38 and 14? Aggravated assault? Domestic violence? And he still gets custody? There are enough laws and loopholes that the judge couldv'e found a way around this if he wanted to. Was the alternative of placing with her with her biological father that much worse?! Or (more likely, IMO) was there another reason. What in the world is the matter with our legal system?! Seriously, what is their point? What are they trying to accomplish? Convicting and locking away offenders sure doesn't seem to be it. Neither does protecting the innocent.

What?! :banghead: I saw this yesterday, and I've been angry ever since. I live in GA and my yahoo page gives links to AJC articles. This one popped up BRIEFLY. Now the story seems dead. And I don't think it should be. So after a quick google, I came here to share and to vent. ------- Marietta pedestrian convicted of vehicular manslaughter, while walking How do you get convicted of vehicular manslaughter when you weren't even driving a car? By crossing a busy road in an unwalkable neighborhood of Marietta Georgia. Raquel Nelson, Marietta, was convicted today of vehicular manslaughter in an incident where she and her children were struck by a repeat hit-and-run driver, Jerry L. Guy. She could be sentenced for up to 36 months in prison while Mr. Guy pled guilty to hit-and-run and served 6 months. The incident occurred in early April 2010 when Ms. Nelson and her children were crossing Austell Road after disembarking from a bus across from the apartment complex where they lived. Jerry Guy struck Ms. Nelson and three of her four children, then fled the scene and was captured the next day. In 1997 the same Jerry Guy also committed a hit-and-run accident, also on Austell Road, when he rear-ended one car, fled the scene, and then later ran into another car, and fled that scene on foot. Ms. Nelson's 4 year old son died of injuries at the hospital, both Ms. Nelson and her 2 year old daughter were injured, and her 9 year old daughter escaped injury. Jerry Guy was originally charged with hit and run, first-degree homicide by vehicle, duty to report accident resulting in death or injury, and cruelty to children, but most of those were dropped leaving only the hit-and-run charge. It would be easy to point the finger at either Jerry Guy or Raquel Nelson. Jerry Guy as a repeat hit-and-run offender certainly can't be receiving much sympathy here, especially after admitting to having had a "little" alcohol earlier. Ms. Nelson, while she has suffered a huge loss, was crossing a busy road with three children in tow which one might consider reckless. But these two points of view leave out another. Namely, that the incident occurred in an extremely unwalkable neighborhood that appears to be outright dangerous to pedestrians. The location is a four lane divided road, with only a concrete strip in the middle. News reports say the nearest crosswalks are a half mile away, confirmed using the streetview feature of Google Maps. Residents of Ms. Nelson's apartment complex have complained for years about the dangers of crossing at that spot. The location of the incident is well away from the center of Marrietta, and the Walkscore of 25 for the neighborhood is extremely low and "car dependant". It's the sort of road where the only design consideration is the efficient movement of cars, no consideration was given to beauty or ease of use in other transportation modes. Compounding the neighborhood's low walkscore is it's overall design of cul-de-sac's attached to a busy main road. While cul-de-sacs are attractive due to the quiet, they also prevent pedestrian access to nearby streets. A streetsblog blog post notes that "Atlanta-Sandy-Springs-Marietta, Georgia metro area ranks 11th in the country for most dangerous streets for pedestrians, according to Transportation for America’s recent report on pedestrian safety and street design." In other words, was Ms. Nelson reckless or were she and her children victims of a neighborhood designed to be dangerous to pedestrians? --end of article-- This article goes into a lot more detail than the original AJC article I read. It sounds to me like the city made some poor planning and development issues, and rather than admitting that and fixing them, they want to make this poor woman their scapegoat. :mad: And the man that actually hit and killed the child gets six months?! :banghead::banghead::banghead:

For the record, I'm for the comma, too, and I know we're talking about grammar here, but... SERIOUSLY!!! I can't believe none of you caught this!! $150 + 50 + 50 = $250, NOT $300 We can't neglect our math for the sake of grammar.:leaving: :lol::lol:

THANK YOU!!! I still can't access it directly, but this link gets me what I need. Thank you so much!

There was a list of books on this site that I wanted to download, but now I can't access the site at all. I keep getting "Internet Explorer Cannot Display The Webpage" error. Is it me or is anyone else having this problem?

My dd says Nightfeather. :D She's a big fan of Warriors, though. ;)

Sorry I missed your post (and pm) earlier. Glad you got it to work, though!

