Trying to figure out how to use Apologias Jump In. Do I have my son work through the skills in the workbook and do the writing plunges when?? I know the teacher guide says some do the plunges between chapters.... and not to do it consecutively. By chapters do they mean the different sections in the student workbook, because nothing is listed by chapters. If you use Jump In your own way I would love to hear about it. Debbie

Thanks ladies.......after much stress....I decided LOF it is.... He had actually been working in the fraction book some off and on and enjoyed it. he was very relieved when I told him our plans to finish out math with LOF:)

If you've read any of my posts on here, you know our trouble with math this year. DS is 8th grade, started out doing Saxon 87 (where he placed) He has really grown to HATE it and I strongly dislike it. There for a bit the first of the year we stopped Saxon and went back some to see if we were missing some basic math......he did fine and I realized more than anything it's just that Saxon math is not a good fit for ds. Here we are going into 9th grade next year....not really knowing where he will place....will it be pre-algebra or algebra? My biggest dilemma is what to do to finish out this year???? I would LOVE to drop Saxon because I feel like it's a waste..... we aren't going to finish it anytime soon (3/4 done) and he's getting only about 70% on the mixed practice for a lot of the lessons. I want him to continue to work on math til June and then some this summer although not a full blown curriculum. I can put some things together myself (Khan academy ?) but I don't know where to start????? Debbie

yes it was taking FOREVER to do a lesson per day, over an hour easily on some days and it was basically exhausting to him. I believe we will finish up this book and take it slow as needed.

honestly I think he could breeze through ALL the MM level I got for him.... I am considering some LOF but not sure what to do. He has been working in the fractions books but says it's too easy. Should I jump to the pre-algebra book? Before Saxon he did Singpore but finished that. He did struggle a lot with CWP books so maybe we can work on that some as well.

I feel like Math for my 13yo ds has been a disaster this year Against my better judgement he did Saxon 87 this year...... went ok for a while and then just became too much.....bogged him down terribly and he hated it. I was also questioning if we needed to go back and review some basic math due to some of his grades. So...... that is what we did. Dropped Saxon.... went with Math mammoth. Well by doing this it really threw us behind I guess you could say. I have felt the pressure to finish a years math program in a matter of 6 months :001_huh: DS has mentioned a couple times that MM was too easy. Today he made certain I HEARD him...Mom I already know all this stuff....it's way too easy. So I goofed with MM. Now what do I do????? I have 3 options..... One..... could drop a math program all together and work on some "living math"...... I have Family Math middle years book that I ordered and Kitchen Table math is due in the my mail box TODAY but I am not sure if that will cover his level of math Two...... pick back up with saxon..... and try to finish it out (he's probably 80% done with it) even though it may be a struggle. Three..... LEAST favorite option.... go with something else but honestly it's too late in the year to start much. I had planned on doing pre-algebra with him for 9th grade so we could start early and work slow???? Thoughts, advice?? Debbie

Our old top load broke, had to buy something and wound up with he top load and I do NOT like it. Considering a front load but would love some reviews. What do you love/hate about yours? Do they REALLY clean the clothes well???

curious if yours has an agitator?

Do you have one? Likes,dislikes? What is the most water you get at full? Have you had any success with washing comforters,blankets in yours? Debbie

My son gets a horrible tummy ache if he eats bananas

I actually use the "orange/yellow" ticonderoga pencils..... thought those were pretty good pencils but they don't make a difference on that cheap paper.

thanks ladies...nice to know I'm not crazy after all ;) I went and looked and they are off brand.....guess that is the problem. I will certainly look for the deals this year on the name brand ones.

FYI...I normally buy mine at Walmart.. If so, have you noticed a problem with pencil markings being lighter on that paper vs other paper :confused: My oldest has complained off and on for a while now about it, I thought it was just him or the pencils so I tried it myself. You have to bear down a lot harder on the cheaper paper to get it to show up well. Now my youngest ds is complaining too... and I agree it is difficult to see unless you bear down quite a bit. I compared again myself on 2 different types of notebooks....both sprial bound. The cheaper notebook showed much lighter than in my spiral notebook that cost a bit more. surely I'm not the only one having this issue??? I guess you can't expect much out of those 29cent notebooks huh? Guess we will buy some better ones for school and use those for doodling. Debbie

thanks....we have our credit lined up so that isn't an issue. DH isn't a mechanic by trade but by necessity...LOL....he fixes ours when they break....so he has a pretty good knowledge of cars and knows what to look for... the one at the dealer does come with 90 day/5000 mile warranty and of course the other one doesn't. The one by pvt seller is a better deal..IMHO...although 2 years older, it is less $$$, it comes with less frills (which means less $$$$ for repairs IMO) and has better mileage. We have only talked to the seller on the phone but DH is leaving work shortly to go see it and check it out. The guy did talk about trading it but the trade in value he said they offered isn't much less than what he is asking....it also doesn't match up with edmunds.com for the FMV.

