#1 isn't completely weird to me as I have one kid who is definitely more wired to hang with the opposite sex and she'd definitely have had a boyfriend by now if we allowed it. (She's a little mini-me.) #2 doesn't strike me as that strange. #3 is definitely something I've overheard others talking about. As another poster said, I would assume the other mom is a single mom from what you've conveyed. I wouldn't shun her & her ds, but I probably wouldn't choose to do a bunch of things with her. Definitely nothing too out of the ordinary for my part of the world.

I've bought all sorts of student planners (elementary, high school, generic calendars). My kids have never used them. I tried again last year. My three oldest picked out some from Wal-Mart. None got used. I'm done trying. Mine like to either have a checklist for each subject or they just keep a list of assignments in that subject's notebook, depending on the kid and the class. Best of luck!

College Data says 20% of the student's assets are expected to be used each year. Lend Key has a little more information. Student Income has a small protection amount.

I think he's a math cat. Very difficult to get a clear picture of this kitten. He's in constant motion!

I can recommend anything taught by Cindy Lange and she has a class for the fall called "Critical Thinking for Underclassmen" (scroll down). It'll be a Lit/Comp class and it is very pricey.

I did some quick searching & didn't see any schedules or people posting that they'd done this. It looks like some people have used Guerber/Miller's books for logic stage. Someone said that both are scheduled in TruthQuest guides. I can't find the website that has the most comprehensive list (found Murrayshire's blog list), but here's the one (Paula's archives) that comes up often for SOTW linked schedules. I don't see one for Guerber/Miller.

Christine Miller, perhaps. She rewrote/adapted Gueber's history books. I think they are published by Nothing New Press.

Does it matter who accredits it? OnlineG3 has accredited classes. You'd probably want to choose a "grade eligible" one. Some are full. (Note: We've never used OnlineG3 before. Some reviews I have read indicate they are on the easier side.)

Well, I use the ITBS, but I don't know how quickly you could get it there or if you'd want to use it. (You should be able to administer almost all of those levels together. I think the 3rd grader has an extra listening section. We don't start testing until 4th grade, so I'm not sure.) If your district uses mostly computer-based testing, I'd use computer-based testing now. Stanford, for example. My district uses the adaptive computer-based testing. I'd try to use that if I needed my kids to be good at it for entry into the local school. I don't know if there is anything on the market like that for homeschoolers other than the Let's Go Learn ADAM and the DORA. I've linked the Seton Testing version of these, but there are many other providers out there who you can order through. I just linked through one that I knew had all the ones I listed (and more).

So, my knowledge of 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G is limited to what I understand of my electrical engineering DH's magazine articles before my eyes glaze over. The "G" stands for "generation" and I think of it like old technology, older technology, new technology, newest thing. (5G and up is coming by 2020, I think.) While it certainly has to do with quickly data streams across the net, if they phase 2G out in your area or on your network, your older phone won't work for voice either. AT&T is phasing it out. From what I just got from a quick internet search, T-Mobile isn't phasing it out yet, so you should be in luck. We only had dumb phones here and liked it that way. We didn't need data or confusing smart phones! However, with the phaseout, we were forced to get new phones. (My favorite phone was the Nokia 3310. Tracfone's plan when we got it allowed unlimited free incoming texts for the life of the phone. There were a couple of games to keep the kids busy and you didn't accidentally press any buttons that used your minutes. The biggest bonus was a battery life measured in weeks & not hours.) Sigh. If they could make the Nokia 3310 support 3G or higher tech, I'd get it again in a heartbeat.

I've found Tracfone to be the cheapest plans here ($100/year), but had trouble finding a dumb phone recently because the networks are phasing out 2G. There really isn't a cheap plan and dumb phone combo around here. I hope you found what you need.

This name is already taken by an adult male cat friend of dd#3. She really wanted to bring Bob home, but he's a barn cat on a horse farm about 20 minutes from us & probably wouldn't transition well to being an indoor city cat. It was much easier to come up with a name for the stray/visitor cat that we had hanging around almost a month ago. For some reason, he was super easy to name (Zippo). Our previous cat was so different than this new kitten. (I got to choose the last name because only dd#1 could talk at that point. :lol: )

Still trying to decide on a name for him. A couple of the kids like "Tag." Half are set on "Cy" (short for Citrine or Citrus). I've batted around several others including "Bugsy." We just picked him up yesterday. DD#3 slept with him for the first part of the night because he was loudly lonely. He's been getting plenty of attention so far! I'll try to post other pictures later this week. The white kitten is his sister & stayed with the family we adopted him from. I just included because she's cute.

