I am assuming you'd block Cartoon Network due to your kids wanting to watch cartoons at night? We have the most basic package also, but of course it came with 3 mths of free HBO, Cinemax, STARZ, and Showtime that we could not opt out of. I found the parental controls though and have blocked R rated and above movies. If something comes on that is R, but not objectionable to my DH or I, then we can unblock it.

We have just moved into the 21st Century after not having Television for over 12 years. We live in the boonies so had to go with a dish, we chose Direct TV. OK, there are soooooooo many channels! The last time we had TV there were, maybe, 20 channels available with our cable company (we lived in the city) so I am absolutely CLUELESS what some of these channels are and what kind of programs they will air. I'm ok with most everything except nudity, sex, and shows with F-bombs. For example, we have previously rented from Netflix and enjoyed watching The Walking Dead, CSI, The Vampire Diaries, Criminal Minds, Haven, and the like. We would not watch things like True Blood or anything overtly sexual or foul. Any channels I should beware of?? That you would suggest blocking? I mean, I know my boys are older (oldest is living on his own) but it's still MY home and they ARE boys. 'Nuff said. ;) Thanks in advance!

The Elantra's est mpg is very seductive, as is the price and the Hyundai warranty. We are going to go to some dealers today and have a look-see at some models. I especially want to look at an Elantra. From the online pictures of the interior, it looks very hard-plasticky and cheap though, which is worisome. We live on a dirt road so I worry about cheap interior plastics that in time become very squeaky. What are your impressions of the Elantra vs the 2005 Camry interior? I've been very, very happy with my 05 Camry and wouldn't hesitate purchasing another except for the gas mileage. We really need something that actually gets in the mid to high 30's...not just estimated to get...which is what makes the Elantra so seductive. Ha! :)

Wow! That's excellent mileage. Was it a hybrid of some kind?

Our poor 2005 Camry was totaled and we now need to purchase another car. We really need one with a better mpg as my Camry only got 25 hwy. LOVED that car though. Anyhow, I am stumped on which of the above choices would be the best. My dh has an old 97 Honda Civic that is still running strong with 396,000 miles on it. It has NEVER needed any engine work. We have had other great Hondas in the past as well. But I hear Honda isn't what it once was. I think I would be happy with another Camry, but I like the new body style of the accord. Then there is the wonderful warranty on the Sonata!! And the amazing est 38 mpg of the Altima. Never having owned a Nissan or a Hyundai though, I'm a little frightened to go that route. Would love any thoughts, reviews, experiences you would care to share on any of the above cars. We need to decide soon.

Thank you all for your replies! I was able to get my son in the Honors English and Honors Biology. Yay! So now he's got to work his tush off to maintain a B or higher average because he'll get booted from either class if he dips down into a C grade. Eek. School begins in Sept! We'll see how he does. :)

As some of you already know my ds will be attending a private school this fall. We are currently working on his course schedule and cannot decide between Pre-AP English 10 or regular Eng 10. I'm afraid that if he doesn't take the Pre-AP class that he will not be prepared to take the AP class in 11th grade should he desire or choose too. He also has a choice between Honors Biology and regular Biology except they have him in Anatomy which I am thinking we need to change to Biology. Having never had a student in a regular high school I am paralyzed at what he should take, and having never gone to a regular school my ds is rather paralyzed too. Does it REALLY even matter to colleges if they take AP or Honors classes (unless of course they actually pass an AP exam, which I am finding is not as common as one would hope), or is their overall gpa what matters most. I mean if he takes an Honors class and gets C's, but takes the regular class and gets A's...wouldn't the regular class with the A's be better? Not saying he wouldn't get A's in the honor class, but just trying to work this all out in my pin head. I see the school counselor on Thursday so any advice would be appreciated.

At this point and time, unless something drastically changes, he will be a liberal arts major of some kind. He likes science, but it's not a passion. His passion is theatre arts....arg...which is why being in the drama club/class is so important to him. He also waffles back and forth about being a pastor some day. So, all that to say, engineering will NOT be something he pursues as he does not care at all for math, nor any science related field unless his personality/desires change. He's a social, communicative, relational based person. As for the labs. In the Anatomy class each student will be dissecting a cat. Which may be why biology is listed as a prereq. :confused:

Thanks for the bump. :001_smile: I guess I am just concerned long term. If, for instance, my ds cannot get into a biology class in either 11th or 12th grades due to schedule conflicts, what is a college going to think with this line up: Integrated Chemistry & Physics Anatomy Chemistry Physics or even this one which eliminates Physics: Integrated Chemistry & Physics Anatomy Chemistry AP Biology Which looks better to you? Is it uber important to colleges that a student to take Biology in high school...or is any life science OK, such as Anatomy? I've been googling my face off but can't seem to find any info that answers that question. :tongue_smilie: Or Physics...is it as important or more important as Biology? I know not every student can handle Physics though. My oldest ds could not, so he didn't take it. He didn't take Chemistry either! He has a slight LD though and had no intention of a 4 yr university. He went the cc route and has been just fine...even took and passed on Deans Honor Roll an intense 18 mth LVN course. So I KNOW if my youngest ds goes the cc route he'll be just fine. His brain works TO well sometimes! haha Anyhow, the social studies question isn't as worrisome to me. But I know how picky colleges can be. Not sure my ds will even attend a 4 yr right away...but I don't want to ruin any chances for him just in case., you know? (sigh) I'm surprised no one has voiced an opinion. Very un-HIVE-like! :lol:

OK, my ds is registered in a small private Christian high school for the fall (10th grade). There was a little issue with his classes due to us having homeschooled and doing things...well...out of order. Haha. So he wasn't getting any of the electives he wanted because of primary class conflict issues. Loooong story short we were able to clear his schedule for his Drama elective if he takes Anatomy instead of Biology, and Geography instead of World History. My ds would rather take Anatomy, but he really doesn't care one way or the other, and they said that his MFW AHL from last year will be listed as a WH credit on his transcript so it would be better for him to take Geography. So, my concerns are... Does one HAVE to take Biology in high school for a life science lab or would the harder Anatomy class offered be fine? (The Anatomy class actually has Biology as the prerequisite, but that didn't seem to be a concern to the school). He would then take Chemistry in 11th and Physics in 12th....or maybe Honors or AP Biology in 11th and Chemistry in 12th?? And is it OK for a high school student to not study modern 20th century World History? :confused: Yes, AHL will cover his WH credit, but it's only Ancient World History. Should I worry about that, or does it just not matter in the scheme of things? Is Geography more important? He has covered the middle ages, and plenty of ancient over the course of his schooling, but very, very little modern history. No doubt he'll cover that in college, but gosh... should I be concerned? Maybe I should get a bunch of WH Documentarys from Netflix and watch them over the summer. :lol: It's so hard to NOT think like/be a homeschooler. :tongue_smilie: (Taking deep breath) Someone walk me off this ledge...please? :blink:

:lol: We live on 2.5 acres and our labs have caught many rabbits...but won't eat them. :confused: They just toss them around and play with them. The occasional bird is quite nummy though. :D

Then why so much information online about dogs who have marked improvement on such a diet compared to kibble? Now this would definitely be easier on me but, as with us humans, wouldn't eating a whole foods meal prepared at home be better than ANYTHING processed? :confused: Is it the brn rice you object too? The dog food I have been feeding my dogs for-almost-ever...Kirkland brand...though not a top of the line premium food...keeps them very healthy with very shiny coats and it contains chicken, brown rice and veggies. We don't have vet bills. The only time my dogs have been to the vet was when one stepped on something metal and sliced open it's paw and needed stitches, or to be spayed and neutered, and for the very minimal vaccinations I allow. That's it. Healthy, happy, not at all overweight dogs...even my Beagle and they are notorious for weight issues (gosh, why am I thinking of switching up their meals again? :lol:). Anyhow, please don't take anything I've said as snarky, I am just trying to figure this all out. ;)

So, do you cook the rice and veggies and then just add in some ground raw meat? I can get ground beef and turkey relatively inexpensively. If only my son had saved instead of released the 40 trout he caught while fishing last week! I honestly never knew one could hand a dog a whole gutted nasty raw fish though. :confused: Also, I'm really not understanding how much to feed. So my beagle is 30 pounds, do I then give her approx 10 ounces of raw meat a day, or do I take some of that off due to the calories in the rice? From what I have read, the veggies are free calories and would not be counted in their daily allowance, correct? It's all somewhat confusing compared to just feeding a cup of kibble each meal. ;)

OK, I need a balanced perspective. I've been reading different dog forums and the RAW feeders are boisterous and adamant about raw foods only. Yeah, well, my dh is totally grossed out about that, and since he is not a dog lover he refuses to pay for all that raw meat, etc., when a perfectly good bag of dog food from Costco will only cost him $25 a month. So, is there a middle ground compromise somewhere? Like a cooked homemade dog food of chicken (or turkey, beef, etc), rice, and veggies while also supplementing with some raw meaty bones thrown in a few times a week? And maybe even a high quality kibble thrown in 1-2x a week to round out any missing nutrients? Though I am not at all opposed to eliminating the kibble. Anyhow, I would think anything would be preferable to an all kibble diet. :confused: Why do RAW advocates have an all or nothing attitude and then talk down to you like you're an idiot if you don't think it's feasible? :lol: I have always fed an all kibble diet to my dogs and all have been, and are, very healthy. So I am not sure why I feel the need to feed them healthier except that they LOVE people food. I decided to make some homemade dog food last night and OMGosh, they devoured it! (Cooked a whole chicken then in the broth I cooked brn rice, mixed veggies of broccoli, grn beans, peas, carrots and added in the shredded chicken along with the cooked liver and heart). With their kibble they just boringly eat out of necessity, but with the homemade they acted like they hadn't eaten in a month. Even my picky non-eater ate her bowl and licked out the other dog's bowls after they were done. Would love to find an affordable balance. Somehow. Comments, thoughts, ideas?

The lab DVD is just going to show the labs, nothing else. The $99 upgrade to DLO is an entire year of a teacher teaching your student Physical Science. Every day. It is definitely worth the $99. Definitely. And it includes all of the labs that are in the Lab DVD. I think the DLO is referring to the online BJU classes. Which are exactly the same as the DVD ones just delivered to your home in a different manner. ;)

Vocab curriculum has always been a struggle here. They are just so boring. All of them. :lol: Last year we used MFW AHL which had vocab assignments spattered throughout the year. That worked great, but during the down time I just had my ds pick four to five words a week from his Literature. I had a paper that I created and put in his notebook where he would write the word, it's definition, and a couple sentences using it in a variety of ways. I had to stay ON TOP of that kid though!! He would not bother to write down or look for words unless I was hounding him to do it. Needless to say, that set up was not ideal for us. I did not plan on revisiting that in 10th and had we not changed schooling courses I would be looking for a vocab curriculum right now as well. I can recommend Wordly Wise. It's boring as all get-out, but it gets the job done. Another I thought about using is BJU's Vocab. I have been impressed with a lot of their curriculum, so I imagine their vocab is pretty good. Having not seen or used it though, that is just my uneducated guess. There are also SAT vocab CDs one can purchase http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_17?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sat+vocabulary+cd&sprefix=SAT+Vocabulary+CD%2Caps%2C505 This route would be good for my youngest ds as his auditory memory is amazing. He's got entire dialogs and episodes of The Office, Napoleon Dynamite, and others memorized. Horrifying to say that least, but the kid can keep us entertained for hours. :lol:

I purchased this for my ds's 9th grade art credit. He found it very juvenile and couldn't take it seriously. I decided to add in the 9th grade Harmony Fine arts set which included the Sister Wendy and the Annotated Mona Lisa art books (which I am currently selling on the sale board :D). Those he didn't balk with, seemed to enjoy the visual aspect of Harmony, but he still did not care for God and the History of Art. Sooooo mid year I purchased How Great Thou Art (from same maker as God and the History of Art) and that went over MUCH better. It's definitely more age appropriate with some of the assignments actually challenging...in a high school kind of way. ;) So, all that to say, if your dd doesn't have a problem with the juvenile aspect of God and the History of Art, then great, go for it! But I would in no way count it high school level unless she is actually working harder than the book expects. She would need to do several lessons a day....because some of them take about 2 minutes to complete...or you will want to supplement with something more rigorous like Harmony's package. My opinion of course.

