You are not alone :grouphug: My kids are only 13 and 11, but I have noticed that I am suddenly seeing toddlers everywhere -- just everywhere -- and they are so much cuter than they were even just a year ago. I keep having memories pop up of my kids' preschool days, how halcyon those years seem now. I think I will be right where you are now when mine are seniors. Karen

Yes, we did. My kids were in Catholic school through 2nd and 4th grades. That school used one of those spiral programs that all the institutional schools seem to use. When we began home schooling, I gave the kids the placement tests available on the www.singaporemath.com website. The transition was hard, but well worth it. My older placed a level lower than his "grade level," so that's where he started. I used the Challenging Word Problems as a daily supplement (1 page a day, from the previous level's topics). He did great with that, but then he's the kid who wants to be a mathematician. He's currently doing high school geometry in "7th grade." Now, my younger was one of those "good at math" kids who didn't really understand what she was doing -- just skating along on natural ability and some luck. She tested into her grade level in Singapore, but she struggled for a few months with it. We took it really slow and did every problem step-by-step for a long time. Word problems were the most frustrating part since solving those is a whole separate discipline of itself. Taking it really slowly and making sure she got every step before moving on was the key. Now she is truly good at math, and though she will never enjoy it as she enjoys making up stories, she can do it and do it well. For your friend's 6th-grader, it might be more complicated. There's bound to be a lot more buildup of self-esteem/hormones/etc. I would suggest that your friend consider using the CWP books a couple of levels back as their own supplement without changing the entire curriculum. She could even do a special unit just on solving word problems to kick it off. Regardless, she should expect to spend a lot of time sitting by her students as they learn word problem skills -- as I said before, that's an entirely separate mental discipline from knowing how to handle fractions or whatever. But all real-life math problems ARE word problems, so it's an essential skill IMO. Karen

What is that title? :001_smile: Karen

I recently bought a stainless DW and stainless/black stove -- both with a brushed stainless finish. Yes, they show all that, especially the black enamel stove top, but I find it helpful in keeping things clean. I'd rather see it and be motivated to clean it than to let it build up unnoticed, bleck. It only takes a moment to wipe down the stainless portions -- be sure to wipe with the grain of the finish. The stove top might take more effort if I've been doing a lot of cooking that day, but that would be true no matter the color. I love the way they look. Karen

Speaking from personal experience, you have summed it up perfectly. I am alive today because God intervened directly to save me from suicide during my college years. I was starving to death for intellectual peers and/or friends and thought this meant I could not live at all. I am praying for that young man and his family. They probably had no clue, thinking that because he did well in school, everything in life was easy for him. :(

We do Neopets, too. The Neoschool thing has been there for a long time and they haven't done anything with it. There's a lot of that on the NP site -- good ideas that got overridden by higher priorities or whatever. Are those articles written by users or staff? Might just be a fad with the user submissions. Neofriends can contact her account directly by Neomail, a web equivalent of email. I advise caution. My kids are allowed to have neofriends from our guild only -- but I play also and keep up on such things. If I didn't play, I would not allow neofriends or neomail. I advise caution for all the usual internet reasons. Karen

Yes, only through Polka Dot, which is congruent with the author. He is also very responsive to email questions and comments, so feel free to seek more info if you're inclined. My ds loveloveloves the Fred books, so we find it worth the little bit of hassle of having to buy them separately. Karen