DS has done inequalities and algebraic type problems such as x + 6 = 15 and 2x=10 in MUS. So those won't be unfamiliar. Geometry, measurements, and word problems are our weak spots. He's currently working on single digit multiplication; he's on lesson 8, so it looks like halfway through Year 2 might be a good landing spot. :)

I haven't heard of MiF. I'll take a look at it. And you're right. DS is bored with MUS but he does it cheerfully for me if I ask him to. No complaining. But that's just how he is... he doesn't complain about anything I give him. :wub: I was looking at MEP again last night and searching through threads on here to see others use MEP. I think I'm getting a handle on how it works (and what I really need to use). I keep hearing that the learning curve to use it is steep. Why is that? Thanks, OhElizabeth. I hadn't looked at a BJU math since my oldest was kinder. We ditched it fairly quickly due to her aversion to clowns plus she needed more simplicity and white space in her math workbooks.

This was a concern for me as well. I'm looking at the MEP website now and it seems overwhelming. Of course, I am willing to wade through it and learn if it is the best fit. I think that is why I've leaned heavily on MUS - it's easy on me. :) With my oldest, I used MM's clock PDF to supplement MUS as well. So, you went through the MUS level and then followed up by going through a SM level and didn't find anything really new for them to learn from it? If I did SM, I'd probably switch completely over (unless I just supplement something like CWP). I'm not sure my son would be on board with doing 2 complete programs. lol Thank you for your thoughts! That helps!

Thank you everyone! Looks like I'll look at MEP a bit more closely and figure out where to start. Yes! This is so hard. He can do all of the math mentally as well (which MUS doesn't even really stress that) and it's hard not to think it is not enough. I usually have him teach me the lesson back that way I can "see" the process he uses to come to his answers. That helps to rein me in a bit. :)

Background: I've used MUS since my oldest (now graduated) was in elementary. It worked for her really well as she needed lots of white space (ADHD) and a simple no-frills approach. It was easy for me to teach which was helpful when I had 3 under 5 at one point. For DD2 and both DSs, we briefly tried Singapore which resulted in tears every day and promptly switched everyone to MUS with great relief to all. Singapore was confusing for all... even with the HIG, I was struggling to figure it out. MUS has been "ok" for DD2 and DS1 - sufficient. They are succeeding well enough, though, I have this troubling, niggling feeling that they won't be as well-prepared for upper math as I hope they will be. (Just entering those waters for DD2 so the jury is still out.) We have continued with MUS simply because I own all levels through pre-alg, there are no tears, and I am very familiar with the teaching. So here I am with DS2 who is 1/2 way through Gamma (multiplication). DS is very math-oriented and understands the lessons quickly. It's too easy for him. He is eager to do it but he is a bit bored with it as well. He is my "I like to figure things out myself," loves puzzles kind of kid. He is bright (he read the KJV Bible by age 4). I feel like MUS is not enough. Yes. It gets the basic concepts across but it's not challenging him. But I'm not sure if I should be fixing what's not broken. :confused1: So I'm here for objective opinions. :D I'm debating: (1) Keeping MUS as a spine (through pre-alg? or switch before?) and either supplementing with BA or/and other material. I just bought BA 2A but it looks terribly easy for him. or (2) Switching now from MUS to something else - BA only or perhaps try Singapore again or even MEP - supplementing as needed. If I make a switch and since the MUS S&S is so different from other math programs, how do I figure out where to start him? My goal is for him to be able to challenged and appeal to his desire to figure stuff out. Eventually Forester's or AOPS is our academic goal. I currently own MUS through pre-alg, MM (both series), and BA 2A level. I also own LOF but I'm not happy with it either and will be selling it. Willing to entertain Khan Academy, CWP, MEP, etc. if they fit our needs. TIA!

I just got my printed copy back from Office Depot. I used the upload feature online and picked up in person. No issues with formatting or strange characters. It's a perfect copy. I second calling Staples and making them replace the incorrect printing.

