Thank you. I've had to learn "caution" over the years. Re: the thread, I always find it such an honor when people feel comfortable enough to have a solid God-Talk, irregardless of the denominational differences. I think I've seen Ann Voskamp quote or refer to a blogger who is a Catholic mama . . . I'd have no idea even where to start digging for that info.

I agree with you, Ellie -- church is church, church is community, scratchy and tricky though it may be. One of the ladies attends casually, the other two are all. done. but have that heart-level murmuring which they can't shut off. Thank you and all of you for your lovely suggestions . . . I'm going to compile the links and radio info into a kind note of encouragement. Warmly, Tricia

In the past couple months, I've had significant conversations with three different ladies about their "lapse" or "disconnect" from their local parish. All of us, regardless of denomination, feels that distance from their church community and I think it's part of the journey. These three ladies all want to give their children some sort of faith-based Catholic teaching but have no idea where to start and don't seem engaged with local church life. Their words, not mine: "I've been out of the loop so long, and I don't know if I want back in." I'm not Catholic and I don't have a grid for how to come-alongside these families. I do know each of these mother's grew up with God inside the Catholic church, all for different reasons gave up attending but now want to find some authentic path to walk and want to bring their children along. Do you have any resources that I could recommend to these ladies? Books written for people who have stepped away from the Church but now, twenty years later, are starting to question and wonder once again? I would be so appreciative. Warmly, Tricia

Argh, just had a nice post prepared and lost it . . . so the condensed comment is this: I agree with the OP. Nobody is excluded from the AofPS family and your student doesn't have to be able to hit the math ball out of the park in order to glean gems from the AofPS curriculum. AofPS is smart math, no question, and it takes concise, concentrated effort. After two courses this year, my oldest is finally realizing that math takes work. What a joy to see him finally owning the process and digging into it. AofPS has taught him good math, but even more importantly, it's taught him that he's not a genius and he has to do. the. work. in order to stay on top of this math. Good math learning and even better life learning. Warmly, Tricia

:lurk5: I did Omnibus I with my oldest -- for about six chapters and then lost my mind. I really thought I could "filter" the staunch reformed position but it was just way too much explaining, which led to glassy-eyes. I'm interested in what pops up as a response to this.

Exactly my thoughts . . . I'd rather my kids use the DO curr/videos/tests and if/when they run into scratchy bits, I'll hire a tutor. We have 6 universities within 35 km of our home so I'm happy to pay for a license and get IRL help when needed. T

Hi Kathy, thank you for tossing your method into the thread. There are blurbs in the AofPS textbook about the connection to geometry sequences . . . my brain just overloads, fizzles and the powers down when I try to make heads and tails of this stuff. Between the textbook, the transcripts and these explanations, he should be able to get somewhere. Many many thanks. Tricia

You are so lucky to have math skills -- I have none to speak of! :ack2: I'll print this out and have my young Mr take a look. The best part is I don't have to understand, so long that he does! Many thanks! T

That's it. He can get a certain distance into the question and then, dividing by 1 - 1/13 stumps us. Love to have your input. T

and it's only when desperation hits that I come here for help. (Busy weekend and classwork due on Tuesday) Convert the following base numbers to decimal numerals. 3.4 base 13 (4 recurring) TIA, Tricia

Just a small addition to this thread about the DO website and pricing, etc: I've been in touch with Derek Owens about using his material with no attachment to his school. Once he sold the product, he would have no further responsibility or accountability to my family. Since we homeschool in a non-demanding province when it comes to reporting, I want to use his youtube videos and curriculum/tests but I won't need his marking or input on a regular monthly basis. I asked him if he would consider a one-time fee which would give us access to all the components of his courses. This was the response when I asked him about Alg 1 some time ago. Thanks for the email. Yes, I have been giving this some thought. How about this: A one time fee of $172 to access the course for as long as you need it. This would give you access to the Algebra 1 course online, as Matthew has now, which would include all the videos and other course materials (HW, tests, exam review) that are on the website. I would also send you the solutions and the final exams. This would be a “single family” license, which means that siblings could also use the course. Does that sound agreeable to you? I would rather provide access via the web rather than shipping the files on a disc, since I’m still working on numerous improvements and upgrades. The most current files, and any corrections, would always be available on the website. Let me know if you have any thoughts. Any payments you have already made would be deducted from the one time fee. The price may not be exactly what he quoted here, but certainly, I think he's agreeable to making his courses available without doing the monthly fee. $172 and all three children can use it . . . that seems pretty reasonable to me. My oldest will start with DO Alg 2 in the fall and then have a go at AoPS Alg 2 in the spring. I think that might solve our problems! :) Warmly, Tricia ps: I hope I'm not out-of-line by posting this private email as info for the board . . . this is a new development for this small company. For me, I have to find outsourcing for the higher level math and sciences and this seems like a valid option/path for our kids.

