We do history aloud and also have a book we're reading together for school (sometimes alternating chapters) and a family read-aloud for before bed.

I'd also recommend the Intensive Practice books. They are a stretch. And the Challenging Word Problems. I think if my son only did the text & workbook, he'd find math very easy, but with the IP and CWP, he's challenged :)

The Homeschool program has the workbooks on CD. I'm not sure that they aren't included with the regular version though :) Homeschool also has a tracker that shows all students and where they are with the program and how long they've spent using the program.

One way is not to hold seminars/conventions there. SC was hurt some by the NAACP boycott due to us flying the Confederate Battle Flag over the State Capitol. I think the poor publicity did cut into some tourism as well. If you're boycotting the state, if you're choosing vendors for a product, you would simply exclude anyone located in the state you're boycotting. How much of a practical difference will it make? Probably not a whole lot, but it is a way for people and groups to state their strong disagreement with the AZ law.

If he hasn't already read it, I'd think Tom Sawyer would be one to be sure to hit. Treasure Island could be good as well.

I wouldn't recommend skipping any of the textbook or workbook. The HiG gives recommendation for when to do the mental math and I followed that relatively closely. I'd give ds the page and have him work the mental math sheet. Some went faster than others :) After he works the text and workbook, I have him do work from IP. I find those generally go better after completing the section. I have him do CWP at the same time as we move through the chapter - generally a page a day when we're on a topic that has a corresponding section in CWP. We also go by time for math rather than a certain amount of exercises. I toss in the Miquon as it fits in. For instance, the work with other bases dovetailed nicely with place value in 2A. I skip around through the books and don't use them in any sort of order - just a page as needed. The Extra Practice book did come in handy with the addition/subtraction drill. I used it through 2A and 2B and generally had my son do the problems in the EP book as a review once we finished up the chapter in the text/WB.

My level 1 came with 5 discs like this. Of course my son found them fun to play with and promptly lost one. :glare: Anything will work well for them, but these were what came with my version. I've been very happy with AAS!

I saw the original in the theater when I was 5. It was fine - and I'm VERY squeamish about movies. My son played Lego Star Wars a couple of times and then we let him watch the movies. He was fine with them, knowing the story, and I was surprised at how faithfully the game was made. (Of course, when I refer to the Star Wars movies, I'm talking about the original 3 (SW, Empire, Jedi) - I refuse to believe in the existence of the later 3. :D)

After a friend's death, her family set up a scholarship in her name at the college she attended. A scholarship at a school or at a program (provide funding at a special summer camp, boy scouts program, someplace else that was meaningful to them...). Donations could be made in Timothy's name to an organization that was special to him or to his family. Money can be given directly to the family (travel expenses, anything they find helpful). Those are the ideas I have.

I'm sorry for your loss. :grouphug:

We've had good luck using the Consumer Reports car issue to get information on what cars hold their value and are less likely to be lemons. The times my folks didn't use CR were the times they bought cars that were in bad shape. Get a mechanic to check out the car before you buy it. It costs a bit to get it looked over before buying, but it'll save you a lot of money in repairs!

Now that Netflix has streaming video through the Wii, that may be an easier way to go. You can count Wii Fit as exercise too :)

Absolutely 30 Rock! We were hesitant at first but we have had to pause it sometimes while watching due to laughing so hard.

It's not laugh-out-loud, but BBC's As Time Goes By (Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer) always cheers me up. Watching something slapstick with a child or a friend who laughs aloud will also get you laughing. We've shown our son the Pink Panther movies and listening to him laugh gets us going. Dh talks about seeing the third Austin Powers movie with a friend who laughed through the movie and made it hysterical for dh. Dodgeball can be fun (although scatological). Happy Gilmore is in the same vein (maybe made more fun by being forced to watch golf with my father a lot growing up). I enjoy Soapdish (Kevin Klein, Sally Field). Full Monty is good too. For websites, cakewrecks has had me rolling. She's got a book too. Weight Watchers recipe cards from the 70s. Dreadful! (Also made into a book.) I think "Fluffy Mackerel Pudding" is my favorite of the cards on the site.

