I managed to get one of the more expensive sets (one of the modular building sets) on sale on Amazon this year for my almost 16 yo son. It had been discounted on the Lego site but sold out almost immediately, so I was thrilled to find the same discount on Amazon and took the plunge. That was in mid-November. The set was still expensive, but I'm not ready to let his Lego years end!! He really, really wants the Tower of London and Big Ben sets, so I may scrounge and save and get those for him eventually. Then we may have to call it quits...or he can begin financing his collection himself. :-)

High fives from me to you! :hurray: She will need to take the SAT to get a "verifying" score...which is really not that high. You could google what past years' verifying scores are to get an idea. My son waited until he knew for sure he was a semi-finalist, so he did not take the SAT until November of his senior year, and he only took it to verify his PSAT score, so it was low-key, low-stress for him. Your daughter will also need to write an essay and obtain a letter of endorsement for finalist status. We school under a local cover school in TN, so my son's high school counselor at that school wrote his letter and submitted it directly to the NM site. Your daughter will receive all the information and instructions for how to do this when she receives her semi-finalist letter/package (ETA: in September). So to move to finalist, she will need a verifying SAT score, an essay, a letter of endorsement, and her transcript. As long as all of those things look good (as in no C's on transcript), then moving to finalist is almost automatic. Congratulations again! And give her a :grouphug: for me!!!

I've had to ban it from our house, too, unfortunately. It has ruined comforters, carpet, furniture, hair.

I have a Garmin vivofit that I love. Like you, I had a Fitbit that completely stopped working just 3 months after purchase, so I went to another brand. Mine is battery-run, and I have had it TWO full years---worn almost every day---and haven't had to change the battery yet. It will sync to my laptop, but I rarely fool with that. I really just use it to keep an eye on my daily steps. It does track sleep, but I take it off at night for comfort reasons. I did have to change the band after 1.5 years of daily wear. I ordered a replacement band from Amazon for like $4. I think Garmin has a new snazzier model now, but the basic vivofit works well for me!

I follow this basic recipe frequently: http://www.food.com/recipe/fried-chicken-fingers-tenders-334473 Instead of doing a flour-egg wash-flour routine like the recipe, I soak the tenders all day in egg and buttermilk. Then I dredge them in the flour mixture straight from the buttermilk and pan-fry them. They are fabulous and my ds's favorite dinner. The red pepper flakes give a nice kick to them. I've added some dill pickle juice to milk before and soaked them in that (a la Chikfila), but we all still prefer the buttermilk.

A pennant for his wall? A felt pennant is usually in the $12-$15 range. I've ordered these online, but you can probably find some locally in sports stores. My older son is getting a Cubs World Series pennant for Christmas; he already has his university pennant. My younger son also has pennants on his wall of his favorite teams. I see a Michigan pennant at Walmart online for only 7.99 and free shipping! We are giving my 15 yo a Dortmund soccer ball. This is a "fan ball", and these usually run in the $20 range if you can avoid shipping costs. Another idea is a Michigan tervis cup with lid. My boys love those tervis cups! Finally, there are a zillion sports-related books out there. I feel like my sons have most of them. lol! Maybe a soccer history book or soccer strategy book? Check amazon for recommendations. Most of these would run under $20. My 15 yo is getting new earbuds from my parents. :-)

Oh! Please, please, pretty please give us a review when you can! :bigear: I am wavering between using Zumdahl's World of Chemistry and Novare's General Chemistry with a group of local students next year...with hopes of maybe eventually developing an online course. I know Novare's General will be slightly different from the Accelerated version, but from what I can tell without holding them in my hands, it is just a matter of initial pacing through the first few chapters. I would think the tone/clarity/design/interest level would be the same. I have the Zumdahl book already and really like it. But the Novare program comes with so many "helps" (quizzes, tests, solutions) plus the labs are scheduled appropriately. It is tempting... Thanks! Jetta

I just recently purchased Novare's lab manual: http://www.novarescienceandmath.com/catalog/chemistry/cehsh/ Unfortunately, I haven't had enough time to look through it carefully, but on first glance, it looks thorough and challenging. I think it could be used with ANY chemistry program---not just Novare's. And although I don't wholeheartedly recommend the Spectrum chemistry course, the lab portion (and accompanying manual) is excellent. I think you can purchase the manual and chemical kit apart from the textbook. Finally, there is the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments by Robert Thompson. HTH! Jetta

