilemma." But thanks - so much to consider. And every time I do, I wish we were still homeschooling, but this is the kiddo who NEEDED more interaction than our homeschool community could offer.

Thanks for offering all the scheduling points to consider!

Thanks so much.

DS15 goes to a small B&M school. As a sophomore next year, he will take PreCalc - he is one year ahead of his peers in math, so he may even have to do this online depending on scheduling (there is only one section of most classes at the school). Then he will take AP Calc AB as a junior (same schedule issue, probably). The school does not have a math course beyond that. We can do something online or go to the university's branch campus nearby. Skipping math senior year is not an option, he is a STEM kid. For those with experience, would you recommend AP Calc BC senior year? Something else? The school does not have much opportunity for kids who are accelerated in math, and they have made this my problem (despite my pointing out that even our local public schools have started an accelerated math track - and they want to bill themselves as being "better" than the public schools.) DH is wondering if I should have held him back in math so avoid this problem - uh, no, this was a kid who whizzed through every math program and won the regional MathCounts in 7th and 8th grade.

I started homeschooling in 2005 or so with DS, then 5. Teacher friends were alarmed - "That's the critical pre-reading year!" - and graciously offered me piles of material, most focused on learning core sight words (a magic list), with lots of associated games, word walls, etc. All lovely stuff, but ridiculous. I left it all in boxes and bought Phonics Pathways, our "Dewey book." A perfect phonics-based program, for us at least, and led to excellent reading and spelling skills. When I'm subbing now, I see the dismal results when phonics were not a core of the learning process. ETA: The Forbes article mentions that teachers fear phonics won't be fun - well, Dewey the Phonics Pathway worm made our phonics lessons totally fun and is still fondly remembered by DS now 17!

I'm so sorry you are suffering so much loss. Hugs.

DS thought the Micro test was pretty tough. He and a friend were comparing notes afterwards and hoping that the fact that they answered many of the iffy questions the same was a good sign.

Great Passage sounds good.