Thank you everyone for the replies. It sounds like VRBO is the real thing. I hadn't even heard of it before I happened to stumble across it last week when I was trying to plan our holiday. I am so glad to hear that so many of you have used it with success..... it sounds like we can use VRBO with confidence. Thanks!

Big Island. Feel free to pm me the link to your property if it is on the BI.

We just booked tickets to Hawaii for Jan. We are planning on spending most of our time on the Big Island and so I'm looking for suggestions of must do's while we are there. We are not into the city and crowd scene too much, and are mostly looking for a relaxing vacation with some beach time, beautiful hikes and scenery, and visiting the volcano. Also, I think we are going to rent a place to stay through VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) and so if anyone has experience with a place they have rented, then I'd love to hear about it. Or, if you have a recommendation for another place that you have rented or a rental agency that you have used, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

We have just booked tickets to Hawaii in Jan. and now I need to find a place to stay. I have been looking at what is available at VRBO but have never used them before. Does anyone have experience renting through them? Any tips for questions we need to make sure we ask before agreeing to rent? Are there things I need to be aware of? Any way to protect ourselves from being scammed? Thanks!

Thanks Sandra. Yep, the 23rd will be the beginning. I'm glad to here it shouldn't be too bad. I'm afraid the longer we put off the trip, the less likely it is to happen, so waiting until 2013 isn't appealing. Knowing who *not* to use is just as helpful as knowing who to use, so thank you for the info! DH found a company online that he seems partial to at the moment. They look like they have good reviews and a van that would fit our needs. From our research, it looks we need a van with seatbelts for everyone and that limits our choices somewhat. Thanks!

I'm glad things are getting back to normal and everyone is okay! Thanks for the sneak peak into what is to come. I look forward to seeing the full scope and sequence when it is ready. In the meantime, we decided to just jump right in and give it a go. DS started WWS on Monday, and so far things are off to a good start. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion. I just checked and it is available for rent from Amazon as an instant video, so I think we'll try to watch it that way.

Thank you to everyone for the tips and suggestions. We are really starting to get excited about the possibility of doing this trip. We are thinking we'd focus on the South Island predominantly. However, we're thinking that we may be able to extend the trip to 2 weeks and spend a few days on a beach in the North Island before heading home. So, for those that have done the RV thing.... do you have a specific rental company you have used that you would recommend? Also, I know a few of you mentioned that it would be best to wait until Feb. so school would be back in session by then. However, we are trying to do this over Chinese New Year which happens to be early this year and begins on Jan. 23. So, how busy will things really be at this time? Would you recommend waiting until next year when Chinese New Year is later in Feb? Thanks!

This week my dh came home and suggested we look at taking a vacation to NZ in Jan-Feb time frame. So what can you tell me about vacationing in NZ? What are the must see places and things to do? Is it as expensive as vacationing in Australia (another place we are considering)? Also, researching on the internet, we came across the idea of renting an RV and touring the country that way. Has anyone ever done that? Any tips? Would we be able to do the trip justice if we were only staying for approx. 10 days? Thanks!

Thank you everyone for the replies. I have really enjoyed reading through them and have found a lot of encouragement. We have always tested for state requirements, and that has usually been my reassurance that we are doing okay. I realize that I don't want to be tied to them, but I also want my dc to have the option available to them should they/we decide sending them back to school was the best option at the time. The thing I really struggle with is trying to mesh our goals and what we feel are the best educational methods for our dc, with the desire to "keep up" with state standards. I appreciate all of you reminding me that I need to keep our goals and priorities first and look outside the box to evaluate how we are doing.

Thanks for pointing this out for me. I printed the student sample but only looked at the teacher's sample online. I should have known better, my brain doesn't process the things I read from the computer very well..... I need a hardcopy in front of me. "Brainstorm some ideas" doesn't work for my kiddos either! I've been using LTOW with ds for about a year now, and really appreicate how it specifically addresses the issue of what to say. But I've had to really slow it down and tweak it for him, and I think he might benefit more from WWS. WWS seems to be even more incremental and explicit in instruction, which I think he'd greatly benefit from.

So I just finished reading all of the responses in the "hs are 2 years behind" thread, and frankly I'm a bit freaked out. Knowing that test scores really aren't that reliable, how do I know that I'm not just living in my own little happy world thinking my kids are doing great? We are in our 6th year of homeschooling, and I've always been under the impression that we are pushing our kids (yes, we push) to excel academically. But how do I really know? How do I know that if/when they enter a public or private school setting, that we won't be "that" hs family that did their dc an injustice by keeping them home? I know most of this is just fear talking, but how do you properly assess your dc's academic progress to know that you aren't slacking and that they won't be "behind"?

Thanks for the clarification!:D

Hmmm, I'm a bit confused too. I think there are just 4 levels for WWS (but I could easily be wrong), so I think this means WWS Level 1. Also, beginning literary essays are listed in the TOC sample for the last few weeks of WWS 1 and I'm guessing will go well beyond this by the end of the entire WWS program.

Does there happen to be a (tentative) scope and sequence for the entire program somewhere? I'm such a big picture person, and would really like to know where we will end up after using all 4 levels. I'm also particularly curious to know how the program addresses the problem of helping kids come up with something to say. Or does WWS (all levels) stick with having kids write summaries/reports from source material and wait on writing original material in high school? Thanks!

