Yes. He helps with just about everything. He cooks every night, does the laundry on the weekends, drives the kids all over the place - and picks them up, does the dishes, and does the weekly food shopping. On the other hand, he doesn't notice clutter. at. all. :glare:

NE Queens, NY. (Douglaston, Little Neck, Fresh Meadows, Bayside, Malba, Whitestone), You'll be living in NYC, so you'll have all the amenities it has to offer. The high schools are wonderful (many for gifted kids), Manhattan is less than 1 hr away by public transportation, near 2 airports, nice beaches/fishing is within a 40-minute drive, not really competitive, very diverse, and since Queens is more residential than the rest of the city, finding a place with some land is doable. Here's an example of a home in NE Queens

Click on the Chat box on the bottom right. Then click on Options. There you'll see Go Offline. :001_smile:

I live in the city, too. I would never want to live anywhere else. I live in Queens - 6 miles away from the heart of Manhattan. I've lived here my whole life but grew up with a vacation house in the country on the beach. It was great, but only in the summer when there's lots of people around. I would go crazy if I had to drive absolutely everywhere. I enjoy the country (and most suburbs) in very small doses. I always read blogs about families who live in the country and I don't see much interaction with other kids (besides siblings) and it seems they spend 90% of their lives at home. To live that far away from other people and places would drive us crazy. Dh and the kids love the city, too. In about 1 hour north, we can go skiing, 1 hour east are great beaches, farms, vineyards, and state parks. Within 20 minutes I can be in Manhattan with all its museums, cultural centers, Central Park, restaurants, theaters, galleries, and awesome neighborhoods (except for the restaurants and theater, most of those are free). Within walking distance from my house are 2 supermarkets, 2 libraries, delis, the post office, a drug store, a dozen restaurants, several bakeries, 5 bus lines, the subway, and so much more. My block is quiet and tree-lined and we live in a house with a front and back yard, garden, and garage. Homeschooling here is unlike anywhere else. The amount of resources and opportunities for kids is endless. We love experiencing everything. I'm definitely a city-girl.

Yep. This is me. And I work 6pm-10pm 5 nights a week for the cable company... :tongue_smilie:

That's what my dds did. After 8th grade, both went to public high school. I created transcripts and report cards. We crammed in a bunch of math and reading during the months before school. Oh, and I don't know if you've heard about New York City's high school admissions process, but it's very stressful (although, very worth it). I was also a bit nerve-wracked about others now "seeing" their progress. It really makes you want to second guess everything you've done, lol. But in the end, both girls have done amazingly well - socially and academically.

No, I do not believe God wills anything negative for us. I do believe, though, that as souls, before we are born, we choose the life we need to lead in order to get to a "higher plane" spiritually. Sometimes it's a life of hardship, sometimes it's solely to help others. I believe the main objective for everyone is to ultimately be as close to God as we can. Situations we face in life - and how we deal with them - are the basis of everything. We have free will. God gave that to us. What we do with this free will determines who we are as souls. When a child is poor, or sick, or disabled we wonder why God did this. I believe this soul needs to be this child at this time and chose certain people to be his parents because they are strong enough to deal with it. I believe there is a reason for everything and sometimes those reasons just don't make sense. I also believe God is pure love and doesn't put obstacles in our path to "teach us lessons". I believe he does send us teachers and masters and guides - sometimes in the most obscure ways - to help us through our journey. I'm sorry someone said something so mean to you. It's sad. They were probably taught that God is vengeful and so, will always live a life in fear instead of peace.

I started homeschooling originally because I had a gifted child bored to death in a gifted school. She loved her friends there, but became indifferent to learning anything new, her personality changed, and she lost so much of the enthusiasm she'd always had. This was 3rd grade. She homeschooled from 3rd -8th grades and it was the best thing we ever did - and as the years went by, my reasons to homeschool expanded immensely. It was going so well that my oldest dd decided to come home for a year and my ds also chose to start homeschooling in Kindergarten. My kids then go on to public high school. It's their choice and has worked out wonderfully (NYC has a huge selection of incredible high schools). Homeschooling gave (is giving) them such an awesome foundation, not only academically, but emotionally and socially as well. They enter high school knowing and being proud of who they are Homeschooling has fostered their self-confidence, self-esteem, and independence that they seem to never let go of.

