I thought at first Saxon moved on too fast before the concept was solid but that is where the spiral method ensures that it does become solidly mastered eventually. Half way through the book I saw the program as very successful in this. If you see the test schedule, you will see testing for a certain selection of lessons isn't until five or so lessons after the end of the section. Basically, give a child a few lessons to practice before deciding that the text isn't doing the job and extra practice is needed. We do not do the drills. Instead we supplement with conceptual math fact drill apps like Mt. Multiple, Llama Drama, Farm Factor and Dynamic Division. Saxon is not very conceptual but I rather use a fun app for this anyway. There are great apps like Dare to Share app by Think Group that can help conceptualize division of larger numbers. The greatest debate is probably whether or not to go slow and deep (conceptual math) or quick and efficient (algorithms). I think you can have both but apparently we haven't had a textbook to arrive at this conclusion. I will keep up with Saxon (until Algebra) and use apps to add more conceptual math knowledge.

Arnica...it puts neosporin to shame. Bruises disappear and cuts and burns heal faster than I thought possible. It also acts as a pain reliever and so, it's perfect for a sore muscle, arthritis and broken bones. It's a must have natural remedy for every clumsy home.

It's so weird to see so many people suffering from this. I have had them since I was a kid. I still have them. Last night in fact. I hate them. I thought I was alone in this for a long time. People just think your crazy when you try to explain it. My parents did. They say there is a strong correlation between sleep paralysis and social anxiety or some traumatic life event. I suffer from both. caffeine in the afternoon and evening and a poor sleep schedule will increase the episodes as well. I really must put away those chocolate chips. Spiritual warfare. Not everyone likes to go down that trail. However, historically that is how sleep paralysis has always been seen. I think Job 4 is very similar to sleep paralysis. I personally get a trembling feeling that is hard to describe because at the same time I do also feel paralyzed. 13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake . 15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up : Job 4:13-15 Sleep paralysis is tough, and sometimes I find myself affected by it for a few days. Sometimes, I am shaken but fine the next day. My DH lets me leave on the bathroom light for few days afterward. I have no shame in it. :) Hugs to us all. This is just the sufferings of this world. They don't define you or mean anything important.

I got lucky at used homeschool book sale I guess because I only paid twenty bucks for both the Jacobs Algebra and Mathematics human endeavor with teachers guide and student work books. I keep kicking myself for not picking up Jacobs geometry for ten bucks more. I would see if you have a used homeschool booksale. Ours comes at the end of the year and is put on by a local homeschool group. I buy ahead and I just waited till it was the end of the sale. By that time they just want to get rid of it. In my area they all seem to know Saxon so those go fast but no one apparently knows Jacob. Good luck.

I guess this is why there isn't an app with capitals pronounced. Everyone is scared of butchering another country's capital.

This one you don't need to download. http://www.link.cs.cmu.edu/link/submit-sentence-4.html

Looking for an app for iPad but andriod is fine too. We need an app with the capitals of all the countries pronounced. Honestly I can't correctly say them all. I have a child who has learned all the US states capitals, flags, shapes, and all the world capitals, flags and shapes. However, He can not pronounce the capitals of the world. He has taught himself by playing a variety of apps. I have yet to find an app that pronounces the capitals of the all the countries. I am sure I am just missing it. If you have a YouTube video with the capitals of the world pronounced, I will take that too. I searched there but I couldn't find one that was good. Thanks.

research triangle area of NC is probably your best bet. You have great university programs. Bilingual schools (Chinese and Spanish) and gifted schools. Great museums too. Plus you are just a few hours area from the beaches. There are great marine biology opportunities too from Duke to UNC at Chapel Hill and UNC at Wilmington. Carrboro is nice as well Cary. If I could go anywhere this is the area I where I would go. So many beautiful places to live all close to wonderful amenities for the gifted. My husband grew up in Chapel Hill. We will one day go back. If she just longs to live on the beach, Wilmington is lovely. I used to live there. It is not full of many gifted opportunities or amenities but if she wants to pursue marine biology, it is a nice spot. Good luck on your search.

If she really thinks she is worth more, then I would engage her and challenge her to do better instead of whine about it. There are plenty of "uneducated" and "unskilled" people making more than minimum wage. They just had the attitude to reach for what they wanted. Encourage her to make connections with people and find a mentor. Just because you are young doesn't mean you have to be satisfied with a movie theater job. There are opportunities and if you challenge her to engage her environment she will find something that she likes. She might even find peers that are better suited for her...ones with jobs.

