What about a bracelet that is always on the right wrist? Or just an old hair scrunchie on the right wrist when she goes to these activities? It seems like that might help because she'll be able to feel it in addition to looking at it. She will get better and faster with it, using whatever mnemonic works for her (like the L for the left hand). What I think you need is a crutch to get her through until that time.

I think it's 18 steps. When we moved three years ago, we bought a house with a basement apartment for mom and dad. I chose other.

Only a Theory:Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Kenneth Miller is excellent and has more recent research than many of the other resources I found.

Thanks! I guess I should have specified that we will be covering history in three years instead of four, so I'm going a bit beyond the ancients this year.

I am tackling ancient history with my ninth grader. Though I'll have him actually read a couple, I'd like him to listen to much of the reading list on audiobook (we have an audible subscription). Has anyone come across great, well-narrated versions of Gilgamesh, Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf, or any others that would fit in the ancient history era? The one well-rated version of Gilgamesh has a warning of "not for kids or teens" in the reviews. Some reviewers consider the sex too much. Any chance that anyone here has heard it? I don't want to buy it and listen to determine if it's acceptable, but I know some people are way more sensitive than I am, so it would help to know exactly what the "offensive" scenes include.

Have you had someone check your A/C? New allergens can add to the ones you know about and overload your system. Sometimes the condensation pan or other parts near the coils of the A/C can get mold growing on them. Then the system blows that throughout the house. Also, changing your filters monthly can cut down on allergens spread through the house. Other things that I did include encasing the mattresses and pillows and buying air cleaners for the bedrooms. Of course, if you haven't already, having a full panel of allergy tests will tell you exactly what you need to avoid. (If you decide to go with shots, be sure to wait each time to make sure you don't have a reaction. Two months into my allergy shots, I had a full blown anaphylactic reaction fifteen minutes after the shot. If I hadn't still been at the infirmary, I wouldn't have made it.)

I did this for three years of elementary school. I would walk to the library every day and read for a couple of hours until my dad got off work and picked me up. I lived too close to qualify for a bus route (1.5 miles then), but then really too far for an elementary kid to walk every day. Even before then I was a regular at the library. My brother was in high school when I was born. When he went to the library to do research, he always took me along and plopped me down in the carrier while he studied. Same with my sisters when they could drive. They called me "The Library Baby" even when I was a teen. I guess it gave mom a break, and I was always good and quiet. In hindsight, I think I might have been sensory sensitive like ds. I was born into a noisy house with three teens. The library was blissfully quiet (and cold, because they had A/C and we didn't!)

We chose to learn Classical Latin. We are using Latin Alive. I'm not sure the ages of your kids, but I'm pretty sure Latin for Children is Classical, too. I think Ecclesiastical makes sense if you have a religious reason for learning it. And maybe for music? I think the Ecclesiastical pronunciations are used in singing (if you child is a music major, for example.) Neither of those applied to us. Ds is interested in Latin because of the science and word origin applications so we chose Classical.

I'm feeling right at home :D. I've just popped back to the forums because ds is just starting high school and we are using lots of WTM resources. It looks like I may have some kindred spirits here. We've been reading The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell (which, BTW, is an excellent text in many ways). I found one line on the acknowledgments page that made me smile: "[To] My mother, Susanne Fahringer, who, when I was twelve, understood somehow that Dungeons and Dragons was very, very important."

If they have somehow been misplaced ;), he can get back issues or pdfs of some at Paizo http://paizo.com/store/paizo/dungeon

I'm in GA, too. I placed an order at the conference July 29th and I got it last night.

Based on my personal experience, I would pick him up. My first camp experience was miserable and I was homesick. I had to stay the whole two weeks. I'm not sure if my parents would have picked me up as the camp never let me call home. I never went on another camp activity, just couldn't stand the thought of being trapped like that again.

