do you know what the big differences are between the home and school editions? do you get iseek and lexipedia with the home editions?

It seems like the teacher could have simply fetched the mom from the office and saved a world of trouble.

This is very tempting. Like you, I wasn't able to find many reviews at all. I know my dd would love the process of writing on the computer, and we'd probably get a lot more done than if I had to grade each report. Did you see that there is a product overview video? It relates to the school edition, but I'm sure the student page/process is very similar.

I think many kids at that age would be reluctant to be completely alone on a separate floor of the house. It just depends on their personality. Heck, my 7 yr old is sometimes hesitates to walk "all the way" down the hallway to her room if everyone else is in the front room. "All the way" is about ten feet, lol. Some kids are more vulnerable in this aspect than others. I remember my nephew for YEARS would not use the bathroom without pulling the shower curtain open (and this had to be done before he closed the door, no matter whose house he was at). So unless the fears start escalating in severity or spread to other areas, I wouldn't worry about it. I would be very zealous about what he watches on tv and what he reads (that same dd of mine was frightened by the Bailey School Kids books - - Werewolves Don't Hula Dance and the like). I would also try eliminating all screen time at least two hours before his bedtime. It makes some kids jittery, even if it's not scary movies.

It's better than nothing, but it won't enable emergency services to locate your family quickly. It also doesn't name anyone as an emergency contact or next-of-kin, so if your dh is not home at the time, it may be difficult for anyone else to get medical information (if you aren't awake to give permission). Why not just put the emergency info on a similar size piece of cardstock or index card? It should list another person in addition to your dh. Also, if you carry a cell phone, you can designate emergency contacts on it by putting the word ICE in front of the name (In Case of Emergency). My dh is ICE husband on my cell (I put husband instead of his name, so they know to call that one first), and a few additional people like my mom and sister. ICE should be used in addition to emergency ID, not instead of it.

If you go to the Growing with Grammar website, you can see the table of contents for Grade 4 and know if you are missing anything. She'd probably be fine with Grade 5 if she knows the very basics, like parts of speech. Depending on how strong her reading level is, you may need to work with her as opposed to having her do most of it independently.

I make 'chunky' chicken salad, like this recipe, with a creamy salad dressing. Usually poppy seed, but honey mustard or vidalia onion works as well. the only chicken salad I make with mayo is the kind you use the food processor for.

I'm going to use Art in Story: Teaching Art History to Elementary Children, which was recommended on this board. It's available at Amazon. It's divided into chapters that make it easy to correspond with history studies; some chronological, some by location. It appears very thorough - it starts with art in the ancient world, and ends with computer art! Some of the chronological chapters: Art in the Ancient World, Ancient Greek Art, Ancient Roman Art, Middle Ages, Renaissance, 20th & 21st centuries. Location chapters: China, Africa, Mexico, Americas. Other chapters: Five European Masters (specific artists), Impressionism and Post Impressionism, Computer Art. Each chapter has these lesson components: story, viewing the art, journal writing, art/drama activity. There are curriculum connections (connect the lesson to social studies, science, music or literature) and a resource list (adult and children books, a/v materials, web sites). It looks EXTREMELY thorough, lol. We haven't used it yet, but it looks easy enough to cherry pick the activities you wish to do. I'd say the story component is worth it even if you do none of the extra activities. It's $31.50 at Amazon, free shipping. I plan to make notes in my SOTW AG on when to refer to it.

We will be cycling through them again, with of course additional reading.

This type of carelessness is pretty common in the tween years. You might try giving her some motivation to pay attention - - even when home schoolers get grades, they aren't 'public' and it's a bit easier for hs kids to blow off careless mistakes. I generally do some variation of the following with my rising 5th grader: 94% or above on daily work, and I'll show you where your errors were; do that 4 days in a row and you can do math on the computer the 5th day (the carrot). Below 94% and you have to rework the missed problems. Below 90% or so, extra practice is needed! (the stick) It does wonders for her concentration :)

I'll play devil's advocate: I think a student in 8th grade should be using both strategies, not one or the other. Biographies are extremely valuable, and this is a worthwhile approach with a much younger child, but I'd say that an older student needs more of the bigger picture. At a bare minimum, I"d have her read the SOTW chapter (or similar) and do the mapwork. That can easily be accomplished in an hour or so per week, leaving quite a bit of time for reading biographies (and doing a certain amount of follow-up reports).

