DD had a CBC test and a mono-spot test done last week. The CBC came back and they said everything looked good, and the mono-spot was negative. The dr said they could do the Epstein-Barr test and another test for another virus (I think) that is similar to mono. Dr did check her spleen to see if it was enlarged last week and checked again today and said it was okay. She told dd to avoid contact sports for a while, to call to come in immediately if she has a relapse with the fever/severe headache, or if her abdomen/spleen area starts to bother her... She did say to come in if it *bothered her* - not to wait until it was actually painful - but if anything felt out of the ordinary. :001_unsure: ?? DD is rarely sick, so all this blood test stuff is pretty foreign.

DD has been sick for over a month. The mono test last week was negative, but the dr said that the test will often show negative if not given within a specific window of time. She still feels very certain that dd has mono and said there is another test that is more sensitive/accurate/detailed (I don't remember how she explained it) that would probably show. She said her plan of action is to treat dd as though she has mono (since there's really not much we can *do* for it other than let dd rest, monitor for relapse of the headache and high fever she had, watch for abdominal pain in the upper/left quadrant for a swollen spleen). So I asked if the further testing was really necessary, and she said it was just something that would "let us know for sure" but not a necessary test. We decided to turn down the test - but now I'm sort of second-guessing that decision. Are there reasons we NEED to know for sure? If we're assuming/treating dd as though she has mono? She is almost 16 years old. And do we tell people she has mono - even if we didn't get the test? :huh: From what I have read/understand from the doctor - we just don't go out when she's running a fever and other than that- there's not anything else we can do. Is that right?!?! *headache* :unsure:

Asking here is always the magic wand - found my answer after posting my message here! (After searching for hours previously and coming up empty... lol)

I love, and re-read through, TWTM at least once a year. It's turned out that I have kids who tend to learn toward math and science, so I don't implement as many of the ideas as I would like to (doing that degree of history would murder my oldest). I recommend to book to everyone I know who is thinking of seriously homeschooling and use it as an inspiration. Every time I read it, I learn something new that I put into action with what we are doing that year. It's now the only homeschooling book I bother to read, since we're pretty much in a good groove of things. :) Oh - and I use it for myself as well. I've never made time to read the Well Educated Mind, so I find things in TWTM that I've never read before - and often use her suggestions for high school science to teach myself new things...

Popping in to say that we're using TOG for the first time this year (year 4) and it is working out SO great. I had to preach to myself before we even got started that it would be OKAY to skip certain assignments listed in the notes (because I'm usually a do-it-all sort of homeschooler) - but now that we are started, it's much easier than I anticipated to really be able to pick and choose what we want to do. Those notes are worth their weight in gold. I'm working with 3 kids at different levels and the past couple of years - trying to keep up with, and keep on-task with all 3 kids has been chaos. Now, all 3 have independent reading and then we come together to discuss. I don't have them answer all of the questions by hand (time is so precious!!) - so we discuss most of it. They are already retaining more with this process than the past few years put together. I love not having to read what they are reading. We also bought the CDs for the dads. DH is listening to them and so am I. *I'M* even learning more than I have in the past because I know I can spend a solid hour or so per week and have it all read/listened to - and have a thorough understanding of what we're discussing. I won't say that I wish we'd switched earlier over earlier because I'm not sure if I'd have appreciated it as much without going through the past couple of years of wishy-washy, unfulfilling history --- but very happy that we made the leap for this year. It was worth every penny. (like someone else said - it's not perfect. There are several organizational things *I* would change to make it easier to navigate and easier to sort through the levels... but I'm learning the way through the system and it's manageable. I bought the DE only, but print out all of the teacher's pages. I can't remember all that reading if I read it on the computer screen.)

