What is a fun activity/game a small group of friends (6 moms aged 33-41) can do at my house Friday night? We'll be together about 4 hours or so. I need two ideas: 1. One activity that's just plain fun during which we don't talk about what's on our minds (i.e. a great board game that makes you laugh.....that "Cards for Humanity" looked cool but too nasty/inappropriate; wish there was a cleaned-up game that was similiar) 2. One activity we can do WHILE we talk deeply/think (a relatively mindless game/activity). Any suggestions? Thanks!

Is it designed to be used daily (Mon - Friday) or 4 lessons or week? I found a chart online that said Math 3 has 140 lesson, 5/4 has 120, and 6/5 has 120 but I'm curious how the is designed to be implemented.

BTDT. I noticed the exact same sort of mess with my son at 9. I really think it was the budding testicular output (testosterone) starting to do it's THANG. Here's what helped. 1.) drastically reduced screen time and he was allowed none until at the end of day when all school/chores done 2.) I made him write lines when he kept doing behaviors we had hashed and rehashed ("I will not interrupt mom when she's talking."; "I will not talk about bodily functions unless necessary and in private", etc.) 3.) I checked out (from library) a great book called Have a New Kid by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman which was helpful. Leman has written another good one called PLANET MIDDLE SCHOOL about pre-teen years. 4.) One day after a particularly trying day, I called my husband very upset about our "new" (unimproved) son and vented about the behaviors. Without my asking him to do so, his Dad left work (a BIGGIE!!!) to come home to deal with it. When my husband told him why he was home, he realized he had messed up big time and had crossed some MAJOR boundaries. Among other things in that lengthy discussion, my husband said, "From now on, I've asked your mother to call me if she notes any more of this defiance -- whether it's about chores, school, screen-time, whatever --- and if I hear that you're continuing to defy her, then I promise you that I'm going to come home and take that Wii-U (gaming console)that WE bought, and I'm going to throw it in the pond and another one will not be purchased.....This is your mother and my home and you are a guest here for another 9 years and if you think I'm going to have my wife, who risked her life to bring you into this world and who serves you and all of us selflessly every day -- if you think I'm going to let you make her miserable by your cocky attitude and disobedience, then you're mistaken. You're sleeping in a room that I've lent to you, in a bed I've paid for, with sheets and covers I've paid for, with air-conditioning I've paid for ------ if you're going to stay in my home, then you're going to treat this one (pointing to me) like a Queen, with dignity and respect, or you can use your allowance to purchase yourself a sleeping bag and you can sleep on the (screened) porch or out in my truck for as long as it takes for you to get your attitude under control......." Things made a big U turn after this talk. My son loves his Dad tremendously and has a great deal of respect for him, so Dad's input and backing me up on the rebellious behavior made a big difference in our family.

I appreciate all of your help! Thanks!

Thanks for this! I sure wish she'd back off and let the other lady(ladies) give it a go; her son's behavior has made more than one of us re-think joining. :-( Otherwise, she's been a wonderful Director.

Our CC group is six years old and we're large (maxed out). Our Director tutors the ABCdarians in Foundations and the older kids in Essentials. She has 4 kids (age 4, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 5th grade). Her oldest child (boy) is a holy terror and is quite a behavioral handful in class. My daughter is grade 4 so she's in the same Foundations class as he. He's such a bother that many of us wish his mother would be in the class with him. We have several competent moms who've put their names forward as being interested in tutoring (I'm not interested in tutoring) and I just don't get why they're not allowed/chosen to do so. One of them could really use the financial help that the tutoring money would provide and she was a former high school teacher (taught for 8 years before SAHM). For my part, I sure wish she'd be in the class with her disruptive son so the rest of us wouldn't have to deal with his behavior so much. The tutor has brought this to her attention many times. About four times this year, the tutor has had to stop and go GET her to deal with him. Ughhh. Is it normal for the Director to serve as both Director and tutor? This is the only CC community I know about, so just curious how it works in your area.

I'm hopping back on this forum (haven't posted in a long time) but since I'm a "Lumiac" (Lumia fan) I just wanna share! In case you don't already know this....Microsoft Lumia 950 is a new smartphone released by Microsoft this past November 2015. Microsoft recently bought Nokia (2014) thus these smartphones were formerly called Nokia Lumia smartphones. Of course I don't know what all Microsoft changed about them, but all I know is that they are even better than Nokia's product which was truly amazing in and of itself. Before becoming a "Lumiac", I had a Samsung Galaxy(for work use) for 2 years concomitantly with an iPhone 5s (for personal use) for a little over 2 years. After doing much research and at the encouragement from a very tech saavy friend who loved hers, I switched to the Nokia Lumia 1520 for my personal phone (and had to keep the Galaxy as work phone -- no choice of mine). I loved loved loved the Lumia 1520. Had my 1520 not gotten dropped in water by my child, I'd certainly still have it, but --- as it was ruined, I upgraded to the new 950 (I actually opted to buy mine from bhphotovideo -- and I have the larger version, the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL) which I love even more than the 1520 (didn't know that'd be possible as I SO loved it). I'll personally never go back to iPhones or Androids again. I don't know if AT&T and other carriers offer the 950XL yet (i think they do by now), but I know the 950 is offered at the stores. Here's a list of the carriers with whom it is compatible: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWork/northAmericaLinks.pdf Verizon offers only one Microsoft Lumia, the 735, which is nice, but it's not their big, new "flagship" beauty. It's nice, but it's likely not as nice as the larger competition. I don't know if they'll get the bigger "flagship" ones or not eventually. Back when I was deciding to switch to the Nokia Lumia I went to various websites that sold them (the major carriers and independent sites like bhphotovideo, amazon, etc.) and read the reviews and was struck at the majority of folks saying the were permanent converts. As for the app issue, it's quickly catching up. Last I heard....I think the Lumias have just over 600,000 available apps while iPhone/Androids have a little over 1 million. But, not IF but WHEN the public tries them more and they become as popular as the iPhone/Samsungs/etc. the app issue will become a non-issue. I've never had an app that I needed that I didn't have with my Windows (not that I can recall now anyway ------ oh yeah, didn't have weight watchers app). This website that may be useful in comparing them to iPhones: http://versus.com/en/microsoft-lumia-950-vs-apple-iphone-6s You can read the reviews on the 950 XL on the following link but there won't be many as bhphoto JUST started selling these VERY recently: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=microsoft+lumia+950+xl&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search= Another FABULOUS phone which I mentioned earlier is the Nokia Lumia 1520 (it's the predecessor of the 950, I'd imagine). (I'd encourage you to go to this link and read the reviews!... the 950 will have similar reviews ONE DAY but it's just so new on the market that there's not quite as many to read about it)....(they don't carry this anymore because Nokia is obsolete as Microsoft bought them but if you like this phone you can likely get it elsewhere/ebay/and maybe even from your carrier) http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1036818-REG/nokia_a00016720_lumia_1520_lte_phone_yellow.html#customerReview Here's the comparison of the Lumia 1520 to iPhone 6s: http://versus.com/en/nokia-lumia-1520-vs-apple-iphone-6s Another thing I loved is that there were significantly fewer ads on Windows. The interface is really easy to navigate. I got my elderly parents one to replace their iPhones and they both agree it's better/easier for them to use. Also, it has Windows 10 which is compatible with my personal computer. The camera is really nice (has leica lens). Now my hand hurts from typing all this! ha! Go for it. You can always return it if not a good fit for you.

Yes you're right! Thank you for pointing out this for me. I'm new to CC and misunderstood the rigor/high standard to earn this honor. They're allowed a few errors only in the proofing process but none on the final testing. I've edited my post to say this. Thanks again! I found this link also on the subject of MEMORY MASTER also should someone be interested: https://ccoalexandria.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/memorymasterguide1-7-14-jf3-final.pdf

I agree completely. Your group has an entire 25 minutes for art?!?!! seems like we get about 8 minutes! The in-class art time is nothing spectacular. The science MEMORIZATION component is reasonable and the Science incorporated in the History Cards (famous Scientists/Science memory cards) are REALLY good but the in-class science is certainly not the reason to join. One of our moms did lead about a 6 week ART focus/workshop which went from 11:00 to 12:00 (the last hour), and THAT was good and provided a good amount of time for art, but that was the extent of the art.

This was our first year in CC (Foundations). We joined CC CHIEFLY for the social aspect. We had been sold on the merits of classical conversations many years ago as newlyweds (in 1999), so we were doing Veritas Press (Classical Education based curricula) before we ever heard of CC. CC actually utilized Veritas materials before it developed its own. I was already convinced of the great value of memorization (the "Grammar" stage of the Trivium in Classical Ed) so CC didn't INITIATE this pursuit for us and thus I didn't need to join CC for this purpose. Do I think CC has good material? Mostly. For a child to learn all the material in CC, a kid would have to spend a few hours each week working to do so. Of course this varies per child, but -- for my son -- it has taken him about 2 hours/week (20 minutes/day) to be able to completely MASTER all of the material in CC. For those of you unfamiliar with CC...at the end of the year, kids are allowed (encouraged) to aim for the TITLE: "Memory Master". To obtain this goal/honor, the child has to be able to recite all the year's material quickly/fluently/flawlessly (no errors are permitted). It's a lot of work for both the mom and kid. The rigor of the process is excellent for any child. My son's having to devote himself to this goal and work at it diligently on a daily basis has been worth the money in and of itself IMO. But again, our chief NEED and interest in joining CC was for the socialization component. It has proven to be one of the best decisions we've made because both my son and I have met several "kindred spirits." I did not like giving up an entire day of our regular homeschool. On CC Day (Mondays), we leave our home by 8:30 to get to CC by 9:00, we have our lunch there and the kids who do not have to start Essentials at 1:00 go outside even after lunch and continue playing. We stay there and play until about 2:00 and sometimes a buddy will come over to our house from about 2:00 to 4:00 (remember that during CC class from 9:00 - Noon, the kids aren't supposed to be "socializing"; they supposed to be learning/focusing/being still/etc). Thus, CC is an entire day for us. So when we get through with the afternoon play date, we still have our main subjects to do which for us are Math, English and Piano. I do the other subjects (that we WOULD have done on Mondays in the past) on Saturdays. Thus Monday evenings we have about 2 hours of school (math, english, piano) and on Saturdays we have about 2 to 3 hours of school remaining to get all of our regular school done.

