Thank you so much for the encouragement, ladies. I forgot to mention that in math and reading he was tested at the highest level they offer, he is a new 12 yr old, would be in 6th grade by age, but testing at 8th grade levels and all his other results were in the 99th percentile for homeschooled AND national averages. So, in the biggest picture, he is doing AMAZING. His math skills stun me. I agree that this is his "one thing at a time" thing right now. Yes, the brain fog getting in the way and the attention to detail is seriously out the window in all areas of his life and THIS issue is ALL about the details. No wonder ...poor guy. lol

-travel a lot more -hike the Appalachian Trail with DH..in large chunks -own a cabin in the mountains AND on the beach and float between each as I choose lol -living on a boat for a little while has crossed my mind. -end up back in Montana

bump for update in original post

Do tracfones also text? What network do they use?

Never feel foolish. I'm teaching both my kids to ALWAYS pay attention to that feeling, no matter what. I was in my 30's before I learned to completely trust it. Before that, it did help me out of situations, but now, I full-on act on it. I teach mine never to analyze it. We aren't fearful people in general and they understand every situation is different so their level or re-activeness will be different each time but in any case...it's there for a REASON. USE IT. You may never know what gave you that feeling. It may have not been about THAT man, but something else in your vicinity. Glad you got outta there though.

I'm kind of liking how the 'flash card' software looks. There's a little bit more to it, but I think it might work nicely alongside the Roots Dictionary we use during vocabulary. I'm sorta OVER typing up lessons in Quizlet for them to use the Flashcard function there. Quizlet is free, this is not, but it's cheap enough that I would jump at it to reinforce some stuff. Plus, though I know Voc from Classical Roots is pretty good and has it's place, they are not connecting as well with it I think because the original Latin or Greek root is what they have to remember but they never use it specifically, only the variation. For instance, apertum is Latin for "to open" and if they learn how to use certain cameras, they may remember this when adjusting the aperture, but they really seem to retain words they are actually using like...poly and megas and duo. I say, "OOOH but if you remember that 'unus' means "one", then it'll help you in any Latin based foreign language you take!" I explain unus/one = Spanish/uno = French/une, due/two = Spanish/dos = French/deux. To which I get blank stares. When I overhear them talking, I hear them making the connections, but it seems like they are retaining what they would commonly use. When flipping through the sample of the flashcards, it helps you to put words of varied lengths together using roots, suffixes, prefixes. I guess I'm figuring out I care less about Latin itself, and more about them making sense of the English language through learning the roots.. They will take foreign language and I think the connections will be stronger THEN i f they learn more of the LAtin side itself, but for now, I need to switch it up.

I'm sure they are not. But the number that showed up today was a Texas number and others are reporting the calls from US numbers in a few states. I'm pretty sure they are routed in the US in an impossible way to trace. But I reported it anyway. Surely nothing will come of it but if everybody reported stuff like this, I think more would get done about it. There is already legislation going into place in different countries because of this very scam, if you are to believe all the complaints surfacing and a few news reports. I spent too much time reading this morning. LOL

Yep and apparently they are impossible to find or track down. I filed an online complaint with the FCC and there is a form on the Microsoft site as well.

I installed Windows Defender on my computer when I got it a year ago. Within the last few weeks, a guy with a strong accent has called a few times, at times when I couldn't talk, to let me know that they, at the Windows Defender Tech Support center, have been getting messages sent from my computer indicating security issues. At first I told him to call back later, intending to research it, then I went out of town 3 times and forgot. I just got another call and let him go ahead and tell me what I needed to do to address these security issues. Now, first of all, I have been getting friends telling me that they are getting fishy/spammy/inappropriate emails from me so I've had to change my email password a couple times. I have the Norton Suite also running and have checked and double checked that the email/spam protection is running. It has been. I also run my Adaware and Spybot type scanners once a week. All of my Norton stuff looks good to me. So, just now this guy had me go to my C: prompt and type in 'cmd', some files popped up and one showed a very extensive number that he says is my computer ID ..something...number with Windows. He rattled it off, showing that he was a Windows Defender tech and prepared to make my computer secure. He then had me type in www.support.me which brought this site up. He gave me a code to type in so the download could start. I stopped him there and said I need to research this more before I was comfortable going any further. I have been extremely suspicious from the beginning, but I am suspicious of everyone. :laugh: Originally he told me if I wanted, I could write down the steps so I could do this on my own, but once he said that, he started instructing me to do these steps as he's on the phone. Does anyone use Windows Defender and have you gotten similar phone calls? I have to go try to look up what 'services' came with that program. In no way am I comfortable with someone instructing me in ways that looks into my internal system. He said he could not access anything, and he was trying to help me correct several security issues on my own. I was tempted to unplug my router while he told me the steps but then he wanted me to download something from that site, so I just stopped him. When I stopped him, he was polite but sounded shocked. He said he'd call back in a few days to finish walking me through this and said 'by all means' do some research into Windows Defender services so I could become more comfortable. :huh: :confused1: :confused1: :confused1: :confused1: ETA: It's not looking good. !! He just called back and I sweetly asked for his name and number, his supervisor's name and a number to contact him/her. He gave me some info and then said if I would like to speak to her, he would connect me. I said yes and instead of getting put on hold, I heard the phone being passed, or dropped and when she came on, I told her I was reporting them to the feds and they hung up on me.