I think that, without any "concrete" reasoning - you're going to be stuck reading the book - or at least the Cliff's Notes version and try to fake it. :)

That helps tremendously - thank you! I was afraid if I started annotating it, I would miss some things, but it sounds as if if I list an adequate # per requirement, then that should be okay and they can put the dots together for items I didn't specifically notate. One of mine should be super easy to do this with - I might send in the other without annotating it and see if I get different results as far as acceptance goes - just to test the waters for the future... :) One more question I'll ask here instead of starting another thread - - - What about copying word-for-word sections from a sample syllabus? There is one of the samples that has an activity listed for each unit throughout the year. The unit activities are exactly what I would have wanted to "dream up" myself, so I am planning to use exactly her ideas. Do I spend hours trying to re-write it so it sounds sort of original (even though I am planning to, very literally, do exactly what she has written down), or just copy it? I know you can send in an exact duplicate of a sample syllabus if you wanted to, but not sure about borrowing just parts of it!

*sigh* There is such a thing as a stupid question, lol. I'm creating two syllabi for two of dd's classes this year. I've nearly finished but cannot figure something out. Am I supposed to annotate the syllabus myself - showing where their requirements are met? (The samples are all annotated, but I can't tell if that's for our convenience to identify what they are looking for, or if it means we are supposed to annotate our syllabi for their convenience when looking it over!) I have googled, searched, pulled my hair out... Next step would be to email them directly, but I thought I would ask here first to avoid the embarrassment. :o (I do know that it's not necessary to have a syllabus approved by the College Board for dd to take an AP-level course and eventually take the AP test. It's just a personal challenge I've set to see if I could actually get it done & to make sure I have an understanding of what is required. And, I think I have. Mostly. Except for this one detail I cannot move past!)

:iagree: ditto this. We knew a very sweet little girl who had surgery to correct this when she was around kindergarten-age.

:D Got it out of my system. B)

We love Meet the Masters and have used it for a couple of years. We print out the pdf file of what to read aloud for each lesson and just click through the slideshow while reading the information off the paper and discussing it with the kids before moving to the next slide. Easy peasy! (I, too, was leery in the beginning re: the lack of audio - but in real-life, it was a non-issue for us)

I posted to this a while back and realized that our plans have changed quite a bit when I looked through this thread again tonight! Wow - hadn't realized we'd made so many changes! So excited about this school year! Math: TT Algebra I Science: Apologia Physical Science & other Earth Science resources History/Literature: Tapestry of Grace, Year 4 Grammar: R&S 8 Vocabulary: Caesar's English + Wordly Wise 8 Geography and World Cultures French I (it's actually her 2nd year of French, but moving at a gentle pace) Spanish I Forgot to add: IEW SWI-B

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I would love to see the setup you used!!!

We bought the teacher's manual and the tests/answer keys also. We never used the tests, though - I really don't start testing until the high school years, but for some reason ALWAYS buy the tests! lol It was more expensive than the Apologia, but for us, it was money well spent. :) The newer BJU Life Science book is beautiful and we LOVE the layout of the BJU books. Outlining from them is a breeze (not that we do that all that often, but the headings and sections made it super-easy for dd to process the information). Look on ebay - many good deals on BJU there.

:iagree: Yes, yes! I can go on and on and on in a conversation with someone I'm not really comfortable with because it's so far out of my comfort zone, so I share too much, ask too many blunt questions, and babble incessantly. It's ridiculous (and yes, afterwards, my face DOES hurt! lol) - I become a bumbling, babbling, baboon. :001_unsure: It's much better with people I AM comfortable with, because I love that companionable silence that is able to happen and I can relax and gather my thoughts to put together a coherent sentence. And double-ditto the ideal day. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. And on those ultra-rare occasions when I manage to not have anything scheduled for anyone and can stay at home for an entire weekend?!? The BEST!! My husband used to be extremely extroverted, but we've been together a long, long time and my hermit ways have rubbed off on him to the point where he's a solid 50/50. :p

Ok, gosh I feel better!! Thank you guys! I'm going to mentally close the brain file for her 10th grade year and carry on as planned. I just don't want to mess it up for her. Soooooooo stressful!! The Saxon was like gruelling torture for dd#2, lol, but this dd loves it... it seems to speak her language. :) Thanks!!

