replies didn't make it any different.....hmmmm.....now I have to wonder if it is length of time??

I tried to do it last week and I couldn't get the title to change. But it is now. Hmmmm. don't know what the difference is b/c I did it the exact same way i tried to last week.

it worked. I had tried this before and it didn't work for some reason.

b

I don't know Jessica. It is so planned and so structured. For us, investigating a sparked interest through an observation is an educational goal. I want my kids to learn to be observant. Finding something that launches into questions and digging for answers is a rewarding experience. So much guided planning removes that self-investigational/observe and question obligation. I guess it is sort of like the "play" article pposted on the general board yesterday. I can buy toys that entertain my children or I can buy toys that my children employ their imagination to entertain themselves. Some directed nature study is beneficial. But some self-piqued interest that is rewarded with answers has great merit as well. Bunny trails often are more educational than the path upon which the adventure started. :)

Are you talking about a co-op or a general support group? I absolutely do not get involved in co-ops. I guess my expecations/standards are too high.....so what effort I put in, others don't do justice to (as in the kids don't do their homework, etc) and what my kids get out of it are sub-par to what I would expect personally. I do like to get together with other moms and socialize. Park days, going out to eat, fun occassional get togethers (like roller-skating once in a while).......those I enjoy and so do my kids.

Crissy, This is me too. I can't function in clutter. I have to have a tidy home. :) Chaos seems to breed more choas. When everything is in order, the kids are calmer, play happier, and focus on school better.

Foersters has a solution manual and is an excellent textbook for someone wanting to go into an engineering field. it is a highly conceptual/application program

I didn't read the entire article, but skimmed the beginning. It definitely is a foundational belief of mine. When I was in college, my undergraduate research was on the impact of imaginative play on brain development. All the research I read confirmed that imaginative play (dress-ups, building, playing house, playing dolls.....where the child was creating the entertainment, not the toy entertaining them) had a higher impact on brain development than "educational instruction" during the pre-school yrs. I have absolutely incorporated that philosophy into our home and life in general. Our toys (and we have tons) are all child dependent toys (with the exception of Baby Alive whom I detest). I also do no formal instruction prior to K. Play leads to higher cognitve skills. I would much rather them playing and building those brain paths than sitting and repeating abcs and numbers. :)

Not SWR, but I used WRTR and Teach Reading at Home. I didn't find it a very friendly way to learn to read (I love Sing, Spell, Read, Write). It also did not help my ds's spelling once he reached more complicated word levels. On the other hand, I really do think that How to Teach Spelling is the best of the OG methodology with spiraled dictation.

Tête, Epaules, Genoux et Pieds.....thanks to First Start French. ;)

Gotcha!!! Thanks. I was definitely having a "duh" moment!!

Canasta is a card game that requires quite of bit of strategy (as well as addition!) My kids typically have the game mastered by age 7-8 (but their strategy is still developing!!) It is one of many different card games we really enjoy. Manuevers is another high strategy game. (I couldn't find it titled this. It looks like carousel rummy on this site, though I only skimmed the directions. We also really enjoy Shanghai Rummy. (we play like on the wiki site, not the other one.) http://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html http://www.pagat.com/rummy/carousel.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_rum

In an exponentiation problem, the text states "Neuitt loses points on a test for saying, " 5^3 means 5 multiplied by itself 3 times." Explain the error. The answer is "there are three 5's, not 3 "times" signs." hmmmmm....that is as clear as mud to me!!

Not really. There have been occassions when the books have moved too fast for some of my kids. (the 3rd grade book and multiplication leaps out in my memory) At those points, I have simply closed the books for a couple of weeks and used different approaches to aid quicker memorization, etc. (Math-It is one of my old standards for addition and multiplication. We do play a lot of games, especially cards. I think games like canasta are excellent in developing strategy....a huge building block for solving math problems) As far as supplementing with programs like Singapore, etc. No. My oldest was in something like 6th grade when SM first made its debut on the homeschool market. I bought all the levels after reading about their difficulty, etc. We sat down with the books and he breezed through them. The only concept he hadn't mastered was rate x time = distance. It is a concept not taught in Horizons. (It was one of the first things he learned in algebra) He didn't solve anything the SM way, though. Everything was done via algebra skills. Horizons does an excellent job of building algebra concepts throughout the program. By the time they finish the 6th grade book, they have mastered the majority of all pre-alg skills. My kids have all ben ready mathematically for alg in 7th grade (or after finishing the 6th grade book.....one finished that in 4th grade, my current 3rd grader is 1 yr ahead currently in the 4th grade books.) Does that help?

