Top ten percent are automatically accepted to state universities. This was a move to get away from affirmative action and even out racial admissions to public u's. There is something being heard in the US Supreme Court right now that could result in the Topeka ten percent rule being scrapped.

Absolutely. I have met the full range in the years I have homeschooled. But having had a son in the local middle school in a good district or the past two years, I think those same kids with uninvolved parents would be no better off in PS.

My son is coming home from PS this fall. He's finishing 7th grade. I'm considering accelerating him, but I would like to act like he is starting high school academically, but still call him 8th grade for a while, deciding on graduation a little later - maybe sophomore or even junior year. What are some technical considerations, like PSAT dates and such? Thank you!

With my first I was a resident in ObGyn. I was having contractions at work, helping other ladies deliver their babies. When I got off work I went home and ate a big meal, then headed to the hospital. I would not recommend the kind of physical work and hours I was putting in (youth, gotta love it), but why wouldn't you work or go out or whatever? It's not a disability to be pregnant, lol!

Thanks guys, I wasn't really expecting encouragement to go forward with it. Thank you!

Thank you, Jane! It's nice to see you, too. Although I see a lot more of you than you do of me because of all my lurking on this board. :001_smile: I think he will be fine with it, but with this schedule we could convert to a traditional class at the 11th hour if something changes. Thank you for sharing your experience. I have the Campbell text so I will pull it out and review it as you suggest. Thanks so much for your advice!

I'm thinking about my son going into 8th grade. He will do a study of Natural History in 8th grade I would like for him to do the following sequence in high school: Physics Chemistry AP Biology AP Chemistry or Physics Is it a typically a problem to do AP Biology without previously having a basic Biology course? Thanks!

You can NEVER be sure. We had it in our neighborhood, and we would think it was gone, then a month or two later it would pop back up. It turned out that one of the families was using a flat iron, assuming that would do the trick. It didn't of course. So by the time their infestation spread back to the rest of us and we became aware of it, several weeks had gone by. Lice infestation is really huge these days, much more prevalent than it was when we were kids. If you trust your sister to do the treatment correctly, then I would have her over. Life is too short to let this rule you. And I"m saying this as someone who actually had lice. I know how miserable it is. ETA: Okay, now that I see she is sending them back to school with bugs, then I agree. Uninvite her. If she isn't diligent about it, you don't want to have her over.

The problem is the life cycle. The shampoos only kill lice, not the eggs. So the lice die but the eggs hatch and pretty soon you are right back where you started. We had a massive neighborhood infestation that was really hard to get under control. Sorry you have to deal with it, too. EDIT: The eggs take about 7 days to hatch, so you can do four treatments four days in a row, and three days later you've got them crawling on you again. You really have to do a minimum of three treatments, one week apart to be sure you are getting them. That's assuming you aren't dealing with a resistant strain.

I had lice when my kids had them. I didn't feel them crawl (they mainly clamp onto the hairshaft) but I was reeeeaaallly itchy. Put the cetaphil on, comb through tiny section by tiny section with a nit comb while the cetaphil is wet, and wipe the comb on a dry white towel between sections. You will see the lice and nits if they are there. If they are there, go ahead and blow dry, if not, just wash out the cetaphil. Really, I believe that the single best treatment for lice is combing with the nit comb every single day. Be sure to scrape the scalp because the eggs are laid right at the base of the hair shaft, so you want to get under them with the comb. I did this several days in a row to be sure I got them all. I have very short hair so was able to do it myself. YOu will probably need help with longer hair. Shampoos and cetaphil help, but it is hard to do cetaphil correctly, and a lot of lice are resistant to the shampoos these days. There is something called the Texas Lice Squad here. They inspect your entire family and treat if needed. They guarantee their treatment. Maybe you have something like that near you. Good luck!

That's what I do. I have the TMs for WWS and dd's Biology course on iBooks. Just open your email on your ipad and download to ibooks. It works great. DD has hard copies of the student books, it's just easier that way.

I'm with the others who just gave them the food we were eating. I'd just mash up whatever we were having and give it to them. I didn't mess with ice cube trays and all that.

