I'm with you. My 6 year old goes to surf camp. I've been at the beach and at pools with very little supervision since early elementary. I don't know the answer to this question, but I imagine that it would be much sooner than others.

Wait. She has anaphylaxis with the cookies and he's still eating them? That not only sounds rude, it seems dangerous.

I would use Times Tales to help them memorize their facts.

"I keep telling myself, "This is my last book." But I can't seem to stop writing these things...in development right now are Russian, Portuguese, German, and a sequel to Getting Started with Latin." http://gettingstartedwithfrench.com/

San Diego is too expensive for us to buy anywhere we would actually want to live. My husband hates commuting, so we rent a few miles from the water (he works on boats). The larger issue is that my husband has an insatiable wanderlust, so it is hard for us to lay down roots anywhere.

This is super helpful. Yeah, there is no way I'm having my kids memorize the NT. Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this.

Are you currently outsourcing your language classes? What have you liked?

I'm intrigued by the good reviews I have heard out of Landry, especially with the group buy going on, but is my Jewish kid going to be really out of place in their classes? Are there any classes that we should definitely avoid? Does anyone know the quality of their foreign language classes?

I'm not sure I understand. Did she use SCAT scores to qualify in 1st or something else? I thought that the test was an above-level test for 2nd and 3rd graders? Did she hit the ceiling on the test in 1st? I'm just trying to avoid paying for expensive psych/IQ testing.

They are ridiculously expensive, but I think we will qualify for financial aid. I assume that the only way to know is to apply, but I suppose I should email CTY. I just wondered if anyone had done it early, and whether it is as doable as it looks.

I am so impressed that your DD is doing Lukeion in 5th! We did Song School Latin 1 in K, and are doing SSL2 this year in 1st. For 2nd, I am planning Getting Started With Latin and Minimus 1 (and perhaps 2). For 3rd-4th, we plan to do Lively Latin 1 and 2 in an online class. The author is a teacher at our charter school, and agreed to let Sacha do it (and the charter school pays). Woot! I am not sure if he will be ready for Lukeion in 5th. We will see how it goes, but I am scared of Lukeion. :)

Sacha is in first grade by age. I was planning for him to take the SCAT next year in second to apply to CTY. But, I recently looked at some sample SCAT tests, and they seem like something that he could do now. The reason that I am interested is because I would like for him to take some CTYOnline classes (especially languages), and don't currently have any other way to qualify him. Has anyone ever taken the SCAT/applied to CTY earlier than second grade?

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9e04f5741927eda6c18e2c523&id=bfcc38a3bf&e=300a02d594 I hope ours (Element Education) will added too. Hint Hint, OG3. :)

Per their most recent email message this morning: "Stay tuned for the rest of the series and for Beast Academy Online, coming in 2017."

My son loved The Vengekeep Prophecy. It's the first book in what will be a series.

We haven't done it yet, but I plan to do some Bravewriter online classes, Treasured Conversations, Killgallon, and CAP W&R. We will likely finish WWE3 in second, so I want to take two years before we attempt WWS1 in 5th.

Mary and Edith weren't the only ones taking the gloves off. Go Chelli! And, I totally agree. Poor Edith!

Thank you for this, and for all the other input. I think this suggestion will be our compromise solution. For anyone else looking for the Brock, here is the link to the sale: https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/brock-magiscope/?c=1 I think the sale runs until the end of the month, but I posted the question on the HSBC FB page to be sure.

Honestly, most of San Diego is about as livable as it gets. Sharp Memorial is in Kearny Mesa, which is about 10-15 minutes to the Gaslamp, depending on traffic.

Yay! Public transit here is safe. You could stay in Hillcrest or Downtown, and have easy access to Balboa Park. There are lots of relatively inexpensive places to stay in Mission Valley (Hotel Circle area), but I don't know the transit routes well enough to speak to the ease of access. I'm an LA native, so I drive most everywhere. As the song says, "Nobody Walks In LA." :)

Honestly, San Diego is pretty safe. We used to live downtown and had no issues, though there is a sizable homeless population. Hillcrest, North Park, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, and the Village of La Jolla are all walkable neighborhoods. Will you need to be close to the hospital/medical offices?

My invite is extended to you as well. :)

Fabulously inspiring news! Thank you for sharing.

I'm not too worried about Sacha breaking it. He has a laptop and a Wii, and uses his gadgets pretty responsibly. I know that he wants to see inside cells -- not just to magnify bugs and leaves, you know? But yes, the technology changes so quickly, and my husband and I are usually early adopters, which is why he is recoiling at buying the 'old school' Brock.

My husband and I are in a disagreement over which microscope to buy. I've read lots of threads about them here, and thought we would start with a Brock Magiscope, which is currently on sale at Home School Buyer's Coop. My husband thinks that it's ridiculous to buy the Brock, that it is old technology, blah, blah, blah. My son wears glasses for astigmatism, and my husband says that we should get a digital scope so that we can broadcast it on our big screen TV. I'm honestly clueless about microscopes, and there are just so many options. Can anyone help us with our microscope battle?