We love the Rosetta Stone software - been using it for Japanese for 3 years. With that said - we are switching to German next year and using Tell Me More. Not because I don't like RS, just because we need a change and it looks more interesting. I believe that software can replace just about anything when it comes to learning - as long as the parent and child are engaged in it and don't sit there expecting knowledge to be transferred painlessly into their brains. And as far as RS only teaching conversation - well for our purposes - that's pretty much WHY we are taking a foreign language. I don't believe my son will ever sit around musing over the inner workings of Japanese. :D Conversation is our goal and, I dare say - the goal of MOST people who are learning another language.

Come on - let's hear them! What traditions make your holidays special? And - if you had no money for presents (and I'm sure many of us are feeling the holiday pressure this year) would these traditions make up for that? Christmas Carols and Christmas Cookies - Our favorite Christmas tradition was started after I became a single mom and money was so very tight. I'm talking food bank turkey tight. I always make very special Christmas cut-out cookies from an old family recipe - this is a one time a year occasion, it is very special. So every year we would make cookies while listening to Christmas carols on the intenet radio. My kids loved the carols on the computer and the day after Thanksgiving we would turn them on for homeschool and listen until the holidays were over. Christmas Eve Dinner - My second one is the baked potato soup for Christmas eve. My kids start talking about it in September - in fact my son just said last week "It's almost time for potato soup!" Wrapping presents on Christmas Eve - there are NO presents under the tree until Santa comes - even though my kids are now 21 and 13! :D I think our traditions are what make Christmas special - and while my kids are materialistic and want presents - if we had no presents but followed our traditions it would still FEEL like Christmas. On the other hand, if we had presents but no traditions it would NOT feel like Christmas at all.

How about a treasure hunt for their presents? That way the whole "present" experience takes longer and feels more substantial - even if you feel it is meager. Plus, it is good family fun, and creative in that you'll have to make up clues and hide them around the house. You could even have the kids make clues and hide presents for the others.

We went several years ago when the kids were like 16 and 9 I think. They were very interested in everything except my son was repulsed by the fetus. He was not happy about that at all and while I am pro-life I have never discussed that issue with him. So that took me back a little. Edit to say that he was equally disturbed about the children in the exhibit as I remember - not freaked out or anything - just sad that they were dead mostly. I tried to make it a science lesson and it worked well, but I would not take them again and probably would not take them at all, if I had a do-over.

I'd be tired just listing what I do all day. Homeschooling is the least of my workload. I was up at 3:30 this morning, worked out at 4:30, wrote an inspection report for my "day-job", sent a few "day-job" emails, sent a few home biz e-mails, wrote a chapter for my chemistry book, created a custom periodic table, took a shower, woke up DS for school, make bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast, ate breakfast, and now I'm waiting for 60 bales of hay to be delivered so I can stack it in the barn, then feed the animals (we are out of hay and the donkeys are NOT happy) and then take another shower because the hay got all over me. That's all before noon. We won't even get to homeschool until after the hay delivery - but Thursdays are writing days - so just vocabulary, essay writing, a few math worksheets, and reading for today. Oh, and my house is ALWAYS dirty. :D I can't do everything.

No, we won't. The whole point of INDIVIDUAL freedom is that you are not responsible for the actions of others. This is what HSLDA is for and they do an EXCELLENT job of reminding the government of that every single day. It is not my desire to represent ALL homeschoolers. It is my desire to represent MY ability as a homeschool teacher. You cannot rely on the work of others to either propel you forward or set you back. Homeschoolers who apply for college wil leach follow their own path - there is no set rule and that is a good thing. Every homeschooler is seen as an individual - as it should be. And in my experience they are far more accepting than they are rejecting. I fundementally reject the idea that my children represent homeschoolers. My children represent our journey as a family. I have never heard of "farming out" to co-ops in my nine years of homeschooling but if it is happening then there is nothing you can do about it. Nor should you. Each family is free to determine their child's best route to success, regardless of what you think about it. You cannot control other families other than your own. Please don't try. It is not your place to establish "standards" for homeschool. That's pretty much the counter-idea of the homeschool movement in my opinion.

My daughter is one mine and she is 20 - but I think that was a provision of my benefits package and not the health care bill because I renew every May and she's never been off of it.

Probably...but it just goes to show you that attitude of 12 and 13 year old boys has NOT! :D

My mother went into my son's bathroom last week and said it looked like a State Park Men's Latrine. :ohmy:

I have done the same over the years and this week is re-group week for algebra for us with worksheets to cement down the basics before moving on. That is the point of homeschool, right? Go at your own pace... Good for you and best of luck! :001_smile:

Interesting debate. Personally I could care less how others wish to educate their children. If they want to do fluff, then that's their decision. This was the whole point of homeschooling in the first place - parents get to choose what type of education they want to give their children based on their personal beliefs. If they want to unschool - then go for it. If they want to do arts and crafts for 2/3rds of their day - then who am I to say no. If they want to do algebra in 4th grade - more power to you. I don't pretend to know what it best for anyone's kids but my own. I think it would be a huge step backwards to allow regulation beyond what we have now. I would question those people who want to depend on the government to babysit their homeschool progress - WHY? Why not just accept responsibility for your decisions and live with it? I think anyone who wants to better their education by taking remedial education is great. And the measure of success isn't their intellect or GPA - it's their confidence level. In addition - grade inflation is a problem even in the best of schools. While I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to work towards a college education, I don't believe that everyone needs one. Innovation and determination beats academics any day. I really don't care about test scores. I got a Masters and never even took the SATs. There are many paths to a fulfilled life - if you find one that's comfortable everything else falls in place. Homeschoolers don't have to excel at academics unless they want to, that's the beauty of free will.