I used food grade diatomaceous earth. It's cheap and safe. I left it overnight on the carpet and sofa and vacuumed first thing the next day. I also put it in the bedding area of the dog, but just during the day. I wouldnt leave that overnight in the dogs bed. While safe it will dry out the skin. It doesn't take much either. You are just sprinkling. It's very effective. http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Labratories-Diatomaceous-Powder-3-Pound/dp/B001THVH9G/ref=pd_ys_sf_s_rp_a1_2_p?ie=UTF8&refRID=1YB3V0W1BYA7C0HR7YWY

The series looks affordable. I like that the notebook is a free download. It says it's for all elementary students. I haven't seen inside the book though. Has anyone implemented it for 2nd or 3rd grade or do you find it mostly for 4th and 5th up? Thx

Princess Posey series is a nice beginner chapter book series for girls. My DS5 just gobbled them up. Little House on th Praire has a beginning chapter book series that my DS5 likes too. Both would be great as independent reads. Clementine series is a fun read too and would be great as a read aloud. I think Boxcar children is better read independently than as a read aloud IMHO. Keeker is a great beginner chapter series about a girl and her horse.

I have never used flea drops or flea baths. Diatomaceous earth works for me. I have never seen a flea in the 2.5 years I have had a dog. I don't know if it's because I live in an apartment or my dog is an inside dog. This is all I have ever used. I just sprinkle it on my carpet every few months and vacuum it up. http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Labratories-Diatomaceous-Powder-3-Pound/dp/B001THVH9G/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1412458885&sr=8-16&keywords=food+safe+diatomaceous+earth

Thanks. She literally just learned a cartwheel this past month and most times it's more like a round off. She just learned to bend backwards and so when she walked over from that position, I felt it was moving too fast. We aren't knowledgable about this, and I appreciate all the feed back. She isn't even doing a backwards roll yet. I hadn't really thought about boundaries until now. I usually have a hands off attitude about physical skills. If they can't do it, I don't offer assistance to help. I just think kids should develop and push boundaries on their own. This generally works fine but now all these advance skills she is seeing has her pushing a lot of boundaries. I wish they offer a parent orientation class to tell me these things before I had let my monster go wild. does having kids roll on their back over those cylinder things count as teaching a walkover? They also do warm up with bridges. They also have the elevated mats that they have the girls practice bending backwards from the standing position. None of the girls in her class can do it but my daughter surprised me by doing it after a couple of tries. I don't think she can do a handstand well now that I think about it. I think I am going to put the reins on her and talk to her coach more. I am so out of my element. The coach hasn't really said anything to me. We are just doing it for fun, so I haven't had anything to really say to the coach. We don't even have that kind of money to take this sport seriously. We get financial aid for her to go to the academy and she only goes for an hour one day a week. Are there resources that tell you how a child generally progresses or should progress? Thanks again.

My DD5 got invited into gymnastics academy at the Y this past month. Before that we maybe did 2 or 3 monthly classes here and there. Nothing consecutively. She is now tumbling around 24/7 since starting the academy. Today she taught herself to do a back walkover. We don't have a trampoline or anything like this. She is just doing this around the house. Mostly in the hallway. I was researching to find out if this is typical and stumbled on info that doing a back walkover is bad for her because of her age. What do you do to encourage her enthusiasm but also keep her safe?

You-Log Reading by Mark Butler https://appsto.re/us/7EtfV.i I like this one. It functions well.

This reminds me to take some cinnamon in the morning. It helps me a lot. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/12/30/255778250/cinnamon-can-help-lower-blood-sugar-but-one-variety-may-be-best Edit: It doesn't lower my blood sugar but regulates it. You may be spiking high and dropping low fast which is what was happening to me. To each his own. Always talk to a dr.

We are loving the iPad. It just makes learning that much more interesting. DS loves Saxon 5/4 and ipad apps like Dynamic Division, Llama Drama, Mt. multiple, Love2count2. Finally gave up and bought the WWE workbooks...life is so much better. Youngest DD is loving MM2 and iPad apps like montessori add/subtract large numbers, addimals and Squeebles. She can't wait to learn multiplication like her big brother. We all tolerate FLL. It's just a necessity in my eyes. I just focus on the end result. We don't hate but maybe just drag our feet a little. We are loving Lingo Spanish app and Arbordale's audio iBooks that are in Spanish and English. This makes science planning a breeze with their included activity guides. Love that I gave up homeschooling in the mornings. The day is more enjoyable.