I have to physically check their work periodically. That can be daily, a couple times a week, once per week, or every couple of weeks, depending on the subject & the kid. When I've let it slip to every couple of weeks, I generally don't like what I found. Classes at home where I met personally once per week to do discussions and/or teaching worked best. They don't have too much time to get behind plus there was a built-in time to get everything checked (for both of us). I have a friend who uses an umbrella school to keep her on track & provide outside accountability for her kid. They do it all via phone. I don't know of anything that is in person like this.

How about Literary Analysis? or "Introduction to Literary Analysis"? The FAQ on the LLfLOR page has this very question, actually.

I just do what my kids need & want at the early ages. That means I have one that is young for her grade, two that are right on, and two that are old for their grade. Some are ahead of where the grade level materials are and some are behind. We work where they are. I finally declared a grade for eldest last year when she took the PSAT. For everyone else, we are just playing by ear until high school.

I had this exact same question. I've decided to introduce the lessons myself and not get the DVDs. I don't know how much this particular kid would use the DVDs and she definitely needs the one-on-one attention when she doesn't get something. Your mileage may vary.

Nope. I would let the transcript show improvement. I assume she knew as the class was going that her grade was lousy and didn't just slapped with a surprise when final grades came out. But, that's my home school. You run yours and can decide your own policy.

The LC women have come in after almost every single birth and try to get me to feed my baby in front of them so they can see that I'm doing it properly. I politely refuse to wake my baby so that you can stare & critique my latch & holding technique. They come back. Repeatedly. I try to explain that I've done this before. They still come back. Until I insist they leave me alone. I've never met a LC in the hospital that wasn't pushy - and I gave birth in three different hospitals/cities. Apparently, having BF four previous babies doesn't give you any street cred. :thumbdown: :grouphug: Mergath. Best of luck with whatever ends up being possible!

:iagree: I found a couple of my (different) 4-year plans for dd#1. I know I scribbled a new one every year from 7th grade on & when I've found them later, I laugh. The one I did before her freshman year doesn't match her transcript at all (other than math and Spanish). I haven't even tried to scribble a plan for dd#2. Her path looks so completely different than dd#1's right now, but I can't see past freshman year yet. I'm not even trying to right now. It made me feel better to put something down, but things change and I haven't really looked at those lists since. I suggest taking it year by year or month by month. I think your daughter might start leading the way sooner than you think - and that might change the whole picture, or even just parts of it. Take a deep breath, hug your daughter, plan THIS year, and enjoy yourselves. The years go by so quickly and pretty soon, they are gone having lives of their own. Enjoy now.

Do they HAVE to have a digital graphics tablet for WHA math classes? (I'm asking for my own knowledge for the future.) I found another thread with this exact question (about Chrome). Might want to check with the OP of that thread to see if she went in that direction & if it worked. (Actually, it doesn't look like the OP has been online in months.) I'd contact WHA and ask this question. Certainly, you shouldn't be the first to ask.

Plus math, right?

I'm doing a six week rotation of topics with my two boys. We'll do something fun, something more rigorous, something interesting, something intense, and switch just when it starts getting old. . . . And everytime ds#2 finishes his math book, I get to recycle the teacher guide for that level. :hurray:

It looks like she's quite the artist, so I'd consider counting up her art time along with any studying or classes in art that she's taking through high school and giving her a credit in Art (Applications of Art, Painting, ... I'm sure you guys can come up with a title). You could put that credit into whichever year is lightest. My kids aren't trying for any top level schools, so I won't add anything to the other poster's comments. I will echo the suggestion to be flexible as lots of things can change.

These are perfect & exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I can't find them outside of Australia or figure out if I could get them (affordably) shipped to the US. I saw that Olympia also has these type books, but same story as for Studymate. Why doesn't the US make them?? :crying: