I agree with this philosophy for the most part but the thought of following the rules just makes me a little ill. I live a life totally of my own making and I cringe to think of how unhappy life would be if I was not able to live it "my way". I think some people are more comfortable taking the path of least resistance, others are forever asking why should I do it that way? I happen to be the latter but life is about picking and choosing your battles. Accept the ones you must and throw out the ones you don't. My biggest life epiphany happened when I was about 25 and was working at a job I really didn't care for, but I was single mom so I didn't have much choice. But then I changed my attitude - I told myself that although I don't have control over the work I do right now, I DO control whether or not I choose to do it everyday. At any time I could quit and do something else - so going into that job everyday was my CHOICE. Not my destiny. That attitude changed my whole life. I hope that homeschooling has at least taught my children that you only get one life so try to live it on your own terms.

Hey, don't kill the messenger. I only stated the obvious. If you can tell me how the Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Germans, and Indians are rushing to learn the language of those 20 countries I'd be interested. But there is a reason they learn ENGLISH. Because knowing English is just more logical for their business interests, while Spanish is not.

We will be switching from RS to TMM next year - not because I don't like RS just because we've been doing RS Japanese for 3 years now and he wants German next year. I think a change is in order and it looks like a good product. I'd be interested in more opinions on TMM as well.

Honestly I've never seen the benefit of Spanish. Sure, lots of people speak it in the US, but do I interact with those people? Nope. So Spanish makes no sense for me to learn. (although I did learn it when I was kid and used it a little when I lived in California). But for the past decade I've live in an area where there are really no other languages being spoken other than English. Does that make me lazy or arrogant? The plain and simple truth is this: English is the language of the world. Call that arrogant, call that whatever you want. But it is the truth. There is a REASON Europeans have to learn more than one language and that's because they have a harder time getting by on just one. Americans don't have that problem. Hate us for it. Call us names. Whatever. English rules the planet right now and Americans happen to speak English - but I'm sure there's a group out that that think this is some sort of conspiracy theory against non-English speakers. Making Spanish mandatory because people who speak Spanish are flooding into the country really doesn't sound like good sound advice to me. In fact it reeks of political correctness. If you want to learn another language do so. If not, don't. Who cares?

I have been tossing this around as an option for us for next semester. You can pay a little extra and have her "grade" the work too - nice for feedback. My son is only 13 but he's way advanced in art so anyone else with high school options would be appreciated. We have Artistic Pursuits for high school and although it is OK - I find it less than inspiring myself. I feel that there is not enough instruction for him to "self-teach" and if I wanted to teach him art myself I would have done that in the first place. (I'm no novice artist either - I'd had a lot of training - so it isn't my comfort level that is the problem. The course just isn't suited for independent work.) Plus it is quite pricey for an 88 page book.

That is so sweet! I think it is a mistake to give younger children expensive items. We went through a period of time - several years ago as my youngest was just entering school-age and my oldest was just becoming a teenager - where we were very VERY poor. But you know what we always found a way to have fun. And we still talk about our trips to the dollar store to get toys (they would each get 3 or 4 things) and our few and far between trips to Wendy's for the dollar menu hamburgers and fries. We REALLY appreciated what we had. I think those days when we were poor created much of the true character of who we are today and although I never want to be that poor again - I appreciate the experience and what it taught me. My kid DO get expensive stuff now and I tend to spend quite a bit on presents for Christmas but part of that is because the older they get the more expensive the items become. The other part is because I want them to have very good Christmases to balance out the ones where we had very little. To create memories of being "satisfied" instead of "hungry" if you know what I mean. That being said - I plan for Christmas in July or August so I can afford to spend so much. It's not like I have all that money in December.

Yeah - I've been a single parent too - I'm no stranger to the Free Turkey line at Thanksgiving and all the other things that go along with it. But you can be a victim and wait for the New Prince Charming (Social Welfare State) or you can pick yourself up and write and sell some books and make your fortune (Capitalism). It's a good thing Rowling decided to do the latter - now too bad she doesn't better promote the individual responsibility and capitalistic decisions that saved her from her dire circumstances and quit with the class warfare stuff. That article is not about her time as a single mother, it's a political pot shot at the new government's plan to cut welfare benefits because they can't afford them.

Well I certainly had a different take on that. She comes off to me as a) bitter and b) defending the "welfare state" as necessary, which completely repulses me. She was a single mom for 4 years and suddenly she's some kind of expert? Puh-lease. :thumbdown: The one thing she doesn't promote enough is how she took responsibility for herself and wrote the books. Maybe if more people took that message away from her tirade instead of "How dare those rich white men take away our welfare state" then Britain would be in a much better position going forward.

I will bring candy if I remember - but we ALWAYS buy popcorn and sodas at the movies! That's like the best part! :D Personally I don't even think it's wrong to bring your own snacks - I mean honestly - the rule was only made to force you to pay 3x the price of a box of candy. If they were honest and charged maybe a dime or even 20 cents over no one would care and they'd sell more snacks to make up the difference - but $2.00 - $3.00 over is down and out thievery. You can get he SAME boxes of movie theater candy at WalMart for 99 cents - yet the movies next door charges $4.00. HHmmmmmmmmm...I wonder why people bring their own snacks?