1- My very first car was a RX7....... false. My brother bought a brand new RX7 and gave me his old Fiat X19 for my 16th birthday. I loved that car and had a ton of fun driving it until it died. 2-I dated to my dh's brother before I dated dh. :o unfortunately true. It was only one date. I was only 16. Dh and I started dating a couple of months later. I absolutely ended up with the best brother!!! :D 3-I am the youngest of 8 siblings. false, I am actually the youngest of 6. 4-I lived in 2 different countries before I was a yr old. true. My parents were Canadian. I was born in NY, but we moved to Toronto when I was 6 mos old and lived there until I was 7. All of my extended family is Canadian as well as 2 of my siblings. 5-My father used to eat breakfast with someone who is beatified. true. Blessed Andre Bessette was a close friend of my great-grandmother who raised my father. (his mother died when he was under a week old.) My father died of lung cancer and the entire time he was sick I prayed that Brother Andre would pray for my dad. My dad died suddenly on New Years Eve while visiting us. I prayed for Brother Andre to pray for his little friend, (my dad was just a small child when he knew him) my dad, while we waited for the ambulance to arrive and then later for a sign that my dad was rejoicing in heaven after he died. At the funeral, I was praying for my dad and felt such immense peace. I went back to his apartment after the funeral to pack up my mom's things to take to our house. I walked by a calendar that dad had hanging on the wall and I literally about fainted. Jan 6, the day of my dad's funeral, was highlighted as the feast day of Blessed Andre......I hadn't a clue before that minute!!

There is actually a children's condensed version by Shirer. It is a Landmark book.

Golly, my life is so incredibly boring (either that or I am just really bad at lying!!) that I had a hard time coming up with 2 lies the first time......especially ones that didn't just yell out.....man, she has a dull life those have to be the false ones!!

Couple of thoughts..... Unless your house stands out as unique in some perspective, I wouldn't do it today's market. The house we sold in Jan we bought from a FSBO. We bought it the 2nd weekend he had it in the paper and we sold it in under a week. Secondly, if you do go that route, I would have the home appraised by a locally well known and respected appraiser. Have the appraisal available for perspective buyers. When we have looked at FSBOs, we automatically lower our offer by at least 6% b/c we know they aren't paying commission. With a good appraisal, you will probably receive better offers (definitely ones that exceed the $350 it will cost for the appraisal) Thirdly, my biggest fear about FSBO is letting unknown people in my home. I would only allow showings after writing down the tag numbers on their car. I am paranoid!!

I love number 4, so I am definitely choosing it!! HMMM, the others are harder, 2, and 5 (b/c the other choices are scary!)

Unless you were living in some very strange place, I can't believe number one is true. Dh and I are both brunettes, but all of our kids but one have been blond until about age 12. I going with 2, 3, and 4......and yours made me laugh. I could have posted I got married the day after I was no longer a teenager and it would have been true!! Hope I haven't offended great-grandma by not choosing her. ;)

I have used it with 4 kids all the way through and 2 more are currently in the K and 4th grade books. My kids have all excelled in math. Horizons has definitely provided all of them with solid basics for upper level math. My oldest is taking cal 3 right now and making 100s on all of his exams. My 10th grader has a very high A in alg 2 at his private school. And my 6th and 8th graders are managing Foersters alg 1 with no problems. FWIW....I don't think that Horizons lacks mental math. It doesn't teach the way SM does, but it provides opportunities for application of concepts.

I have had a blast reading these.....I'll play. 1- My very first car was a RX7. 2-I dated to my dh's brother before I dated dh. 3-I am the youngest of 8 siblings. 4-I lived in 2 different countries before I was a yr old. 5-My father used to eat breakfast with someone who is beatified.

It is absolutely NOT worth even worrying about. Drop it. Worry about getting your life under control. Relax, it will be fine. :)

I wonder why?? Succanat is simply dried cane juice. Turbinado on the other hand is basically no different than refined sugar (with the color, hint of molasses added back in) Sucanat retains its entire molasses content.