We'll be using Campbell's Exploring Life. In fact, DD is already using the chapters on human anatomy and function as part of her Health credit. I wouldn't use a science book that is very old but this text was published in 2006, I think. Not too old. Pegasus

Re-read your post and I think you'll find your answer! Your son did great with MUS Zeta; the concepts that he learned were necessary. You believe that he would do well with MUS pre-algebra. Using MUS would relieve a great deal of stress in your household. You will have time and energy to supplement with other material if you use MUS. You like MUS's presentation of algebraic processes. On the other hand, you are concerned that MUS doesn't cover enough, that it wouldn't prepare your son for standardized testing, and you are concerned that your son won't get "far enough" in MUS since he only has 3 years left. I suggest that you use MUS, allow your son to be successful in math, occasionally use other materials to confirm that he is learning what he needs, and supplement only when necessary. We used the old version of MUS (and the general consensus is that the current MUS is much better). After MUS Advanced (equivalent to finishing MUS pre-algebra), I had DD take the pre-test in Lials Basic College Math. She did well and only needed to review a few concepts (took less than 2 weeks). You could do something like that. Since your son doesn't fight MUS as much as other programs, he could even advance further, faster, by having him do just math during your school breaks. Good luck with your decision! Pegasus

That's it! Thanks! You have superior googling skills. :D I appreciate the link to poster.com as well. I'll have fun browsing there. Pegasus

Thanks for looking for me! I do like the cardboard cutout one from the U.K. but I was hoping for a statue that could be outside. . .so I could still feel safe inside with the doors locked. We all thought the first weeping angels episode was the scariest episode we've seen. Although the Silence in the Library was a close second! (Hey. . .who turned out the lights?) Pegasus

It's an optical illusion of St. George and the Dragon by Sandro Del-Prete as seen here: http://puzzles.about.com/od/opticalillusions/ig/OpticalIllusions/StGeorgeThe-Dragon-.htm We saw a nice print in a kids museum recently and DH commented that he'd love to have a print of it. I'm coming up empty as I search online for it. Lots of sites show the picture but I can't find where I can buy it! Thanks for any suggestions, Pegasus

a weeping angel statue? DH is a huge fan of Doctor Who and he has an important birthday coming up. I would LOVE to find a weeping angel statue suitable for putting outside, if possible, and available from a reputable seller. My Google skills have failed me - although I did run across a very clever suggestion of how to make a miniature weeping angel from an old Barbie doll. I may have to try that one just for fun! Many thanks, Pegasus

I was going to recommend a few of the same ones as training5. Writing Skills (EPS) - Not exciting but provides a slow step-by-step progression. This is what my DDs needed to give them enough confidence to actually be able to do writing assignments without me sitting right beside them. Workbook format and inexpensive. Completely secular. Jump In - Much more fun but still provides lots of support/direction to the students. We found this a great follow up to the Writing Skills books. Christian publisher with a few topics that some feel are inappropriate for the target age group. Pegasus

I thought I'd pass along a couple tips that I've learned for finding out about local scholarships and see if anyone had others to add. 1. Start keeping an eye out early. I've started a notebook to keep a record of any local scholarships that I hear about. I clip out notice of scholarship recipients from the paper, etc. I am saving the serious research for later but at least I'll know to check with "Ma & Pa Paintshop" to see if they are still offering a scholarship. 2. Check the counselor web pages for your local high schools. I've found a few that post all the scholarship notices on their website. I figure that piecing together several local scholarships is probably more likely than winning one of the large national ones. Less competition, anyway! Any other good tips? :bigear: Pegasus

Hmmm. . .I was going to suggest Time as that is what we are using for current events with DD14. Maybe if you expanded on why you don't like Time or Newsweek, someone will be able to suggest an alternative. For younger kids (and not so much current events focused), we really like the Faces magazine. Pegasus

I think it is much better for a student to hit Freshman year with a very solid understanding of math through precalculus than to have already tackled calculus. I'm not familiar with the Ivies and similar top tier schools but our state flagship school has STEM majors take calculus as Freshman. DD will have time to take calculus in high school but our current plans are to do precalculus at home in 11th grade and then have her take the 2 precalculus courses at the community college in 12th grade. Pegasus

Great information, Nancy. I didn't realize that the online activities were also available on a CD. I will look for that. Angel Marie - I searched for high school class schedules using this textbook and found a few. No one was using all of the chapters. I decided to break out the ones on human anatomy and functions and have DD do those as part of her Health credit. Pegasus

I have a copy of the big Campbell (Biology) but it looks like way more than I wanted to tackle as a first biology course for DD. I then bought a used copy of his Exploring Life textbook and it looks much more like what I want. However, it integrates quite a bit of online material that is only available through a membership on the publisher website. So, if you've used this text, did you get access to the online material? Do you have to buy the text new from the publisher to get access or can you buy just a subscription to the online material? Thanks! Pegasus

I recommend Jensen's Format Writing. It is simple, step-by-step, inexpensive, and is all about providing the student with the "framework" for writing various types of papers/essays/reports. Pegasus

You make a lot of sense. :D We do tend to focus our business on just a few local places. Our favorite pizza place is owned locally and although we don't go as often as we used to, we could walk in, sit down, and be served without ever having to give our order! I guess we've gotten spoiled. Tonight's our "usual" night to hit the rib joint. I'll pass along any updates. :lol: Pegasus

