It is still very confusing to me as well. I get lost on MTHFR.net, and also don't like the pushing of supplements. It feels too Mercola-esque to me, who I regard as a quack. Thanks for the tip on the FB group. I just joined. As I recall, I am compound heterozygous as well. One bad 677 and one bad 1298, from each parent. My shrink is allopathic, but holistic. She was the one who ordered up the genetic testing because I have bipolar and pcos. She prescribed Enlyte, which I believe is methylated folate and b12, SAM-e, and fish oil.

This is such an astute observation.

Arctic Mama, and others with PCOS, you might be interested in this recent research on liraglutide, as adjunctive therapy with metformin, for treatment of obesity. I am going to ask my endo about it at my next visit. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24362411

Just think of the language that most schools use when describing girls' and women's sports. They are the "Lady Spartans" or the "Lady XYZ mascot," not the real Spartans/team. One of the reasons I never looked seriously at the Marines was because they refer to female marines as WMs (women marines) and used to run the "We're looking for a few good men" ads when I was considering military service. I agree with those that assert that the dearth of women in math is cultural vs. inborn. How many of us were straight A math students in middle/high school and beyond. Yet, it *never* occurred to me to consider joining a math club and participating in math contests. As if. Cheerleading? Yes. Volleyball? Sure. But, a math contest? Uh, no. Not even on my radar, and potentially considered social suicide for some. Even in college, I did very well in math. Talked to my professors about it quite a bit, was finally stoked to see the beauty of math, but no one ever encouraged me to major in Math (at a LAC where almost everyone double majored in something). If you're smart in the U.S., you're encouraged to become a doctor or lawyer (or more recently, in tech). If your're competitive, you become an athlete or work on Wall Street. That's the culture for a lot of high-achieving/high-ability students in the U.S.

I school, grocery shop, and do the dishes. Husband cooks and vacuums. We both tidy or we hire someone to clean. School and happy/healthy kids are our priority.

I looked at the California math, physics, and biology contests and they were 99% Asian/Indian participants. Definitely mostly Chinese names and 95% male. The racial disparity is stunning in a state so heavily Latino. But, it's not just STEM fields. I take my youngest to baby story time in French and Hebrew at the La Jolla library. It's always 95% Asian, and again, mostly Chinese. Why Hebrew? They just don't care. The Asian parents stretch and push those synapses early and often. 99% of the Caucasian moms are at the park next door, chatting, looking at cell phones, and drinking Starbucks.

I do really like HWT for manuscript, but gosh, their cursive is just awfully ugly IMHO. I would prefer something more modern, clean, and attractive (i.e. no Qs that look like 2s). But yes, he is certainly going to make it his own. I lean toward Getty Dubay because I think that most of us use a mix of print and cursive when we write.

I'm not sure why this article (from October 2014) popped up in my NYT newsfeed today, but I found it an interesting think piece. I applied to Wellesley (rejected) and Smith (admitted) out of high school, and I have to admit that I am a bit conflicted about the issue. Thought it might be a good discussion. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/magazine/when-women-become-men-at-wellesley-college.html?WT.mc_id=2015-Q1-KEYWEE-AUD_DEV-0101-0331&WT.mc_ev=click&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1420088400&bicmet=1451624400&ad-keywords=KEYWEEAD&kwp_0=7348

The chapters are getting longer. 7 chapters -- over 2500 words! He literally started to cry today when I asked him to give me a break!

It doesn't look like italic cursive is introduced in the first book. Why do you suggest going back to the beginning?

My son has been using HWT for manuscript and has pretty good handwriting for a 5 year old boy. He would like to learn cursive next year and I would like something clean, modern, and usable for everyday handwriting, note taking, signatures, etc. I think that I have narrowed it down to Getty Dubay Italic and New American Cursive, but I'm open to other suggestions. In looking at GD, it's not clear to me where I would start in the program, and I'm wondering if it would be too difficult to transition from the HWT. Has anyone used either of these programs (or something in the same style) after HWT? Thanks so much for your experiences.

We started using MM1 when my son was 4.5. He found it easy conceptually, but really balked at all the problems. For K, we switched to using Singapore IP and CWP as our spine, along with LOF and other living math books, math games and apps, and books by Ed Zaccaro and Cleo Borac. My son is finishing up Singapore 2, and we will begin BA 3A in a few months. We plan to continue with BA, and Singapore, as needed, for reinforcement. I suspect that he will start AOPS Pre-A sometime in 4th, around age 9.

He's up to over 1500 words (6 chapters) after 2 days of writing. :)

I followed the HWT method and taught upper case letters first, as they are easier than lowercase. I highly recommend HWT.

I'm with 8. We use SM CWP, and I just think algebraically. It hasn't been difficult for my son to set up problems algebraically because he's played a lot of Dragonbox. We have HOE, but haven't yet started it. You might see if Dragonbox is helpful for you as well.

I think it really depends on what you value in your life -- stoicism, achievement, competition, being the best you can be at all costs v. joy, following one's passions, balance, peace, etc. Obviously, we have the luxury of choice; something these poor children do not.

My DS5 can finish one in about an hour.

