People don't sit around and say, "Hey, I'm bored. I think I will make up a stereotype today with nothing to base my opinions on." I'm in 3 different co-ops plus other activities w/homeschoolers. I find more people that fit the stereotype, especially in socialization, than do not. In fact, when I am at large non-homeschooling specific events, I can usually locate the other homeschoolers by using stereotypes. I would bet money that the majority of those that I think fit the stereotype don't think they or the others fit it. I don't want it to be true. I don't like it to be true. I also don't think the MERE act of homeschooling is what makes the kids unsocialized. I think it's more that the parents were less social in school seem to be more likely to homeschool and kids who are on the sprectrum in some way (what would be the weird kids in school) are being homeschooled. I know in my support groups, it seems that half the kids have a diagnosis and more than half of the the half who don't have a diagnosis would have a diagnosis if the parents were not in denial. However, I don't think the intention of the photographer was to say "you guys are a bunch of unsocialized miscreants!" I read it as "homeschoolers are not typically used to having to stand in assembly lines at social events" (and I personally would add "getting them organized together is like herding cats)

I am probably on the sprectum myself and I personally don't see anything offensive about the email at all. I've been trying to figure out the uproar all day. I also don't know why so many people have trouble admitting that the stereotypes exist for a reason.

I haven't read the replies but when I say "we have no money" it means that we don't have "extra" money to do things outside our budget (and often, we are cutting back in one area to reallocate to another area (aka broken dryer). We may have "no money" because all our extra money is being saved for that new dryer (as was case last year).

:iagree: -been there!

I had to go fetch it lol Gibbs-Smith. It wasn't perfect but it was my favorite of the 5.

For my committee (particular grade and subject) it was Prentice Hall. I was chosen because of my expertise in the area (and because I volunteered -only 1 parent and 1 grandparent volunteered in our LARGE district). The rest were teacher of that grade/subject from various schools in the district. No two taught at same school. Note: I was a non-paid volunteer and didn't get so much as a thank you note. The teachers were paid by the district, counted it as some sort of hours they needed, and were given special awards for their participation. Note #2-We began homeschooling the very next school year LOL. I found the experience very eye opening.

Prentice Hall gave away tons of stuff. They had a big dinner party with lots and lots of door prizes and giveaways. They had a lot of classroom freebies. Glencoe and McDougall-Little were not quite so pushy in giveaways (more common things like totes and pens) to the committee but did have classroom freebies. I can't remember the other two without trotting up to the attic to get the texts. The biggest "spoken" considerations of the teachers: The reading level of the worst students (teachers said they could never read my choice) and that the book would be too heavy resulting in parent complaints. ALL books had errors in them.

I think there are some variants For math and science in the upper grades, I will probably use text books. I have yet to see a homeschool curriculum that I can use for science that I could use for those subjects at those grades -except maybe LIfe of Fred. I was on the committee to select the 6th grade social studies text. What a nightmare. I had 5 teachers and myself (the sole "community member"). We had 5 books from 5 companies to compare. I thought 4 of the 5 were utter garbage. There was one, from a small local company, that I liked. I had various neighborhood kids at various academic levels come in and read them and got their opinion. They all liked the same one I liked. The other teachers liked the one I liked. They stated it was their favorite. However, they all put it as their LAST choice. Reason stated: It's heavy and the parents will complain. Vote went this way Aunt Pol's #1 -Committee's #5 AUnt Pols #2- Committees #4 Aunt Pol's #3 -Committee's #3 Aunt Pol's #4 -Committee's #2 Aunt Pol's #5 -Committee's #1 **Committee voted in direct correlation to the amount of freebies/extras they were given

I've been going to CrossFit gym in evenings. I am usually in baggy t-shirts and shorts to work out. When I am done, I am sweating head to toe. However, because I'm schooling all day, the only time I have to run errands is on way home from gym. I am sure I look horrendus with hair unstyled, face red as a beat, and that sweaty stinky smell.

I started CrossFit last month. I've had great results. I've only lost 1 pound but I've lost 4 inches of belly fat in a month w/Cross Fit 3X a week and eating a (mostly) Primal diet. I've made huge gains in strength and stamina. My box modifies for me. When I started I did less reps AND less rounds of every workout PLUS I had the exercises modified. In one month, I am able to do some of the exercises I couldn't do because of my bad knees (lunges and a much deeper squat). I still have to have modifications for things like jump rope and lateral hops. I am now doing the same amount of reps and rounds as everyone but I have the worst time in the box. It doesn't really matter though as I am competing against myself and not the 20 something year olds lol. I love my box as most of the people are very supportive.

