I wouldn't even know how to research this question, but now I'm intrigued! I guess I'm off to do some googling.

I'm going to really have to look at samples. I'm doubting my kids' abilities on that one. Are German Bibles written in different forms of language like English Bibles, I wonder?? You know how we have like the King James Version...the NIV...the NKJV....etc.

Oh, I know. I was being silly...as usual. 🤪

Hi! Yeah, there were a bunch of websites that had fairy tales in easy German and I even saw some websites that had short stories in easy German. I'll try to find some and share the links.... This website is hard to find (I have to constantly search for it), but these are great! They're printable and I think some of them have a listening button. I was just printing them out and we would sit around the table and take turns reading to each other and then translating. We've read most of them: https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/service/leichte_sprache/Maerchen-in-Leichter-Sprache,maerchenleichtesprache100.html This has a bunch of links: https://learnoutlive.com/easy-german-short-stories/ This looked interesting, but I haven't tried them yet: https://www.germanlw.com/german-fairy-tales/ This seems to have fables, short stories, etc: https://www.sos-halberstadt.bildung-lsa.de https://www.e-stories.de If you find anything that you like, let me know, too!

I actually looked and looked for Bible stories in German, because I thought that would be a great way to read something, but they already know the stories....so it would be easier for them to comprehend what's happening in the story, even if they didn't know all the words they were reading. But, I can't find any. I keep looking on Amazon and that just might be the wrong place to look for books in German. I don't know.

Another Cornelia Funke!

Wow...that's a really good idea, too!

Oh, yeah! I do know those!! I'll look up Der Verdacht, also. Thank-you!

Are there other Duerrenmatt plays a teenager might like? They are pretty simple.... I've never heard of Cornelia Funke or Michael Ende. I'll take a look at those, too.

We're also in Texas and they announced that the summer session will be online, but I would be absolutely shocked if fall was online. We don't have the same percentage of cases that other cities our size do. Our public schools are supposed to go back May 4th. I don't see why the colleges wouldn't go back in the fall. Our governor is supposed to make some huge announcement on Friday, too (not sure if you saw that). My daughter is taking off for the summer session, because she says the classes can't compare to what they were in person (no offense, college teachers). She absolutely loved her teachers this semester and was having the time of her life (lol) until they switched to online. She's still doing great GPA-wise, but it's not the same level of instruction. She's disappointed about the summer, but it'll be ok. No hard feelings, teachers. I know they're doing the best they can....

We agonized over that all week last week and decided to just keep going with Dimensions Math (which is basically SM with a different name). They go to level 8B, which is supposed to cover Algebra 1 and Geometry. We're just going to go through it slowly. It's her favorite math curriculum. I hate to switch.

I'm not sure if I should've put this on the General Ed board, but oh well. I'm looking for some easy to read books in German for my teens. They've been learning German for years (I'm half German and I have a minor in Germanic studies, so I can help them a lot - answer their questions, etc - you get the idea) and I don't know what level they're at...but they're able to read things like fairy tales, etc. I have the Duerrenmatt play Der Besuch der Alten Dame (not sure if anyone is familiar with that play, but just as an example) and flipping through it, I'm pretty sure they could read it. I'm looking at stuff around that level for them to read. So, like not Shakespeare...but not beginner's "I'm traveling to Germany" stuff. And we have German readers, etc. I just don't like them at all. They're all travel oriented and they're really boring for kids (and me too). I can only stomach so many stories about how to go down an escalator and get on the right train. Ugh. They've actually learned a TON from reading fairy tales, but we've read so many now...I feel like we could basically call this German Fairy Tales on their transcripts. Lol I really appreciate any help or ideas.