I did finally hear back from the rep. She said that they are working on fixing that and putting something up on their website to print until they've fixed the materials. However, she didn't know when it would be available. :glare: I wasn't happy to hear that. BUT It's there now! Here's the link: Saxon Home School Math Intermediate 3 Click on the link and enter the password (it's in the testing book--they tell you where to look). It opens up a .pdf file which you can print. I'm so glad they got this resolved quickly!

I haven't heard back from the rep. I did call again and leave another message, though. Thanks, I forgot about those forms. Technically, I think they're supposed to be for the tests, not the lessons, but you're right, I can use those for the lessons, too. I can't seem to find the forms online. I'm looking under Resources on the Saxon Homeschool site, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place or just missing it. Do you have a link?

I will definitely post what I find out. If I don't get a call today, I'm calling again tomorrow. mom2hunangirls, My goal is to prepare ds3 to do his math all on his own, starting with 5/4. With my older kids, they are completely responsible for their math, including grading. I just "over-see" to make sure they're doing it right and not skipping or cheating. (They don't cheat, but I don't want them to be tempted, either. ;)) My plan is to let him do the Power Up section himself, helping with reading as necessary. The Power Up Workbook has simple pages to fill out--one page per lesson, looks very easy to follow. Then, I would read aloud the New Concept section with him, further explaining the concept if necessary. He would do the Lesson Practice and Written Practice on his own. I plan to let him check his own work and give him the opportunity to correct missed problems himself before we go over it together. I was disappointed that the Int. 3 didn't have the answer forms that comes with the middle grade levels. Not sure if you're familiar with it, but they basically give graph paper that's been divided and numbered for the student to do their work on. I figured that I would just make my own with some graph paper for him to write his work on. The graph paper makes it very easy to line up the numbers and helps to keep his work neat. Using graph paper to write out math problems worked wonders for my oldest, so I really like it. To make a graph paper answer sheet similar to the ones in the other books, I would divide the graph paper down the middle into two columns and across into five rows of equal height, making ten boxes per side of paper. I would make one page for Lesson Practice and another page for Written Practice. As for the tests, if you look on page 4 of the Testing Book you'll find the Testing Schedule. You give the test right after the lesson listed, before the Investigation. (For example: Complete Lessons 1-5. Take Test 1. Complete Lessons 6-10. Take Test 2. Do Investigation 1. Repeat pattern.) It's a simple format that you'll catch on to pretty quick. :) Hope that helps! Aura

I looked at those, but I chose not to buy them because I don't like curricula that is highly teacher intensive or that uses a lot of extra manipulatives--and these looked to be both. At these grade levels, I'm very informal. We do very simple lessons that don't last very long. I stick with simple workbooks and print-outs and do a lot of flashcard drills (which my kids like).

I like Saxon. I really do. My two oldest have done well in it. Ds #3 is ready for a higher level in math, so I went to my local school supply store and checked out Sax. Int. 3 for him. I had them open the packet and I stood at the counter flipping through the books. It looked great--just what I wanted for him! So I bought the Complete Homeschool Kit....doesn't that name make it seem like you would have everything you need? :glare: Well, I get home and go to looking more thoroughly to get a lesson ready for him to do. The first lesson's activity requires a Lesson Activity (sheet? print-out?--I don't know! :001_huh:) listed unter materials. I can't find this anywhere! There are no "Lesson Activities" in any of the four books that I bought. I called customer service and got this lady with an accent who has no idea what I'm talking about. Even when she gets the book and looks in it, she doesn't know. She gives me a name and number of a homeschool rep. When I called the rep, I got her voice mail. I'm hoping she calls me back soon, but I'm rather frustrated with this. I just spent 100 bucks on a curriculum and I don't want to be told that I need to buy something else! :glare: It was the Complete Homeschool Kit. I shouldn't need anything else!:banghead: Anyone else use Saxon Int. 3? Do you know what it's talking about?

