Just a different perspective here, and I could easily be way off base, but, a 13yo is usually beyond the need/benefit of dictation. Most of the grammar benefit of dictation occurs in the elementary grades. Somewhere along about 7th-8th grade or so, the average student wraps up the last of the grammar instruction, and moves towards actually putting the grammar into practice with writing different types of assignments. In other words, I think you would be totally fine with dropping the dictation, OP. :) Some ideas for time-frugal substitutions to dictation: For the vocabulary aspect: What about including a word a day from SAT Vocabulary Cartoons to your morning together time with all 3 students, so everyone takes 2-5 minutes to learn a new word in a fun way? Or do a page a day 2x/week from something like English From the Roots Up or Vocabulary From Classical Roots? You could shoot for 2 (or 4) words per week, and do a 2-5 minute review of a handful of past words on another 1-2 days, so touching on Vocabulary 3-4x/week for a total of about 10-12 min. a week. Doing it aloud with all students together at one time streamlines your schedule. For the writing aspect: You might just drop any grammar review program and move to sitting down with DS once a week for 10 minutes, pulling out DS's own writing assignment, and have him proof-edit (look for errors and grammar usage/mechanics), but also have him work with his own writing -- add a missing transition sentence or topic sentence; add a detail or additional sentence of support; polish a rough sentence; think of a more specific, vivid word to substitute for a general word, etc. That would require you to spend 5 minutes in advance reading DS's assignment and coming up with something to work on, but it would also move DS into the habit and practice of revising his own writing -- which is really what we're after as an end goal. And, that total of 15 minutes of your time once a week (5 minutes prep + 10 minutes working with DS) is probably not too much longer than the amount of time it takes you to dictate the paragraph to DS now. Just a thought! : ) For the grammar review/practice of proof-editing/mechanics: If still wanting something for this aspect, what about dropping the actual re-writing of the dictation (streamlines time and removes some of what is so annoying to the student), and try something like Grammar With a Giggle: Giggles in the Middle (gr. 5-8) or The Chortling Bard (gr. 8-12). You could try doing the middle school level with all 3 students all together. Or, since the younger 2 are happy with what they are doing, perhaps try the high school version with DS. That might be very appealing to him to be doing high school level material ;). These programs are a paragraph a day that builds up an entertaining story over the course of the year, with 2 new vocabulary words in them, some errors to find and correct (subject/verb agreement, punctuation, capitalization, homophone misuse or spelling error, etc.), and a quick review of a grammar usage concept. When I used Chortling Bard in high school with DSs as a 2x/week grammar review just to keep concepts fresh for their Writing, I just photocopied the paragraphs, cut them apart and taped two per page in a spiral notebook. DSs would use proof-editing marks to make corrections (no re-writing), and while they did that, I spent 2 minutes writing the paragraph on the whiteboard, and then we'd go over it all together with them calling out the errors they'd found, and I'd correct on the whiteboard until they had found them all. Then we would read/discuss the 2-sentence grammar review of the grammar topic, learn the 2 new vocabulary words, and in 5-8 minutes we were done and moved on with our day. Because we did it all together, it streamlined students, but it also didn't allow for "forgetting to do it", since I was right there doing it on the whiteboard with them. lol. BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family and your time-schedule! Warmest regards, Lori D.

That makes sense. We have a 30+ year old Maytag top loading clothes washer, so floating in agitating water... and never any problems with holes or shredding. We do have a front-load dryer, BUT I don't run my tee shirts through the dryer very often to reduce chances of shrinking... Another thought: could detergent choice be a contributing factor? ETA: PS -- Here's an article with steps of using the trick of hair conditioner to help reshape a shirt back to original length. Other tips include: wear an undershirt to extend between washings; wash in cold water (hot water causes shrinking); if you live in an area that has hard water, add citric acid softening tablets (from the drugstore) to the wash load to counteract the calcium/mineral levels in the water; never put on/wear a wet tee and don't hang wet tees on a hanger, as that stretches out the neck -- dry flat (also, store dry tees folded in a drawer and not hanging on a hanger).

Math U See? Jacobs Algebra?

