Here in SC, we see these, but I've never noticed a cultural connection. We do have A LOT of trucks with various decals memorializing Dale Ernhardt Sr (sp?).

These are great!! Once I was in the Dr's office. As the gal was getting my vitals, she remarked that I was the tallest woman they had ever had in there. I told her that was surprising, because I'm not really very tall. She said, "Six foot two inches is VERY tall for a woman." I've been an even 6 feet for many years, so I told her she was mistaken. She double-checked and said, "Yes -- 72 inches." We then argued back and forth for a while about the conversion between inches and feet. She never believed me ....

Biology Camp July 14-16th, 2008 Cost: $275 Biology Camp will be taught by John Skipper. The experiments will include DNA analysis using gel electrophoresis, examining the catalysis of pectin breakdown using the enzyme pectinase, and studying the effects of temperature and germination/dormancy on the rate of respiration in pea plants. Chemistry Camp July 17-19th, 2008 Cost: $250 Apologia's own Mr. Rusty Hughes will be the instructor for Chemistry Camp and will help guide students through 4 challenging and fun experiments which will expose them to over 10 hours of lab time. Additionally, Dr. Wile plans to be visiting during both camps and will even be present for some of the labs. All meals, lodging and lab equipment are included. More details are on the website: http://www.apologiaonline.com/camps/

Someone else chime in here, please!!! I have only seen older editions of Conceptual Physics. The explanations are very good, but the entire text is almost stricly conceptual. In other words, there is little to no math involved. Now, the newer editions may be different. But the two our library has (6th and 8th editions) would NOT be adequate for a student going into any type of a science or engineering field, at least not as the only high school Physics course. I think they could be used as a non-lab Physical Science text just fine.

I was told I could choose the text, so I looked at several options. Here are some of my thoughts (in no particular order): (I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, so I have a pretty good background in Physics. It's by far my favorite of the high school sciences.) I ended up using Apologia, which is okay. I saw it referred to as "Physics Light" on another hsing board, and I'd agree. There are several topics that I thought were standard in a high school Physics program that simply aren't included in Apologia. NOTE: Apologia does also have an Advanced Physics course, but I haven't used it. I liked most of the labs in the first half of the text, and will use them pretty much as-is this next year. I'm in the process of re-working many of the labs in the second half, however. The labs are meant to be done at home, which is great for a homeschool text :), but we do have the luxury of a small budget for more sophisticated lab supplies at co-op. I really disliked the Saxon book. I thought it skipped around too much. Just like the math books, there are no chapters which pull together a group of lessons on one concept. You might be learning about friction one lesson, rotational motion the next, then fluids. NOTE: I don't like Saxon math for the same reason, although I know many do like it. I like Conceptual Physics, but I didn't know about it when I was choosing. Mr. Hewitt has a nice little paperback version of much of the Mechanics topics, which I often refer to for in-class demos and real-life explanations of concepts. CP doesn't have labs in the text (at least the version we have at our library), and we need this to be a lab course at our co-op. I like the BJU text. It is very thorough. There is a lab program to go along with it, but I'm not sure how many of the labs are doable at home. I didn't choose this simply because I couldn't get it all covered in the time we have available at co-op. I looked briefly at the Abeka text. I simply didn't like it. I don't remember details.

This happened not too far from here. It's pretty much standard procedure that you're not allowed to clap or cheer. I hadn't heard of actual arrests before, but the offenders are usually escorted out of the stadium. All spectators are repeatedly warned, both before arriving and once there. It's not unusual for there to be 500 - 600 kids in a graduating class. If people cheer, the flow is interrupted or the next kid's family doesn't hear his name. And with that many students, they simply can't take the time to wait while each kid is cheered. (It seems to me that arresting or removing the offender creates more of a distraction than the offense.)

We meet twice a week for 32 weeks; the last two days of each semester are used for semester final exams, so there are 60 days of instruction.

We have a wonderful retired Spanish teacher who has taught Spanish at our co-op for several years now. The students who have gone on to college have reported that they have been much better prepared than the students coming out of either public or private schools. She uses the BJU texts. She has 60 class meetings to get the material taught. She gets thru 8 chapters of Spanish I, which is 75% of the text. I know she'd like to do more, but there just isn't enough time. She quizzes frequently, giving at least one oral quiz and one written quiz for each lesson. Each group of three lessons makes up a chapter, for which there is a lengthier written test.

From what I've seen (just a couple of cases), our local high school gives credit with minimal documentation of work done at home.

My dh loves 'mater sammiches, as he calls them. I like a nice BLT, but with mayo, not Miracle Whip. BTW, what is so miraculous about MW anyway?

AMEN!!! (BTW, my college roommate was known as Laura K while I was Laura H)

Anything to do with Miracle Whip makes me shudder!! What about this? Last weekend on our camping trip, I gave my son's buddy a chicken salad sandwich (made with Helman's mayo!). He asked if I had any ketchup, and when I didn't, he ran back to his campsite to get some. Talk about ewwww !!!

DH and I were talking about how Harvey Korman and Tim Conway would get each other laughing during those skits on the Carol Burnett show. Just watching them try to not totally crack up would crack us up!!

I can empathize -- we went thru that with my youngest when he was about 4yo. I know that years ago my foster sister was being eaten up by fleas when they weren't bothering anyone else in the family. Our neighborhood pharmacist recommended she take a supplement (I think it was multi- B vitamins) and it worked! I've also read that Eucalyptus oil keeps ticks (and other critters) away. HTH

What about people who graduated from high school in another state? They have no control over that, either .....

Here, subs don't need a teaching credential. I even know of a Mom who has told me I'm not qualified to teach my own children, yet she subs in her kids' school without a credential. In fact, she doesn't even have a high school diploma!!!

We partitioned an extra room off the kitchen; half is now a bedroom, the other half we call our "schoolroom", although that only means that our school stuff is stored there on the shelves. This past school year, we had use of our guest apartment, which was great for getting away from distractions. We often do school in the family room or in our bedroom -- wherever we're comfortable. It's very rare that we actually sit at a table or desk.

I would go with the local school system's cutoff dates. My two oldest have Fall birthdays and I started them in K when they were 4-going-on-5. Both really wanted to learn to read at that age, so I started schooling them. I should have just let them learn without making it official.

My name is Laura; married for 20 years to Wayne. We have three sons: 18yo, 14yo and 12yo. All have been homeschooled from the beginning. We belong to an awesome co-op, where I teach Geometry and Physics. We have been very eclectic in our homeschooling methods and curricula over the years. I'm investigating options for next year. I used to follow baseball fanatically, but don't have the time for that anymore. I do enjoy watching most sports, and I'm looking forward to the Olympics this summer. I like to make pop-up greeting cards, but I don't get to do that much anymore. My dh, who is older than I, is in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. He is now fully retired, so I tutor math to make a little money.