What do I think of it being assigned in school? There are far richer books IMO for this. And just as personal opinion, I personally don't like how much violence there is ...and not only violence, but violence against children, by children. So for us it would open up discussion about that. We are probably in the minority about that, but I encourage the kids not to feed their minds with things that go in that direction.

For us, every family pays for their own most every time. There are occasions when extended family decides to take a family out for a special reason but it is an invitation and known ahead of time. For instance, DH just retired from the military and my brother's family and mom/dad said they wanted to take us out to celebrate. If there isn't an occasion and someone in the family suggests going out to eat just 'because', then everyone pays for their own family. Occasionally my parents have snatched up the bill at the end of a meal and said they wanted to treat us and they randomly do that to other family. But the unsaid 'way' around here is every family for themselves most all times. Growing up, as soon as I had a steady job, I paid for my own meals out when eating out with family. As did my siblings. If we all went out with my parents, even as teens, we paid our own bill. It was never a spoken thing, we all just started doing it. My parents still had times where they'd decide to take us all (or some..depending on who was around at the time) out and pay for it. So it fluctuated. I will probably pay for my kids' meals out on occasion, but they will also pay for their own when they can once they are working. I am so intrigued by the fact that this could be generational and that someone, older, would pay for our whole family's meal! lol If anything, here, (deep South..so maybe it's regional??) we would more likely pay for the older generations' meals. When all 4 of us siblings and their family are together with my parents, we usually split the tab for my parents' meal as well as leave the tip.

Luckily, this is me, too. HOwever, I started really getting a really nice glow and a nice rosy, healthy complexion when I eliminated most chemicals from my routine and went with coconut oil, castille soap and water and a moisture from a natural type company. I also added green drinks/smoothies. I had pretty nice skin before, but now I frequently get favorable comments about my skin.

Yes,...always. Which is odd to me. I get all nervous as I start to attempt it but always seem to do it correctly with no needed adjustments (pulling out, back in, pull up, then back, etc). I don't know how I do it. Every time I"m surprised. lol

I am VERY interested in this for my 12.5 yr old. I allowed him to choose his science this year and he choose computer science and i've been looking around for an affordable, yet high quality computer science course. I filled in the form to sign him up but I have a feeling they will reject him based on age. Here's hoping! Thank you!

i preview and choose what I want from this..print it and we go over it together. I don't consider all of it appropriate or relevant, but it's easy to print off only what I want. http://goodcharacter.com/MStopics.html

Thank you for suggesting I 're-frame' our situation. The bolded part helps me a lot. I just ordered what we need for Lial's Introductory Alg in hopes that this switch helps him. He hasn't gone far enough into his Saxon or LOF material for me to worry about switching him at this point. I'll try this out with the suggestion to stay around 90 minutes with him. He is solid at 90 minutes but done at 91 so I'm going to try to keep this pace up and just see where we end up and work on being ok with where it puts him. in ALL honesty, I am really happy with how solid he is in his math to this point. He just struggles with the spiral method. If mastery works much better for him, I can just imagine how much better he'd do. So here's hoping.......... If he is THIS solid at the END of Alg 1, I'll be ecstatic. So, yes, if it takes longer, it does. For DD, we'll just keep cranking out the Saxon Alg 1 (she's doing fine with spiral) until her other math shows up and we'll go from there. With her, I'm the one fretting. She is just ready to go, no matter what book it's in. How did I get such a great student as her? I sure don't deserve it..I was a horrible student who never cared about anything academically. She cares very much and is super diligent, logical, responsible totally for her own education. Eh...if she's ok with more Alg 1, then I am. Thanks for letting me talk it out. Thanks ladies. SO much.

Thank you, I'll look into Lial's. Yeah, TT might be out of range for me right now. Is Lial's not open and go? Guess I need to go ahead and look through threads here....