Outsourcing can really help -- somehow, having to produce for someone other than mom can get reluctant or low-output students over the hurdle. (I've had numerous moms tell me that their students will write for me for our Lit. & Comp. co-op classes without complaint, when they won't do it for mom.) I've heard good things about Bravewriter, Blue Tent, Time 4 Writing, and Write At Home. Two things helped my 2 DSs who hated to write (DS#1 was an average writer, just disliked it, and DS#2 was a struggling writer with mild LDs in that area so he *loathed* writing), and it was not a program, but rather how we approached writing. The first thing: for multi-paragraph or multi-page writing, we broke it in to small bites per day -- about 30 minutes of focused time on writing per day, often with me there giving prodding -- er, guidance (lol). So we did a number of 5-paragraph essays all during 9th grade, and would take a full 1-2 weeks to do each: day 1 = brainstorming ideas (done together); day 2 = sort through ideas and organize into some sort of outline or structure (done with a lot of guidance from me); days 3-5 = rough draft write 2 paragraphs a day from the outline (done largely solo by them); day 6-7 = revise -- rewrite as needed to add what is missing, remove what doesn't fit, and reorganize as needed for smoother flow (me go over it, and provide feedback/discuss it and they make changes); day 8-9 = proof-edit & formatting/final version (me go over it and mark lines where something needs fixing; they make fixes). After about 5-6 essays, spread out over 1.5 to 2 weeks each, you'll be about 10-12 weeks into 9th grade, and you can spend 30-40 min. per day, and only need 5-6 days to complete the 5-paragraph essay: day 1 = brainstorming AND organizing; day 2-3 = rough draft writing; day 4-5 = revising; day 6 = proof-editing & formatting/final version. For the second semester of 9th grade do a few even more compressed 5-paragraph essays: day 1 = brainstorming/organizing & start rough draft; day 2 = finish rough draft; day 3 = revising & proof-editing/final version. Then spend about 6-8 weeks to expand that 5-paragraph essay schedule into a 5-page research paper with citations. Week 1 = come up with topic and come up with information sources; weeks 2-3 = researching and note-taking; week 4 = organize notes into an outline or structure + fill-in with any additional research you see will be needed; weeks 5-6 = rough draft writing; week 6 = revising; week 7 = learn & do citations; week 8 = proof-editing & formatting/final version. The second thing that was very helpful: once a week, we set aside our regular writing and we all together did a timed essay from a past SAT essay prompt. Again, we worked our way up. We started with just 10 minutes, and 1 solid 5-6 sentence paragraph with an intro sentence, 3 sentences of support, and a concluding sentence. We read them aloud to each other and orally critiqued (gently), and then moved on. After a few weeks of that, we would add an element to focus on -- like coming up with a "hook" sentence or specific supporting examples to support the point or the commentary sentence that explains how/why the example supports the point -- and then started adding time (boosted to 15 minutes and requiring two 5-6 sentence paragraphs). It took about 1.5 years, but we gently and without a lot of stress managed to get to 4-5 paragraph timed essays, writing for 25 minutes, that were pretty solid. And that was probably the very best thing we did all through high school for writing -- consistently every week, once a week, churning out timed writing of gently increased amounts -- so that thinking of what to write, and having to write longer amounts in one sitting slowly became not a big deal. I think why this worked so well is that we did not grade or correct these -- although occasionally we might take one and use it as a springboard for a more polished essay assignment -- and we all 3 (me too!) were doing it and workshopping the writing to help improve all of our writing. Now, in my co-op classes, I'd also say that a third possibly helpful thing is giving students a very specific rubric of what I expect to be in the writing assignment, and a deadline for getting it in, is also very helpful for keeping them writing. They have a full week for getting the 1-5 paragraph assignments in, and the rubric breaks it into "chunks" (like the above paragraphs), and I suggest they tackle a "chunk" a day so they aren't saving it ALL until the night before and get overwhelmed. I think they do find that to be helpful. In case outsourcing to a class is not workable, or you'd prefer a program to keep you on track, here are two programs that might be a good fit: Power in Your Hands -- Sharon Watson's 1-year writing program, that covers a variety of types of essays, business writing, and the research paper (Cathy Duffy review; see sample pages) Essentials in Writing -- daily video lesson (a sort of outsourcing), plus you can pay for a year of the grading service ($97 per student!), so outside accountability (Cathy Duffy review) BEST of luck in finding what works best for you guys! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

