I would start with WWS1 by Susan Wise Bauer as a writing program. The first section covers a review section on narratives, and if that is difficult for your dd to grasp then you could step back one and do WWE4 until she is ready to move on with WWS1. WWS2 will be released later this year or early 2013, so you could move right into that afterward. WWS is an EXCELLENT writing program like no other I've ever seen. I highly recommend it, as it has benefited my own dd tremendously. And as a side note...please don't be thrown off by anything or anyone that refers to WWS1 as 5th grade level because it is designed for 5-8th grade to prepare students for rhetoric level writing. Students starting "in the middle" like your dd should begin where they are and advance forward at their given pace. For dictations, you can learn to do this easily by watching video, and then one. There are other wonderful videos on Youtube listed with Peacehill Press that cover dictation and other various aspects of classical ed, so I'd like to point you in that direction. For grammar, TWTM recommendation for years has been to start with 5th grade level R&S English and move forward, again disregarding the references to grade level. (Remember, we need to let go of that and meet our students where they are and help them advance from that point.) There are some other solid programs out there in addition to R&S. Some people like Hake Grammar, and it covers diagramming as well as the other basic grammar concepts. If you'd like to condense grammar instruction in a shorter amount of time then Analytical Grammar might be a good choice, but you'll find that it is more expensive. If your dd is already set in a good, concise handwriting style then there probably isn't any need for her to do copywork at this point. If she needs improvement, then I'd just have her copy passages from scripture or literature, poetry, or any of the great copywork books that are available online. There's a lot of free or reasonably priced stuff out there. Hope this helps! Blessings, Lucinda P.S. If you don't own a copy of TWTM, then I highly recommend you get one ASAP. Be sure to look for references throughout that refer to "starting in the middle".

I don't mind dogs in stores at all as long as they are well behaved and on a leash. I just don't want a dog sitting at my dinner table, eating with humans. And now that I think of it, I did see dogs in restaurants in Paris and it didn't bother me at all. You know why? Because they were well mannered and sat near their owner's feet UNDER the table. Even cultured French dogs know that they are dogs. LOL! Blessings, Lucinda

:laugh::laugh::laugh: Waaaaay toooooo funny! After nearly barfing about the baby poop in the car seat, this video was refreshing! Thank you for such an entertaining thread, friends! Blessings, Lucinda

Here, here! :iagree: You ain't a kiddin! I would like to think I'd speak up had it been at my house, but then again I think I may have been completely dumbfounded. Yes, I agree here too. Just because they baby their dog at their home doesn't mean it's okay to do it at someone else's home. I would be tempted to either leave them out of the next eating event at your house or be up front with an invitation, letting them know that dog babies must be crated or leashed in another room during the meal. As I type this I'm thinking how utterly unbelievable it is that a person even has to stipulate this with an invitation. :lol::lol::lol: Blessings, Lucinda

I meant to mention this too. We are having dd assessed at the school tomorrow so we can see where she is compared to what they require for finishing 7th grade. I have a good idea and am already planning to work on those priority subjects as mentioned, but it's based on where she'll need to be as a freshman the following year. This is also why we're doing U.S. History for 8th grade. Students at the school have a year of U.S. History that year, then they begin the four year cycle again for high school. Blessings, Lucinda

Praying for you now. May God's peace envelope you and your dear family. Blessings, Lucinda

I just wanted to agree with going to Tamastslikt Cultural Center near Pendleton, Oregon, as it truly is a great museum from the native perspective. I will never forget the little clapboard church interactive exhibit about the Whitman Massacre from their point of view. It still resounds in my mind that the biggest reason most natives rejected Christianity was because those that brought the message to them couldn't even get along with each other! ("Black Coats" and Protestant missionaries) What a timeless lesson for Christians. I look at that part of history so differently now because of having gone there and learned from the confederated tribes' perspective. The whole museum is very thought provoking, and I hope you are able to fit that one in while in eastern Oregon. Blessings, Lucinda