We are using Sax Alg 1, 3rd Edition. I can't remember if that edition is integrated? Their high school uses Larson Algebra 1. The counselor told me that students have done Saxon Alg 1 and then come to that high school tell her that Saxon is not nearly has hard as the Larson. I thought, GREAT! Mine feel pretty challenged with Saxon. I know that Alg 1 in 9th grade isn't the end of the world at all. I am just discouraged that I worked very hard to figure out math for them in their middle grades, math that fit them very well at the time, math that they progressed through and made them and me feel like they were on track, only to feel derailed because they might have to re-take a whole year of math that they worked very hard at the previous year. I don't think any of us want that for our high schoolers. But I do believe you do the best with the info you have at the time, so I guess I'm resigned to just do whatever we have to do. For DD it's too late to do too much about it, but I sure do want to take this year to help DS avoid a re-take. I just don't know how to do that. If we didn't have super difficult circumstances in our life and an impending move coming, I might feel more confident about just making sure DS plowed through Alg 1 in the next 360 days. But DH is jobless, we are essentially homeless...well, sort of..we are transients for an unspecified time and things are emotionally difficult on all of us daily. DS misses his friends we moved away from and some days he's too emotional to make sense of math. I'm just not sure he's is capable of it. Maybe with a different math curriculum? I wish I knew how to proceed in a way that would give him a quality year of math this year that didn't make him and me feel like this year was a waste of time bc he is retaking the math anyway. If that does happen, I guess my hope would be that they can quickly just move through the 9th grade Alg 1 course quickly just testing through most of it and slowing down just where necessary so that it doesn't take all year to repeat the subject. I will definitely have DD continue her math work until her new math comes. Thank you.

Both kids are scheduled for 1.5 hours of math a day. Yesterday DS went to 1.75 hours and only got 15 problems done It has taken him all of last year and the beginning of this year to get to that point. He is very good and understands quickly, he just isn't quick about working out the problems. Part of this is his handwriting. He started homeschooling with me last year and from the beginning I couldn't read a thing he wrote in math so he has had to slow down in his writing so that I can make sense if it. I make a point to very near to him the whole time he's doing math so I see what he's doing. There is some staring or drifting off, but not very much. He's just slow. I am so impressed when moms say that they use Saxon Alg 1/2 or Alg 1 in 1.5 hours including corrections. Even my DD who works pretty quickly can't do that sometimes. And now that she's toward the end of Alg 1, most days she only gets 20 to 25 problems of the 30 done and she is super diligent, making super grades, and is not a day dreamer. I believe in the effectiveness of the spiral and haven''t wanted to mess with it so if he worked hard and in 1.75 hours only did 15 problems that I can read, I would allow that. I would have him do the last 15 the next day. Hence the reason I don't believe he'll be done with Alg 1 in a year. It's taking him twice as long. I have posted here on the WTM forum before my doubts as to whether Saxon is a good fit for him. I have discussed the possibility of tweaking the way I have him go through a lesson in a way that shortens it for him because he doesn't have the stamina for that long of a lesson. At the end of about 1.5 hours he is fried....truly. It almost shortens his ability to do the rest of his school work because his brain is so tired he says. A time or two I have just told him to do anything with the current lesson plus the last 15 lessons or so. (we are using the 3rd edition that lists the lesson numbers). About every 5th or 6th lesson I have him do all 30, then he can go back to doing the problems within the 15 or 20 lessons he is in the next day. When he does LOF, he is working very quickly and scores very well. Last year he was trying to finish up Saxon Alg 1/2 when I introduced LOF Alg 1 just to see how it fit him. He did something like 75 pages in a few days and scored 90+ overall. I just don't know... this has become time sensitive for us and I don't know how to pay attention to all that's important and still meet the time limit. If we do all 30 problems every time, it will take him 2 days of lessons, therefore he will be in the Alg 1 book something like 1.5 yrs. He cannot push past 1.5 hours most days (yesterday's 1.75 was particularly impressive but he was super moody at the end and the last few problems were wrong and unreadable). I wouldn't mind moving him on to another Alg 1 curr to get it done but, which one? Would LOF Alg 1 suffice? Which other program? I wonder if LOF would give him enough to test out of Alg 1 in a year. The test is supposed to be real hard. Would maturity help him? super discouraged today :( Finding a good math fit is always my nemesis.

as far as skipping anything past lesson 100..we have never been able to get past lesson 100 in any saxon book at any time. At the beginning of each year, they start the next one with no apparent slump so I have just stopped hoping to go further. Even when they were in public school, never was there a year that the classrooms ever finished to the very end either. So I figured we were pretty par for the course. Seeing as how there was no issue when we went to the next book, I let it be. Something important about our situation that is going to mess with our pace is this: we just moved across the country (dh just retired from the military and we came back to our home state) but we are living in a camper on my parent's property until DH gets a job. We've been told the estimate in this area might be up to a year's time in transition. Once he gets a job, we are moving again, to the city his job is in. So, there is going to be a chunk of time where school will be on hold through another move. Also, DS is a really mathy kid, but he cannot finish 30 problems in one math lesson. A couple veteran home school moms have told me this might be due to lack of maturity at this point. So I've been lkeeping the pressure on, hopefully not too much, just hoping he will eventually get all 30 done. He's at around 20 right now. So the only way I could hope to get done in one year is to expect him to do around 1/2 the problems expected by Saxon's lessons. I have avoided doing that so far with either kid, but wonder if I should try it with DS, as long as he isn't having issues because of it. Just to get done on time. UG...I've so wanted to avoid paying attention to the TIME it takes v/s good solid math skills and retention, despite the time it might take. sigh....... Thanks for your suggestions :)

Posting here because it is affecting both kids...one is in 9th now, the other in 8th. I have 2 questions.... In middle school, I pulled their curriculum together, both did/will work through Alg 1 in 8th. DD14 was in 8th last year got about 65% through Saxon Alg 1 and finished the year with a 98% overall grade including exams. I allow both to go at their own pace and this is where it fell for her. Started this school year (9th) off trying to get the rest finished. Is now on lesson 70 (I only require them to go thru lesson 100). She is newly enrolled in a distance education high school. She hasn't received her math books yet but should by mid-Nov or so. There is another subject she is taking a final exam on and has 60 days to do so. She hasn't received that final exam yet but once she does, she will likely take the entire 60 days to complete the final and once it is graded, her normal work load will be released to her, including her math books. I'm frustrated that she will essentially have to re-take Alg 1, although if she had been completely finished by now, they *would* have given her a final exam to test her out of Alg 1 and would have allowed her to start Geometry in 9th. Since she isn't finished with Alg 1, she cannot take the final. wahhhhhh!! Question 1: Would you have her continue to work through her current Alg 1 work until her high school sends THEIR Alg 1 work around 3 months from now? Once she gets their Alg 1 work, she intends on just taking the tests in the first half of the book (if possible) until she recognizes the place in the book she needs to pick up as the book intends. Or, would you suggest that she takes a math break (although she took summer off and has essentially been on a math break since June) and then just picking up her high school's Alg 1 course when it arrives? Dh says let her take a break. I want her to be practiced up for when it comes! Either way, she will be re-taking a lot of this subject. ((sniffle)) DS12 just started 8th and Alg 1. Since I allow him to pick the pace I am unsure if he'll be finished with Alg 1 by next Fall, when I intend to enroll him in the same high school program. I am unsure how I want to proceed with his math this year. He could potentially be in the same position as DD next year when he starts high school. In that awkward in between place with math. Some options we've discussed is giving him LOF Alg 1 (which I do have here) 3 days a week and letting him go to Khan twice a week and work through Alg 1 work. We've also talked about him just doing Khank. To me,, for some reason, this feels like treading water. Even though he is picking up Alg 1 skills. He really needs to do some maturing, his hormones are taking him for a real ride, and I wonder if this is the year to worry more about emotional growth and maturity than giving him real challenging material. Saxon is real challenging for him, whereas LOF and Khan makes him feel like lite math (his words). He'd still be learning, but at a different pace/way than I ever intended. And I won't have to sweat it if he's not exactly where I think he should be in his math month to month because I know he'll be taking a full-on high school Alg 1 course next year. Or should I continue him with the Saxon Alg 1 material I intended for him to do and just deal with ...whatever ..position he is in next fall. Question 2: For him, what do you suggest he do for math this year in preparation for his 9th grade year? I REALLY, REALLY don't think he'll be finished with Saxon Alg 1 by this time next year. I feel like no matter what, for him, we are also looking at potentially 2 yrs of Alg 1. If that's the case, should I be content with 'math lite' this year and chalk it up to a year of treading a little water? Or try to get Saxon Alg 1 pushed through this year and see if he can take a final as he enters 9th to get the credit? One way seems relaxed and one way seems super intense. What do you think?!? Do you have any other suggestions for either kid?

