We did not win the contest, but I want to thank all of you who did vote for our video. The girl who won it had an amazing video and story, so I am happy for her! Blessings~ Dorothy

If you haven't voted yet or you want to vote again today is the last day. Jacob is trying to win a trip to California to attend a Cochlear Implant convention. His video made the finals and it all comes down to votes. So if you don't mind supporting a fellow homeschooler, we would greatly appreciate it! You can only vote from a laptop or desktop....mobile devices will not work! https://apps.faceboo...ntries/63598791 I will let you all know tomorrow if he wins! Blessings~ Dorothy Bauer

Thank you! It makes me cry too!!

Thank you for voting! If you didn't vote yet, you can vote until January 17th.

I should've mentioned that you can't do it from a portable device. I'm sorry about that.

Hi All, I know that I am not the most active member of this group, but I have been here since the old boards, so I am hoping it is not rude to post this request. My 16 year old son received Cochlear Implants in November. He would really like to go to the Cochlear Convention being held in California next month. Since we are a homeschool family living on one income, we just cannot afford to take him to the convention. So we entered a video contest to win a free trip (including airfare and hotel accomadations.) My son's video made it into the finals. The winner is determined by which video receives the most votes. I would appreciate anyone who could please follow the link and vote for my son's video..."The Sounds of Baseball" No pressure, just anyone who wants to help a fellow homeschooler! https://apps.faceboo...ntries/63598791 ETA: If you try to access from a portable device, inluding an ipad, it will just go to a page of ads. If you are on a laptop or desktop it will work. Thanks in advance, Dorothy Bauer

Great article. That gave me a lot to think about.

Yes, my oldest son took algebra 1 twice. He said it was so much easier the second time.

You are right, we may not need to slow down forever.

That seems logical. Thanks

LOVE this! Thanks!

Thank you for this insight. I believe this may be what is happening with my Advanced Math student. Would you mind taking a look at my post "What would you do? Regarding Math...."and give me any other insight you may have?

My 13 year old son is currently taking Advanced Math (pre-calculus) by Saxon. He has always been an excellent math student and has never encountered problems understanding math until this year. He does ok on the daily work since he can look back at formulas and rules or I just get him started and a light bulb goes off. But he is having anxiety when I give him the weekly test. He just seems to be having a hard time keeping all of the concepts straight in his head and knowing where to start. I had him make a formula book, hoping that would help, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference at all. Of course, I could just say he is so far ahead and take the year off from math, but I'm afraid he will lose skills that he has worked to obtain for so many years. As a side note he is on schedule to graduate at 16, but I don't care about him graduating early, that's just a goal he has set. And for what it is worth, he wants to be a Marine Biologist, which is not even a math intensive degree program from what I can tell. Here are things I've considered... 1. Have him take two days for each lesson, doing all of the problem set instead of just the odd problems, which he would hate, hate, hate. He is not a fan of "wasting time." 2. Work on SAT math prep, his math scores from last year were 450, but that is because I didn't tell him how the SAT test works, he didn't know the wrong answer gives you negative points. I just wanted to see how well he would do, so I didn't want to worry him with that information. 3. Continue on the set course and just hope things will eventually work out. Even though he is struggling with several concepts, he still has a great grasp on many things that I struggled with in high school. 4. Do a sort of math unit study spending time on concepts that are interesting, like those used in the show Numbers. So what would you do? After responses from general board: I believe he has a great foundation, has never scored below a 90% on a weekly test. Usually around 80% on midterm & final exams, where the average score in his class was 50-60%. But all of sudden this year it is taking him 1 1/2+ hours to complete the odd problems and he has developed test anxiety. Does he just need more time to mature?

Going over to read it now.

Yes, that is why I am concerned. Previous years he didn't take so long to complete a lesson. I still think he has a strong foundation. I just think he is not grasping a few concepts. I think I will just review those (maybe with another text) and slow down a little bit. Thanks for your insight.

That's just it, he has always been that kid who could do half of the problems and still get it. He spends about 2 hours each day on math. 30 minutes for instruction and about 1 1/2 hours on problem set. Most of it he can get done in about 30-45 minutes, but then he will spend a 1/2 hour on one problem. Do other people spend more time on math?

I'm sorry, I did answer in another post. No, he has not been doing all of the problems. The teacher at a local one day school only assigns the odd problems. I do understand why doing every problem would be important, but that would also probably take more time than we have available for math each day. We would probably have to take two days per lesson if he did every problem.

That sounds interesting, I will look into it.

I do think he needs more work on each problem type before moving on. Maybe I will look into a more mastery approach. I'm just leary of changing programs because we have used Saxon for 6 years.

For the last 4 years, he has been going to a one day program. The teacher at that program only assigns the odd problems. He is not the type of kid to want to change the way things work. But I understand why doing all of the problems would be important.

He completed Saxon Algebra 2 with an A (97%). Daily work wasn't counted at all, just weekly tests, midterm and final exam. Do you think he doesn't have a good grasp of Algebra 2 concepts with that high of a grade? And how would I determine how far back in Algebra 2 he needs to go?

My 13 year old son is currently taking Advanced Math (pre-calculus) by Saxon. He has always been an excellent math student and has never encountered problems understanding math until this year. He does ok on the daily work since he can look back at formulas and rules or I just get him started and a light bulb goes off. But he is having anxiety when I give him the weekly test. He just seems to be having a hard time keeping all of the concepts straight in his head and knowing where to start. I had him make a formula book, hoping that would help, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference at all. Of course, I could just say he is so far ahead and take the year off from math, but I'm afraid he will lose skills that he has worked to obtain for so many years. As a side note he is on schedule to graduate at 16, but I don't care about him graduating early, that's just a goal he has set. And for what it is worth, he wants to be a Marine Biologist, which is not even a math intensive degree program from what I can tell. Here are things I've considered... 1. Have him take two days for each lesson, doing all of the problem set instead of just the odd problems, which he would hate, hate, hate. He is not a fan of "wasting time." 2. Work on SAT math prep, his math scores from last year were 450, but that is because I didn't tell him how the SAT test works, he didn't know the wrong answer gives you negative points. I just wanted to see how well he would do, so I didn't want to worry him with that information. 3. Continue on the set course and just hope things will eventually work out. Even though he is struggling with several concepts, he still has a great grasp on many things that I struggled with in high school. 4. Do a sort of math unit study spending time on concepts that are interesting, like those used in the show Numbers. So what would you do?

I believe deafness can be a partial or total hearing loss. My son has profound hearing loss and I consider him deaf. Without assistance he cannot hear me if he doesn't know I am talking to him. He is set to get simultaneous cochlear implants in November. I am so excited for him to be able to hear.

Washers is a great camping game. It's an outdoor game. Settlers of Catan is a family favorite, but it's really hard to learn how to play, especially if you are not board game type people. Fluxx is fun, short and easy! Euker is a fun card game. Good luck! Dorothy

I didn't read all of the responses, so this may be have already been said, but.... The reason that I don't think I would ever get a tattoo (I never say never) is that my father has a lot of tattoos and contracted Hepititis C from getting a tattoo. While I'm sure it is pretty safe these days, I just can't get that out of my head. The second thing that bothers me is that I know several young adults who complain all. the. time. that they have no money to eat, pay rent etc...Yet they keep getting tattoos. I just dont get it. So that leaves a bad taste in my mouth too. I have seen some beautiful tattoos, but for me those are generally small and simple. Many tattoos even tell a story about the persons faith...I think that is beautiful. I don't judge my friends that have them, but at this time it is just not something I would do.