I tend to avoid posting more critical replies about online courses since I teach one myself, and I know how crazy difficult it can be sometimes. I especially marvel at how the teachers at schools like Wilson Hill and WTMA teach so many online sections with so many students! Makes my head spin, but I digress... I have posted before that I was disappointed in the lab portion of the PAH AP Chemistry course. The lab kit was quite expensive, and there was no option for us to buy materials "a-la-carte" from it. Then the instructor revised some of the labs during the year my son took the course so that my son did not use many of the items that we had to purchase in that kit! I was very frustrated. The course itself is already extremely expensive (considering there is no live interaction), so the expensive lab kit was a bit over the top. I do hope that the lab kit has been adjusted to match the actual assigned labs now. Having said that, my son made a 5 on the exam and received 8 credit hours of chemistry (including labs) at his university. So the cost was worth it! :-) There is NO WAY that my younger son would do well with the format of the PAH chemistry course. He is a smart kiddo and naturally gravitates towards science and math, but he does not have the same inner drive and organizational skills that my older son has. That is why I have enrolled my second son in Wilson Hill's math program rather than Derek Owens like my older son took (and I *love love* DO). Asynchronous would not work for younger son. This is something you really need to consider when you are choosing online courses. My older son also took an AP English Language course from PAH (Kathryn Walker). This course was fantastic...probably the best course my son took in all of high school. She did include some live interaction meetings and some "book club" meetings with students, so there was an added benefit from those. She also had firm deadlines, and she taught outside of the exam format (in other words, she did not teach only to the test). However, the AP exam itself was very, very stressful for my son. He is a strong writer, but he needs time to process his thoughts. In fact, he cannot PHYSICALLY write fast enough to meet the demands of the timed writing on the AP exam. He prints with a computer-esque style that is slow---but very nice to look at! This son made a 4 on that exam--and we were thrilled. :-) I hope that you receive some answers that will help you make the right decision for your family. The style of a course and its teacher can make a world of difference to a student and as a homeschooling mom, I am SO GLAD that I get to search for courses that match my kids...and those might be different for each one of them! Jetta

Hi Sue! My mom has been teaching Adult Education in Tennessee for 23 years, and since our state has transitioned from the GED to the Hiset over the past couple of years, she does have some experience with it. She has mixed feelings about it. She has found the math portion to be substantially more difficult on the Hiset than the GED. The Hiset tests a higher level of math knowledge (well into Algebra 2 topics), and it also asks the questions in what she calls a more "round about and tricky" way. There are very few direct math problems on the Hiset. It is written by the ACT company, so she says the questions are more like ACT questions than the old GED style. So that's her 2 cents. I think she likes the Hiset's other sections. It's the math (which is also her speciality) that is giving her students enormous difficulty. Also---I was under the impression that the Hiset is ONLY offered on the computer. I wonder if that is true? Jetta

Do you have attached or detached earlobes? detached Do you have hair between your second and third knuckles? yes Do you have a straight hair line or a widow's peak? straight Do you have straight hair or curly hair? straight Do you have a cleft chin or a smooth chin? smooth

Suzanne, I am also in TN and was (for 12 years) with an umbrella school that required quarterly reports. I agree with a PP that you should assign grades for the portion of the course that your daughter does at home. Also, I would not report the quarterly grade to your umbrella school. Just leave that grade blank and attach a note that you will report it at the end of the semester. That will give you a little more time to process your thoughts and set up a plan to help your daughter succeed in this class. The things this teacher said at your parent orientation make my skin crawl. You are paying for this??? I am certainly in favor of thorough, challenging courses, but there is no need to throw such haughtiness into the mix. Maybe I'm just especially sensitive to it during this election season...lol!!!

I posted a detailed comparison between BJU E&S and Apologia's PS eons ago on the logic board, but I doubt that post made the move when the forum updated. In a nutshell, Apologia's Physical Science does have some overlap with the BJU Earth text, but Apologia does not even remotely cover the material as in-depth or as well as the BJU text. However, the Apologia text includes one chapter (I think) on basic chemistry and a lot of chapters on physics. These are not covered in the BJU texts you are considering; BJU covers those topics in its Physical Science course (which includes NO earth science). And neither Apologia or BJU Physical Science courses include any life science at all. The BJU texts are very meaty and well-done. I am not a fan of the Apologia texts, but that is a personal preference. I have many irl friends who have used them multiple times and love them. The question is...What do you want to achieve with middle school science?

Hits: Memoria Press Enrichment Guide (2nd grade). I'm using this with my daughter, and we both absolutely love it. I was so hesitant to purchase it, but now I wish that I had used all three years of it. Miquon. But I knew that going into it. I'm just thrilled that I get to use it one more time. :-) No misses this year!

