I am looking at Supercharged Science for my 10 and 13 year old boys. I am wondering about a couple of things - the first, how well do you think they will retain the information? I think they need something pretty rigorous and before this I was considering BJU. I know they are supposed to keep a science notebook to record info, has anyone done this and was it enough? My second question is organization. How has it worked for you? I want to make sure science happens and I am trying to decide if this would be a problem. I was thinking I could gather the supplies during the summer and put items which are specific to a unit in plastic bags. How would you decide which lessons to do, in what order, and what to do on each day? I am thinking maybe I should just get the BJU 5th and 7th because I know if I don't have everything all set to go for the year, it won't happen and it will be a skimpy science year. Supercharged looks awfully fun for the boys, not sure if I can pull it off.

It looks like Memoria Press Traditional Logic is too advanced for my 5th grader. Maybe he can watch the DVD's with 7th grade brother but do something more low-key if we go this route?

This year my 10 and 12 year old boys and I are planning to use Critical Thinking Book 2 and Philosophy for Kids. The lessons for both are discussion based. I am wondering how much they will retain without any writing or other activities. I was considering having them write definitions, philosopher's names, etc., in a notebook but they really don't like to write. Am I making it too complicated (I excel at that!) or should I use a curriculum that is more discussion and workbook like Memoria Press Traditional Logic and stick with Philosophy for Kids?

Lisa - Are you going to use the 11th grade Chemistry from BJU in 8th? I am looking for a Chemistry for 8th too and just wondering if that is what you are doing.

We started Latin last year and it went very well, much to my surprise since I have never taken Latin, just heard a lot of complaining from other HSers. We will continue with Latin this year and I was wondering about Spanish. The boys want to take Spanish but I am concerned it will be too much or be confusing and the last thing I want to do is mess up the progress they are making. However, I know other people - especially in other countries - take more than one language at a time. I was considering looking for a slower moving program for Spanish or waiting a little longer until they are more proficient in Latin and then adding a second language. Any thoughts?

I bought this last year from HSB and my boys loved it! It was one of the subjects that I didn't have to remind them about and they really enjoyed. So happy we tried it!

I am wondering if anyone has any frozen drink recipes for kids. I would like to make them with a Margaritaville frozen drink maker but I am having a hard time finding something that might appeal to boys in the 10 to 14 age group for a pool party.

Wow, that is unbelievable! There are none near us (I guess because we live pretty far out) but it is really scary to look at that on a map. So sad.

I am so sorry that happened to you. At the risk of sounding naive, is this a southern thing? I can't remember even hearing something like that here in Maryland. We are close to DC and there are so many different races and nationalities and mixed race families it seems normal here. We do live out in the country but I never hear anything like this. I didn't realize there were so many people left like that.

Well, you could switch over to the curriculum forum for a while. Then when you are there and you begin second guessing everything you have ever used for HSing, you will discover that hours or days have gone by and you have clicked almost every single link at least once. By then you will need a break from the depressing thoughts that you have screwed up your children's lives by not using every single idea you saw and it will be time to check back on the general board. Go ahead, we'll wait. I think the digital scrapbooking idea is really great! Or you could organize your pictures on your computer and add notes and all of those things you think you will never forget so if you ever do scrapbook them (or even if you don't) you will have all of that journaling that makes pictures so special.

I have four boys and I could have written this. My boys used the dog shampoo too! Why? Why? Legos and Star Wars are in every conversation. Our dog eats the Legos and last winter the boys were outside cleaning up after the dog and when asked why they were laughing so hard they replied "the dog p@@ps Legos!" One day I was complaining about walking and sitting on Legos and my oldest said when I die they are going to put a few Legos in my casket so I will be comfortable and at home. :smash: When my oldest was dating and his girlfriend was here with the boys helping them make me a Mother's Day card, I got my first card without guns, bombs or explosions on it. It almost looked odd. I never chose a boy name with the first pregnancy because I knew I was having a girl - what would I do with a boy? When I meet God, I know what my first question will be.

