This would be a tough one for me personally... I read Stephen King at 13 and quite enthusiastically all my teen/young adult years. I also really enjoy his writing style and gravitated towards the dark, mystery type books. There also were never any limitations or discussions on what I was reading... That said, I'll also admit that now, as an adult, I'm scared of the dark. Much more so than I ever was as a child, because now I have these images that my mind has gathered between movies and novels of axe murders and langoliers. I have to be really careful what I watch/read now because it stays with me. My mind can conjure up the most detailed image that will pop up any time I am alone, or in the dark, or other such time and place that is similar to the "scene".

Thank you!!

Anyone know of curriculum sales I can look forward to? I'm specifically looking for Saxon 6/7 and All About Spelling as well as some preschool manipulative stuff....

if dd thinks it will work then leave it... otherwise I'd do a duvet cover

Call them inside and make them clean it up! Either they'll learn not to trash it or they'll get sick of cleaning it up and not want to use it anymore.

:iagree: although I'll admit to not always having a smile! We have been living in an RV for the last 1.5yrs (moving into the house this weekend!) and for the last 4m there has been a neighbor boy who I'd like to just smack now and then, though I think I'd smack the dad first... anyway, he has no concept of manners, no concept of how to treat toys, no concept of sharing or getting along with others. He's an only child and he goes to public school and is your "typical" kid who's parents can't be bothered to discipline or spend time with him. So he's here all.the.time. I act like his parent "in our house we...." "the rule here is___ if you want to play here you will follow the rules" I've sent him inside his own house a couple times because he wasn't following the rules, he went inside and stayed inside (I keep waiting for his mom to come ask what has happened). He has a healthy respect for me as an authority figure, I'm fairly certain I'm the first person to ever equally tell him no and tell him he's doing good. I actually am feeling a little bad that we're leaving him here.

also looking for Logic that is more than just grid puzzles/games.

does your son feel he needs a self-defense course? It sounds to me like he's becoming the type of man I would want my son to be... comes to the defense of those that needs it, but doesn't need to "be a man" around the other guys. He sounds like he's got the self-confidence he needs without being overly confident.

This is illegal in the US, it violates the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act. No person is to be denied emergency treatment from any public hospital. I would have brought the whole place up on charges.

The biggest problem with these kinds of anecdotal stories is you don't really know what happened. Most of them here are second and third hand accounts so how you can anyone say the death/injury was a result of the homebirth and not some other circumstance?

Since you plan to start TOG soon I would probably just stick with reading biographies of important historians, your children are still plenty young that they'll get lots out of TOG. You could make up some worksheets to go along with your readings and if you have a good library it would be free.

I think a lot of it stems from the fact that so many people are going deeply into debt and then not using their degree. Or their degree is just a check box on an application for work that has nothing to do with their degree. I also think that as a society we are starting to look backwards, we're looking for the "good ol' days" so to speak, I think part of that is the idea that you work a job because you're good at it, not because you have a piece of paper that says you know about it....

ha! depends on who you ask... there are some who feel there are very specific "rules" about AP, such as co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, wearing your baby, natural birth etc. etc etc... the problem that has cropped up (IMO) in the AP movement is the idea of parental passivity. Whereby you can't do anything that might harm your child's self esteem/psyche. So you don't tell your child no, you don't discipline, etc... everything is "child led" However, fundamentally I believe that idea of AP is that your child is integrated into your life, not merely an accessory. You include them in what you do, so when I cook I have a child or two helping me (even when their help is not much of a help!) When dh is working on the fence he's got a kid or two handing him tools etc.. We don't hire a babysitter every time we need to get something done, or sit them in front of the TV etc... We talk to them and involve them in what we do. We practice AP and we do some of the "rules" or common AP things, like co-sleeping, and we do allow for natural consequences as it's appropriate, and we do allow for some child-led things (like I try not to push academics before they are ready). However, there are specific rules in our house and specific discipline methods for breaking said rules. My children are "trained" (a horrible word in most AP circles) to behave.

what about a silverware tray?