I am so sorry, and I hope that your son recovers quickly. Like the previous posters have mentioned, he will need to sleep a lot for possibly several months. I had mono my sophomore year in college, and I remember distinctly falling asleep in classes throughout that semester. Although I was embarrassed by it, my professors were very understanding.

My son is doing Analytical Grammar, and he (we) just learned that appositives are not always set apart by commas. If they are very closely related to the subject, they do not have to have commas. For example: "my sister Sally". However, I'm not sure that "to lose your friend" is an appositive. It really doesn't rename the subject; instead, it seems to further describe the subject. I looked it up in AG and found that infinitive phrases can act as adjectives. In fact, the author gives an example very similar to this one: The best way to keep it a secret is to forget it. She has "to keep it a secret" as an infinitive phrase modifying "way" and "to forget it" as an infiinitive phrase acting as a predicate nominative. What do you think? :-)

Hi! Your post made me smile with warm, nostalgic feelings. My older son has always been obsessed with maps, and now he is a freshman in college majoring in geography. So no, the obsession might not let up. We always gave him a new Rand McNally at the start of every school year. It was a tradition. We also purchased him multiple "street finder" map books of our own county plus those of places we visited (such as http://store.randmcnally.com/thomas-guide-san-diego-county-street-guide.html). For Christmas we purchased detailed wall maps from the USGS...they have some really neat ones. My aunt, who is in the process of visiting all the national parks, sends him park maps in the mail. And of course, Google Earth is an endless supply of fascination. Even though my son is in college now, he still has daily "down time" when he sits with his Rand McNally on the left of his desk and his Google Earth open on his laptop on the right of his desk and studies the actual topography/road systems in 2D and 3D. We also provided ds with nice art materials (loose art paper, sketchbooks, Prismacolor colored pencils, quality fine tipped markers, etc.) to draw his own. He has art-quality notebooks filled with his own hand-drawn maps, and his home and dorm rooms display large maps that he has drawn over the years. Enjoy! Jetta

I am so excited, too! It is just amazing!! I couldn't even swallow during that last inning, and my stomach was in a complete knot. Oh, my!!! And then FORGET sleeping last night! It is going to be a wild week. My poor college son has a big calculus test at 8:00 a.m. the morning after Game 1. This will really test his mettle! GO CUBS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I will cheer for the Tribe until they play the Cubs. Then things will be different. :lol:

We have a close homeschool friend who chose TN Tech over UTK last year. He was a high stat student (Ned McWherter recipient) who attended Governor's School at TTU and fell in love with it. He liked the small town feel combined with the gorgeous countryside. And he knew he could be significantly involved at TTU. Plus it had a more specialized major opportunity that he was interested in. We had a lot of "fish in pond" conversations as he was considering the huge UTK campus/student body vs. the smaller (but still a decent size) TTU. My own son is a student at University of Memphis. We were able to stack some significant scholarships (also a Ned McWherter recipient) plus the HOPE so that ds is attending school and living on campus completely for free. You can't beat that! I don't know much about MTSU although we do have a few friends who have toured it and seriously considered it. In fact my son's best friend narrowed his choices down to MTSU and University of North Alabama and went with UNA at the last minute. The HOPE scholarship has gone down a bit in value over the years, but it is still a nice addition to whatever package the school offers. My second son will probably take advantage of the TN Promise program and attend community college for two years. Does your son have a preference about size of campus/student body? What does he want to study?

I think all of the ones you mentioned will be excellent. One thing to consider (with any online course) is whether you want an asynchronous, self-paced course or a course with live class meetings and deadlines (or a mix of both). My son used Derek Owens (for precalc and calc). Derek's style of teaching and the flexibility of his course matched very well with my son's personality and goals. At the end of the course, Derek recommended some review books and plans for studying for the AP exam, but he did not expressly review within the course. He did, however, use released AP questions as the basis for the tests throughout the year, so I felt there was plenty of AP preparation. My son made a 5 on the exam and now is doing very well in Calc II at a four year university.

My son took one BW course last year (9th grade) for the very same reasons you mentioned, Rockhopper. So no, I did not have his work graded---although I was very pleased with it. I just folded that work into his overall English grade which included grammar, literature, and some other writing done at home. We plan for him to take two BW classes this year (one fall, one spring). Since he developed some confidence in last year's course and realized that the courses are not THE END OF THE WORLD, I am going to request grades for this go around.

I teach a hybrid biology course (online/local lab meetings), and we will complete 24 labs and 2 projects (insect collection and biome oral presentation). ETA: This is an area of interest for this particular son who is in this year's biology course, but I did the same # of labs with my older son who was not at all interested in biology. He did, however, enjoy doing the labs with his class of local homeschool students. Biology lends itself to a wonderful lab environment when done in a small group setting.