In all of his schooling I see where emotionally maturing would do him a BIG favor. This included. For this issue, it's not so much the checking being a punishment, but he tells me the entire writing process is punishment. LOL I am hopeful that because I've seen a huge increase in willingness to write as he's learned to type, that his maturity is also increasing and will help this issue. I've seen huge improvement in his handwriting and a couple of other things that weren't strong points for him, that needed extra concentration. Something that I'm seeing is that, I probably do need to be collaborative with him. He is really insistent that he can be completely independent in this process so I've adjusted how I'd normally instruct something like this to allow for that. I'm still very involved, but once he sits down for the final pieces, he likes very much to be isolated in his thoughts and area. He says it's not easy for him and the isolation helps him concentrate. He's on the other side of the living room in or in the kitchen, so I'm around him. But he doesn't like me over his shoulder at any point or sitting next to him. His newly into puberty and showing a ton of independence suddenly. Soo....hormones are probably a part of this type of thing, too. :mellow: :laugh: With the rough draft, a couple of things: He says he doesn't want me to correct it, just look at it. I'm not sure why, myself. LOL Because writing has been such an issue with him, I've allowed him to make some decisions on his own about how to proceed with a few things. This is working against him somewhat and I've corrected those things, but I think the rough draft could be? one more place I can tweak it to help him out. I like the idea of correcting it myself sometimes but the curriculum he uses is also directed to the student and prompts them to revise their rough draft themselves, using the revision list provided (which is pretty extensive). I'll see what he says about switching it up some. BUT I am a little hesitant yet, only b/c the curriculum spends a good bit of time teaching them how to edit and revise on their own. It's almost like I'd be doing that part of his school work since the lessons instruct him to do it and how to proceed on his own. Still thinking on it...... thanks for the suggestion!

Right now we are using Vocabulary from Classical Roots, and it's taken all year long to get through it with both kids. We did a lot of reinforcement in Quizlet, on top of just using the workbook. It's been ok, they are learning. Seems kind of dry. I don't have complaints, but I was on the Critical Thinking Co.'s site and saw the Word Roots books. Anybody use them? Opinions?

He does type; all of his writing work is typed out. I think typing is one huge reason why his attitude and effort toward the writing processed has improved at all. His work always includes a typed rough draft in which I only quickly scan, no correcting, and then he works on editing afterwards. The curriculum he uses leads him through prompts and writing organizers of various types. He has revision prompts that the curriculum always includes. I thought he was using that list. During our discussions toward the end of the process he talks about the revision list. He works independently on this part of the process but I could have him make little marks on each type of revision made on that list just so that I can see he has been checking in on the list and it's helping him catch errors. Sometimes I send him back with the list alongside his work to do a last check before my rubric gets pulled out. He takes it and comes back and says he's checked it. I've been taking his word for using this particular list because he is so emphatic that he knows how to use it and how to edit. I could insist he use it more like a list to check off instead of just referring to it.

$3 a dozen from a farmer friend...truly free range, pastured, etc. Just like I would do it in the most organic way possible down to the feed. I keep telling her she's under charging! But her chickens are $25 a pc. LOL But that's because they are around 8-10 lbs each. I call them ch-urkeys. lol

They have very different functions, but the wet blade will do things like coffee beans, breaking up flax seeds, chopping nuts...all of this with a super quick pulse (do noooot go any longer than that) and a careful eye. The dry blade is better for that, but I have found the wet blade can be used for a couple dry things. I use my dry blade for grinding wheat for flour, ...well for most any flours I make. Nut flours, coconut flour, etc.