I don't use the dryer on Target tees -- hang up or drape to dry. I can usually get 2 seasons out of about 6-8 Target or Walmart tees (when interspersed with wearing other tops as well -- usually 2nd hand store/used clothes of higher quality). Also, when they come out of the washer, I "re-stretch" length-wise to prevent drying short and wide. Not quite sure how to describe it, but I hold the shirt so that it hangs as you would wear it (with neck up and bottom hem down), and then with both hands, one above the other, I encircle the body of the shirt just under under the armpits (picture as if throttling the body of the tee-shirt -- lol). The top hand tightens and holds the shirt while the bottom hand still in "throttle" position, slides down the length of the shirt (using quite a bit of force), stretching the whole shirt body downwards to lengthen it. I then give the shirt a shake to snap out wrinkles and reshape, and then drape or hang so that the weight of the wet shirt continues to pull downward so it dries "long" rather than shortening up and widening.

You gotta share! (:D

Unless you're currently putting your own kids thru college at the same public university you graduated from back in the 1980s, and tuition is 20x (not an exaggeration) more expensive today than it was back then... ;) I can guarantee you I'm not thinking loans and part time work is a good idea or a reasonable way to get DS#1 through college. :)

As D.C. residents, it looks like you would be eligible for the DC Tuition Assistance Grant that can be used at: all public institutions -- more than 2500 colleges and universities in the nation and is equal to the difference between the in-state and out-of-state tuition, up to $10,000 per year, with a lifetime maximum of $50,000. (The grant can also be used at participating private non-profit schools in the Washington Metropolitan area, and historically black colleges & universities.) Other ideas for reducing college costs: reduce overall time at college (which reduces cost) through: "2x2" option -- 2 years at local community college to knock out all the gen. ed. credits, then transfer and complete last 2 years at the 4-year school credit by exam (AP; CLEP; DANTES) dual enrollment during high school of credits that count towards high school AND will transfer and count toward a degree if the student has high test scores, match up with an automatic scholarship school cut room & board costs by looking for a school that partners with an assisted living elder facility -- student gets free room & board at the facility in exchange for spending hours each week with the elderly residents apply for a dorm RA position (freshmen are not eligible), which reduces dorm costs or provides $$ towards tuition student works for a company that contributes to college tuition (Starbucks, Chipotle, Walgreens, UPS, etc...) attend a tuition-free/work-for-tuition college earn a college degree at home -- use Lumerit (formerly College Plus) or other consulting company, or go "DIY" by lining up the CLEPs and distance courses that combine to make a degree at a participating college consider a cheaper overseas college work for several years out of high school and save (consider a good-paying trade job, or earn an AAS health/medical degree, or goes into a vo-tech field); return to college when age 24 and no longer need parent financial info on the FAFSA (which helps student get more federal aid) and use savings to fund college More ideas on alternatives for funding college in these past threads: "s/o Cautionary Tale: High College Costs -- a brainstorm $$ ideas thread!" "How are YOU managing to pay for college?" "College financing -- two things I learned and our story" "College as cheap as possible: need advice" "Unexpected ways to save a little money in college?"

Three more options that I didn't see listed above: Sonlight grade 6 = half Ancients / half Medieval for grades 5-7. You could consider spreading out the Ancients half over 1 year and supplementing with book ideas from the other publishers suggested; then you could spread out the Medieval half over the next year and again fill in with additional books, projects, etc. Human Odyssey level 2 = Ancients for gr. 5-8 (secular, from Pandia Press) Learning Adventures: World of Adventure = half Ancients / half Medieval for grades 4-6. A unit study approach that is not only Lit. & History, but also incorporates other Language Arts (spelling, vocabulary, writing), Science, Fine Arts, and Bible. A good amount of hands-on projects. Another one that you could spread out the first half over one year by adding in additional books, documentaries, etc. ETA -- Tapestry of Grace is quite robust because you can include works from below/above your student's level of working, and you have all the guide material there, as each of the four years of ToG covers grades K-12. However, ToG is closer to WTM rigorous/classical than to Sonlight's more relaxed reading-based program.

