That was bad of me, I forget how many of us are not in the US. If she did something like that it could be free s&h in the US. Then other countries could have the option of just donating or paying s&h if they really want the item. I know it's not exactly fair, but just the logistics of the world, PHP is in the US.

Any news?

Just a thought, but one way that you could raise money would be some exclusive merchandise. Something that will not show up on the board as a donation, but some fun logo things that could only be gotten with donation. Like, donate $15 and get a hive tote bag (similar to the PHP one), $30 and get a hive coffee mug. Come up with something fun and hive based. You could do a mug in tartan colors with Well Trained Mind Forums on it or something. The designs could change each year, and maybe have the number on it. My dh is part of the American Chemical Society, each year he gets a mug with the corresponding element on it to the number of years he has been a member. ETA: Maybe at $50 you could design a pretty tea cup. Little fun slogans on the mugs for different years "WTMers love teA." "b00ks and teA, bliss!" Just silly inside jokes.

I didn't except special events. Then we had 3 of my siblings get married in a year. I was nervous about the first as I hadn't worn make up in over 5 years. My younger sister took me to mac. They are great at teaching you how to put on make up. I went back with my eyeshadow like 5 times! I have found I like putting on eyeshadow sometimes now, so if dh is taking me out I will put on eyeshadow. I love all the colors and how I can change the way my eyes look. I don't do foundation and all the rest, but the eyes are fun!

If would pick a coast. I know more about the west, so I will give you that idea. I would fly into Seattle. See that city and go north a little and see the killer whales (unless you have good opportunity for that in S. Africa). I would then drive down to Portland (unless you are a Twilight fan, then you should head over to Forks and the Olympic Peninsula. You could also detour and see Mt. St. Helen's (our volcano). Spend a day or 2 in Portland as it is a cool and funky city. Powell's book store is not to be missed. Then head out to Astoria on the coast. From there I would take the coast highway to San Fran. There are lots of fun places to stop along the way. You will also see Astoria and Cannon Beach (Goonies), the redwoods, etc... Then from San Fran I would go straight to LA. Drive the sunset strip, have lunch on Rodeo drive, Disneyland, Universal studios, maybe see if you can get tickets to watch a sitcom being filmed. From there, head inland, drive to Vegas, see the hoover dam, the take in the Grand Canyon and fly out of Phoenix AZ. You would see a nice combo of 5 unique US cities, and just how different and big the US is, but I think that is doable in 3 weeks.

Thank you for the congratulations. It has been a rough 9 months with his one job winding down, trying to figure out what to do, and then 2 part time jobs while studying.

Thank you everyone!

My dh has been in the process of transitioning to a new career. He has been working part time at two jobs for awhile now. He has been studying for a huge 6 hour exam that he needed to pass for the new career and yesterday he passed it! I am so relieved. Now we have to wait and pray that means he gets to go full time into his new career (and we can have benefits again). One more hurdle down, and I am really praying that we are in the final lap.

Too bad you don't live near me! I am getting ready to sell a 2005 dodge with less that 80,000 miles. :001_smile: But go through individuals. I would have gotten less than $4000 for it at the dealer and they would have sold it for over $8000. I am hoping to get $6000 for it. Look on Kelly blue book to get your pricing and you can see the difference between the dealer and individuals. But, to give you an idea what your money can buy if you look around. Mine is a certified Dodge pre owned, low mileage. I installed a DVD, and MP3 hook up 18 months ago. It does not have automatic doors. You should be able to get something pretty good for your money.

That is what started me on this. There are definitely parts of history he does not like, but also parts that he is fascinated by. I figure as long as I make sure that every 4 years he reads through history he is picking things up and he knows the "story" of World History. I have been thinking about Classical Education, and one thing about it is that we are teaching them how to learn. How to become independent learners. History seems the best place to let them start to specialize and have some say and direction in their own education. I am having ds plan this with me, and he is really excited. It has spilled over into other work to. He is taking much more ownership of his education and when he complains about something, it is usually more constructive. I was planning something the other day and he said to me "remember mom, I am independent. I would like to read it on my own and then come tell you about it, I really don't want to do an art project together." I was a little bummed as I thought I had a clever idea about reading a book and putting the themes on leaves and putting those on a tree, but I was proud that he stated a constructive opinion. He is still reading the book and thinking about it, so I will save that idea for my artsy dd :001_smile:

Basically. He has to pick at least 2 events from each period in history. Nothing from US history. So far he wants to do Ancient Egypt and Greece from book 1. He is leaning toward Robin hood and the Crusades and something from Japan in book 2. He has also already picked WW2 from his last year studies. I am working on Ancient Egypt right now. We are going to use the Dorothy Mills book from Memoria Press. We have the Jim Weiss myths. We are going to raid the library and just find everything we can on Egypt. There are some cool documentaries on netflix. So we will do that for 6th and 7th. I am really going to follow his lead and see where his interest takes us. Then 8th grade we will do state and American history. This is brand new to me, so we will be making it up as we go.

