A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

I'm not sure that we did much school this week. I am sure that we handled behavior emergencies; found, shopped for, altered, and mended Halloween costumes; dropped off, picked up, had a roadside emergency, dropped off, and picked up again the teen car from the shop; dealt with the actual flu (Rose Red); dealt with fevers and flu-like symptoms by taking enough garlic to keep an Italian restaurant in business for a week (Mister Man and Little Princess had fevers--the rest of us took it prophylactically); took Lola to urgent care for yet another case of nursemaid's elbow; took Beowulf to his second round of developmental/behavioral testing; sent teens to parties; celebrated Halloween; cleaned the garage (thank you, Sir Walter Scott!); almost finished the dance props; purchased new white dress shirts for the boys; got to an almost-final level of organization for the upcoming dance performances; went to the dentist (Lola and Baymax); cancelled MOCSA due to too many commitments ...

According to Pixie, my 15 year old high school freshman, the High School Essay Intensive by Institute for Excellence in Writing is very helpful. She's never been a confident writer, and this year's freshman English essays have been a real challenge for her.  Add in the fact that she's chosen a highly competitive university as her dream goal, and she how has to prepare for major standardized exam stress. On my end, though I've always been a confident writer, I've felt frustrated as her teacher because of the conflicting information about essay writing that's available these days.  Should I teach the basic 5-paragraph essay that got me through my standardized exams?  Or are those passé, and I should teach something more in vogue? . . . but what's in vogue enough to help her do well on her exams? Enter the High School Essay Intensive . Of course, IEW has been the gold-standard in teaching writing for a long time, but though I've attended home...