My dd had an out-of-town dance competition last week. We had already paid for it, and had planned for months to meet with friends. The day before we were supposed to leave, the state police closed down the highway to our destination because of the weather conditions. They re-opened it the next day but were expecting more snow...it just wasn't worth the risk. Dd thought that her dad and I were the meanest fuddy-duddies in the world for canceling. And I hated not seeing my friends, and throwing away that entry fee. But that just was not the hill I was willing to die on (literally).

I've had this problem in 2 different co-ops. I think many parents see the class as a social and learning opportunity for their kids - but sometimes don't take it seriously as part of their core curriculum. I noticed that the parents took the assignments much more seriously in the one class my kids were in that had a high $ cost to participate.

Wow, what a house you bought! At least you know what to do with it now - sleep in it when dh is gone!

Don't ever watch the Panic Room. I made the mistake of watching it on DVD once when dh was out of town. I don't think I slept again until he returned. That was years ago, and to this day, if he's out of town and I have to get up in the middle of the night...I won't flush. :o (If you haven't seen the movie, you won't know what I'm talking about - but just trust me on this - Jodie Foster flushed and that was the start of her night of terror). But here's some real advice: have one (or more) of the kidlets sleep with you. There's comfort in numbers.

Peppermint Schnapps. It's called a "Peppermint Patty" - make your hot chocolate, pour in a shot of the schnapps, top with whipped cream, and enjoy. I imagine with coffee, you could add chocolate and the peppermint schnapps and it would be like a Starbucks peppermint mocha. I first had the Peppermint Patty in the ski lodge at Timberline on Mt. Hood, Oregon. Now I make them at home. Yum. :rolleyes:

:D

Yes, we noticed the hair - I kept wondering if she would ever brush it. :confused: Henry and Tom had awful hair, too.

It was rushed, disjointed, modern, and left out too much of the storyline from the book. My teenager, who hasn't read the book, had to ask me several questions to keep up. Such as the very basic, "Who is that person?" about Aunt Norris. Mary Crawford was so dislikable from the start that there was no reasonable explanation as to how Edmund fell in love with her. I could go on and on but I have to start the school day.

I posted about 3 weeks ago on the old board about my 14yo needing to take an algebra "challenge" exam so she could get credit with our charter school for previous work done. I was worried because I gave her a test I found on-line just to do a check-point - and she bombed it. Some of the helpful posters referred me to Aleks. We signed up for the 1 month free trial and she did about an hour a day of algebra for 3 weeks. This morning she took the proctored exam and aced it! I was so thrilled. Sadly, they will only give her "credit" for Algebra I - no letter grade. The grade would've been nice. :rolleyes:

No. Not unless you count this one.:o

I've been lax about blogging since Christmas, but I hope to start keeping up with it again here: An Orange County Sitcom

Wow, that's kind of creepy. :eek: Hey Jenn in MO, by your picture I can tell that you are probably the oldest mom on the forums.

My almost-12yo ds is LOVING these. He had finished Singapore through 6A and hated every second of it over the years (we'd also dabbled in other math curricula along the way). I got Fractions for him and he completed it in 3 weeks because he was so eager. It was almost all a review of stuff he'd already learned which made it faster. He just started Decimals & Percents last week, and again, much of it is review but I looked through the books and there are some new concepts coming up. At this point I'm not ready to say more than what Claire already did - these are definitely good for review and supplementation. We did have 1 concept in the fractions book that ds wasn't getting (unit conversion). He just needed more examples and practice problems than Fred provided to understand the concept. I had to get out another text and teach him the unit conversion from that book before the light bulb went on. Anyway, the books are cheap enough so I'm willing to continue with them as long as he's enjoying them...but with the understanding that if the concepts don't "stick" we'll also use something else.

I have not found one...and I need it, too. :( I checked out one of Perrine's books from the library but decided not to purchase one for lack of a TM.

My 14yo dd just finished North and South (Gaskell). She'll start on an Austen novel next week...probably P&P.