You can get an idea of what your EFC will be without even filling out the FAFSA: Tony Onink's 2017-18 EFC Quick Reference Chart -- for an instant, very rough idea of your EFC: scroll down on the webpage to the chart, find your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) figure, read across to the column of how many dependent children (chart allows you to calculate for up to 4 children) EFC Estimator: Federal Student Aid website FAFSA4caster, or, College Confidential's EFC Calculator, or, College Board's Big College EFC Calculator -- rough calculation of your EFC number, and potential federal financial aid eligibility FAFSA's 2017-18 EFC formula worksheet -- allows you to calculate out what your FAFSA results would have been for the 2017-18 year If your head is spinning with all of this, you might check out the videos at Taming the High Cost of College website. While this is a college consulting/financial services website, the free explanations on college costs, financial aid, and the FAFSA/EFC can be helpful. Some of the info videos are immediately accessible, and a few you need to register (for free) on the website to watch. I am NOT affliated with this company, nor have I used them -- just passing on the info, as sometimes videos are helpful in understanding all the ins and outs of financial aid and scholarships. :)

Esp. if you entitle the course something like: "World History: Ancients" or "World History: Medieval", it probably would pass unnoticed. ;) I have not heard anyone say that this was a problem, but always good to check with the potential future college. :)

You'll want to consider both total amount of Social Studies credits for college admissions -- AND the specific KIND of credits required for college admissions. Most colleges want 2-4 credits (depends on the school, and depends on the intended major), with many many colleges requiring 1 credit of Social Studies as American History. Some also want 1 credit World Geography/History (your Ancients or Medieval would cover that), and some want 0.5 credit each of Gov't and Econ. Most colleges also accept things like Anthropology, Archeology, Sociology, Political Science, Philosophy, Psychology, etc. as meeting their Social Studies credit requirements. Social Studies is the one academic subject that colleges tend to be pretty flexible about, so even if you don't have what is specifically required (say, the Gov't. and Econ.), but DO meet the minimum total amount of Social Studies credits, the college may work with you and flex about not meeting their exact requirement. BUT... research, research, research, and get it in writing if a college is willing to waive the requirement or substitute a different type of Social Studies credit! And, be aware that some colleges might NOT flex, so think ahead about how you want to handle that -- so if you end up not doing APUSH, maybe self-study one summer and have DD take a CLEP test in American History, for example, if the college accepts a specific American History CLEP. BEST of luck as you plan for high school! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Thanks Sebastian, that is also a good reminder: some schools require a new FAFSA every year in order to renew the scholarship. That was not the case at DS's school, but OP, if your student lands a scholarship, *definitely* find out if you need to keep filing FAFSA every year so you don't lose the scholarship!

Hi Quill! Looks like sending them is the way to go, and others have posted great reasons of why to do so. Your post title just asked "how do we FEEL about them", and I was responding just for myself about the general principal. ;) Congrats to your student and your parents, and have two lovely celebrations this summer! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Happy to help! I love helping to make booklists. (:D And just to encourage you, unless DD is heading off to a high school, you can actually have more fun and flexibility in making your own Lit. in homeschooling high school. We made our own Lit. for each year of high school and it was super! :)

And if you add an "e" it can fancy up the name: "Raine" and "Skye". :)

Rose or Rosetta? Viola? Aspen? Coral? Autumn or Dawn (season/time in nature)? Opal or Jade (the natural semi-precious stones)? Ariel (means "air")? Willow?

We don't have the finances to do destination weddings, so not a problem here. ;)

LOL! And I'm always thinking, I sure hope JanetC, 8FillTheHeart, Barbara H, and all of those other very savvy college BTDT moms show up and answer this!

