Hi Cynthia, Is that pretty standard for high school--that under 60% is a failure? I thought it was still 50% for a pass. ??

Could someone please give me a quick equivalency between letter and number grades for high school? Some parents have asked me to grade their students English essays but while I have a gut feeling for letter grades, I'm not sure what the equivalent ranges are in numerical scores (for high school--I've taught at university, but am not sure the equivalencies are the same). Thank you.

Thanks...Good to know I'm not alone!

Help. I have four sons; the youngest is 10 and the next one up is five years older. One is away at college; my second son is completing grade 12 at school this year; and he and the other teen son at home occupy themselves with music, ball hockey, etc. The 10 yr old, however, does not seem to know what to do with himself when he has free time--and compared to his older brothers, he has quite a lot. We live on a quiet, rather secluded court street, and his only friends are a few neighbour children who are at school all day and often not available when out of school/ on weekends (extracurricular activities, other school friends, etc). Although my son is a friendly, good-natured kid, far from socially inept--not whiny or bossy, etc--he hasn't been able to make the many connections his older brothers did through the homeschooling community--somehow it seems as though fewer families with boys his age are around now. Same thing at church--the few boys his age have known each other forever, and he can't seem to break into the group. This son is not terribly sportsminded or arts-and-craftsy, though he does attend karate twice a week and a homeschool choir once a week; I also run a morning co-op for a handful of kids his age once a week. Lego (of which we have enough to build an addition onto our house) lost its appeal some time ago. In terms of reading, he has become somewhat obsessed with the Warriors series about clans of cats (we have several cats, and he is very attached to them; hence the appeal of these books). He does like to spend time on the computer writing his own cat stories, and recently he has begun frequenting the Warriors online forum where he chats with other kids about the books, etc (from what I can gather, the site is monitored; I had to send a letter requesting permission that my son have access to the site, etc, so it seems quite safe). He goes to no other websites. Nonetheless, it seems to me that he is spending far too much of his spare time on this forum and failing to come up with any other activities to occupy himself. Maybe I'm failing too in this regard--I'm very busy with hs'ing, preparing for co-op classes (including a high school class), and as a single parent (widowed), pretty much have to "do it all"--with the result that I have little or no inclination to play games or come up with other ideas for activities. So--what do *your* 10 yr old boys do with their time? Especially when there really aren't other kids around on a regular basis to engage with? My older boys have little interest in "playing" with their younger brother anymore,and we have no extended family to draw upon. I know my son feels quite lonely at times but I don't know what to do about this or how to get him to come up with his own ideas to fill his time. Any thoughts to share? Thanks.

Thanks. If you look at the cuneiform alphabet chart in the SOTW book, you'll see that each "figure" is develoed from the one prior to it, etc (eg, one vertical wedge for A, two for B, three for C, etc). There's no reason, though, why the order of sounds in Sumerian cuneiform would be the same as that in our Roman/ English alphabet, hence my sense that someone just made this up.

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The SOTW vol. 1 activity guide book inlcudes a "cuneifrom chart" and "huerglyoh chart" on p. 10 of the student pages (at the back of the book). Could anyone tell me where these charts came from? Since neither cuneiform nor hieroglyphics were alphabetic writing, who came up with these alphabetized equivalents? Are these just an invention of someone who contributed to the book? I will be using these to let kids try their hand at these styles of writing, but I don't want them to think these are "authentic" if they are simply modern inventions! Thanks.

Thank you for all the ideas. I did try running vinegar through once (alone) but didn't see any difference. Might try again though. Guess we'll just have to move :tongue_smilie:

I have a Maytag dishwasher that's about 8-9 years old. Over the last few months, I've noticed that my white stoneware dishes are not getting properly clean; they retain stains after the usual cycle. I've also noticed that glasses don't get terribly clean either--I've even seen lipstick stains remaining after a wash cycle. We do have a water softener, so hard water is not an issue. I've tried those dishwasher cleaners, tried different detergents, use a rinse agent, have even taken apart what I could of the interior (couldn't do all of it) and cleaned--but the problem remains. I do have another Maytag in our basement which is the same age but has hardly been used over the years. I tried running some of the glasses in there but still had the same problem; haven't tried the white dishes in there though. Is this staining a sign that the dishwasher just isn't up to doing its duty anymore? How do you know when it's time to get a new one? Or am I just missing something obvious? TIA.

Because I'm in Canada, I had to buy from the Canadian division, and they will not sell TM s except to school boards. But in any case, after posting I went online and searched for used ML Biology TMs and actually found the correct one. There were only a few and it was fairly expensive with shipping, but I will feel better with some "real" answers in hand :001_smile:

Help. I have a brand new McDougal Littell Biology on CD ROM, featuring links to all sorts of helpful animations, virtual labs, and quizzes...but I have no teacher text/ key. I was told my the publisher that they cannot sell me one. The material isn't so tough that I couldn't read it and then know whether or not my son (gr 10) was absorbing enough info; it's the time factor involved in reading it all. So far, I'm just having him read the lesson, make vocab cards, look at the animations, do any virtual labs, and do the online section and unit quizzes (answers given online), not answer the (numerous) chapter review questions for which I have no key. This son is not inclined towards science, so even getting him to do this is a stretch. I keep thinking that I should be having him do more somehow--though two years ago, I had another son use Holt Biology, for which I did have a TM, and while he did many review questions, and some microscope labs, I can't say that he enjoyed or retained it much. (That's part of the reason I thought I'd try a different text this year ; the Holt Biology seemed a bit out of date, too. And I imagine many use the Apologia books, but I have never cared for them. ). So what do the rest of you do when you do not have a teacher text with answer key for science questions--and no access to a science whiz? How can I ensure that my son is at least "on track" with the material--or should I just gratefully leave him to the online quizzes and hope he makes a career in the liberal arts? (My 17 yr old informed me that all four of the boys might just well end up in theatre arts, like son #1... :tongue_smilie: )

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Thanks--I do actually have this, but again, it assumes that the student will read the entire OT. I'm wondering what might be reasonable to skip for now for a survey course.

