Its $35 including shipping, and its heavy. Let me know if you want it - titianmom@yahoo.com I do paypal... Kim

We're trying to convince her to study in the medical field (she'd make a fantastic nurse, but what do parents know?) I'll hang onto it for a while. She swears she won't do anything yucky, but you never know. Kim

I'm guessing not; we finished up Biology last year and I'm assuming I can sell the 'scope. Just checking to make sure before I put it up on For Sale. Kim

Very interesting...

What do you think? I'd like to do a Native American sociology course. Dumb idea? Any suggestions on making it meaty enough? Can you even do a sociology course with a focus on Native American cultures and get credit for it? I'm guessing if I just list it as a sociology course, no one would be the wiser on its focus. Kim

Yes, I think many here understand and have explained it better than I - lots of demo, not much experimenting going on. Thanks for the suggestions of adding some excitement to the labs instead of just doing what is expected to get the check mark on it. The $300 is for Chemistry this year, thus the extra expense. I try to reuse items as well, but sometimes I only save a few bucks. I only have one child, too. If I had several children, then it would be worth it to me, you know? Thanks again, Kim

Am I the only one who feels that science labs are a total sham? Am I the only one out there that knows that kids can learn everything just as easily watching a video? My husband and I both went through college, BTW; did the lab thing. Even enjoyed the classes and got all A's. (I"m Computer Science, he's an Economics major...) Both of us felt the labs were a total waste there, too. Learned nothing from the lab that we couldn't have gotten from a book or video. High School? All A's (not boasting, just sayin'). I remember us kids goofing off and not paying much attention and not learning a thing in lab. Don't even remember what we did in Biology, etc. Obviously another waste of time. But in my family, lecture is very effective--we don't need the touchie-feelie, hands-on stuff, anyway, and our daughter is no different. Yep, we fork out the hundreds of dollars every year and yep, we know its required...which is *why* we force ourselves to fork out the dough every year... But we can't be the only ones out there who think this is a total waste of time and money. I'm getting ready to blow another $300 for overpriced, practically nothing useful items, that we'll spend a couple of hours playing with and won't be able to get rid of afterward. Sigh...all to put the lab down on the transcript. Guess its the price of homeschooling. Bend over and just take it like a mom, ha! :) Kim PS: My daughter is considering becoming a nurse. She says to me, "Mom, why do I need to do the lab, I "got it" already...." My question and sentiments, exactly, child.

I have a stubborn kid of 14, so I feel your pain. A girl who can be sneaky, too...which isn't good, believe me. She's been caught telling whoppers and we ground on occasion. THis all started at about 13ish. She's very bright and ahead on most things, which she resents because she thinks I make her work too hard in school and around the house. (Any work at all is considered too hard...she does the dishes and has to keep her room up which in her mind is too much, so you get the picture.) Honestly, I make her do what she's capable of and she always sails through everything with "A's" so obviously it isn't a struggle. If anything I let up because she could prob handle more than she does. She complains because her friends call her "brainiac". I like all the kids, honestly, and I work with them, but I hate to say it but she can sail around most of them and I know it bothers her a bit. I say that God makes us all different and they have their talents just as she does. She needs to do what God has in plan for her and she shouldn't worry about what everyone else is or isn't doing. It's hard for kids. They want to be like everyone else, whether it is right or not, unfortunately. Getting them to be their own person is tough. And she's been homeschooled since Kindergarten. She learned to read short stories and 3-5th grade novels by the time she was 4 1/2. So again, I can identify. I don't regret homeschooling at all. It's been a good fit for her because I can see exactly what she's doing and can pace things at her pace. Question: Where's hubby in all of this? Do you have joint counselling sessions? That helps with mine. If mine sees that it isn't just mom that's expecting her to do her work, she resigns herself to her "fate" and does it. I don't know if you're Christian or not, but we pray with her, also. A spiritual life helps. It sounds like his interest is centered on video and movies, which isn't good IMHO. And he prob picked it all up at school. Mine watches her movies and any games she plays has to meet our approval as well. She doesn't complain much on it and sees the wisdom in it, because she's Christian. There have been too many studies showing the bad side of video games and too much TV so I don't need to go into that, do I? :0) And unfortunately, guys have much more of a problem than gals with this. They become pretty obsessed with it and get so introverted they can't function in the real world (in extreme cases, of course). I have a friend who has a son who is addicted and he won't even leave the house. But she can't handle him so she just lets him do what he wants. The kid became violent and was thrown out of school. He spends 24-7 playing videos, now. Very sad. I see you're being careful, which is good IMO. I'd hold the line at all costs, and let Dad weight in if necessary. For his sake. I think it's possible that with some time at home, his attitude may change for the better. Time will tell. And if all else fails you can put him back in brick and mortar school. Also, find out any other interests that he has. Make it a part of school. Let him weight in on what he studies if at all possible. THis is important with middlers and high schoolers: Start talking about the future and where they want to be in 5-10 years. It helps. Mine decided she wants to be a pilot. Great! We took her flying and she flew a plane and helped to land it. The instructor wasn't kidding when he said she's a natural. So she's excited about private lessons next year and now we have a focus. She may change her mind, but now she has a reason to go to school and work on more math and science skills. We plan to visit colleges next year. Keeps 'em motivated! (And no, we arent weathy. It'll be interesting to see how all of this works out, but we'll manage somehow. We're determined...) Hope it helps, Kim