That is with the exception that dd will be going to a private school for high school rather than ps. For this last year at home together I am planning to spend time on U.S. history up to modern day rather than continuing on with the in-depth world history that we've done with TOG for the past few years. My intention in this is so we can focus more on literature, writing and math. We'll also work on improving dd's handwriting and organizational skills. Along with this, we are dropping science for 8th grade and will be doing logic instead, as I think it will really help her as she faces rhetoric level challenges. And in our case, we're going to revisit Latin because I believe that it will help her have a better command of the English language and any other languages she will study in high school and beyond. My siggy has our 8th grade plan, but our priorities will be the 3 R's. Everything else will be supplemental. Blessings, Lucinda

It means the world to me that others are willing to pray with me for A. and for our family. If you're interested in learning more about our story, I did write this article in my blog in Dec. of 2009. Unfortunately the attempt at going to college didn't work out well for A., but I'm happy to say that since then he's been able to hold a job for nearly a year, which is something he hasn't been able to do in many years. Continued prayers would be most appreciated, and I'll keep you all posted on how it's going. Blessings, Lucinda

A. is one of my adult sons who has battled this horrible disease for the past 14 years of his life. He has had extremely serious bouts of mania and has had to be committed several times in the past, has been hospitalized more times than I can count and has even been in jail when he was acting out in illness. This journey has been the utter heartbreak of my life as a mother. You can't imagine having a sweet, darling, intelligent, creative and loving little boy that grows up to become a man with very serious mental illness. It's like a monster stepped out from the shadows and stole my baby! Fortunately, for the past 5 years A. has been stable and on his meds. This has been the most stable period of time since he was first diagnosed in 1998. He has a 6 yo dd that means the world to him, and I credit that for the resolve he's shown in staying on meds and cooperating with doctors. That, and maturity have made a big difference. Unfortunately the meds that have been working these past 5 years have given him side effects that have become intolerable, so with a doctor's supervision he is going to have to change to another antipsychotic drug. I would be lying if I said I'm not scared about this. The Lord has watched over A. and protected him from so much during this journey, and He has given me strength to get through every episode. I don't know how I would have gotten this far without my faith in Christ! I'm asking today for prayer warriors to stand with me through A.'s transition from one drug to another. I believe God hears the cry of a mother's heart and also that prayer is much more powerful than we realize - especially the prayers of many. Thank you so much for reading this and remembering A. and our family at this time. Blessings, Lucinda

They are scanned with more advanced scanners than you'll find in the normal household. It of course varies from publisher to publisher. You would send them your camera ready art and they would do the scanning. Blessings, Lucinda

Did you know that digital cameras are actually mini scanners? The difference is that a camera is hand held and doesn't have the limitation in size that the "bed" of a scanner has. And with a digital camera you can customize the lighting. As for a pen, I personally prefer a dipping pen with India ink. If you don't want to mess with the liquid then you could use a Sharpie. You wouldn't have bleeding issues if you used the bristol drawing paper like this one. Another pen choice might be a Pitt pen, which you can buy in sets or individually. Going a bit more upscale, you could also try a Rapidograph, which is a classic drawing pen in the world of art. Any of these would be really good choices. It just depends on how much you want to spend. Have fun! Blessings, Lucinda

Why not use pencil first and then ink over the top of it? After the ink is dry you could erase any pencil marks if needed. You could possibly use an ebony pencil because it would be a lot darker than a regular #2 pencil, but it could smear easily. You see, in order to be a darker pencil it has to be a softer lead. I suppose you could try to spray it with fixative to hold it in place and not smear. Sketchy lines don't always translate well into digital art. If you had graphic tools available you could make it happen, but based on what you've told us I would still recommend ink. Blessings, Lucinda

