I had never heard of Governor's schools before, but I googled and unfortunately our state does not offer one in the performing arts. I assume you have to be a state resident to attend the programs?

She wants a program that is a week or two away from home for the summer. She has already gotten herself one internship this fall as assistant stage manager for a production that is just finishing up. Through that, she made contacts to run lighting on a second company's production next month. (I've been proud of her initiative!) Austin and SCAD are in the $1,000-2,000 range. NSLC is $3,000. The others that I listed as "expensive" are $5,000 and up (including housing and meals). I'd still be interested to know about any good programs, even if they are expensive, because we might be able to make one of those work for the summer after her junior year if there was one she really wanted to do.

She is currently a sophomore.

My daughter is interested in attending a summer program next summer in stage management / tech. (Yes, she is already thinking about this!) She is interested in the program at the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theater. I was wondering if there is anyone who has a child who has participated in this program, or knows anything about the program, who would share your thoughts about it? (I know it's a long shot!) Are there any other programs she should consider? We've identified the following so far: * SCAD Summer Seminars - SCAD programs seem more weighted towards film and television than theater * NSLC Theater Program - Time appears to be split between acting and management/tech (My older daughter loved the NSLC medical program she attended, btw.) * Carnegie Mellon Summer Pre-College Program in Design and Production Technology and Management - super expensive! * NHSI Theater Arts Institute program - mornings are spent in acting-related classes even if you choose to do design/tech in the afternoon * Emerson College Pre-College Stage Design program - 5 week program, which makes it quite expensive

My daughter has been teaching herself Japanese, too! What materials did you son like to use?

Based on your feedback, we've decided to try to move ahead with the level 2 book, and return to the level 1 book if needed for more in depth review of any particular topics. This program combined with a weekly tutor for pronunciation and conversation practice should cover things well!

The B&M school used Bien Dit 1 for French I, and was going to use Bien Dit 2 for French II. Thank you everyone for the replies - they are very helpful!

My daughter completed French I and got credit for it according to the transcript from her B&M school. We were going to have her continue on and do French II this year. They used the Bien Dit textbooks, which we also have at home. But she told me that her teacher did not cover the entire first level book - he only covered about half of it. So I'm feeling like we need to go back and complete the first textbook before moving on to the second. But this will mean many hours of work that she won't be getting any credit for. Plus, if we can't get through both books this year, she'll have a year with no language classes on her transcript. (Right now, her transcript is French I freshman year, Latin I sophomore year, and she wanted to switch back to French II this year.) Any suggestions for how to manage this?

Thank you, everyone, for the replies. It helps to know that this is not uncommon. She's not in a B&M school any more, so in the short term accommodating this won't be a problem. But thinking ahead to college, are there techniques that she can learn to use to help her adapt to a group class setting? Do we need to make focusing on small colleges with fairly small classes a priority in her college search?

I feel almost silly posting this, because I don't feel that I'm articulating it well. But posters here always seem to have such good advice and insight, that hopefully you can understand what I'm asking even if I'm not explaining it well ... My daughter, a high school junior, has just returned to homeschooling. We are assessing her current math level and working to review any gaps before moving ahead. Today while working with her I noticed that if I ask her to read and do some problems on her own, she tends to do poorly. She'll look at the problems and won't really think them through and just say she doesn't know how to do them. When I had her sit with me, though, and asked her to read the problem out loud, and explain to me verbally how she might approach the problem, on many problems that she previously said she didn't know how to do she would say "oh, I get it!"and solve it, without further input from me. Now that I think back to her previous homeschooling (through 8th grade), she had this same work style when she was younger. At first I thought maybe it was a lack of focus or attention or even a lack of confidence in her abilities, and if we worked together for a while she would improve. And she did, somewhat, but not completely. And I wonder if this is part of her struggling with math at B&M school that I knew she should be able to do well - she is very quiet and shy in a big class and so probably rarely if ever spoke up. It seems like she needs to verbally articulate her thoughts in order to make connections in the material. Is this a learning style that anyone else's kids have? Are there any techniques that you'd recommend? Any techniques that can help when she needs to work silently - e.g., on the SAT? We were planning to use AoPS so she could work independently, but now I'm thinking that perhaps I should reconsider that.

