You could spook around Udel and go to one of the campus museums, http://sites.udel.edu/museums/

They can take a road trip to Myrtle Beach... DD's friend will fit right in.

For us it depends... DS9 has DYS level WJ-III achievement test scores that we haven't discussed with him because he knows he's smart and is generally sort of a jerk. With him we just focus on effort and attitude and every time he tells me how smart he is I just give him something harder. DS7 is in PS and we have explicitly discussed test scores a number of times so he has a realistic self image. DW and I often "joke" that in any other family DS7 would get to be the smart kid. He is an optimally gifted kid with good social skills that the schools can deal with. He is smart enough to be a physics professor or a cardio thoracic surgeon or a writer or whatever he wants when he grows up. He has 99% MAP scores but hates testing. This spring he mentioned that several of his friends are "accelerated learners" while he isn't. We talked about the fact we didn't have him tested this year since he hates testing. We observed that he is the only non-accelerated kid in his reading and math groups and that he is reading harder books than anyone in his class. I think he found this reassuring.

I got: Score for Beast Academy: 5 Score for Math Mammoth: 2 Score for Math U See: -5 Score for Mathematical Reasoning: 5 Score for Miquon: 8 Score for RightStart: 2 Score for Saxon: -8 Score for Shiller: 0 Score for Singapore: 11 Score for Teaching Textbooks: -6 We used Miquon all the way through and loved it and now use MEP. We use Singapore CWP as a supplement. Questions that would distinguish our preference for Miquon/MEP over Singapore would be: I prefer math concepts and operations to be introduced as early as possible. -vs- I prefer math concepts to be introduced and mastered in a logical progression.

CSMP is really hard to figure out even with the 300+ page teachers guide. I think a lot of the stuff is too clever by half. I think there are easier ways to teach negative numbers than the whole peanut/anti-peanut, numbers with hats thing. There is way too much taxicab geometry. I get it... it teaches combinatorics and how to use an unfamiliar axiom system but MEP manages to teach a lot combinatorics without hiding the fact and axiomatic reasoning might be best left til later. However, CSMP at its best is completely brilliant. I actually think the minicomputer is one of those brilliant elements. In general with elementary math programs, if you don't understand what their doing or why, your first guess should be that they are trying to teach you something about the base system either directly or indirectly. Classic pure play "new math" curriculums do this by teaching binary or base 5(which I love pennies/nickels/quarters). Various enrichment programs do this with Mayan or Egyptian or whatever number systems. MEP uses lots of roman numerals which approximates an arbitrary base system. I've also seen multiple unsupported sources claim than numeracy was higher regardless of SES pre-decimal British coinage(1971) and MEPs focus also reflects a simplified version of that. The problem is that in all of these systems the typical approach kids use is to convert everything to decimal, do the calculation, and convert back. This completely misses the point. CSMP uses their weird combo of a binary card system with a seperate card for each base 10 digit. Using the index cards with c-rod colors makes it easy to model numbers within 10. The whole system makes it easier to use the cards and move counters or dots around than convert to decimal. Its actually really fun once you figure it out. You need to try it out and not just read about it.

Just google evolutionary game theory. The wiki is pretty good. Lots of good videos. I might start with this lecture from Yale's intro ecology/evolution class and decide where to go from there. http://oyc.yale.edu/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology/eeb-122/lecture-33

Last night our read aloud for ds9 was the section of Bryson's "Short History of Nearly Everything" about Woese and Mayr's dispute over Archaea and Domains... made me think of this post and your post on the HS board about advances in phylogeny vs old textbooks.

Not our zoned school, but the public school DS7 attends has a great schools rating of "10". It has excellent art, music, gym etc pull outs. Since their scores are high and there is little testing pressure, he has pretty regularly gotten 2 or *more* recesses a day in K and 1st. The school has opted out of the district curriculum and use Singapore Primary Math which the PTA funds. It is a completely amazing public school. I feel vaguely guilty at how much better it is than our zoned school and the public Montessori magnet 2 blocks from our house we wanted DS7 to attend. That being said, DS9 has been home schooled since K when that public magnet near our house was a spectacular failure. Public school was the right choice for one kid and home schooling the right choice for the other.

We're unschoolers.... My rising 4th grader will finish MEP5 and MEP6 and CWP5 and CWP6. We also did some of "Crossing The River With Dogs". Also, very surprisingly we did all of "Hands On Geometry" and some of Serra's 1st ed "Discoverring Geometry". DS requested to do all 'hard' geometry this summer. I am looking for counting and probability to do. AOPS is too advanced. "Chances Are" is too formulaic. MEP5 had lots of probability paired with lots of D&D... that was frankly ideal this spring... I think looking at the central tendency for a d12vs 2d6 might be an ideal way to introduce various distributions. I'll probably go back and do some CSMP. The problem about the odds of breaking a stick in a way that makes a triangle is one of my favorite elementary probability problems[1]. Next year, I want to teach science using a text book. We'll either use "Prentice Hall Earth Science" by Tarbuck or "Conceptual Physics". [1] Look at page 87 of http://stern.buffalostate.edu/CSMPProgram/String%20Games%20and%20MiniComputer/csmpstatsr.pdf

We are bike commuters. DW rides year round ~3K in snowy Minneapolis. The kids ride 5-7miles a day in the Summer. The durability and weight aren't an issue. The one issue we had with balance bikes was pedaling. Zipping along down hills,around corners,etc was easy but younger DS had hard time mastering the dynamics of pedalling. He was modestly delayed on various motor skills so the fact he could zip along on a balance bike was surprising. To make the transition to a pedal bike he had to back off and ride a slow *frustrating* trike for a month or so to grok the pedaling motion. ETA: We liked the Strider bikes... The Kazam bikes look fine too.. I remember when I first saw the balance bike concept and the ~$300 german wooden likeabike was the only option... Any of the light weight, quality built balance bikes should be fine.

