97%. So annoyed at the one I missed.

We have a Bob O Pedic Gel mattress. Dh and I agree it's the best, most comfortable mattress we've ever had. I finally get the best sleep, no back pain, and I don't get up during the night.

ME! Today I'm going to remove the closet door in my dds' room and put in shelves and then I'm going to put all their tops in one big, open, clear Rubbermaid bucket, and all bottoms in another one (they're both the same size - even shoes - and share everything). Both buckets will sit on top of their dresser from now on for easy clothing access and replacement. Then I'm going to shred another bucket full of papers. Then I will clean the bathroom, do laundry, sweep, and mop. This probably will spill over into tomorrow. Wish me luck.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

When dd started homeschooling in 2005, after more than 4 years of private/public school, I was eager to implement the schedule and curriculum I created over the previous weeks. I had read it was best that she have a period of "deschooling", so I continued to "perfect" my schedules and lists. Over the next month (still deschooling), I noticed that dd was doing a LOT of school-type work on her own. She was printing out worksheets and asking me to quiz her on multiplication tables. I let the deschooling continue until it turned into 100% unschooling. Dd was requesting workbooks we saw at Barnes & Noble, teaching herself sign language, writing songs, learning how to cook and sew, really loving the homeschool group classes and activities, and learning so much, that I decided not to rock that boat. About 3 years later, she (and her little brother, who was also homeschooling by this time) wanted more structure. The most effective thing I've ever done as a homeschooler was to include the kids in choosing what books and programs they want to use, what non-academic things they loved doing, and what places they'd like to go. We went with a Charlotte Mason approach with lots of read-alouds, nature study, copywork, poetry, narrations, etc. The months of deschooling (and the years of unschooling) gave me an incredible understanding of how my kids learn, their strengths, weaknesses, and interests. It actually made homeschooling with a curriculum a breeze. I still make ds a huge part of our planning. We currently still implement facets of unschooling and Charlotte Mason, but we're more eclectic and structured now. I have also realized that my kids understand and retain a whole heck of a lot more in 60-90 minutes per day of formal academics than in 3-6 hours. I stopped worrying what "the right way to homeschool" was - there is no right way, unless it's the way that works for you. And that can change a hundred times - which is fine. :)

The ability to block channels by rating, channel number, or time of day comes standard with most companies. Do you use a remote control that your cable company provided? Mine has a button called "settings" and I go to "parental control". What cable company do you have?

So sorry for your loss, Luanne :grouphug:

I have several math programs, mainly because I have older kids who used them, and we use them all. When one gets stale, we try another one. Right now, we put Saxon Algebra 1/2 aside and ds is using TT Algebra 1. After 27 lessons of TT, we're now using Life of Fred Beginning Algebra. It works for ds since it solidifies concepts for him. I also have Algebra for Dummies that has extra problems in it.

Believe it or not, my perfect home (in retirement) would be a nice apartment in a big doorman building in Midtown Manhattan. To have such easy access not only to Broadway shows, museums, and Central Park, but to any necessary type of store/business - plus be able to have free delivery of anything - would be amazing. But no, I haven't lived in my perfect home, yet. My current apartment is maybe 70% there.

Yes! Be at my house every other Wednesday at around noon so we can hit the lunch specials!

I love: That it's in the big city, close to any and everything we could want That we have a garage, front yard, back yard, and washer/dryer That we really don't even need a car (but we have one), since we can walk everywhere and the public transportation is great That there's a ceiling fan in every room That I figured out how to make 900 square feet work for 5 people That we have so many windows That my MIL is right across the street That even though it's cozy, everyone has private space That it was built over 100 years ago and has the same gorgeous wood floors and decorative moldings

My goals for the summer and the new school year are: To start our ethnic restaurant hopping adventure (hundreds in our nabe: Nepalese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Argentinian, Serbian, Yemeni, Liberian, etc) To keep everything simple and fun To focus more on ds's strengths and interests To get out of the house as much as we can and take advantage of and explore more of our city To continue making math and reading the main focus

I'd like to: Have ds do a bit more writing Keep having ds read a lot Focus more on ds's strengths and interests Stick to more of a set daily routine (not just for academics, but for eating, exercising, cleaning, etc) Get back into field trips and homeschool classes Have more fun together - with ds and with the rest of the family, too.

Me. I've tried adventure novels, interactive books, books in a series, comic books, graphic novels, audio books, magazines, non-fiction how-to books, Kindle, and Kindle cloud reader. I'm done. My home is full of every kind of book. They're available to him anytime. What else can I do?