We are in a homechurch, so there is no building, pastor or committees etc... we tithe to a savings account and use those funds as needs arise in our community/friends/family. We've used the money to help pay medical bills, help someone rebuild after a fire, provide groceries for an internet friend etc... We don't feel that the tithe is a command, but a good rule of thumb. We use 10% as a guide (to help us keep it in the budget and make sure it goes out first), but feel that Jesus made it pretty clear that it wasn't the amount but the attitude in which it was given that mattered... We also support a missionary family that we know personally as well as a radio ministry. The kids tithe as well out of the little bit of money they get, we save it up and at the end of the year they decide what charitable cause that money goes to. It's been a great lesson in learning how companies and charities manage their money. My oldest was really put off when he discovered that an organization he wanted to support only sent about 15% to those actually in need, the rest went to administration of the program.

Thank you! This child and I seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, yet very similar at the same time. I think some of my struggle is the fact that I was "early" in everything and tend to be pretty analytical. I don't remember a time when I wasn't reasoning things out and connecting all the dots so I get frustrated that she seems to be taking so long to get there. Once again I need to relax :chillpill:

So how many tabs does Firefox support?? LOL I must have 50 open right now, one link leads to another! I can't thank you all enough for the reassurance that it's not as hard as I have it in my head! The resources are wonderful as well. DH and I were talking and we agree we need a 4yr plan. Up to this point it's been okay to take it year by year and try things out, but there isn't room for "do overs" in high school. Which I think is where my stress really comes from. I don't want my poor record keeping, or procrastination to hold my kids back from whatever it is they want to do. I did discover that OK requires only 23 credits for graduation (seems kinda light to me) and our community college will let anyone take 9 semester hours, no transcript needed :) and they seem to stress ACT/SAT scores for home schoolers, for general admission. This make dh think I'm stressing over nothing and just need to make sure they do well on the ACT/SAT. Again thank you all!!

Thank you everyone!!! I really appreciate the calm voices and resource links. Taking a deep breathe...

I'm a little freaked out, it has hit me that my dd is in 8th grade this year and that means high school is right around the corner! I'm not sure what to do, I feel totally unprepared. Now dd has not expressed any interest in secondary education, and we are fine with that, however I'd still like to "do it right" because she has 7 brothers coming up after her and I'm guessing at least one of them is going to want to go to college. What do I need to be thinking about when we plan our year? What should a transcript look like? Is there a benefit to a portfolio over a transcript? I've heard I can use course work done in 8th grade towards high school credit, is this true? Does age matter when it comes to material covered? I've never given my kids grades, we've always worked on the mastery idea, how do I give them a GPA? Somebody point me in the direction I need to go please!! I feel like I'm about to walk off a ledge!

how does everyone organize their notebooks? and keep themselves organized? I didn't use TOG last year, but the year before I started with TOG and got off to a good start, but then when I needed to get the next unit prepped it seemed like I didn't have time to get prepped while still working. It's easy to get everything prepped when you don't have other things to do, but I find it hard to maintain that momentum... Tips? Tricks? Tools?

My 13yr does this, but I think it's more of an act of defiance than logic. She seems to miss the simplest of cause and effect relationships, often asks questions that she should be able to reason out for herself, and has struggled with the logic of math and numbers since day 1. I'm seriously concerned we're never going to hit the logic stage. My 10yr son on the other hand is at the cusp making schooling the two of them very difficult. Does anyone have advice for encouraging a child into the logic stage?

My dh is a programmer and went through the book "Hello World" with the 8& 10yr last year. The language it uses is not a common language but it taught them how to think through the steps of creating a program. By the end of it they created a very simple game and were incredibly pleased with themselves (of course now they have disillusions of grandeur, becoming rich game makers lol) He thought it was an excellent first resource to teach the logic of programming and judge a child's interest without investing a ton of money. I don't know how well it would have gone without him acting as the teacher though...

I wouldn't bring it up, but if it's asked about I would say it's because Jabba is mean and he wanted the princess in her underwear to make her feel self conscious and embarrassed.

I agree with Karyn, if this is inducing that much anxiety then perhaps going away to college isn't the best idea. Is she really prone to passing out?? I would think I'd look into medications to raise her BP.

I agree it's on the disgusting side, but the girl is 18 and a student in another county. The rules against teachers getting involved with students stems from the idea that you don't want a student feeling threatened by the authority the teacher has. But this teacher wouldn't have had any kind of authority over this student. I think it's wrong on a personal level, but I don't think he should loose his credentials and thus his means of supporting himself, just because people don't like the idea of a 40yr age span...