If you are looking at beach communities, you'll want to consider how different they will feel in winter. I would strongly suggest renting for a year if you can, wherever you end up, and take a good look at the villages and communities in the areas that interest you. We were very careful to not settle in a seasonal community and I'm very glad for that. Maine fills up with tourists from Memorial day to Labor day and is a different experience the rest of the year. I love the seasonal fluctuations, but I wouldn't want my town to be completely dictated by them, if that makes sense. Just a thought.

http://www.oceanpark.org/ http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Orchard_Beach,_Maine

Ocean Park is a separate community, but sometimes considered part of OOB. Biddeford Pool is more like a cottage community--I just didn't want you to see those homes on a real estate site and wonder why it seemed different from our descriptions of Biddeford. :) There are huge, miles long sandy beaches--especially just south of Portland (OOB is part of a 7 mile stretch of white sand) but also in the midcoast (Popham and Reid). We also have lots of wonderful rocky beaches and coves--a bit of everything, really. It's more rocky the more east you go up the coast. Check out pictures of OOB, Ogunquit or any southern beach and you'll see that they are fantastic for laying out on summer days. They get PACKED (by Maine standards, which is different from other east coast standards, mind you). I grew up in northern California where the water is truly cold, and find the water here wonderful for swimming. Ocean swim season for most people is July and August, but plenty of people are hardy enough to stretch it further. There is no shortage of boogie boarding, paddle boarding, swimming and surfing in southern Maine. Mainers love the water! And yep, lots of ponds (lakes) too--swimming, canoeing, kayaking...Sebego Lake is a big one, but I prefer smaller ponds.

Westbrook and especially Saco-Biddeford are former mill towns. They've never recovered and are pretty rough around the edges (Biddeford Pool is another matter altogether in case you are looking at real estate--very nice beach community). Falmouth, Yarmouth and Cumberland just north of Portland are all very nice communities, if somewhat lacking in distinct village feel. Yarmouth has some of the best schools in the state and many people move there specifically for them. To the south of Portland, Old Orchard Beach and Ocean Park are terrific, charming beach communities (I'm partial to Ocean Park, which is a bit separate from the boardwalk of OOB). All communities are small and if you want space and land, they are easily found within easy distance to Portland. Depending on where you are moving from, you may find real estate quite affordable. Heating costs are a real concern. Hats off to your DH for having it on his radar. Most homes are still on heating oil, which is expensive and generally inefficient. Some of Portland is serviced with natural gas, and new gas lines are being added in some outlying communities (Yarmouth for example, and Brunswick). It is fairly new to these communities and because of various issues, subject to price fluctuations for the time being (DH works in the energy field--ask me how I know!). Most everyone will agree that regardless of how you heat, have 2 sources if you can swing it--best if one is wood. We have oil (switching to natural gas ths fall thank goodness) and a pellet stove, plus a wood fireplace (I'm lobbying hard for an insert). A wood stove is highly recommended if you live rural. Air conditioning isn't needed. Mainers call AC windows. :). Honestly, we typically have one heat wave a year, when it might get to 90 for a couple of days. Typical summer days are in the 70s and low 80s and lows in the 50s and 60s. That's on the coast, mind you. A bit warmer if you go west. On hot days, just hit the beach. :) An all wheel drive car is fantastic ( I LOVE my Subaru) but not necessary. Don't go buying a new car just to move here. The roads here are really well taken care of in winter--I've lived in lots of northern states, and here they really know what they are doing. If you decide to live rural, however...see what a winter is like before you make a big purchase like that. While Subarus might be the unofficial state car, I assure you people drive plenty of non-AWD vehicles as well. :) If you need more specific info, just ask! :)

We live in southern midcoast Maine, just outside the Portland area. We LOVE it! Finding a good job is the number one hurdle to living in Maine (assuming you don't mind big winters), but it sounds like you might have that covered. Winter is a consideration, for sure. Many years there is measurable snow on the ground from November to late April. But there is so much to do year round, and it's breathtakingly beautiful in all seasons. Homeschooling is easy in Maine--just have any certified teacher review a portfolio (we do group reviews) or take a standardized yet. That's basically it. As homeschoolers, your kids have access to any classes or activities at the public schools, and lots of people take advantage of that option. So you can go just for math or art, say, or to participate in sports or drama. Homeschooling is very popular in the state, and we've never heard anything except positive comments. I don't know Portland proper well enough to recommend specific neighborhoods, but renting first is always a good idea. You'd be hard pressed to find cookie cutter neighborhoods anywhere in the state--don't be surprised if many houses are 100+ years old. Ours is 60 and considered new. :) It's definitely old housing stock almost everywhere. I'm sure there are some newer areas, but they are much less common and don't tend to look like the McMansion neighborhoods that plague so many of the country's suburbs. Like someone else mentioned, Mainers are a down to earth people. You aren't going to encounter much snootiness here. And the old idea that people from away aren't welcome certainly isn't a problem in Portland or along the coast. This is an outdoor loving state where most everyone pretty well lives in fleece and will always help others out. After 20 years of living around the country we found our greener grass in Maine, so I might be a bit biased. We love love love it here! :). Hope it works out for you!

I learned how to make it work for us. :) We used HO2Ancients last year, and realized pretty quickly what was busy work (definitions, timeline, etc), what was useless (KHE, history pockets), and what was useful (maps, outlining, sequence). We ditched the busy work and useless, switched from encyclopedia to textbook, and supplemented heavily with library books and other resources. Much better. :) This summer in preparation for Middle Ages, I aligned each lesson with the applicable pages in the textbook (standard Houghton Mifflin), plus made notes on appropriate pages for fun projects and other resources to use. So now it's entirely laid out for me, save for supplemental books we pick up at the library and the inevitable rabbit trails. Fwiw I think the historical fiction in Middle Ages looks much more interesting than Ancients. We skipped all of it last year (but found our own), but this years selection looks great. I'm enjoying pre-reading the books (for fun, plus I'm making vocabulary lists for a couple of them) and they seem very age appropriate (exciting and sometimes gruesome--hello Beowulf!), and definitely full of good talking points. Given the amount of work it took to tweak the program this year, I probably could have just made my own. But DS liked the format and I appreciate not having to do everything from scratch (which I did up until last year). The key for me is being flexible and realizing that I don't need to follow it exactly in order for it to still be worth it.

Last year I started my then 10yo on level 2. I explained to him that while he would already know the words, we would be concentrating on the RULES behind the words. That definitely helped ease the sting of it looking too simple. We got almost through level 5 in one year, and will be picking up where we left off. I expect to go much slower from here. I didn't find it that teacher intensive, honestly. But we adapted it to suit his needs--we didn't use the tiles, and we went through it at his pace. He actually got quite a bit of creative writing practice in as well, preferring to make up his own sentences instead of the "boring" ones provided in the book. So, it was limited dictation time as well; I would just choose a few words and he'd take it from there. It's definitely flexible, if you can get over the idea that you must follow a script. :)

DS read it when he was 9 I think. It's the only book he's ever read that he just hated, really loathed it. He understood it fine, just found it terribly dull. Honestly, I'd tend to agree that it's rather out of date and slow for modern kids. (ducking!)

My DS reacts to chlorine also. I give him unmedicated saline spray before and after going in the pool, and for some reason that keeps the irritation in his sinuses down. A sore throat could indicate extra sinus drip.

Fwiw, we used the old version of 5 and 6; DS will be starting algebra when we start back up. In retrospect, 6 was so similar to 5 that had I known, we would have used something different last year (like Jousting Armadillos). As it was, 6 was mostly repetitive--I can't imagine having a mathy kid do another full year of pre-A on top of it. But if your child needs more time, maybe go with the newer version. I think some concepts were pushed back to the following year in the CC aligned versions (so what's covered in old 5 is now in new 6--at least somewhat).

We found it really easy to accelerate. If she has the concept and computation down, just move on. We often did just a couple questions (the last ones in each section, so the hardest) per page. In retrospect, we could have skipped all of MM6 and quite a lot more, but my own math insecurity prevented that.

Fwiw, switching to mechanical pencils worked wonders for my boy with small motor issues. I don't press for perfect handwriting all the time. I do ask for it for spelling, but otherwise...well, writing is hard enough for him without that extra stressor. He CAN write nicely when it matters, so that's good enough for me. :)

August 18. Normally we start earlier but we have a few interruptions on the calendar, and that makes it too hard for us to find our groove. We tend to jump right in to the schedule, though I keep the days short while the weather is still nice and ps friends can play. DS is always eager to get back to schoolwork, but family likes to visit in early fall which makes it really hard for the first couple of months. I'm putting an end to that next year (we weren't consulted this year). I'm tired of being treated as though our work can be put on hold at the whims of everyone else.

I did county fairs when I was that age. Great exposure and experience. Our local library has a showcase for local artists, perhaps yours has something like that as well. Even if not, librarians tend to have their finger on the pulse of the community and can be an invaluable resource. Perhaps start at the teen desk. Coffee shops can be another great place for young people to showcase their art.

We used BBC's Dance Mat typing. Definitely silly and fun, yet effective. And free. :) http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

When we moved from a big city to a very small town when DS was 5, one of our first stops was the local library. I remember how heartbroken I felt when he walked in, looked both directions and asked, "Where is the rest?". The entire thing was a fraction of the size of just the childrens section of our awesome library we'd left behind. Yeah...that town was NOT a good fit for us! Now we are in a different small town in a different state and our library is amazing. We definitely have a new perspective!

It shouldn't make any difference. You'll just have to align each assignment to the applicable pages in the encyclopedia you do own. We gave up using the encyclopedia altogether in favor of a textbook, and we'll be doing the same this year. Combined with lots of supplementation--extra books, documentaries, projects and so on-- it should be a meaty enough year.

CPO has lots of free labs and information on their Middle School Earth Science web page. Look under Their Skills and Practice sheets and the Student Record sheets on the right hand side of the page. http://www.cposcience.com/home/ForStudents/MiddleSchoolEarthScience/tabid/246/Default.aspx

I'm finally sure--everything is ordered and (mostly) organized. Math: Jacobs Algebra L/A: AAS, review and complete 5, then 6 and possibly 7. Also, Evan Moor Grade 6 Grammar and Punctuation. History: History Odyssey 2 Medieval times, using a Houghton Miflin textbook as our spine Science: CPO Middle School Earth Science Spanish: Duolingo Programming Sports

We are using CPO Middle School Earth Science this year. The text combined with the "observations" (labs) on their website looks plenty meaty for my science-y 11yo. Of course I always tweak and supplement, but so far I think it looks like a thorough program.

Following...this is totally my 11yo DS too. I worry about it sometimes (ok, often), but we've always joked he's destined to be a theoretical scientist. Based on these responses and experiences, maybe we aren't far off and I should come to peace with it. :)

Lol! I've been thinking the same thing about my boy. But I've recently noticed that several boys on his track team wear their socks that way too. I assumed its a running thing. Female runners here wear them that way too --girls and women. But it looks less dorky on them. :)

My son is similar. He goes through long spells (like this entire summer so far) when he'd be perfectly content to sit on the couch or the deck and read all.day.long. He completed the library's 30 hour goal in a week. It's great in a way, but I totally understand that it can get in the way of real life sometimes too. He's another one that needs some movement and outside-his-brain-time to be balanced and sane. I do try to make sure he's out of bed at a reasonable time, although sometimes that means 10am. He often reads for a few hours before getting up. I try to keep him busy for the bulk of the mid day, to varying success. We live in a cold climate too so I understand what you mean about getting outside time in the precious few warm months. But I don't actively limit what or how much he reads, I just try to make sure he's aware of his--and our--other needs.

This is where I send everyone who asks: http://www.forthuntparent.com/academy/HTMLFrontPage.cfm?CFID=3015900&CFTOKEN=447f06f422ad1c17-1DEEEC19-AA68-098E-E120CC3810A4C5D4 The first HTML course is free. DS has completed that and CSS and is now working on JavaScript. I cannot say enough good things about the classes or the instructor.

Thanks, Krystan. This is very helpful! :)