Many thanks for all of the advice so far! We did pull her out mid-stream - she has been unhappy at the public school, her grades were tanking as a result of her being unmotivated and it became clear that she was simply unwilling to put in the effort there any longer. This was certainly not my ideal situation, but I don't think that forcing her to stay in a situation that was not working would have any good outcome. It just does not seem to be the right learning environment for her. I'm not sure where we are going to end up, exactly, but we are jumping in where we are. I do not expect this to be an out-and-back situation, at least not to the same public high school. Unfortunately, I don't think that a public virtual school is available to us. We are located in NJ, and Google is telling me there was an effort to start a public virtual school in 2013 but it was not accredited by the state; I find nothing after that date. We did homeschool previously (upper elementary and middle school), so I know that NJ homeschool law requires only that we provide equivalent instruction, and we have absolute flexibility to decide what that looks like. We do have college as the post-graduation goal, so that is the thing that I want to keep one eye on to make sure that we are meeting requirements there. It is possible that our goal will be revised to a year or two of community college followed by transfer to a four-year college. It all depends what happens going forward. I do hope that she will regain her passion for learning. It is perplexing and upsetting to me to see a bright student faring so poorly in classes where I know she can do well. ETA: The good is that she seems highly motivated to do well at homeschooling.

Hi everyone, I had not planned for this AT ALL but I might be homeschooling my daughter who is a Junior. I am, of course, overwhelmed at the moment. Can those of you who have BTDT give me a crash course - where do I need to focus first? What am I likely to overlook or screw up? Thanks!!! ETA: Thinking out loud here - I'm thinking my best bet is to break this down into manageable chunks, in the following order of priority: 1. Choose core subject courses - math, LA, history, science 2. Choose electives - world language, art, PE/health, etc. 3. Look for opportunities for socializing 4. Research general college admission criteria to make sure we're not leaving any big gaps 5. Research testing (SAT, AP), and other college admission preparations

Sorry for being away - a few other minor crises took priority. Many thanks for the replies - I am researching everything!

Hi everyone! I've been away for a bit because after homeschooling in grades 5 through 8, my older daughter went back to B&M school for 9th and 10th grades, and she just started 11th grade. She is unhappy, though, and asking to homeschool once again. I have a lot of thoughts swirling in my head (considerations include moving to a different school district, private school, homeschooling/online school, early college admission), and am looking for basically any suggestions and advice - thanks! Background: She did well in homeschool from 5th through 7th grades. In 8th grade, she developed quite a concerning funk and social isolation. She stopped wanting to do basically any activities outside of what I required for her school days (and she did the minimum there), and stopped seeing friends. I'm not sure if this was driven by hormonal changes, and/or if she backed off because I allowed more of the get-together planning with her friends to fall to her instead of me and she started to notice (as I always had) that her friends were happy to get together if she did all of the legwork/inviting, but they never reached out to her or invited her anywhere. So I decided that homeschooling was not benefitting her at this point. In 9th grade, her mood improved as she got treatment for social anxiety, and she had a couple teachers she liked. In 10th grade, she seemed fairly happy, as she was invited into a non-traditional small learning community that allowed her to do an off-campus internship 2x per week and she had a good friend in some of her classes. But that program was ended, and she hasn't made any new friends that she talks to outside of school, as I had hoped she would. She's unhappy and complaining about her teachers this year. Now, my questions / concerns: I know that I am not willing to do the type of homeschooling we did when she was younger, when I planned her lessons and taught her. She would have to enroll in an online school or similar and be accountable to someone else. Are there any online programs that you would recommend for a gifted homeschooler who does not do well in a traditional classroom style environment? I am concerned about the admissions criteria. Her grades and test scores are OK but not fabulous, and do not reflect the kind of things she gravitates to on her own. (For example, in 9th grade biology she did a lot of reading on her own about prion diseases, and last year her Latin teacher commented on how she was always asking questions beyond the scope of the class. Right now, she's reading the Aeneid. Last year, she taught herself a lot of Japanese.) I think it's basically because she's not currently engaged, so she does the bare minimum. She was accepted into a local gifted program for summer and weekend enrichment when she was in elementary school. Would there be any benefit in having her take an IQ test? We've never done that because of the cost. I am concerned about the lack of face-to-face and social interaction if she returns to homeschooling. I had hoped she'd make some friends at the high school, but she really hasn't found her niche there. But if she's not going to a B&M school, I don't know where she'd meet other kids. When she was younger we found it difficult to impossible for her to make significant, lasting friendships with other homeschoolers - we went to lots of events, but there were always different people at them. I think it would be even more difficult now since there are so few homeschooling high schoolers. And I've previously signed her up for art and similar classes but again she hasn't made any friends there in the past. She claims she'll be able to make friends now because her social anxiety is under control. I would like to see her find some friends with similar interests, and have good teachers and engaging coursework.