I have gotten stuff to use as filler in the insulation section at Menards (like a Lowes or Home Depot). It is little styrofoam beads and works great for filling a bean bag and at a fraction of the cost!

It definitely sounds like our kids are similar. I'm going to check out the link you posted for the Khan Academy and see if it is something that might work for us as well. Thanks!

Elizabeth, Thank you so much for pointing me to these resources. I've only quickly looked at them, but I like what I see so far. I'm going to try to find some time this weekend to take a better look at them. Also, thanks for the reminder that I can always move forward with the Alg. 1 and then go deeper later by using the AOPS materials. Thanks!

Thank you everyone for the feedback, but I realized I left out some information in my original post that has a large bearing on my question..... our current location and available resources. I think the AOPS pre-algebra book would be a great solution to our situation, but unfortunately, logistically it is not an option. I had hoped that when my dh was in the States a month ago that the book would be released in time for him to bring it back to China with him, but that didn't happen. So I need to figure out our best option based on the materials we have available to us, which are Saxon 1/2, Saxon Algebra 1, Lial's BCM, and possible online sources. Does anyone have a suggestion for an online resource that we could use to redo pre-algebra but at a deeper level, something similar to AOPS? Additonally, one of the reasons I thought Saxon was a good fit was because he doesn't like doing an entire problem set of the same type of problems everyday (he says it is boring).... he likes the variety in the Saxon problem sets. He also gets the new concepts easily, but when we were using BJU (we used it for 1-5 before switching to Saxon 87) he sometimes had problems remembering exactly how to do something when encountered several chapters later. The constant review in Saxon seemed to help by keeping the ideas fresh in his mind. It wasn't that he needed the practice to understand the concepts, it just helped so that he didn't need to be reminded later on how to do something he had seemingly mastered previously. However, I can see where this may not be necessary now that we are entering into algebraic concepts since they seem to build more upon each other and incorporate many skills within one problem. I really thought we were set with Saxon, but now I'm second guessing myself. Thanks for all of the feedback and discussion so far, I'd really appreciate any additional comments and suggestions.

We just started our school year last week and I'm already questioning my choice for math. Last year DS was in 4th grade and did Saxon 87 and LOF pre-Algebra. That was our first year with Saxon, and overall, I think it was a good fit...... we plan on continuing with it this year along with LOF Algebra. However, I'm second guessing myself on what Saxon book he should be doing. Last year he did quite well on the tests on 87, but would do poorly on the daily work. I completely believe it was a maturity issue (sloppy work, poorly organized, careless computational errors, frustration that would cause mental melt-downs, lack of confidence as the year progressed, etc. ) and not a math issue, as he was able to demonstrate understanding of the material on the tests and when we would go over the material together. So while he is likely ready for the Algebra 1 book mathematically, I had planned on having him do Algebra 1/2 this year to try to give him a chance for his maturity level to catch up with his mathematical ability. However, one week into our school year and he is complaning how there is nothing new in his math, it is too easy, etc. I explained to him that the beginning of the math books are always this way as they are meant as a review to get you back up to speed after summer break. He understands this, and also understands my reasoning behind trying to give him a year for his maturity level to even out a bit with his math level, and is okay with sticking it out through Alg. 1/2. He knows how important having a good foundation in Algebra is to understanding higher maths and he wants to make sure he gets it right the first time around and doesn't just try to hurry through it all. But now I'm wondering if maybe I'm making a mistake and should let him go onto the Algebra 1 book. I was even thinking of possibly having him do half a lesson a day so he could spend more time on some of the maturity issues that need to be addressed (neat work, organized, etc) but still encountering new material. Strangely though, he isn't big on this idea. I think he feels like it would be some sort of cop out to only do half a math lesson a day. So I just thought I'd come here and seek advice on how you would handle this discrepency between maturity and understanding. Thanks!

My dh gave me a TRX for Christmas last year after I had been drooling over it for several months. I really like it! It is so versatile and easy to change the intensity of your workout depending on what you are looking for each day. As someone mentioned, using the door mount is super simple and the only way I have ever used it. The only thing that is an issue is finding a door that has enough space around it to perform the exercises.

My ds started playing the guitar about a 18 months ago. He loves the instrument, is motivated to play, and has shown a bit of aptitude for the instrument. He had a great teacher when we lived in the States, but we have hit a real wall finding a decent instructor here in China. I know absolutely nothing about the guitar and barely know anything about music in general, but I'm trying to explore what options we may have for an online program or DVD program to help him advance. One of the things we loved about his previous guitar teacher was that he wasn't just teaching him chords, but rather he was teaching him how to read notes, how to play notes, and music theory (this was important to me because it could be carried over to other instruments in the future if he chose to do so). The only teacher we have been able to find so far, is only interested in showing him more chords. Some of this has been useful as he has delved deeper in the world of bar chords, but ds's real interest lies in playing individual notes and even finger picking (okay, I really don't know what I'm talking about here but this is what my ds has told me). Does anyone have any suggestions for us to explore to help ds advance as a guitarist and hopefully a musician in general? Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion! They are downloading now. I'd still love to hear from anyone else on how you view the differences and how this looks in your home. Thanks!

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the different types of writing in the WTM for the logic stage. There are narrations for history, reports for science, and summaries for reading. Can someone help flesh out the differences for me and how they play out in your home? Also, how does outlining fit in? In other words, how can we use an outline from either a history reading or science reading to write either a narration, report, or summary? Thanks!

Some great tips here, thanks for sharing!