I chose other because I don't grade my elementary aged son's work. I do give him a "score" like 9/10 or 88/100 for his spelling and math tests. Sometimes for math he'll ask me what grade that would be so I tell him. For everything else, he just gets verbal feedback. My 7th grader gets a grade for WriteShop. The author has a clear explanation of what is expected and awarding points etc, so I figure out the score and he does receive a grade for each paper he writes. I also plan to assign year-end grades in math for both my 6th and 7th grader by averaging their test scores. This will be the first year I've done this. I want them to start getting used to the idea of grades before high school.

I choose and they have to do it :001_smile: But, I do listen to concerns or objections that they have. If they complain every time we take a certain subject out, or if they tell me they hate a certain subject, I try to figure out why and adjust if necessary. The only time I've allowed a choice was for my oldest who struggles with math. Before we switched curriculums this year I had him try a few samples to see which made the most sense to him. I wanted his opinion on this because his brain works quite differently from mine! But I pre-screened the choices. I had to like the teaching style first.

Thanks for sharing. It turns out our library has 14 of his books, most from that Checkerboard series. I would never have known that these books may contain incorrect information and could see my kids using them to research a topic. :glare:

I'm choosing some of my books from an Amazon "Best of 2010" e-mail I received. I figured it would expose me to some books I'd never choose on my own. The one I'm reading this week is a perfect example. It's called The Big Short by Michael Lewis. It's about the 2008 stock market crash.

WOW! That is really crummy and extremely rude. I'm so sorry this happened to you and your daughter. :grouphug:

Yes to grocery stores. I was at a couple yesterday and they had signs posted that they were open normal hours today. I can't say for sure about Barnes and Noble but I know the mall is open.

No I haven't found any catches with the program. You have access to the complete program at no cost. As for time consuming, it does take a little bit of time to figure the program out. I watched a few of the short video tutorials and then got started. Once you start using it though, it's pretty straightforward. Part of the reason it took me a little longer to get it set up the way that I wanted it, is because I wanted the subjects to print off in a certain order. When I was typing them into the course list I just typed them as I thought of them. So when it came time to print, the subjects were printed in the exact order I typed them. But I wanted them to print in the order that I wanted my kids to do them, so I had to go back and move things around. That was the main thing that took me some extra time to work on. There were a few other tricks that I figured out later that saved me some more time. It's just like anything, the more you work with it the easier it becomes. I feel like it really helps me keep on top of my lesson planning.

My oldest is also 7th grade and I have a 6th grader. I use HomeschoolSkedtrack to give them their assignments for the day. You need to plan it out but it prints off like a checklist so they know what their assignment is each day. At the end of the day they turn their list back in to me and I update the program so that it will print off new assignments on the next day. It can be as simple or as detailed as you want. For math, I want them to work for 45 minutes so their assignment says, "Spend 45 minutes on Teaching Textbooks." For history it's more detailed, "Read pp. xx-xx in Name of Book; Complete key word outline;" etc. Before I used this program, I just made up a grid in Excel that had the subjects down the left hand side and days of the week across the top. I put each day's assignment into the appropriate box. It looked like Sonlight's format if you're familiar with that. They would cross off each assignment as they finished it. Everything I have is specific to the curriculums we use. I don't have anything more generic.

Thanks for this information. I read the abstract and was disappointed with their findings. I'd really hoped that if I just get out in sun more I'd take of the problem. Why can't anything be that simple? :glare:

This site has some interesting info on vitamin D. http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/vitamind.aspx Her top recommendation is getting 15 minutes of sun exposure every day. This is your body's natural way of absorbing vitamin D. The latitude of your location will affect whether or not the sun is strong enough now for this to benefit you. If you're able to do this, you shouldn't have any side effects. I'm deficient too and started taking the 50,000 IU weekly about 2 months ago. Based on my latitude, I won't get the sun exposure benefits until May but I plan to change my routine then to start absorbing some of that sun!

I haven't used this series so take my suggestion with a grain of salt :). For chemistry I agree with a PP about doing the Atoms and Matter books. For physical science could you ask her which 2 books sound most interesting? Maybe she could look over the table of contents with you online.

I'll give it a try. Looking forward to it!

I plan my own birthday every year and I have no guilt about it whatsoever! Not sure why you would be feeling guilty??? I always ask my kids and my dh what they would like to do for their birthday. Do you do something similar or is it usually a surprise? If you usually ask them, it just makes sense to me that for your birthday you ask yourself the same question (or at least think about it). One year I read about a neat hike in the newspaper...guess what we did for my birthday? Another year, I was waxing nostagic and wanted to go visit the town we lived in when I was in 2nd grade. We had to take a ferry to get there so it made a nice day of it. A different year it was a bike ride along a route we'd never been to before. To finish the day we go out for dinner to a restaurant of my choice. So I would ask you, what are some things that you've been wanting to do but never find the time to do them? Have you read/heard about something in the area that sounded interesting or fun? Is there a favorite place you like to go but haven't been to in a long time? Answers to these types of questions are usually what I choose to do for my birthday. Hope this gives you some ideas.

