There's a trick?? What is it?? I need to know!

I got through AAS 3 with my now 10 yr old boy, then went for the entire last year without doing any spelling with him - mainly because I couldn't decide whether or not to continue AAS, and I wanted to "shop around". But I never found anything I liked. He seems to be a good speller in spite of stopping. He has a great memory and with exposure to words, he knows how to spell beyond what he's been formerly taught. I really don't know how to proceed. I already did nothing spelling-wise last year. AAS 4 seems too easy. (I'm thumbing through it now). Do I fly through the remainder of AAS, do nothing, or switch gears somehow? I have not been able to find a spelling program I like, so I'm falling back to AAS, but technically you're supposed to go through it all rather than take a placement test and start somewhere in the middle. Just curious if you have a kid like this, what worked for you?

I am going to do a short unit on Native Americans at a co-op class. I wanted to do something hands-on, and I was toying with the idea of looking at the meanings and symbolism of the ceremonial and war paints; and perhaps let them even pick a pattern to do on themselves. Then I came across one website that said this is considered to be insulting to Native Americans. Sort of like doing blackface. Any truth to this? Not interested in debating, but I certainly don't want to cross any lines.

Chess

Thank you for all the suggestions! I mainly want to reinforce and supplement. We are not doing all subjects everyday, but both kids need practice, practice, practice. Plus, I like them to have exposure to other styles and methods learning. And perhaps filling in the gaps. I've noticed, for example, contractions aren't covered much in WWE/FLL.

I need a couple of hours to myself during the day -- not by myself, just not hands-on schoolwork with my kids. I am trying to think of some ways to add some independent work. This would probably take place of the curriculum on days we don't do it. My kids are in 2nd and 4th. I am using FLL, WWE (2nd) and CAP Fable (4th), Math Mammoth, AAS. The math can be independent but none of the other subjects are really designed that way. Science and history are mostly read alouds (I know the 4th grader can do this independently). I am looking for worksheet/workbook style subjects that reinforce language arts, especially. Any suggestions? I'm open to computer work but know that will slip into games the minute I turn my back so it's not my first choice.

I am going from WWE3 to CAP Writing and Rhetoric Fable. We switched since I felt we got out of WWE all we could and didn't see a need for another year. As for FLL 4 and I went ahead and continued it. My son needs all the reinforcement he can get.

Ricky Schroder in elementary, then Vince Neil as a teen.

Are these kids in school together, by chance? They could be starting to get clique-y at school and it's just carrying over to the after school activities too. I would keep her out of the group play unless you can directly supervise. Maybe one-on-one play times could be arranged?

I was there with him while he was taking it and had a good idea of what he was getting right and wrong. I just thought he did a whole lot worse. I do remember a question about inflectional morphemes (!!), neither one of us knowing what that was (should I ??? LOL) and telling him you just gotta put something down. There were a few like that which just seemed really advanced and you have no choice but to put down a wild guess. And there was an entire section on fractions - adding/subtracting, multiplying/dividing - that he has never done. I told him ahead of time we have not covered this, but you have to try your best - so I did coach him on how to look at the problem and all the possible answers, and put down what looks like the best choice. A few of those had pretty obvious answers that he was able to figure out. Anyway, it's weird, I thought he would do solidly mediocre, and he came out better. He must've done better than I thought on some of the advanced material, even if it was guessing or getting an answer just be reasoning through the choices. I will try something different next year. I'm very curious now.

That makes sense, I guess. The test was way harder than I thought it would be. The boy had meltdowns taking it and I couldn't blame him. I didn't even know the answers to some of the questions. It didn't seem fair. Yet on one section he scored a Grade 10 equivalent -- one of his weakest areas, too -- what the heck??? He must have made some exceptionally lucky guesses. I kind of feel like it can't possibility be a valid result. I know his weaknesses so it's hard to make sense of it. I'm feeling weird about submitting it.

I wonder if the time has anything to do with it? Meaning an older child should be able to get through all the questions, while a younger child might not? It seems like an odd thing to score, since I would think an older child taking a test for younger kids should be able to ace the content. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong. I could see them getting through the questions faster, though.

I just got the results back from the 1970 paper version of the CAT test. My son just finished 3rd grade and took the test for that age (which covers multiple ages - grades 3-5 I think?) The results gave Grade Equivalents (among other things) and some were very much above his grade of the test -- which is where my question comes in: How does a test for 3rd-5th graders shows that one has a grade level equivalent of 7th grade (just for example)? What exactly are they testing? Certainly there was not 7th grade math or spelling, so how do they come up with that?

Another vote for Skrafty. They have a FB page if you want to ask questions.

Also voting for having her at least try it out the first day. I can't just throw away $50, mine or Grandma's. And, for 50 bucks, it had better be spectacular.

My grandpa used to tell me that all the "crackles" in the fire burning in the fireplace came from bugs that were in the logs. I can not even tell you how long I believed that. I would think, "there sure were a lot of bugs in those logs," or "that must have been a big one", well past the age of that I should've known better. Like adulthood.

My husband coaches basketball in that age group, and they are very specific about rotations/playing time in their league. Parents would have justifiable complaints to say something if he were not very careful to be fair. So you really have to know the rules of your league. The rock/paper/scissors is way out of line. This league doesn't keep score, officially, but my daughter's team got beat 60-2 one game. It's much harder for a parent to watch than for the kids. The kids forget about it as soon as they get their snacks.

In college I was the lab instructor for the Organic Chemistry lab. So much fun. I loved it.

So sorry. It's heart wrenching to go through.

Oh she is cute!! Take her!! :) I had a beagle that did not howl. She was a great dog. She was also a great vacuum cleaner. I have so many crumbs on the floor now that she is gone. She was always so excited to eat. It was a true joy to see a little creature get so excited, day after day, about something so simple. She adored eating. She was prone to weight problems if we weren't careful.

I go get my camera, then threaten to take a picture and put in on facebook. They think I'm serious and it has worked.

I was wondering about some of the verbiage, LOL! I'm hoping they don't get tripped up by it. This is also just for my state's testing requirement.

I am in a state where I have to submit yearly test results ("evidence of progress"). In the past I have used the CAT test because it tested what I needed it to (math and language arts), but they are now moving to the CAT 6 which is more expensive and tests beyond what I am required to submit. However, I found this option: http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/california-achievement-test-paper-version/ which is still a math-and-language arts only CAT test, but a 1970 version, and you order for the grade they are going into (as opposed their current grade). I'm a bit worried about it being 45 years old. I have no idea what to expect. Just wondering if anyone has used this? Thoughts/feedback?

As a little experiment a couple of years ago, I decided not to treat my dogs, and guess what? No fleas and no ticks. I'm not sure why.

So sorry. I had to say goodbye to my best girl last month. It's awful. One of the first things I did was to look for pictures, and there were way, way too few. Y'all take pictures of your babies!!