When I taught a comparative religion class doing my student teaching, this was the ongoing project I did with my 11th and 12th graders. We had a big chart on the wall with different categories for them to answer based on the religion we were studying. We would read and study the faith then fill in the answers on our chart. By the end of the semester, we could see at a glance what all major religions believed concerning an afterlife, entry into adulthood, morality, major figures in the religion, etc. By the end I think all of us (especially since 99% of the class was Christian) noticed how much the religions all had in common with their views of morality, right and wrong, etc. My supervising teacher loved the project and used it when she taught the class the next year. I plan on doing something similar with my own children in high school as well.

I'm a Southerner and pronounce both with a long u sound. I'm guessing that the OP actually is pronouncing June with the long u sound. In Logic of English, it teaches that the long u and the oo sound are both forms of the long u, but in some words the long u is pronounced more as an "oo" due to the letters preceding and following it. It's basically a subtle switch our mouth makes to aid in pronunciation. I have heard other Southerners pronounce July as Juhly, but my mom never would let us!

Thank you!

I think it would be difficult to find a gray that would look good with that color tan. Maybe try a really dark charcoal color? If you wanted to go with a light gray, you will probably need to try a lot of different colors to find the right one. Plus it will change color from the sample since those windows are right there. Good luck! I do love the first picture you posted in your OP, but I have been a huge fan of gray my entire life. It's my go to neutral for clothes, house, everything.

:iagree: Sassafras is my love/hate relationship curriculum. My kids really love it. It gets done around here without much trouble. They learn from it. I also add to it like crazy with documentaries, extra books, etc. I moved my oldest on to Quark Chronicles which is soooo much better written (seriously those typos in Sassafras :scared: ) and a better integration of science and story. I really feel like Sassafras would be best utilized in grades 1-3 and Quark for grades 4-6. I know Sassafras says it can go through 5th, but I really can't see it. The science is way too simplistic. in either case, they probably wouldn't be enough science for a super sciencey kid, but they do fill a niche that desperately needs filling in the science homeschool arena for those of us who take a more relaxed approach to the sciences.

Here's my finished blog post and thanks again for all of your help!!! The Hidden Gems Found in Homeschoolers' Mistakes

You do not need the Teacher's Guides to use Math in Focus. At least I haven't yet and we're about to finish the elementary series. All of the instruction can be done using the student text book which you can find in great condition used on Amazon for very little money. The workbooks can be purchased new through Rainbow Resource for about $10 each. I bought my oldest's fourth grade math for the entire year for $40 doing this. If you have any more Math in Focus questions, then please ask.

The old animated Spiderman cartoons are very tame. They were on Netflix Instant Watch recently. Let me see if they still are. :gnorsi: ETA: Yep, they are still on instant watch. It's called Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. They were made in the early '80's so by far more tame than superhero cartoon that are made today.

My daughter was 5' and 100 pounds at 10. I started letting her sit in the front seat at that point. She is now 5'4" and 110 at the age of 11 and I can't imagine putting her in the back.

I'm selling my K12 lit guides, student workbooks, and the corresponding Classics for Young Readers. I have 3rd-5th grade if you are interested.

You guys are AWESOME!!!! And convicting. I was reading a lot of these thinking to myself, "Uh. That's what I do too." Thanks for all of your help!

Now THOSE are cute sandals! Out of all the ones linked in this thread those are my favorites. Thanks for sharing!

I'm working on a blog post and I wanted to get some Hive input. What is do you feel are your top three mistakes you've made as a homeschool parent? TIA

Apparently pig farmers feel that they can comment on any woman's hips at any time! That's crazy that it happened to you too! My husband loves the fact that the guy told me that. Every time I'm pregnant or pregnancy comes up in conversation, he'll tell people, "Well, I knew Chel won't have any trouble. The pig farmer said so." That's always met with strange looks as my dh bursts into laughter and I give him the evil eye. :glare:

I was informed by a fellow classmate my junior year of high school that I had great birthing hips. He said that since he worked with his dad on their hog farm that he was trained to look for these things and if I'd been a sow, I'd be one of their best breeders. Just what every girl wants to hear in high school! When I was in college a friend told me I had beautiful collarbones.

My top spots are: Clayton, GA Branson, MO Hendersonville, NC Maryville, TN Paris, TN Morganton, NC I'm actually from AR and didn't get any AR suggestions! Go figure.

They have thorns out there too that make flip flop wearing hazardous.

It is more dry. That's why I said if trees and such are important to you then you need to go east more.

