My son has been house sitting. It is sporadic, but they like the fact that he is homeschooled because and he can sit with the dogs all day. It pays surprisingly well. I want to do it.:)

Traffic was so bad this morning. We left with plenty of time, but with the added traffic we just made it. I know that is going to add to his stress. He wasn't worried about the test, but my anxiety about the traffic created some for him. I am so bummed about that. He took it at a different school than he did last year. He said it was a nicer environment.

We still have a landline. I won't give it up. I do not like talking on a cell phone. We have Go phones so that my kids can get a hold of me when I am out, but I don't give the number out. When the doctor's office asks for an alternate phone number, I just tell them that there isn't one. I get looks of shock, but then they move on.

Sometimes. We are usually a 5 days a week family, but this past week has been pretty busy. I finally just gave up and surrendered. It will be fine. A few days off isn't going to set them back years. We will still get it all done.

Yes. All the time. I even dreamed the other night that I had put the kids in school. People tell me that it is all worth it. I can't wait to see it for myself. :001_smile: Just keep swimming...just keep swimming..

Why do they hate it? What is making them crazy? My daughter hates it too, but I am not switching. ;) My daughter hates it because it is hard, and some days she doesn't do very well. I tell her that it is OK not to do very well some days. I am not expecting her to understand it the first time every time. (And let me tell you, I wish that I had this attitude with my oldest. It makes life so much easier.) I noticed that she was struggling on every problem that had a fraction in it. We are now going to take a week off and cover complex fractions again. I have noticed that the concepts early in Alg. 2 are not that hard, but they throw in a lot of numbers, complex fractions, opportunities to drop a negative, and then she gets frustrated because she missed one little thing and got the problem wrong. It is so easy to make a simple mistake on some of those problems. It isn't that she doesn't understand the concept, but it is that she isn't paying as close attention as she needs to on the problem. If you can, take some of the problems that they are getting wrong and write them in a simpler form. See if they understand the concept behind the problem. Then show them how the problem is the same just with more variables, fractions, or what have you. That seems to help my daughter. I say all this because I am pretty comfortable with Algebra, but I have also seen the confidence my older son has in math now. We struggled through some weeks, but the look on his face as he helped his dad with the Algebra on his MBA pretest was priceless. One more question, what ages are your kids? My daughter is in 9th grade and she has plenty of time. My oldest did Alg. 2 in 10th grade. I do see the difference in the maturity. I hope this helps a little. :001_smile:

Just agreeing here that a module a week is too fast. I also am not a big fan of the order of the modules. I remember the first modules being quite difficult and scratched my head over why equations and and basic chemistry came in the middle of the book. I think he will understand the first couple of modules much better after completing the middle modules. I would go back and repeat them. I plan on doing the modules out of order with my daughter. Oh, my poor son who has to be the guinea pig all the time. :tongue_smilie:

I think he believes in Saxon Math, likes to talk about it, enjoys helping homeschoolers, and makes a little money in his retirement. :001_smile: I spent an hour on the phone with him and I have never purchased his CD's. It was a helpful conversation. I don't agree with everything he says, but he is a great resource. I agree with the others that work needs to be checked every day. (Disagreeing with Art Reed here.) You can do it, or your child can do it. It just needs to be done. There is nothing wrong with the kids checking their own daily assignment. It isn't a test. It is their practice work. I was discussing this with a friend the other day. We don't punish a child for making mistakes in their daily music practice. No, they back up and practice until they get it right. For some reason, we tend to expect perfect math papers every day. I am guilty of expecting my kids to do very well each day on their daily assignments. This was just creating angst in my house. All this to say, give her the solutions manual. Let her check her work. If she needs help, help her. Most of the time my kids don't need my help. They can figure out where they went wrong on their own. I do think it is difficult to teach math in a once a week setting. I have done it. There is much work that must be done outside of class, not just the lessons. I don't think you can expect all the math that needs to be taught done once a week. That is what I found.

I have spent some time on the problems again. I am pretty sure that I am right. They are just simple conversion problems. Actually, the test bank questions are easier than the text questions. I was just hoping for a quick and easy way to make tests, but after these errors, I just don't have faith in the book. I know enough to figure out the answers for these problems, but not later in the book. I am just going to take test questions out of the book. I have the solutions manual for the book. My son refuses to study for his tests anyway. Heaven forbid he actually do more problems than I assign. :tongue_smilie: Thank you for offering though. I will probably take you up on it when I get to the more difficult problems.

