When we lived in California I did all my regular shopping at Trader Joes. The prices were good for the quality of food, and I liked the smaller store size and not having to choose between 20 different brands of everything.

Sometimes old threads are worth resurrecting. Re-reading this one has been a good reminder to me not to expect the impossible from myself.

hurray! So nice that she has a chance to do what she loves.

I thought Debra Bell's Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling was a good read when I was getting started, it came across a very practical and a little less "there is one right way to educate and this is it" than many of the other books I read. http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Homeschooling-Debra-Bell/dp/1932012982 She has one for teens as well.

I read Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy when I was 13 or so and it ended up being one of the books I read and re-read over my teenage years. http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Galaxy-Robert-A-Heinlein/dp/1416505520

I haven't seen those levels of LLATL so I can't speak to that program, but I believe the very best way to learn vocabulary is through lots of reading and listening (to read alouds or recorded books)--personally I would take whatever time you want to devote to vocabulary and designate it as reading time. In a few years I would look into a good vocabulary program, especially one that teaches word roots. I wouldn't worry about specifically teaching vocabulary though at your children's ages.

Thanks or sharing! I haven't been to that website in awhile, it's good to be reminded that it is available.

I am sorry for your loss.

I remember as a child that when my mom dealt with me for misbehaving I felt guilty, but if my dad dealt with me I was just mad. The difference was that my mom was disappointed in me, while my dad was angry at me. His anger tended to feel like an attack (though it was usually not expressed physically) and usually seemed worse to me than whatever I had done or not done that got me into trouble. Consequently I felt no guilt/repentance over my misbehavior at all. I think punishment can sometimes feel to children like a sort of tit-for-tat exchange, with things either evening out or the child coming out behind. Under such circumstances why should the child feel repentant over what they did? They have more than paid for the behavior. Of course, different children will experience and respond differently to the same situation.

Joanne, thank you for writing this--it fits with what I have always intuitively felt about children--that they are not trying to be bad, they are just dealing with the world as best they can--and that much of the behavior we find problematic is purely developmental. I am wondering if you could recommend just one or two books that would be helpful to parents which would they be? I would be happy to read through all the authors your listed, but it might help to have a specific starting point.

I would say that I enforce consequences for behavior, I would not use the word punish. I think for me it is primarily a matter of semantics. Here are the definitions of punish (according to Merriam-Webster online): 1 a : to impose a penalty on for a fault, offense, or violation b : to inflict a penalty for the commission of (an offense) in retribution or retaliation 2 a : to deal with roughly or harshly b : to inflict injury on : hurt I think the first definition is in line with the way I deal with discipline in my household, but because the word "punish" has harsher and more negative connotations I don't use it (see the words "retaliation," "roughly," "harshly," and "inflict injury on : hurt" in the definitions above?) Those are not good descriptors for what I am attempting when I apply a consequence for inappropriate behavior. ETA: I see others posted similar definitions earlier, I responded to the initial question before reading the thread.

I have appreciated having grave sites of ancestors to visit--my parents' grandparents, for example, that I never knew personally. I have enjoyed going with my grandmother to put flowers on graves on memorial day and hearing her tell stories of those family members. Having a physical reminder makes the people more real and helps me develop a connection with them. I like that, I like feeling attached to my own family roots.

Haven't read the whole thread, but has anyone mentioned Quest Clubs? http://questclubs.net/ Any club or troop you start would be independent, you could make your own rules. We're planning to doing it not as an alternative to scouts (my son will be be starting cub scouts this year) but as a scout-like club with our cousins this summer.