We waited and started WWS after soccer season had finished in 5th. Around week 10, he started to struggle, so we now take 2 weeks for every week. We just finished week 14. I am fine going slowly, we will probably take 4 years to do the 3 years that are planned. It should probably work well so that WWS3 will either be out or in Beta by the time we get there.

Laura, Don't watch the series, it is not one of the finest adaptions. Read Ross Poldark though and tell me what you think. My dh (terry prachet, LOTR man), also really enjoyed them. It is all about his neck of the woods. We just found out that dh's cousins from Glasgow are coming to visit this summer. They are going to come for the 4th of July as they think it would be interesting. So I don't think embarrassment is a factor.

When your children are older (or even for you know) There is a great set of historical fiction books about the time period just after the American Revolution. (I don't know if you have read them Laura, but please chime in if you have.) They are considered to be very good, accurate works of historical fiction. The Poldark series by Winston Graham. The first book in the series is Ross Poldark. Ross is a man of lesser nobility, but the son of a wealthy man, who is just returning to England after the American Revolution. It really gives you a picture of what life was like there. Also, just how much of an issue the French were to the British at that time. I read these for the first time when I was 14. On the non fiction side, there is a book, our Island History which is a good general history of Britain for those who want it.

We are having a good year. Everything seems to be working really well together. The stars: Phonetic Zoo WWS Latin Prep no real losers here this year.

Ahhhh.... you are looking at 5th grade. It is now time to go up to the top of the k-8 board and click on the logic and middle grade sub forum. Come and join us. My oldest is in 5th this year. We are pretty happy with what we are doing. TT and LOF WWS PZ IEW Poetry Memorization R&S grammar Latin Prep Hey Andrew Galore Park So you really want to learn Science Mapping the world by heart History is what we have really been changing this year. After Christmas we came up with a new plan. He is re reading all 4 SOTW book (he is just finishing the middle ages) He is picking at least 2 events in each book. Then, next year we are going to start a 2 year cycle of going in depth in his favorite areas of history (6th and 7th) Then 8th grade will be US history. He reads tons of books, and we do lit analysis the SWB way. I think that is it in a nutshell. He does a bunch of activities and we are active with our church, but that is the structure of our academics.

Ahhh, but the size of the eggs, and usually there are things in the eggs, like small toys, or more chocolate. I loved the eggs when I lived int the UK. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2284800/Easter-2013-Supermarket-Easter-egg-costing-just-5-beats-Harrods-Hotel-Chocolat-blind-taste-test.html

I had to do this with my Dad. It is hard to start. Once you start though, it is amazing how quickly being strong starts to feel really good. I found I "knew" what my dad would say to certain things, so I came up with "sound bites". That way I didn't have to think of what to say on the spot. Including; "If you want to give me a guilt trip, do it to my picture." if he would keep being negative "Ok, well call me back when you are ready to talk, bye." and hanging up the phone. Think of what she is doing that annoys you and makes you feel bad. Name it, and use the name. If she is giving you a guilt trip, call it a guilt trip. If she is being passive aggressive, call it that. Naming the behavior and saying it out loud to my Dad, letting him know that I wasn't going to listen to it, helped me put aside the feelings of hurt. :grouphug:

:iagree: :iagree: I am sad that they live in another country. However we work together to make sure that we see each other once a year. They come to us 2 years in a row (as it is cheaper and they are retired) We go visit them (and dh's hometown) once every 3 years. They came and stayed with me and took care of ds while I was have dd. They join us on vacations whenever they can. They are fun to hang out with and we are very close. Being that close, we do occasionally disagree, especially MIL and I, but we always work it out and talk through everything. I am very lucky. Also, one of dh's brothers is more of a little brother to me than BIL. My in laws came over (including BIL) when my siblings got married, the two families have totally blended into 1.

fabulous! I loved the bloopers too.

:iagree: Just like with homeschooling. Someone says "you really need to worry about socialization." I just say "yes. we do." Agreeing with people ends things so quickly. Mom: "I miss you." you: "I miss you too." Mom: "I feel like you never come and visit." you: "Yes, I feel like you never come and visit too." You can not change people, you can only change the way you react and interact with them. Once you have done it with one person, it gets easier and easier.

.... and that shows just how bad I am about reading introductions. I have not seen any other mentions of God (I flipped through our book). It does teach Big Bang and evolution though.

I started my 4th grader on apples. He loves them. We are cruising fast through them at a chapter a day M-F. He did the math right from the beginning. The nice thing about this is, he thinks it is easy. It was way to easy for him and the start, and he just things of Fred as easy. He is on H right now and should be starting Fractions at this rate before the school year is done. (He is now in 5th). I would start with apples and let him build his confidence up.

Oh, and is there anything she is really into? Like, if she really likes art they could do something like the phonics road to reading and spelling. Giving her a few sentences and have her read an illustrate what she has read. If she likes music, maybe there are some easy readers about music. I am just thinking she might not object to the younger material if it was something she was interested in.