Thank you for this. I had trouble figuring out what options to choose. But I was able to place my order at OfficeDepot and can't wait for tomorrow to come to pick up my order. Mine came to $21.93 total with taxes and the 25% discount. :)

I step away for a little while and come back to this! :hurray: Your order number is: 126 Thanks, 8! I've been conflicted about what to use with my 3rd grader after Grammar-Land. Nothing ever "spoke" to me. Yours does. This is truly God's timing. I can't wait to get it printed and get started on it! :D

It was *just* deleted... They must be playing around with it. Testing the purchasing/download to be sure it all works the way it should. I keep refreshing it. I'm so stinkin' excited to see action after all day waiting. :lol:

Getting closer! I see a : Test Product - Not for purchase :D

I'm not on WTM forums much anymore either, but for some random reason came to visit tonight and this thread is the first I read. I just can't say how much it thrills me to see you have written your writing program. I have you WTM posts on writing in my binder. Congratulations, 8! It will be for sale at midnight, Eastern Time, right?! ;)

Ditto. We are a family of 6 living in a 1200sf rental house. We have limited closet/storage and we are crowded. The bedrooms are tiny. My 4 year old's bed is in my bedroom still. But we make do because this is all we could find at the time within our monthly budget. Prices are at a premium here.

Born and raised southern as well. Pink is "peenk", sink is "seenk", and think is "theenk". I had to ask my husband how my pronounciation for seeing comes out as I had a hard time figuring just how I say it without thinking about what I am saying. Apparently, in natural conversation I pronounce seeing as "see-eeng". DH is a Texan and he uses the long e sound as well in all but seeing. Then it is "seee-ing" (long e-short i). Where his grandmother lives in west Texas, he has heard "pank" for pink. Interesting thread!

Having the same problem. On Firefox 18.0.1 Mac OS X 10.6.8 if that helps diagnose the issue.

:iagree: My 14DD is a horse crazy kid. At about 10 years, she started getting incredibly nasty with her siblings, moody, and such. And she was very very disrespectful to me. Horses didn't cure her nasty behavior but they did give her an escape and keep her grounded. Horses were the only thing that mattered to her. She could talk/cry to Rhythm about anything. About 2 years ago, she wanted to quit horses. It was rather sudden. I asked her if anything was going on, if there was anything on her mind. I told her that I wouldn't judge or get mad or be disappointed... that if she ever needed to confide in me, I was there. A couple of days later we talked. It turned out that she was having a rough time with our horse. Normally, Rhythm is pretty well trained, but she dumped DD twice within a week. It really shook her up and she started questioning ever riding again. She was also losing confidence in her riding lessons due to a mental block she was having over a new lesson. After our talk, we worked with our trainer to restore DD's confidence and the issues that were causing Rhythm to started acting up. For her nasty behavior, I held her accountable. She always had to apologize for her actions/words and she had to do nice things for the offended person. For disrespect towards me, I made her restate her words in a more polite manner or redo the action. It was tiring and I was weary. Sometimes I had such a hard time reining in my reaction to her behavior. I failed. A lot. I had many times when I cried and considered putting her in public school. Sometimes every day. At 14.5yo, she is less moody, she shows me much more respect, and she treats her siblings better. We still work on her attitude, but it has gotten easier over the last year or so. We've had lots of talks over the years about her feelings toward her siblings (esp. of jealousy or perceived favoritism). I try to give her lots of space as well. The barn is her world and I try to respect that. I give a lot of credit to our horse for keeping her sane through all the hormonal junk. Consistency and time has helped me. Hang in there! In the end, you'll be glad you stuck it out. :grouphug:

Seriously! What my DD wouldn't give to have that arena to work in (truth be that she'd give anything to have ANY kind of arena. lol We have no flat space here to put one up.) Shoot! That setup is nicer than my home. Looks like they have enough room... I think I'll move in, too. :lol:

What a disappointment. It is hard to see a horse like that. As others said, this makes the decision easier for you. I sure hope the lady warns whoever eventually owns her.