No. I teach math at the community college. I was privileged to teach a student who was a retired history instructor (retired from high school). He was the last high school class to be drafted in WWII and told me some stories of his time overseas. He had never been good at math and had never enjoyed math. Senior citizens are able to take courses for free and he chose to come back and learn math. He worked hard, learned the material, and ended up working in the tutoring center. You need to meet people where they are - and they have to be willing to work. Sometimes that means they need to plug through the material and it's only later that they see the why. I think sometimes people just aren't ready for the understanding (despite explaining it since it's the easiest way to remember) and just need to work on the process and later understand why. I think working ahead yourself is a great idea. Get a tutor if needed (you can also look for tutors by checking at the tutorial center at a local college and try a couple until you find a good fit). I have encountered very few students in over 14 years of teaching math who I think can't do the math. I could probably count them on one hand. For the vast majority it IS just a matter of starting at the right place and doing "enough" work to learn the math. Unfortunately, very many people aren't willing to do "enough". But for those who are... they can go as far as they want. And I've been honored to help a few on their journey. (I had another student who was in class while her daughter was in the hospital giving birth. She had her phone and the hospital was across the street so she could get there quickly if needed - but she was going to use every opportunity to learn. She made it to her grandchild's birth :) )

It will be VERY easy to match up with the IP books. Generally it's easiest to do the topic in the text, then once it's done (or mostly done), go to the IP books for more review and more challenging problems. One other benefit to the Standards edition is that they have cumulative reviews at the end of each chapter. I think that helps with extra practice.

I'd suggest using their placement tests to be sure you're starting at the best level. I chose to use the Standards Edition rather than the US edition. The standards edition has some more material and is in a different order (slightly) than the US edition. Their FAQs may help with clear explanation of the differences (they have the scope & sequence further down the page). I like having the Home Instructor Guide. It has workbook and textbook answers (makes some days easier). It also has some extra practice problems in the back and gives some ideas for presenting the material. The Teacher's Guide is used more for classes and if you get the HiG, you definitely don't need the teacher's guide. You definitely need the textbook and workbook for the level. I use Intensive Practice for the books as well (although they're only available for the US edition, so we match up as best as we can). I like the iExcel books for teaching the model approach and they have some extra word problems, but that's likely overkill with everything else we're doing :) The Brain Maths books are just two books that have challenging math problems. I haven't used them yet and I don't know that we will. I'd recommend not getting them yet unless your kids like those challenge problems a lot (check the samples to see what they're like). So summary: Use practice tests to place in correct level. I'd go with Standards edition, but that's personal preference. You need the text and workbook. I like the Home Instructor's Guide, Challenging Word Problems (although I'm using the old versions), Intensive Practice. If you want to go overboard, iExcel. Brain Maths is something you can wait on unless it looks like your son will enjoy the problems.

We just finished A Hat Full of Sky as our family read-aloud, and we're now reading Tom Sawyer.

The Consumer Reports car issue also is very helpful with which cars/models are good to buy used and which are ones to avoid. We used it when buying all of our prior cars. And all our cars have been "beater" cars bought from individuals! Good luck with it!

I like the Standards Edition since it's got more topics :D (Everything in US - and more!)

We used the WeDo set for science this year. It worked well. Our son was rather frustrated with using it for "school" and not just for play, but I do think he learned a lot. It was definitely an easier set to start with than the Mindstorms (which we'll get later I imagine). The programming is really just drag and drop so it's very doable without typing ability. You don't get many Lego pieces, so the set felt very light when we first opened it up. There's a binder (that we didn't get until later - had to send an email about it but they were very good about sending it out) that has lesson plans and ideas for using the materials. That was very helpful and made the set much better for use. Pros for the set: it taught levers, gears, cams and how some mechanical systems work; it taught some basics of programming (loops); we got to make predictions and see what happens if things go wrong. Only real con was the price (and before I had the binder/teacher manual, I thought, "I spent how much on this?). I'm pleased with it overall. Here's a link to my blog with one of the projects.

Sounds like you're handling everything in the best way you can. Glad you found a way to feel good about educating your children at the same time. Hope things go smoother for your husband (& you!). :grouphug:

I like this. It's ever so tough to do... but it's a great reminder!

Have you tried here? Maybe PM the people who recommended it & see if they'll discuss it? Maybe have a social group for educational philosophy/reading... or see if there are people here who want to do a book club (maybe over the summer could work best). I don't think the issues you're mentioning are a reason not to homeschool. There's a quote that roughly says, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." We can't give our kids the perfect education, but we can give them a good enough education. (Now there are people who don't meet their children's needs for education and that's not good, but it sounds like your concern is not meeting the ideal.) :grouphug: It's great to consider these issues and really reflect on what we're doing for our children, but it can be pretty tough too. Hang in there and be sure you're looking at what's really there and not just an idealized education.

You may also feel better if you do things like setting up a book group (social group here?) for discussing some of the books you're reading. Having someone to wrestle through some of the ideas can be very helpful.