I usually get up at 6:30am, get dressed, make youngest dd(14) breakfast, drive her and dh to the train, swing back home, pick up oldest dd(17) and drive her to school and get home by 8:30ish. Then I have my coffee, spend about an hour on the computer, and another hour doing morning chores. Ds(9) wakes up around 9, has breakfast and relaxes til 10:30. We start academics at 10:30am usually. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we start with math (Teaching Textbooks 5). We do one lesson (he prefers to only use the workbook, not the CDs) and it takes about 20 minutes. Then I'll read 1 Ambleside Online (AO) reading to him and he narrates back to me. This takes about 15 minutes. Next is spelling (Spelling Skills 4). He does one activity in about 10-15 minutes. After that, I'll read him from one of the AO "free readings" - no narration here - and it takes about 15 minutes. Then we'll read a poem together (based on the AO term poets) and he'll copy the first 2 lines into his copywork book. Copywork has to be written exactly the way it is in the book and with the best handwriting possible. This takes another 15 minutes. Finally, he reads 2 pages from his novel of choice (right now it's A Cricket in Times Square) for more reading practice (he has mild dyslexia). On Tuesdays we listen to music from the current AO term's composer, while looking at and discussing paintings from the current AO term's artist. I might read brief biographies on them focusing on the time period they lived in and what part of the world they came from. This takes about 30 minutes. Then we'll do a dictation exercise, where he'll go over yesterday's copywork for a few minutes, close the book, and write it again as I dictate it to him. We'll work up to entire poems eventually. This takes about 20 minutes. We do a lesson in Spanish next (Immersion Spanish CD Roms) which takes about 15 minutes. Then we do some nature study, reading from The Handbook of Nature Study. We follow the AO term's nature schedule for this as well. After some reading, we either do some online activities, or grab the sketchbooks, colored pencils, magnifying glass, and field guide to get outside and really enjoy nature. This takes as much time as we want. At some point in the day, he will read me 2 more pages from his novel. On Thursdays, we read about 5 AO scheduled readings - all with narrations. His narrations are all spoken aloud, but he will start doing one written narration each week soon. Each reading with narration takes about 15 minutes. After that, he does another spelling activity in his spelling workbook (15 minutes) and then reads me another 2 pages from his current novel. We're usually done before 1pm. On Tuesdays we have a homeschool group get-together from noon to 3 and do classes on various Fridays here and there during the early afternoons. We are very relaxed and very flexible, so if we feel like going to a museum or the science center or out somewhere with friends, we'll forget about the seatwork and go out instead. When we're home, ds loves to spend the afternoons being extremely creative with his nerf gun modding, claymation videos, weapon making, inventions, Legos, drawings, and going to the playground down the block to meet up with friends. Homeschooling is whatever you want it to be. I love it.

I was a teen that always loved reading and read voraciously all through high school and college. My oldest dd(17) takes after me and is always reading. She loves getting books as gifts and always loves a good series. My 14 y/o will never pick up a book on her own. She's in high school now and has required reading, but that's where it ends.

Dh and I both joined WW in early January. We're doing online only. I've lost 8 pounds so far. Dh keeps forgetting to weigh in, but I always see him tracking his points. We have separate accounts (I briefly thought of just getting one, but that would never work with us). I'm proud of him since it's his first real attempt at losing weight.

My ds is using TT5 and it takes him about 20 minutes. But he prefers to only use the workbook, not the CDs. With the CDs it took him around 30 minutes.

How often do your kids narrate? outline? Ds (4th/5th grade) narrates all scheduled readings (7-8 a week) - but not the books from the "free reading" list. Do you use literature study guides or just trust the narration method? We don't use any study guides. I trust the narration method. This is our 3rd year doing this and ds's narrations have gotten better and better. Soon he will start writing out one or 2 narrations a week. Do you use just the living books for history? or do you use a reference spine of some sort? We use only the living books for history, no reference spine. But, we do a book of centuries, timeline, lots of museum visits, documentaries, homeschool classes, other field trips, and some projects to bring all that we read to life. I think the AO book selection is great. Keep in mind it's an advanced curriculum and does not necessarily match up with grade level. When my dd was 12 (7th grade) we had just started AO and tried Yr 6, but the method was new to her and the books were difficult. We then tried Yr 4 and it was definitely better for her. Ds is 9 and about to start Yr 3 - he started with Yr 1, so he's used to it.

Gifted dd in gifted school, bored to tears, and always getting in trouble. She had lots of friends (which helped her tolerated school), but soon closed off to any new learning and became indifferent about life. They killed her love of reading and writing, made her feel inadequate, and told me she had ADD-inattentive (she didn't) and wanted her on medication :001_huh: . So I got fed up with the whole elementary/middle school system (with no choice of schools). After 5 incredibly successful years of a child-led education (where she soon regained her love of learning, enthusiasm, and drive), she was accepted into a fantastic high school and is making excellent grades. Homeschooling was the best decision we've ever made.