I would also recommend print, especially since you mention you like to have a book to hold. I'm the same way but bought only the DE version because I was trying to save money. I've printed out a lot of the pages because I get tired of reading on the computer. There are things that I like about the DE version however, so when I buy year 2 I plan to buy print/DE. Once you try the first unit you'll have a better feel for whether or not TOG is for you and if you think you could get by with just DE.

I do. My hubby is perfectly capable but I love accounting and numbers so it's just natural for me to do it.

Favorite Fiction: The Help Favorite Non-Fiction: Picking Cotton

I have one for 20% off through 12/24. Offer code NHP8535.

Here's a recipe for a light, yet filling salad. Actually it's a slaw (not sure how you feel about cabbage) but we love it! http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001646443

I've made these (Blondies) a couple of times and we really like them: http://cookiesonfriday.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html You'll need to page down to the second recipe.

It varies around here. My son's current teacher charges $75 for 4 45-minute lessons. His previous teacher charged $100 for 4 30-minute lessons. The current teacher is every bit as good as his prior one. I think the price difference is due to the fact that the current teacher teaches out of her house here in our small town. His prior teacher teaches at a large co-op about 30 minutes away in a much pricier suburb. That's my guess as to the price difference.

We're kinda weird because we sneak some and buy some! I heard about theaters making money off the concessions and not the movies, so we buy popcorn and pop. One large popcorn and 2 large sodas for a family of 5. The theater we go to gives free refills for both so that works great. We refill the popcorn but not the soda. Have you seen the size of the large soda these days???!!! But I do sneak in a box of candy for each of the kids.

How exciting! I'm very happy for you :grouphug: I'll love to hear about your progress.

Name: Kelli age of dc: 3 boys, 13, 11, and 10 how long homeschooling?: all along which puts me at around seven years (eight if you count K) have you taught these ages/grades before?: No. I started logic stage with my oldest at the beginning of this school year. He's a late bloomer and really wasn't ready for logic stage until then. DS11 will be doing full blown logic stage after the first of the year so then I'll have two at this level. Do you follow a particular style of education? (WTM, LCC, CM, Electic,): I would say we're eclectic but we're incorporating more classical all the time. Do you plan to homeschool high school?: Yes, I hope to. Any favorite quotes or wisdom that get you through the day?: This year I'm trying to focus on enjoying the journey. It'll be over before I know it!

This is what we do (the details in parentheses are additional comments from me): Day 1 -- Pre-writing activity (from TM) with Mom; Skill Builder Day 1 Day 2 -- Skill Builder Day 2; Go over directions for practice paragraph with Mom; Write practice paragraph and go over details with Mom (This means that I check to see how well he followed the student instruction sheet and make suggestions for things to remember when writing his graded paragraph) Day 3 -- Skill Builder Day 3; Brainstorming Worksheet Day 4 -- Write Sloppy Copy and check against Student Writing Skills Checklist Day 5 -- Re-read Sloppy Copy and make changes/corrections (This is a self-edit process); Turn in to Mom (This is now his First Revision. When he turns it in I compare it to his Sloppy Copy to make sure he actually did go back and change a few things.) Day 6 -- Make any needed corrections to your First Revision (These would be based on the Teacher Writing Skills Checklist that we go over together.); Turn in your Final Draft This has helped keep things organized in my mind. You're still flipping around but you kind of get in a groove. I've planned out through Lesson 12 and this format works that far. I'm hoping it will carry me through the entire curriculum. Hope this helps in some way.

I haven't read all the responses but I picked SIL's party because she announced it first and I'm assuming you already RSVP'd back at that time. Even if you didn't RSVP I'm sure somewhere along the way you've given SIL the inclination that you're coming. To turn around and say no now would damage the relationship with someone you really care about. If FIL's wife gets offended, well, she chose the same date. Once she realized it was the same day as SIL's she should have called it off or switched dates. It sounds like she's being manipulative. Does FIL realize the dates conflict? I would think he would want to be at his daughter's party with the rest of the family as well. My only thought is that maybe FIL's wife is feeling left out and would like to share in the hosting duties once in a while. If this is the case, she hasn't handled it very well but it's what she did. Maybe SIL could suggest to her that she host the party next year.