Rivka, do you normally scribe math for Colin or does he work more independently? I didn't sign Sacha (5) up for MK, not because I don't think he could handle the math, but because he's never worked that independently before. He likes to do a page of Singapore here and there, but mostly I scribe for math. I was planning to do MK next year, but now I am wondering if perhaps I am underestimating him.

My son does not hate math, but I work really hard mix it up. Novelty seems to be key for him, especially since I keep the challenge level ratcheted up pretty high. We mix Singapore IP with the CWP (our spine), Life of Fred and lots of other living math books, Zaccaro's Primary Grade Challenge Math (he loves trying to do the "genius" problems), Borac's Competitive Mathematics for Gifted Students, logic and strategy games (Sleeping Queens, Zeus on the Loose, etc.), math videos, and iPad math apps. We also use lots of manipulatives when necessary. As soon as we finish up Singapore 2B, we will also mix in Beast Academy, and my son is already licking his chops at the comic book style of math. And this isn't a kid that I would characterize as "mathy." Conceptually, he intuits math quickly, but there are a million other things he would rather be doing than math. We started homeschooling last year with Math Mammoth, and I quickly realized that there were far too many problems on the page and that the monotony of doing the same type of math day in and day out was killing his love of the subject. My advice is to try to mix things up and put the fun back in math.

We have been happily using ELTL1 and WWE1, but I wanted to start doing some weekly Bravewriter Jot It Down style freewrites with my 5 year old Ker son. As you will read, he is obsessed with Pokemon. We just finished reading Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, which he adored, so I gave him the following writing prompt: You walk into a magic store. What do you find? The following is what he dictated to me over the course of about 15 minutes. He was super excited about the freewrite and wants to keep writing his book. Thank you to Farrar and many others for their encouragement re Bravewriter. I think that freewrites will be a fun addition to our homeschool. The Adventures of Jeremy and Gaingar By Sacha Ethan L****** Chapter One: Gastly and Jeremy Once upon a time, there was a six year old named Jeremy. He lived in a house with his mom, dad, cats, and his dog, Grief. One day, on his way to school, a wind blew him off his course and on to a street he had never seen before. He found a shop, and went inside. When he went inside, it was full of magic stuff. He found a sparkling ball. He went to the counter to see the man who let people buy things. Jeremy said, “I want to buy this ball.†"That will be ten pennies,†said the store manager. “Here are ten pennies,†said Jeremy. Then, the store manager said, “You may have the egg.†“Wait, the egg? This is a ball?!†The store manager did not nod. Jeremy was confused, but said, “Whatever it is, I want to have it.†“Ok,†said the store manager, “But you don’t want it. It wants you.†Then, the egg started to hatch. Out of the shell came a Pokemon. “What is this?†asked Jeremy. “It is a Pokemon. A Pokemon is an animal that has powers. This one, is a ghost type, so you cannot ride it. But, it can protect you if you are in danger. Take this box, and some Pokemon food, and take it to your home. Keep it a secret or you will be sorry. Now go, home. Take the back door. It will get you home faster.†“Ok,†said Jeremy. Jeremy went home. Chapter Two: Gastly Evolves After Jeremy went home, he dashed into his bedroom and opened the box. He found Gastly sitting there. The egg had hatched. Gastly began to turn white; it was evolving into a Haunter. Then, something appeared on the front of the box. It was a Pokedex – something that you use to learn about Pokemon. “Place a Pokedex in front of any Pokemon to find out about it,†said the Pokedex. Jeremy placed the Pokedex in front of Haunter. The Pokedex said, “Haunter, the haunting Pokemon, and the evolved form of Gastly. Haunter will surprise you. It is very hard to catch, so catch it quickly if you find one in the wild.†Jeremy knew that this was not a wild one. But, how did he know that? Then, something else appeared on the front of the box. It was a Pokeball. The Pokedex explained that a Pokeball is something that you use to catch Pokemon. “Haunter has already been caught, so if you want Haunter to go into your Pokeball, you just need to say, ‘Return, Haunter,’ and it will return to the Pokeball. To get it to go out of the Pokeball, you just say, ‘Go, Haunter!’ Chapter Three: Haunter and Jeremy Make Friends After Jeremy knew a lot about Haunter, he wanted to try out the Pokeball. Jeremy said, “Return, Haunter.†Haunter disappeared when he returned to the Pokeball. Then, Jeremy wanted to send Haunter out again. He said, “Go, Haunter!†and Haunter reappeared from the Pokeball. Jeremy and Haunter began to make friends. When Haunter realized that he was being well cared for, he wanted to play with Jeremy. So, they started to play. Haunter was getting comfortable.

Thanks for the review. I keep going back and forth between Alex et Zoe and L'Art de Lire. My husband is French-Canadian, so my son gets plenty of spoken French at home, but, since my son is now able to read fluently in English, I would like to get him started on French reading/writing.

Has anyone compared Skoldo with Alex et Zoe?

May his memory be for a blessing. He will be greatly missed.

No, the medication does not help -- if by help you mean keep me from experiencing such debilitating manic and depressive mood swings that I still regularly end up in the hospital. The bolded is incredibly offensive, as I would give anything to be rid of this illness. I love my children and my husband, and find no joy in the pain that I regularly cause them. At this point, I am stepping out of this thread.