I'd want Hollywood to stay away from. They'd only change and ruin it. :001_huh: Kim

That's what I did with my girl. She's in 9th, now. I used the library and created my own stuff up to about 3rd grade and mine thrived. You really don't need anything formal until about 3rdish IMHO. We used a kid's easel to learn to write and practice her language arts skills. I did use 100 easy lessons and she was reading in a couple of months at age 4. I purchased Core Knowledge What Your __ needs to know books for scope and sequence and the library and mom's own created lined paper for everything else, including math and science. We loved it. Kim

I tried the Algebra thing in 8th. Mine sailed thru elementary math and I assumed she'd sail thru Algebra, as well. All went well until about half-way thru the year and we had to put on the breaks. She wasn't retaining much at all, esp when I went back over the prev months' work. This year we started Alg 1 all over again over the summer, moved more slowly, and magically in the fall/early winter the light bulb came on and she's back to sailing again in the 9th grade. Just because they have an aptitude for math in elementary school doesn't mean that Alg 1 will come easy in the 8th grade. That's what we found out. But every child is different.... Best wishes, Kim

My little one was about 5 and was in the big ballet recital one year at a large HS in MD. It included Ballet and hip hop and Irish tap and Jazz. Some of the High School'ers decided to do a rather suggestive dance to "You Make Me Sick" by Pink and apparently it got past the instructors and their parents. (The album has a parental advisory notice on it...) There was absolutely no guessing required as to what the song was about. ?? I don't get it. We joined another Ballet class that did Nutcracker every year. Much safer. :) Kim

The teacher didn't go into the "whys", just that it is so. The class was on improving your speed and comprehension, etc. And of course he said the more difficult the text, the less words read a minute, but still the average is the average and it isn't the significant of a difference (text-wise) and our reading skills/speed stops improving by about 12-14 years old. Kim

I went thru a few curricula before settling on Lial. Here are the ISBNs: 0321279212 - textbook 8th edition 0321285840 - digital video set (CDs) 0321285808 - Solutions manual You can get it all for prob less than $28.00 (including shipping) either on half.com or ebay. Why Lials? It's an introductory course for community colleges; basically high school algebra taught in a way for those who need remedial math before college algebra. The texts are very well done IMHO. There's a wide margin with practice problems along the side for the student to work out as each concept is taught, and plenty of practice problems to pick and choose from, plus a review every chapter and a test on each chapter's work. The exercises/examples are pretty clearly written so that a motivated student could teach themselves, for ex. The digital videos are okay and they pause to let a student practice examples given. I'd recommend watching the entire instruction seg first before saying you don't understand, sometimes they don't clarify things until the end before giving examples. But that's the only prob I saw with them, myself. As always, they're taught be students who are good in math and sometimes those types forget that not everyone is math friendly, and they need to slow down a bit and clarify for newbies. But we're managing to get it with the CDs. There's also a set for Algebra II - Lial Intermediate Algebra. I just picked up a set for $11.00 on ebay. I have to get the digital videos, but that shouldn't be more than about $10. I've tried LOF and Saxon, also. My student is getting it with Lials. And I can see how someone who is math-friendly could just work their way through Alg I in Lials with no trouble at all. BTW, mine was very math-friendly until she hit Alg I. Just fyi on that...all the sudden math became work. She was used to flying through math in 20 mins with all 100's scores, then Algebra happened. Kim

Thought this was interesting. In a speed reading class the prof said that the average words per minute that people read today is: 150-250 30 years ago: 250-350. Hmmm..... too much TV? Less challenging texts in school? Interesting. Just thought I'd pass it on. Kim