Speaking on behalf of my husband, who was living in Sweden in junior and senior high - he has a strong background in European history, but the Swedish school system taught very little US history.

We loved using the Mavis Beacon Typing program at that age... yes, it does track your child's progress. It's widely available on ebay, amazon, Sam's Club, Walmart, etc. I believe the price was less than $20.

We are using Winter Promise Quest for the Ancient World this year for my almost 15 yo dd for 10th grade (she wanted to learn a year of ancient history), and are substituting the MOH volume with Susan's History of the Ancient World. The MOH volume was too babyish for her - she hated it, and she's my child who wants to do the least amount of "thinking work" possible :001_smile:. We read all 4 volumes of SOTW last year for 9th grade World History, and my dd enjoyed Susan's style of writing, so another SWB book has been a good fit for us this year. I thought her HOTAW might be too much of a leap in reading difficulty, but it's not.

Ta da! Here's the Farmer's Almanac link - just type in the zip code! http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather-history/

Great job! It looks like the pages in a Pottery Barn catalog - simple elegance ....

:lol: It's true ... so true ....

We've had good success with this brand: http://www.chebe.com

Excellent advice!!

My 12th grade son is in fall and spring soccer on a homeschool soccer team, and is involved in Bible quiz at our local church. He also is a member of the local National Homeschool Honor Society, and is president of his area chapter this year, so he has monthly meetings to plan for and be in charge of. He just finished 3 months of life guarding at an area swimming pool, so he can get back to concentrating on school again! He had taken 6 years of piano lessons on top of everything, prior to this year. My 10th grade daughter loves musical theater - she is currently involved in a local production at a children's theater - which keeps her busy about 4-6 hours a week at night. She is also involved in Bible quizzing, and works in the church nursery on Sundays. She has taken 7 years of piano lessons prior to this year, as well as art classes.

I've searched a few websites - has anyone actually bought their child a homeschool class ring, where did you buy it from, and were you pleased with the quality? My husband and I are considering honoring this request from my son - if we can do it financially, we'd like to this year. I'm just asking for recommendations for sources from pleased parents! Thanks!

Yep, we hear "hacked to pieces" grammar a lot in SC ...

I'm going with the adage "better safe than sorry" -- get the mammogram. I've had one every year since 40... my insurance always pays for it.

My husband has his own computer for his office ... I have my own computer for my medical transcription. Two feet away from my computer is the "family computer" which the kids use .. it has school stuff loaded on it (ie Rosetta Stone, Dave Ramsey, Typing programs, etc) as well as Skype, web cam, family pictures, etc. While it isn't exclusively their computer, it's what the kids use.

I've been known to buy 2 years ahead of time .... as it turns out, I've been able to re-sell used curriculum items (i.e. Sonlight Cores, Apologia Science, etc.) for basically what I paid for them... as long as they were "gently used" to start with. If I bought them new, I would only recoup about 60% of my money. Follow the Duggar's guidelines - "buy used and save the difference." :D

Core 5 is awesome! We loved it at our house! What a fun program to "come home" to. :001_smile:

Hugs to you, many hugs and prayers. :grouphug:

It's a good solid math program. My ds used it (and the other BJU math books) without problems, and scores very high on the math portion of the Stanford Achievement testing. My dd uses Teaching Textbooks Algebra I, she needs a different method of teaching. :D

As I understand it, colleges will "keep" the highest ACT scores from applicants, and use that highest score to base scholarships, admissions requirements, etc. on.

Probably any time we go to Charleston SC .. it's truly one of the most romantic cities in the US. But it's fun to take the kids with too! Lots of history, lots of beach, lots of great food ... beautiful architecture, great shopping. :)

It does sound like hives ...

The American Girls series Flicka Robin Hood (the one with Kevin Costner) Any of the Janette Oake series from the Hallmark Channel (Love Comes Softly, Loves Enduring Promise, etc. there are about 8 of them)

THat's terrific!

I feel your pain. Ebay's new rules and fees totally stink. I stopped selling school books on ebay this spring, and sold them all on homeschool classifieds or Sonlight's websites.... this next school year I'm sellling 'em on WTM :D

For "seat work" when my children were 3, I used the math and letters work books from Walmart or Sams Cub. They are very affordable, and give children a tiny taste of what it's like to "do school" without blowing the family budget. We also had puzzle time, art time, and music time. Have a great year! :)

I'm so very, very sorry. I've had 5 miscarriages myself. It totally stinks. Let your family pamper you.... I wish I lived close to you so I could bring you a big plate of "comfort food", some chocolate and a great movie ....:grouphug: