I would share the minimum amount of information required to get what you need for your son; I agree with your DH on that account and would not turn over anything not absolutely required or necessary. Not just for school, but for camps and other extracurricular programs, as well. Once in the school's hands, you have minimal control over the privacy of his medical information and where it eventually winds up (potentially in the hands of a prospective employer if it follows him through far enough). The school can also use that information if they deem your family needs to be paid a visit with CPS, or to deny him opportunities. People judge, so don't put that burden upon you or your family. Solve your issues within your family and without outsiders accessing personal information would always be my first choice.

He needs to stiffen his spine and ask straight up. How about this: "Hey, Mr. X, I meant to ask you this before, but I keep forgetting. Is this job intended to be an unpaid internship or paid work? If it's paid, what is my rate of pay and when is payday?"

No advice other than what you have already been given, but take comfort in the fact that the naked phase usually doesn't last that long!

Let me start off by saying I am no English teacher; I find English the most difficult subject to teach and get a handle on. That said, I've done OK with the Rod and Staff English book series because they are idiot proof, and our literature study has been OK because I've found some excellent online resources and Spark notes is wonderful. Writing is another story - I feel I have been spinning my wheels with writing since DD has come to homeschool and she needs something more coherent than I have been giving her. Some background: DD came to homeschool after 5th grade public school. She came out of public school knowing how to write a basic, formulaic 5-paragraph essay, but I am not exactly sure how well she was writing post-5th grade. I know her grammar, spelling, and punctuation needed intense work, which we have been satisfactorily addressing. She seems to have the basic idea of an essay down, knows what a thesis statement is, and understands the need for an introductory paragraph, body, and conclusion. Beyond those basics, I'm not sure. In the past, we have used: 1) Writing With Skill I (loved it and we are continuing with WWS II this upcoming year), 2) MCT Essay Voyage (hated the writing component because it did not have enough direct instruction on format and dropped it quickly), 3) WriteShop I (It was OK, but I she didn't like it and I wasn't sure it was giving her enough essay instruction so we dropped it), and 4) The Lively Art of Writing (It's an effective program, but was far more than I wanted and we got deep into the weeds really quick and we abandoned it). What the heck should I do?!?!? I feel like I am wasting time spinning our wheels with writing and curriculum-hopping. I am looking for a program that teaches basic essay writing, with an option to add in more detailed lessons and learn to finesse the essay as she gets older. I need something idiot-proof, so I can't even hope to "just write across the curriculum" or "throw together my own program"; not gonna happen. I want to make sure she is solid on essay writing and then incrementally learn more tricks of the trade as she gets older. I mentioned that we both liked WWS I and were continuing with WWS II this year. I liked how it taught her how to outline, how to merge notes, how to use quotes. We loved it, but I can't "see" where it's going and what the end game is going to be. Maybe that's all the curriculum we need? Can anyone suggest a basic essay writing program that builds incrementally, that even *I* can't screw up, and that isn't terribly time-consuming?

We used the poetry guide this year with DS; we have the student and teacher versions of "Poetry for the Grammar Stage". We love the poetry books and guides; they are much deeper than the literature guides, which I do not like. The poetry book we have covers 3rd through 6th grade, so it is not intended to be completed in one year, or even in two. It starts out with simple poetry, suitable for 3rd graders. Even if you start after 3rd grade, it is a good idea to start with these simple poems, because some of the poetry exercises can be challenging and you get to ramp-up gently by starting with simple poetry. I find the exercises and questions associated with each poem to be appropriately challenging, not too simple and not so difficult as to be un-doable. The teacher guide is a must for me, because I am not an English-major type and know little about poetry. But these guides make it easy to teach. In fact, I've bought the older student's set for middle school DD and I to work through. I highly recommend them!

My cat hit the emergency vet a few weeks ago with an overnight stay, and it was about $700, only to find it was nothing horribly wrong. Ugh. In your dog's case, if he's showing no other symptoms than light sensitivity, I'd hold him indoors in a dim area of the house, take him for walks in the evening and before the sun gets really bright, and hold on for the regular vet. ETA: Oops! Saw your update after I posted. Glad the vet doesn't think it's an emergency.

XRay tech, dental hygienist, phlebotomist, heart catheterization tech.

Tell the new ortho that you cannot afford additional treatment beyond that which you have already planned for and ask for a referral to an ortho at your new location that uses the brackets your DD already has on her teeth.

Looks like I am the only butter pecan freak out here.