I'm terrified of heights, too. No roller coasters, ferris wheels, balconies, etc. for me. I can fly (but I won't because of all of the security procedures these days). I'm ok with some bridges, but not overpasses or any narrow bridges. The bridge in San Antonio at I75 and 410 scare the bejeebies out of me! It feels like you are climbing right into the sky and then a freefall down to merge with the 410 traffic. And if traffic got backed up on that thing, I would be terrified, gripping the steering wheel. :scared: :svengo: The thing day-to-day that gets me are stairs. So many of the houses for rent around here are 2 stories with basements. UGH! Going up and down stairs make me nervous. I blame my fear from the moment I fell down stairs at 4yo and broke my arm. Ever since then I have had this irrational fear.

Holy cow that barn is amazing! And what a wonderful opportunity! You know you must post photos of him, right? ;) :D

We pay a small straight allowance for the kids once a month. $1 per year of each kid's age. $14 for DD14, $7 for DD7, and so on. This money is for all of those little incidentals they might want. The amounts are working for each kid so far. $14 is probably a bit low for the oldest but we do cover most of what she wants (at least when it pertains to her horse riding) right now so she usually doesn't want much else besides a book or an iTunes song, etc. Plus, our discretionary income naturally limits what we dish out to the kids anyway. If they want to earn money, we have a list of age-appropriate jobs that each child can do. These jobs are "extra" chores that either my DH or I would have to do anyway but have allowed the kids the chance to save us time and earn a little of money for themselves. Some jobs can be done on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or seasonal basis. My 14yo has things like mow the yard, shovel snow, rake leaves, wash cars, clean ceiling fan blades, etc. My 7 and 5yo can clean the cat litter box in mommy's room, scrub the dining table chairs, pulling weeds, etc. I don't really have jobs for the 3yo but if he tags along and helps his brother or sisters, I'll give him a little something to encourage the work habit. These are all jobs they do after regular chores are complete. We pay as soon as the job is complete. If the job was not done properly, we withhold payment until the job is finished satisfactory (within their abilities). If you want something, you must save; we don't give loans. If you lose your money, we don't replace it. And if you steal someone else's money, you have to pay it back double the amount stolen. It works out fairly well. We try to price the jobs fairly although apparently 50 cents is too little for cleaning the litter box. :rolleyes: I don't find my kids have an entitlement attitude at all. I haven't always given allowances, so my oldest is really learning just how much things cost now. My 3 youngest like to save! In fact, they periodically count their money and see who has the most saved. :)

Wow! She is pretty mover! She's absolutely gorgeous. But if it was me, I wouldn't trade. It sounds like you are content with your current mare and giving her up would be a bad move. As far as buying the filly... You said this is an emotional decision. If you was to take the emotional aspect out, would you still consider buying her? What would she add to your ranch? Would it be worth all of the time, effort, and money to make her a worthwhile asset to your ranch? Since you are questioning, I think it is a good indicator that you have some reservations and really need to take your time before coming to a decision. Personally, I'd probably pass unless no other excellent home could be found for her.

I have actually migrated several years ago from GIMP to Photoshop CS4. Talk about doing something more easily! lol But With GIMP, a person can do pretty much everything they can do in PS, so it is an option for someone with zero dollars to spend. There are some differences between the two, primarily with the color depth and extra bells and whistles. But for being free, GIMP is a very viable option to PS. :D I actually have been entertaining adding Lightroom for ease and because PS4 does not support NEF files. I haven't taken a Creative Live class yet. Been so busy but it is something I would like to do. :iagree: That's what I found between the the D3100 and D7000. :)