Where I live (in my town) doesn't feel dirty or unsafe. The redneck, good old boy attitude is something that I grew up with in Arkansas. I can handle that by basically ignoring 90% of what those types of people say. The "Texas is number one" and "I'm so proud to be from Texas" mindset takes some adjustment. It's a little nauseating at times to be honest. Texas is a nice place to live, but so was Colorado and Arkansas where I have also lived. Beaches...... I've already said I don't like the beach so I'm probably not a good judge of this one. I've been to beaches in Florida and Texas. Honestly they didn't seem that different to me as far as water clarity and cleanliness. The sand at Florida's beaches was prettier and softer, but i didn't get really far down into Florida. We went to Pensacola/Panama City and a beach on the Atlantic side of Florida, but I don't remember exactly where. The closest beach I can get to from my house is pretty gross. At least I think it is. But it's not a swimming beach, but more of a fishing area which usually means the beaches aren't maintained as well as if you are going to have swimmers there. The beach at Galveston is pretty nice once you get past the wall as a pp mentioned. The beaches on Mustang Island/Aransas Pass south of Corpus Christi are clean and well maintained, but it is very beachy (long grass, sand, and water) with no trees or shade of any kind which I hate, but if you are going to the beach, you would love. My favorite beach out of the ones we've been to in Texas was Rockport. It was very family friendly, clean, and nice. I would go back to that one if we rented one of the condos that's right there so I could stay in the room during the hottest part of the day. Hill Country..... The Hill Country is pretty, and parts of it, especially around the Guadalupe River State Park, remind me of where I grew up in Arkansas. While it does have elevation and hills, the foliage is mostly scrubby looking bushes and smaller trees. I need big, tall trees to really feel happy so I prefer East Texas (piney woods) for that reason. Favorite Cities.... San Antonio is my favorite city in Texas because of the great food and its feel (laid back, blending of Texan and Hispanic cultures). Houston is probably my number 2 because of the cultural diversity that my children are exposed to. There are large Asian, Muslim, Indian, and Pakistan populations which is really cool to watch my kids growing up with such a global population compared to my VERY homogeneous upbringing in Arkansas. They don't even bat an eye if a woman is head covering or another woman is wearing a sari. It's just part of every day life. I've not spent much time in Austin at all so no opinions on that one. Dallas is my least favorite of the big cities. It gives off a very pretentious vibe that doesn't fit me at all. Weather..... It's hot and humid along the Gulf from April to October. There's no way around it, and each year it's like an assault to my system. I grew up in Arkansas so I thought I understood what hot and humid was. Ha. Nope. The Gulf area takes it to another level mainly because of how long it lasts down here. In Arkansas we would get every bit as hot and humid as Houston does, but it might be like that for only a couple of weeks or at most a month. In Houston, it's like that every day for months on end and you never really get a break of cold weather because the winters are so milk. I tell people there are two seasons in Houston, hot and mild. And, yes, lots of people spend the summer in the pool or the ocean to beat the heat. The one plus (at least in our town) is around 6 pm, the breeze kicks up from off the ocean and the humidity doesn't feel as bad from 6 pm until the sun goes down so that's when we get out and do stuff like ride bikes, exercise, etc. The only problem at that time of day is the mosquitoes, so I load everyone down in OFF bug spray since both my son and I attract the little pests like moths to a flame. Bugs.... These don't bother me that much because Arkansas has a lot of bugs as well. I don't think there is any state in the South that doesn't. The only new annoying ones I've encountered since moving here are those huge water bugs (really just roaches) that get in your house no matter what you do. I hate them with a purple passion, but you just kill them when you find one. Fire ants were another new insect for me. They are more of a problem when you have little kids because they don't pay attention where they are stepping so it's easy for them to get in a bed of them. For the most part you can avoid the fire ants if you watch for their mounds and steer clear. Plus there are products made to keep them out of your yard that work pretty well. And that's my Texas PSA about living in the Houston/Gulf Coast area.

I'm not planning on starting grammar or a writing program until 3rd/4th grade. This is a totally different approach then I took with my oldest, but I don't see much use in starting it younger than that. I feel like the time I used doing grammar and writing in 1st and 2nd would have been better served doing other things.

Victoria is a pretty good sized city (around 86,000 people) that is not that far from the beach. Rockport is 40 miles from Victoria and has a gorgeous beach area. It is the only beach we've visited that I've said I would go back. Victoria is also about 2 hours from Corpus, Houston, and San Antonio so it has a good location to bigger towns. They have a thriving homeschool community for a city that size with lots of really cool homeschool opportunites like a theater group. That would be another one I'd add to your list.

Sorry. i grew up in Arkansas where distance is always told in the time it will take you to get there for the obvious reasons of the mountains. It might be 80 miles on the map, but it will take 2.5 hours to drive it! We are about 50 miles from the beach. Fortunately, Texas has the opposite problem of where I grew up in Arkansas: nice, big, flat straight roads. So even though we are 50 miles away, the speed limit is 65 the entire way on a two lane highway which means we can make it in about 40-45 minutes.

If you have specific questions, you could always pm some of the Texas folks on the boards here. I'll help you if I can and I'm sure the others would as well.

We can be to the beach in 45 minutes, so 45 minutes from the beach in one direction and 45 minutes to downtown Houston in another direction. I just wish I liked the beach so we took the kids more. We've lived here for 8 1/2 years, and we've only gone to the beach 3 or 4 times.

Oh, I just meant that I would like to be closer to family. It is a 12 hour drive from where we live in Texas to my parent's house in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. We wouldn't have to leave Texas to be closer, but if we do move somewhere else in Texas, my preference would be two things 1) farther north where there are more seasons than Houston has (see the Irish skin in my profile pic? It doesn't like hot, humid, beach, and sun!) and 2) closer to family. I've driven quite a bit through the Piney Woods area of East Texas and I really like it there. If I could pick, I would live somewhere around the Tyler area towards Dallas. I actually like Houston better than Dallas when it come to choice of city, but Dallas fits my two wishes better than Houston.