Northwestern score reports for the Explore give more info than Duke's. Northwestern scores also qualify for their online classes (very pricey though). I'll likely have my son test with Duke in 7th because we're in that area and he can have a chance of qualifying for local/state awards. I can send a copy of scores to Northwestern and Johns Hopkins for online access to their classes which we may use some in high school.

If you haven't already, cross post on the hs and college board. Based on what I have read there, I plan to buy the blue book by the college board.

Agree with Jane. I used base 10 blocks with my son for long division. Day 1, we did the problems together with the blocks so he could see why we started from larger to smaller units (divide hundreds, break any leftovers into tens, divide them, break leftovers into ones, divide them, see remainder and state answer). After doing a couple of text examples, I'd have him do the division with blocks while I wrote the steps out. Then I'd have him write the steps after each step with the blocks. When I thought he understood what was going on, I let him try the work just with pencil & paper. When he got a problem wrong or got confused, I made him work it with the blocks. The hands-on really was useful. I also like doing math on completely UNLINED paper. I find I use more space for a problem and write more neatly on unlined paper. Notation matters and only gets more crucial as you progress in math. But definitely don't skip long division.

I heard "Enemies" from Amaryllis while driving my son to guitar lesson last year. I copied down part of the lyrics and then was able to find the song. I enjoy every song on that album. I typically have music on the iPad on random but listen to full albums when I'm at the computer. I've got Sound of Madness playing right now :) Linkin Park is dangerous for me because I had one of their CDs as the background music when I played Burnout (car "racing"/crashing XBox game). I noticed when I was driving around town and a song of theirs came on, I started speeding. Our library lets us download 5 songs per week. Dh grabs a number of albums and songs for us that way (some artists are available, many aren't). Just got Michael Franti & Spearhead albums that way (liked him from Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. My sister got my husband a Roots album as a Christmas present & I've been really enjoying them lately too. So mainly other people bring in new music and then I appropriate it for "new" stuff.

Obscure 80s videos can be fun. The co-op will hopefully be worth it. It's great that you're starting it. Welcome back!

Article that has good advice.... http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/07/opinion/la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407

I let my son use one for a number of word problems in IP and CWP. On the problems where I allow the calculator, I'm very particular about work being shown very clearly.

I'm sorry. Listen to what she wants. Offer to be an ear. If you're in the same town, babysit if needed for appointments, offer to bring food or be a companion. Give her space if that's what she needs to cope. Cancer really really sucks. Give yourself time and space to be angry and grieve as well. It's terribly unfair even if she's able to go to remission...and it's okay for you to be sad and angry and scared as well. (Hugs)

I just finished it. There's a line at the end...a quote...about being just a name. I really felt sorry for her and wish she could have remained anonymous for a while longer with this series. I thought the book was okay and had fun with it.

We didn't think it was a reaction. It presented so differently. We didn't know he was allergic to nuts. His first reaction was anaphylaxis. For dairy it was always hives and nose only.

CTY is Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. http://cty.jhu.edu/ The SCAT is their talent search test for 2-6th grade. It doesn't give much info...

My son's reaction to dairy was clear. He'd have hives and a runny nose...every time. His anaphylaxis to nuts was absolutely silent. The only thing was him telling us his throat was scratchy and he thought he was having a reaction. My husband questioned him and warned him that this wasn't something to joke around with. There were NO symptoms we could see. So don't get complacent. Allergies suck. We gave Benadryl, orapred, and were in the car to hang out outside the ER in case it was a reaction. I gave the Epi after he threw up. The hives finally appeared about 5 hours later and lasted 3 days. From the article I read, it sounded like this family did everything they could. The only thing I can take from it is never trust anyone. :(. And even then there are no guarantees. The research that's being done does give hope that there'll be treatment for food allergies in my son's life. I sure hope so.

Agree with regentrude. It also prevents someone from making changes as easily to my documents. I have a program that lets me print my files as PDFs. It works nicely.

I hadn't read that far in the email. I was looking at the new classics books by MCT. I really like RFWP materials, but I'm also really unhappy with their errata lists (namely, they don't keep them clear - and yes, I'm on their yahoo group and their boards). For me, that'd be a major disadvantage of a Latin program from them. But they do put out quality materials. I would be interested in seeing what it looks like.

That is lovely!

Nice! Sounds like some districts work better than others. I'm wondering if in a couple of years my son will run cross country with a high school. Glad it started off well!

:grouphug: Couple ideas... (1) I let my son use the calculator for many of the word problems in the "challenging" section. He has to show more work when using the calculator (set up must be correct and written out clearly). Then I'm focusing on him setting up the word problem and not on arithmetic. (2) By going back a couple levels, maybe skip the basic problems and just have her do the challenging ones. (3) Sometimes I'll require my son show a bar model for one of the three problems of the page. If he gets it right, no need to do bar models for the other problems, but I say I want to be sure he can demonstrate the set up to me. We did have some major battles over showing work and set up of problems. It was a long haul, but I think it's paid off. Good luck!!

There are some things that are streaming now on Netflix but not on prime. We've had prime for years for the shipping, so the videos are a nice bonus now. It will really depend on what you're looking for. I still see enough difference that if I could afford it and was using it for school I might try to keep both. I also don't like Netflix nearly as much :)

Every time in the past year I've ordered from amazon used sellers, the condition has not matched the condition they claimed. I'm frustrated.

My sister is one of those people who caught chicken pox twice as a child. She had mild cases both times. OTOH, I had it when I was 5. Looking at some old photos when I was in my 20s, I saw that one scar I have on my face is from the chicken pox then. I'd never put it together until seeing that picture. Right by my eye too....

If it's a potential problem with boys, wouldn't it still be a potential problem if it were just you and your dh?

A friend learned with YouTube videos recently. She also asked me a couple of questions as she was learning. I like this book for learning stitches. http://www.amazon.com/Easy---Crochet-Pattern-Stitches-Leisure/dp/1574866346/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375020314&sr=1-1&keywords=Crochet+afghan+63

I don't think you CAN give a correct answer to this one...it'll be a discussion question where you support your position and the justification is what's interesting. Of course, Abraham Lincoln is the correct answer to fight off vampires ;)

I think it'd be fine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slut-shaming I've heard it in other places before. The first time you encounter the term it may seem like a stretch, but then you do see it in practice in our society a lot. The emphasis on purity and watching women's attire but not men's...it's there. We have conversations about sex with our son. I've currently got a sexuality text and an anatomy text out in our school room for him to flip through if he wants based on our earlier discussion last week. We will be buying condoms so any mystery about them will be taken away. I prefer he wait until he's in a committed relationship to have sex, but I definitely want him using birth control, so having it available hopefully makes it more likely that it'll be used.