I've received many inquiring emails and phone calls and been burned so many times because I love homeschooling so much and I get so excited when people inquire that I just shower them with information. Turns out, most of them are just frustrated with their current school situation, but maybe aren't that serious about homeschooling. I can't remember one person I "convinced" to homeschool. Now my MO is to direct them to some internet sites and yahoogroups so they can do their own research. (Much of homeschooling is all about internet research so they may as well get used to it.) Then I instruct them to get back to me with specific questions. This is just how out of touch I am: My kids were in preschool and I was telling the other preschool moms about this thing called "homeschooling" and how awesome it was and how great it was going to be for our family and kids. I really truly believed that at least a couple of moms there (if not all of them!) would join me on this path. LOL, none of them did!

There was a recent story on NPR about the origin story of FAFSA and why they don't bother to simplify it. One recent study found that some 2 million students who would qualify for federal Pell Grants don't even fill out the form. These days, lots of politicians are talking about shrinking the FAFSA. One bipartisan group of senators has proposed a form with just two questions: "What is your family size? And, what was your household income two years ago?" That raises the most important question: Is that even possible? "The answer is 'No, it's not possible,' " says Justin Draeger of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

It's too bad OP spoke with a future vet. The future for those professionals is particularly bleak (as described in a recent NY Times article), maybe even worse than law school grads if that's possible. If your kids have their heart set on being vets, you'll want them to get there the cheapest way possible. If they can't get into a state school, then should probably reconsider altogether.

Hey! I just figured out I can print out the text assignments choosing which versions of each article I want to use and deleting the rest. Okay, now I'm really sold.

You know how when you read just the right thread at just the right time? This is one of those times. Thank you, Rose.

Is there a way to save my favorite old threads so I can find them easily again? I have lots and lots of threads that I'm "following" but only a very few that I think I might want to revisit in the future. Thanks!

Ah, that explains it. I don't actually know any civil engineers, lol.

Thanks again. I'm going to read the Getting Started Guide tonight and bookmark your other thread.

These are DVDs that I check out from the library: NOVA, American Experience, Nature, and similar. I find I check them out, leave a stack by the TV and we end up never having time to watch them at night. I'm thinking about scheduling them in the afternoon, but it goes against my grain. Weirdly though I'm okay with watching a few science youtube videos during the day. I don't know why, maybe when we're huddled around the laptop, we just don't seem so passive. Thank you, everyone for your thoughts. On further reflection, I'm wondering how we'll ever squeeze in an educational DVD during the day because we're lucky to get through all our subjects before afternoon activities.

And thank you, sir. This does in fact help to clarify.

Thank you, ladies!

From dd13: i^2 = -1 i = sqrt(-1) i^2 = i*i = sqrt(-1) * sqrt(-1) = sqrt([-1]*[-1]) = sqrt(1) = 1 That is, the product of the square root of negative 1 and square root of negative 1 is the square root of the product (-1)*(-1) which is the square root of 1. So i^2 = 1. I know I'm missing something here.

Thank you! We've spent a good amount of time learning about the history of the universe and the eons of earth history in science. Would it make sense to skip to later units that are more history-like, or does skipping defeat the whole purpose of Big History?

Maybe I'm the only one who has this problem, but I've had a fairly strict rule about no TV until after dinner. This has worked great for us, enabling us to be mostly media free during the day when we need to get school work done, and saving entertainment for evening family time. The trouble is, I also have a number of documentaries that I want to watch and it's becoming increasingly difficult as one child or another will have an evening theater rehearsal, so it's tough to have them home at the same time. Or they have other things they want to do that evening. (I'd like to have both present to watch these.) I must admit my kids (now in middle school) aren't nearly as enthralled by TV as I was as a kid, probably because they have other entertaining distractions in their phones and computers. But I do fear that after watching a program, we'll all end up glued to the sofa and be wholly unable to carry on with the rest of the day, lol! My question is do you have a routine for watching documentaries and educational videos? Do you find that watching TV mid-day disrupts your academics?

Wow, this thread appeared at a great time for me. Thank you, Vida. (Vida is my name IRL!) And thank you to Rose for all the info in their other thread. Can I ask Jen and Rose: What does a typical week of Big History look like for you?

I know a fair number of successful engineers--mostly ME's, EE's and CS people--and I was an IE, but I've never heard of an ABET or EIT. What fields of engineering does this apply to? What sort of companies require this designation?

