I haven't even gotten that far. Lol.

Are you saying you are going with Arduino?

I am planning this with Dive Bio and Chem. We will watch the Dive labs. We are using Apologia texts with Dive, so we will do the Landry intensive. I think they have intensives combining labs for bio and anatomy, and chem and adv. chem. Dive schedules two apologia texts per course, so combining the labs from both texts into one intensive is appealing.

Rasberry Pi - programming Arduino - electrical circuits ???? Is that accurate, or is there overlap? 1. Could a 12 yo learn these on his own with books and websites? Minimal help from me. Or would a $500 4 month class for Rasberry Pi be necessary? 2. Which would you start with? I'm giving him the rest of the schoolyear to become more proficient with Mindstorms. These would be for his bday in May to work on next summer. Thanks for any help.

My children's thoughts: 1. It would be really difficult to do well in high school math at school. I got things wrong with minimal corrections, just an x usually. So I continued on making the same mistakes in homework, quizzes, and tests. My parents would not pay for a tutor. It never occurred to them. I had straight As in everything else, Aps, NM commended (my tein was a finalist bc she got 700s in math and I scored much lower.) etc. I was in non honors track just for math, algebra in 9th. My children said if I had a solutions manual and a mom poring over my daily work I would have been better off. :) 2. I made copious, detailed outlines from my textbooks to study for Ap history tests. My children are seriously intimidated. 3. Essay tests in every class. This freaked them out. 4. My 8th grader cried that she is way behind writing where I was at her grade . She is at the level of my 7th grade folder. I had tons of corrections in my writing and improved a ton before 8th grade. If my daughter stops being offended at corrections of her weak theses statements, we have time to fix her writing! :)

My mom saved all my desk papers and filing cabinet contents. I have every scrap of paper from 7th-12th grades for math, science, history and several english classes. I have dozens of essays, research papers and projects. My children are definately outperforming my background in math, science and electives like Latin and Logic. I am a little concerned about writing and history. My outlines and essay tests in 7th and 8th grade history were extremely impressive. I think I really need to up my writing requirements. I wrote 1000x more than they do. It was a blast to read about all of the books I read. It was hilarious to see my algebra 1 and 2 errors. Where was Mr. Mosley when I needed him! Has anyone else looked through their old schoolwork?

I know people who took a course last semester, but it only covered knex, snap circuits, and a flight simulator program. I was not interested in the flight simulator and felt my son had mastered the other subjects on his own. Their children really enjoyed it. Rasberry Pi is something I was already looking at, along with Arduino. I'm not sure if he can figure that out on his own next summer, if I give him websites and books to help?

http://youngengineersoftoday.com/ Almost $500 with materials (including Rasberry Pi) for a middle school class that meets 2x month in person and 2x week online for 4 months? We have never gone to an outside class, never mind paid. My husband and I are humanities majors and we are clueless to help him, so we may need to start outsourcing now?!

I'm sorry! It is a lot to take in. My son was diagnosed at 4. Hopefully, your will adjust quickly to the shock and emotions of it all and become independent quickly. My biggest worry about my son is that he needs my reminders to stay on top of things. I want him 100% reliable and responsible before college. If you can start off with those habits, all the better. Did the hospital give you the Pink Panther guidebook? The children with diabetes forum is like the wtm board for type 1 parents. Hth!

Yes, when we were sharing isbns on the boards a couple years ago we called it cheap chalkdust. I found the lesson for synthetic division in the intermediate algebra dvd lesson. This dvd set has elementary algebra, combined and intermediate algebra lessons. The paper pamphlet matches up to the appropriate textbook chapter. 5.4 should be the only error. I'm writing notes on the pamphlet for my son and I next year! Phew.

I found this post saved in my math bookmarks. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/262888-cheap-chalkdust-algebra-usersheads-up/ I think this might be a one time thing. If anyone wants to give me advise about continuing with the cheap chalkdust or not, please do!

I bought the dvds by Dana Mosely/Cengage and the Elementary and Intermediate Algebra Larson text. Things were going well. We are wrapping up chapter 5 today with the review. She has a 94 ave so far. I realized that 5.4 dvd lesson doesn't cover all that is in the review. Dividing polynomials. The combined dvd 5.4 lesson only covered factoring. I had been told on the boards that the combined course consisted of ch.1-10 (out of 13 ch.) was Algebra 1. Ch. 4-13 is Algebra 2. NOW WHAT???? Should I just buy from Chalkdust for 2nd semester and trust she hasn't missed out on foundational material. Math is not our strong suit and now I'm panicked that I have ruined her foundation for higher math.

Can anyone compare/contrast 1. Garlic Press Discovering Literature 2. Progeny Press 3. Memoria Press I definately want some comprehension chapter questions, but also literary analysis. Thanks!

Your blog is really great. I have so many photo heavy blogs saved that are inspiring in a pie in the sky way. Your blog has so much to read and apply. Can't wait to read through this weekend. Thanks!

Thanks everyone. I do understand what you are saying. She has chest tightness with running, gets out of breath unusually, and did not do well on her breath testing. But, she doesn't wheeze. I have older sons with severe medical issues, so I'm hesitant to go down this road with her for something that "seems" so minor. She does need to be able to work out, so we will give it a try.

She has seen a pulmonologist for allergy shots and mild asthma symptoms during pollen season. She started couch 25k last summer after quitting 7 years of ballet (bc of poor turnout for pointe). She couldn't progress bc of chest tightness and being crazy out of breath. She broke out in hives after a run a couple weeks ago. The dr. did a lung function test oday and said she should have Flovent daily in addition to Xopenex as needed. I'm concerned about side effects! He said it isn't like the oral or iv steroids I have taken, bc it is only absorbed by the lungs - like hydrocortisone cream is absorbed by the skin only. I'm a little skeptical. I would hate to have her deal with long term issues with weight and bone loss like I have.... What would you do?

If so, can you talk me through it? Samsung Galaxy Tab/ Android. Thanks!

Do you think my son can figure it out and learn from it on his own? Using the manuals? Thanks.

For 11yo who loves snap circuits. I read the 2 included booklets by Forest Sims are great. Can anyone recommend or review this? http://m.radioshack.com/radioshack/product/detail.do?itemId=3814337&op=%22http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3814337%22

It is also the teen uniform. I bought my daughter her first pair of skinny jeans and brown leather boot (Kasia) from Target for Christmas.

Thanks so much for the replies. I saved the websites and links. Any other thoughts?

My 11yo son is discouraged about his ability to build creatively. He has built many large Technic sets such as the Supercar and the Unimog. However, he has noticed that his friends build creatively huge designs that work. One friend (14yo) was in FLL that wouldn't let kids under 12 join, long story. This friend also took an Engineering enrichment class. It met 2x week online and 2x month in person for 12 months. We thought $400 was too much for a middle school enrichment mostly online class. Do you think creativity in building can be taught or only "caught" by group FLL or a class? We bought 2 Mindstorms books to work through, that he finds somewhat confusing, but we are enouraging him to work through page by page. I bought the new Technic book also. Any thoughts?

No stem background for either parent! Son has type 1 diabetes and wants to work in the field: probably biomedical engineering bc he hates current continual glucose monitors. :) Or a pediatric endocrinologist. He excels in spatial skills, and does well in math and science

Thanks. I'll look into American Scientist. We just subrscribed to the Economist, I didn't know know they had science articles.

Thanks for the heads up! That is creepy. I will go to a bookstore to lookat the ads. I wouldn't know which is better, content wise, bc I'm not well read in science. Thanks.