I would use ink rather than pencil. Pencil does not scan as well as black Sharpie or even India ink from a pen and nib. What you'll need is a good contrast so the whole line/stroke of the pen is solid and dark. As to paper, I'd recommend a smooth bristol drawing paper. You can find all of these things at Michael's or an art supply store. Hope that helps. Blessings, Lucinda (Artist, graphic designer and art teacher)

:iagree: If there is a way for this ds to miss the privilege of going to the movie, then I would definitely take it away from him. It may seem harsh, but there are times when we parents have to draw our line firmly in the sand. Blessings, Lucinda

:iagree::iagree::iagree: Yup, I agree completely with this post as well. If you are there with your dc all the time it shouldn't be an issue. My ds is a police officer and his kids wear their names on their team shirts because they are always with one or both parents. And another consideration is for the feelings of the kid himself and how it causes him to stand out with his team mates who have the team standard on their shirts. In a case like this, kids do want to fit in and be part of the team. Blessings, Lucinda

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

This is basically what we did. R&S English is wonderful for the grammar part. WWS has helped make an amazing change in my dd's writing skills. I couldn't be happier. We also use Vocabulary from Classical Roots (VFCR) and it's been extremely good. Blessings, Lucinda

You could do the history, geography, government, etc. You could even take numerous field trips during the school year if that's possible. At the classical school where I teach art, our students have a year break from the chronological cycles to an in-depth study of this sort. I think that occurs in 7th grade if I remember right. Blessings, Lucinda

I think it's one thing to get ears pierced - especially because one can let them grow back in most cases. But I personally believe that having images permanently etched with ink into your skin is foolish. For one thing, it distracts from the beauty of the amazing body that God provides for our soul to live in. Secondly, tastes change over time. What seems fine at one age may be deeply regretted at another. And my final reason is that I've seen in person what tatoos look like on aging, sagging and wrinkled skin. Not pretty at all! I absolutely hate tatoos. And much to my dismay, my three older sons all have them. I want to weep every time I see them. Blessings, Lucinda

You might consider having her try the italics style (or Getty-Dubay method) which is simple yet elegant, easy to learn and has helped a lot of people improve poor handwriting skills. For a middle schooler I would recommend the self-paced course called Write Now rather than going through all the books designed for youngsters in lower grade levels. I work at a school that teaches the italic style and student handwriting there is outstanding. I'm an art teacher and always appreciate the look of it, as it is based on italic calligraphy and looks beautiful. Blessings, Lucinda

With iPod and laptop access to the Internet, I'm finding it harder and harder to monitor and enforce limited amounts of screen time for my 13 yo. We need a system other than what we've been doing, but I can't come up with the right thing. Both she and dh think I'm being too rigid and strict, but I don't think so at all. Dd's pc is currently out of service so she's been taking dh's laptop into her bedroom off an on for the past month. I find it really hard to keep track of how much time she's actually spending on it and her iPod because she says she moves around and does a lot of things during the evening between being in her her room and the bathroom every night. We've set a time limit of 2 hours for her each evening, but right now I'm pulling my hair out because I only have her word to go by. I have no idea if she's painting her nails, on the phone or what because she's staying in her room more and more. I want to trust her, but.....well, she's a teenager. Each and every night after dinner she gets online and visits with friends who are in to anime and voice dubbing on youtube. They have a lot of fun and I've followed along as best I can. I understand that this time connecting with other kids is important to her because she is an only child at home and she gets very lonely. We live out in the country and there are no kids in the neighborhood for her to hang out with. I'm just at a loss as to how to handle this because it's becoming more frequent and less simple to oversee than it was when she was younger. Thanks for your input, ideas and suggestions. Blessings, Lucinda

No offense taken. Actually, it's not cultural at all. Those of us that say a spiritual realm exists are the ones that believe that the Bible is authentically from God, and therefore we believe what it says. Blessings, Lucinda

Oooops! My bad also. :D Lucinda

Thanks for all the input! My bff's mother passed away this week and I need to send her something nice, but not too expensive. She lives a ways away from me, so I can't deliver it myself. Blessings, Lucinda