Posting here because it is affecting both kids...one is in 9th now, the other in 8th. I have 2 questions.... In middle school, I pulled their curriculum together, both did/will work through Alg 1 in 8th. DD14 was in 8th last year got about 65% through Saxon Alg 1 and finished the year with a 98% overall grade including exams. I allow both to go at their own pace and this is where it fell for her. Started this school year (9th) off trying to get the rest finished. Is now on lesson 70 (I only require them to go thru lesson 100). She is newly enrolled in a distance education high school. She hasn't received her math books yet but should by mid-Nov or so. There is another subject she is taking a final exam on and has 60 days to do so. She hasn't received that final exam yet but once she does, she will likely take the entire 60 days to complete the final and once it is graded, her normal work load will be released to her, including her math books. I'm frustrated that she will essentially have to re-take Alg 1, although if she had been completely finished by now, they *would* have given her a final exam to test her out of Alg 1 and would have allowed her to start Geometry in 9th. Since she isn't finished with Alg 1, she cannot take the final. wahhhhhh!! Question 1: Would you have her continue to work through her current Alg 1 work until her high school sends THEIR Alg 1 work around 3 months from now? Once she gets their Alg 1 work, she intends on just taking the tests in the first half of the book (if possible) until she recognizes the place in the book she needs to pick up as the book intends. Or, would you suggest that she takes a math break (although she took summer off and has essentially been on a math break since June) and then just picking up her high school's Alg 1 course when it arrives? Dh says let her take a break. I want her to be practiced up for when it comes! Either way, she will be re-taking a lot of this subject. ((sniffle)) DS12 just started 8th and Alg 1. Since I allow him to pick the pace I am unsure if he'll be finished with Alg 1 by next Fall, when I intend to enroll him in the same high school program. I am unsure how I want to proceed with his math this year. He could potentially be in the same position as DD next year when he starts high school. In that awkward in between place with math. Some options we've discussed is giving him LOF Alg 1 (which I do have here) 3 days a week and letting him go to Khan twice a week and work through Alg 1 work. We've also talked about him just doing Khank. To me,, for some reason, this feels like treading water. Even though he is picking up Alg 1 skills. He really needs to do some maturing, his hormones are taking him for a real ride, and I wonder if this is the year to worry more about emotional growth and maturity than giving him real challenging material. Saxon is real challenging for him, whereas LOF and Khan makes him feel like lite math (his words). He'd still be learning, but at a different pace/way than I ever intended. And I won't have to sweat it if he's not exactly where I think he should be in his math month to month because I know he'll be taking a full-on high school Alg 1 course next year. Or should I continue him with the Saxon Alg 1 material I intended for him to do and just deal with ...whatever ..position he is in next fall. Question 2: For him, what do you suggest he do for math this year in preparation for his 9th grade year? I REALLY, REALLY don't think he'll be finished with Saxon Alg 1 by this time next year. I feel like no matter what, for him, we are also looking at potentially 2 yrs of Alg 1. If that's the case, should I be content with 'math lite' this year and chalk it up to a year of treading a little water? Or try to get Saxon Alg 1 pushed through this year and see if he can take a final as he enters 9th to get the credit? One way seems relaxed and one way seems super intense. What do you think?!? Do you have any other suggestions for either kid?

i was just thinking about this. im worried about....everything. we just moved across the country and, until dh finds a job, we are living in a camper on my parents' property. i didnt get as far as i wanted last year due to packing for the move, now our whole life is upside down and hoping we can keep our focus and deal with our emotions in a way that doesnt stop headway again. im trying hard to under schedule so that im not stressed but all it looks like to me, on paper, is another under achieving year.. :( Oh and music. im worried about the kids' music. Dd is a 2nd seat violist who played in an orchestra and ds plays the trumpet and was in a large brass band. there is nooooooo music suppport here of any kind. so that is completely on hold. we cant even find lessons within 60 miles. That further depresses the kids. we are trying to make the best of it all; I just have no idea how it's all going to affect our school year progression. One day at a time....