If you're big into the mental math, there is a lot of it in the HIG that isn't in the text/workbooks. I've had to look up solutions to word problems occasionally (level 5), so it's helpful for that. I like having the background info, although I find their explanations are rather wordy and often present the concept in a more complicated manner than needed.

My dd used it for the first time last year in 4th grade, and truly liked it, to the extent that she was often eager to get to grammar. Kids really seem to like this program for some reason. I find it thorough, with a nice clean layout. The consumable workbook is a plus for us, and yes, it is very independent. dd would only occasionally request help. I do plan to be on hand more this year for the diagramming sections, as that is what tripped her up most last year as more and more details were added. There were no real negatives for us. Some people wish it contained more writing (4th has a few paragraphs, a couple of letters and other things), but I like having the main writing component separate.

growing with grammar

:iagree: yep, what she said. I think that trying to have kids of disparate ages or abilities WORK together can do both of them a disservice. Mine are only two years apart, rising 3rd and 5th, and the oldest can do far more work, in more depth, than the youngest. It's not a whole lot more work for me as teacher, though, because most of the additional work the 5th grader will do on her own - - writing outlines and reports, extra reading, timeline, etc.

I know some people are comfortable ignoring this, but I never was. And I think any child old enough to use these phrases in context is old enough to learn NOT to use them. So I would not discipline a one-year-old who repeats the word idiot at random, but I would discipline a two-year-old who calls their sibling an idiot when annoyed. I"d start with consistently stopping her every single time she uses it, giving her a timeout or whatever method you use for other issues. Then I'd step it up a bit, giving her more of a 'fussing' when she does it. I'd have no problem saying, "We were going to go the park, but we can't go because you keep saying naughty words. You'll have to stay home from the park until you stop saying them." Repeat with ice cream, toy store, favorite tv show, etc. If the substitute phrases worked well for "shut up," use them here, too. "You can't call your brother names, but you can tell him that he's annoying you. You can't call him names, but you can say that he's making you mad. etc" I'd have pretty severe consquences for older kids who use this kind of language - - it's a big peeve of mine. Everyone should be treated with respect. Also, one instance from an older child will set the younger child way, way back.

Never try to get leaners to put an arm around you instead. That just tends to turn them into hangers instead, which is infinitely more uncomfortable. I just gently move them with no comment when I'm feeling patient, or snarl "Personal space, please! PER-SON-AL SPACE!" when I'm not.

I use Amazon as well. The buyer pays Amazon and Amazon pays you; my seller account is set up where they deposit my earnings directly into my checking account once a month. they do charge a fee (only when the book sells), but not having to deal with payment is usually worth it to me. I sell home school related stuff here, and everything else on amazon. abbeyj has a point about considering whether or not single selling is worth it, but it definitely CAN be worth your while. non-fiction sells better and at a higher price than fiction, so that's in your favor. if you use amazon, there are no worries about bad checks, etc. If I had to make a trip to my post office every time I sold a book, I probably wouldn't do it, but dh can weigh, package and buy postage at work.

worked for me!

I have written some, but not in the Austen fandom. I have a few plot bunnies I'm kicking around, though. It's quite fun; you should try it! The Austen fandom is very kind to new writers, and there tends to be lots of feedback.

Fangirl that I am, there are a few that I like. The Firthness site has a little bit of everything. It's divided into forums for discussing Jane Austen, her novels, the Regency era in general, and movies and sequels based on her novels. They have fan fic to read and a writer's corner you can go to for help if you write. As you can tell by the name, it originated after the Colin Firth movie: http://www.firthness.com/forums/ A Happier Alternative is set up much the same way: http://meryton.com/aha/index.php?act=idx As is Hyancith Gardens, but HG has more of an, ahem, adult slant: http://hyacinthgardens.com Click away! They're fun even if you don't waste entirely too much time reading fan fic. Not that I know anyone who does that.

Sure, I can email it to you as a Word document, does that work?

I don't even know how to do it, or the purpose of it?

from the Colin Firth P&P, right? I just had to ask if you hang out at any of the Jane Austen sites.

My kids have several (people just keep giving them to us!), and honestly, they've never used any of them very much. They aren't thorough enough to be that useful, imo. Funny dictionary story: the other day, dd7 asked dad what a certain word meant. He wasn't sure, and said, of course, "Let's look it up." Whereupon he walked toward the dictionary, and dd walked toward the computer!