OK, talk slowly to me, I won't be insulted - promise. :D OK. DD#1 loves science and plans to do "something" in a science-related field - maybe a teacher, but she is really just beginning to see what's out there. She likes microscopes, genetics, problem-solving, saving-the-world-and-its-environment, and math - not so much life/animal science or medical science. Put the kid in a laboratory, and you probably don't have to look for her for a full week - she is that stoked about it. :001_rolleyes: She is beginning 10th grade this fall. She's taken Algebra I (Saxon) in 8th grade, Algebra II (Saxon) in 9th grade, and Biology (BJU & Miller-Levine) in 9th grade. For 10th grade, the plan is Geometry with Advanced Algebra (1st half of the Saxon Advanced Math textbook) and Chemistry (Chang/Apologia) and Environmental Science (undecided... perhaps with PA Homeschoolers, perhaps on our own). I keep reading that, for STEM-oriented kids, it's all about math, Math, MATH! At her current pace, she will take Calculus her senior year in high school (all using Saxon). Should I, at this point, consider adding something else for math? She does well with math - in Saxon, she maybe misses one problem every other lesson and it is always a "duh" occurrence. She reads the textbook and completes the lesson 100% on her own, never looks at the solution manual, and has had to clarify something via a YouTube video one time in the past 2 years. In real-life applications, she does well , pulling something she's learned out of her head and applying it to the real situation without being told what to do, so I feel good about the Saxon - BUT . . . I've been encouraged by others to use AOPS, but was overwhelmed myself at the "difference" of it and unsure of whether we could implement it or not. Now that she's 15 years old - is it too late to switch gears? Maybe sign up for their class? Or do the lower-level Algebra AOPS in addition to the Saxon? Or would it totally screw her up? And how on earth do you figure out what level to begin with?!? Her current 10th grade schedule - I am second-guessing the Enviro. Science. It's a HUGE interest of hers and she is already committed to a few projects which would qualify as labs for the class itself. But I am wondering if she should do "more" with the Math and skip the Enviro Science as a class (just continue with her projects as planned currently). I don't think she will have time to do "more" math and Enviro Sci. . . but the Enviro Sci would be an AP class... UGH! This is difficult! English II (IEW, TOG Yr 4, added vocabulary work) Geometry with Advanced Algebra (Saxon) Chemistry I (Chang/Apologia) French II (BJU) Environmental Science (taking the AP exam at the end of the year) World Geography & Cultures US History Tapestry of Grace Band (she will spend 8-9 hours per week in actual class time for band, not including the time spent actually practicing at home - and she does hope to continue playing in college)

We have used both and strongly prefer BJU Life Science. The Apologia General was soooooooooooo boring.

Does MFW have a suggestion for how to count the credits? TOG has a suggestion list with each of their years, not sure if MFW might have something similar somewhere on their website... My oldest (10th) is going to do a full year of Cultural and Physical Geography this coming year. Her sister (8th) is also. When dd#2 is in high school, I doubt we'll do a full year of geography since she'll have covered it so thoroughly in 8th grade, so she'll just have American & World History credits, and we'll just count the history map work with history instead of a separate geography credit or half-credit.

Sent you a pm... :)

OK - that's good to hear. :) When we dropped dd off, all the other rooms had entire families in the rooms, introducing themselves and laughing and mingling and helping the kids get all set up. And in dds room it was just this girl - no parents - no nothing. It was so strange & didn't leave us with the best feeling as we drove off. DD is having a great time - just unsure how to handle this one thing. :)

Nevermind... :) Joanne said what my gut instinct was telling me and what I told dd tonight. So, we'll go with that. :)

:party: This is amazing! It's all in one spot! Yayyyy! Thank you! :)

Pretty much. We add in additional vocabulary because that is not our strong suit. Reading, writing, discussing, vocab-ing (lol) = English :)