Does anyone know of any resources to find mentors or knowledgeable people who are willing to chat with kids about advanced topics for fun? Right now, I’m specifically looking for science subjects, but I changed the title because the issue I’m asking about is not specific to this subject area but applies in any area where our kids’ interest exceeds our knowledge. Books and websites can provide information, but sometimes having a discussion with another person is invaluable. So, how do we find these people? Do they exist? For example, my daughter (14 yo / 9th grade) has been toying with a thought experiment about what would be the effect of having a hole in the universe - just a place where the universe doesn’t exist - and what would happen to matter in our world that came in contact with the hole - would it pass through? bend around? get cut into pieces? would the hole be detectable at all? I’ve tried to encourage her thinking in the area and brought in as many concepts to intrigue her as I could think of that might be relevant - e.g., talked about how Einstein’s Theory of Relativity started with a similar thought experiment, discussed vacuums, worm holes, multiple dimensions / Flatland, invisibility cloaks, etc. But my knowledge is limited so I’m sure there are tons of things that I don’t even know to mention, and I can’t really push or challenge her thinking effectively. Similarly, she’s really intrigued about biology and she is interested in prion diseases and had me buy her a book about protein-folding. I can’t even discuss this with her because I know nothing about it. I wish I knew some really good college-level professors who I could invite over for dinner periodically to have interesting discussions about such things! But unfortunately I don’t. So, are there any good resources out there for such fun, informal discussions, where knowledgable teachers are participating? Is there a way to find a mentor who’s willing to work with kids to keep piquing their interest? Would it be a good idea to look for a tutor and ask them to plan a series of intriguing discussions? I know this question is really vague and kind of odd, but I’m hoping someone might have a suggestion!

Thank you so much for the replies and the suggestions of things to consider. I haven't noticed any issues in writing for other classes - either in the physical act of writing by hand or typing, or in the organizing of ideas into the written word - but I will keep a closer eye out. She does say that she doesn't like to read, and she prefers to follow along while listening to an audiobook. Although she can read if the book captures her attention. We used graph paper in past years and she has it available but hasn't wanted to use it this year. I'll suggest that we try a whiteboard - her work won't be shown on her homework sheets, but if her teacher doesn't have a problem with that then it would be fine with me. We discussed it a little last night. I pointed out that, while it is impressive that she can do the problems in her head, doing the problems that way has the downsides of (1) it takes longer and makes it more difficult, (2) it increases the likelihood of error, and (3) it doesn't earn any extra points. She agreed that she actually loses points for not showing her work, and she claimed that she does know how to show her work and she does it on exams because she's required to. I've also pointed out that in algebra she'll need to show her work more. She said it's just a habit. So, for now, I'll continue modeling (if she lets me continue to help with her homework) and hopefully she'll see that it can be faster, easier and more accurate than doing it all in her head. If there's nothing else going on, maybe that will persuade her to change her habits. I'll also do further research and continue to keep an eye out for any other possible issues. I don't think it's dysgraphia or visual-spatial issues (based on a little online research as to how those present). We actually had an eye doctor appt scheduled for today, so I'll ask him about developmental vision and eye tracking issues. Thanks again!

Background: My daughter is previously homeschooled, currently in public school 7th grade. She has always been accelerated in math, and she has skipped a grade. In both 6th and 7th grades, she was really hoping to be placed into algebra, but did not make the cut. In both years, we’ve struggled with her work early in the year. I thought that, because of her frustration with not being placed in algebra and not feeling challenged, she wasn’t giving it her full effort and/or was avoiding doing the work. But after last night, I no longer think that is what’s going on (or at least it’s not the only issue). I was wondering if anyone else has seen something similar to this? She was working on some worksheets (4 operations with decimals, fractions and signed numbers). She’s always resisted showing her work, preferring to do it mentally. If she has to write down intermediate calculations, she erases them afterwards. She’s done this for years; nothing I tried changed it. But last night I noticed something new. She was getting tired and asked if I could do the writing if she did the math and told me what to write down. I agreed to try it. When we did this, she completed the worksheet much, much faster and focused better on the math principles. This was in stark contrast to earlier in the evening, when she was tearfully declaring that she couldn’t do the work (she can do the math involved). It was also in contrast to her adamant refusal to let me walk her through the steps involved in solving the problems, if she wrote down the information (I suggested this when she said she couldn’t do the problems, thinking maybe she needed to refresh her memory of the steps.) So, it seems she wasn't struggling with the math principles, but was overwhelmed with the writing. My impression is that this is something beyond mere stubbornness or not wanting to do it. What might this mean? Any suggestions for helping her with this?