We really liked our Strider bike. For older DS we just took the cranks off a 12" bike and it was barely adequate. For younger DS we got a balance bike. He rode the bike ~1mile a day for 2 years just taking his older brother to preschool plus other longer rides. Overall, he probably rode the Strider 1000 miles before moving on to a pedal bike around age 4. Since then we have given the Strider bike to friends who have ridden it for another 500+miles. The wheels are more than durable enough and it is crazy light.

This whole view seems antiquated. I thought both molecular studies and fossil finds had shown that Anologia irrationalis had clearly emerged during the late Quadrilateral period as a symbiont with the prolific "Square Explosion". This would clearly make them a basal species to both the Nonaginta and Aequipa lineages. Admittedly the history of equilateral triangles is still in dispute ;)

And there is lots of botany... completely possible to ignore the sex for the fascinating botany...

In 6th grade, I was in a new PS after my old one got shut down. My teacher refused to let use use the library and only let us read the *very* limited class library. I missed class as often as possible that year doing art enrichment, practicing for "The Wizard of Oz" as the scarecrow, and doing computer programming again after having the computer lab restricted for only academic purposes, ie math blaster, in 5th grade, and just flat out skipping class to walk the 2 miles home early. The books I fondly remember reading that year are "Lord of the Rings" for the first time, "One Two Three... Infinity" by Gamow, and "LOGO for the Apple II" by Hal Abelson, who according to the cover was writing what would become SICP, the canonical intro CS text, at the time. All of these are books I would encourage DS9 to read.

DW is medical subspecialist where testing can be expensive or dangerous or both. Her rule of thumb is to test only if testing will effect your subsequent actions. With this in mind, we declined gifted testing for our first grader in PS. Despite hitting the ceiling on both sections of the MAP primary grades test, it wasn't worthwhile to give him the CogAT in 1st grade since testing leaves him very pissed off. The school doesn't really differentiate until 3rd grade and everyone has CogAT screening in spring of second grade... Likewise we haven't tested our much more gifted home schooled third grader because it isn't relevant to us.We can differentiate fine without it. We will do talent search testing in 7th grade, as traditional for both DW and myself. At that point it is necessary to qualify for tip/cty type summer programs and is worth doing. Registering for DYS or SET is a useful side effect if it works out.

If *I* were frugal, I'd keep that car. It has no mechanical problems... timing belts are consumable and need to be replaced periodically... the speed/odometer thing is probably just a matter of putting on larger tires. The vents and armrests and radio are all cosmetic. If it bugs you, by all means replace it... but the most frugal thing is to just deal with the annoyances and drive it until mechanical failure.

I think the low COL thing is all relative. We live in Minneapolis which I consider to be ridiculously cheap... but then the last place we lived for a length of time was Seattle. When DW last looked at jobs she was looking at a different job in Minneapolis, LA, and Toronto. Even Houston was way more expensive for the few urban walkable neighborhoods that we would consider. Yeah, my parents home in rural NC is much cheaper but there aren't good jobs or the types of places we want to live. I think you have to balance COL to earning potential and the optimal match is going to differ greatly based on career.

Santa Cruz's banana slugs was my first thought too... The Oregon Ducks, complete with Donald Duck images, are also not so threatening.

The pesticide, especially neonicitinoid, link to colony collapse disorder and bee declines has a long history. The most interesting thing I've read this spring is this article, http://e360.yale.edu/feature/bee_collapse_co2_climate_change_agriculture/2991/ , showing a link between global warming/atmospheric CO2 levels and the protein content of pollen and hence the nutritional status of bees in the Fall. Scary stuff... * This link has one of the actual studies https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q2/rising-co2-levels-reduce-protein-in-crucial-pollen-source-for-bees.html

Regardless of whether it is neglect, she just sounds overwhelmed. I would try to get her hooked up with the support organization for her daughters special need. It sounds like she could benefit from state financial help which may be available through medicaid. Also, state supported respite care could help with the emotional issues. Talking to the school social worker might enable the school to provide busing or transport help. What is available is going to vary from community to community but helping her find those resources would be my first step.

Ulysses by Tennyson http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45392

They are NCAA div3 through a combined Claremont Mudd Scripps athletic department. A friend of ours played varsity water polo there. https://www.hmc.edu/student-life/student-activities/athletics/ http://www.cmsathletics.org/prospective_athletes/index

Back in my post-draft day, the only consequence of not registering for "selective service"[1] was not being eligible for government benefits. Mainly this meant college financial aid... but also welfare, food stamps etc. I had a scholarship so I refused to register. Today, various states link driving rights to SS status by automatically registering folks without an opt-out. If his circumstances allow he could not register at all. I am a draft objector while not meeting any of the CO eligibility rules. [1] Orwell would be proud.

Rack rate is $190/yr... student/rate is $115/yr... we currently pay somewhere around $90/year. We go in and out of subscribing to the economist because it is spendy and difficult to keep up with. If you call the 800 number and discuss it they can often find a better deal... it will never be as cheap as time or newsweek(whichever of those are still in business).

By "funny" do you mean passive aggressive.... because while Hornblower's original post is charmingly ironic in an over the top eye rolling sort of way... the latter character assassination about money and privilege and gender roles and not having a job and all the rest is not.