It is just so wrong when they start getting hairy. It begins to get really difficult to stay in denial when they get hairy legs. My first had blonde hair so it was noticeable but not as obvious. When my second got black hair on those little boy legs, it was a little...surprising. My older boys are in their 20's but when they were teens, one minute they would say or do something really mature and I would think wow, its like there is a man in my boy's body and the next minute they would do something silly and I would look at them and think my boy is in a man's body! I guess all of the back and forth helps the mom to adjust. ;)

I love my ipad - always have it with me. One of the best things about reading with an ipad is whenever I am reading, someone always asks me a question or asks me to check something and I have email and internet access right there. Makes it so much easier to get back to (trying to) read. I also really love the big screen because my eyes keep trying to remind me I am getting older and when I increase the font size, I don't have to turn the page every sentence. I would never have a reader that isn't backlit now because it is so nice to be able to read a few minutes before bed without having to get up and turn off the light. I have a few reader apps (my fave is ibooks) because different books are available for different apps, like you may want to read a book but it is available on kindle app but not ibooks.

My son took several classes through PA Homeschoolers a few years ago, including AP BIO and got 4's and 5's (4 in BIO). We were very impressed with the classes and the teachers!! We will be using them again in the future.

My son will be in seventh grade this year and will be taking Algebra 2. I was wondering what he should do for science? I noticed that some people pair up certain sciences with math, although I don't understand how. I have looked at a lot of science programs used for seventh grade and they seem too easy for him. We definitely don't want a bored 13 year old, seriously, for my sake. Any suggestions?

I am a mother of four boys and I just want to say that although men start wars, it has been men throughout history who, without a moment's hesitation, have rushed into battle to defend their own family, their village, their country. Not to mention the homes, villages and countries of people they have never met. They literally give up their lives, usually at the very beginning of adulthood, for the sake of someone else. Historically women will go all "Mama Bear" to protect her own, but they are not usually the ones who are naturally willing to rush in to protect other people's lives. I realize there are exceptions and there are now women in the military, however, I think that history shows this to be true. My son got married this year and because this is my first daughter-in-law, I googled for advice on being a good mother-in-law. I don't think you could come up with a term that would inspire as much hatred as I found on mother-in-laws. You could search all day and barely find anything positive, and almost always there is a "but" followed with the negative. This is almost exclusively the man's mother, who really should forget about the fact that she gave her son life, took care of every need he had, and just fade into the woodwork and shut her mouth, never expecting to see her son again let alone grandchildren, unless it seems not too inconvenient for the new bride, or there is something in it for her. The mother of the groom advice I got most often for the wedding was, 'show up, shut up and wear beige.' And as it turns out, is good advice.:glare: It is more often women who tear families apart from within, who hold grudges, who imagine slights. It is not usually men who get snarky about spending time with anyone in his or her extended family, they let things roll off their backs and accept people where they are, and even when they don't like them they are usually able to get together with them without much complaining. And I said usually, I know there are exceptions. Both men and women tend to have some general characteristics (not all of them, and not all the time), good and bad, like any similar group. Because we all homeschool here, I think we might have a bigger picture of history than many others. I went to public school, there is much I am learning for the first time. All through history there have been books written of all the horrible things done by men. Sit with any group of women, have a glass of wine and listen to all of the ways women are hurting their own families, the way they criticize others who are trying their best but not doing things the way they "should" (like maybe homeschooling!), or thinking someone looked at them wrong, or said something stupid which they will never be allowed to live down, and in fact is being conveyed in gossip to people who don't even know them. Someone had the nerve to correct your precious child or somehow however slight, disrespected your home, husband, financial situation, etc. The men in the family room watching football aren't doing this and don't care. Again, I am speaking generally. Women are usually very nurturing and are generally the ones who hold the family together socially but most of the strife and the distancing of family members and tearing apart of the family is done by women. This pain doesn't usually make the news or the history books but it is real. Men and women generally complement each other in our strengths and compensate for each other in our weaknesses. We make a great team but we all have to fight a lot of characteristics and character issues every day. Everything I have written above is my personal opinion from my personal experience and the experience of friends or family. I have tried to say usually and generally because I know generalities are just that and have many, many exceptions. I am not trying to offend anyone or take any side, other than we are all human, the same and so very different in so many ways. We all have so much potential for good and so much potential for bad under the right circumstances. I am the only female in a house with six men, I understand how someone might say they have to fight to raise decent men (like me, for instance) but I have met my share of mean girls in school and we all know women who are still in junior high as adults. There are no innocent parties here.