Since ya'll were so much help with my Saxon ???s, I figured I'd throw in a couple of pennies here in case it helps someone in return. ;) RAS's Drizzt books have been some of my faves since high school. I've read all of them multiple times, except the latest trilogy (The Orc King, The Pirate King, and The Ghost King). It's been a while, though, but I'll offer what I can remember. Warning, though, this does contain a few SPOILERS. There is violence in all of these books since one of Drizzt's calling cards is his skill with swords. The violence is not limited to just sword fights and battles and such. There are some other, graphic and/or traumatic events which I'll try to point out to give you an idea of what to expect. Sexuality is present in all the books, although considerably less so (from what I remember) in The Icewind Dale trilogy. When I say sexuality, I do not mean love interests, although that is there, too. Sexuality is lewd comments (usually from a bad guy and quickly "dealt with"), references to nudity (none described, more like a she-drops-her-robe-and-he-stares kind of thing), sex (nothing described, just referenced), and rape (again, nothing described, just hinted or referenced to.) All the books, but especially the first two trilogies, do a very good job of encouraging readers to do what is right no matter how difficult, and to never judge people based on what they look like. Drizzt is a wonderful character for a reader to look up to. If the violence and sexual content are not too much for you, then the books themselves are very inspiring. The Dark Elf trilogy is the first in the timeline, but second to be written. It focuses on Drizzt as he grows up and rejects his heritage as a drow. Since drow are one of the evil races and the most feared, it is a very dark journey. To give you an idea of the darkness and violence that I'm referring to, the first book opens with the birth of Drizzt. His unusual purple eyes lead his mother to believe he's blind. This upsets her because she can't offer him as a sacrifice to her goddess, Lloth. She's relieved when he's not blind, but Drizzt is saved from sacrifice because Lloth is appeased when her oldest son is killed in a battle currently being fought. The older brother is killed (attack from behind) by his younger brother so the younger can have the more powerful position of oldest son. The battle is against another house in the drow city. This house and everyone in it is completely destroyed--even the children--so that Drizzt's family can advance in power. No other reason than that. And this is acceptable and expected behaviour in drow society. The Icewind Dale trilogy is probably the most upbeat of all the Drizzt books. There is less violent/dark/traumatic events and less sexuality in these. But be forewarned, while you might not have any objection to these books, they only whet the appetite for reading about Drizzt and ir your child likes them, it will be hard to keep him from reading more. The Legacy of the Drow is the next four books: The Legacy, Starless Night, Siege of Darkness, and Passage to Dawn. They follow Drizzt as he must confront his family once again, and their desire for revenge. It is just as dark and violent as The Dark Elf trilogy, though perhaps not as much sexuality. Paths of Darkness is aptly named and consists of the next four books: The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World, Servant of the Shard, and Sea of Swords. Drizzt is the main character in only two of these, the first and the last. The main focus is a Wulfgar, who returns from hell (literally) and has to re-adjust to living and deal with the horrors he faced while in hell. The Spine of the World follows Wulfgar's journey, and Drizzt is not really in it. Not only must Wulfgar learn to deal with his past (memories of living in hell under the control of a demon) in this book, but the story also follows that of a village girl who captures the interest of a young lord. This girl's mother is wasting away and her father thinks she should welcome the lord's advances, which she doesn't. The lord is a pleasant and decent man. She's a bit of a brat who's in love with someone else, but all turns out well enough. (If you don't mind the father beating her, or her claiming to have been raped so she can excuse the child she's carrying, or the lord's sister physically threatening to kill the just-born infant.) Servant of the Shard is sort of a side note about two of the bad characters, and again, Drizzt is not in this, either. I wasn't very fond of this one. Beyond the fact that it isn't about Drizzt, I'm not very fond of having bad characters as main characters. In fairness, though, the main character is a drow who is "less evil" than most, but who lacks the strength of character that Drizzt possesses. The Hunter's Blade trilogy is the last one I've read and pretty much follows the footsteps of the other books. If you've made it this far, there is nothing here that you'll find objectionable. And I'm willing to guess that's be the same with the next and final (so far) trilogy. ;) **Edited to Add: The sexuality becomes less referenced and more described the further you get into the series. In The Hunter's Blade trilogy, there is a scene where an elf is fixing to get raped. She isn't raped, as Drizzt rescues her, but there is still more description leading up to the rescue than in previous books.**

Thanks, ya'll! You've all been so helpful, especially w/ the link, Gailmegan. Ds is almost done w/ 7/6 now, only about 10 lessons left, so it looks like he's going on into Algebra 1/2. We do a 40-week school year, with breaks spread throughout the year. No one, long summer break for us, so he's definitely going to be needing a new book well before next year. Again, thank ya'll so much! I wasn't aware of doing either 8/7 or Alg. 1/2, so that really helps me.

Long-time lurker coming out with a question for those who have done Saxon 7/6 through pre-algebra. My son is currently in 7/6. He's flown through it. I should have just put him in the 8/7 as that was his grade level, but it was our first year in Saxon and I thought it would be better to start with. I'm seriously thinking that was a mistake. Considering that my ds is good in math and has no problems at all with Saxon (he likes this better than the CLE we were doing), is it possible to skip 8/7 and go directly to pre-algebra w/o getting overwhelmed? I feel like he's not being challenged at all. I'm thinking of giving him the placement tests again, but I'd love some opinions from those who've actually done Saxon. Thanks!! Aura