I teach a writing class at co-op and the kids have to do a technology project for a report they just wrote. Most kids are using Explain Everything on their iPads. One kid is using iMovie on a laptop. I think another kid is using Power Point. One of the kids has a Kindle Fire and can not find an app where he can do his project. The project is pretty open-ended, but I did (at the very least) want them to bring in pictures, voice, and some kind of movement. I'd take a very basic PP presentation at this point - I just want to help the student find *something* he can work with on the Kindle. Any recommendations?

Weird. I usually attend a few semi-formal events during the Christmas season and there are definitely more hose than non-hose there. I usually wear nude hose with a cocktail dress. These events are during the cold winter months. I wouldn't wear hose to church or to dinner. In those cases I'd wear tights or go bare legged.

I am more than happy to pay $5 to have TOG on my iPad - definitely more than worth it for me.

We've got what I think is a really healthy group of friends for my boys right now. The older two are 11 and 13 and have a group of boy and girl friends. The 13 year old, especially, is motivated to arrange social get-togethers. He organizes movie nights, mini-golf, ice skating, etc., and then texts all his friends - boys and girls. They're all just friends - no boyfriends/girlfriends - and they have a lot of common interests (Dr. Who, various books they read, etc.). We even have boy/girl sleepovers! I'm not sure how long these can go on, but it would seem weird to leave some friends out just because they're girls.

I'm too confused to vote. If you had asked me when dd was 7, or even 13, I would have had a very clear and well-reasoned answer. Now, I'm not too sure. I read a lot of "Kissed Dating Goodbye" type books with dd when she was 12 and 13. She bought in and even asked for a purity ring for her 13th birthday. At 17, someone we had known through sports made his interest in her apparent and asked to come and speak to dh. He asked for permission to date dd. He was very sweet and humble and respectful. We said yes, but cautiously, as dd was scheduled to leave for uni four months after. They got very serious very quickly with the young man expressing his intention to move across the country to where dd would be going to uni. Dd fell hard for him and they talked about how they would get married when she was a little older. This is where I stopped thinking the whole "no dating" thing was a good idea. Dd had been homeschooled her whole life - except for three semesters in high school. She'd always lived at home and was so very young. I wanted her to have a chance to be on her own - without her parents, without a serious boyfriend - so she could figure out who she was and where she was going. Thankfully, dd realized she didn't want a long distance relationship about three weeks after she left home. I certainly don't want her to run around and date a bunch of people or be serious about a lot of people or be serious in a casual context, but I do hope that she makes a lot of friends and meets a bunch of new people and has time to figure herself out before she ends up in a serious relationship. I have no idea how to proceed with my younger three...

Here's how to get started. Looks like it isn't an instant fix, but hopefully it won't take too long for them to review the applications. It did say on the website that they would be charging a small fee for additional licenses, but I haven't run across that yet. 1. Go to Tapestryofgrace.com on whatever device you want TOG installed on. 2. Login to Download Centre 3. Step 1 - Download Locklizard Program - this will take you to the app store where you download the free Locklizard app 4. Step 2 - Download Device License - when you do this from your iPad a little window will pop up saying, "Hello iPad user! You will need to apply for an additional license to use this device. Click HERE to do so." 5. Fill out application after clicking HERE. 6. Get a notification email saying that Lampstand will review my application for an additional license and that I'll receive another email when the license has been approved. 7. Wait and wait for the notification email - especially if you applied on a Sunday and you know they won't read emails today.

Apparently I didn't read the last newsletter! Off to set this up...

Seriously people! How did I not know about this? I've been a TOG user for years and am an avid iPad user as well. I knew it was coming, but I didn't know it was available now! Is there an app I have to download?

I'm pretty particular about our instruments, but I'd check the Stentors. Bubble wrapped and carefully packed, they'll be fine. If it was something more valuable I'd carry it on. I have a couple of Stentors - same size as yours, actually, and I'd have no problem checking them.

This hasn't been my experience. Our Suzuki kids and their friends are very strong sight readers. They make up a big proportion of our youth orchestra and they really excel, especially when compared with some of the other kids in the orchestra. That might be because our Suzuki program has encouraged a strong commitment to music. The summer Suzuki institute we attend also encourages sight reading - they offer three levels of orchestra classes as well as a pre-reading class for kids who aren't ready for orchestra yet. They also offer an advanced chamber music program.

I really, really want a Pyrrha talisman necklace: http://www.pyrrha.com

C'mon. Where did all you PBL people go?

It looks like we'll have time next year for some significant project based learning, but I really need some structure around it. Are any of the books on Project Based Learning compatible with a student-led project? What I'm hoping to do is help the kids decide on something they want to study in-depth and then help them create some deadlines to shoot for and help them decide what they want their project to look like in the end. We're pretty open in terms of what they want to study - it can be anything. I would like to give the kids some ideas so I'd appreciate any links to student projects. I'm having a hard time thinking of lots of ideas - they could do some kind of scientific research that could turn into a science fair project, they could research an aspect of history...??? I have loads of time to come up with ideas and to let them think about stuff. We'll be starting with the grades 4 - 7 kids in the fall and the grade 9 kids will likely start next January. We have four families who are working together on this - kids could do group projects, partners, or solo projects. Any books you can recommend to me? Or websites for examples of projects for the kids?

