My dd has always taken dance classes for several hours a week. My ds has a gym membership and we try to get him there 2-3x/week. He is physically fit, and with the additional walking/hiking/other outdoor activities we do, I am comfortable giving him a full PE credit for the amount of exercise he does. For anybody who has a 24-hr Fitness location convenient to you - Costco offers a great deal of $299 for a 2-year membership. That comes to $12.50/month!

I found a thread on the College Confidential site that said funding for this had been eliminated. I followed the links and couldn't figure out if it was for this upcoming year or future years. :confused:

Congratulations! "Ruining my kids' future" has been one of those constant underlying fears ever since my ds was 5 and I realized he could neither tie shoes nor do a somersault. (Just those small things we hadn't covered in our K curriculum!) So I rejoice with you. :)

Thank you for this...I laughed so hard I cried.

Of course. My ds is extremely bright (verified by high percentiles on standardized tests). He was also very motivated to learn German. He also completed all the review sections with high scores, which means by the program's own standards he has been learning the material. I'm not sure what other advantages a student could have OTHER THAN using additional materials and NOT relying on RS as a high school stand-alone program. I really did not mean to step on any toes with my criticism of RS.

I don't know about the Getting Started with Spanish. But based on our experience w/ Rosetta Stone German, I wouldn't count RS alone as Spanish One. RS worked great for us as conversation basics but I don't see it as a high school stand-alone program.

I know RS isn't designed to prep for the SAT II. But there have been discussions on this very board about Rosetta Stone being OK for high school credit AND each level being equivalent to 1 year of hs German, which would put completion of RS level 5 at the equivalent of hs German year 5! So that's the main reason I am putting this out there - it seems that completing all 5 levels hasn't given ds more than a rudimentary knowledge.

Just wanted to point out that Azusa offers only 5 full-tuition scholarships. The next scholarship level is $10k/year - when you take that off of the $37k estimated cost per year, it barely makes a dent!

I dislike Henty. I tried to read one years ago, thinking, "My ds will love these!" But I couldn't get into it and wondered what the big deal was. So my ds has never experienced Henty.

The website looks nice. But it's $48,000 for an unaccredited AA degree.

We love Chipotle - their food is fresh and wholesome AND delicious. I am :confused: at the comparison to Taco Bell. There is nothing fresh about Taco Bell. But everyone has different tastes. Don't waste your money at Chipotle (yeah, it's expensive) if you like Taco Bell more.

HURRAY!!! My parents offered to buy me an eReader for my b'day but I couldn't decided between a Kindle or Nook b/c I wanted library books but also 3G. I just ordered my Kindle!!!

Yes, he has, and he has enjoyed it for the most part. That's interesting - I didn't have any prior knowledge of this test. In any case, ds' next step was always going to be German I at the CC and I expected the RS to give him a good head start. So that is still true, of course. But I still expected more, somehow. Perhaps due to the ridiculously high expense most homeschoolers incur to take this course.

My ds is almost finished with Rosetta Stone German level 5. It has taken him almost 2 years to get through all 5 levels - I realize this is pretty fast, but he has really retained it. I know this b/c he does well on all the review sections, and, he because he does seem to be able to translate basic phrases from English to German on the fly. (Of course, I don't know German so I can't judge his accuracy, but, he SEEMS comfortable with basic translations). DS is going to take the SAT II Biology test in June, so for fun I decided to give him the sample questions from the SAT II German test. He got 2 of the 13 correct and could not begin to translate a couple of the passages. (he would have done better at random guessing). I was really disappointed. I know we have discussed on this board many times that RS needs a supplement and isn't a full high school curriculum. But - some say that each level of RS is a year of hs? NO, it is not. The College Board website says a student should have at least 2 years of high school German before attempting the SAT II test - the 5 levels of Rosetta Stone don't even begin to cover those 2 years. We are counting his level 3-5 Rosetta Stone work this year as German 1 which I thought wasn't generous enough when we planned the year - but now I think it is. :( Edited to add that I didn't think he would be prepared enough to do WELL on the SAT II test because of the RS weakness in grammar. But I sure thought he would be better prepared than 2 out of 13.

So how many gifts are there for a marriage these days? The engagement party, the shower(s), and the wedding?? :confused:

I show my dh love by taking his clothes to the dry cleaners. :) He really prefers how they do them. Honestly, I would spend 20 minutes trying to iron a dress shirt to get it to look decent enough for him to wear...why not let the local cleaners do it for $1.35? I would only be "saving" $4/hour by trying to do it at home, and, they wouldn't even look as nice.

For us, too. I voted that I "require" community service, but it's not really part of their schooling - it's just what we do as a family.

I wanted to bump my thread on graduation gifts (aren't there ANY ideas besides gift cards and cash or am I stuck with giving those?) But I realized to my mortification that some people might not know the silly "best friends forever" abbreviation, and might think that we are letting dd go on a trip with her BOYfriend. It's not a boyfriend, it's a best friend. A girl. Just setting the record straight!

For graduation gifts, I usually give $ or a Target gift card (for a student who will be living in the dorm). Does anybody have any other ideas for friends/family? Also, what about for your own student? Dh and I agreed to buy a plane ticket for dd to go on a trip at the end of June with her bff and bff's grandparents. We are calling it her "senior trip", so I'm thinking that's enough of a gift.

I am going to check Penney's next time I'm in the area. If no luck there, I'll move to some of the online suggestions - Old Navy, Lands End, & Penneys, which I think all accept returns at the store. I usually love online shopping, but for ds' clothes I had hoped to have him try them on first. (Kohls online was a bust - I checked 8 or 9 styles and didn't find a single one in 30x34)

This is what I've been wondering about. $700 is painful and I have to figure out how to drive less. But we CAN pay it. What about the folks who have long commutes like dh, and CAN'T afford the 100% increase in gas costs over the last 2 years? In California at least, housing costs vary hugely based on how close you are to employment centers. It would be nice to tell people to live closer to their job - but the difference in rent might be $1000/month or more!

Because I am in such agony over gas prices, I thought I'd ask here instead of driving all over town. :tongue_smilie: My ds has outgrown his 30x32s by about 2 inches. But 32 is the longest size I can find in a 30 waist at Old Navy and Kohl's. Where else should I look for reasonably-priced jeans & khakis in a 30x34 size? (edited to say I can find them online at JCP - but no free shipping)

Oh, I also wanted to point out some fine print to those getting 3% back because of the Costco American Express Card...It is capped at $3k of gasoline purchases per year. At the current rate, I'll be maxed out sometime in May. :001_huh:

I think demand does go up starting around Memorial Day, so it's a supply/demand thing. Also, here in CA at least, we have a summer fuel blend which is more expensive. It includes ethanol which I thought was cheaper. :confused:

In southern California, we are paying about $4.27. When I am nearby, I stop at Costco which can be 15-20 cents less than other stations. BUT since it will only save me about $2.25 on a fill-up, I don't drive out of my way to fill up at Costco, nor am I willing to wait in a long line - last time I decided to give up on Costco, I'd have been lined up outside the gas area, waiting to get in and be the 7th car in any of the lines! Lines have gotten crazy there since the first of the year.