I really meant Second through Fourth Form in my post title...

I'm barely hanging in there with First Form 1. I have my workbook, and take all quizzes and tests. My children FAR exceed my capacity to memorize and synthesize. I had 3 semesters of university Latin. I could read works fluently back then. Now, I have trouble remembering all the FF vocab and I can't translate phrases worth squat. I barely remember the conjugations and declensions each week - I can recite them but I have to take a minute to remember what each means... My children have automaticity that comes so quickly, it is very frustrating to me. I actually hate studying this, though I know it is good for my aging brain. So, I'm thinking about taking this off my plate this coming year and just letting them go on through the FF alone and with dvds. Holding them accountable of course, with oral drill etc. Then, online classes in high school to prepare for AP Virgil. What do you think?? Should I press on or let them go ahead on their own?

Week 1 1. Daddy Longlegs, Jean Webster - Kindle 2. Dear Enemy, Jean Webster - Kindle 3. Bookends of the Christian Life, Jerry Bridges A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay (didn't like, quit) Week 2 4. Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson 5. A Praying Life, Paul Miller - Kindle Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen - library on Kindle (didn't like, quit - not doing well with fiction picks this year!) Week 3 6. The Book of the Ancient World 7. The Book of the Greeks, both by Dorothy Mills 8. The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton 9. Organized Simplicity - Kindle Week 4 10. In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson - library on Kindle 11. Think, John Piper 12. Lit, Tony Reinke Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Foe - quit! Week 5 continuing In the Garden of Beasts 13.That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week, Ana Homayoun 14. Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners, Ciny West 15. I'm an English Major Now What, Tim Lemire 16. Suprised by Oxford, Carolyn Weber (love so far)

I was an english major with a minor in history. I was one class shy to have a minor in philosophy as well. I wish I had double majored in english/secondary education instead. I would have liked to have a couple years teaching english under my belt before I started homeschooling, financially and experience wise. I could be teaching online courses and grading sat essays too. I'm encouraging my daughter to get the secondary ed double major if she majors in english or history. Jmo.

She took the SAT this morning. She didn't do as well on her official essay, so she likely got a 2... She really enjoyed the opportunity. She was getting nervous last week, and that made me sad I signed her up! But, once she saw how easy writing multiple choice was - that really encouraged her for her future ability to score well. :)

It is always important to challenge authorities. Agree or disagree: It isn't always important to challenge authorities. Yes, it helps develop a point of view, but authorities often have more knowledge, and they have much to teach you. Helen Keller was born as a healthy baby. When she was about two years old, she became ill. She lost her sight, hearing and speech. She had no sense of communicating. She didn't try to ignore her authorities, she had no choice. Her parents hired a tutor names Anne Sullivan. She tried to teach Helen a way to communicate. She gave Helen a doll and spelled d-o-l-l into her hand. Helen loved the doll and thought that it was a game when Anne wrote into her hand. She copied the letters d-o-l-l back into her teacher's hand, but she didn't understand the meaning. Helen often became frustrated because her teacher wouldn't let her have her way, unlike her parents. Anne decided to spend a little time away from Helen's parents, so she lived in a hut on their property. Anne tried to teach Helen words by writing into her hand. Helen played the copycat game. Anne tried so hard to get Helen to understand what the words stood for. She decided to teach Helen the word water. Anne took Helen out to the pump, and she put water on Helen's hand, then she spelled w-a-t-e-r in Helen's wet hand. Helen's face lit up. She finally understood. She learned a lot more words that day. Anne taught Helen to read braille. As Helen grew older, she could read Braille in Greek, German, Latin and English. She also learned how to talk again. She wrote an autobiography called The Story of My Life. I think Helen Keller is a great example of why we shouldn't always challenge our authorities. If Helen kept on getting her own way and not obeying, she never would have become the woman she became. --------------------------------------------------------------------- She has never written a persuasive essay before. I think it is probably a 2 or 3 (1-6) for using only 1 illustration, weak vocabulary, and immature sentence structure and development. In normal sized print, she filled up front and back of the practice sheet. What do you think? I think it is a great effort though for her first try in 25 minutes!! She took a practice writing test with the blue College board book yesterday, Duke tip is this morning. She only missed 2 writing questions on the entire writing portion! I was shocked. We had been focusing on practicing critical reading because that is a real strength, but she barely meets the cut off for a state award there, 510. Sometimes she is above, sometimes just under. But, she would have a great chance for an award in writing if her essay was a 4. She wants to apply the question to Helen Keller or ballet if possible. We'll see if that works this morning!!!

posted on writing board...

Stridor and asthma are different. For stridor that requires nebulized epinephrine for survival, I would read about parathyroid disease. That is what caused the severe chronic strider in my son with a mito disorder. I would see the asthma/allergy as a seperate issue and diagnosis than the reason for the stridor. But that is my dr. mom, uneducated opinion...

We plan on using CLE (Christian Light Eduction) high school elective courses for these: http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/114 http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/115 http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/103

Week 1 1. Daddy Longlegs, Jean Webster - Kindle 2. Dear Enemy, Jean Webster - Kindle 3. Bookends of the Christian Life, Jerry Bridges A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay (didn't like, quit) Week 2 4. Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson 5. A Praying Life, Paul Miller - Kindle Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen - library on Kindle (didn't like, quit - not doing well with fiction picks this year!) Week 3 6. The Book of the Ancient World 7. The Book of the Greeks, both by Dorothy Mills 8. The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton 9. Organized Simplicity - Kindle Week 4 10. In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson - library on Kindle 11. Think, John Piper 12. Lit, Tony Reinke Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Foe - quit!

