So should I be concerned that it's 9am and both of teens are alseep? :D I'm rather enjoying myself and I don't want to wake them up! Most of their school is done for the year and they only have about an hour of school for the day anyway.

It will be tough, but I predict an Adam and Danny final.

LOL! It wasn't a ploy, he inquired about my beliefs.

We did, too, for whatever reason. But my girls had quite a bit of physical science in elem and middle school interspersed with their other studies.

And if my kiddos were engineer school bound I would whole-heartedly agree with you! :001_smile: One is headed toward the performing arts and the other is likely to end up in graphic design or editing of sorts.

This particular teacher is not very helpful...I think she's overwhelmed. Once she accused dd of cheating when the teacher made a mistake grading dd's quiz. Recently, she added a comment addressed to "Gene" instead of "Brittany" on an essay question on an assignment. She gives no feedback and dd is super-reluctant to get tutoring help of any kind. Think of the kind of teen that wants no help, wants to be independent, just enough to get by, thank you, and I don't think I want to go to college anyway. big sigh from mom

Really, it seems that the cat was just demonstrating typical cat misplaced aggression and is not necessarily suffering some neurological condition or is a psychopathic kitty. What was the kitty doing just beforehand? Was it sitting in the window watching the other cat, getting worked up, and then was touched? An unneutered, hormonal, adolescent male cat that is at a peak of frustration may react in this way. Since the facial skin is thin and well vasculated, the injuries are going to be pretty rough compared to an arm injury. It's a tough call and a very personal decision. I hope your son and family heals well. :grouphug:

Interestingly...we moved to a new neighborhood, but just 2 miles from our old one. So we got hit with a new set of JW. They asked something about our beliefs and I told them I am reformed. He said, "Oh, reformed, eh." I didn't think much about it, but a couple of weeks ago I noticed them on our street and they bypassed our house.

Here is my disadvantage...I can't have that type of conversation. :P For instance, i can look at the midpoint formula she's studying and remember it now, 20-some odd years later, but I don't know why it is....it just is, lol! Now, I can understand the set-up of Algebra, but Geometry and Calculus are just mysterious devious of torture to endure! :lol:

So if we drop this math course we have to do it this week. DD, finsihing 9th grade, is taking Geometry through FLVS. Normally she enjoys on-line learning, but is not thrilled with this teacher. DD is not a motivated student and dislikes math. She took Alg Honors last summer and through the year, so she finished up in a weird place. She's 4 weeks into reg Geo has an 83 avg but seems to be retaining nothing. I can't really help because I did terribly in Geo myself. She reads at an instructional level, but that's about it. Our options are: 1) Keep working through this Geo course. She's halfway through 1st semester then she can take a 4wk break. If she takes too long of a break, math just leaves her brain completely. ;) 2) Drop the on-line class altogether and use Teaching Textbooks (I feel sort of "eh" about this option). The live classes we have here are the sort where everyone gets an "A" and it's Honors, if you know what I mean. I'm really trying to avoid that scenario even though a live teacher would probably help her more. But, that is an option, too.

Now isn't that funny...my 9th grader's English class read the Old Man and the Sea and she liked it. Now she probably liked it because it was short, lol! I second the opinion about Farewell to Arms...might be awkward.

I'm just curious about how others deal with math, especially if your student is challenged with issues such as dyslexia or ADD. I remember having math classes that I struggled with so much! I did fine on my homework but bombed tests. Some teachers made us memorize everything, some let us write any notes we wanted on one piece of paper, and still others let us use our open books. The reasoning of those who let us use notes was that "in the real world, you aren't expected memorize formulas, but you are expected to know how to use formulas." I'm seeing my girls deal with the same frustrations in math, especially with on-line math courses. I hate teaching math!

We are still getting cases in FL. Personally, I think it was a little hyped up anyway. ;) Just a tad.

I picked about 30 problems throughout the lesson, including word problems. It might be every other, every 4th, once it was every 7th. If she needed more practice, we did the same thing, but started with even instead of odd.

Sometimes I think it is a reflection of the curriculum. I had similar issues when my girls used Saxon math. I'm not saying Saxon is not a good program, but their tests have 20 problems that weight 5 points each in a all-or-nothing fashion. I began to grade math like a math teacher...partial credit. I looked at the work and had the child sit with me. I looked at why they missed an answer. Did they forget to carry a negative sign, make a simple addition error, or misunderstand a concept? The first two are careless mistakes, but the last one is a mastery issue. Saxon will review again in the next book and also has extra review pages in the back. I'm not a fan of repeating curriculum. If I felt my child needed to repeat something, I would try a different approach. If she doesn't get fractions, maybe just a concept book on fractions from the teacher store. Same with grammar...maybe a different approach if the first isn't a good fit.

I use RS for French (well, my oldest does), and soon we'll be adding RS Italian. I have the latest homeschool version and it tracks her progress. I can look at her "grade" at any time and it won't let her past a certain point if she doesn't pass. I'm sure there is a more detailed explanation, but she works this program on her own. :001_smile: PROS My dd is dyslexic and traditional programs are difficult for her. She can work independently which is a plus for her. It teaches the spoken aspects when I cannot. It allows my children to learn languages other than Spanish. CONS The French did not have a workbook companion this year. It has required some technical support, but that has gone well. The grammar is light. I didn't mind the light grammar so much because they did R&S in the younger years as well as Latin.

