since my son is in his third year of PS after homeschooling through 8th, i don't check in here too often. i would like to throw out to folks that though the PSAT is only administered once a year, the SAT is given throughout the year. we've been using those as 'practice tests.' i had my son take the actual SAT in June of 2009 and 2010. for both of those we did absolutely no prep. i simply wanted to demystify the tests and for him to have more standardized test experience under his belt before the senior year SAT. we will prep for the Senior year SAT. besides building his confidence the test scores have been a level of reality check both what we did as homeschoolers and what the school is or isn't doing for him. btw, i am still afterschooling him in math using Teaching Textbooks. if your child needs practice do consider taking the actual SAT and considering the resulting scores with a grain of salt. even PS parents are doing this; there were some 6th graders taking the test each time my son took it.

Gee, I live on the southside (Riverdale) and my son now attends Decatur High School but we're still doing Teaching Textbooks Math at home. Can i play, too?

i held out for the longest for using a much beloved Palm TX. the screen needed to be replaced but the cost of doing so coupled with the operating system no longer being supported, i finally retired it. the older Palm OS is dead and the Palm Pre has not taken off. i wouldn't put money into it if i were you. i switched to an iPod Touch which i use much more as a PDA than an iPod. it has been a very positive transition.

at the risk of sounding harsh, it sounds like your daughter is in love with the idea of celebrity. yes, she knows she needs to do something like play the guitar but her impetus seems to be wanting to be famous. rock stars have a passion for their music and for performance. the origin is the art itself. same is true for actors - it's about the art. this passion would exist whether they ever became famous or not. thinking about demo records and management is really putting the cart before the horse. your daughter has yet to develop a true passion for the art or the skills to capitalize on it. i'm not saying she can't; i'm merely saying that that is the first step. i taught myself to play guitar through books many decades ago. in the 21st century there are so many online free resources that could take your daughter quite far if she has the drive. this site is a good start: JustinGuitar.com. there are many other sites and a ton of vids on YouTube.

some books you just don't connect with no matter how highly regarded it is. drop it if you like. One Hundred Years of Solitude is on my personal list of the greatest books of all time.

i recently redecorated ds16's room. he really wanted a red accent wall. wish someone had told me about the gray primer (his wall was white) because it took 4 coats! we used Olympic Low VOC paint.

but remember, to use Homeschool Tracker you need Boot Camp (which is already on your Mac) AND Windows - which you may already have if you used to have a Windows PC.

Parallels is not a Windows emulator. it is a shell environment upon which the actual Windows operating system can be installed on a mac. Any Intel mac comes with a program called Boot Camp. Boot Camp allows you to divide your mac into a mac side and a side on which you can install windows. with Boot Camp you have to reboot (restart) your computer to work within either operating system. Parallels also enables you to install the Windows operating system; the difference is that with Parallels you can switch between the two operating systems without rebooting. Elinor, if i were you i'd try out Homeschool Tracker with Boot Camp to keep costs down. if you found you really liked the Homeschool Tracker program and wanted the convenience of not rebooting, you could still install Parallels. also realize that whether you use Boot Camp or Parallels, you also have to own a copy of Windows to install so that may be another expense for you. btw, Parallels is $66 at Amazon.

you don't need Parallels unless you want the convenience of not having to reboot when you need to access the Windows side. the included, and therefore free, Boot Camp works fine if you don't mind rebooting.

another Vassar grad here. i would love for my son to be the kind of kid who would thrive in that environment but he isn't. he is who he is and will find the college that suits his personality.

i bought a ham today at Aldi. $1.29lb marked down from $1.49.

i think appropriateness for your child and family works best on a film-by-film basis. one F-bomb will earn a film an R rating and there are plenty of worthy films with F-bombs. i find i will often okay films that are R for violence and language. violence is not a problem for me as long as we're not talking snuff films. language i can work around also. sexuality. yeah, i have problems with film depictions and will nix some films on that.

that's because it was not written by an African American. i like Faithr's list a lot.

don't know about locking but if OpenDNS is on your whole network, they can't go anywhere you don't want them to be it the iPod Touch or their computers. openDNS is free, btw. OpenDns

my son is allergic to dogs and cats. friends wanted to gift him a hypo allergenic dog and were adamant about getting the dog from a reputable breeder. we found a breed we liked (a Schnoodle - schnauzer/poodle mix) and a breeder we trusted. the breeder put us in contact with a schoodle owner in our area who graciously allowed us to visit with her dog for an hour or so. that visit did not trigger any symptoms in my son. our own schnoodle, Harley, has been living with us happily for over two years now.

ds 16 ( a slurper!) and i recently had this very discussion. he refuses to twirl and when i told him about using a spoon he thought it was the most ridiculous, unnecessary thing he has ever heard of. wait til he has future in-laws to impress and they serve spaghetti. after reading this thread, i think i'll just end the discussion by cutting his spaghetti before serving. just his spaghetti. mom will twirl away....:lol:

what is definitely true is that the some of students that come to me after self-learning online have developed bad mechanics habits that need to be retrained in order for them to progress. a live teacher catches that a student didn't process the lesson correctly or pick up on a nuance of how a technique is done. it's not the end of the world and i love the internal motivation self-taught students show - i, in fact, am one of them from back in the day when there were only books to learn from. i'm just noting that even with the plethora of information available nowadays, there's still a place for live lessons.

there's a ton of stuff on youtube. for more structured learning there are places like Jamplay.com., rhythmstrummer.com, or truefire.com. those all have fees; jamplay often has free trials. the most amazing source of free lessons can be found at justinguitar.com. there's usually a link on justinguitar for a free trial at jamplay, btw. http://justinguitar.com/

sounds like the script in my house except my teen is a boy. and 16.

Amazon Prime rocks! it's saves me gas from running around shopping for an item i need realitively soon and i truly think i buy less because i'm not scrounging around to find $25 worth of something when i only need a $5 item.

No one, eh? my son is 16. i have his password for Facebook and parental controls on the house network.

:rofl:

there's a Flower's Bakery thrift store near me. whole wheat/no HFCS Nature's Own there is about $1.29 and the freshness date can be a week or more off. they also carry the Nature's Own brands that are organic whole wheat/no HFCS; they are usually $1.49-$1.89. i go about every other week, stock up and freeze.

The wife of a friend of mine (folk musician John McCutcheon) has a book out that was reviewed by the New York Times. I haven't seen the book but I was touched just reading the review. It's based on a true story of one African village's reaction to 9/11. Thought some here might find it useful in their home schooling. Carmen Deedy is a wonderful, professional story teller. New York Times Review of 14 Cows for America Amazon Book link

and most people prefer to buy reliable cars that don't break down frequently and leave them stranded.