Ds (8th grade) is planning to go to our local public charter school for high school. I would love to get your input on what skills/abilities we should focus on for the rest of the year (and just thoughts in general for getting ready for high school). He homeschooled 1st-5th, went to school 6th & 7th, now homeschooling 8th. Just adding that because he does have recent school experience. Anyway, it might be nice to compile a list in general for high school prep. Here is my list so far: 1) Be able to interact with the teacher (ask for help, etc.) 2) Be able to plan ahead for exams/projects (time management) 3) Be able to balance doing well without getting over stressed 4) Be able to choose good friends - not sure how to teach this one, but seems very important 5) General academic skills (write an essay, write up a science demonstration, show work in math, analyze literature for theme/symbolism) What would you add?

My oldest daughter is an Eeyore/Rabbit mix. She always gets grumpy before her drum lesson (even though taking drum lessons was her idea!). After her last lesson, I reminded her that we were taking February off of drum so she wouldn't have to worry about it for a while. She replied, "Yeah, but February is the shortest month of the year." I just had to laugh. :)

I've been searching the forum, but many of the results were out of date, so I thought I'd start a new thread. My son (8th grade) is interested in taking a coding class this spring. He wants a live class (interact with instructors/other students). He is a beginner other than playing around with Scratch here and there. Because it is his first real coding class, I'd like to find one with a minimum of frustration so he has a good experience. He won't like anything that is a lot of homework or too time-consuming. Any ideas for him?

2001 - Erin Brockovich on VHS... I think this was a gift for my Mom. I give 50/50 odds that it is still in her house somewhere. I'm too scared to ask her.

I was just at Target today for LOL dolls and there were a bunch of cardboard displays that were empty. Luckily my older daughter found some glitter ones on a different shelf. I think they might have just come in, so I would keep checking back if you want to get more. I didn't really realize it was a "thing" as one of my daughters had exchanged a duplicate birthday present a month or so ago for an LOL doll and there were plenty back then.

My dh gave me a peephole one year with the promise to install it. We moved out and sold that house, so I guess I can assume he isn't going to get around to actually doing it... :P

I'm going to give a bit of advice I wish I would have heard before my oldest was a teen (others, please add to the list!): 1) Set up your house rules now the way you want them. For example, we set up the rule that the computer was only used in public areas of the house (not in bedrooms). I am SO glad we set up this rule before our oldest became a teen. A new rule would not go over well right now. 2) Enjoy your family traditions now. You may be able to keep them up when your kid is a teen, but maybe not (they may not want to participate). 3) Be prepared for your child to change in ways you never expected, even if they have been a certain way all their lives up until then. And they won't remember they were ever like the way they were. :) Don't hold too tightly to your vision of their future. Things can change quickly. 4) Take plenty of photos before middle school, because they may not let you take them anymore... Of course, every child is different, but that's a start for me. Anyone else want to add some more?

I did it! 50,011 words. :) What is the advantage to validating on the website? I don't think I will use any of the prizes this year. A few years ago I did when you could get one book published by createspace. Anyway, any other reason to validate? I don't care if I have the certificate or not.

It happened - I accidently finished the story at only 29,000 words. Oops! I'm going to have to go back and add some subplots and so on. Gotta get a couple thousand in today to get caught up as well. Yikes!

I'm on track but a little worried that we are only half way through. I seem to be running into the main climax of the story right now. I might have to go back and beef what I wrote leading up to this so the book doesn't end too early. :P

We have 5 and it is too many. :) But that is with a lot of special needs, etc. Now that one of them is a teenager, I have a whole different outlook. I wanted more kids to have more adult kids - I was picturing big family get-togethers, etc. But now I see that the relationship we will have is probably not what I imagined. The teenage years are long and I feel like there will be a certain amount of damage done during that time. I guess I won't know until we actually get there but right now I think less kids is better. ;)

This reminded me - there was one time I walked out of an OBGYN follow-up appointment after my son was born. They were running so late that I had to go home to nurse him. Again, they seemed really surprised that I wasn't willing to wait over an hour.

We had an audiologist like this once. One time they were running an hour late and we had to leave for another appointment. The receptionist seemed shocked that we weren't just going to stay and wait more. We started only taking the first appointment of the day and even then they ran late!

We have three kids that are followed by the endocrinologist. For the first appointment, the doctor did the bone age xray for two of them and blood tests for two (one kid had both). One tested borderline-low for growth hormone on the blood test, so he went back for a longer test (the stim test). One had a genetic difference that explained her lack of growth. Our third has a form of skeletal dysplasia (that we knew ahead of time) but we thought we should still bring her in since she is the smallest. :) The nice thing is the endo is very good at taking accurate measurements, so they can track growth over time more accurately. Best of luck!