I've ordered from them for several years too and never had a problem with anything.

I find that when we have these days my DS (13) is really saying he wants more one on one attention. He likes it when we do school together even though I've programmed him from first grade to work independently. So now when I see this pattern I offer to help him with everything and his attitude seems to change immediately.

That's cool! I went to art school when I was a teenager but ended up being a scientist. Sometimes I wish I had been born later to have the graphic arts opportunity that kids have today. I am hoping to learn Toon Boom myself if I ever get some free time next year - it looks really fun!

Big fish little pond is the comfort zone, the safe place, the expected. Little fish big pond is opportunity, risk, and advancement (or failure). With big risk comes big reward - and big failure. So it depends on how ready and willing a person is to give up the safe place and take the big risk.

My son (13) has been taking online "classes" through VTC Online. He's finished Corel Painter 11 and Corel Draw and will be starting Toon Boom after Christmas. He's crazy for computer graphics and he really loves the online videos. Painter more than Draw - just because he likes the teacher better. He's getting an Intuos tablet for Christmas...that was pretty much the only thing he asked for. :001_smile:

I make a sweet biscuit as well. I'm spoiled now - wouldn't touch strawberry shortcake made from pound cake or angle-food.

What a sweet little face! You always know when the "right" dog comes along! :001_smile:

This is my most favorite book of all time. When I assigned it to my DD in high school she complained and whined and huffed and puffed. Then one days she said "Poor Olan." :) She was hooked and she still loves it to this day. The Good Earth is a beautiful book.

I had that once and it actually turned out to be strep - which I had never had before in my life. So - ya just never know. I'd go to the Dr. though to make sure.

I just can't imagine a way in which accidentally putting diesel into a car would be worthy of punishment.

My son was a pogo fanatic when he was like 6! We were just talking about this the other day (he's 13 now). It was really fun to watch him and he did it for HOURS! :D Highly recommend the pogo stick but no idea what brand...it probably came form Wal-mart.

I think I already had mine if donkeys and barn birds are the tell-tale sign!

Hi mcconnellboys, Sorry for the late response - I haven't been on here much and did not see your question. I wrote the Middle School Physics program and can answer any questions you have. First of all you should know I am in the process of completely re-doing almost all of the labs. The T&K kit is out for the next school year's edition and other less expensive and more productive labs will take the place of that kit. Many of the second semester projects will remain. Second - there is a complete online course and you can see screenshots and get a free sample chapter here. It comes with online quizzes and tests, narrated lectures, and fun activities to help make learning science more fun. As far as the vocabulary goes - YES this program is vocabulary heavy as are all my programs. I think the easiest and most productive thing you can do for your budding science student is to make them memorize scientific terms. It might be boring and less interesting than other exercises but they will thank you in high school and college. If your student plans to take college level science, professors will expect them to understand every word they read - so just get it out of the way now and make life easy. The MSP program has interactive vocabulary lessons for each unit to cut down on writing - but there is also a writing option for memorization. As anyone who has used my anatomy course will tell you - the vocabulary is necessary. In addition - this is most certainly NOT a program for the average 4th or 5th grade student. All the content is high school - with tweaks for middle school comprehension. Most of the major formulas and laws are introduced and reiterated throughout the course - not so they can use them for calculations, but so they can get familiar with them and be ready to use them in high school when they are necessary. I hope this answers your questions - and if I might advise - wait until spring to purchase. We will have hard copy textbooks and the online course will be available on CD. Plus all the new labs. Thanks for your interest, J. Anne

My boyfriend brought me home a pregnant hedgehog as a Mother's Day gift one year and that's how I got started with breeding. Apparently they are not easy to breed but she gave birth to that litter and the rest is history. Her name was Easter and she was 4 when I got her and she lived to be 8. When I sold them all off I kept only her becasue she was super friendly and loved to be held. And maybe it is just me but some are more prickly than others - she never put her spines up all the way and huffed like the others. All of mine used a litter box - in the cage of course. But it was a multi-purpose tool - they love to dig in it. I used to shred up newspaper for their bedding because we had them in wire cages and couldn't use shavings - now they have shredded paper for bedding which is nice. Of course - newspaper is free... And we used that organic cat litter stuff - it wasn't litter but pellets of some kind. They loved it. Really, the pet store guy is right - they are the perfect pet. Just reading this makes me want one again! :001_smile: They really don't smell much at all - not like a hamster does (or a duck in the house for that matter - thank God she's old enough to move to the barn) and they are really low maintenance. I say get one! :D

I used to breed hedgehogs and I had some that were very friendly and liked to be held and others that didn't. You can hold them, even if they are curled in a ball. Just hold lightly! :tongue_smilie: They are nocturnal and can keep you awake at night snuffling around. Mine ate Nutro kitten food - which was what the vets recommended back then - this was like 12 years ago - so there might be something better for them now. They were definitely FUN and easy to care for. Perfect for a kid in my opinion.

20 free unit studies from CurrClick! Go get 'em! http://www.currclick.com/index.php