I grew up in central SC in a house built in the 1920s, so no AC. We had window units in the living room, kitchen, and my parents' bedroom. In the summer, only the front two rooms would have the window unit on...doors closed. At night, you sweated...especially if you were afraid and needed to be hidden under covers. We did get ceiling fans when I was in 7th or 8th grade and that helped a lot. So I can handle heat pretty well at this point and wear sweaters when it's in the 70s often. Due to allergies here though, we CAN'T have windows open....as it is, according to the allergist, we should have the AC set lower than we do (typically 82). It drives me nuts in the spring and fall not to be able to get a breeze through the house, but we'd really pay for it with reactions and the need for medications :(

Replace. Appliances just are NOT being built to last. We just replaced our 7 yo dishwasher because it was apparently leaking through the motor. We're lucky there isn't water damage on the floor. We went with a relatively cheap model and figure we'll be replacing it in under a decade. I'd be happy to pay a lot more for something that would last.

I wear tennis shoes :)

None here.

Agree with Boscopup on the definition of best! We've used Singapore. US edition for Gr 1, then Standards for 2-5. We have always done the text, WB, using the Home Instructors Guide. We do all the problems from Challenging Word Problems - on level. We do most of Intensive Practice and have used the iExcel books (now being replaced by the Process Skills books). I'm still waiting to see my schedule for fall and whether I have any courses, but I've taught math at the community college ... starting year 15 in the fall. If I teach a beginning algebra course, I'll have my 6th grade son take it at home, but taught the way I teach on campus and with the same tests and the same requirements for grading. I think he's ready for it...and I'm curious how the challenge would be for him. So I'd definitely say Singapore is a solid mastery program, IME.

See... I'm absolutely terrified of hitting perimenopause at about the point ds hits teenage years. I think dh may move out to get away from both of us. I'm scared!!!!

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: It's hard!!! Hang tough!

And it is SO SO SO hard to do!!! Feel free to send me a PM when you REALLY REALLY WANT to tell her to do the project :) I'm also working at giving positive feedback afterwards, "I really am pleased that you did your guitar practice before dinner tonight." ;)

I'm working at not reminding my 10yo son about his guitar practice. I'm hoping that a crash and burn at being unprepared for lessons one day may be motivating. I've been pleasantly surprised at him picking up the pace. I think I've bit a hole in my tongue though! Good luck this week!

It did make me smile today and I really appreciate that!

My son's birthday is Aug 29 and state cutoff is Sept 1. We didn't know about redshirting, or I believe we would have. He felt way too young for full day K, so we managed to have him in a half day program and then we started homeschooling in first grade. We've discussed another year of school....not because of academics...he's fine there...but solely due to age. We'd decided that we'd repeat 5th grade and do an unschooling year...he needs 180 days and in the subjects state law requires, but I'm very open to how things are classified. Playing video games all day is NOT okay however. Changed our minds yet again due to test scores, so son is 6th grade this year but is still getting his unschooling year. If things go poorly, we repeat 6th grade and are back where we'd planned age-wise. If we choose not to repeat, then I'd envision a gap year between high school and college if its needed. In my mind and for our situation, the repeat year makes more sense before he could be doing work I might want on the high school transcript. If you do a gap year between 8 and 9, recording it as a repeat year and unschooling may be helpful from a legal standpoint. I know I've done a LOT of thinking about my reasons for doing a repeat year. I'm clearly still ambivalent about it since we haven't done it yet. :) There are many threads with the tag "grade level" that have helped me with my thoughts. Good luck!

I'm still working on patience! There were some problems starting in CWP 3 or 4, to my recollection, where I gave my son the problem, he didn't get it after working on it for 15-20 min, so I took it away. Then I gave it back the next day. I think there was one that it took him 3 days to finally solve. That's where I was so pleased & proud of him.... I think if he were in traditional school he'd be bored much of the time. Here I'm able to on occasion push him to a place where he does have to struggle. I don't recall much that took effort from him until level 3 or 4. I'm also glad that I require work shown and on some problems (even easy ones) I've made him do the bar model and show the work. I've talked with him regularly that just getting the right answer is useless. You've got to be able to communicate it to someone else and convince them WHY your answer is correct. It can be a very tricky balance to find. And we had some doozies of fights when we were getting started! (I remember once when we were just starting & I gave him two IP pages to do while I went downstairs and moved laundry... came back up and he'd glued the pages together...he had done the work first :D ... nitwit boy lost access to glue sticks after that!!!) Good luck to you!!!

I think during the initial adjustment my folks slept separately. Good luck!

Bittinger books are still in print...maybe by Pearson....I am currently disliking Lial (although I didn't get a course for fall from developmental department, so I don't need to worry about what I dislike in the text). If you skipped to a developmental text, Halcyon, you can also use InterAct math software free online for extra practice. It won't save results and doesn't have videos, but it regenerates problems for extra practice and does include Help Me Solve This which gives a step by step explanation. Do a google search and you should be able to find the link....

That's wonderful!

AFP! I got to know her through "Map of Tasmania". Love the video. Hope Calvin has a great time at the show! Anyone who can be married to Neil Gaiman has got to be weird :D (Envious)

I don't have a solution. What we're doing isn't working either though. I'd like licensing and regulation like for cars. I read the second amendment as a way to have a militia...not to have a private arsenal. I don't see much personal responsibility which is what really concerns me about gun ownership. It feels a lot more Wild West out here to me.

And in an interesting twist on an attempted "stand your ground defense" check this out. First line: "An armed intruder is making a “Stand Your Ground†argument in a murder trial, saying he shouldn’t be prosecuted for shooting and killing the man whose home he broke into because it looked as though the man was about to shoot him first." Personally, I want these guns OFF the streets and out of the hands of these whackos.

Hugs!

I teach math at the cc. I was stumped for a while today with a percent problem from iExcel. (Replaced by Process Skills books.) :) I have found the extra books (IP, CWP, iExcel) to be significantly more difficult than the text problems which are tougher than the workbook problems. I know the more difficult CWP problems have had my son work while I think he's always been able to do the text word problems without writing anything down. I'm very pleased with how solid Singapore is and how powerful the bar models are. If your kids don't need the extra practice, that's great. I have used CWP on occasion to show my son how he solved the problem with a bar model, but I can use algebra to solve the same problem...and hey...we did the exact same steps, but the power of algebra is we have this language we can use to communicate (and later solve more complicated problems). Son has liked looking at my calculus texts and max/min and related rates problems :). I love that because of his early experiences, he can look at these pages of word problems and say "Cool!"

Whoops...so it is! Lets see if I change the title.... Thanks!

A friend who's a LLL leader was crocheting one at the park earlier this week. I love it!

At least for now....it's the featured game. Passing along, since the price is right! (I posted initially with wrong game...whoops!) :)

Not enough likes for this one! It's clear the US was founded by Puritans. And still behaving in very similar ways.

I think those are very rare though.