Could anyone who has IKEA kitchen cupboards speak to how long you've had them and how they are holding up under use? I was going to consider them for a kitchen remodel, and I have lots of other IKEA furniture in our house, but I have concerns about their longevity. In other furniture, I only purchase the solid wood pieces and even those have had a tendency to fail faster than I think they should. I often take steps to reinforce them, such as gluing joints and changing hardware. The door hinges also seem to fail faster than traditional hinges. So, I am wondering if there are any recommendations for things to do to the kitchen cabinets to strengthen them? Also, does anyone know if formaldehyde is used in the IKEA cabinets? Or do they use formaldehyde-free wood and glue alternatives?

After your kitty is feeling better (I hope soon), I'd encourage you to explore other vet options in your area. Where we live, there are several emergency vets in the area, and we've used them for emergencies and were grateful for their help. But they are incredibly expensive - easily $200 to $300 just to be seen. And all of our local vets are closed on Saturday and Sunday, which turns any issue that comes up over the weekend into an "emergency" if you are worried and would like it to be looked at without having to wait through the weekend. Well, we had a gerbil issue one weekend. The issue was complicated by the fact that the percentage of vets that see small animals is quite small. After a couple of hours searching online, I finally found a vet's office that has normal hours on Saturdays and Sundays - it's not considered an emergency visit. They are quite a drive for us (30-45 minutes depending on traffic) but the savings of paying for a regular visit instead of an emergency visit was well worth it - around $35-50 instead of $300. They see small mammals and birds as well as dogs and cats, which made them perfect for our menagerie. So, now we have our local vet for our dog's regular care. We have a local emergency clinic for true after-hours emergencies (e.g., rush an animal who's been hit by a car or in severe distress there). But now on the weekends we have a place we can go at a reasonable cost in case of illness or injury that we want to have looked at ASAP but does not rise to the level of a true emergency.

Hubbie made a roast, but the meat turned out dry and tough. Can I do anything with the leftovers to make them more appetizing? Perhaps a dipping sauce or something? Thanks for any suggestions!

A question for the gym moms out there. My younger dd is interested in trying cheerleading. It seems that the teams around here have their info sessions and sign ups later in the spring for the coming year. So I thought for the next couple of months I'd sign her up for a cheer class, but it turns out that these classes mostly seem to be tumbling classes. There are a number of gyms that offer tumbling classes in our area - some are focused on cheering while others are strictly gymnastics or gymnastics but say that their tumbling classes are good for cheerleaders. What should I look for to make sure that tumbling skills will be taught safely? equipment? coaches' background or training? class size? etc? Thanks!

My innate personality is to be a people pleaser. I hate to have to tell people no; it is a skill I continue to work on. However, even after I successfully say no to someone, I end up feeling anxiety and its physical symptoms - e.g., tight around the chest, shallow breathing, tense muscles, etc. This passes eventually. But does anyone have any advice about how to make this feeling go away faster or avoid it in the first place?

When we go to our local Y, we usually park in the adjoining parking garage. It seemed quite safe, because there are a lot of people coming and going. But this past week a mother and her 8 year old daughter were assaulted at gunpoint when they were getting out of their car. I am trying to decide what changes I want to make to increase our safety. The Y says that they have escorts available upon request that can walk you to your car. But they're not available when arriving at the Y, and I don't know how long you have to wait for one after you make the request. I considered carrying pepper spray or similar, but I wouldn't want to use something like that against a person with a gun. I'll probably try to park on the street instead, where there are more people and visibility. It may mean that we have to walk several blocks, though, especially if others start doing this too. ETA: DH thinks this might just be a one-time thing and I shouldn't make any changes yet. WWYD? Any thoughts / advice?

That is ridiculous. The school needs to have a plan in place for how to handle the situation if any kid has a meltdown. But to exclude your son is unacceptable, IMO, and I would tell them so. If my child was excluded from the concert, my child would not be returning to that school after break. ETA: My daughters attended an elementary school that had a special classroom for children with autism. Each year, those children would be included in the holiday concert. They typically each had an aide present to help them, and to remove them from the auditorium if the situation was getting overwhelming for them. That is an appropriate way to handle the situation.

Our car seats had expiration dates stamped on them. Even if they weren't in an accident, they aren't safe to use past that date because the plastic components degrade and become brittle. I would check the seat for an expiration date, or the owner's manual, or check with the manufacturer for the lifespan of the seat; if it's well within those limits, I would pass it on.