:iagree: My oldest dd (14) is using this and we think it's excellent. It's has a narrative tone, so it's not at all boring and it's available as an audio book.

I would not. I don't have a problem with reasonable requirements such as my student needing to maintain a certain grade point level or taking a yearly test, but beyond that I would not go. I would pay out of pocket.

I feel the same way and was very glad to find ALBH. I spent a month or two last summer reading everything I could find on this material and as I read through the endorsements on the Roadmaps website I was pleased to see secular professional educators who use and recommend it. I like his narrative style (my dd loves it) and as I said I feel he does a great job of being balanced. 2 states, 1 school district (New York City) and 47 schools across the US are using ALBH and Roadmaps as their chosen curriculum. That says a lot imho. :)

I'm giving each volume 1 credit because the way we're using it with the extra reading, it is a complete full year course.

:iagree: about Carol Burnett and Whose Line. Hilarious!!! I also get rolling on the floor laughing over The Court Jester with Danny Kaye. I'm a softy for older comedy and movies though. If you are lucky enough to live anywhere near a ComedySportz club, I highly recommend going. It's super clean, family friendly improve at its finest. Here is the link to the main website where you can see locations. http://www.comedysportz.com/

My mother's twin cousins were named Nova and Scotia. :lol:

Nope.

This year we went a different route entirely. We used America: Last Best Hope by William Bennett and the companion online resource Roadmap to America. http://roadmaptolastbesthope.com/ I also added a reading list for her that included some adult level non-ficiton and a series called "American Heritage American Voices" and various other resources. We are covering American History in two years mainly because this program is so meaty! ETA: My daughter is a good reader, but is very auditory, so we got the text on audio, and her required reading was in audio as well. This worked so well for her! Also ETA: Don't let the title of the text throw you. I have found this text to be very, very balanced, neither America - all good, rah, rah or America - evil empire of the devil, boo hiss. IMHO, this text and the web go-alongs are great!

My mom read aloud to us (me and 4 sisters). She had an amazing talent for making the stories come alive and could do accents! She knew just when to stop to keep us begging for more. Even though my three older sisters are 5, 6 and 7 years older than I, she read to all of us so I got to listen to wonderful stories far above my ability to read. Many of my favorite books are ones she introduced me to as a child on those cozy evenings or afternoons. :)

For the day and with your age ranges, if the weather is nice, I'd do the Zoo and the Washington Park playground. Someone mentioned taking the zoo train to Washington Park. This is nice ride and you can get off play in the park and ride back to the zoo. There are 44 steps going down from the Park station to the park. If it's a really nice day and you are so inclined, this park has a nice sand box/area. A word of caution on the Zoo - it's hard to get it all in a day because it's large and has a some very hilly parts. I would pick an area or two that you'd really like to see and hit those, then take the train to the park. All the different areas in this zoo are well done imho. Oh, one more caution. The food at the Afri-cafe is good but spendy. If your into hiking, the Audubon Society is neat, some fairly easy hiking trails, a duck pond and the animal rescue center are all very interesting. If the weather is not so nice, definitely the Children's Museum is wonderful and right next to the Zoo. We like Omsi, but it's harder to do with littles. Feel free to shoot me more questions. Hope you have a great visit.

Nope, I could do it and I would have loved every minute of it. :D I walk 2 miles every week with a close friend, and I walk all over my small town. I'm not a serious hiker, but I do love day hikes and walking.

:iagree:Brr...cold here too in the Willamette Valley. Chains were required to day for travelers going over Mt. Hood and we had rain, hail, snow in the rain, more hail...yuck. I am so ready for sun!

You sure can have them in Slovakia and Austria, two countries I've been to where I've seen them in use. I know that for a lot of folks who don't have them yet, the reason is a) cost, they are expensive, and b)space, a lot of my Slovak friends live in lovely but space challenged flats.

When my ds leaves the nest in 6 years :seeya:, I'll be 52 and when my season of re-purposing arrives ( I prefer that since I'm not planning on being tired again LOL) I am thinking of going back to school to become an adoption caseworker. If I don't do that I'd really like to get involved in CASA, court appointed state advocacy.

One that dd and I discovered last year is Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. I highly recommend this one when studying the American Revolution as it's equal to or perhaps even better than Johnny Tremain.

