Getting started with Spanish is a good introduction as well.

Oh, whatever did they do to Faramir? He is one of my favorite characters in the books. I only saw the first movie--it was too dark/violent for me (I have very low tolerance levels for those things in movies) so I didn't see the others.

Well, I won't throw tomatoes because people experience things differently and are drawn to different things. But we are reading through the trilogy as a read-aloud and my kids are always begging for more. I agree that the first book takes some time to get into, but once you do get into it the story is truly exceptional.

I have tried Miquon, he wasn't impressed although my five year old loves it and is always begging to do more math (I don't prioritize math at that age so she really only gets it because she wants it). We have tons of manipulatives and games, occasionally I can get ds7 interested. He's just really, really resistant to outside direction. Now, when the internal motivation kicks in, he does amazing things. I think it would kick in with BA (he has already read the guide books for 3A and 3B multiple times). I think I'm going to let him go ahead and start that, I think he will be just fine with the concepts presented in 3A. Then I will work on the other skills on the side. Maybe I can come up with some kind of incentive plan for him...

Oh that was funny to read--all the discussion in the comments among a variety of mathematically minded folks. And shows that there is some inherent ambiguity in this particular problem and therefor a reasonable case can be made for more than one answer--9, or 1, or 7. Take your pick...it's a good thing that in real life problems aren't just a series of numbers and symbols but represent real situations, and hopefully the person setting up the problem based on a real situation will take care to set it up in a way that unambiguously represents that situation.

My older dd has done really well with Math Mammoth, but it has not been a good fit for ds7. We've tried Singapore, which isn't much better for him. I have the first two BA books and I have a hunch they would be perfect for him--but he's only been working in MM2A. He has good math and problem solving sense, but is allergic to workbook pages and also hates me trying to teach him. He works best independently with something interesting. I really, really want to just transition him to BA, but I know there are skills he still needs (addition and subtraction with regrouping primarily). I'm thinking of starting him on BA 3A, then just working on the side on those skills. Is there anything else he really needs? He has a good understanding of place value, and does mental addition, subtraction and some multiplication. I wish the 2nd grade level of BA were out...

I think one of the most powerful things a parent can do to nurture their children's spirituality is to simply and fully live their faith in daily life. Your children are observing what you do, how you live, what you say. If you walk in faith yourself, if you share with your children spiritual experiences that have impacted your life (times you have felt God's love and care for you, times you have had prayers answered, etc.) they will have solid ground on which their own testimony can begin to grow. It sounds like you are doing a fine job of living and sharing your faith; just continue on and let the seeds you are planting have time to sprout. Ultimately your daughter will need to find her own faith; no one else can give it to her, but you and others can provide opportunities and nourishment for seeds of faith to grow.

I'm sorry. You've had a rough day.

Have you tried workout videos on youtube? What about finding a walking/running partner--or a friend to do an exercise video together with if it's too cold for you outside. Social motivation is huge for me.

Hm, I'm thinking about it. Would definitely make my husband happy...

You've received good advice already, I just wanted to chime in and say I'm always impressed when someone is willing to try a brand-new skill. I know how intimidating that is!

This. The general advice to just go at your child's pace and not worry about grade level works for most situations. If you have some specific reason to try to cover 2 years in 1 (say you were planning to put a child back in school and wanted them put in x grade) I would look at the subjects individually and decide what specifically you need to cover to be at x grade level in a year. Content areas such as history or science at the elementary level cover rather arbitrary material--if the child will be entering school I would try to find what they are teaching and cover the bare bones basics of those; familiarity should be sufficient at the elementary level. Otherwise I would just choose what I want the child to learn or what they are interested in learning and not worry about grade level material. Skill areas you have to start where they are and work up to where you want them to be. Math is the most sequential, so assuming the child is at early 3rd grade level I would start there, maybe have them do math 6 days a week, skip/skim sections they understand easily, and just keep going until we get where we want to be. Mastery based programs (Singapore or Math Mammoth, for example) are easier to do this with. We have skipped whole sections on things like measuring (she understood already) and time (I got her an analog watch instead). Also, each year usually starts with a review of material from the year before; if you're continuing straight through you probably don't need much review and can skip or skim those sections. Language arts are not so sequential by nature; again, if the child is going into someone else's program then I would look at their scope and sequence and determine what skills my child will need to have. Otherwise, I would come up with my own goals and go from there. Personally I think lots of reading of high quality materials is a sufficient language arts for many children at that level, preferably combined with some copywork practice.