Whenever I start worrying about fitting it all in or areas where I might fail my children educationally, I remember my own and my siblings' educational experience and figure everything will turn out. My family moved a lot--mostly internationally. I was homeschooled through 2nd grade--really unschooled, except for music--then spent 3rd-12th grades in 8 different schools, 5 different countries, 3 different languages of instruction. I lost whole swabs of time--years--of formal instruction because I was trying to figure out the language and didn't understand what was being taught. Obviously this is a great way to learn foreign languages and gain experience of the world, but it was nowhere close to resembling a coherent, gap-preventing educational path. I can only even think of 4 years of school where I was in the same school for the whole year, without starting late or departing early or switching schools mid year. Gaps? You bet I had gaps! But gaps measured by which system? I could tell you more about French or Bolivian history than most American high school history teachers would know--but really I only know bits and pieces of those subjects. I could write an 8th grade level composition in French, but don't know what would be expected in terms of writing at the college level in French. I never took a class on American History, though I did self-study for and pass the AP US history exam. I can speak Spanish decently but have very little formal grammar knowledge. Actually, the only language I know much formal grammar in is French--and I don't know how to describe that in English; I've never even tried to diagram an English sentence. I have a pretty good grasp of world geography but can't name the capitals of most states. I skipped entire topics in math going from one system to another. What was my real education? Life experiences, travel, exposure to people who spoke and thought differently from me, a family that engaged with the world and with books and ideas, immersion in places, ideas, languages, music, books. In my mind I see those years as a massive jumble of experiences and ideas, a tangled web. Yes, a web--not a neat and tidy spiders web with the strands evenly spaced, more like what happens to a ball of yarn when my kids get there hands on it and it ends up spread and tangled across the floor. A web has gaps--in fact, without the gaps there would be no web at all. If a spider tried to spin not a web but a solid surface I suppose it could be done--but that solid, gap-free structure could cover only a tiny area; perhaps a spider spinning out silk all day long could cover the surface of a postage stamp in a solid sheet. But that same spider, spinning a web, could span an entire doorway--and more importantly would actually be able to use the web once spun. It is the gaps that allow that to happen--gaps let us cover more material, choose where to go deep, and create a web of learning and understanding that is uniquely useful to us. Pity the poor spider that, fearful of gaps, puts all its energy into covering one tiny segment of space entirely! When I look back at my own education, it is not the gaps that I notice; it is the fascinating, complex interweaving of strands, a web that is uniquely mine, one that increases in size and complexity over the years and continues to serve and inspire me. How thankful I am for the gaps between those strands! They make the web in all its breadth and complexity possible, and they leave room for future exploration and web building.

Well, I cleaned the house. And did the laundry. And helped with music practice. And got dinner in the oven. I think I'll go do some planning while dinner cooks :)

Since the topic of Mormon missionaries comes up on here occasionally, I thought some might be interested in this thoughtful article discussing missionary service from an LDS perspective. As a past missionary and a mom who expects to send several children out to serve as missionaries in the future, I found Betsy VanDenBerghe's perspective to be insightful and true to my experience.

My house is a mess. I don't want to clean my house. I want to make plans for the upcoming school year. I have to procrastinate one or the other--really, the messy house is more urgent. BUT is it more important? There are messes to clean every day, and there is never extra time for planning. And the planning needs to be done sometime or things don't run smoothly... Really, I just need a clone of myself. That or a full-time housekeeper/cook/nanny.

Sounds like your dd has trouble with executive function skills. Smart but Scattered Teens is an excellent resource to guide you as a parent in helping her build these skills.

Send a soil sample to whoever handles agricultural extension offices in your state and request a lead test (here it is a state university, I believe most states have county agricultural extension offices). There is probably a small fee but it should not be prohibitive. If your soil does have lead, there are alternatives for gardening: raised beds (such as the square foot method or lasagne gardening methods), straw bale gardening, etc. You can have lots of fun and get a great harvest without disturbing the soil.

You are not doing her any favors if send her on the trip, you are teaching her that consequences aren't real and she can get away with not fulfilling her end of a contractual agreement. Better cancel the trip, then put some real work into helping her learn better time management and project organizational skills. She will not hate you forever for keeping your word and being a responsible parent.

Disrespect = automatic extra chores at my house. Used frequently at meal times when children say "Yuck! I don't like this!" Some opinions and attitudes just need to be kept to yourself--you can feel that way, but in our family we do our best to treat each other with kindness and respect. Now you all have heard my lecture :) I'm actually working through this list of social skills with my children (this page has them broken down into steps to teach explicitly). It might look awkward or scripted at first but I find having form to follow in a given situation helps kids to respond in an appropriate way in spite of the irritation or embarrassment they are feeling--that would otherwise lead them to respond with "attitude". (At least, I'm hoping it works out that way. So far I've only had to deal with the relatively minor attitude issues of kids under ten. I'm not super excited to see what teen hormones will add to the mix).

I do have access to Mango and have used it for some of our other language work. I will see if they have Hebrew--thank you for the reminder. Excellent suggestions, thank you much!

Have we had an update on this?

How do you get the educator incentives? Is there a place to sign up?

I really, really want an ipad--all for school, of course! I'm convinced this piece of technology is absolutely critical to my children's education :tongue_smilie: So what should I get? And what is the most inexpensive way to get it? Can I use an educator's discount at the apple store? Or by one refurbished? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to shopping for electronic stuff, so please help me out.