My boys had chronic ear infections as babies and chronic sinus problems for years so they have spent a lot of time on antibiotics. This may be something to try first, and it would be easy.

All of the testing my son has had so far has been through a gastroenterologist. He had a colonoscopy a few years ago and everything was normal. He doesn't seem to have the symptoms of IBS other than the stomach aches. No one has suggested medicine so far.

Last summer we eliminated all dairy and gluten for about four weeks. We didn't notice anything while eliminating or adding them back. I read on the GAPS site http://www.gapsdiet.com/ that food allergies might not show up if the gut isn't healthy, which is the point of the GAPS diet. I wish I knew someone who has been through this and found a different allergy result after.

One thing I didn't mention is for the last year or two, sometimes when my 23 year old eats, all of a sudden he will need to throw up. He says he doesn't feel nauseous but his throat feels tight. So far his docs have no idea why. Thanks so much for replying, this could be really helpful.

Three of my four boys complain of their stomachs hurting almost every day. The 23 year old has had all kinds of testing, when he was maybe grade 2, again around grade 8 or 9, and then when a freshman in college. So far, we haven't been able to find a cause. The 12 and 10 year olds complain daily. The 23 year old just graduated from college and is home now and I am wondering if we should try something like the GAPS diet. I don't now anyone who has tried it and it looks very difficult. Have you had children with problems like this? Have you tried GAPS? When I searched, I found people who were doing it but couldn't find results, and because this diet is used for different problems, I'm not even sure if it is worth it for this. Do you have any other suggestions? I feel like I should try something, we have looked into the actual diet and I am getting a lot of resistance. I can deal with that if I think it might be worth it. If my stomach hurt every day, I know I would be willing to try it, and I'm the one who has to do most of the prep and planning! They mostly just have to eat. :001_huh: If you have any experience with chronic tummy aches, GAPS, or something else you think may help, I would love to hear about it.

Eww, Eww, nasty. Doesn't this make you wonder how many married men out there do this nasty stuff? It is non-stop, one after another, and in most situations what you find out about is just the tip of the iceberg. Makes me think there are many more who haven't gotten caught, or are not "public" personalities so they go under the radar. It is no wonder things seem to get worse, year after year after year in politics (and I mean all parties!). I think most of the people who would be willing to put their families through what it takes to be a politician now are probably narcissists with little regard for their families anyway. Who would want to put their spouse and children through what the media does to them? Maybe many people in elected office have major psychiatric problems? That would certainly explain why we so often don't understand anything that happens in Washington, let alone locally. (Maybe I should stop watching the news - looks like I am getting a little jaded. OK, really really jaded.) :lol: I feel bad saying that but you CANNOT have the news on most of the time with children around. I am trying to raise decent young men here. It just makes me sad.

Thanks for the suggestions. My meal planning and cooking skills under the best of circumstances is just passable. I get a little worried cooking for others with my usual recipes, let alone trying new things.

My son has a college friend who will be visiting us for a few days and she is a vegetarian. Can anyone give me some suggestions for meal ideas? I guess we really do plan our meals around meat because it seems like it shouldn't be so difficult.:001_huh:

My boys have asked about Boy Scouts occasionally and we have not been able to fit it in. Someone mentioned to me that you can do Boy Scouts on your own and join a troop later. Does anyone know anything about that?