All 3 of my kids had the choice to attend high school or not. Oldest dd only came home for 8th grade and it was with the full understanding that she would attend high school afterward. Here in NYC we have over 400 public high schools to choose from and we found one together that was fairly close to home, small, and focused on journalism - which was what she wanted to do since she loved writing. It was #1 on her application (kids get to pick up to 12 schools in order of preference) and she made it in. Younger dd was homeschooled from 3rd-8th grades. Early in 7th grade she came to me with thoughts of maybe attending high school - but only a performing arts school. So we started doing the research. We read everything on the schools' websites, read tons of parent and student reviews, and watched a lot of YouTube videos of performances. In the fall of 8th grade she auditioned for 3 of them and in the spring she found out she got into the biggest and best one (that has a 4% acceptance rate). She had a few weeks to make the final decision about it and she went for it. She'll be graduating that school in a month. Ds is just finishing up 7th grade. He still has his high school options open, but has pretty much decided to stay home (yay). There's a good charter school near me that a friend of his goes to (it's a K-12 school) and he was thinking about that one, but only that one, and it's always an option down the road. But he knows he can get so much more done at home and can start volunteering/working next year at a place he loves - something he is dying to do but couldn't if he was in school. Plus he's seen his sisters go through it and wants no part of it.

My ds had a pretty good year. We didn't get out as much as I would have liked for classes and field trips, but he made a lot of progress with the home academics. Math is still great - we have several programs/books that we use. When ds gets stuck on a concept (ugh, like adding two negative numbers together), we temporarily switched the TT for LoF and he completely understood it then. And we have "Algebra for Dummies" that had a bunch of practice problems in it. He's good at math and the confidence it gives him spills over a bit into the other subjects. His reading has skyrocketed. 2 years ago he could barely read out loud (and didn't do that well silently either), now you wouldn't be able to tell he has VP issues/dyslexia. I realized that we don't have to use novels (which has always been a bust unless I read it aloud), but can use a variety of things instead. So, ds has been making huge strides with Shel Silverstein poetry, grade level reading comprehension workbooks (page-long passages & questions), and independently reading his science, history, and geography textbooks. All of these things helped his reading ability so much. After any textbook readings, he'll either do a verbal or short written narration. I try to get at least one or two written ones in each week. These written narrations work better for him than formal writing assignments. Other writing has come from the comprehension workbook - and he is actually hand writing in any long answers. This is huge because he cannot stand handwriting anything at all. His writing still has a long way to go, Content is ok, mechanics - not so much. We'll continue this way, working out any issues, next year for 8th grade as well, then in high school we're thinking about trying the Killgallon books. And the big surprise of this year is how he's taken to learning Spanish. Getting Started with Spanish is (imo) set up perfectly for him and he does it all independently. Other than that, he's been all about fitness, martial arts, computer gaming, and programming. All of those were kicked up another notch this year.

My 3 have been in over a dozen different activities since they all turned 3. I just made it work. Lots of driving around and we were really busy, but we did it. Of course it would have been easier if they all did the same thing. One year they did! But is was short lived, and they all wanted something new after that.

I love Queens, NY. We have everything, we can walk to most things, and can take a 15 minute drive or subway to everything else. My area is quiet, tree-lined, and friendly. My part of Queens has many restaurants, green markets, playgrounds, big parks, churches, and libraries. There are so many active homeschool groups, too. Manhattan is 6 miles away. Some really nice beaches are about 30-minute drive away. State parks, skiing, hiking trails, camp grounds, and lakes are within an hour's drive. But the homes are small and it can be expensive to live here if you don't do your homework. There are jobs here. Have you looked into NY?

We've been a part of several studios and here's what I found: 1. Of course it really does depend on the studio and the teachers, but many studios that do not have a competition team, don't produce great dancers. They usually don't bring the kids to master classes, hire bigger name choreographers, or have that competitive drive that pushes harder work from the kids. 2. Disorganization is the downfall of so many studios. Dd's newest studio is the most organized I've seen so far. They have a ticket-ordering website where parents choose the seats they want from a detailed grid of the concert hall. If you paid your "recital fee" you get a checkout code that automatically makes 4 tickets free. No one was allowed to reserve their seats until 9am this past Sunday. This studio does 6 recitals. 3. A good way I've seen was to have the parents videotape their child's routines at the dress rehearsal. The studio should have a videographer the day of the recital. 4. Dd's studios always had more than 200 kids. The way it was done was that all the kids (and parents with a wristband who could be backstage) had to be there an hour before showtime. The kids remain in the dressing rooms by group until their number is called and they are led out (holding hands if they're little) by their teacher. I agree it is sooo hard for kids to wait and not get antsy. The studio owner also had a big table full of snacks and water for everyone, which is a great idea. 5. Recital time is usually a bit chaotic even in the most organized studios. It's not easy finding a studio that has it all together. The technique camp sounds fun and I'm sure it will help with her skills. I would suggest seeing how you feel around August. If you're still not thrilled with how things are run then ask around for a better studio. I would check out a studio that has a competition team - even if you don't want to be a part of that, they do tend to be more organized and offer more (usually, lol).

