One More Day Plus Seven

Kristen just has one more day left in her private school. Then she will become an official homeschooler, going into eleventh grade. She is in a good spot for starting home school. Her school friends are also her church friends, and with her starting to drive this summer, this should be a smooth transition for her. Really the only part of her "social life" she will be giving up is lunch time, and the few minutes between classes. Her social circle will remain intact.

Coral is a little more nervous. She has seven more days left of public school. She is afraid that she may be severing ties with her school friends. It is a little heart breaking for both of us. However, I know it is the better decision for her. Already, in forth grade, she is starting to feel the peer pressure building, rumor mills churning, and bullies intimdating. My head tells me it is time to pull her out, before the forth grade drama turns into fifth grade drama, and fifth grade drama turns into middle school drama. However, this is a big step for her. I hope we can maintain her little circle of friends next year, but I'm very grateful that she will still have her church friends as well.

Free Puzzle and Quiz Creation

I was looking for quizzes or tests to go along with the Real Science-4-Kids series, when I stumbled on a great website for creating crossword puzzles, flash cards and more. ProProfs is just $9.97 for business, $3.97 for teachers, and free for personal use. It may be worth investing the $4 educational price if used often.
http://www.proprofs.com/

Crossword puzzle to use for a study aid for chapter 1 of Real Science-4-Kids, Chemistry, Level 1. The puzzle was created by DustBunnies.
http://www.proprofs.com/games/crossword/elementary-chemistry/

Chemistry Confusion

I've been trying to decide what to do about Kristen's Chemistry course next year. Chemistry and Trig are the only subjects I'm really stressing about. I know a lot of homeschoolers just don't bother with these courses, but I don't just want to get her into college; I want her to be able to go on a full scholarship.

I'm thinking that Apologia is the way we want to go for Chemistry. I've heard great things about the caliber of the material. I've also taken a look at the Dive DVDs that are available to go along with the material. If this option doesn't work, we may look at a co-op as well.

One thing is for sure, instead of purchasing a MFW book for use with Exploring Creation Through Chemistry , I'm going to try the lesson plans found at DonnaYoung.org first.

I'm also so very tempted to go with Switched on Schoolhouse, because it would be much easier for me, but I'll hold off on that for a while. Maybe we could do a hybrid approach of the two. :)