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usetoschool

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  1. Some research and news articles about academic achievement and social skills: http://i.bnet.com/blogs/homeschool.pdf http://www.nheri.org/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/30/home-schooling-outstanding-results-national-tests/ http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_3_an_a_for_home.html http://www.ohen.org/outcomes The most compelling reasons for our family - I know and love my children better than anyone else and have a strong interest in seeing them succeed, and they can receive a personalized education suited to their strengths and talents.
  2. Jolly Phonics Spellbinders Primary Spelling by Pattern Spellography Somewhat common but not mentioned that much - Singapore Science
  3. Personally I think C is the right answer but just to avoid drama at the party, I would hide the soda and go on with the fun.
  4. I was expecting this to put your mind at ease...I am so sorry it didn't. :grouphug: Just hang on to the doctor's optimism, right?
  5. We used Singapore and they spend a lot of time rearranging shapes to kind of derive the formula for yourself, or at least see where it comes from. I think he could have looked at the shape and figured it out.
  6. :iagree: Really really yummy - definitely not low calorie, but so worth it.
  7. My daughter was a serious dancer for 12 years and we never dealt with any of this kind of nonsense. Girls who were not taking class seriously or talked during instruction were asked to leave. No gum in class, all girls in correct dance attire, etc. It was a Royal Academy of Dance studio with a wonderful and kind but no nonsense British teacher. If your daughters are serious about dance, and it sounds like they are, I would look for another studio (not saying it needs to be RAD, that was just our experience). There is always drama in a dance studio I think, but if you have a good school it will be confined to outside of class. It is possible for the director to be a wonderful dancer and a nice person but not good at managing and teaching a class and it isn't fair to the girls who are there to learn and whose parents are paying for them to learn, to be wasting their time.
  8. So sorry you are going through this and I wish it could just disappear or fade away. If your son is out of the picture I think you are probably better off in the driver's seat and in control of the situation on your terms, than having to react to her, whenever she decides to push the issue. :grouphug: No point in living on pins and needles while you wait for her to decide.
  9. It isn't really written as a story but it is much more engaging than many art textbooks - more of a first person telling about the history of art. My bigger kids really liked it. I would read a section out loud and they would outline it - the sections are easy to outline from. We would study the pictures and then move on. They learned quite a bit. It's over 600 pages and not for elementary school but it is well written and interesting. I am using it again this year with my soon to be 8th grader.
  10. I have tabs in mine because the layout is a little convoluted. The large book that says Grammar and Writing on the front is the student's main workbook. As the pp said, it is cheap newsprint, not really reusable and we just write in the book. That same book also has the dictation and journal topics. The smaller one that says Student Workbook at the top is the Writing Assignments and More Practice that is referred to in the lessons. It also has Corny Chronicles which is like MadLibs - fill in the blanks with parts of speech. The Teacher Packet has the schedule, writing answers, grammar answers, test answers, more practice answers, and the tests. There are no additional teaching tips or anything because the lessons are in the beginning of the exercises in the big book and the program is directed to the kid - not really meant to be taught by an adult. We do go over the lesson material at the beginning together, in both the grammar and writing, and we correct it together, but otherwise it is done independently.
  11. Blech - that was weird. I couldn't really "hear" it but there was obviously a noise and I could tell when it started and I couldn't wait to stop it. It made my ears feel funny and my flesh crawl and my teeth tingle or something. eta: My 13 year old could hear it wondered what in the heck I was listening to. I apparently can't "hear" it as well as I thought because he said it was loud, like a ringing in your ears. He didn't know I was listening to it and the tv and dishwasher were both on and he still heard it from the next room and wondered what it was.
  12. :lol: You have a way with words and that image is going to pop into my head every time there is a kerfuffle around here.
  13. It was long and I had an overwhelming urge to fact check, in detail, on the internet, everything he said ;) I do agree it was interesting, and explains a lot of the goings on around this forum. :lol: I need some time to digest some of the ideas but my first reaction was - I am old and I came by my beliefs after many years of experience and thinking; for me they are right and I am not really interested in being tossed about by every wind of doctrine, so to speak. I am fine with whatever anyone else wants to believe and not really interested in changing their mind about anything, but sometimes, for my life and needs and experience, I really am right :D And I think many other people could say the same thing about their beliefs.