We use RS now and I really like it. This is our 3rd year and his Japanese is amazing. But anyway - we will be changing over to German next year and so will be using TMM for a change. Plus he's older now and used to learning a language so we don't need the baby steps. But TMM is NOT cheap. And the "levels" are not the same as RS, so you can't compare the two that way. The complete package for German is still $500.

Buying RS used IS pirating software because it clearly states in the license agreement that it is not allowed.

And as a customer who paid $500 for all three levels they wouldn't even give ME a third activation until I threw a FIT. They finally did after my computer crashed - but I had to literally PROVE that I was the person who purchased it with all the info on the original receipt including complete shipping address, order number, and some other number. Don't buy it used. Now, if you have all the original shipping info, the order number, the receipt and the person you buy it from can prove to you that they uninstalled it from the computer and the activation is reset - you MIGHT be able to get away with it. But it is a risk. As far as ethics - I think it is unethical to use pirated software. Just my pet peeve and no judgment on those who do.

Well, if it were my child I'd do all the tests. I'd rather have everything ruled out than to sit and wonder about something I decided to omit and possibly hurt my child in the process.

Does he have a car? Perhaps if he was working towards his DL or getting a car he'd feel like his "grown up life" was getting closer. I agree with the volunteer or paid job - especially paying job. That way he could save for a car. Then if he wanted to join his other friends he could. EDIT to say: Also, X-Box live seems to be a very popular way for teen boys to socialize these days. My son has SO much fun with his friends on there it makes me laugh from the living room! He's quite loud!

His curriculum was out many, many moons prior to the Kindle. :D It used to be advertised all over the place when we first started homeschooling and that was 9+ years ago now - so it is probably like 15 years old, maybe older.

Standardized tests compare children across age brackets and rank them accordingly using a statistical model. Students who learn how to take tests do better than most who never learn. But is that useful? If you want to get into a certain college or graduate school, yes. In real life, no. I'm an excellent test taker so it got me where I wanted to go to school, but after that test taking is really a worthless skill. We don't take tests except for our biannual requirement - however we will practice for the SATs if we choose to take them.

I took it, but it was 6 years ago now. Make sure to do well on the FIRST 5-10 questions as this sets up your question bank and will determine the highest score you can get. It is heavily weighted at the beginning, if you miss the questions get easier and your score goes down. I was in an undergraduate research class for one summer in undergrad (obviously) and we had a GRE testing expert come in to teach us how to take the computer version. I studied for two weeks and got the score I needed - so it worked for me. My friend took it with me (he never had the class I did) and he had to retake it. Today, he's a veterinarian in Europe, and while I have a Masters in Toxicology, he is definitely the "smarter" person, yet my "tips" got me the score I needed first time out. :001_smile:

My son has been taking Japanese for 3 years and I have NO idea what he's saying! But I do try and do some lessons when I have time - I just don't have much time. Next year he wants to begin German, which I took in college, so I will force myself to learn along with him.

This is our 9th year, so by now everything is working. :D But I have used a lot that didn't. :tongue_smilie: What we use now and works perfectly: Simple Schooling Middle School Chemistry for Science Simple Schooling Literature Guides BJU History Spelling Power Teaching Textbooks Rosetta Stone Pathway Readers - Working With Words Vocabulary Novels I teach writing myself What has not worked, stopped working, or I finally just gave up: Vocab from Classical roots (used it 4 years) Saxon (used it 3 years) Singapore Math (used it 2 years) Abeka Geography (Used it 1 year) Apologia Science (used it 2 years) Real Science 4 Kids (used it 1 year) Memoria Press Latina Christiana (used it 1 year) Memoria Press Logic (used it 1 year) Supercharged Science (never even used it) Analytical Grammar (used 2 years) What worked well but we outgrew or haven't gotten back to yet (we have a 7 year age gap): Simple Schooling Middle School Physics Raising Refounders History History Pockets Bluestocking Press Uncle Eric Books (Economics) Pathway Readers Simple Schooling Early History (Ancients - Renaissance) BJU Economics Handwriting Without Tears Draw, Write, Now Math Wrap-ups Jump In Writing Writing Strands Gee-Art I'm sure there is a lot more but I can't think of any now.

It's a bot fly...sometimes it happens to humans...we had a mouse in the house a few years ago and I saw it cross the hallway very slowly, so I got the wiener dog to go in and get it from my son's room and it EXPLODED when the bot came out! It was so totally gross and the fly was all squirmy too! :tongue_smilie: Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNAeVLlY8w

It is because you waste the pencil. If you have cheap colored pencils it is not a big deal, but if you've spent a hundred dollars on a set then you'd want a special sharpener or when I was in art school we were told to use an x-acto knife to shave the wood off ourselves.

We have 3 bows - 2 of these And one of these He got them when we was 10 and they worked fine for 4H.

"Are you writing a book or something?" LOL...other people's kids...err piano teachers. Don't let her get to you - it must be a sore spot for her. Even so, you'd think she could muster up some professionalism and find another way to handle herself. I'm sorry but if you volunteer that you've been teaching piano for 18 years then you have no right to be offended when people ask if you will retire soon. Most people would NOT be offended and would laugh it off, even if they were, and say something like "Goodness no! I love my job." Or "Oh, I am way too young for that!" or even "I can't afford to retire with this economy!" would be better than what she did. Definitely keep looking! :D