I appreciate everyone's perspective. The meal that DD likes to order is BBQ ribs (4) and one side. There is an equivalent adult meal that provides 6 ribs and 2 sides. She doesn't like leftovers so it always made sense to us to order the smaller meal as she gets full and doesn't have anything left over. I will talk to the manager the next time I go there because I want to get the official policy. We are there almost every week so he recognizes us and usually makes it a point to come over and talk. He's even given us complementary items several times (dessert, a bottle of their BBQ sauce, once even our entire meals) because he appreciates our loyalty. I respect their right to set their policies and decide to enforce it. However, they'll have to respect our desires to spend our money elsewhere! Pegasus

DH recently had a server at one of our regular restaurants charge an extra $2 for DD (age 14) to order off the kids menu. We've been going there for years and this was the first time they made an issue of DD being older than their target range for the kids meals. (It was not one of our regular servers either.) Personally, I think it's not reasonable to charge a 12-and-up $2 more for the exact same meal they'd serve an 11-and-under. I'll be talking to the manager the next time we go and if they insist on this new policy, we'll stop going there until DD can eat an adult meal! Just posting to see if other folks think this is a reasonable policy. Pegasus

It's nothing fancy but here's the syllabus I gave DD. She does it 4 times a week so each unit is completed over 2 weeks. Completion of this course will satisfy 1 credit of high school fine arts/performing arts. The program is titled “Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Arts, History, and Culture†and consists of 17 units. The first unit is set up slightly differently as an introduction to listening to music. However, most of the other units have the following components: • List of figures, places, vocabulary, and dates relevant to that unit • Lecture from the program DVDs with viewing guide (lecture notes) • Listening assignments from the program CDs • Online resources • Putting it All Together: Questions and Projects • Unit quiz We will spend 8 school days on each unit. The schedule for each unit follows: • 2 days reviewing the figures, places, vocabulary, and dates in the textbook, listening to the unit lecture, and filling out the viewing guide. Be sure to review the textbook information and read over the viewing guide notes before viewing the videos. The videos vary in length from 25 minutes to an hour. You may watch the entire segment in one day or you may split it up between the 2 days. • 2 days listening to the selections on the CD. Each selection should be listened to more than once and multiple times is best. The selections in bold are on the listening CDs. This should be an isolated activity so that you can focus on the music – no multi-tasking. • 1 day reviewing the online resources of interest. • 2 days on the questions and projects. Read through all of the choices and choose 2 to complete. • Take the unit quiz. Be sure to know the vocabulary words and definitions before attempting the quiz. Pegasus

There are also several "word of the day" websites. When DD finished the SAT Vocab Cartoons, she just started visiting some of these each day. Pegasus

We've only been using it for a few weeks but I'll make a stab at responding: Pros: 1. A complete program for a fine arts credit for high school. You don't have to run around trying to piece together something on your own. 2. Great for students interested in music as well as a "get it done" course for a student who needs the fine arts credit but isn't interested in music/art. 3. DD's assessment after the first few weeks: "Eh, it's ok." Trust me, this is high praise as she did nothing but gripe and complain about the whole idea of needing a fine arts credit. Also, she won't admit to liking it but gets a smile on her face as she shares with me things she's learning about it. Wow! 4. Good mix of media (DVD lectures, CD music selections, internet web references). 5. Good variety of suggested research and projects for the student to choose from in each unit. 6. Includes unit tests so you have a solid basis for assigning a grade. 7. Obvious passion of author/lecturer. Cons: 1. Expensive. We paid full price. 2. It is not scheduled. It took me a bit of studying the program to develop a schedule that will work for us. 3. Since she offers lots of research suggestions and project ideas, you need to pick and choose what you want to do. This isn't really a CON unless you are tempted to try to do it all. That would be too much, IMHO. Hope that helps and good luck with the program! Pegasus

DD will be finishing MUS Geometry in a few weeks. She's liked it fairly well but I wouldn't say that it has been very challenging for her. The Honors pages have included more to make her really need to think. This program is not heavy in proofs, if that is important to you. Proofs are a great way for students to learn logic, IMHO. DD is strong in logic skills so that wasn't as important for us to emphasize. Pegasus

but you had a dinner event one evening, would you still prepare a full meal for your spouse and kids before you left? I lead a small Girl Scout troop and we held our end-of-year celebration at a restaurant last night. Both of the other moms that attended first cooked a full meal for their spouse and teens before they came to the restaurant. I thought it was odd but maybe I'm the odd one! Pegasus Edited to clarify: The moms came with just 1 child (their DD that was a Girl Scout). The spouse and other children did not come. The poll is asking how the spouse and other children would be fed.

It's completely possible that DH or I clicked on something while surfing but I'm pretty sure that neither of us clicked on something and then entered our credit card number. How would that work? I appreciate you sharing your experience. I can't help but think it's a shady practice if people regularly "accidentally" get enrolled. Pegasus

The students don't get their final projects back? :confused:

It's unfortunate but all of these children available should be considered special needs due to the experiences they've had. You simply must consider the safety of your children first. I researched fostering several years ago and to put it bluntly, you don't want to bring anyone into your house that your existing children could not protect themselves from. Pegasus

Hmmm. . .perhaps I shouldn't admit that I was THRILLED to find some cute pajama pants that DD was willing to wear out and about this last winter. She has sensory issues and won't wear most fabrics - they must be soft but not slick and must have "give". Her usual uniform is a cotton knit dress from Lands End. This works great during warm weather but she needs something on her legs in the winter, so pajama pants it is! Pegasus