I did ask about this before, but I could really use some very specific advice about what to cover for an Old Testament survey source for a gr 10 student. Although we've done Bible study to varying degrees over the years, he needs this as a specific high school course to obtain a diploma from the Christian high school he will likely attend for grade 12. I already have numerous resources for studying the OT; what I need are specifics about which books or excerpts of books to cover. Last year, we used Encountering the NT as a guide to the whole NT, but I don't think it will be feasible to have him read the entire OT this year. When I inquired about this before, others did suggest including, for eg, books of the Bible which contain material often referenced in Western lit or art; but my problem is, I'm not sure what parts those are. Certainly he should read Genesis and Exodus; but what sections of the rest of the Pentateuch? Which Psalms and Proverbs? Which prophets? Major? Minor? Yeek! If you have already covered an OT survey course in your family and can share what you did, or can offer specific sections of books to include, I would appreciate it very much.

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The Beowulf episode is from Star Trek: Voyager, season 1: "Heroes and Demons" (not ST: TNG).

My apologies for asking about this again, but I'm trying to narrow down the selection of a film version of Hamlet to show my class after we read the play. I've glanced briefly at the Olivier, Branagh, and BBC versions--all quite different--and although someone here previously said she wouldn't show students anything other than the BBC version, I found it stiff and less than engaging (and much as I like Derek Jacobi in general, he just wasn't Hamlet for me). I'd also like to compare several scenes in class from different film versions. So far, I've thought of the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy and the scene of Hamlet and his father's ghost. Unfortunately, I don't have time to watch multiple versions of the play ahead of time, so would appreciate some specific advice or suggestions of scenes which are played quite differently in different movies.

Ah--I have just the thing--a DVD titled Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons, available from Amazon. It covers lots of info about the Anglo-Saxons and starts with some rather lengthy narrated passages (in Old English and in modern English) from Beowulf. It's only one hour long, though. Also you could try the first episode of The Adventure of English on DVD--covers the development of OE via the AS influx into Celtic Britian and includes a brief interview with poet/ translator Seamus Heaney. Also about one hour long. And finally, also on DVD is Benjamin Bagby's "scop"-style performance of the first part of Beowulf in OE with harp; one hour as well. I own the first two but you might try your library (unfortunately, they are not in our library system here). Oh--one more fun thought: there's an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that builds on the Beowulf story (45 min). I can't recall offhand which season it's from; perhaps you could find it on Wikipedia (or if Jean in Wisc is around, she might know).

It's good to know I'm not alone in feeling this way. Yes, I know they have to grow up and move on; but it's also true that they will always be our children and we will miss them. At least I don't have to send any of our cats off to college! :tongue_smilie:

My oldest son headed off today to a college 4 hrs away; won't be back until Canadian Thanksgiving (October) and then Christmas. His is a "continuous program" of three years of study compressed into two, with only three weeks off between semesters. I miss him already. How do you all handle the emotions that accompany this rite of passage? I know that it is only healthy and fitting for our children to grow up and move on, but I wonder if having been a hs'ing family makes this all that much harder. This son has been to a large extent the "man of the house" since my husband died two years ago. My next son, 17, is heading into grade 12 at a Christian high school this year, so he will not be around nearly as much either. That leaves me at home with the 15 yr old and 10 yr old boys. On the one hand, that should make it easier to manage the hs'ing; but on the other, as a single parent, I find it tough at the best of times to juggle everything (and don't ask about this Summer That Wasn't, what with major home repairs due to water damage....) I guess I'm wondering how others have managed this time of transition, when the lifestyle you have had for years changes, and children grow up and move out. I suspect it might feel a little easier with a spouse with whom to share the experience and with whom to look towards the future, but that just isn't my situation. Any advice on how to cope with the sadness at the loss of not only a child in the home, but with a way of life?

I just purchased the Life of Fred books, but now I'm wondering how to use them as a supplement. One of my sons will be grade 5 this year and has used Right Start Math through level E; this year we will use Singapore Math. However, SM covers a variety of topics through the year, whereas LoF focuses on one topic per book. So if my son is covering fractions, decimals, percents, etc , in SM, how do I determine how how to coordinate Lof? Same goes for another son who will be finishing Intro Algebra (Lial's) and also starting Geometry (TT). Any advice on how to mesh LoF?

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That is, a map of Britian indicating locations associated with significant British authors?

Love Terry Pratchett!! But not sure how I'd fit his work into the course in terms of any thematic connections, etc. I haven't read enough of his work to bring anything readily to mind. Any ideas?

I haven't read Midnight's Children--are you saying that would be more "upbeat" than The Children of Men? I have read Pillars of the Earth and I consider the graphic sexuality inappropriate for high school students.