I used MFW for my 7th grader and found it too light. I am also one who is NOT into rigourous academics either, but for me it was too light. I made several posts about this on my blog after I switched to TOG. www.homeschoolblogger.com/michellemybell You'll have to scroll down, and if it is not on the first page, you'll see the "page 2" link under "MY FRIENDS" . Hope this helps. Michelle PS Here is a direct link to pg. 2 of my blog which contains most of the posts about MFW. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MichelleMyBell/page2/&thisy=&thism=&thisd=

Didn't they "retire" Felicity a couple of years ago? I think what they are actually doing is just dropping Samantha from their catalog like they did Felicity for awhile in hopes of boosting sales. You could still purchase Felicity online back then. Whatcha think? Michelle

Rough Collie, Fifth disease could be it. It looks more like this http://www.mydr.com.au/content/images/categories/rash/5fifth_disease.jpg which is also called fifth disease. Can the rash come and go? This seems to be happening. I don't think it is lyme disease as we live in the city and haven't been in the woods in a long while. Also, from the pictures I saw, there were no bullseye type markings on any of the girls. Michelle

Thanks for your help ladies. I am going to throw some of your suggestions into this week and I'll report back. Jessica, Thanks for the extra info about Writing Aids too! Michelle

For a couple of weeks we have been having some illness around here that has run through all of my children. It started out with fevers and body aches. Then one day my daughter had hives all over with red splothches on her cheeks. I thought this was unrelated because she tends to have skin problems. I gave her benadryl and this took care of it for her. Well then my other daughter had hives a few days later and the same odd red splotches on her cheeks. Now another daughter had the same thing happen a couple of days later! On top of all this, I have seen reduced energy in two of my girls and a bad cough with all of them but one. It is worse at night. I am perplexed about this. Any thoughts? Thanks, Michelle

We are using TOG without the writing componant currently. I feel like my children should be writing after they read something. Maybe a notebook page or something. Does anyone have any suggestions or forms or??? I really want their notebooks to reflect all the wonderful books we are reading. Thank You, Michelle

I don't do Once A Month Cooking all in one day. In fact I am on a roll right now over a several day period where I am cooking and blogging about it. You can see it at www.homeschoolblogger.com/michellemybell . I find cooking in bulk help save money in several ways: Preparing a lot and then freezing in meal size portions (sometimes smaller portions) so there is no leftovers. This helps us not forget about leftovers that end up getting pitched. Variety: Again, since we don't have to eat up leftovers right away, they can seem new. Today I made excess homemade from scratch mac-n-cheese. I froze the extra and we can have it in a few weeks in a new way. Bulk buying: I agree that buying ON SALE foods helps a lot. That is why I don't do Once A Month Cooking, I only cook what is on sale. This is also a great way not to exhaust myself from an all day marathon. In Season foods: I bought a bunch of apples at an orchard for next to nothing and made applesauce, dried apples & pie filling. If I want to make a pie in Feb. it is going to cost more with store bought apples. More In Season foods: I also grew red/green peppers this summer, but not quite enough. I froze what was in my garden and I am buying what I need right now since they are so cheap. Later in the winter I will use my frozen peppers. You can save by not running your oven or stove for long periods required to make from scratch foods. I just have to pull from the freezer, defrost in the fridge and warm it up on the stove. I know there are more, but I have cooking to do! LOL Michelle

I watched it last night and I wouldn't let my children watch it at any age. That is because I don't think that unmarried children need to see things that only married people should be doing, even if it is only suggested, which is what Iron Man does. I am conservative, but that is good right!?:tongue_smilie:

Did you try putting something together using a spine and your library? I personally would choose a good animal encyclopedia (if that is what you want to study) and then choose good literature to go with it. If you want animal crafts, just type that into your library's search engine. You could even use the Winterpromise booklist as a jumping off point. That way when you get tired of it, you can move onto the next topic. This is what we have been doing this year with my kindergarten daughter. The only difference is that we are studying fairy tales. Michelle