I also use the crockpot. Put a gallon of milk in a large one, turn on low for 3 hours. Turn if off, let it cool covered for 2.5 hrs. Put in 1/2 a cup of starter (I use Nancy's yogurt since it has the most strains of cultures I can find in my area). Stir real good, wrap with towel, let sit over night. I start the process around 5 pm so that it goes overnight nicely. by morning, I have a crockpot FULL of yogurt. It's runnier than I like so I do strain it in a cheese cloth a little for a greek yogurt consistency. I then simmer some frozen berries till they are a little thick, then I dissolve grass fed gelatin in the berries so that when it's cool, it's like the fruit on the bottom...a little firmer. But just a little. Put the berry mixture in the little yogurt jars i got with my pain the butt yogurt maker, top off with yogurt. Kids love them!

creme brulee! homemade vanilla pudding creme brulee! lol

I can't remember the price but redken makes a hair thickening lotion that I love.

We see him tomorrow so I'll ask. Could I get the name of that med?

My dd likes aeropostle flip flops. Last time we got some they were $5 and sometimes a sale will bring them to $3

Dust the dog and his area with diatomaceous earth (made from ground up fossils). It cuts into their exoskelton and they die. Be careful that the dog or human doesn't breath it in because its fine and airy but its actual pieces are sharp and will scratch airways. Google will help more with this.

Thank you... Now, she has never, ever had a headache with hers. Only a little dull ache or throbbing on one side after auras and numbing, tingles, right side usage issues. To this day she doesn't know what migraine 'pain' is. Her only symptoms are really weird things that I"ve never heard are associated with migraines but after much research and drs visits, I know now, definitely fit the profile.

Allow plenty of sleep for the hormonal fog that will (or already has) hit her from time to time. When the fog hits, know that she won't accomplish much that day. Don't over schedule or over plan. Truly allow her own pace, as long as she is diligently working. Make sure she sees her friends often. Try to have fun breaks and fun things incorporated sometimes. Make she sure EXERCISES. Even though mine fight it, when they are getting exercise, they are happier and more energetic in a happy way. Try to spend lots of time with her when you can. The following year or two will be an explosive year in growth (or, it usually is for most) and it will be fun to watch. Stay in the moment. Lots of hugs and kisses if they are welcomed. I pin mine down and give them sometimes anyway. LOL I brought both of mine home in 7th, one at a time. I wish someone would have told me these things.

In my other thread about silent migraines I say that DD was diagnosed last year with having 'silent' or complex migraines. She had one episode last year, then nothing again till 1.5 weeks ago. That one was particularly scary. So my question is...... is there anything that can be done to soothe, shorten or change the severity of an episode. This last time she started with blocked vision in one eye and a weird aura and 30 minutes later her hand and face lost function and feeling, including her speech and it went downhill from there. An hour later it was over and she was sleeping it off. Next time at the very first sign I would like to be able to try something to start the nerves/blood vessels calming down if I could. Chiropractor said the treatment should be the same as with some one who has the headache type of migraines with light sensitivity. .......... put her in a dark room, eyes closed, reduce all stimuli, etc. I know everyone and every episode is likely very different. But if you've been assisted by something, anything...can you share? We agree with the Dr. that with as infrequent as her episodes are, medication is likely not a good answer at all. But when something starts up, if I can, I'd like to help shorten things. I don't even know if that's possible.

She had one last year when they were doing all the tests, right before the official diagnosis. She had an EKG, an EEG and another similar test. All showed up fine at that time. I keep reading how closely seizure/stroke/migraine symptoms mimic each other. For now, all but migraine has been ruled out. She can....but the last episode (before this one) was last summer (2014). It's nearly impossible to track something once a year, I think. We have always tried to avoid MSG as a rule (other neurotoxins as well) so this will continue but with more intensity now. And, as of last year, she hadn't had a period but she's had 7 or 8 now with no migraine episode. This time, she was smack in the middle of a cycle..as in..she just finished her period 2 wks before the episode, so.....? Stress is HUGE HUGE HUGE right now but I can't remove that because we are moving and we are all struggling. Just trying to help her along with it. :( I keep trying to get info on who in our family has migraines. Her great-uncle has them sporadically and my MIL has had on a few in her lifetime. I guess that's enough to verify someone in the family has them. Theirs occur with the headaches.

What is TIA, again? I'll ask at her followup appt on Wed.