Just trying to clarify: You are only interested in using R&S for writing and not grammar, correct? I used R&S for grammar with my girls when they were younger. I supplemented with other writing because I didn't feel R&S was enough. But if I read you correctly, you just wanted to get their feet wet and do not an involved curriculum. The R&S build upon itself. If you are starting with a 4th grader and have a reluctant older child, then I would begin with the 4th grade book. It's not that the writing portions in the next levels are harder, but it assumes the student has had work in the earlier texts. It's subtle with the writing, you could do 5th and be fine. The grammar is much different, you wouldn't want to skip levels because of the building. If you are only doing this for one year, you can hit the middle with the 5th. Does that even help you? :) Just something else to throw into the mix. I had a reluctant writer (two actually) and found that IEW worked well for us. I didn't want to use the whole package for IEW, so I bought one of their student intensives, SWI B. The girls enjoyed working with the DVD's and think Andrew Peduwa is pretty funny. They also did a live seminar with him. His program also starts slow and doesn't begin with a lot of creative writing.

Well they would be very unhappy with our local budget. They just fought to get it up to $6872 per student. Plus we have one of the largest school districts in the country. But, it's all perspective because FL has a lower cost of living than NY. Then again, we also have one of the worst ranked school systems, lol! Now, that's not money related. :D They are always going through all sorts of experiments to save money...year round schooling, switching around start times, etc. Now they announced that the district is going to cut the number of middle school athletics meets, except for football <big eye roll>.

Oh yes, that kind of stuff is definitely out there! I just didn't want to be lumped into a group of stage mom types because I wouldn't do the switch.

LOL, it's not all that dramatic. There are three possible switches dd can make: opening, another night, and closing. We have family tickets for the middle night, so that was never an option. The mom's email was very polite. I don't think there's an ulterior motive, I think she just wants her dd to have all her number of shows even if there's another activity. Normally we would just switch, but the circumstances just aren't that easy. I replied that dd could cover the girl's performance but was not able to switch. There is yet a younger cast (there are three casts) and I suggested she ask there for the character switch. Dh spoke with the director last Saturday when he dropped off dd for rehearsal. The director understands, said we are fine, and gave a talk to the kids about not getting mad if someone won't switch. ;) Unfortunately, this girl was an hour late and missed the spiel. :tongue_smilie:

Well, I will keep you posted because the mom just emailed me! :001_huh: But I have such confidence with all of your responses. Dh is willing to take over the "child advocate" role here to help out if the other mom gets out of hand. I think dd is relieved that it's been taken off of her shoulders. Originally, the other girl came to dd directly. I'll be back soon.... :)

It really depends on the school. My dd dances at a pre-pro ballet school. Her recital is a spring show incorporated into a ballet production. This year it was a 90min ballet, a 15-20 min intermission followed by their jazz/character pieces, which also took 90min. No one was allowed to leave until the end for security reasons and limited backstage staff. Because it is affiliated with a pro company and a non-profit arts entity, our school is often subject to economic impact more than a private studio. This year, because of budget constraints, everything was schedule at the same weekend as a professional ballet performance to save money. Therefore, it was one extended recital. Last year it wasn't as long. Sometimes they do a spring ballet, and an end of the year jazz recital for an hour. The youngest students, ages 3-6 or so aren't expected to particpate in such a long event. They have a separate time for their recital which is much shorter in duration. The 3-4yo even have just a class demonstration for the parents in the room on the last day. It's just something to ask about when you are looking for a school.

After I read this...there are different instances. I am much more tolerant in my head at our school dance recitals than I am at professional ballet performances. At a family recital I expect little kids and the extra noise, etc so I lighten up. But the young girls sitting close to me talking through the first act of our professional production of Romeo and Juliet with a live orchestra certainly made my blood pressure go up a bit! :lol:

Phew...thanks! I feel better. I hate to say No and I hate confrontation. Does it show?:tongue_smilie:

My dd is performing in a musical theatre production this month. She was cast in one of the lead roles in the highest cast and is pretty happy about it. We paid a tuition fee for her coaching and performance, etc. While she dances in the ensemble for all shows, she is a character role for only three shows. A girl from another cast has a conflict and has asked my dd to switch shows with her. This girl is involved with multiple activities and so one date conflicts with one of these other activities. DD has changed her schedule to accommodate these shows, even missing her last two classes of ballet for the year. While dd is willing to cover the show for the other girl, dd does not want to give up one of her shows. 1) She is in a higher cast and has rehearsed with this cast only all season. 2) She has made all kinds of friends in this cast and is emotionally involved. 3) The only shows dd could give up are her opening night and the last show before the cast party, both of which mean something to her. 4) As a parent, I'm thinking that I paid for her experience here and I want her to be in the higher cast. ;) We aren't diva kind of people and I'm worried that we are being unreasonable. I'd love some objective input since we are brand new to the theater scene. When we've done Nutcracker with our professional ballet company and someone can't make it, they just put another dancer in their place. That's the extent of my knowledge here. The mom is supposed to be contacting me soon. Apparently she isn't choosing to go through the director. Thanks a million, Laura