Hello, I was wondering what others were doing for Writing/Creative Writing curriculm for Highschool. My daughter is starting 9th grade next year and this hasn't been her favorite subject.

Neither sets of grandparents are supportive of our homeschooling and I was wondering if others have family members that are anti-homeschooling and how you deal with it to keep the peace. I recently sent my Mom an article from a local paper about the problems in our local school district and I think that helped a bit. My Mother in law was a public school teacher, and two sisters-in law are currently public school teachers, so I basically avoid the subject completely.

I think it depends what part of the country you live in. We have a large hispanic population in our city and even though I only took highschool spanish as well, I was thrilled a year ago or so when I was at the school district building (submitting our homeschool forms) and a Spanish Speaking couple came in with no English and I was able to hack out enough basic Spanish to interpret for them and they got what they needed. I think it's also supposed to be very good for mental development, especially in little children.

Many things go missing from our 3 year old "relocating" them, but it doesn't happen as much now. We never did find the can opener our 2nd son "borrowed" when he was little. I suspect if we ever reupholster our couch, we will find our own land of "Misfit Toys".

No they don't.

I only knew one grandmother well. She lived with us for awhile when I was younger and I adored her. Both granddads passed away before I knew them, except one who held me when I was a tiny infant. The other grandmother passed away when I was young and I only met her a few times.

I'm afraid making laundry soap is a bit to much for me time wise - neat idea though! I've been very happy with the soap I get from Trader Joe's. It's a more eco-friendly type than the main brands.

Usually just one, unless I'm really interested in the topic

No, but if we had the extra money, I'd love to.

Hi I'm sorry to hear about your son. I've battled with allergies for years until God healed me. However, there are some wonderful natural remedies for allergies. Do you have a naturapathic doctor you could see? There are things you can get in the health food store like Quercitin, which comes from onion skin I believe, and helps a lot. There are also Quercitin/Nettle combo tablets. Some people eat natural honey from local bees to help get them ready for pollen season - I wouldn't recommend any of these things without a Naturapath overseeing them - especially for children. They can also do testing to find out specifically which foods or things your son is allergic to. There are also some pollen season herbal teas that worked great for me. I think there was one actually called Pollen Season. Anyway, any time you can take natural remedies over pharmaceutical brands, it's much better for your body.

yes, if we had extra money for such a thing

I recently got free from not doing stuff cause you don't think you're good at it. I like to paint, but don't excell in it, yet was shocked that I did a painting in a public forum just for fun, and someone came up and liked it so much they said they'd want to put it in their kitchen. There is great leeway in art. I play piano quite well, but can only play 3 chords on the guitar, so sometimes I make up 3 note songs on the guitar for fun.

Sounds like it to me. I guess it depends on what your state requires. I actually took an interesting class in college called the History of Rock music and we got credit for that- in college!

ps, I like to use flax seed oil (you can even get the liquid with cinnamon flavor) on toast, but then use butter for baking, then extra virgin olive oil for cooking

I've heard from most health professionals butter is better, but really better than both of those would be flax seed oil, you could google that debate and search for research on that at google.com just type in butter vs. margarine.

What does your daughter want to do? Does she want to keep both? Perhaps you could have her maintain her current level in one through just keeping her practice up on the instrument at the level she is at, while continuing the lessons in one instrument, or flip flop lessons, piano one year, then violin the next, meanwhile keeping her practice going in each instrument. Just a thought.

I worked in the adversiting department of a large global financial corporation.

How exciting, a first job, and it sounds like a good one! I don't know about ID, but you probably need a Social Security card for sure.

We have a bunch of what would probably be considered weeds in our garden. I think it's some kind of low growing clover, but every year they bloom with beautiful tiny purple flowers. After wavering back and forth for years about if I should pull it all up or now, I'm now deeming it free ground covering. It is lovely, so why not let it just grow.

Math U See has an advanced book called "Stewardship" that I believe focuses on how to be a good steward of your money and teaches basic principals of money management - personal finance and consumer math. Something like this would be practical and take up a year of curriculum. I like Math U See because it teaches why we do math and not just how to do formulas. You might also want to contact some local colleges and see what they recommend.

We just switched to Math U See and are happy with it. I like it that they have instructional DVD's for the parents that teach how to explain the concepts, especially since math isn't my strongest subject.

I agreed whole-heartedly with Jenny in Florida - about focusing on raising healthy, happy children, not just bright ones. God recently gave me some powerful advice in prayer. He said "People aren't impressed by how much you know, but by how much you love."

I got some good advice recently. "People aren't impressed by how much you know, but by how much you love." I have a very bright daughter who struggeld with being academically advanced, but socially behind. I think one of the most important things for homeschooling is to help our children be loving & caring memebers of society. I think the most important thing is to love our children and let the education just come. Perhaps give him whatever he needs to stay motivated and interested, without putting any pressure to be at whatever "level". The truth is that we all excell in different things in different ways, and for me it's more important that my children know how to learn/study and enjoy learning, that how high their test scores are, which I think will follow if they enjoy what their doing. How does he feel? Does he feel bored with his curriculum, or is he ok with it. I used to push my daughter at first until I realized it was for my own ego to see how "advanced" she could get, then things came into balance and it's much better now.

I start with a heathy pre-washed oranic salad leaf mix like Earthbound organics. They have a variety of greens that look ver gourmet, but they are prewashed, and organic. Then I add whatever I feel like. You can add flax seeds, sunflower seeds and various nuts to mix up the texture and add health value. Try different dressings. You can go with a fruity salad, and a mandarin orange almond salad is always yummy (if you like mandarin oranges and almonds). You could try a rasperry vinigrette dressing. My favorite dressings come from Annie's Naturals (available at the health food stores and some major markets). They have healthy ingredients and a huge variety of ususual yummy flavors. You can also add proteins like chopped chicken, canned tuna, or hard boiled egg.

I would encourage parents that there is no right or wrong homeschool style, but what works best for your family is what's important. Tell them it's OK to try different styles and see what works for your family, and you might end up switching several times. Even each child might need a separate curriculum. The most important thing is to love your children and encourage their desire to learn. I try to let me children do lots of what they really enjoy, and the minimum of the "have to do's". Also, everything you do in life is part of homeschooling - learning to shop for groceries, dishes, laundry. Try to apply thinks like math to practical applications and show your children how they can use math in the grocery store. etc.