Hello ladies, DD12 is done with AOPS Intro to Algebra book. She has also done some light geometry with me but no formal Geometry. She's taking the SAT in October. I'm undecided on whether we should do Number Theory & Counting and Probability now or go on to the AOPS Geometry book. She's really solid on the Intro to Algebra concepts. Are there any pros and cons on choosing one or the other? Also, at what point does she take an SAT subject test and which one? Thank you!

We are in South FL, so we have both, but predominantly sandy beaches, although I believe there are some rocky intertidal areas close to us in the FL keys. We often go to a natural beach that has a fair amount of rocky areas, lots of crab and tiny fish and shrimp. I'm going to go read your report now, thank you so much! :)

These are great suggestions, thank you! I'm going to investigate them all.

Hello! DD12 and DD7 are very interested in focusing on Marine Biology this year. We live near the water and already spend a lot of time in the ocean. My DD12 has plans to get certified for diving. I would love to hear your ideas / suggestions on texts, living books, documentaries, museums, trips, etc. We want to cover this subject from an environmental science aspect as well, and would love to tie it into history if possible. A trip to the Bahamas is very doable for us as well. Just brainstorming, hoping for some guidance.

n/m I just found some of Ruth in NZ's threads. Thank you, Ruth, for sharing your approach!

Last year I let my chemistry-curious DD read science books according to her interests. After a year she requested an actual curriculum and I purchased Rainbow Science. She finished the Physics portion in a couple of weeks and is finding the Chemistry too boring and written too simply for her. She is asking to take real chemistry and wants more experiments; she wants to "make things bubble and blow up". Any thoughts on Spectrum Chemistry at this stage? She is working at the high school level in other subjects and just finished the first half of AOPS Intro to Algebra. We've pulled a few science experiments off the internet but I want her to have a deeper understanding of why's and hows instead of just following directions to make cool things happen.

Do any of you ladies know what the admission price is if you didn't pre-register? I'm thinking about attending with my 12 and 6 year olds. I can't find the info on their site.

Beautiful! Congratulations to you both! :thumbup:

Anyone in Miami? We are in the process of moving to South Dade County.

Thank you, ladies. We haven't done much reading aloud; I'm going to ramp that up. I've been curious about MCT. This past year we did R&S English. We started with the 5th grade book and switched to 7th grade mid year. I'm wondering if Cesar's English will be too much with a Latin 1 class, and a greek/ latin roots class.

I tested her and she is able to read at a 10-12 grade level, but her vocabulary is at a 7th grade level. That's a big gap. So she is basically able to read these big words, but she is not retaining them or using them.

In your opinion, what is the best way to increase vocabulary for an 11 year old reading at a 10-12 grade level? We were trying Spelling workout but worksheets are not our favorite, and there was not much retention.

This is DD to a t. She reads 21 as 12 constantly, etc. I'm glad to hear that your FIL is not worried about these reversals at this age. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll go take a look at the book you mentioned. I'd love to be able to identify the specific areas where she's having the most difficulty so I can give her customized help. This makes sense, and I'm thinking I need to come back to this and re-evaluate where she is in 6 months or a year. She made a lot of progress quickly, in a 3 month span and it may be that she needs an adjustment period. She can read the high frequency words correctly in isolation, but tends to get them wrong within the text, so it does sound like she is maybe guessing in order to go faster, when she should be going at a slower pace. She is not left handed but DH is. Your responses were so helpful. I have only had experience teaching one other child and it was completely different, so I'm glad to hear this is not uncommon. I'll be working with her closely and keeping an eye on her progress. I think I'm going to record her reading so I can have a good base to compare in six months or so.

DD, who just turned 6, and just finished K, is reading at what I believe to be a 2.5 grade level. Most of her progress in reading has occurred in the past 3 months. She will read about 5 pages of a Magic Schoolhouse book in 30 minutes and has good comprehension. However, she will read a paragraph or two perfectly and quickly, and has no problem reading words such as "desperately", "overlooking", and "disaster", but within minutes she'll have trouble with high frequency words, like "eat", or easy ones, like "graze". She still confuses b for d about 40% of the time, and will reverse words, saying "rowng" instead of "grown", or incorporating the next word into the word she is currently on. Is this normal for her age? Are my expectations just not realistic for her age level? I only have DD11 to compare her to, and DD11 started reading at 4 and very well. DH and I started at 4 too. Also, how do you accurately test your children for reading level? I'm only going by the RL rating on the book she is currently reading. She is brilliant in everything else, so what gives? Any thoughts?

Thank you all for the links. I'm going to visit them and see where it takes us.

A Course In Miracles The War of Art

I originally read it in Spanish, then read it several times in English as an adult. It's not as popular in the U.S. but I think it is a lovely story.

DD11 has been expressing curiosity about programming and robotics. I'm a humanities person and haven't the slightest clue on where to start looking for resources. She will have a pretty challenging schedule next year, starting Intro to Algebra in the fall, as well as a Latin class that will require additional study time. I'm hoping to find a way for her to learn programming in her spare time as a fun side project. Are there any courses / books / websites you could recommend? Also, what can she expect to accomplish learning programming at this age? (When I said I was clueless, I wasn't kidding.) :) Thank you!

We just started formal handwriting this week with our 6 year old. Me: "Each line on this sheet of paper is like a tree branch, and all the letters are birds sitting on the branch." DD: "Mom, there is no gravitational field in a piece of paper."

I love "Ronja, The Robber's Daughter" by Astrid Lindgren. It is my favorite book from childhood. :)

DH is constantly out of town for work and this thread is making me miss him terribly tonight. Because he's gone so much most of our free time involves the kids. But these are the things him and I do together. We laugh, we giggle, wrestle, tickle each other, sometimes we have water fights inside the house. LOL We take spontaneous road trips. We counted them recently and in 14 years together we have gone on around 90 road trips. We've built a few houses together. He comes to work with me to be my assistant. We watch weird shows on TV, like "How It's Made". We talk, and talk, and then talk some more. I've never had a better friend.

We are in North Dutchess County and would love to connect with others in the area.

Congratulations 8 and regentrude! I read the college board regularly and I feel like I've been holding my breath for good news! :)

This is great. Thank you so much! We are still reading a lot of fantasy and adventure but these are great topics to apply and I will certaily keep them in mind. I'll check out the YouTube videos as well. I YouTube things for them all the time, they've done a ton of drawing and painting from lessons I pulled from there recently.

I'm currently reading Socratic Circles by Mark Copeland, but his program focuses on groups of students with what seems like less participation from the teacher so not completely applicable to the homeschool setting.