Birds singing and a quiet ceiling fan; nothing else. :)

I didn't start Latin until 6th grade with DD, when she was 10 (she is somewhat young for grade level). We have been at it two years. Prior to that (beginning in early elementary), she was taking a conversational French course once per week. She started formal French study last year, a year after we began Latin. So far, so good. She seems to enjoy languages and has an affinity for them also. Slightly off topic, but I bought McHenry's "Excavating English" as a fun aside for her to work on this coming year, and I was flipping through it and it is so fascinating and interesting. I only mention it because you said you were a linguist with a child who seems to grasp languages, and your child might enjoy it.

K-8: Catholic school about $10K/year Non-religious school about $11K - $13K/year High School: Catholic about $13.5K/year Non-religious school about $15K - $17K/year After a few years of homeschooling and having friends with children in these various schools, I am not convinced that $17K in tuition is buying their child a better education than I am providing at home. That was probably one of the biggest surprises I've been confronted with as I have been homeschooling.

Funny article!

That's wonderful! congratulations!

We started the kids small on chores, each got one job per month - say, one that taking out the garbage and one damp mopping the stairs. Then after a few months, we added a chore to each child. So we start small and build up. There really isn't any difficulty getting them to do the chores; they know if they're not done, they don't get to go outside, go into the pool, listen to the iPod, or do anything else they want to do until those chores are done.

I have never combined my students in science nor in history, because one is going into fifth grade the other is going into eighth grade and the three year swing in ability and expectations is quite large. The each just do their own thing. Work to get them independent and it is manageable.

My is DS is prone to swimmers ear. We use drying drops as a preventive, but once you have swimmers ear, drying eardrops are not going to get rid of it you; need to go to a doctor and get a prescription. If your current prescription is not working, you need to go back to the doctor for something else because the swimmers ear generally will not go away on its own. In other words, the drying drops won't hurt the year, but they're not going to get rid of the swimmers ear, either, once you've progressed to full-blown infection. ETA: I would go back to the doctor immediately. DS generally sees relief from swimmers ear with the prescription eardrops after one/two days.

Each city can set their own law on the matter; so I imagine some cities have a law and some don't.

That link was helpful, thanks!

I'll be adding a poll soon. This question was sparked by a thread on the General Education board where someone said Latin was not accepted as a language that met foreign language requirements for college admission. The few colleges I have looked at do accept it, but I was wondering if it is commonly accepted as meeting the foreign language requirement from high school to a 4 year college. So please answer the poll only if your child studied Latin as their only high school foreign language, and if they applied to a four-year college. I'd be interested in hearing which colleges accepted Latin, also, if you don't mind.

Hmmm, that's strange. The schools DD has mentioned all accept Latin as a foreign language. Maybe things have changed over the years.

DD went trick or treating last year at 12, at 13 this year, I am letting her decide what she wants to do. I think the law in our city says 12 though. DS is 10 and probably will trick or treat; he's a candy hound.

I would think part of those 2 credits (maybe 0.5 credit) could be a general health and nutrition course.

DD just started Algebra I and we have Art Reed's DVDs. DD prefers to self-teach or work it out with me, but when she does not an additional perspective/isn't getting a concept, the DVDs allow her to pick and choose what she wants to review with the DVD, and she can go back over it as many times as she needs.

I am teaching my kids Latin (and learning along with them) because I can teach the grammar from a book effectively for a few years before I have to outsource the translation. French, however, we outsource to a tutor. I have not found a well designed book that allows me to teach the grammar first for a few years before I need to outsource, so we outsourced from the get-go for French. I agree with you that expensive tutors or classes are the only way to do most foreign language effectively for most people. My kids learn Latin here as their foreign language for a whole bunch of reasons; the fact that the parent can effectively teach it with the excellent programs that are on the market is a big, fat bonus. You might want to consider Latin as your foreign language for that reason. If you want to keep the French, can you and a few other like-minded homeschoolers in your area band together for group tutoring, thus cutting the cost a bit for each of you? As one alternative, is there an Alliance Francaise near you? They usually have French I and conversational classes that are affordable, as do a few co-ops.? My own DD greatly enjoys Duolingo, but that is in addition to her French tutoring (which is killing me because of the expense, admittedly). I did find that Memoria Press has a curriculum called First Start French for middle schoolers (with a teacher manual and pronunciation CD) that may be a good starting point for you to teach them the grammar. The problem is, MP has no further program to continue it after you finish their First Start French I and II books.