I'm not a photography expert (just a enthusiastic amateur) but wanted to share how I just wrestled with this decision. I went to Best Buy and was pretty set on getting the D3100. The reason I choose it over the D3200 was because of the high megapixels on the 3200. I don't print anything larger than a 11x14 and don't need high MP. There are many many articles explaining the "Megapixel Myth". I'd rather spend the money on lens instead of MP that I won't be using. Out-of-the-box with a 50mm f/1.8 lens, it had soft images and my photos were extremely "cool" and needed a lot of tweaking in Photoshop to warm them up. I read many threads on Flickr, thephotoforum, dpreview, nikonites, and other forums about the soft image "issue". Users tend to really tweak their in-camera settings a lot or were spending a lot of time editing in Photoshop. I don't know. I just wasn't all that impressed, TBH. I also wanted faster frames-per-second (fps) and shutter lag speeds as well as a camera that I wouldn't outgrow anytime soon. The average serious amateur seemed to outgrow the D3100 within a year or so. I ended up returning it under BestBuy's 30-day return policy. I skipped the D5100 because I felt I'd probably outgrow it quickly as well, and because of its slower fps. My decision was then Nikon D7000 or Canon 7D? I liked that the Canon was much much faster (both fps as well as shutter lag) and had a bigger buffer than the D7000. For photographing my kids in dance, gymnastics, and horse back riding, this was a definite plus for me. Birders and sports photographers tend to use Canon. But the D7000 held the clear edge toward ISO/low-light capabilities and larger color depth. Since I photograph a lot inside and like doing a lot of macro work, this made the decision even harder. I went to a local camera store (where the cameras were not tethered down like at BestBuy) and held both. They each had a kit lens on, and I was able to shoot pictures within the store. To be honest, I **really** liked the Canon better (man it was FAST!) but it was so much bigger and heavier in my hands. I didn't like where the buttons were placed because it meant my hand had to literally move to reach those buttons. My hands are on the small side, and the Nikon D7000 fit better in them. The Nikon menu seemed easier to navigate (more intuitive) and the buttons seemed better positioned for my fingers. It was hard decision, though. If the Canon would have fit better in my hands, I probably would have gone that route (for the speed). I ended up with the Nikon D7000 with kit lens 18-105mm and 35mm f/1.8 to start. (I really splurged!!) I have had it for about a week and a half now, and so far I really like it. Not soft straight out-of-the-box like the D3100 was. Nice color, nice straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) photos before even tweaking in-camera settings or using Photoshop. Still undecided if this camera is "fast enough" for my needs but it certainly is faster than anything I have had before! This post is turning out longer than I intended. lol Honestly, for your decision, if you are limited with money: I'd pick the D3100 with kit (18-105mm) over the D3200 because of the MP and save that $100 towards a 35mm or 50mm prime lens or an extra battery or speedflash or extra memory cards. Between the D3100 and D5100, I'd go with the D5100 for the slighter faster fps (D3100 3fps vs D5100 4 fps), better sensor, and better ISO (D3100 3200 ISO vs D5100 6400 ISO). If you wanted to go with a classic work horse and can spend a bit more (but not as much as the D7000), look for a D90. It is the predecessor to the D7000. Though it is 4 years old, it has remained a best seller for a reason: it is a high quality camera. You won't get super high MP (12.2mp) or great video, but you'll get faster fps (4.5) and a solid camera. I've seen D90s go on Craigslist for around $650 for body with kit. B&H has a nice used one for around $819 with kit lens. Just throwing another option out there. Note: You'll need the AF-S version of the primes which run $220 at BestBuy since both the D3100/D3200 and D5100 do not have an internal focusing motor. The D90 has an internal focusing motor, so you can use any non-AF-S lens. The non-AF-S primes run $110. Posters on all of the camera forums always say to go and hold the cameras before deciding and I would have to agree. It makes a huge difference just between brands (Nikon vs Canon vs Olympus etc) and models within a brand (D3100 vs D5100 vs D7000 etc). See which one feels better in hand. Which one seems more intuitive? A camera that doesn't feel right is a camera that won't be used regardless of how fancy it is. ;) HTH! Have fun choosing! :D

I dislike the word as well and I'm 42. In our house, we say "pooty" instead. :001_smile:

I use OpenOffice on my MacBook Pro. It has word processing, spreadsheet, powerpoint, etc. just like the Microsoft version. I rarely have a problem sharing files with my husband who uses a PC laptop for work. Just an occasional formatting issues in Word docs. It's free, too. :)