Our microwave died...again. I'm seriously rethinking the need of one. I was looking at this http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BOV800XL-1800-Watt-Convection-Toaster/dp/B001L5TVGW/ref=cm_cd_f_pb_t and it sounds lovely. But, it would take some adjustment to get used to not having a microwave. I mainly use it to reheat coffee, meals, soften butter, and defrost hamburger...none of which the Breville would do (except the reheating meals). Not sure I want another microwave, but not sure I want to pay $250 for a Breville either. Any thoughts? Pros and cons?

OK, it's now official. I was hired at the school for tuition credit, and my ds is fully enrolled. I have just posted my brand new set of MFW WHL if anyone is interested. More curriculum to follow... :sad:

Thanks everyone! It will be oddly strange to no longer be a "homeschooler". I knew this day was drawing near but I wasn't expecting it for three more years! It's hard to not be excited for my ds though, his enthusiasm is quite catching, but I have a feeling that when he starts school on Sept 4 I am going to be quite teary-eyed. :crying: Still, nothing is for sure yet. He has not yet been accepted into the school. He still has a one on one interview with the principal to attend, and I still need to be hired as a teacher aid for tuition credit. If either of those don't go through, then he will continue his education at home. As for my curriculum... I have soooooo much! Once we have some definite plans then I will begin making a nice for sale listing. ;)

I just filled out the paperwork to enroll my son in a small private Christian high school. :001_huh: It's a bittersweet feeling. DS is super excited. He knows many of the students who attend, and they have a drama club/class he can take every year for credit. The academics are high as well so he will be pushed to excel, and they offer dual enrollment courses through an online college as well as AP classes. Many good opportunities for him. Happy for him, kinda sad for me. I have really felt burnt out this past year and have, in my opinion, done a lousy job homeschooling though. I've discovered that he NEEDS to be accountable to someone besides me and he NEEDS to be pushed to excel by someone besides me. I noticed that when we had a writing tutor for a while. He did wonderful work for her, whereas with me he just does mediocre get-er-done work. It's frustrating. He has no motivation to excel here at home with just he and I. I've come to feel that I am hurting him by continuing to school him. ;( Anyhow, it's not a for sure thing until I find out if I can work at the school. They offer tuition credit jobs whereas I would basically work one day a week at $9 an hour but instead of getting paid money, I would get a reduced tuition each month. If I can pick up more hours then I get more off the tuition. We can't afford the tuition unless I get one of these positions...so it's all resting on that. ;) I already bought ALL of next years curriculum too!! So, since I have had it in my possession for a few months (brand spanking new) now I am going to to have to try and sell it instead of returning it. Arg. MFW World History anyone? Literary Lessons for Lord of the Rings anyone?

I'm looking at purchasing one of these apps for help in meal planning and grocery shopping. I believe that Menu Planner has the option of generating a grocery list for more than one store. For example, I purchase some items from Trader Joes, some from Costco, and some from a regular grocery store. I need an app that will let me generate three lists otherwise I might as well continue as I have been by manually writing out a list each week. What I don't know is if Mealboard will allow me to do that as well. I've read that Mealboard is easier to use, but if it doesn't have what I need, and all items are generated on one general store list, then it's useless to me. Can those of you who use either of these give me some insight into the pros and cons of each? I would be forever grateful for your help! :D If only they were free apps, or had trial periods where you could try them before you buy them. :tongue_smilie:

Sorry for the double post. My computer and the forum are not getting along today. :(

Yay! That sounds like a great plan. Don't you just love that feeling of 'peace'? :D

As much as I love MFW, I think if your kids want to learn together, then perhaps you should put them back together. SL Core 100 is wonderful. I would personally not consider for even a nano second of doing Core 400 though. Seriously. If you listen to nothing else I say, listen to this: Core 400 is awful and there are MUCH BETTER, MORE ENJOYABLE WAYS of getting a Government and American Lit credit. How about putting them both in the new Core 100, but add in some harder Lit selections with some lit guides for an American Lit credit for your oldest? (Forget about Core 400. Seriously! :lol:) Your younger can either go for an American Lit credit this year with your ds, or you can tackle hers later after ds has graduated. There is no right or wrong answer here. Both MFW and SL Core 100 are great choices. I would go with your kids choice on this one. Give them options and let them choose. Just don't give them option: Core 400! ;):lol: Then in 10th/12th, reevaluate. Perhaps they can do a Government program together, or be ready to tackle another year on their own. Crystal has some great ideas too!! Was just giving you another option. :001_smile: