Generally, I think it's rude. I have a child who gets very uncomfortable when people thank him (or compliment him, or basically pay any attention to him...), so we've had to work on saying "you're welcome" and not just looking away.

I was going to post the same thing regarding sports practices! Last year, Ds14's hockey coach had to hold a meeting with the parents to tell them that being grounded was not a good excuse for missing practice, and that he would have to start cutting players who continued to miss practice. He'd previously talked to the boys and basically told them to stop getting grounded, but in some cases the parents had unreasonable expectations and were setting their kids up to fail. Our kids have ever been grounded. None have any major behavioral issues, and a serious conversation seems to do the trick when little things come up.

Ds24 has backpacked in Europe twice within the last 5 years. According to him, Budapest is beautiful, cheap, and a hotspot for young backpackers. The first time he went to Europe, they had no plans to go to Budapest, but the kids in the hostels all raved about it and couldn't believe that anyone would spend more than a month in Europe and not see Budapest. Berlin is worth checking out, especially if he's into history at all. One of Ds's favorite things about Berlin was taking a bike tour that showed them all the historical sites, then going back and visiting the ones that seemed the most interesting. He also loved the museums he had a chance to visit, especially the Neues, Pergamon and Jewish Museums. He's not a partier, but he enjoyed hanging out in the biergartens.

I wish my kids would let me do this! They don't want me to "ruin" great novels by reading them aloud. :rolleyes:

My 14yo does not have Facebook and doesn't have any interest. He does have Instagram and Snapchat, but no Twitter. My 22 and 24yos have Facebook, but spend much less time on it now than they did in high school.

I have two kids in braces right now and two who had them a decade ago with a different orthodontist. In both cases, I've found the orthodontic assistants to be much more helpful than the orthodontist with the type of questions you have. In our experience, they know all the "tricks", have more time to chat and are much better with kids.

My older kids meet with Dh on the weekends to go over their assignments in the subjects he covers, but we've always done this, and my kids don't seem to mind. If for some reason they don't finish all their assigned work during the week, they do it on Saturday morning, which they do mind. It doesn't happen often, and I don't think 2-3 hours of homework some weekends is unreasonable at this age. I'm not sure that I'd want to make every single Saturday a "school day" though. Is there any way that he can finish his assignments while you're working? My middle schoolers don't typically finish their schoolwork until 3pm or a little later, and would definitely prefer working past 2pm on a Tuesday to working at all on Saturday.

I think you handled it beautifully. She's comfortable speaking about this type of thing with you and knows that you love and support her. One misworded sentence isn't going to change that. :grouphug: I was thinking the same thing, and I'm a little surprised that so many people see it this way. When my son told us he was bisexual, I don't think the idea that it could be a phase even entered my mind, and my friends and family thought it was his way of "testing the waters" before telling us he was gay. Maybe it's a gender thing?

My oldest son's math minor required Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations and 5 upper-division courses.

My 12yo has a friend named Cleo, and I actually really like it! She's tiny, blonde, spunky and athletic, and I think her name suits her perfectly. Her brothers' names are Jasper and Travis.

Science with our younger kids. Dh does a great job with the older ones, but we've already given up on two programs, so we'll just be reading for the rest of the year. My kids are a little relieved.

Dh loves his job, and the guys he works with are some of his best friends. His hours are fairly flexible, which also helps.

So far: Math: Finish up pre-algebra in the fall, then we'll choose between Jacobs and Dolciani for algebra English: Warriner's English Grammar and Composition 8 History: The Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation Times Literature: Haven't started working on this yet. Science: The New Way Things Work and whatever other physics Dh wants to throw at her for a semester, then she'll start Biology (Miller-Levine) Latin: Slowly starting Wheelock's French: Breaking the Barrier 2 / Bien Dit! 3

Today, I'm thinking: Math: Singapore 4 English: Junior Analytical Grammar English from the Roots Up (although I'm tempted to try Caesar's English) Spelling Wisdom Composition will depend on how the rest of this year goes... History: Story of the World 1, Augustus Caesar's World, The Story of the Greek People, The Story of the Roman People, etc. Literature: Aesop's Fables, Stories from the Classics, The Odyssey, Iliad and Aeneid for Boys and Girls, The Children's Plutarch, D'Aulaire's Greek Myths, My Book House, The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows, Black Beauty, Trumpet of the Swan, The Cricket in Times Square, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Peter Pan, The Neverending Story, The Borrowers, The Chronicles of Narnia Science: Mr. Q Earth Science + books Latin: Lively Latin 1

My 8th grader, who is a fairly strong reader, read Huck Finn just before Christmas and loved it. It's such a fun book that I would probably hold off for a year or two, or read it aloud. Our local high school has always assigned it in 10th grade, and it's always a favorite. Sounder is a good, quick read.

I've never regretted homeschooling. Our two oldest went back to public school for high school, and for a while I regretted sending Dd (Ds needed to go to school). She has no regrets about her education and was well-prepared for college and life, which is what matters most to me.

Dh took the older boys to his brother's house to watch the game and the little kids are at Grandma's for a sleepover, so Dd11 and I are enjoying the quiet!

I have 7 kids at home, and usually do less than what you've listed. The 5 loads of laundry, folding, putting clothes away, making beds, cooking dinner, paying bills, e-mailing and researching sound about right for our house. We also had two basketball games yesterday and one hockey practice today. Most weekends, we have a couple hockey games, and Saturday baseball clinics should be starting up within the next month. It's winter up here, but I usually pay Ds14 to mow the lawn, and he takes care of a lot of the other outside chores as well. Dog-walking is Ds9's job. Rug Doctoring, if we had carpet, would be Dh's.

Favorite author: Isaac Asimov Favorite food: Ketchup

I have a copy of the 1987 edition, but we haven't used it yet as Ds14 wanted to stick with Harold Jacobs for geometry. I really like how Jurgensen is organized, and I'm leaning toward using it with my next two kids, who should hit geometry around the same time. If you have any specific questions about this edition, just let me know.

Four days per week, Dd7 does: 2-3 sentences of copywork from something she's reading 1-2 oral narrations 1-2 pages of cursive (just started this after Christmas) 1 language lesson, which is often done orally, but sometimes includes writing a few short sentences

Hi everyone, I'm Catherine. My husband Mark and I have 9 children - 6 boys and 3 girls. Our two oldest are in college, and the younger kids range in age from 4 to 14. We've been homeschooling for about 15 years, but I'll be tackling high school for the first time this fall with Ds14. I've been reading the High School board here for months, so I thought I should go ahead and join in on the conversation. Looking forward to chatting with you all!

My husband is a big fan of his writing, but I have to admit I've only read about half of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Some of his works are available on Open Library.