Thank you!

How many chapters and sections are in the Newton and Einstein books? Thank you.

Nothing is certain, but a couple of job possibilities for dh have popped up there. I'm wondering about homeschool groups in the area, and how difficult it is to HS there. I've read the requirements, just curious how particular they are about IHIPS and quarterly reports. Any other info is welcome. We would need to live in Saratoga Springs schools district for the older kids. Thanks!

This made me smile. :)

I haven't been here much lately and popped on tonight to see what's up. Now I'm grinning ear to ear. So fun!

My oldest gets up to an alarm for PS. I do get up when he does, just because I hate the idea of him being alone in the morning while everyone else sleeps. Maybe once every two weeks he sleeps through his alarm so I wake him up then. I let the 11 year old sleep as late as she wants unless we have somewhere to go and need to get school done by a certain time. I encourage the 4 year old sleep as long as she can.:001_smile:

We have a covered front porch with lots of comfy seating for hanging out and watching the hood. Plenty of room for neighbors to join us. We have a covered patio in back by the pool. It has lights and ceiling fans and soon a built-in counter with grill. :001_smile:

If it's the scaphoid, that may not be the rule of thumb. Definitely wait for the doctor to say okay.

They make waterproof casts. If he needs a cast, just ask for waterproof. Showers, baths, swimming, just being a kid...no problem!

Call and ask.

Thanks, you two. Luke and I discussed his options. I think he could probably move to algebra without a lot of difficulty at this point, knowing how much of the first few weeks of school is review and that he can handle a few of the early algebra topics already. However, we've decided just to keep him where he is and enrich. He is up for that and I'd rather him go deeper than faster. I ordered one of the AoPS books (Basics) to go through with him and we'll be touching on some algebra topics as well. He also needs to tank up on writing. So we will take advantage of the fact that he doesn't have a heavy homework load this year to work on his writing skills. In the year that he has been at school, his 2-years younger sister has surpassed him in writing ability. :glare: A little MCT to the rescue here. Thanks for letting me spew all of this out to y'all, and for your thoughtful responses. You helped a bunch!

DS homeschooled through 5th grade. He entered PS last year in 6th grade where he took PreAP Math and made a high A, which he worked hard to earn, ie, it wasn't an "easy" class. He was recommended by his math teacher to test for GT, which he did and his score on that test was in the GT range, but they need two scores to put him in GT. They looked at his MAP testing - the standardized testing they do at the beginning of the school year - and he was in the 91st percentile, so they didn't classify him as GT. Fine. Note: it was his first time in PS and he had only had one standardized test in his life previously - an above grade level ITBS two years previously. Also, he scored a perfect score on the TAKS at the end of 6th grade. Now he is in 7th grade PreAP math. His average is 100. Hardly has any homework. He did MAP testing this year and scored 99th percentile. I met with his math teacher today who said DS does not belong in his class. However, the next class up for regular or GT is Algebra. There are two drawbacks for trying to move him to algebra. First, we are 6 weeks into the school year, so he'd have to catch up. Second, that puts him on a very high pressure math track for high school, since four years of math are needed for college even if you start with Algebra II in 9th grade. I'm trying to decide if I should push the GT designation and get him moved into GT Algebra, just push getting him moved to regular algebra, leave him where he is (I do like his teacher and think he is very good) and enrich at home, or just let him enjoy an easy year before algebra in 8th. The enrichment at home is great but it kind of feels wrong: "Here son, you've done so well in math here is MORE work! Way to go!" He's also very busy with orchestra and soccer and a full array of PreAP courses in his other subjects. Any thoughts? What I would love to do is figure out a way to enrich that would allow him to dig deeper into the topics he is studying (rather than move him ahead) so that he has a deeper, more mature understanding of math. I would really love your ideas and feedback. Thanks!

I agree with the previous poster about using the review and reinforcement. If it were me, and it's not so ymmv, I would teach the things you list above through her writing instruction. Like much of what we learn, those topic tend to stick when we are applying the information vs. just memorizing.