Do you rely on Edmunds.com for determining how much to offer on a used car? How do the dealerships determine what to ask...do they use something similar to edmunds to evaluate it? We are looking at 2 different SUV's, 1 Pvt seller, 1 dealer. On Edmunds the Pvt seller vehicle is almost 3k lower than what the seller is asking but is better than what most are listed for on craigslist. For the SUV at the dealer it is about 2k lower on edmunds and the dealer already dropped the price 2k. I know everything I have read says to value it through edmunds so I assume it's pretty accurate. Just not sure how to use that info to my advantage. Deb

Well DH said something last night but I don't think he's too old by any means....I told DH that and he agreed. I think DH more than likely mentioned because we have a TON of Playmobil sets and he probably meant cut him off because it is slowly overcoming the house;) now the biggest dilemma is the set he REALLY wants cost $100 :001_huh: oh and DH is known to play with Playmobil too....LOL

Have any tips on buying from pvt seller vs dealer? We are looking at 2 suburbans right now, 1 is at a dealer, the other is a private seller. More nervous about buying from a PS for some reason??

How old is too old for Playmobil? 9yo DS wants a playmobil set for his bday.... DH and I are debating at what age we will cut him off from buying stuff like this. Curious? BTW...this is what he wants for his bday.. Debbie

Not sure what he needs or even how to express it here. For several years ds used Singapore, did pretty well with it too. He didn't always come to the answer in the same way they showed in the book but he was able to at least understand it enough he came up with the correct answer most of the time. However there were times he didn't. The word problem books he struggled with and did ok but again not always doing it the way the book showed. We have picked back up the CWP Singapore books but he simply cannot grasp how to set them up the way singapore shows him to. He computates pretty well, understands how to work a formula as long as the formula is given. Here lies the problem.. unless a direct example is given he struggles with working the problem. If there is ANY variation from the example given he can't do it. With word problems he struggles with putting that into a formula but a lot of times can get the answer correct. Seems as if he is struggling with the logical/higher order thinking when it comes to math. He is 8th grade so surely he should be at that point by now?? But maybe not?? Is this teachable? What direction do I need to take with him? I did order the LOF fractions book to see what it is like.... not sure it's going to be what we need though. We were doing Saxon 87 this year but has not been a good fit so we have dropped it. For now I am hoping to work on some "living math" instead of just working problem after problem. If you have any suggestions on where to go from here I would greatly appreciate it. I feel lost. Debbie

I'm talking specifically the larger SUV's..... right now we drive a minivan but in comparing it to a suburban.... well there is a bit more cushion in the front and back.... our family fits in our van ok but DH is wanting to go larger as he feels it is safer.. Deb

Looking to spend under $500.... will be used mainly for kids to use for school related stuff..... khan academy, for oldest ds to use for some programming stuff online..

he keeps saying he wants to do Java Script:001_huh: but he's never done any programming before.... not sure where he should start??? DH knows very little and I know NOTHING. also a little hesitant.... by doing this can he mess up the computer or is it fairly safe???? Debbie

the Fiar forums are pretty active actually but quiet compared the WTM forums;)

first of all, our unreliable van is our only vehicle we all fit in. Dh's car is too small. I have big kids ;) If the van is broke, we don't go anywhere... I really do want to be out of debt asap..... I would rather be out of debt and pay cash and finance nothing...however I seriously doubt our van is gonna make it that long.. we don't have a problem fixing it, IF somebody can figure out what to fix :confused: That seems to be the problem.... they can't find anything wrong...but there obviously is something wrong. When we take it in, it runs fine:glare:....figures huh My youngest ds also plays travel soccer which means we travel some weekends as far as 2 hours away... not a good thing when you have to drive an unreliable car. If we have to act soon...we are setting a max amt of $300 for a pmt however we want to stay lower than that.... that would still leave us a nice snowball every month.... we could repair our van when it does break again, I know the air is going out on it (summers too hot here for no air) we just don't wanna put a lot of $$ into something we know we are not going to keep and I doubt anybody will buy..... the van is in fair condition honestly. I know our "new to us" suburban can break a week after we buy it but at least we will be fixing something we plan to keep for a long time. However that repair will also be in addition to a car pmt:tongue_smilie: I don't have a problem waiting a few months and potentially putting down a chunk of $$ and only financing a few thousand.... between our tax return and a potential bonus it's possible. Just hope we can find what we need/want when the time comes....that's the hard part. So many of the suburbans in our area are worn out, ripped leather seats, very high mileage etc... Deb

A bit of info..... we have debt, are paying it off.....have made a huge dent but still have a ways to go. Thankfully we have a BIG snowball and it makes it fairly easy to pay off within the next 12-15 months... Our OLD van has been giving us problems off and on, for whatever reason the problem seams to rear it's ugly head during warm weather..... cutting off without warning to running rough when we run A/C. Honestly I don't like to take it out of town for anything.... We have had it looked at several times by several different people and so far NOBODY can tell us what is wrong. Actually they tell us they can't find anything wrong but we know differently.. Our plans were to get rid of it this summer and get a used suburban. Suburban not only will fit our family but is also needed to pull our travel trailer (it's older and paid for ) therefore we have specific needs in our next vehicle and not just anything will do. Our goal is a suburban in great condition, clean, well taken care of, decent mileage, good price ....well WE FOUND IT but We can act now (even though we weren't going to buy this early in the year) OR we can wait and hope we find what we need when the time comes. There are a lot of suburbans out there but many are high mileage and overpriced..... DH is pleased with this one...I can tell he really wants to act on this one but is relying on me to be the level headed one right now We wanted to save a bit more $$ to pay down than we have..... but it's not the end of the world if we don't. I just figured I had a few more months...also DH might get a large bonus in April just won't know about it until March Just not sure what to do. I don't want us to have to buy one in a desperate situation and wind up with one we really aren't happy with...kwim?? Debbie