I'm using Prentice Hall Biology this year with my 10th grader and my 5th grader (who is an accelerated learner). The end-of-chapter labs are NOT easy to do in a homeschool setting! Some of them require items that I've never even heard of. So I'm having to search on the internet for science labs that we can do at home that correspond with the chapter contents. We're also doing some hands-on work at a nature conservatory not far from our home. Prentice Hall does have numerous "quick labs" throughout each chapter and I've found they're fairly easy to do at home. It's the larger experiments, shall we say, that have proven to be more complicated. Another disclaimer that this is for their high school biology text - we're using the "Dragonfly book" - perhaps this wouldn't be the case for the elementary level Prentice Hall texts, which I haven't used.

I live in Virginia and, for most school districts in the state, Tuesday is the first day of school, so many school districts will not be airing the speech. There is just too much going on, on the 1st day of school, to organize the viewing of a speech. They have said that they will make it available to students at a later date, but haven't been more specific than that. I only have one child in the public school system, and she has autism. She's not likely to attend any sort of 'assembly'...nor is she likely to focus on any speech. Unless it was a speech given by Dora the Explorer, it's not going to grab my dd's attention! ;)

18yo dd -- into anything computer-related. Loves gaming software and downloading songs onto her Zune. Money is the best gift for teenage girls! That and giftcards! She loves to shop and she loves the mall. 15yo ds -- into video games, computer games, Chess, and any type of strategy game. He loves to draw a great deal, so art sets are always a big hit with him. almost 10yo ds -- into video games, especially the Rock Band / Guitar Hero ones, loves Pokemon and card collecting. Loves action figures and army men. Loves building kits, like Legos and Bionicles. 7yo dd -- (she has autism, so her interests are more around a 5yo level) She loves dollhouses, stuffed animals, and baby dolls. Loves board games. Loves to play with her Leapster.

My screen now shows... Warning-fsock open, huh? Surprise pregnancy! (See what happens when you leave your fsock open!) :lol:

Haven't been to Ocean City in years!! (My in-laws used to have a condo there and it was a frequent vacation outing for us!) You HAVE to get Thrasher's fries on the Boardwalk! They're superb and well worth the line that forms to get them! Another favorite of ours is Tony's Pizza. BJ's on the Bay is a fabulous restaurant with a terrific view. Another great one is Fager's Island. Both would be fine to visit with children. Have a great time!!

Yes. My 15yo has Aspergers and he hums to himself quite a bit. He also talks under his breath and giggles to himself numerous times a day. He isn't really aware that he's doing it until I point it out to him.

I don't know any members of Congress, however, I know numerous federal employees and they pay around $150 a month for coverage for their entire family. We don't have health insurance (my husband is self-employed) and to pay for coverage for our family would run us around $1500 a month. We could certainly afford $150 a month! But nothing would be paid by the taxpayers. Federal employees are given such a low cost for premiums because there are 15 million of them. 15 million people paying a premium of $150 a month adds up to...lots of money! ;) So Rep. Issa's thought is that if you have say 30 million people were added to the coverage of 15 million Federal employees, their premiums would most likely be lower.

This is excellent!!! :thumbup: Wanted to add...Bill Maher had a Republican Congressman from California, I believe by the last name of Issa on one episode of his show and he made the comment that his suggestion of a compromise on the health care issue is to offer the same coverage that the members of the Federal Government enjoy -- that would be all federal workers, elected officials, etc. -- to those Americans who don't have coverage. If they can't afford the premiums, then that's what Medicare / Medicaid is for -- meaning that option is available for those with limited incomes -- but it would extend coverage to the uninsured and it wouldn't cost the taxpayers a dime. AND the premium for those same federal employees would decrease because you'd have more individuals with coverage and more folks paying into the proverbial kitty. I thought it was an excellent suggestion and certainly one that has merit, since the idea of universal coverage is unappealing to so many Americans.

I trust you're not considering trying to do 3 Cores at once? Especially "mom-intensive" cores, like K, 1 & 2? Kindergarten took ... roughly an hour or two here. It wasn't the length of the reading selections -- it was the bouncing of the 5yr old whom I was attempting to teach! :) I remember there was a page or two to read from one of the Usborne books, and then a read-aloud story. Now, I believe, Core K contains beginning readers, but that wasn't the case several years ago! Core 1 took at least an hour...it depended upon how easily they took to learning to read. Two of mine are natural readers and, therefore, they could fly through a beginning reader. My oldest son struggled terribly, so he took much longer. Core 2 is one of my favorite cores! I really enjoyed that one. I spent more time reading aloud, because the chapters are longer, etc. But I'd say no more than 2 hours. But I can't stress enough the fact that you don't want to try to do 3 cores at once! Or even 2 cores! Yours are close enough in age that combining cores is ideal. Mine weren't ready to do a core independently until at least Core 5 or 6...which is somewhere around age 10-11. Then it's possible to do more than one core.