ITA with your last thought -- it's a very tricky balance between knowing how much I have to offer, am I willing to take a risk and most importantly, do I know for sure where I start and stop in regards to the relationship? Should I stretch myself a bit to manage a tricky personality so that we have peace over the long-haul. My only word of caution is this: when your outsides don't match your insides, this is always a recipe for bitterness and resentment. Unless you know that you know it's your calling to stretch for a tricky friend, I would press on very carefully. Listen to yourself. We always know what we should do; it's just that we often sacrifice ourselves because it seems easier than having the hard conversation or withdrawing. All the very best, T

I suspect your last sentence was a bit "tongue-in-cheek" but this has been my experience. Once upon a time, I gave every person I met the time of day, tried my best to get to know them, see their positive slice but what I came to find out is that don't have room in my life for every person that is looking for room. Withdrawing makes people mad so I've come to the crossroads . . . fake it or be authentic about what I can offer a friendship. The latter option creates some stormy seas, that's for sure. I'm much more cautious these days and I guess that's a good thing. OP, you can "fake it til you make it" but the cost might be heavy, for you and your family. Only you can decide how much of your personal capital you're willing to invest to keep someone else happy. Warmly, Tricia

The book we're using to make our garden covers . . . Gardening Under Cover: A Northwest Guide to Solar Greenhouses, Cold Frames and Cloches by William Head. You could google "tunnel cloche", "tent cloche" or "reinforcing wire cloche" to get ideas. Sometimes having the right word to google makes all the difference. T

http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/eliot-coleman-the-3-components-of-the-winter-harvest/ http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/ Be careful on the Four Season Farm page - you might lose track of time, dreaming about green things.

Yes, these parts. Peace to you. T

This I relate to . . . especially the "mad at us but doesn't know why" bit. I've turned myself inside out trying to understand and at some point, you just have to be all done now. I loved my s-i-l like a sister -- she was and is dear to me. But, marrying her brother didn't bode well for us. :( I spent some time on these boards, many moons ago, processing some of that hurt . . . and the advice is always the same. Forgive, draw boundaries, forgive, let it go, try not to let it sink deeply into your core, forgive. Hard stuff especially since we've lost touch with the little people. Warmly, Tricia.

Definitely the Eliot Coleman books. A short aside, I just finished reading This Life is in Your Hands by Melissa Coleman -- loved reading this book. I would request a catalogue from johnnyseeds.com -- so much good information. We're a bit further north than you (Nova Scotia) and this will be my first year of an extended growing season using simple row covers. Just thinking about "over-wintering" root veg and kale . . . makes me all warm in my indoors. Did you know, kale with a light frost makes for a better taste experience. Straw will become your best friend. Good luck! Keep us posted. Warmly, Tricia

The insecure people around us will react to just about anything that makes them feel less than . . . you can't do anything about it. If you choose to share your life on FB, people will feel they can share their opinion about your life on FB, especially family members. IMHO, I would just keep the best of your family life to yourself. Enjoy the fruits of your labor in a secret way. There is just no getting around the fact that some people will feel obliged to comment. Human nature. Especially if they are jealous. I'm sorry. Warmly, Tricia

Hi Hive Friends, If you are interested in justice for your homeschool or teach children on a Sunday morning or at a mid-week program, you might find this curriculum interesting. Enjoy. http://www.kingdomjustice.com/

Gee, I read only the first pages of replies and couldn't read anymore without saying this: It sounds like you've found your man, and the journey to actually being married (5 years together, 5 years apart) was long and arduous. Then, you finally get married, but it sounds like it wasn't a celebration to remember. I read your post and hear a woman saying: "Hey, I love this man and 15 years of history together means I'm really ready to celebrate. I want some celebration memories." I personally don't think that is tacky at all. People who love you and get you will want to celebrate with you. I think every woman deserves some memories around the days she said I do . . . and it sounds like the "first time around" was not appropriately celebrated or acknowledged. Why not do what you want? You closest and truest friends will understand why you want to renew your vows. Perhaps it's not even renewing as much as celebrating? Warmly, Tricia

Great extra practice for my youngers. Thank you for sharing. Warmly, T

Merry, thank you. Your words delivered reassurance and I really needed that. Thank you for specifically encouraging me to keep using what works -- I didn't know that visualizing a word wasn't a natural skill for everyone. I'm a natural speller and "teaching" spelling has been a tough uphill climb for me. As part of the AAS curriculum, I'll work harder on the segmenting portions . . . recognizing the open and closed syllables, the prefix/suffix/root bits. I didn't realize in the early levels how important that was but now, I'll focus on that more. Thank you for the tips. I'm glad to hear that it's alright if spelling isn't a strength and to keep pressing in and practicing. I don't really want to walk the process of educational testing due to how time consuming it can be. Warmly, Tricia

Hi, For the word "threatened" _ _ _ (two-letter digraph + r) _ _ (the ea we hear in bread) _ _ _ _ _ (the ending that makes an action in the past) The spaces were spread out horizontally when we worked the words together. In brackets is what I would say if we struggled with getting the correct spelling of each little piece of the word but he didn't ask me for verbal clues. He nailed it. Sometimes I separated the word into syllables, but more often than not, I used our rules from AAS to help with the spelling. Even for easy words that he should know (like Tuesday) -- if I asked him to spell Tuesday, he'd blank, then balk, then write some creative phonetic mishmash of letters together. If I have put down 7 cubes, space between s and d, he'd spell it, no problem. I guess I just don't get it. I'm wondering why, at this age, he can't break down a word in his mind and talk himself through that. One of the mature, "been there, done that" posters a while back talked about the importance of cementing basic academic skills with youngers. This spelling thing is beyond frustrating. We have our children do a standardized test each year (CAT 3), and every year, my middle scores top of the pack for reading comprehension and bottom of the barrel for spelling. I just don't understand what is going on. Last year, he did test out at grade level for spelling but that improvement on a Stan. Test didn't reflect in his daily writing. Is there something I'm missing about his development? If this were your child, would you accept that spelling is a hill to die on, would you seek educational testing or just accept that he might need to keep a pocket full of Base 10 units to make it through his high school years :tongue_smilie: Warmly, Tricia