I can tell you about my daughter's concussion, but I'm hoping your case goes better than hers did. I've posted this before on the educational boards. She's 12 now, but when she was 8, she was jumping around on her bed, fell and hit the top of her head on the wall and knocked herself unconscious. She was ok right away. She was actually ok for a couple of days afterwards. Then, she started having a horrible headache and it became so bad that she was walking in a circle, crying. We took her to the children's hospital. They wouldn't do an MRI, because she was so little and they said there's a cancer risk, so they weren't sure of the extent of the concussion. They just went by symptoms. I think they told us no screens, no reading....nothing where she has to focus on something for 30 days. It was about a month before she was allowed to do any sports or physical activity, too. She basically missed almost an entire year of school. Seriously, it was so awful. There's been 3 major times in our lives that I'm thankful we homeschool and that was one of them. She couldn't read in the first month at all. I tried reading her a story and she would start crying and say her head hurt. For almost a year, she was getting daily headaches that would start around lunchtime and she would need to lie down and take a nap. She would basically just go take a nap every day after lunch. She had post-concussive syndrome - I think that's what it's called. You can google it - there's articles on what to look for, etc. The doctor ended up putting her on a medication that was an antihistamine/migraine pill for kids. It helped a lot. It was about 10 months of headaches and problems after the concussion. She ended up needing baby bifocals this winter and I wondered if it had something to do with the concussion, but the optometrist is thinking its genetic. So, I don't know, but four years later and I still wonder if stuff isn't from the concussion. Anyway, she doesn't get headaches every day anymore - that stopped. She still does get headaches sometimes. She caught up on school. We actually ended up skipping her a grade anyway last year. I was so glad that she was able to stay home during that time and rest, through. I didn't push it if she said she didn't feel well.

Boy, it makes me mad when people say that... I have friends who keep sharing ye olde "just stay home and enjoy it and stop killing everyone by going places". Meanwhile, we have two friends who are having severe mental health problems due to the lockdown. We are constantly talking to them via text and FaceTime, trying to help them get through their day. It's taking its toll on us emotionally, too. One of my family members is a forensic investigator for social services and she says calls to their emergency hotline are up 800%. 😦

If he likes CLE, I don't see why he wouldn't like Horizons. It looks similar.

You probably saw this, right? https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/math/grades-7-8/horizons-prealgebra-and-algebra-1# I'm looking at it, too, because I'm not sure where we are going after Dimensions Math. Did you see these reviews? https://www.christianbook.com/horizons-pre-algebra-complete/9780740322426/pd/403224 It looks like the complaints are that the teacher's guide doesn't explain things well....also it covers things towards the end of the workbook that are covered in stuff like Algebra 2 and trig (I would probably skip that stuff, but your kid might be more up to the challenge than mine). When I'm looking at the samples, it reminds me of Saxon, which I'm also considering for prealgebra.

It's my son's 5th birthday, so I am going to bake him a cake and have him open presents. Party City is closed, so I can't buy him balloons. ☹️ I need to do lesson plans for next week. I'm going to add more PE. All of our new curriculum has been wonderful. The kids really like Beautiful Feet and Apologia Marine Biology. Like I said in another thread, I'm so glad that I bought the entire literature package instead of using the library - like I usually do. Our libraries are closed, so we would've been out of luck. At least we are able to get a lot of school work done. I am still upset about the gym closing....yes, yes, I know they have to close the gyms. But, after a week of no gym + our diet was really horrible last week because everyone made a run on the grocery stores (and there was limited groceries and absolutely no meat), I'm having out of control diabetic problems. My right foot is swollen and a couple of days ago, I couldn't feel my middle toes on my left foot and I kept having this stupid electric shock sensation in my foot every second. I was also falling asleep everywhere. UGH! Left foot is doing better this morning, but my right foot is so swollen. I am going to try to get outside and get more exercise this week, but now I can barely walk on my foot. Just so frustrated.... And they finally closed down our churches. I knew it was coming. So, no church today.

