During school time, my 13yo has to be in bed at 10:00, but during the summer she gets to decide when to go to bed. We do not allow electronics (computer, phone, etc.) after 9:00 though.

You can read the version by James Baldwin for free at mainlesson.com. Even if you want it in "real" book form, you can read part of it at mainlesson to decide if it is what you are looking for.

I have used Saxon with all 6 of my children since 1995 (well not 1-3 for the oldest two, it wasn't out yet). They have scored very high every year on their standardized tests and the olders have gone on to college math with no problems. This year, I did buy LoF for my oldest dd who HATES math and was taking 1 1/2 hours a day to do one problem set. She is doing LoF over the summer, loving it, and asking to do their Algebra I next year instead of Saxon. This is taking me WAY out of my comfort zone. I have never switched math programs before. I am thinking I will let her do the LoF and test her periodically with the tests from Saxon. If it doesn't work and her end of year test scores reflect that, then she will do Saxon Algebra I the next year. That is my plan right now, anyway. :001_smile:

We recently did the same thing, changing guardianship to our oldest son. When we had a discussion with him asking him about it, he was surprised we had waited that long to change it. I couldn't imagine them with anyone else. I agree with the other posters, you should talk to her about it. I think your paragraph to her is perfect.

Yes, it does. Things are "mostly" confined to the sunroom, but the microscope, maps on the wall, whiteboard, etc. would give us away. Also the amount of books and their titles if anyone cared to look.

:iagree: She is too old to throw temper tantrums, and I would let her know up front that kind of behavior would not be tolerated in my home. When you are away from home, you have to learn to go with the flow and not be rude to the people who are trying to feed you. My 13yo dd has a friend like this. She went on a weekend trip with us and informed us when we stopped for lunch that "she doesn't eat fast food." We let her know quickly that we had five kids to feed for a weekend, not much time to eat (running back and forth at a gymnastics meet) and she better find something on the menu to eat. She was here just this past weekend and informed my dd at breakfast, while we were all in a hurry to get ready for church, that she "doesn't eat cereal." I find that extremely rude in a child old enough to know better.

:iagree: I started reading The Medieval World a while back to preview for my ds for next year. It is just too much, too heavy feeling if you will, for us. He has quite a load next year with his Great Books study, so I am going to stick with our Western Civ. text and some Teaching Company dvds for history.

That is so sweet! My oldest son is getting married in August. I am gaining a beautiful new daughter too.

I usually schedule around 1 week for Thanksgiving, 3 weeks for C-mas (we have to visit family for a week), 1 week for spring break, and 1 week for a family vacation (usually in the fall). We start school the first week in August and usually end the end of May, making sure we get 36 weeks. If something unforeseen happens that we have to take more time, we just end our school year later than planned. This year I am having to start later because one son is coming home from Japan around the first of August and my oldest is getting married in August, so we'll probably go into June.

I haven't used it yet, so I can't help you there. I am going to give it a try for my high schooler next year. You can access it for free here: http://arlingtonlibrary.org/research/tellmemore.aspx

We are committed all the way through. I have graduated two and have four to go. We used the cc for dual enrollment the latter part of their high school years, and probably will for the others. The times I feel like giving up, I just take a deep breath, take a break, go for a walk, and start again the next day.

:grouphug: Kari, I am praying for you and your family and think of you so often.

Camping is a vacation for me because I really enjoy it. We usually take one "nice" vacation (think Disney or a cruise) and then camp several times a year. My dh and I try to go somewhere by ourselves for at least a few days once a year. This year things are tighter, so the "nice" one may not happen. I love camping.

This. We do visit family, who are all 500 miles away by design, twice a year. It is most definitely not our vacation.

Good. My dh and I ran into him and some of his friends a couple of years ago in a coffee shop in Aruba, and again the next day on the street. He seemed so arrogant, even in passing. He was loud and obnoxious. I wonder if he will end up confessing to things we don't even know about yet. Five years is a long time.

My 13yo dd is allowed to wear a skin or neutral color eye shadow and lip gloss. She will never need mascara because her lashes are so thick and long. When she is 15 or so I will let her wear more. She is very opinionated already about which make-up she likes, so I guess I will take her to the Mac counter. :001_smile:

I usually didn't have to ask the olders to teach the youngers. They would see mom was busy and ask a big brother. It has always been a sweet thing for me to watch an older teaching a younger (sometimes with a lot more patience than mom). My olders had no trouble getting their own work done. It usually was just a few minutes here and there and when they really needed quiet, uninterrupted time they would find another room to be in.

I did it with 6, although my youngest was 4 and not officially doing school when my oldest was a senior. It can be done. My bf has 10, 6 of which are school age and she homeschools. What helped me the most was to be really organized.

Two of my son's have their ears pierced and we are certainly not overly permissive. We are also perfectly comfortable "embracing" our authority. We haven't had one problem with rebellion, drugs, or anything else with our sons, despite their ears being pierced.

I am so sorry! I posted last October about my mil coming to stay for just a week; I can't imagine SIX weeks. I would make lots of plans to be busy, busy, busy after the 23rd. When my mil, who sounds a lot like yours from your posts, came to stay in October I broke out in hives for the first time in my life! I just learned she is coming to stay the week before my son's wedding in August, which will probably be my most stressful week of the year. My dh made sure that she isn't staying in our home. I think he wanted to make sure I wouldn't end up in jail and not be able to attend the wedding. :001_smile: Maybe I won't have hives in the wedding pictures.

We have used Progeny Press guides, and will use some next year for taking our time and studying certain books for a longer amount of time. I also use enotes.com because they have a HUGE selection of study guides that you can buy individually, or get all the guides you want for 50.00/year. I use enotes mainly for their critical essays and essay/discussion questions. I can find most any book we are reading at enotes.

This sounds just like my second ds. He always had to lead no matter what was going on, and he had issues controlling his anger. He would argue that the math answer book was wrong, because he KNEW he was right. He sometimes thought he knew more than his dad and I. This son is the reason we started homeschooling to begin with. They moved him to second grade from kindergarten because he was so advanced academically. He was tested after 2nd grade and scored 184 on an IQ test (I will never tell him this). The school board office told me they had nothing to offer him and SUGGESTED I homeschool him. Some things we did were to make a "self-control" card for him. He was rewarded/punished based on how the marks went every day. I also resorted to making him write sentences (he hated this) that said "I am wrong" in his best handwriting for arguing with me. Turned out, he learned to control himself and is now a Sgt. in the Marine Corp (he still likes to be the leader!).

I haven't used any co-op or online courses so far. The co-ops around here are very expensive. We make use of dual enrollment in the high school years though. My oldest had quite a few college credits by the time they graduated. My third son won't have as many because our state cut dual enrollment for everything except math and science classes, which he would not be ready for until 11th and 12th grade.

Thankfully, my dh is in business for himself so my 16yo has a ready-made summer job with his dad. I know that some of his friends are having a hard time finding jobs.

When my two oldest were small, one a baby and one a toddler, I was driving to my mom's a couple of hours away by myself. They were both SCREAMING and I was driving a little too fast. :001_smile: I got pulled and by the time the police officer came to my window, I was crying too. So this terrible noise of two little screaming and me crying came out of my car as I rolled the window down. He was SO nice. He told me that he had already started writing a ticket, so he had to finish it. Instead of writing it for speeding, he wrote it for me not having my registration with me (which I did). He told just to make a copy of it and mail it in. Then he helped me calm the children and told me to take a few deep breaths before he would let me leave. I guess police officers come in all kinds, just like the rest of the world. Thankfully, I got a nice one.