I'm with you regentrude. It seems like an extra step in the process, probably because our culture has gotten to the point of ignoring invitations and rsvp-ing, so we now have to do something "additional" and "novel" (Save the Date!) to make it stick in people's minds. I am old and frumpy (:P, and personally find "Save the Date" cards annoying no matter WHAT the event, because they have no info (other than the date) on them, and no way of rsvp-ing or deciding/dealing with the event right then. "What's the point! More paper and postage wasted," I always say I get one. Because I am a scattered person and do better taking care of things the moment they arrive, I prefer to get the invite, make the decision, rsvp, and move on. I hate having to use up what few brain cells I have left with "oh, I have to keep one eye out now for the REAL invitation with all the actual info, and then do something about it at THAT time, rather than get this dealt with right now while it's newly arrived and in my hand." I also have a VERY high likelihood of putting that STD event on my calendar, and then forgetting/ignoring to rsvp when weeks/months later the actual invitation comes, because, hey, it's on my calendar, I must have already rsvp-ed... But, that's just old fuddy-duddy me. ;)

I know it's a pain and it's invasive, but it is the unfortunate hoop we have to jump to get aid... :(

MANY many colleges require the FAFSA before they will even look at your student to award scholarships, so yes absolutely it is a very good idea to fill it out even if you "know" you won't qualify. Your student will miss out on merit aid if the school requires a FAFSA and you didn't file it. Also, some schools have a higher figure than the FAFSA for need-based, but the school still requires the FAFSA for awarding any aid, so your student may actually miss out on possible need-based aid by not filling out the FAFSA.