I looked up the Dictation by Day (I'm assuming the actual title is "Dictation Day by Day: A Modern Speller") on www.books.google.com and looked through it and I'm getting it. It looks really good. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm always looking for dictation/copywork ideas. Let's see if this link works (in case others want to peruse it): https://books.google.com/books?id=-s4AAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=dictation+day+by+day&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jc8EVaHSFo_HsQSmuoJ4&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=dictation%20day%20by%20day&f=false And here it is on amazon: (although the cover looks different than the one that was on books.google.com link) http://www.amazon.com/Dictation-Modern-Speller-Classic-Reprint/dp/B009ATAFCU and then there's also this one: http://www.amazon.com/Dictation-Day-Modern-Speller/dp/1146607547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426379732&sr=8-1&keywords=9781146607544

I'm just cutting and pasting what I wrote on an older thread as it's applicable here (I have same advice). I'd use Saxon Grammar and Writing!! Saxon Grammar and Writing (formerly called Hake Grammar and Writing) is fabulous. Easy to use and very thorough. You could start it in Grade 4 or 5. Check out the great reviews by users. You won't regret it! NOTE: A courteous word for the non-tech saavy folks like myself given in an effort to save you from having to type out the links below that aren't underlined. Some of these links below wouldn't underline thus you can't simply click on them to be taken to those reviews. For the ones that aren't underlined, here's how you paste the link into the browser box: 1. Simply take your cursor and highlight the entire link 2. While it's highlighted push Ctrl button AND the letter C at the same time; this COPIES it. 3. Next, take your cursor and click in the address box and paste it in. How do you paste? Once in the browser box, hold down the Ctrl button and the letter P at the same time. This pastes it. 4. Once you see the link in the box, press enter and it'll take you there. :-) LINKS TO THE REVIEWS ABOUT SAXON GRAMMAR AND WRITING: www.cathyduffyreviews.com/grammar-composition/saxon-grammar-writing.htm www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/021990 www.amazon.com/Saxon-Grammar-Writing-Complete-Homeschool/dp/1419098365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425177777&sr=8-1&keywords=saxon+grammar http://www.theoldsch...eviews/3685.php www.homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/curriculum/reviews.aspx?id=534 http://www.christian...98369/pd/998369 http://vahomeschoole.../saxon-grammar/ There are two editions of Saxon Grammar and Writing. In the 1st editions, there is no course for Grade 4 thus they offer the course for Grades 5 to 8. In the 2nd edition, they add the course for Grade 4 and thus offer Grades 4-8. The 2nd edition of the program has been revised and updated to meet Common Core Standards for Language and Writing which, according to the publisher, means they added additional writing assignments. I suggest using all three books but here are the prices from www.rainbowresource.com (as of Spring 2015) of the kit and the individual components making up the kit: Each Homeschool Kit (which includes the textbook, workbook and teacher packet): $57.95 Each Textbook $30.95 Each Workbook $11.25 Each Teacher Packet $20.95 Rainbow Resource (www.rainbowresource.com) offers both editions of each level (but only offers the 2nd edition of Grade 4 as there isn't a 1st edition of Grade 4).

We used it and I concur that, of all the things we've ever used, this is BY FAR the curriculum I most recommend to others. Produces superior readers (and spellers). My friend's daughter has been asked to repeat Grade 2; I assessed her and realized she needs phonics help. Her mom has bought this (all 3 levels: K, 1, 2) for her to start on to heal the mess she's in and I know it'll work (she's going to repeat 2nd grade, but the plan is for her to work through all three levels by end of 2nd grade next Spring 2016) and she'll be completely ready to move on from now on. Love it love it love it.

MCT users, about how long does it take to do MCT each day in level 1?

While I did delay starting MATH in any official capacity until age 8, let me say that I DO NOT recommend delaying math fact memorization until age 8. Kids memorize best at the earlier ages (not that they don't at age 8 also), but I'd definitely do flashcards/math memory songs earlier than age 8. And I'd have them WRITE numbers before age 8.