On the other hand, I feel like I must be missing something here. The following link shows a post from Nov 2013 where a lot of cool stuff is explained, including how to add audio (which I need in a few weeks!) but his screen shots are the 2011 version? Or is it? What am I missing? I can't find anywhere to do those things on my OneNote app or online. http://blogs.office.com/2013/11/12/top-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-onenote/

Pretty much any of the conversation on where to go to click on certain commands, and all of the links I've followed are for the 2011 version (granted I still have a couple to look at). I kept thinking this all sounded different than what I was looking at, then I followed some of the links and it was very different than mine looked so I'm going to start over tomorrow on Youtube searching for 2013 specifically, I think.

I have been so confused throughout this whole thread, then I realized, you guys must be talking about ON 2011. I have 2013 and it's alllll different.

:thumbup1:

I'm waiting for an email back to find out what the "pay in full upon enrollment" discount is (anyone know?) but I was also wondering if they have a sibling discount. My two kids are a year apart and I can't see duplicating everything every year of high school. If I have to, fine, I guess. lol Would just like to know. Here's an UPDATE in case anyone else was wondering: Finally got the email back and they explained that they do not have sibling discounts but they do have a referral discount of $50 if a friend or family member, including an older sibling, refers an enrolling student. Referred student has to sign up for a one year or more of courses. They also offer a $100 discount if you pay in full at the time of enrollment.

Is that "Winter"?

DD13 just found "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer and is very eagerly awaiting the next book, "Scarlett" and "Cress". They are fairy tale and sci fi based. Cyborgs and fairy tales themes. She read "Cinder" in 1 day. On Marissa Meyer's official site she several lists of book suggestions that she really likes. DD is planning to work her way through that list when she is finished with the other two coming in. OH and Marissa Meyer has a published fanfic book called Heartless. It's a prequel to the Queen of Hearts story in Alice and Wonderland. We'll probably get that too, if I can find out where.

We are using the Moving Beyond the Page LA curriculum, and the lessons are taken from live books, which I LOVE b/c I don't have to assign separate reading material for DD and she gets to read some great books. The line up (this year is all about modern history): Abigail Adams Animal Farm The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension Elijah of Buxton The House of Scorpion Watership Down The Book Thief To Kill A Mockingbird Great American Poets For History we are using History Odyssey (Modern Times - Logic stage) since they also use the live books as part of the lesson, these are the books she'll be reading for her history lessons: Around the World in 80 Days The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Things Fall Apart The Red Badge of Courage The Red Baron No Promises in the Wind Chinese Cinderella

I'm combining both middle schooler's science. I let them pick the type of science and they chose Chemistry so we are going all out and taking lots of time w/ the periodic table. I bought them a board game and cards w/ all the elements and also have a ton of short youtube videos saved to watch on it. Then we'll go on with the rest of the year doing whatever suits them in their chemistry work. But as a break from all that, I got the big-daddy Snap Circuits kit (750) and other fun things that will make learning electricity fun. I also bought chalk pastels and saved two or three links where they can take free lessons of all types. I bought colored wax and have the videos saved for that to take off. When school supplies hit the stores I plan to really stock up on art supplies, more than ever this year and we will explore art in fun ways with different mediums. The best thing I did, though, this year, is changed history and science from a 5 day a week thing to a 2 day a week thing. The schedule is full but feels so much more relaxed now and the kids should have more time to explore some fun stuff w/ the extra tim.e

Thanks everyone! It is certainly a special point in our relationship. Very, very special. She never just comes out with this stuff to me, I mean, she doesn't gush about stuff.. even if she's feeling it, so for her to say it to her friend, then come to me to tell me about the conversation is huge. DS11 gushes about how much he loves me LOL but DD is all chill about most things. So glad I count to her and so glad she told me so in her own way!

You know...you want to think you'll be close to your children, and if you're like me, you spend some time hoping they respond to your advice, affection, etc. I really want a close relationship with them, and have tried to foster it. My DD13 is a sweet girl that doesn't express herself the way I"m used to girls expressing themselves. She's totally no drama, doesn't react to things and is kinda stone-faced through difficulty. She has rarely cried, doesn't get worked up..etc. But when she does, you know it's big to her. Right now she has a friend who has spent this year in her first year of middle school and BOY has she changed. DD is having a hard time relating to her bc this girl suddenly wants to be alone with boys, hates her mom, curses and constantly tells DD she is WAY more mature than her. She waves at every passing male, and has given her parent's home number out to boys to the point that they are changing the number. She keeps trying to run away..and, well, there are so many issues and it goes beyond just her. They are at their wits end with her and have asked me for homeschooling advice. A little back story on us... I was homeschooled through high school and homeschooled my two for two years while they were in 1st and 3rd grade. I sent them back to PS when we moved into a super great town/district (military) knowing in middle school they would come back home to go through 12th w/ me. Plus, I needed to work at the time. This last year was DD's first year back to homeschooling. She wasn't thrilled but always knew this was how it was going to be. Now that her friend is having so much trouble she is trying to encourage her by telling her all the things she has come to love while homeschooling. DD said she doesn't feel at all like she did at first and hopes her friend will come to like it...or at least settle down if she's HS'd. Her friend is dead-set against it is telling her parents she is running away if they try to HS her...so anyway...... Last week DDs friend came over and DD was telling her what a great HS year she has had. Her friend was saying all the things she would detest about HS, and her biggest thing is she thinks she'll be lonely w/o her friends there every second (her words). DD said, "I thought that too, but you'll get to spend time with lots of other great people (we'd all have the same support group/kids) of all ages, including me and have lots of fun!" The other girl said, "Other than you, who else??" and DD said, "To start with, you'll be with your mom!" The girl said, "My mom does NOT count". DD said there was a long pause and she told the girl her 'truth' as she called it. She told the girl, "MY mom counts". :crying: To my 13 yr old, at least for now, I count! Her attitude was quite bad last year and there were so many mean girls who targeted her that she was angry and raw every day. I could barely manage to get friendly words from her no matter how supportive and loving I tried to be. And now, a year later...........I count. Because she's not all that expressive, this is big. Well, this is big to me anyway! That is the best thing she's accomplished all year. <3 Just wanted to share :) :hurray:

I LOL and woke up the dog when I read your chicken/cat comments. :laugh: SO many of you are living my chicken dream. We had them growing up and now farm eggs are very important to me, but scarce. DH in the military and we move around......one day..... Oh and we have a bird dog.. guess we'll have to really plan this out. :lol:

The documentaries: King Corn, Food Matters, and Food Inc (some on Netflix?) are wonderful. And Fed Up is in select theatres now. Books: Get Your Fats Straight Cure Tooth Decay (NOT just about teeth, but an all over nutritional info) Nourishing Traditions And, as mentioned, anything by Michael Pollan I think Joel Salatin has a book out too. I kinda think these are all reads for the parent's though. I think if it was just for summer, I'd read the book you have, and focus on plenty of Vit D from the sunshine (while discussing why we need it), exercise outside (swimming, hiking, biking, skating, etc) and discussing how exercise promotes low stress levels and endorphins! Fun exercise though. Find a place to get fresh produce and talk about in-season foods, go get it from the ground (farm?) and talk about where our food comes from. Just throwing ideas out...

We're finished with heavy curriculum Friday! We'll continue to do math and grammar reviews until the middle of June.

MBTP is very rigorous with a lot of hands on activities so it can take a while. DD is in the level just above the one you asked about and while we thoroughly love the program, I do have to shorten a thing or two to stay within the time frame I want to spend on schooling in a day.

$650 a yr. Last year that was for one kid, this year I spent that on two, of course, using a re-using some materials for the second child, but not a whole lot. Middle schoolers. That is literature driving curriculum and the accompanying literature. School/art supplies for the school room are sprinkled in somewhere down the line and don't account for much. Music lessons aren't included in this.

Take a look at Moving Beyond the Page for literature based curriculum that is very hands on in every subject. Science has *plenty* of experiments and the quality of the curriculum is awesome IMO.

Is it? Ok, that's the kind of thing I need to know. This is my first time HS'ing a middle schooler and I'm just not sure what is normal. lol tnx.

We also have both and like both the same. I just wanted to add that we got ours used for an extremely excellent price through online used book stores, maybe even Amazon ..in the used area, just in case you didn't want to spend a ton.

That is right, if it is sloppy I just have her look over the problem and correct it. And yeah, it's always the same concepts. What worries me a little is that SEVERAL times this year we have stopped the lessons and spent a lot of time going over and over some/all of what concepts she was weak on up to then. She'd do fine for a while then start missing them again. When we discuss it she says she KNOWS it and isn't sure why she keeps missing it. I do think she gets it then the retention gets weak, even though she is constantly doing these types of problems daily. :huh: MomatHWTK and kiana , thank you for the suggestions. We do rotate some Khan in there now and then, I'll keep that up.

Ok, thank you for that reminder. This morning I have been re-reading the links I've saved outlining exactly how Mr. Saxon intended the movement through the books.

I agree with the weak concepts being huge concepts and I think that's what concerns me the most. Can you suggest another Pre-A book? In pre-A I only have AoPS here, but I may look through the two Dolciani Alg 1 books I have to see if they address those weaknesses as a topic as well.

I think we have worked out most sloppy work. I have tried hard not to count anything sloppy into the spreadsheet, instead asking her to re-look at the problem. She'll usually spot the sloppy part right away and fixes it. On the ones she struggles with, I encourage her to flip back to the original lesson to use as a guide through the problem. I think if she did that every time she might get better at them as she sees the correct method being worked out again. She is pretty solid on all the other concepts and makes B's on tests. To clarify, she isn't getting 38% and 40ish % as scores. She is getting that concept right only 38% of the time it comes up in a lesson, etc.

around 50% or less on these: Order of Operation with fractions Roots-Order of operations with exponents Volume Some scientific notation Right Circle cylinders Implied ratios Multiplication with scientific notation (38% correct only..ug!) Evaluating Powers of neg bases (38%) Roots of neg numbers, neg/zero exponents Surface areas of right solids (44% :huh: )

yes she does all 30 problems every lesson, one full lesson a day. Her overall average is an 84.