Virginia Tech is in the middle of nowhere....literally! There's a "town" that's centered around the campus, with hotels and a few eateries and the like, but it's just a hamlet in the middle of the mountains. I think there are around 25,000 students there.

Ditto! LOL! My husband works from home, too! He also used to commute an hour each way for work. (He moved his business to our home 10 years ago and it's the best thing we've ever done as a family!). (He does go out once or twice a week on sales calls, though, and they can take an hour or two each way to accomplish).

I just have to comment!! Your son sounds JUST like mine!! He adores American history, and can rattle off countless presidential facts. Name the year; he'll name who was in office at the time. He loves video games and computers. He's also very introverted and has a hard time speaking to other people...unless the topic is video games! We're also not sure where he's headed in the future. He has another 2 years of homeschooling after this year (he's currently a 15yo 10th grader). We're considering the community college, but he has significant issues with language arts (especially writing..both the content and the physical act of writing itself). He does well with math and he's VERY good at art. We have a few ideas floating around right now. We're attending a workshop this coming November on options for Asperger's students. They'll discuss college and technical schools, etc. So we want to see if they have any words of wisdom to share. One thing we're considering is college online. A good friend of ours is an accountant and we've thought about that for him. She works out of her home and she's extraordinarily busy during tax season (from December through April), but the rest of the year is very light. She makes a fairly good living and it would appeal to my son, who's very logical and orderly and enjoys working with numbers. There are numerous online colleges that offer degrees in Accounting. Another option we're looking at is computer repair. Another friend of ours repairs computers....sort of like Geek Squad, if you're familiar with them. He visits homes and businesses and repairs their computers. If they can't be fixed on-site, he takes them home and fiddles with them there. He also builds custom computers. We're planning on getting our son a part-time job at a video game store to help with his social skills. We've already talked to the manager of the one we frequent most often and he's already expressed an interest in hiring him, once he turns 16 (which isn't for another 9 months). I would continue to explore all options. Talk to people in your community and see if they're willing to take your son under their proverbial wing. (Another friend of ours is a landscaper and he's also expressed a willingness to help our son if he's interested in a career in landscaping). I hope this helps a little bit!

:iagree: :D

LOL!! That's hysterical!! We can't take any cats, due to allergies, but would be able to take a dog or two. Noticed they don't have any volunteers in Virginia...I may have to sign up! :lol:

Yes...if you go to TT's website, the table of contents are available for each level and you can see where the chapter tests are located.

We all play golf here! I would start out with a visit to Sports Authority or Dicks and talk to the sales staff. Make sure that they know that you're beginners, so they don't start you out with an expensive set of clubs. You can find a very nice set of clubs, including bag for less than $200. Your son is tall, so he might be out of the Junior size! (My oldest son uses a regular set of clubs -- he's 15 and almost 6' tall). I would start out on the driving range. Driving ranges are available at pretty much every golf course. You pay around $10 for a large bucket of balls. Work on driving and putting for several weeks before hitting the course for the first time. During the week, during the day, greens fees are less expensive than they are on weekends or holidays, and they should offer discounts for juniors and ladies. Enjoy!! It's a great sport!!

I think the TT PreAlgebra book is just terrific!! It's a general overview of all basic math. Everything's covered. From addition / subtraction, through fractions, decimals, and then an introduction to basic algebra principles. I wouldn't skip PreAlgebra! If you're going to do any skipping, have it be in the earlier texts, i.e., TT Math 5, 6 or 7. I would do every book from PreAlgebra through Precalculus.

Story of the World is a great suggestion! My 9yo also works above his grade level. We used all 4 of the SOTW books for history, and supplemented with Sonlight cores. For science, I followed his interests and let him dabble in a little of this and a little of that. This year, he's using a high school Biology text and doing very well with it. We used Singapore for a little bit, but it wasn't his "style". He uses Teaching Textbooks for math and works a grade level ahead in that.