My son is using the 5th edition of Giancoli's Physics: Principles with Applications. He likes the text and the problems are challenging. I have the solutions guide to the problems in the book which has been very helpful. Does anyone know if there is a solutions manual to the test bank? I have the test bank and made a test for Ch.1. In the test bank, only the answer is given, but not the solution. We are having trouble getting the correct answer for a few of the questions in the test bank. Working seperately, we both come up with the same answer, but it isn't the answer in the book. I am frustrated because I am not sure if we are wrong, or the book is wrong. I know that it is possible for mistakes to happen. A solutions manual to the test bank would be so helpful. If one does not exist, I may have to pull my test questions from somewhere else. That discourages me. I just don't have the energy to fight my son on every problem that he gets wrong but is convinced that he is right. Nor do I have the time to solve every problem that I put on his test. Thanks for the help! Tressa

I would request changing up the format a little bit. By the time they are in the 4th book of Alfred there is no reason why you can't add a little Clementi or Bach. If the kids aren't partial to that, there is plenty of music out there to vary it up a bit. I would request that. The Alfred books are boring after about the 3rd book in my opinion. I use them as a starting point, but the majority of the music comes from other sources.

My uncle uses Magic Jack. I think it is fine except that they just give him a number and his area code is not in our area code which makes it a long distance call to call him. My dad doesn't have long distance so let me tell you that I haven't heard the end of it from my dad. Can't even call his brother who lives down the street. :tongue_smilie: With most people having long distance on their phones I don't know if it would be a problem, but it is something that my dad finds frustrating. :D

Where in Seattle he will be working makes a big difference. Is it downtown? Is it Redmond? Is it Boeing? That will determine where you live. I live in Kitsap county and there are several people that I know that live here and work in Seattle. Some commute on the ferry by foot. Some take the West Seattle ferry and drive. Some take van pools to Boeing. The cost of living in my area is much less, but it does increase the commute time. Of course, this also increases your commuting costs. I know the commute from Edmonds to downtown by light rail is doable, but I don't know the time.. Just some thoughts.

My local newspaper reported that dual enrolled students would have to pay 10% tuition plus fees. It is still better than full tuition.

Or if you don't want to spend all the years in college for a physical therapy degree, you could study to be a physical therapy assistant. My son's physical therapist is telling me all the time that PTA's are in short supply. He has a PTA that is wonderful. She gets to work with kids all day. She does many of the things that the physical therapist does without having to develop the treatment plans.

Is this the page you are looking for? http://www.patriotshistoryusa.com/teaching-materials/

I have read it. It was very hard for me to read. I wanted to keep reading, but I would have to put it down and come back to it. He is an amazing man. That said, I will never, ever believe that people are not shark food regardless of what the Discovery Channel says during shark week.

Wow! Yes! My 16 year old is not going to community college next year, and everyone wants to know why. It is as if I am doing something wrong and I have to apologize for it. And yes again! Homeschool cirriculum providers are feeding on our fears, and it is making me crazy! So many of the other moms I am around are just convinced that they can't do it on their own. They are intelligent women. I know they can, but they are being told that they can't. And yes, I am surprised at what passes as high school course work.

We are ELS. My daughter just had her confirmation today actually. It wouldn't fly at my church either, but I wouldn't have any reason to do it at home. My daugther loved her classes. Does your church have a school? My pastor actually wanted her to take the classes with the school kids because it was more in depth than the public school classes. We didn't, but it was an option for us. I do think that going to the confirmation classes helped my daughter bond with some of the other kids. Even though I probably "could" have taught my daughter at home, I think it was really good that she was instructed by my pastor.

Not the only one. I will be so glad when our extra classes end for the year. I am not signing up for any next year because of the price of gas. I do live within walking distance to some things, so that is a bonus, but we still pay out $60 a week in gas for just my car. My husband gets good mileage, but he has a commute. Thankfully, we paid off his car so we can stick that money in the tank instead. :glare:

The perch dissection was our least favorite. I am most likely going to skip that one the next time around. Truthfully, the frog was the only one we liked.

I loved it. I even got teary eyed. Perfect for them.

My oldest went to our Youth Convention last year with a 4 day stop in Wash D.C. last summer. We covered his $600 airline ticket and his food money, and he covered his spending money. I think he had about $200. The fundraising covered the rest. Our youth group's largest fundraiser is a yard sale. The church members donate their junk and another member donates their garage. We sort, sell, and dispose. It is a ton of work, but last year it brought in $2500. This year I have two going to convention. It won't be as expensive as the DC trip. My kids are excited. My son loves the bit of freedom that it gives him. It is worth it for us.

I have Rosacea, but mine is under control. My doctor started me with a topical and I became very good about watching what I put on my face. I wash with a mild face wash and use a mild lotion with sunscreen. I only needed to use the topical for a few months. I now only have the acne when I am under a lot stress. edited to add: Bare Minerals is a lifesaver. Worth the money for me.

Our homeowners insurance went up this year as well. I think it was a little more than $100, and last year it also made a jump. I am not sure what the deal is. I haven't bothered to call. We have USAA. I am wondering if it is just getting more expensive to insure everyone.