  14. This is the one that came to mind off the top of our heads: Not origami that kids can do but really amazing to watch and at the end talks a lot about how the process of origami has helped with designs of some space and medical stuff.
  15. A focused, personal education with the curriculum that fits the kid best, at the time that works best, under the conditions (one of my kids like to sit at a table and do worksheets, some like to lay on the trampoline and read) that work best. Time to work on problem areas so there are no gaps and a dedicated teacher who sees the gaps. And I agree with the amount of reading - in our case anyway.
  16. http://nadir.nilu.no/~olaeng/fastrt/VitD-ez_quartMED.html This is an interactive page - you fill in your city or longitude/latitude, altitude, the date and such and it will tell you how long you can be outside to get the amount of vitamin d you need. Anything beyond that is burning and negative. It takes a little finagling to figure out at first.
  17. We have had two cockatiels. We love them. If they are handled frequently they are very affectionate and loving. They are kind of a one man bird though. Ours is very bonded to my son. It is very sweet to see how much she trusts him. Ours is yellow and a female but no way to really tell the sex until they lay an egg. Ours is in a large cage, with good food and lots of attention near a sunny window and she lays tons of eggs. We did have a problem with an egg binding up on the way down once and she was "sick" for about a week - like she had a stroke or something, but otherwise she has been very healthy. I would recommend finding a hand raised/fed baby from a private breeder instead of a pet store bird. Our last cockatiel would imitate sounds we made (not really talking) but this one is just chirpy. She squawks like crazy whenever she hears someone in the family come in the front door. Don't know how she knows the difference but she doesn't talk to strangers when they come in (she can't see the front door from her cage). We have never clipped her wings but I think she has pretty much lost interest in flying. She loves to get out and waddle around the floor. The only down sides - she is a little dusty, so therefore the furniture around her is also, and when she is laying her poop smells absolutely awful!
  18. :iagree: I also have always been fascinated by "degrees of separation". It is amazing what a small world it really is and who knows someone who knows someone that I know.
  19. :iagree: Exactly. Like most of the things that have ever been discussed here :lol: And the reason I just want information with acknowledgment of an LDS perspective, NOT religion.
  20. :lol: I think they mentioned something Carl Sagan said or did on Music and the Spoken word this morning...and I didn't mention science because there is such a wide spectrum of beliefs and priorities.
  21. Definitely not all in one - I have never been a fan of that no matter who publishes it. I would enjoy, I think, a history curriculum from an LDS perspective and that included Church history stuff. I think an LDS oriented dictation/narration book might be nice - like Living Memory but Articles of Faith instead of catechism, etc. I dunno - I just get tired sometimes of correcting some of the missing or wrong information about who we are and why we are here and the flow of history and meaning of events. We spend a lot of time with me making asides and yakking away when we study ancient America. I spend more time elaborating than actually reading. I don't want it to teach religion, I just want a rigorous curriculum that has the right perspective and feel. Language arts stuff that asked literary analysis questions from an LDS perspective on morality. I just sometimes want something written in the language and terminology and tone of voice and perspective that I am familiar with. I do have one book I love, and others might not have seen (or maybe I am just out of the loop and you all own it already) - Joseph Smith's America: His Life and Times. It puts Joseph Smith in the middle of American history events. What was going on in his life and in Church history relative to world events. It is a very professional, nicely done, coffee table kind of book.
  22. You are supposed to get past it? Nobody told me ;) I have been doing this for 20 years and still find amazing things here all.the.time. Good luck!
  23. :grouphug: and many prayers! Looked at the caringbridge link - what a sweet boy. I am so sorry for what he is going through. Poor little guy.
  24. The Revenge of Ishtar is $14.96 at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/The-Revenge-Ishtar-Gilgamesh-Trilogy/dp/0887763154/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
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