In fact, this book shows that you can in fact become an astronaut even if your home country does not have a space program, lol! Hadfield also addresses the long odds of becoming an astronaut and how you need to be almost zen or at peace with not ever going to space, while still working so very hard to qualify. It's an admirable quality and a good lesson for our students who dream big. Definitely read this book and look for his youtube channel. Chris is pretty awesome.

After being in a charter for a few years I've learned that there is a big difference between the official rules and what an ES actually requires. I've had two ES's at the same charter who have told me radically different requirements about work samples. Rules also change inexplicably from year to year, and I doubt those rule changes are fully documented. It's more a matter of my ES telling me, "I have a new supervisor and she wants it done another way." For example, I had an ES who refused to meet with me unless my children were also present with me in my home. Apparently it was a rule. A year or so later, I was scheduling a meeting with my new ES. She was fine meeting up with me when my kids were out of the house, as long as we didn't "make a habit of it." One year for PE, I needed to snap a photo of my dd during soccer practice without her uniform on. The next year, the rules changed, and I just needed to tell my ES what dd learned in soccer that month. Which is pretty hilarious, because during the soccer season it's not as if during October dd learned about passing, and in November she learned heading, lol. PE seems to be a particular sticking point with our charter, lots of conflicting rules that change arbitrarily year to year and during the year. I finally quit when the frequency of work sample submissions went from twice a year to every month. I just got sick of the photocopying, all the extra testing that took up hours of our time. Elementary was fine, a dream really, but middle school was a hassle, and I've heard it gets much worse in high school. Ask around. Don't be afraid to switch to a different ES, even in the middle of the year. Go to park days and ask other homeschoolers for their favorite ES. Good luck!

I don't have any spelling bee competitors, but I'm dying to know what it's like! How much time did your kids prepare? Did they get coaching (like Akeelah) or did they study independently? How do you feel it balanced the positive educational value versus just lots of stress? Congratulations on your successful spellers!

When combining like terms in a big busy equation, I like to underline the terms as I combine them into the new equation. That way I can keep track of what has already been combined, and what I may have forgotten in the process.

I was a little shocked to see that AoPS uses SOH CAH TOA...the same mnemonic I used in high school ages ago to learn sin cos tan. I remember when it was first suggested to me in math class as a tool to memorize the trig functions. And I thought it was a funny mnemonic because it's essentially a made up word (sounding vaguely Native American)...how would that help me? But sure enough it did the trick. "Tangent...hm...SOH CAH TOA...opposite over adjacent." But I thought in the 21st century someone would have come up with a new and better mnemonic.

I'm glad to see King of Random recommended here. We did his homemade speaker project and it was so much fun (and it dove tailed well with our science unit).

If you are starting to think that co-ops aren't for you, consider this alternative. You can offer a group class that's perfect for your own students. Spread the word on your local email lists. I've hired this great teacher, we'll be covering this subject, here are the prerequisites, this is the tuition etc. People who want to join you pay the fee and sign up. I wanted my kids to read more classic literature so I hired a woman to lead a monthly book club. Occasionally I post on local email lists to recruit new members. People sign up or drop out as it suits them. The leader handles all the tuition payments and I am in charge of recruiting students as needed. I wanted to have my kids on a mathcounts team, so I organized and coached my own team. I sent out recruiting emails on local lists, I ask for a nominal fee to cover registration (and get some commitment), and got some kids and we had a grand time. My neighbor hired a teacher to run a public speaking workshop. My daughter did it in the fall, then re-upped this winter, but dropped the class due to other commitments. She attended for as long as it suited her needs then stopped. It may be more expensive this way, but you save yourself the headaches of coordinating with other families. I prefer the selfish approach. This is what I want to do for my kids. You can join me if you want the same or organize your own class, no hard feelings. ETA: For the book club, because I was hosting it in my home and was in charge of recuiting, the book club leader gave me a discount.

It's been confirmed by Richard: the heptagon in the last problem is rotated about point A, not point D as described in the solutions. I swear, sometimes I feel like we're the only ones who read the problems and solutions carefully enough to notice these things. Or maybe we're the only ones who actually need to read the solutions, lol!

We use them quite a bit for technical subjects. Right now I have Arduino Projects for Dummies, R for Dummies, and Raspberry Pi for Dummies, and I'm sure I have many more.