I am so very sorry for your loss, Rosie. :grouphug:

It is earth science-y, but I haven't seen anything yet indicating young earth (we're on lesson 15).

Mine would be: Ask a mom of a semi-professional dance teen. Ask a (former) community theater/cabaret actress/singer Ask a cradle-Catholic Ask a wife to a rock band lead singer

Hi! I live in about the biggest city there is. :001_smile: So feel free to ask away. Grocery shopping was usually done sans kids. If the kids came, then dh had to be home to bring in the groceries. I would usually do small trips, though. We have a supermarket 2 blocks away that I could walk the baby carriage to and throw at least 3 bags of groceries under the carriage to walk home. When the kids are older and can walk, we walk together pushing a small shopping cart that folds, like THIS one. I do have a backyard, but I grew up without one. I was outside playing constantly. It was awesome having tons of kids right on my block. We played hopscotch, box ball, running bases, Charlie's Angels, stickball, skelly, and manhunt. My kids also always had kids on the block to play with. Manhunt was still always popular - as was many of the games I played as a kid. There have been many times at the park where many of the other parents (and sometimes kids) didn't speak English. It never stopped my kids from making friends and playing with them all day anyway. It is interesting now that I look back on that. I spent my park time watching my kid closely and/or reading - so if other parents didn't speak English, it really didn't matter to me. But, I somehow still made parent-friends at the park, too, lol. I was out every day with the kids. I still try and get out as much as I can with ds even though he's a teen now. We are able to walk EVERYWHERE. Everything we frequent is right in walking distance. Supermarkets, bodegas, libraries, car repair shop, tailor, playgrounds, etc. Anything else is within 15 minutes away by car. Manhattan and Queens have endless places to go - especially with kids. And we have always been a part of at least 5 very active homeschool groups that do tons of field trips, classes, and other activities together. Extra-curriculars abound here. My kids have done dance, little league, football, basketball, scouts, aikido, shotokan karate, MMA, gymnastics, show choirs, and drama groups. I can honestly say that people just don't judge you here. We live among every nationality, religion, and culture imaginable - and in very close proximity to each other - so there's no room for much intolerance and judgement (yeah there are some who ruin it for everyone else, but not many). Well even with my small backyard, I took the kids to the park several times a week. There are about 6 great playgrounds we would frequent. They had friends at all of them. City kids are outside playing all the time. The block is the main hub. I would never think to leave my kids unattended in the car. This is very different from sending them outside to play. Playing outside by the house unsupervised (but checking in every so often) is fine. Leaving kids in a car is not only illegal here, why would anybody do that? We are so happy with this arrangement. I would never live anywhere else. We have the best of all worlds here and my kids have the best experiences.

We've always gotten the CAT-E from HERE. It is $25. In NY we test in 5th and 7th (or you can choose to do 4th, 6th, and 8th) and every high school year.

I was just going over this with my mom a few weeks ago. We lived with my grandparents for about 7 years and I LOVED the dinners we had. My grandmother was a 3rd generation American and 100% Irish. All meals were inexpensive (back then, anyway) and the leftovers the next day were just as good. Here are a few dinners we loved. Smoked Pork Butt with Potatoes and Cabbage (and carrots and rye bread) Tuna Casserole (similar to THIS recipe, but we tripled it) Beef (ox tail) & Barley soup. I loved the dark brown broth she made. Served with buttered rye bread. Homemade chicken soup. Then put in separately-cooked diced carrots and rice right before serving. Served with buttered Italian bread. Ravioli in tomato sauce London broil with corn on the cob and grandpa's amazing salad - this was usually during the summer on the grill. (The salad was chopped onion and tomato soaked in a dressing of equal parts mayo and white vinegar. Then topped with a whole head of chopped iceberg lettuce and tossed together with some salt and pepper). Baked pork chops (pan-seared first) covered in sauerkraut with string beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, and applesauce. Chicken cutlets (double breaded with Italian bread crumbs and egg, then fried), french fries, and broccoli Macaroni & Meat (Medium shells mixed together with browned ground beef and tomato sauce) with buttered Italian bread and salad Roast beef (eye round), mashed potatoes, corn, string beans, biscuits (usually a Sunday dinner) Tacos (Ortega kit) with lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese. Shepherd's Pie (ground beef, gravy, and cans of peas & carrots, topped with mashed potatoes)