Well, I am following a long lecture series on the book of Romans and it covers riches of God's grace in depth. The link is www.graceage.org Grace and peace

Yes, my DS10 already started seeing problems like that last year for state testing. The state had to get a waiver from the federal govt not to count the new testing against them. The teachers had no way of preparing the kids for the new testing as they didn't know what was going to be on the test. My DS10 went from above average to average results at the beginning of the year to below average results in the test. She was very confused because it cared more about explaining why and how she got her answer than the right answer. This year they are getting lots of practice explaining their answers. Plus, she does have to make sure that she has a conceptually and thorough understanding of what's going on verses just memorizing the algorithms to find the answer. I just don't know if that is too much to ask for or not. I am not an expert. I will say that some of the methods they are using to increase their conceptual understanding are not translating in to my DS being able to verbalize and write a coherent statement explaining her answer on paper. The weakness in writing is now showing up in her math. I don't have a real problem with common core as much as I have a problem with their new methods for teaching math to prepare them for the new tests. I don't like a ten step solution for a division problem that can be done in five. I hear that the SAT will be moving to this style of questioning and for my other children I homeschool, I worry that my current math textbooks will not prepare them adequately. It's something that is on my mind a lot.

Well, this is certainly true whether one wants to apply it to themselves (I am too poor to apply it to me in this context ;) ) or see it as it is called, a prophecy. That prophecy is often used on Mother's Day to celebrate the mom who doesn't exist and we then in turn are celebrated for something we are not. That is why I mention it. Of course there are some who think they are this woman. To this I say, if you are rich with nannies, butlers, servants and such, please send one my way. ;) Well, on a side note, I am sure my floors are less dirty than a dirt floor of those days. Hey, maybe dirt floors will come back in style soon. Then we can all relax. Then again, I am fond of my vacuum. I guess I will never be in style. (Bring on the wall art kids...maybe I should embrace it.) Lol. Cheer up OP. :)

Delegate, delegate. You have a houseful. I rearranged my kitchen so my five and six year old could load and unload the dishwasher. They have been doing it for a year. I don't fold or hang up anyone's laundry but my own and DH. My kids don't get free acess to all their toys and are grounded to what I put on the table until they can handle cleaning that up on their own. I never clean the kids' bathroom. They split that amongst themselves. My kids can't wait to get a hold of the vacuum one day. My DS6 has started making sandwiches on his own for his siblings for lunch, and I just take a deep breath and realize they know how to wipe the counters down. I also realize that I can hide the veggies in their smoothies and that my kids don't care for dinner so why kill myself. Frankly, I have had unapproved artwork on my walls for a couple of weeks because every time I do get out of the house I forget to pick up magic erasers. You better believe it that I won't be scrubbing off the artwork from my walls. I think the best moms are the moms who don't do it all. I mean really imagine if the husband was home with all the kids. Would he do it all or start training the minions? The ideal mom who does it all doesn't exists, but the mom who trains little people take over boring, tedious house work...yep, she exists. To all you moms who stand on the last chapter of Proverbs, that is a prophecy that know one but Israel in the future will understand. The person who wrote it didn't understand it, so please stop torturing yourself.

I will be honest. Amazon and google play are years behind Apple in the educational children app world. I have both as they were gifts from family. My oldest DD has the kindle and she is annoyed that all the good apps are on the iPad (edit). I would suggest instead of upgrading to a better kindle, just get the iPad and add the kindle app. The iPad minis are probably going to be as cheap as $199 if not less during the holiday shopping season due to Target and Best Buy already having them at that price for the school shopping season. As far as kindle apps, here is what my almost 11 year old has for educational apps. Dragonbox brainpop Stack the country President vs aliens Stack the states Pettsons inventions Tower math Factor samurai Stellarium Singapore math grade 5 Spelling city Abacus adventure Words with bees Civiballs Chicken coop fractions game Lego instructions I could name more for the iPad and all of these except for maybe one is on the iPad. We will be ditching the kindle competely this Christmas. HTH

I like this series. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Giants+of+science

Is this it? Timeline Maker by Dietmar Schwarz Webers https://appsto.re/us/UyCAF.i