I think it's worker bee--more than 33 posts! (because I'm not there yet) Do you find yourself setting this as some sort of weird goal? Hmmm--what does that *say* about me! (Perhaps get off the #@%# computer and get something done? lol)

9th Omnibus 1 (with Spielvogel and Barron's World History) Henle Latin Jacobs Algebra Various bible study/theology/doctrine books, including Paul Little's books Apologia Biology Rod and Staff 6 (for Grammar review) Writing the 5 Paragraph Paper 10th Omnibus 2 Memorize This (Bible) plus What's the Difference? Comparative religion Powerglide French (bagged it--yuck) Various Geometry resources, including ALEKS, Geometry in 20 Minutes, and other things The rest is a blur 11th Holt French Sonlight 300 (20th Cent) Algebra 2 Classical music history using Chronological Study of Classical Music (from RR) Apologia Chemistry Driver's Ed online Bible (Worldview studies) with Understanding the Times (but we only did one semester, because I didn't have all the pieces--grrrr) Next year, the plan is for ds to take 4 classes (2 per semester) at CC. He'll probably do math at home with his dad again, and Bible here, too. I want him to have history, government, physics or some other science, and a really good English class. I may have him take two classes at high school--we can do this in VA, but they must be core classes. If he took a composition class and a literature class, I'd be happy. We'll see!

You can go to http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/world.htm for a lot of maps (blackline and filled in) and some other resources to help you. We used Runkle for a .5 credit of physical geography, adding in their mapping to learn the countries of the world. But you could easily save the $ and use the web. Oh, and have you seen this? Neat site to show how the Middle East changed. http://wtmboards.com/K8genJan202007/messages/2564.html

You don't have to discuss everyday. We saved it up for maybe 3 or 4 times a week, depending on "life." Some of our discussion was just because I didn't always require ds to write out answers. On the other hand, some discussion questions were just something he could write out and hand in. You also don't have to do absolutely every assignment. And, you can require, as I did, that answers be written out even for discussion questions, in order to prepare for that discussion. Omnibus is REALLY easy to use,imo, because the answers (suggested answers, in some cases) are given to you--an essay should include *this* or here's what your child should cover in *this* discussion. This is one of my quibbles with Sonlight. There are also several tests, including quarter and semester exams. Sometimes, I used these as quizzes, shortening them to fit our purposes. We also didn't read every book, tho we covered a lot. Love Omnibus--couldn't tweak it for this year, but really, it allowed us to study the Great Books, and that was pretty neat.

You can move on, but keep working on the facts. I agree that separate practice is very helpful. We are on multiplication, but we took two years for addition facts, although we added in subtraction and multiplication along the way. If your child doesn't see them as discrete facts, but you emphasize that, for ex., 2+3 is the same as 3+2 (as far as the answer goes), by the time you get to the upper facts, they only have to learn 3 or 4, or less-- I love how Saxon does this with multiplication--we have learned 1's, 10's, 2's (introduced as "just the doubles"), 3's, 4's, 5's (from the clock), the perfect squares, and the 7's. Many are shown in relationship to other things--we count a lot of money, do the clock every day, etc. Now we are on the 8's-- I point out to dd that she already knows 1x8, 2x8, 3-5x8,10x8, 8x8, and 7x8. That just left two facts to memorize! She was very happy. I guess my point is, it's easier to learn in chunks with relationships. You can see this in how much easier it is to learn a phone number if you say, for example, 9-2-5, 47, 60 instead of 9-2-5, 4-7-6-0.

Actually, I have History Scribe but only use their blank pages (with lines and a space at the top)! Dd narrates, I write it on the white board, then she copies it onto History Scribe blank paper, then we find an internet picture for the space, or we put in a photo of her (doing a project, or holding a finished project, etc.). There are some examples if you scroll down my blog (it's an older post). I thought I'd use the pages, but found it so much easier just to do it our way. I found the maps difficult to use (we use SOTW AG instead). Not worth the $, imo.

Oh, here's one we made up (only if the audience classically schools) What did Hammurabi have for lunch? A Baba-loney sandwich! lololol

Knock Knock Who's There? Dwayne. Dwayne who? Dwayne the tub, I'm dwowning, I'm dwowning!

Older? Today's my birthday. lol

I don't homeschool my middle child because he is in ETOH/drug treatment, residential. But I made the decision not to before that happened. We originally were going to just homeschool my dd for K, but then my eldest asked if he could be, too. The middle child just didn't want to, and we felt it best for him to stay at school. Then he got into all kinds of sex and drugs. Not just because of public school--there were lots of reasons. He has expressed feeling left out--but still didn't want to come home for school. Do I feel guilty? Do I wish he had been homeschooled? Do I wish I had known earlier that homeschooling was really wonderful and that I'd be capable of teaching my own kids. You betcha to it all. I most wish I had kept him away from the kids he found at ps. But we can't beat ourselves up for doing the best we could at the time.

We are doing some astronomy this year. Really liked the Moon lapbook from Hands of a Child, but it would be easy to pull one together (even if you've never done it before). If you email me, I'll walk you thru it. Also, don't forget YouTube--you can watch the Apollo moon voyages (lift offs are cool!) and various views of the astronauts walking on the moon.

Have you seen Mary Pope Osborne's version of The Odyssey? You might enjoy that one. It's much less intense, but still has a lot of the action-- Or, just skip it. That's perfectly ok. I second the Aliki book, and you can get lots of other beautiful picture books on individual Greek myths. You can also tie in some astronomy by learning several constellations and their myths. I think it's much more intense to show a film than read a book. My own ds (now 18 and a huge fan of the Odyssey!) was terrified by the first 5 minutes ofThe Neverending Story. Never did get to watch it!

I agree with Claire that the derivatives add interest and practical application. We are almost at the point in the SOTW AG where we blend colors of playdough to show how the English language is a blend of many different languages. Knowing some words came from Latin is a great tie-in! Love those connections. We start and stop PL, too. I do find that dd7 has retained quite a bit. Of course, we are only on Lesson 8 or 9 (didn't do it with dd last week, so I can't remember!) We have the dvd's but find them boring. Dd does like reciting the prayers, tho'. We just go thru the lesson, reading the first page (and sometimes I get the pronounciation off the dvd) and paying close attention to the derivatives. Then we make flash cards out of 3x5 notecards I cut in half. The next time we visit the lesson, we go thru all our flashcards, and do the second page. Lastly, we do the third page and whatever else is left over. I suppose we could make it fun by writing out some Bingo or Lotto grids, or making a second set of flashcards and playing a matching game (concentration, or concentration with one set of Latin cards and one set of English cards), but I just don't seem to get around to it.

I just finished The Thirteenth Tale (pure junk, but ok) and The Hiding Place.

Maybe you could study the heart? The actual, physical heart? As far as sharing Valentines, I hosted my own St. V day party. I invited both homeschooled kids and ps kids. We made a few crafts and decorated pre-made heart cookies. It was fun! Our very first year, though, we got the nicest surprise--a dear friend brought over 5 or 6 little valentines from each member of their family (even the dog!) and some candy for my dd. She even made us a little heart cake. Df realized I might feel dd was "left out" and soothed my mother's heart by providing for us. That was truly loving, wasn't it?

That's funny--I like the other one better because I think the reading segments are more interesting! lol

Continuing to pray. My son recently told me how he was stunned that I would see him when he was in JDC. Although you can't see him, he knows how much you want to. The hardest thing was to let him suffer the consequences of his behaviour. I will pray you can do that, so he will learn. But I will also pray for mercy for him. Any word yet on treatment? Covering you in the Spirit, Chris

Willful disobedience, especially when repeated multiple time, really gets my goat. I would say spank, but that may not be in your parenting repetoire. It does work, but I just am unsure of the message it sends--although my thought really is that the message is, I'm extremely serious and you will obey me, or suffer this. I am the boss, and you do not get to make this choice without me giving you this consequence. Whatever you choose, I would try to tie it logically to the "crime," which you did by making the new rule. A lock, as others said, would definitely help. Is your dd very social? Then isolation may be a good consequence. People who cannot be trusted to obey rules must be taken out of society. If she prefers being alone, this doesn't work. Is it just extreme curiousity, coupled with the disobedience? Wish I could help more. Here's a website I've found useful before. http://www.disciplinehelp.com/parent/detail.cfm?behaviorID=21&title=The%20Crier%20%28Who%20Sheds%20Tears%29&step=Action Sorry--you may need to paste that--I'm still new at this link stuff! HTH Chris

Rod and Staff Grammar 2, plus copywork, plus narrations in history.

We used Apologia Biology, Apologia Chemistry, Astronomy Today, and Runkle Geography for high school so far. For elementary, we do nature study, have used a moon lapbook from Hands, and Trivium's plans. I just bought a Great Science Adventures Microscope set, which I love.

Ours uses Glencoe for upper math, but here's the interesting thing-- When ds 16 was in public school, he took Algebra in 8th grade. It was considered advanced, and it was--really Algebra 2 in some ways. He did not do well ('course, that could have been the drugs), so he retook it in 9th grade. You'd think they'd use the same book, but noooo, they used another Glencoe text that taught Algebra on a totally different level--actually easier than the 8th grade text. I guess they reasoned that the 8th graders were advanced, but the 9th graders, just average. Now, does that make ANY sense to you? Our lower school in Texas used Everyday Math. The main problem with that text is that it is very rarely implemented correctly, using all the manipulatives, all the methods, and such. I went recently to our elementary school here, and I think they said they use Growing with Math, but I could be wrong. When I mentioned that we were homeschooling and using Saxon, the teacher kind of sniffed and said, "Oh, I'm familiar with Saxon. We chose something else." End of sniff. Brother.

My son was ordered to treatment--it really is a good option. I hope it works for him. Let me caution you--do not use a Keystone treatment center. We have had a very bad experience overall there (Newport News), and we hear several other locations aren't that good, either. If he is put in residential, do you have some idea where? If he is a Christian, and you prefer Christian treatment, there is an excellent one in Arkansas, near Little Rock. It's called Capstone. Ds lasted 4 days, but it would have been great. Your son may be ordered to locked treatment.

It seems to lessen the cycle time. Does yours have a "sensor" that tells when the dishes are clean? Seems to me these take forever. Some cycles take longer, too--our "pots and pans" cycle is the longest.

I'm in Northern Va. Here, I'd go for the cul-de-sac house, because it had room for 15 year old (and good resale value-two master bedrooms? Or would you be giving up the master so he could have it?), and won't need so much work. Honestly, we live on 20 acres of woods--I had visions of the kids enjoying the woods. Didn't happen, except for the littlest, and she probably would've enjoyed a neighborhood more. Plus, the woods nearby is a recipe for dragged in "stuff" all year long, esp if you have a dog. Besides, if there's not as much shade, you can grow a garden! lol Can you tell I'm tired of the woods? See what's close to your house. Really, it's the location that matters more than the house, imo. Also, can you use the space efficiently in both houses? Utility bills? How are the schools? (Even if you homeschool, you want an area with a fine reputation for the schools--check for any gang activity in the high school, and the proximity of apartment or rental properties as these indicate problems people don't talk about). Good luck, and let us know what you choose.

Stephanie, Praying for you, Sweetie. Dear Jesus, You know how hard it is when children make choices that lead to pain, for them and their families. I know you ache to gather Stephanie's ds under your wings, to offer him all the riches of heaven that are yours to give. I pray she will crawl into your arms, and that her ds will soon come home to you. Please give Stephanie rest and peace. As you strip away even her son from her, I pray you teach her that you are enough. Keep her in your tenderest care. Love, Chris