That website has really good articles about growing fruits and veg. Presprouting parsnips really works. I don't recommend growing them in containers because they need deep soil.

We have a big garden and grow lots of stuff, but I'm most looking forward to cantaloupes (Kansas) and peonies. I also hope my Hinnomaki Red gooseberry bush survived the winter and produces this year.

Ds18 has plans to teach a programming class. He's taught AP Computer Science (Java) this school year and last, but he wants to teach Clojure instead. I told him if no one signs up for the Clojure, he can do the Java course again. He also wants to work on a couple of programming projects he hasn't had time for, and I bet he'll be improving his status on Stack Overflow. Neither are paid, but priceless to him. The youngers will be mowing and working in the garden.

Yikes! I am sorry you got a nasty surprise. :( Thanks for warning others about this down side of taking a gap year.

When our oldest was applying to college in 2008 I read a lot of news stories relating the financial troubles of the UC system. Those, combined with the extra hoop-jumping required, high oos tuition, the distance (we're East coasters), and the top notch colleges in our state left us feeling that the UCs were skippable.

What great news! You both worked hard, and are reaping the rewards. Best wishes for many more triumphs like these. :)

Thinking of the three of you, Rosie. (((Hugs)))

They came yesterday, but there is a typo in the hs grad date on one of them. I'm going to call the CB soon to see if they can fix it. It's ridiculous that we had to wait so long!

This is what I did. High school math is pretty standardized, so make sure you use the usual terms so the admissions folks see something familiar unless your child has done something amazingly unusual that you want to hilight.

I would say this is a fair assessment. Two of my children (so far) have successfully self-studied for both English APs. We've found that the terms and skills needed for the Language are a subset of those for the Lit. The Language has the synthesis essay, but that essay is not so bad if you practice to make sure you can get through the material in the time allowed. Dd did Lang in 11th and Lit in 12th. That is the most natural progression. Ds did Lit first because we had to travel for his sister's college graduation on the day of the Language exam that year. He did fine, but definitely found the Lang easier after studying for the Lit.

I'm very sorry this happened in your child's classroom bee. I have been involved in the Scripps bee for many years at all levels, and agree that what happened is unfair. What happened is not, however, against the official Scripps rules for local spelling bees, and according to Scripps the decision of the local bee officials is final. That said, what happened is not how Scripps intends for classroom bees to work. If the teacher wants her students to have a chance to win the school bee, she should provide them with the entire grade 1-8 list and Spell It, both spelling and vocabulary, at the beginning of the school year. II were you I would tell the story to the principal and see what she says, being mindful that what's done is done. An excellent way to study is by using Word Club, which tests on all the CB/SB + SI words + vocabulary. It costs $25/year.

Awesome news! I love your husband's attitude, and hope he completely recovers.

Congratulations! It sounds like your dd will be very happy there!

That is GREAT news! So glad things are going well for you!

So glad he's doing better! Hope you all can get some rest, and that your dh continues to improve.

Another one who is thinking of you and your dh and son. Praying for you all.

Praying for you all.

You are so worth more than that lousy sub job. Good for you in quitting! I hope you can find something that better meets your needs very soon.

I am so sorry those families are flaking on you! Your class sounds amazing and fun, and they are going to miss out. :( I haven't thoroughly read all the replies, but I am going to give you my $0.02 worth. Our family has found that you get the most serious commitment from homeschooling families if: 1. You come across as very professional. The more casual you seem to them, the more they flake. 2. You charge the going rate for a class in your area. Find out what kindermusik or the local uni/conservatory charges for children's classes of the type you are giving, and charge accordingly, but a bit less. 3. You require almost all of the money up front. We live in a fairly wealthy area with boatloads of homeschoolers, so ymmv. They simply don't take you seriously if you don't do these things.

Those are great pics! I am looking forward to your posts about his med school journey. :)

That's fantastic! Congrats to you both!

I have found that having the student take a lot of timed, complete practice tests, combined with analysis of why he missed each problem, helps. We made an excel spreadsheet with the data to analyze it. Working through prep books like Barron's helps, too. We are going to try Khan academy with our youngers. It sounds like showing your son how a higher score can mean more scholarship money might help, too. And ditto what Lanny said about high school academic stars struggling in engineering school. I saw it, too.

Our library has many of the TC courses. It may be worth checking to see if yours does, too.

Exactly. So a semifinalist (unless the CB changes the requirements, but they've been the same for years) may use the SAT score from any sitting between and including October of sophomore year and December of senior year. The NM Semifinalist applications are sent out in early September of the senior year and due in mid-October, but the student may put that he is taking the SAT in November or December on the application. If you think your student has a good chance of becoming a semifinalist, you can have his scores sent to the NM Corp by putting in the code 0085 on a sitting that meets the date requirements. We did that for our son who took the SAT in March of his junior year.

You are correct. The top 50,000 PSAT scoring students are recognized. 34,000 are commended with a cutoff around 200-202. The top 16,000 are semifinalists with a cutoff dependent on their states, from around 200/202 - about 225. About 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists become NM finalists. From what I have heard the ways to not become a finalist are to get into trouble at school, get "low" grades (probably below an A average), get a bad teacher rec, get "low" SAT scores (before the change I heard below ~2000), or not to turn in the paperwork. The NM Corp does not publish how NM Scholars are chosen. Some are chosen by the NM Corp, some by companies, and some by colleges. My daughter was made a scholar by her college. They gave her $1000/year for 4 years above and beyond their already generous NM finalist scholarship. She had to make sure she listed the college as her first choice to the NM Corp, and she had to fill out a short application every year in college to continue the scholarship.