:grouphug: Praying for your mom and family

Tress, dd was sitting by me for the last response and peeking. The one thread that I read about the ones was brutal. I was really scared for her self confidence. Because of that thread I warn her each time that this is an unusual grading situation at the same time decent prep for SAT's etc. Her essays have all been good when you take the word limit into account but the average person reading them is going to say develop further guaranteed! I give her credit for choosing her own topics. Much harder then write about ..... At this point she is happy and I think she needs 1 more 4 to get the certificate which she wants. She was born in Michigan so U of M ........

Dd has been getting 4's averaged. Just so others know you get a grade of 1 to 3(highest) on content and form, so 6 is the highest possible on an essay. They are somehow restricted to only giving 3's up to 20% of the time. The most frequent grade is a 2 with 1's being given at least 10% of the time. At least 3 graders per essay, dd has had 5 usually. Nice comments overall. Some tell her she could develop ideas more then admit she can't due to the word number limits. We know she has gotten at least one 3 -- the reviewer told her and gave really helpful tips. We are assuming that person was more knowledgeable then many on there. ;) She is pleased so far. She has worked hard to improve her writing skills in the past few months, we have always been very math and science based so this is a good experience for her. Plus she is pleased because they have no idea she is 15.

Tress -- I hope you find a book you really enjoy soon. Dd gave me the Poe story she used for her essay ("The Black Cat") to read before she submitted. I found it pretty depressing. Decided I am done with Poe because I need comforting books right now. Not sure if he is comforting but I am going to move on directly to Wells.

I finished "Frankenstein". It was interesting especially in light of reading the "Golem and the Jinni" so recenty. The Golem must have been modeled on this book. To be honest I much prefer the Golem monster, probably my romance reading preference. Dd, who hasn't read Golem, finds Frankenstein to be a very sympathetic monster for lack of a better description. I don't so much. Now Frankenstein had more suspense and was probably the better book but I liked the creature Golem and was repulsed by the monster Frankenstein.

Floridamom -- Nightfilm was a different reading experience. I think the pictures being interspersed throughout the book really added to it. The newspaper type articles etc gave it a certain feel of active involvement. I doubt that you missed much in the end because it was abruptly over but the pictures made it more interesting to read. Plus there were several pages of pictures before the book ever started which did intrigue me. I was a bit more invested then normal before I started reading. ETA: I just googled Anne Perry and totally agree. Absolutely no idea before.

I finished Heartsick by Chelsea Cain http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780312368463. It was a different kind of serial killer thriller suspense novel. Rather choppy with the flashbacks which bothered me greatly at the start. It took almost two weeks to finish a book that I thought would be a quick read. I think someone here read it first so I persisted thanks to the BaW recommend and interesting reviews. I read the last 300 pages in an afternoon and really engaged with the characters at the end. It is a different book with unusual characters but I did like it enough to order the next one.

I think I would send each child a book you loved with your children via amazon. Maybe the families with multiple kids get something like the Madeleine Treasury. Unless they really appreciate it do not craft.

Congratulations! No athletes here but I loved reading all the information provided. Thank you for sharing.

School groups are the worst. I complained about one to management -- a 7 year old kept kicking us, the chaperon saw and did nothing. I was told they would not be welcome again. To be fair she was a terror the rest of the group simply boisterous but the adult should have done something other then watch from a safe distance on several occasions. I wanted my money back (£35) or a free pass to come again and be able to look without being kicked. The terror had radar and followed us....no refund. Still wonder if they really are no longer welcome. Won't go there ever again.

:grouphug: I hope you start feeling some improvement soon. Your first private client! Yeah!!!! How exciting.

Just Dh and medical personnel, lots of them. For dd 20 or so attended her birth. For ds it was the medical personnel and me for most of it. He came really quickly, I was already a patient, and dh hit a traffic jam.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Onceuponatime!!!! I hope you have a lovely day!