We are making a notebook for our ancient studies. I spent some time today making a rubric about what I want them to include in each weekly summary worksheet using our History Scribe printouts. I feel more confident that with planning they will create a notebook of important names, dates, great works, and places I want them to remember. I tend to overbuy and not have time for everything. Thanks for your input and saving me the purchase...

Has anyone used these? I'm considering them to add to our notebooking? Do they aid in retention or are they just "something else to get done"? Thanks for any reviews...

definately Clarence Carson - A Basic History of the United States (now 6 vol. I only have vol. 1-5 but I like them a lot) http://cathyduffyreviews.com/history-geography/basic-history-us.htm

You want to see ours? It takes an hour every Saturday morning. I can cut and paste from Evernote. :) 14yo - with special needs: Strip bed of sheets and place in laundry room Empty all trash bins into large trash bag, carry to garage bin 10yob: Dust all downstairs baseboards and moldings Dust bedroom/straighten up Take off sheets and place in laundry room Dust special needs brother's room including baseboards Clean kid’s bathroom with sister 12yog: Dust chairs downstairs Dust stairs and upstairs hallway baseboards Dust Dad and Mom’s bedroom Take off sheets and place in laundry room Dust bedroom/straighten up Take off sheets and place in laundry room Clean kid’s bathroom with brother Mom: Deep clean kitchen Dust downstairs furniture, windowsills Organize closets/tidy up desks, paperwork, drawers and cabinets in kitchen and schoolroom Clean master and downstairs bathrooms Wash all sheets and towels in house! Dad: Clean out cars and garage Lawn care Sweep/dampmop hardwoods downstairs before Sun afternoon small group My Daily: laundry, all cooking and cleanup with help from kids, and tidying

Christian Kids Explore Science series. We used all 4 years and loved this series! I'm keeping them on our shelves with their notebooks. They are great reviews when they need a refresher. I liked Apologia but my children and I couldn't do wordiness either... https://www.brightideaspress.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6_54&zenid=92d16f919832462371cd71cb989a5fe1

Thanks for your post. We used to drain it with a red robin catheter - I still have one. We didn't measure it though. I kind of remember that it was hard to get out bc he is mostly bedridden. The urologist told us we didn't need to do it anymore once the scar tissue built up a nice stoma/tract and no follow up appts were scheduled. I'll just have to wait until the appt. and see if his bladder isn't emptying all the way. I need a fax machine to hurry this up!

Week 1 Daddy Longlegs - Kindle Dear Enemy - Kindle Bookends of the Christian Life, Jerry Bridges A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay - not as good as Sarah's key Week 2 Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson A Praying Life, Paul Miller - Kindle Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen - ICK Week 3 History of the Ancient World History of the Greeks, both by Dorothy Mills The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton Organized Simplicity - kindle

thanks for the reply and bump... maybe the stoma does need to be stretched because of growth or something... It seems like it empties very well - overflows - bc he has plenty of soaked diapers/pads. There isn't really a way to check residuals myself like there I can with his feeding tube...

I'm trying to get my son into a urologist - unfortunately his urologist/surgeon retired and closed the entire practice. I'm getting his medical records switched to a new practice - but in the meantime no one can answer my question or get us in to see a new urologist urgently. My son had a vesicostomy placed 5 years ago for a degenerative neuro condition that led to acute urinary retention. His vesicostomy stoma has been great and we haven't used a catheter in it for years - drains into a diaper. His urine output is excellent and clear. So, for the last 6 months he has been treated for 6 utis. Each time it grows a different bacteria too. We are using a clean catch method after his shower - no catheter. I wasn't worried until today when we followed up with a urinalysis to make sure the uti from 2 weeks ago was clear. It grew a totally new infection - making 6 utis in 6 months! Why would this start now after so many years of a healthy stoma? Anyone know?

I have used the three TQ AHYS volumes (alongside SOTW) and am on TQ Ancients (Egypt and Greece & Rome volumes) now. I have collected a home library of many TQ oop treasures, spines and readers. Mostly from retired homeschoolers who used TQ and also online. These books are treasures to me, and I will pass most of them down to my grandchildren. I love how complete TQ is. She includes many subtopics of history that many curriculums skip over. I schedule out the book or books into 36 weeks for spine and commentary readings. Then I schedule the readers in a long list in chronological order as they come up in the guides. I mark if a book is a library reader on the list so I remember to order it ahead of time. They just read down the readers list and check off what they complete. TQ AHYS is chock full of excellent picture books that my children retained tons of info from still. I highly recommend it...

Favorite series and authors from her shelves: Noel Streatfeild Mandie series Grandma's Attic series Trixie Belden series Elizabeth Enright

My daughter took a practice critical reading Sat test over Christmas break and did very well. She felt with more practice she might up it to make the Center requirement for summer classes. Anway, she took her second practice test today - after a full week of homeschool, ballet and she scored 110 points less! Huge difference! She cried. I regret signing her up for this now. She knows I received an award from Tip in 7th grade and she wants one too... I didn't intend to create stress!!! Sigh...

Why are you switching from CLE LA to R&S? I think of CLE LA as R&S English in a workbook format. I like CLE LA because it is efficient and covers spelling as well. Juggling CLE LA, WWS, and vocab hasn't been too much for us...

My daughter has used CLE Math through grade 7. Next year she's starting Chalkdust Algebra for 8th. CLE 7 has plenty of pre-algebra/algebra concepts. CLE 8 is a review of those with personal finance covered as well so we are skipping that for her. We love CLE math and feel she is very well prepared to start Algebra through Calculus with Chalkdust... HTH.

A quick trip to NYC to see my sister slowed down my reading but I read: A Praying Life, Paul Miller - Kindle A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay - not nearly as good as Sarah's Key. The way she wrote the male protagonist just wasn't authentic or something...