I guess it depends on whether your child views reading, especially reading on subjects they don't care about, as "school." I have one who hates to read anything so any reading is school. I have one who loves to read but wasn't interested in most of the books so those were "school"

:iagree: I am a Cadette leader and so frustrated. My troop hated the Journeys. We did the bare minimum w/a lot of leader subsitutes to get our Journey's done. Now I have a new group that bridged up and have to do a JOurney's with them. I hate it, the girls hate it and haven't met a leader yet who liked it or who had a majority of girls liking it!!! Now this new program comes out in September. We start our troop back in September. I can do no planning. The girls can do no planning. They can't work on any badges over summer or at camp because store is sold out of almost everythying. It's frustrating.

I already own this program but I've taken it out of my signature. Can I get a PM please???

I found that it took my Dialectic kids more than 2 hours a day to do the reading and questions and maps. We never had time to do the fun projects.

DD (7th grade) 9 classics (one a month) 20 contemporary books (one every two weeks-light reading for mother-daughter book club) 3 biographies (one per trimester) 3 non-fiction "life" books (DO hard things, Selfish pig, etc) (one per trimester History Spine/Science spine/Logic book/3 Uncle Eric books DS (6th grade) 10 Classics 8 Historical Fictions of choice 9 Contemporary books of choice 3 Biographies 3 non-fiction "life" books History Spine/Science spine/Logic book/3 Uncle ERic books Any additional history books he wants to read

My daughter turned 12 in June. She is starting 7th grade. My son will turn 12 in September of his 7th grade year. He's a year ahead though. Our cut-off is August 31st.

Literature: Various classics: Call of the Wild, Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit, The Giver, Lord of the Flies, Have Spaceship will Travel, The Outsiders, plus some historical fiction and biographies of his choice. Composition: Classical Writing for Older Beginners Language Arts: MCT Voyage level; SWR for spelling Latin: Latin prep 1 Math: Art of Problem Solving Introductory Algebra Logic: Finish Fallacy Detective, then Thinking Toolbox Science: Exploration Education advanced level and Hewitt's Conceptual Physics History: The Idiot's Guide to the Twentieth Century supplemented w/tons of movies and books of interest Extracurriculars: Boy Scouts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Football, Baseball, Chess team, Co-op

I was so refreshed too! Everyone was so real! The conversations were so interesting. I was so shocked when we looked at the clock at the store and it was almost 5:00! Time flew by.

Definitely! This is on my list of field trips for this year anyway!

It was great!

It was great meeting everyone who came! It was refreshing to meet such a great group of women! For those that missed it, there was talk about making it a regular thing. I was thinking maybe once a quarter?

Nope. Giving up my daily chat with CaptUhura is not worth a million dollars.

I would suggest VOcabulary Cartoons. Would you like me to bring it to the Raleigh luncheon today?

Karen -I made sure to separate out what they do at the church sponsored Girl Scouts and what they do as "ministry" with the church (service within church or things that fall under witnessing like VBS and Community Christmas Event). I should point out that the church pays for or provides opportunity/tools, etc for many of the Scout service projects. I also only listed what one of my preteen children has done in past year. There is so much more done by our church, similar to what your church has done, but done by adults and most. There are some wonderful projects they've done in past years. I could never list them all. There are some things that drive me completely batty about my current church (mostly certain people lol) to the point of wondering if I need to look elsewhere but the spirit of community service is what I love most. However, I was not trying to make anyone defensive or say UU is bad. There are many things I love about UU -I miss the candle lighting for sure. There were some lovely people that I truly miss. I also wish my new church was a bit more environmentally conscious as the UU church was! I just wanted to point out the huge difference in certain areas that are important to me that I witnessed between the UU church that I attended for years and the Non-Demon/Seeker Friendly type church that "I" attend now (and why I italicized phrases to show that it was a personal experience). It was glaringly huge! I also wanted to point out that I make a distinction between community service and political activism and Church ministry/Witnessing. All have their place in making the world a better place but one is not the other. Trust me, I get aggravated with my homeschool group and other Scout troops who only do church service/witnessing that is within their church! I am so glad to know that there are UU churches out there who actually DO something!!!

:lurk5: I was considering it for my son when he gets to 7th as he is doing Physical Science and Algebra 1 this year.