No, this is tricky stuff. If you are doing diagramming, it helps you visually chart the connections. But if not ready for diagramming yet, or if not planning on doing diagramming, then I found that it worked best for us to "problem-solve" it by asking ourselves a lot of questions, and eventually the answer to one of those questions makes the most sense. So questions for: Beyond the hill, we found a beautiful little pond. might look like this: Is it an adjective phrase adding on to the noun of pond, telling us who or which one or what kind -- so, is it a "beyond the hill pond"? Is it an adverb phrase adding on to the adjective of little, telling us how or how much -- so, it is "beyond the hill little"? Is it an adverb phrase adding on to the adjective of beautiful, telling us how or how much -- so, is it "beyond the hill beautiful"? It is adding on to the verb of found, telling us when/where it happened -- so, is it "found beyond the hill"? Bingo! That last one is really the only one that makes sense. Also, sometimes rearranging the sentence can help you see where it fits and what it is modifying: We found, beyond the hill, a beautiful little pond. We found a beautiful, beyond the hill, little pond. We found a beautiful little, beyond the hill, pond. We found a beautiful little pond, beyond the hill. This is trickier, because both the first and last rearrangements make sense, and that last rearrangement makes it sound like beyond the hill goes with pond -- that's where you also go back and ask the question from above, "Is it a "beyond the hill pond"? Ummm... possibly. But what other options are there? Go back to those questions. Asking if the prepositional phrase tells you about when/where is a very helpful clue for seeing that it is modifying the verb. For your second example: It was cold and windy on the shore of Lake Huron. For "on the shore", is it: Is it answering when/where? -- then it is modifying the verb, was Is it answering how or how much? -- then it would be modifying the adjectives, cold and windy Is it answering who or which one or what kind? -- then it would be modifying the noun, Lake Huron -- but in this case, the noun Lake Huron already has a job as the object of another prepositional phrase, so it is modifying the verb and answering the when/where question ETA: Another approach is to break down the sentence to the simple subject and predicate, and then slowly talk it through to figure out what all the other parts are adding on to. So in the case of your second sentence: It was cold and windy on the shore of Lake Huron. simple sentence = It was This is a tougher sentence and not so intuitive. First, "It" is an unclear pronoun, so let's figure out what "It" is the subject here -- really, it means "The weather" ("The weather was cold and windy on the shore of Lake Huron.") Clarifying that pronoun will help us see if anything else in the sentence connects to it. Right away, that helps us see that "cold and windy" are adjectives describing the weather -- what kind of weather? Cold and windy weather. Next, I'd mark the 2 prepositional phrases. So now we know that neither of the nouns in those prepositional phrases are the subject or the object, because nouns don't get to do 2 jobs in the same sentence. Here, both nouns have the job of object of the preposition. So now we're down to figuring out what each of those 2 prepositional phrases is modifying. In this case, I'd jump to the last phrase, because it's easier to see right of the bat that it is modifying what it's sitting next to -- which shore? the Lake Huron shore. Now we are down to figuring out what "on the shore" is modifying -- is it modifying the subject "It" by answering who/which one/what kind -- an "on the shore It"? No. Is answering how/how much to modify the adjectives -- so "on the shore cold and windy"? No. [And remember, in English, adjectives precede the noun, so if it is modifying a noun, the prepositional phrase should make sense in front of the noun.] Is it answering when/where and modifying the verb -- so: was on the shore? Yes. We did use Winston and liked it a lot, and did not do a formal diagramming program. Instead, I modified Winston and we did it on the whiteboard with colored markers to draw boxes and circles and lines/arrows to visually show what connected to what or modified what -- a variation on "parsing". We also used other Grammar supplements along the way to help practice GUM (Grammar Usage and Mechanics). BEST of luck, whatever you use, in your Grammar adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Okay, all of this helps a lot. :) However, as a result, my response is: No, I don't think you can attain ALL of those goals with this particular genre choice. lol. Sorry! Just my opinion, but while most Sci-Fi and Dystopia is competently written, it is focused on philosophy and ideas -- which makes it very "discussionable", but you don't often also get an author who writes with beauty and creativity of language. But I think that's true whenever we are building a Literature unit around a particular topic. Again, just my opinion! :) Agreeing with Tanaqui that you can get a lot of worthy discussion out of YA dystopian works, even if they are not the best-written works. Of the YA titles I suggested above, IMO, House of the Scorpion dances on the edge of poorly-written but the setting, characters, and premise are so unique, and the questions it raises are also unusual and new, that it makes a worthwhile inclusion to a Literature study. The other YA titles I suggested range from competently-written to better-than-average in writing, and again, they are worth including in a Literature study for discussion about topic, theme, and creativity -- not necessarily for a high writing style. You can certainly get some great prompt questions for writing assignments out of this literature, whether it is "well-written" or just "competently written". ;) But, if you want to do writing imitation from well-written literature, then go ahead and do Anne of Green Gables or other classics known for their beautiful writing style. You don't have to make ALL the literature for the ENTIRE year revolve around a single theme or genre ;) -- for example, you could alternate a dystopian book with a beautifully-written work that you want to make sure you cover in middle school. You could even try doing the year-long study on Anne of Green Gables (Where the River and Brook Meet Anne of Green Gables) and intersperse dystopia for lit. discussions... Just a thought! :) (That's also a good idea to mix in lighter or positive-themed works when doing Dystopia, as that is typically a very dark and brutal focus for an entire year.) For a history study on political thought and different types of government, some Literature that would tie in: Animal Farm (Orwell) -- Soviet Communism & western Capitalism The Time Machine (Wells) -- starts with Victorian monarchy; the Time Traveler sees how the future went towards Socialism, which ultimately failed and, coupled with Evolution, the far future results in two primitive "devolved" groups of peoples -- the underground Troglydite people (descendents of laborers) and Eloi people (descendents of the soft, pampered wealthy) Watership Down (Adams) -- shows several different types of societies/gov't types Below the Root (Snyder) -- utopia (although, it becomes apparent that it is utopia for one group at a cost to another group of people) The Giver (Lowry) -- dystopia The Pushcart War (Merrill) -- how wars start; humorous book The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (Hentoff) -- censorship possibly even The Book Thief (Zusak), although the focus is not explicitly on Nazi-ism you do see the results possibly even The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tolkien) -- although the major themes in the book are not about politics or gov't, you do see self-governing Hobbits with an elected Mayor (the Shire), several "city-states" with Lords (Rivendale and Lorien), monarchies with Kings & Queens (Rohan and Gondor), semi-orderly/semi-chaotic gangs with "boss" leaders (orcs), a "libertarian" (lol) very minimal gov't (Fangorn Forest), and a totalitarian dictator (Sauron the Dark Lord of Mordor) -- your students are at a great age for doing the year-long Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings study, and the trilogy is beautifully-written, which would give you loads of opportunities to incorporate some of your writing with the trilogy BEST of luck in finding the balance of Lit. that you want and that your students want this year! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Thank you for sharing more -- I've only read one Butler book (Dawn, which I enjoyed), and am looking forward to reading others, but it definitely had some adult content. ;)