No, I don't think the days should be longer, BUT I do think the school year should be extended. Our youngest is in public school (she has a fairly significant degree of autism). Her last day of school was June 8th. She won't return until September 8th. That means no speech or occupational therapy for 3 months (we can't afford to go private over the summer -- not at $75 a session per therapy). But...I'm thinking, "What about the other children? And their academic skills?" Three solid months without school is just too long of a gap. I think the children would need less review if the summer break was shorter. And maybe the need for "summer school" would be drastically reduced if the summer break was only 6-8 weeks long -- at the most -- to begin with.

I sent you a private message! :)

We have bears here, too! And coyotes & foxes and lots of other critters. We've had our trash raided by bears -- and seen them up close and personal -- twice within the last 2-3 weeks, so I wouldn't keep my front door open!

My oldest took her placement tests in the Spring of her Sophmore year (she had just turned 16). The first semester (Fall of Junior Year), she only took one class -- College Composition I. She was nervous, but she did very well. English is "her thing", so that's why we started with that one -- and it's a prerequisite for numerous other classes, so we wanted to get it out of the way first. Her second semester (Spring of Junior Year), she took College Composition II and US History I. Her third semester (Summer between Junior Year and Senior Year), she took College Success Skills, which is a requirement of all students who intend to receive their AA degrees. You have to take it before you acquire more than 15 credits. It was a one-credit ... 'how to study' class. Her fourth semester (Fall of Senior Year), she took Psychology and US History II. Her fifth semester (Spring of Senior Year), she took Public Speaking and Introduction to the Short Story, which was her literature requirement. She graduated from our homeschool at the end of her fifth semester at the CC. Her sixth semester begins a week from Monday! She wants to complete her AA degree and, as long as she meets the GPA requirements, she has guaranteed acceptance at a number of 4-year colleges within the state of Virginia. Currently, her GPA is 3.0. This Fall, she's taking Sociology, Developmental Psychology, and Biology I, with Yoga, Biology II, and another Psychology elective in the Spring. (Her major is General Studies with an Emphasis in Psychology). Her last year (2010-2011), she'll take Precalculus I & II and more humanities and psychology electives and such. She intends to major in Psychology at a 4yr college, once she graduates from the CC in the Spring of 2011. Then she'll have automatic Junior status at that 4yr school. It's been a wonderful experience for my daughter! She thoroughly enjoys the CC! And it's much less expensive for us, compared to sending her away to college. We're paying around $1000 to $1500 a semester, when you figure in tuition, fees, and books. Even the local 4yr college is $7000 a year for tuition and fees and that doesn't include books!

I have two kids in Tae Kwon Do and that's been a great experience! I have two children with special needs who participate in the Special Olympics and Little League Challengers (my other two children volunteer, so it truly has become a family endeavor!). We're becoming quite active at the YMCA and they have lots of activities. The library is another good suggestion.

My 9yo starts the day with piano, then works on his math. My 15yo starts the day with reading. (He's not a morning person, so I've found that letting him read after breakfast is best -- then he usually does his math right after that). I try to have all seatwork completed by lunchtime. Then, after lunch, we do the messy subjects of art and science!

I have two kids in Tae Kwon Do (my 18yo just earned her Black belt today; my 9yo is a Red belt). We pay $60 per month for lessons per child. Classes are held 3 nights a week. The first week is free, to see if your child would like it. The uniforms are free with sign-up. Once they reach Red belt, then they can wear black pants with their white tops...but they're inexpensive. As they reach Black belt, they'll require an entirely new uniform....but that's a few years away yet! They promote every month in the beginning....but promotions are further apart, the higher in rank you go. As you get higher, promotions are held every 3 months or so. Each promotion is $25. Some schools have more color belts than others. Our school is white, yellow, green, blue, red, and black. With three "tips" for each belt level. So it's 20 promotions from their first one to their first black belt. Black belt promotions are $300. It usually takes 3 years to earn a Black belt...but that's just a ballpark estimate. My 9yo is 2 promotions away from his Black and he's been taking lessons for 2 years as of next month. My oldest daughter, who earned her Black today, has been taking lessons for 3 1/2 years. The only other expenses would be sparring equipment (pads, helmet, mouth guards, etc.) for "fighting". Our school doesn't require them of students until they reach Yellow belt, in which case your child is at least 3 months into Tae Kwon Do, and more likely to stick with it. The equipment runs around $100.