Personally I would not consider him to be a transfer student since he wll not be transferring credits from this years experience. I think I might class it as a gap year and give a description of what he is doing that includes European travel. Dh took one look at things and said he is a freshman. So two votes for first time student.

I figured you would be interesed in what I learned when I asked dh what he thought. Goes back to Visa type, if ds can work in UK then accreditation higher so ability to transfer credits is too. Local Bible college students receive visa's allowing them to work. Another one that he is familiar with they cannot. This is new, put into effect in the past year.

Are you sure the bible school your son is going to is not affiliated with a larger University? Our small local one is affiliated with the University of Chester. Actually holds graduation ceremonies there. I know of a few other bible colleges affiliated with Chester.

Gone Girl was not a favorite of mine either. I read a great deal of mystery/suspense type novels and it felt a bit gimmicky to me. Sort of how to make a best seller..... I totally agree it dragged until it was time for the next big reveal, many of which were predictable. Definately won't be on my favorites for 2013!

I will eventually read the other Murakami's because I really enjoyed 1Q84. Probably this should be one of my 2014 challenges. One thing that has me puzzled is Kafka on the Shore appears on several AP lists for lit. The reviews I read make it appear to be an unusual choice. Definately need to read that one! If you want good suspense mixed with a bit of romance go with Grisham. I recently read The Racketeer and enjoyed it. The Pelican Brief is an all time favorite!

Giraffe -- I admire your self education attempts in order to understand your new homeland. I am constantly trying to figure out the background of seemingly random things in my new land. I love it when I find a book that explains something I have wondered about. I imagine my "why" questions would multiply hugely if living in Turkey! I did not love the second book in the Discovery of Witches series. The first was great but the second a bit blah.imo Looking forward to your review!

Just put a hold on this. Looks great! :) I like anything that mentions Atlantis, even one in the desert. Not sure if BBC is showing it in the US yet but there is a new series called Atlantis made by the Merlin producers. A bit of a mythology mash up but the dc's love it. Since a few of you have kids the same age I thought I would let you know to look for it. I actually watch while knitting which means it isn't too bad. :lol:

I know. Before starting to read this thread I had a stack but nothing like this. Also I really want to read pretty much everything in that stack. I used to happily return my unreads to the library every month or two. I read a new Maggie Shayne on my kindle yesterday. She has written some great romatic suspense books over the years. Favorite author for me. This one called "Sleep with the Lights On" is honestly creepier imo then most of the spooky reads I read. I liked it but I want to warn that part of the creepiness involves organ donation. I don't want to do a spoiler but this book probably is not well suited for anyone who has been personally involved in those programs. I think it might have upset me.

He isn't home now but dh(retired army officer) wears one of his medals on his suit lapel when appropriate so I know it is OK and done by retirees. He wore full uniform to a ceremony this morning but will be wearing his suit and one medal that is a lapel pin that comes in the awards set to church tonight. Just walked in door and says full size is fine too -- personal choice.

This is the core I bought and dd just doesn't seem to get done. We always have something "better" to do. I am a poor person to ask about this core but I am not sure how many here have tried it so will give you some of our experiences. The core is on dds shelf so can look more if you have questions. For the literature I ended up buying an Excellence in Literature book which dd prefers. Her writing has improved greatly with it but we are completely out of the SL order because of it. Using some different novels etc. We weren't happy with the SL notes for literature or the essay guidelines. EIW is a better fit for us. The religious books are fascinating and ideal if you use Westminster and are reformed. We are Presbyterian so not a problem for us. Not sure how well it would work for others. It would would be fine with the 39 articles of confession but not sure for others. That element has been our favorite part of the core and the only part we have used as written by SL. The core isn't meeting our needs nearly as well as they have in the past. This is the only high school core we have tried and I do not plan to buy any of the others.

Both dc's refused to do more around lesson 10. Ended up using BOB books mainly. Ordinary Parents guide came out when ds was finishing learning. We loved it!