This was me 5 years ago. I had been a SAHM for 12 years and decided to put in some applications for a part-time job. It had to be evenings and weekends so I could be home with the kids during the day. I was 36 and ready to bring in some extra money. Dh emailed me something that looked cool with the cable company. I threw together a resume in about an hour (I copied different formats online), created a cover letter, and emailed it all in. The next day I got an email for an interview with HR. Then 2 weeks later there was another interview with the woman who would be my immediate supervisor. Then a week later I began my 6-weeks of paid training. I am still a part-time sales rep with them. I work 5:30pm-9:30pm 5 nights a week with Tuesdays and Fridays off. I love it and still can't believe I got something on my first attempt. The cable company is not the first thing you'd would think of when going back to work, but it's worth looking into. The pay is great and you get free cable/internet/phone!

I plan on getting my son (soon to turn 10) a huge bag of sticks (popsicle, dowel), tape (all kinds), PVC pipe, clothespins, rubber bands, clay, and paint. I swear that's all he plays with (modding Nerf guns, making crossbows, claymation, etc). He'll be thrilled. (He's also finally getting his ear pierced, but I'm not sure that's what you're looking for :tongue_smilie:)

I hear you. I was so excited when dd joined a competition dance team. It was a good monthly charge and she had 3-5 classes a week. Then there was costumes (5 of them at $200 each), hotel stays, competition fees (hundreds $$), the obligatory restaurant dinner with all the other dance moms :glare:, shoes (Capezio), makeup (MAC), hair stuff, tights, extra weekend rehearsals, last-minute performances, etc. Dd is lucky I didn't know about any of this stuff when she started.

We love the CAT-E. We've used it for 5th and 7th grades, but my dd (who was an unschooler) did very well.

AO comes with a 36-week schedule that tell you what books to read when. It is also broken up into 3 12-week terms with different artists, poets, composers, and nature-study-topic per term. My suggestion is to go to the "site map" page and read as many of the links as you can. That was the only way I understood AO. I also joined the Yahoo group and started reading the messages from the beginning (lol, not suggesting you do that, but it's good to join the group). You have to have a good understanding of the CM method when using AO. Reading Charlotte Mason's original writing is a great idea, but the AO website gives a wonderful overview with lots of explanations, suggestions and advice.

We're using it, too. We follow the schedule as written for everything including nature study, artists, composers, and poets. We do remove all the religious readings, though. Ds is 9 and we're finishing up Year 2 soon and can't wait to start Year 3.

Secular blogger here, as well. Link's in signature

I used to, in a way. But I don't anymore. After 6 years of homeschooling, my dd got into once of the best high schools around (in the top 150 in the country). I know it's not college, but it might as well be. So, now my homeschooling would really be put to the test and I panicked. I was happy she got in, but then what. How will she do? I'm happy to say she's doing so well there. She's making As and Bs and really puts her heart into her work. What would probably put you more at ease is that we were unschoolers. No curriculum, no requirements, no demands, no pressure. She basically did her own thing all day, every day. Then 1 year before high school, she asked to go over things she may need to know for freshman year. We spent a few months (that's right, only a few months, 1-2 hours/day, 2-3 times a week) reading and going over math. I am completely convinced that homeschooling - no matter what method - is the answer for success.

LOVE scary movies. I don't get scared at slasher movies, blood and gore are boring. I love the ones that creep you out. I loved both Paranormal Activity movies (even waited on a huge line to see the first one opening night) and Paranormal Entity was good, too (same concept). The Saw movies were pretty good. Love ones like The Omen and The Exorcist. The Jasons, Freddys, and Mike Myers ones are too boring as well. Quarantine was good. 28 Days Later was good. Many Japanese remakes are good too: The Ring, The Grudge, Black Water (or was it Dark Water?). Loved Jaws, Open Water, and I even saw Piranha in 3D with dd (Richard Dreyfuss, Elizabeth Shue, and Jerry O'Connell were in it). I also loved The Others, The Changeling (w/George C Scott from the 80s), Amityville Horror (I even went to that house and walked on the lawn). I just love being scared.

Academics start around 10am and we're finished by around 1pm. We are very laid back. Sometimes we'll stay in our pajamas. Ds likes to get up and get dressed, though. We use Ambleside Online (CM) Year 2-3 for 9 y/o ds in 4th grade. Mondays Read out loud Artist Composer Dictation Spanish Nature Tues, Thu, & Fridays Math Spelling Read out loud 1 AO Reading 1 Free Reading Poetry Copywork Wednesdays 5 AO Readings Spelling Read out loud

:iagree: Can't agree with this more.