Last year ds used BJU Physical Science and hated it. Did not grasp what they were saying. We switched midway to Apologia (I swore I would NEVER use Apologia again but...) and it was night and day. He started reading it and said he finally understood what the BJU text was trying to teach him. He made a comment about Apologia after the first few lessons, something like "What BJU was trying to get across in several scientific filled pages, it took Apologia to get across in a few normal word filled paragraphs."

We use Wordly Wise but do not do the workbook work. We use the word list and write sentences to show understanding of the word.

For creative writing I either make it up or find a picture on the internet as a story starter....tell what happened just before the picture, tell what happened after, or what is happening, sometimes all three. Usually the pictures are funny (a sun bathing money, T-Res with an umbrella) or interesting.

I say give him the rest of the day off. He probably is too keyed up to focus. I know how I am after an adrenalin rush, no way would I be able to sit down and work on school. Add in the distraction of a police interview....definitely the rest of the day off. Have him read a book about police work or CSI work if you want to not have the whole day wasted.

We used Calvert in 2006 for 3rd and 7th and loved it. I found it was a true open and go curriculum. As for the changes you mention I am not sure since we dd not try Calvert prior to 2006. I did not find anything that was bothersome, from the teacher guides to the student work it was all put together perfectly. The only reason we never used Calvert again was lack of funds.

Thanks all. I tried several times through the day by phone and no answer. Sent an email a week ago and no answer. I did get someone on live chat, but I need to know I can contact them if there is a problem. Maybe it was a bad week for them. I will try back this week.

I have tried phoning them and writing emails but they do not respond. Is there a way to get in touch with them?

Good to know

Thanks.

Yes, I shipped to an APO address. Next time I will get a flat rate box, that will help.

is there a way to send things without it costing a small fortune? I just sent ds(S. Korea) a package for his bday and almost fainted when given the total. It wasn't a big package either, just a few shirts and some art supplies. I want to send him more during the upcoming year but financially I cannot buy the stuff AND afford to send it.

Definitely downstairs, in the center most room, and stay together.

This is wonderful. This is why I use it, keeps God in the picture through out the day.

So he could vote.

We watched it with ds 16 and dd 8...dd is a little miffed her ds saw what a naked lady looks like and has been lecturing me since. Pretty and pink is next on our list. So what other '80 movies should we add to our viewing? I can only think of a few that stick out there.

The BC is R rated, but I think it is rated wrong, maybe PG 13. We watched 16 Candles the other night and I was :blink:, it is rated PG and has a full body naked scene with a girl in the shower while Molly R. discusses her b**bs.

I would not use this for a 3rd grader, not as is. Maybe add in SL core D and E readers and a spine. It is easy to beef up though with library books and spreading the state study out over the entire year (2 states a week from the beginning).

For the most part quaint and innocent, even the big bad criminal kid just pullled a fire alarm (forgot about it till pp reminded me), but the description of the bulling...to me that was far from quaint, or the brainy kid thinking suicide because he got an F...pretty heavy topics. But John Hughs seems to have captured the mind set of the 80's child, 16 Candles is an example and gives the feel of what a typical 16yr old girl was feeling no matter how silly. We seem to be on an '80's movie kick right now so guess I need to shut the adult brain off and tap into my inner teen child self again.

That's right, I forgot. Emo, what is that?

I was in 11th grade when this came out and felt like they got the idea of each character from people in my HS. I thought it was a great movie for many reasons, but then I was looking at it with teen eyes and maturity. Watched it last night and was bristling with all the red flags going off... -8hr unsupervised detention -two of the kids should have been expelled for the infraction that got them -detention (gun to school and physical injury to another student) -teacher bullying to name just a few. With schools being such a police state now, detention like this would not happen (I hope). But putting all the wrongs about this movie aside, is the student population in high school still a defined grouping as stated in the movie? Are there new groupings? Side question, it was revealed at some point in the movie why each was in detention except John(?) the thug (princess went shopping, brain had a gun, jock was a bully, crazy girl had nothing else to do), why was he in detention?

We read all of them. Not sure why a good book can be forgotten. I remember being read these as a child or reading them and my 22 yr old can remember them as well as my other children. I bet id you brought the books to the class and showed them, they would remember.

What grade/age are you at this for? I used this last year and enjoyed it up until they covered the states, then it felt like just hand them a color page. Up to this point it was engaging and dd was enjoying US History. It was a little on the light side but I just wanted exposure to key names/places/events and it was doing this. Pioneers and Patriots was an excellent book and worth having on your shelf. Science is also included but it is extremely light and we needed to add in more. Not sure about the Catholic question. I did not notice anything biased/bent toward or against it but then I did not notice the anti Catholic agenda others say BJU has and I have used them for 20 yrs.

After the first few weeks of school I did a major overhaul. I pretty much tossed out all of our curriculum and replaced it with doing things more relaxed. Dropped schedule making also. What went: FLL 3- replaced with MAD LIBS and writing sentences as we learn the parts of speech, diagramming our sentences, writing, and poetry Galloping the Globe- replaced with Children Just Like Me and spending a 2 weeks on each country, week one is on the geography of the country, week 2 is on the culture. Apologia Astronomy - replaced with reading library books and doing experiments, we still are using the notebook though Wordly Wise - we are still using the words but dropped the exercises. Spelling Basics -I am using her writing to find spelling words We did add in a weekly theme to be used across the curriculum. I get library books on the theme, set up a theme table to explore the theme, and use the theme as our subject for English sentences and writing work. Art has been added too along with weekly nature hikes.

I think IEW is one of those things that is good for a season. It gets kids who are writing phobic to get pencil to paper and write. It is very formulaic and after a while found my sons writing had a forced quality about it. It did remove the fear of writing for him and once we dropped IEW his writing took off...during IEW he concentrated on all the dress ups and not the actual paper. TWSS is needed but in my opinion WAY overpriced. Luckily it has great resell value.

I am sure you have talked with your son about the pitfalls of his plan. This is all you can honestly do. As long as his plan only hurts himself in the long run (if it was to not work) then let him go his way. Hard. My middle son had many ideas that made us cringe, we saw the train wreck that was to happen if he stayed on his path. All we could do was offer advice and point out potential problems.