I totally agree. I see this as very reasonable. If I were an anti-drinker, I would think that exposing the kids to responsible alcohol use would be very important. I wouldn't want my kids to grow up thinking that everyone who had a beer or a glass of wine was a drunk or had a problem. I'd worry that I was raising legalistic kids who were prone to judgement.

My dd is a math and science girl who gets frustrated with writing assignments, but she strongly credits her work with CW for her writing skills. She's a great writer, she just doesn't enjoy the process. But, CW gave her what it promised - copia. Beyond all the basic skills of summarizing and outlining, CW taught her how to identify the author's emphasis and how to say things in different words in order to replicate the same emphasis and also in order to change the emphasis. I think that teaching kids how to do different kinds of writing (essays, stories, editorials, etc.) is easy - it's teaching kids how to say what they want to say powerfully or subtly or however, that is hard. CW does that.

Well, out here junior high is grades 7 - 9. I already have one in university and I've got one in grade 8 this year. I've spent the last couple of weeks mulling over the next few years. With dd, I was unprepared for the amount of science she wanted to do. In our province, kids need Science 10 and one Science 11 (either biology, physics, or chemistry) to graduate. However, she wanted to have three grade 11 sciences, 2 grade 12 sciences and calculus 12 (in addition to pre-calc 10, 11, and 12). I'm a history/lit girl. Ds (13) is also pretty jazzed up about science, but I'm not on this boat alone. I'm rallying my friends so that we continue to have a great group of kids to work together. This is our fourth year working together. The grade 8's are all ahead. So much so, that next year they'll complete science 10 and they won't have any social studies they have to do. We're all doing Tapestry of Grace and it looks like we'll take a year off between Year 3 and Year 4. During this "gap year" we're going to give the kids lots of time to design their own projects - together. I'm really looking forward to the idea that they'll have lots of time to figure out what they want to pursue and how they want it to look. We'll help them set up a framework for their learning, but what they want to learn about and what their end product looks like will be up to them. We could barrel ahead, but I think there will be some real value in giving them a year to do their own thing. Dd enjoyed learning, but really had her eye on graduation. She didn't want to take any rabbit trails or do any big projects, she just wanted to finish. I think part of it had to do with the lack of a peer group. The boys have a great peer group of academically motivated, creative kids. I think they're going to have a fantastic year together.

My kids' music school orchestra is about 25 kids from grade 1 - 8 and parents take turns doing snack each week. Some ideas: mini-muffins turkey pepperoni sticks cut into chunks cheese crackers (rice crackers if there are gluten issues) fruit (cut apples with lemon and cinnamon, mandarin oranges, grapes, strawberries, etc.) veggies with dip hummus and pita (or pita chips) tortilla chips and salsa yogurt in cups with granola and blueberries We usually have a range - something with protein, veggies or fruit, something baked and something that's more of a treat - each week.

My eight year old and his buddies screamed, "What does the fox say?" instead of, "Trick-or-Treat" this year - and they said that most people knew exactly what they were talking about.

When I look at your links I see regular and member prices, but not a special price. I think you have to purchase the Kindle book before the special price on Audible shows up. That's what happened with a Henty book I bought today - I found it on Audible first - no special price. Then I "bought" it for free from Amazon, then I went back to Audible and there was a special price - $2.99.

Thanks! I just bought David Copperfield, Tom Sawyer, Frankenstein, Huckleberry Finn, Bleak House, Wizard of Oz, and Ender's Game (little more pricey but still very cheap!).

Ok - I am not getting the Audible option after I purchase from Amazon. I have my Amazon and Audible accounts linked. Is it because I'm in Canada?

I don't know who doesn't get to choose their own doctor. We've always picked our own doctors and had the ability to choose our own specialists as well. If we want to see someone outside of office hours we can go to any clinic we'd like or, in an emergency, the ER. I've had issues in pregnancy and always saw an OB right away. I had midwives (that I didn't have to pay for) as well as an OB for my second pregnancy - hospitalizations, etc. All no problem. We've seen a number of specialists with the kids and haven't had an extraordinary wait - even though none of their problems were what I considered urgent. My mom had what she thought was a cardiac problem and she was able to get into a cardiac clinic asap and do a ton of testing without any waits. Meanwhile, my mil felt her wait for an MRI was too long, so she went to a private clinic and paid for it herself. We've always felt very taken care of here. We love our doctor and have had positive experiences in the hospital. I love that I don't ever have to consider whether something is "covered" or not. We get the care we need to without worrying about the cost.

Except I think they've done the lead up to this well. Carol has been working on her own for some time. She does what she wants - training the little kids to use weapons, fixing the well when she wanted to instead of waiting for Rick. She's not doing the group thing well. And it progressed to killing members of the group. I'm not sure how Rick could have kept her around - I don't see her having a change of heart and all of a sudden being part of a team.

Oh, and we were willing to spend a small fortune to buy an "American" fridge. I miss ordering my groceries online and hope that becomes a reality in Canada some day.

Sigh. That made me miss London. Dh worked in the City for two years and homeschooling in London was pretty amazing. We had our third child while out there so experienced a lot of the NHS. I wasn't prepared for the culture shock - I really thought it would be the same as Victoria, BC. It wasn't. As much as we loved it, we're really happy to be back in Canada.