We did the ABC primers and all three of my dc really liked them. One thing I always appreciated about these and ETC was that with every letter the same type of worksheets repeat in the exact same order, so that by the second or third letter, the child knows what to expect on the next page and can often work independently. We used this a pg or two each day along with a daily "letter of the week" activity. Lots of fun and a good foundation. The primers don't cover the vowels, so as we went along, I just taught those too. My ds 3 (at the time) was merely tagging along the year I did this with the older two girls, and by his 4th birthday, halfway through the year, he was reading on his own! :)

SOTW ETC Wordly Wise Saxon Math Teaching Textbooks Singapore (if she you can, our local homeschool store carries it) Spelling Power Apologia Handwriting Without Tears

Thank you for sharing this! I think it's a great idea and I think I'll use it with at least two of mine. :)

First of all (((((hugs))))). My heart goes out to you. I have a kiddo who has mild fetal alcohol effect coupled with attachment issues, so I know the struggle. My best advice for is for you. Make sure you have at least one person who knows, I mean really knows, the issues, the struggles, everything, and can be an unconditional support to you. Don't be shy or hesitate to lean on this person, to vent or to be real. I don't advise this to be your husband. Yes, you lean on each other, but you need someone else on the other end of the phone or across the table when these kind of days happen, who is not "in" it. If that makes sense. Try very hard not to worry about whether or not other people "get" it, or judge your parenting. You have to parent this child the best YOU can, and that will not be according to anyone's standard playbook. Blessings JG

:lol: So funny. I shared with my ds and saved the blog to favorites. I think I'll enjoy reading that one a lot! :)

I've been using Skedtrack this year and I'll give you my good/bad: good - Love the ability to input, update and see each child's daily schedule with a click on a drop down menu - no cumbersome having to go here, choose report, blah, blah Love how easy it is to set up, customize, input, delete, etc, learning curve was easy Love, love, love that my kids can each access their daily schedule online, and I can choose whether the child can make changes (as in inputting what he or she actually accomplished). When the assignment is completed he/she marks it done, and at the end of the day, I can approve the work, and the next day's assignments roll over (if I've input them ahead of time). Love, love, love, that I can be away on a trip and still have access to this. I can see in real time what they have marked finished, make changes if needed, approve work, set the next day's work, etc. Ok: Bad (or not so good) I do not like the whole keeping hours thing it's un-necessary imho and annoying, so I just ignore it. I do not like the learning curve on copying lesson plans, it's a bit complicated to figure out. I ended up, just inputting by the week, or the day before. In my oldest dd's case, she puts in what she did after the fact which, being able to do is actually a nice feature. I do not like that I have to sign in every time I leave the site. There seems to be no way to set auto log in. If I enter my username it remembers my password, so at least that part's ok, but still it's a minor annoyance. Overall, I really like Skedtrack. I wish there was a record keeping program that combined some of best features of this, especially the online interactive component, with some of the things that I really like about HST. I'm actually using HST as a grade book only for my oldest dd, but ST for her daily assignment "sheet". I'd give Skedtrack a run and see how you like it. It really is free, and it's worth the effort imho, especially if you want to have a great way to create and view those daily assignments.

Good start, then I'd add: dried mustard, a dab of brown sugar, some worcestershire sauce and some bacon. We like ours with a slightly sweet and savory taste.

10th year of hs here, from the beginning, are my absolute favorites; ones I would use again and again: ETC Phonics & Reading Pathways Singapore Primary Maths Teaching Textbooks Analytical Grammar SOTW 1 & 2 American Heritage, American Voices series

We've taught our son since about age 5 or 6 to "bounce his eyes". That is, if he happens to see a magazine cover, big ad in a store window, etc, that is inappropriate, quickly look at something else. Our catch phrase is, just because you see it doesn't mean you have to look at it. This hasn't made him weird or neurotic or anything, just aware that his eyes are under his control and he is responsible to do what he can to avoid filling his minds eye with impure images. We don't make a big deal over it, and we never watched him like a hawk or anything, just talked about it in context; discussing why "bouncing" was good practice. Actually, I've also taught my girls something similar with magazine covers in the grocery aisle, just because it's a good idea to not dwell on trash IYKWIM.

Fascinating. I have discovered that for me to maintain healthy weight and energy it works best to eat the bulk of my carbs and protein/fat in my breakfast. It is my biggest meal of the day usually, followed by 2-3 small meals/healthy snacks and a light dinner. Breakfast has always been my favorite meal so this is easy for me too. I have to eat the small meals/snacks because I have a super fast metabolism and my blood sugar is on the low end of normal which means I can go from satisfied to starving in nano-seconds if I don't start with a good slow burning fuel and toss on good wood every so often. Breakfast is usually when I prefer to sneak in a treat too , like a cinnamon roll now and then; so yummy with eggs and oj and a nice change from my beloved steel cut oats and blueberries with a bit of butter (yeah good fat), milk and brown sugar. Yeah for good ole breakfast done the farmers way! :)