Every family has to find their own balance between parent structured and interest led. It doesn't have to be all one or the other. My personal inclination is to try to make room for things my children express an interest in learning, while not giving up the things that I consider most important for them to be learning at this point. That requires that my list of things I consider critical has to be short enough to make room for their interests. Essentially it consists of skills--math, foreign language, music, language arts as needed (my kids are voracious readers and pick up a lot of language arts by osmosis). In content areas such as science and history with young children I will set aside or scale back my plans to give the children time to pursue their own interests. At the very least I would make a trip to the library so we could pick out some books together in the child's area of interest--that may be all they need to feed and keep alive their hunger to learn. You don't have to drop everything, buy a new curriculum, or come up with a big unit study geared towards their interest. Get some books or dvd's on American history from the library (Liberty's Kids is a fun series) or read a library book about acids and bases and do some kitchen experiments with vinegar and baking soda.

How else would you abbreviate it? I don't think the abbreviation is wrong, but readily admit that it would have been better under the circumstances to avoid confusion and not abbreviate. E. coli is most often used for the bacterium, but I am not aware of any rule that says you cannot abbreviate the name of a protazoa. I was being lazy and assumed the context of the discussion would make the reference obvious.

:iagree:

Ah I see. The infection I had was Entamoeba histolytica, which is apparently an entirely different (and pathogenic) parasite. It doesn't sound like the E. coli would be a problem.

I think a good grasp of Algebra 1 would be sufficient. One consideration in scheduling math-heavy science courses is that they can feel like a second math course. That's fine for a child who loves math; my oldest is good at math but doesn't love it, which is one reason I am planning to spread the science courses out over more than one year and do more than one concurrently. If she were trying to get through say Algebra II and a hefty chemistry course at the same time I think she would start hating school. But if she is taking chem at a slower pace along with a less math oriented science like biology or geology I think she will be just fine.

I personally think that a careful evaluation of your own positions and beliefs, and a willingness to discuss these frequently, is more important than which specific curriculum you pick. We have used both Christian and secular materials, I will be using mostly secular at the upper levels. My approach is to discuss different types of knowledge and their limitations, as far as I understand those. Revealed knowledge includes both written scripture and our own personal witness received through the Holy Spirit. Revealed knowledge is how I know that God is real, that He created the world, and that Jesus Christ is my Savior. The limitations of revealed knowledge include limited scope (God has not revealed everything He knows to us) as well as limits of human understanding--God reveals truth, but our comprehension and interpretation of that truth is subject to our own imperfect reasoning and understanding. Secular knowledge, such as that gained through scientific investigation and observation, also has limitations. One limitation is our ability to observe only our immediate moment in time--we can see what a geologic stratum looks like now, but we can't actually see what it looked like 7000 or 7,000,000 year ago. We can read an account of the Battle of Hastings written shortly after the battle, or we can set up an archeology dig to examine the remnants of an ancient village--but we can't actually go back and observe the battle or experience life in the village. For me, finding what appears to be a discrepancy between revealed knowledge and secular knowledge simply means that we have an incomplete understanding of one or the other--which means I still have room to grow and learn. Honestly, I don't think a complete reconciliation of the two is possible in this life; the gaps in our knowledge and understanding are too large. I am content to learn what I can and continue in faith when my understanding fails, trusting that I have all the truth that is necessary to this life and that the entire grand vista of truth that encompasses all knowledge can wait for a future time. I currently lean towards an old-earth, guided evolution view; I see the days in creation in Genesis as descriptions of general phases in the creation of the earth. I may be entirely off-base in this belief--if so, I don't think it will affect my standing before God anymore than the incorrect supposition that the sun revolved around the earth determined the spiritual standing of the millions of people who held that belief in the past. I will continue to rely on spiritual knowledge and experience to guide my walk in life and seek to draw nearer to God, and I will continue to delight in the exploration and discovery of the world around us and the human experience that I find through scientific investigation and the study and analysis of human events and thought.

I wish I felt certain that add was a joke...

I agree with this. LOTR can be read and re-read, I would let her read it now then go back to it when you do your lit study.

I haven't used these texts yet, although I have several of them sitting on my shelf. Will your son have the necessary math before tackling Tro Chemistry? I'm considering a similar sequence in the middle years but looking at Conceptual Chemistry at that point. I'm also planning to do two or three science strands concurrently and spread out each book a bit more. I'm replying mostly to give you a bump because I'm interested in what the more experienced science moms will have to say.

Creekland, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing the information you have gathered as well as your son's experience.

Matroyshka, is there any chance you daughter could do an exchange year in Germany or Switzerland? Maybe do that for the gap year you are envisioning--or do it for what would be her senior year then have her come home for another year to really focus on the math etc.. I'm thinking that she could get a better feel for what attending university over there would be like, and she would be much better prepared.

:iagree:

I frequently remind myself that the "waste" of throwing out junk food is much less than the "waste" of carrying around unwanted pounds and damaging my health.