I agree with you completely. I'm not sure anything would be worse than the crash in 2008/2009 in our lifetime - which we already got through. Even with recessions popping up here and there throughout our lifetimes, every generation isn't going to experience something like the Great Depression. Yes, our kids still need to finish college and know they will eventually find jobs. The situation sucks, but it's not going to last forever. I am thankful dd18 doesn't have student loans yet (she's going to cc for the first two years), but I wouldn't panic if she did. Heck, WE still have student loans. Not panicking! I am panicking about the gym being closed.....(but that's me crying on another thread)

I'm sorry. I hope you feel better today. Yeah, too much time reading the coronavirus threads isn't good. Do you have any books to read? Do you have a Kindle? Could you buy an ebook? Do you have any sewing projects you've been wanting to finish? (I think I still have sewing projects from 2 years ago) I was really upset about all the quarantining/closures two days ago. Between them closing the gym down and the grocery shortage (which caused us to have a really weird diet all week - mostly stupid carbs), I was having out of control diabetic symptoms. My toes were going numb and I kept having this weird electric shock feeling in my foot. I couldn't keep my eyes open all day - I was so sleepy. I mean, I understand why they closed the gyms and restaurants down....but I'm going to be blind and without a foot at the end of this coronavirus thing! lol Is your oldest in college? (Mine is, but she lives with us.) Are they clearing out the dorms? Maybe you and oldest could play some board games - that would help with some mental stimulation.

We are still just doing a lot of school, which is actually going really well. Dh and dd18 are still working. I worked out at home last night, because our gym closed (I'm sure you remember my whining yesterday). I need to start coming up with a game plan for groceries this weekend. We're a family of 7, so I'm feeding at least 7-8 people all the time (ds17 has a serious girlfriend who eats with us several times a week). With everyone wiping out the shelves at the stores, now I'm not sure how I'm going to pull off groceries this weekend.

Oh, NO!! Are they going to do something to give students a credit on their meal plans? Or can you all get your money back?

I'll ask her, but we were under the impression that they were all closed. That would be great if they were open. She's trying to get all A's this semester and her statistics class is pretty hard. She has an A in it, but doing homework in the math lab definitely helps.

I agree! Freshmen and seniors are probably hurting the most by this! I heard they canceled college graduations (and even high school proms) everywhere. ☹️ That's a good idea - using alarms. I know she will have a hard time not physically going to the college. Also, this means no math or writing labs when you need help. We also don't have the best internet connection in the world, so I'm worried about that, too.

I'm trying to tell people to keep in mind that this isn't normal for us homeschoolers, either. We don't normally homeschool in an atmosphere that looks like an episode of The Walking Dead, ok? Everything is usually open - co-ops, museums, sports, activities, libraries.... We don't just sit at home in fear all day and never leave. Also, with all the articles about "welcome to homeschooling", etc....most of the families we know who's kids are home from ps have absolutely no intention of homeschooling or working with their kids on academics over the break. So, the articles seem weird to me!

My son has physical therapy this morning (*that's* still open for some reason). Dd18 was offered a job this week, so she went to that. And we're doing school and then playing outside. Disclaimer: I'm getting ready to whine. Feel free to quit reading! They finally made the decision to close dd18's college campus for the rest of the semester. We are so sad. I mean, yes, I know it's necessary, but it still makes me sad. She was doing so well. She had all A's and loved going! They switched to online learning, which, I'm sorry, but it's going to be junky compared to actually working in a classroom with a teacher. Dd18 doesn't do well with devices or virtual anything. She barely knows how to turn on the TV in the living room. And don't ask her to figure out how to turn on the Xbox. I'm surprised she's able to turn on her bedroom lights. Anyway, she was upset when they made the announcement. And I'm upset! Oh, well. Whine #2. They closed down our gyms. Yes...yes...I understand why. BUT. I'm diabetic and when I started seriously working out at the gym a few weeks ago, I literally felt like it was saving my life. I was making so much progress and I started to feel a thousand times better. I kept telling people all week that this is the best I've felt in about 5 years! Ugh! Now, no gym!!