It could be to see if victim 1 or 2 (if the scenario is correct) notices. If they do, they'll change passwords or cancel cards, etc... to avoid it happening again. The thief might try again later with a bigger hit, hoping it goes through. If no one noticed the small, common charge, he might get lucky when trying for a bigger pay off. He'll score that one big score and move on to the next victim. This happened to my Paypal account 13 yrs ago, two months after opening it. What a hassle to untangle. They never found the person. I didn't notice a $20 paypal charge as both my DH and I heavily used it. If he didn't recognize a transaction, he figured I did and vice versa. Two weeks later, there was a $2300.00 charge.

Thanks for the suggestions. Checking out Editor In Chief now. Should I look at his grade level...I feel like I should start with the earliest book.....for 2nd graders. LOL No joke. Interestingly, he had huge spelling errors early in the year that he seemed to iron out on his own once I insisted he sit with a dictionary next to him. Every time I found misspelled words, I'd underline it and point to the dictionary. BOY did he HATE THAT. He had to make spelling corrections during his 1 hr of screen time. Sometimes he'd get only 10 minutes of screen time after all spelling corrections. Now I see that he grabs it on his own and starts checking things over beforehand. Now if I can find that magical key to motivation with the cap. and punct issue.... He still has to make those corrections during screen time but the corrections go faster. Still, after 9 months, there are AS MANY or MORE to correct than at the beginning of the year. :/ Still listening to suggestions!!...........

How much was the purchase?

ug! Sometimes scammers do little things in an acct they have hacked, of little consequence to you...at first. If the password doesn't change or the account isn't otherwise changed up, they go further. I just can't think of how they would benefit. They can't get your bank info, can they? I agree that I'd have the account closed. Sorry :(

DS12, finishing up 7th grade, first year back to homeschooling. Was hs'd for 1st and 2nd, public schooled from 3rd thru 6th. I am pretty exasperated. DS is still making huge errors in punctuation and capitalization. I have tried everything. I even stopped all lessons earlier this year and did a small booklet full of worksheets and instruction I printed off from various online sites. He's always sort of forgotten a period here and there but in the last 2 yrs more and more errors are happening. In public school they didn't even correct his work when it happened. :glare: Anyway, I keep grades for him and being a straight A student seems super-important to him. I count points off for this sort of stuff and this grading period, he is earning his first B's in Language Arts in years SOLEY because of the points lost on this sort of stuff, per paper. He's so upset, but we talked about it all year, and he was aware of how these mistakes were affecting his overall grade. Still, there is no improvement. :huh: Overall this year he has turned in 7 major writing assignments like essays, long narratives, myth writing and long poems. Every one has loads of these errors. He just turned in a BEAUTIFULLY done piece of writing to end a unit last week and in every way, he earned an A+++++++! Writing is hard for him and he's overcome many obstacles to produce such work. The grade that he actually got was an 83% because of the amount of punctuation and cap. errors. He didn't even capitalize the TITLE!!??? There was dialogue without quotations, even. Ug! I want to think maturity might have something do with it. Until this point in the year I wanted the focus to be on the writing aspect itself because it certainly was the BIGGER obstacle, while continuing to improve the grammar portion of course. Welp, he has succeeded on the first goal and we've celebrated that and continue to do so. But this other thing ..I don't know what to do with it. Should I give a language arts grade to only reflect the writing and begin to issue a grammar grade to separate the two so that he sees his progress or lack of separately? Should I buy a different workbook/book..should I go about this a different way? Should I just keep working with him on this (how?) and not make a big deal? It feels like a big deal.. LOL He has one more year with JUST me before he is in high school under different teachers (online). It just seems like this should be on the upswing before....high school??!! I just can't see him turning in essays as a freshman where the title has some capitals, some lower cases letters... oy! ETA: I think part of the problem is that I'm not entirely sure where the problem lies. lol I think...or thought...he knows the cap and punct rules. Some days he seems to. Most days, that is not the case. When we discuss it, he seems irritated that I am reminding him of it at all and says, "I know all this?!?". Ok, really? Before he finally turns something in, I ask him to do one more check for capitalization and punctuation. He goes over it, corrects nothing, hands it in and there are massive, seemingly simple errors, then he seems *shocked* that he got points deducted. This feels like the Pre-Alg errors he was making for about 8 months at one time. He knew the concepts but kept getting the answers wrong. That finally worked itself out. Wondering if this will also. UPDATE: My kids take the PASS test every year and today I got DS's results back. I wanted to share his Language results as it relates to this conversation: Went up a testing level this year. Last year, he got 60% of the test questions right, this year 33%!? They want to see at least 50% for an average score. He was in the 69% last year among homeschoolers tested by Hewitt, this year in the 31st percentile. :( Last year, at 90% nationally, this year, 69%. Last year, overall performance ranked high in Language, this year, ranked High-Avg. RIT score ..showing his amount of growth in a year... is down 6 points and is lower than what they suggest at this level. :( They gave some recommendations for this year to provide practice in spelling, capitalization, punctuation and composition. DOH! lol Thanks for the suggestions in this thread. He's already doing daily practice from some of the suggestions here. I'm not happy, but not alarmed, by the fact that his overall...everything...is down. Obviously, one reason I wanted to homeschool him is to help him do BETTER. :confused: So I'm a bit discouraged today, but I'm going to keep him practicing and look for a better result next year.