My ds (almost 14) loves the role-playing games. He was 10 when he first heard about it, but I wasn't comfortable with him playing with a group so we just started playing at home. Dh and I both played a bit in college, but neither one of us got really into it. We played the 3.5 version of Dungeons and Dragons with ds for a while and then when it upgraded to version 4 rules, we switched over to Pathfinder from Paizo, the former publishers of Dragon Magazine. They just announced a beginner's kit that will be out in a couple of months that might be good place to start in RPGs. Since then ds has also met some homeschool friends who play, so he goes to a monthly D&D 4 game. And I DM a weekly Pathfinder game here. It's good to do something that doesn't involve computers these days. (We are all programmers, so we spend too much time staring at the screen as it is!)

I would get out now. I'm thinking it's only going to get worse. I sold about a year before my sis did. We took about a 40% hit on value...she about 70%. I would think that DR would agree that your family's safety has to balanced with a debt plan. Otherwise, he would suggest that we all live in homeless shelters or under a bridge until we got our debts paid off. It's hard to think about using money wisely when you are worrying about one of your family being caught in cross-fire. I don't think there is one right answer, you just have to look at the reality of the safety situation and your finances and make the best decision you can.

Absolutely, it is hard to fight that gut reaction, but if you haven't seen it first hand it may be hard to understand. I'm white, also, and grew up in a very segregated Southern town (and I'm not that old, just some places in the South are about 20 years behind the rest of the world). Though desegregation was law, that doesn't mean it happened everywhere in 1960-something. People just stayed in their comfort zone for a while. But at some point, people say "No more!" So what do I remember? The local swimming lake where we went every summer: The owners were told that by law they could not exclude blacks anymore so they shut the place down instead. A local restaurant that hosted the monthly meetings of those in white hoods was told they must serve everyone: Suddenly the place becomes decorated in historical paraphernalia (like the confederate flag) that makes it clear who is not welcome. A black family looks at a house in a white neighborhood: Several neighbors hoist their confederate flags or hang them on the mailbox to make it clear who is not wanted. (Cross-burning became a crime, but hanging a flag from history was OK.) Apparently from this list, it's not true everywhere, but in many small towns, the flag became the more subtle symbol of "whites only" when the law made them take down the actual signs. I still get that sick feeling and I don't patronize businesses that prominently display the flag. I just can't. I try not to pre-judge those who just paste it on the back of their pick-up truck, but I approach with caution. Maybe they just grew up in a different world than I did.

I don't think it's been mentioned in this thread, but the confederate flag was added as the main body of the Georgia flag in 1956 as the Georgia legislators' way of making a statement against desegregation. I think the hurt and discomfort that people feel is not because it was used as a symbol in the Civil War, but that much more recently (in 1950s and 1960s) it was used as a sign of racism (even by some governments.) I've lived around in GA for over 40 years. Racism is still alive and kicking here. And the confederate battle flag is a very common way to express that sentiment.

It was only about $25 new, but now that it is out of print, resellers are taking advantage. There is still an e-book version available but I'm not sure if it includes the CD-ROM files.

I buy from a local CSA program. You can see if there is one in your area here: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

I'm sure lots of people will have advice on specifics, but I wanted to make one comment. I've learned that it's really OK to enjoy something for a while and then let it fade. Some people's brains are just wired that way. They learn everything they want to know about something and then are ready to move on. I've even known very successful people who have completely changed careers every ten years or so when the brain became restless. A hobby isn't a failure if you enjoyed it while it lasted. (Think of it as signing yourself up for a series of mini-courses ;) )

Thinkwell's Geometry is new. It is about 90 lessons, so we are doing it in one semester. It's much cheaper when the homeschool buyer's co-op has a group buy.

That's what I would guess. Overall, the computation for the word problems ("Problem Solving") is simpler because they are testing problem solving ability. Most of the math for those problems can be done in the head. The Computation/Procedures problems include more difficult computations and more steps, so if they won't write it out, they tend to make careless errors. (Can you tell I have this problem, too?)

My son loved homophones around that age, too. Here's one book they might like: How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear? by Brian Clearly Something about his grammar books appealed to my son. Even though he was older when the above came out, he still enjoyed it.