praying for strength for your brother and family...and with God's will...complete healing.

My oldest turns 15 tomorrow...hairiest legs I've ever seen! And the hair on his face....holy cow!! My husband says he is getting a shave for his 15th birthday! He doesn't want to---I think he doesn't want to admit he is growing up and that would be one thing that signifies that to him! I never thought that I would be such a wimp when it came to my boys growing up...

we have had both...now have carpet and HATE IT!!! never had any safety issues with hardwood stairs and love the look of them!! CARPET is Nasty!! I can't ever get the stairs to look clean so I know they are not!

:iagree:

When my 2 guys were younger, we always did a first day of school survey. It was all sorts of fun questions from list of favorites(foods, TV shows, movies, books, colors, animals, season, vacations, etc) but I also threw in some out-of-the-box questions for them to answer which they really enjoyed. Ex. If you could have lunch with anyone in history, who would it be? What would be something that you would ask them? If you could be an animal, what would you be? What 3 things would you take with you to live on a island for 1 year? If you could create a new holiday, what would it be called and what would you be celebrating? We also weighed, measured their height and made a handprint to see the change in size. At the end of the school year, they reviewed their questions to see if their opinions had changed. They also weighed, measured height and handprint. It's amazing how much they grow in less than a year.

I bought the book thinking it would be a great read/discussion for my 8th and 9th graders. So far, nothing but groans as they read it...we haven't been that impressed! and I really wanted to like the book.

My 2 sons just recently got phones and they would like some ringtones that are different than the ones that came with their phones. I know nothing about this but do you purchase thru your phones or at an online site? He loves country music so he is wanting some of his favorite artists. thanks

I sort of feel the same way as you do. I have one that is in 9th grade this year and we have always just kept a very simple log of what we did in each subject each day. However, I never kept a detailed lesson plan, kept grades on quiz, test, or other activities. We simply do our IOWA at end of year. I read all that others are doing to start a portfolio for each student in HS--the detail, the activities, the community service log....it is soooo overwhelming. So, there are others out there feeling like you---let's just encourage each other and come together for an occasional group hug:grouphug:

do it all the time...every year...always looking and thinking maybe I should have used this or that. It's a sickness that I think comes with homeschooling-grass is always greener in another book!

I am looking for an fun/interactive art history sites. They take an art class at our local museum but I want to also do art history here at home. In the past, we have done the Usborne internet-linked art books and they really liked them. They like reading history of the artist and the interactive sites that come with them but some of them are a little too young for them now. Does anyone know a website that would provide a fun way to learn art history?

I have just recently started using this website and I think that I am really going to like it once I get my routine down on putting the info in for each student! That's a little confusing but I'm learning. This is my first attempt at anything online like this for school planning. One question that I have for other users...how do I determine course credit and how have you handled the grading/percentage area? I am confused on these areas and do not want to get behind on it. Is there a particular tutorial that will give me some help? I have never really given letter grades except on tests so I am not sure how to spread out the grade over the various areas(quiz, test, worksheet, etc). What is a general guideline that most people use for this sort of thing?

what network is Burn Notice on? What type of show is it? I tried one episode of House and it didn't do much for me. I am really hoping that some new shows come out in the fall that catch my attention. It's just nice sometimes to relax and watch one of my shows after everyone is asleep. My husband doesn't always like the shows I like and this way I'm not interrupted by child, husband, dog, phone! Sometimes insomnia can be a good thing if you embrace it and a cup of chocolate milk/cookie and remote!

welcome...you will be amazed at the wealth of info you will find here...I always call it my personal shopper for homeschool needs...you get great advice and info all for FREE! enjoy!

We have a DVR and I love taping shows so when I can't sleep at night that I have something to watch. Lately, I have been watching Mad Men and LOVE IT! I also have started watching Say Yes to the Dress which just fascinates someone like me that eloped and how these women/families deal with buying a wedding dress. We also tape Modern Family and The Middle but husband and kids watch that with me. Also, love Brothers and Sisters but I'm afraid with Rob Lowe gone and I also read somewhere that one other key cast member(can't remember who!)is also leaving that the show won't be quite as good. Any ideas of other shows that might be great for me...I'm not crazy about the murder or CSI shows. I like the family dramas. We used to love Boston Legal, The Practice, and the one about judge names Amy? I'm really over the medical dramas as well. I had taped a couple of episodes of Scoundrels and watched one last night and well, it was sort of weird to me.

is the quest guides different from student workbooks? do you need the Teacher's Manual as well? I found them on Amazon and noticed that they can be used from 6th grade up...we have the textbooks so I may try the first workbook to see how my 8th and 9th graders like them... we are also enrolled in an online science class so they could do this as a side science as they both love Joy Hakim. where did you order your books from?

maybe I should also add that we are giving Analytical Grammar a try this year as well as Vocabulary from Classical Roots. My question for those of you that may be using this is this...how often do you do each of these. I am counting these for my English I and I don't know whether to attempt to do all 3-Grammar, Vocab and the LL8 each day of the week. LL8 has so much to do that I am wondering how long you take per book or poem?

My two son(8th and 9th grades)are taking a pre-Physics class with Greg Landry. I was wondering if any of you have a student participating in one of his classes? If so, is that the only science they are doing or do you do another science that is not online as well. We are looking forward to the class but not really sure how it works.

We are new to LL8...in fact, we are new to using any sort of Lit. program. My question is this for those of you who have or are using LL8. I took a look at Week 1 suggested schedule in TM and I am wondering how long on each day this is going to take to accomplish what is recommended....not to mention the workbook pages in the back of book! How much time do you allot for this subject and do you go by the TM schedule or what? I am feeling a little overwhelmed and that's not good on day 1!

I am interested in finding a online planner that is simple... main things that I want to be able to do is to print off a page that will be a daily assignment sheet that they can go by and check off as assignment/subject is completed. I have never kept a record other than with a simple planner from Rainbow Resource where I wrote subject and what we covered that day. Nothing more. The boys each kept a reading journal with reviews/drawings of their books they read for the year. I'm thinking from reading previous posts that I need to step it up a bit on documenting our lessons. I think that I would like to attempt an online approach but not one that is too complicated. Any suggestions?

We started today as well and my oldest is in 9th and my younger one is in 8th...I'm struggling with almost a post-partum sort of depression with the elementary/early middle school years gone...I have such mixed emotions lately and I have been doing a whole lot of praying!

ditto on Borders and Barnes and Noble!!! I drool every time I'm in there over the journals!

Are the URtheMom planners for middle school age or are the more elementary age? I need planners for 9th grade and 8th grade. I like the looks of the HS planner but I was wondering for 8th which would be better planner.

now lunch is a good idea. I don't usually have that much on our schedule for the first day so that would be a good way to end it! I guess I just miss the excitement of previous years. This age they are in is so hard for me to deal with at times. I think sometimes that I enjoy life and all that comes with it more than they do.

My boys are going into 8th and 9th this year. In years past, we have always had a fun 1st day of school in that we looked over all the textbooks we are using for the year plus any fun games, school supplies I have picked out and we always do a questionaire of funny questions that they have always enjoyed doing. When they were younger, I made the "sugar cones" and filled them with stickers, pens, candy and misc. supplies for school. Well, this year, they show no interest in school supplies of any sort...really there is not much that they need and the "fun stuff" they have sort of grown out of getting too excited about!...besides being boys, they just don't seem to appreciate the smell of a new clean notebook like I do!!! I basically have no exciting plans for tomorrow and even though they don't seem like they don't care...I'm kinda wondering if they will be disappointed and I will regret that I didn't do something My oldest doesn't eat breakfast so going out for breakfast or fixing a special breakfast doesn't work. I tried letting them have ice cream for breakfast last year and they actually passed it up as they said it would make them feel sick! Any ideas out there?

We are going to try Analytical Grammar this year(used Easy Grammar in the past) and Vocabulary from Classical Roots. I think that that would give me enough for English/Literature, don't you think? Guess I will make an order for LL8 this morning. Thanks, ladies for the advice.