we are starting more of a year round schedule so we are still doing 1 or 2 days a week of school, just a few hours each day. July-off to move across the country, then somewhere in August, start a 3 day a week school schedule, then in Sept, 4 days. In between on all the days off, we plan to live at the water park as much as possible, have as many silly sleepovers as possible, camp and hike in the mountains until we move to FL, and oh yeah, my DD14's personal favorite, sleep late. Once in FL, we plan to take full advantage of my parents 60 acres with dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and cousins. Also, live at the beach. We are very outdoorsy and there's usually little time for much else to partake in such as classes or other structured stuff, other than the pool. Once we aren't land-locked, we will trade that for the beach.

Can you tough out appendicitis? I wasn't given that option. Something about it being an emergency if it burst. They told me....awwww, don't worry. Only .5% of people have the migraines and if the person administering the spinal knows what they are doing, no fluid will leak out. That's when I knew I would be that .5% because that stupid stuff usually happens to me! I was 20 with no children yet and I was so worried that if I had to have a C-section one day, I wouldn't be able to take care of the babies within the first 2 wks. Thankfully, I didn't have C-sections.

Glad you were under general. Yeah, I'll never forget that pain.

this is what i was going to say. Language arts is my fav part of mbtp and the 11-13 level is phenomenal. just skip anything you dont want to do....there will still be PLENTY to keep her busy and yes, thinking critically. my kids sometimes read ahead at their whim so sometimes as they work on a particular lesson they may be ahead in the reading, but they just revisit or reconsider it when necessary. eta: there are 10 units in a middle school level with mbtp but it is way more than is reasonable to expect a child to do in a school year, so she might even think its fun to pick 6 or 7 units that interest her the most from the level you choose for her.

sometimes if they give you a spinal to numb you from the waist, down, a bit of spinal fluid leaks out which causes migraine like headaches for up to 14 days. mine started on day 2 after my appendectomy and i laid in a dark room for 13 days unable to function at all. woke up on day 14 with no more headache. it was excruciating.

This, for me, too. Also, I do use it to chop veggies as well. I flip it to low, put the number dial on 3 or 4, and add 1/2 an onion or green pepper, or whatever at the time, flip it on, then off once it's chopped to my liking. Then I add the other half of the veggies, flip on then off once done. Scoop all out, a bit of soap and some water, put it all on high to clean it, rinse in sink, let dry. I can't use a food processor to do that in such a short period of time, nor have it that ease at clean up. Much quicker than manually chopping as well. The key to chopping veggies in it is 'less is more'. The base if pretty small so too much bulk causes it to not chop as well. The only thing I use my food processor for now, is to chop dates to the point of a paste for...various recipes. It's too gummy for a higher power device and needs much less power. But that's it. I don't have any experience with a Ninja, but my brother had one and sold it for a Vitamix, after much agony over the price and says the same thing I do...can't imagine kitchen-life without it. My Vitamix has done anything I've asked it to do and some of the things I do are stinkin' tough. The results are never chunky but smooth, creamy, and green juices and things are equally as nice with no unprocessed bits. I could go on and on. My vitamix is my right hand man! I use it daily and on a 'kitchen day' here, I use it multiple times. I have a dry blade containers as well use it for grains, spices, flours, some seeds, coffee beans, etc.