I also suggest taking the bus into the city rather than drive. Parking would most likely have to be in a garage that charges a fortune for the day. I want to second the Museum of Natural History. It's one the whole family can enjoy. It's pay by suggested donation, and there are elevators and a cafe (which may be an easier place to eat lunch with MIL rather than finding an outside restaurant in short walking distance). The museum does require a lot of walking. The website says: "Wheelchairs are available for visitor use on a first-come, first-served basis at the Will Call desk directly inside the Rose Center/81st Street entrance, at the Main/Central Park West entrance, and in the parking garage. Please bring a form of identification for wheelchair use. For additional information on accessibility at the Museum please call 212-769-5250." A Broadway show is a wonderful idea. Tickets average about $60-$100 per person. Off Broadway shows are great, too, and average between $30 and $60 per person. TKTS is always a good idea for same-day tix that are discounted. Be careful visiting too close to Christmas because the touristy things get very crowded (museums, shows, galleries, restaurants, etc). I know it's hard squeezing so much into one day, but if you can get to Rockefeller Plaza for a little while you won't regret it. The sidewalks are fine to walk around on and you can get a cab to take you all from the museum to the show. Have a wonderful time!! December in NYC is amazing.

Well because of the jobs, the culture, the diversity, the excitement, the accessibility, the endless resources, experiences, & opportunities, and the convenience of getting to all of it fairly easily. My family and I can only take the country in very small doses or we go crazy from boredom. NYC is an amazing place to raise a family and homeschool.

Hi and welcome to NYC! Park Slope is a great neighborhood and you will absolutely love it there. I love living in the city. I love being able to walk everywhere and hop on the subway to Manhattan in 15 minutes. Homeschooling here is a dream - more resources and experiences than I could name, The NY regulations are easy to deal with and NYC is a pretty easy overall district. Your dd will even get a free Metrocard to ride the subways and buses for free. The homeschool scene is fantastic. There are so many active groups to join. NYCHEA is the largest (not my cup of tea, though) and there are Yahoo groups like "homeschoolnewyork", "ParkSlopehomeschoolers", "LEAH", and "5BoroHomeschool". Regular trips are to places like the Met Museum, the Hayden Planetarium, Ellis Island, or a Broadway show. Yeah, it's expensive to live here. But you can live very well on even the tightest budget. You just have to learn where to go. Food is not so expensive. I mean, it can be, but I shop at Aldi's, Costco, and Trader Joes instead of the pricey supermarkets. I'm sure you have at least one Greenmarket in your area as well as several libraries and playgrounds. Prospect Park is really nice. Ds had an ongoing zoo class there a few years back. A friend of mine has a weekly homeschool meetup there, too. I'm sure there are many ballet schools in Brooklyn. My dd is a dancer and has many friends at her performing arts high school who went to Brooklyn ballet schools. I'll see if she can get some recommendations for you.

Here's MINE.

We're doing ok so far (ds is 11, 6th grade). Most focus is on the 3 Rs. Math, reading, writing, poetry, paragraph editing, classics readaloud, and a dyslexia workbook (word & sentence practice) make up the bulk of the week. We are now alternating science and history in 3 week chunks. I'd like to also drop Spanish for Latin, but I have no idea how to get started.

Same issues here - ds is 11.5. He has 47 other things he "has" to do at the same time I head for the math book. I also keep hearing it's the age, so I'm not too worried. Drives me crazy, though. Lots of boundary pushing, sass-mouthing, and overall laziness going on.

Growing up we always did the stocking first. Lately, though, we do them last. Usually "part 2" of a bigger gift is in the stocking: batteries, an iTunes gift card that goes with a new iPod, doll clothes that go with the new doll, games that go with the new 3DS, etc. If you get to the stocking first, it may ruin the surprise of the bigger gift. Also, we like having that extra smaller set of gifts to open after all the other gifts are opened. But I love hearing how everyone does it. I'm getting some great new ideas!

We got over a hundred. We almost ran out of candy. It was really great - my neighbors across the street heavily decorate and play a Halloween CD loudly so they pretty much summon the neighborhood to my block, lol.

I totally ate some. :leaving:

Power's on. Trees down everywhere - one is blocking my road. Dh & kids are off tomorrow again - making it the 3rd day. I can't get in touch with my mom or sister who live in Long Island. Last I heard a tree came down in her backyard pulling down all the power lines with it. No home phone or cell service there. I'm scheduled to go to work at 5pm. I hope they close the office soon so I don't have to go. Driving will be hell. And since 90% of my co-workers take public transportation, I have no idea why we're open at all.

Most bridges, tunnels, and Long Island highways are already re-opened. We do get up and running incredibly quickly here in NY. Driving should be fine by Thursday. Power may not be on where you're going, though...

Congratulations!!

And there's a whole lot of this going on...

Here's another one. I know a lot have been photoshopped, but these are coming from the Weather Channel and our local congressman.

Check this out. It's a street in lower Manhattan...

It's crazy out there. Schools are closed today and tomorrow. Trains and buses are shut down - so most of the city had to be as well, since that's how most people get around. Trees are down everywhere - one fell onto my neighbor's car. I keep hearing sirens. But it's the wind that's the scariest. It's so loud. Some parts of the neighborhood have been evacuated, but we're fine so far. Lots of power outages, too. The rain isn't bad, but the storm is making landfall right at high tide, so many parts of NYC are flooded badly.

If Time Warner Cable is in your area, ask about their "winback" offer. You get a nice discount for coming over to them from another company. I think with 2 converters (hd, 1 DVR), 10mbps internet, and phone it's $89.99/mo for 2 years.

:iagree:

Yep

People do that a lot here in NYC. Families move here from all over the country (and the world) so their kids can attend my dd's public performing arts high school. I think if you can swing the move financially, then go for it.

New York City: Pack: $13.00 Carton $130.00 :eek: :svengo:

I suggest Utsav on 6th Ave between 46th & 47th. It's a bit on the upscale side, friendly and the food's great. As the pp said, Sapphire is good, too, but a bit of a walk from the theater district.

The tree will be lit on Nov 28. All the decorations should be up by then. I suggest walking uptown on 5th Avenue for the decorations and Christmas windows, FAO Schwarz, the Bryant Park market, and walking around Times Square. You don't have to wear dresses to a Broadway show (unless you want to, of course). I've worn anything from jeans to dress pants - it doesn't really matter. I also suggest not wearing a heavy coat. A few light/medium layers is better. Have a great time!

The unofficial plan for ds (11) this week is: The first of three 90-minute stop-motion animation classes in Manhattan A few more readaloud chapters of Prince Caspian 2 lessons in Saxon Math 7/6 Reading, discussing, and doing some writing about 2 poems in Read & Understand Poetry Editing 3 or 4 paragraphs in Daily Paragraph Editing (for grades 6+) 1 lesson in A Workbook for Dyslexics spread out over the week Starting a month-long unit on The Animal Kingdom using Science Essentials and nature study - maybe a trip to the science museum (it's 10 minutes from my house and we get in free. I have no excuse not to take him). Reading about Early Man in the Complete Book of World History and maybe doing some sort of project (lapbook? art project?)

I took my kids there a few years ago. Loved it. We did the Victoria Confino tour with our homeschool group. Although school groups go, the museum considers a family their own group or they will put together groups of people themselves for each tour.