I find cooking in bulk tends to save time and money. Yesterday I got 40 lbs of apple seconds at an orchard and made applesauce. Today I am going to be making several meals and freezing them. Michelle

Thank you all so much! I ended up going with the 1st recipe offered. I will stock some of those Pillsbury crusts so I can whip it up fast when we want one. Thanks so much!!! Michelle

Ok, I am a little anxious, but I really need help with this. :001_smile: Michelle

I am right now in the process of making applesauce for the freezer, but I want to make a couple of apple pies too. I want to freeze them, but I am unsure if I should bake them first, just freeze the filling, freeze them whole but unbaked??? I also don't know how to wrap them up if I should freeze them whole. Any suggestions? Thanks so much!!! Michelle

I just looked at this and that does seem to be the kind of thing I am looking for, but I really would like a strong Christian influence. What about if you added in the Bible Reader. All MFW really does that is Biblical in 1st grade is use the Bible Reader to teach reading. You could then add in copywork of proverbs, which is what MFW does. Just a thought. I have used both K & 1st MFW by the way. Michelle

I used both of those programs and I have to say I wouldn't get them if your not going to use the whole program. I just recently saw this http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/ posted here and it looks really neat. It seems to have what you might be looking for. I don't know if you are a Christian or not and I don't know if this is either (I would guess no) but it looks good anyhow. Michelle

I personally would never put the care of my under-age daughter into someone elses hands like that. How do you know that your values and your rules are being followed? As you said you are disconnected from your daughter. I don't think you should have ever allowed it in the first place, so I guess I think you should bring her home. I am not trying to sound unkind, just give you what I really think. Michelle

My daughters and their friends have started Blog TV for Christian homeschoolers. Preview it and if your interested, show it to your daughters. I am so amazed by their creativity. I want to help them get the word out!:hurray: God Bless, Michelle http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolchannel PS Here is her personal blog. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wonderland21

Hi, I actually have a homeschool room in my basement, but after two years down there I decided to move my homeschool room upstairs diningroom. My basement gets really chilly in the winter and dark too since there is less daylight. I also like being in the central part of my home. I actually keep most of my homeschool books and supplies downstairs that I am not currently using this quarter. When I do next quarters planning, I will bring up what I need. Here is what I use... I actually found this shelf on the side of the road one day. I pulled right over and threw it in the back of my van. Now it sits in my diningroom. I use the library heavily in our homeschool, so all my library books are on the shelves that face out. Underneath I have my two older girls books in the blue bin and my two younger girls textbooks in the white. I keep all their notebooks in a bin off to the right. I also have a basket with some books I will be using in the coming weeks, but not currently. I store my Lesson Plans in a notebook that slides in between the two bins on the bottom shelf. The only other thing I have are basic supplies like pens, pencils, glue sticks etc.. I made a little caddy for those and I keep it on the diningroom table except for meal times. I don't like to remove my tablecloth and placemats, so whenever the girls have to write, we put their papers on a clipboard. I know you probably don't have this type of shelf, but you can purchase them from school supply catalogs. If you have a handy hubby, you can also make them fairly easily. Otherwise, I would just use a bookshelf. You can put bins on them also if you like that idea. Michelle

What is your favorite exercise video and why? I like to do part of my working out at home each week, so I would like to spice it up a little with some library DVD's. Just to thank you, I posted two recipes on my blog. www.homeschoolblogger.com/michellemybell Thanks! Michelle

I homeschool 4 girls, grades K, 2nd, 5th, & 8th. How do we homeschool in less than 3 hours a day? Well, I have a chart that keeps everyone busy at all times. I work with the little two together, keeping their history/science & story times together. My 2nd grade works on her math with just a little explaination. I don't make her do every problem either. She is doing Rod & staff and it is 3 pages long. She only does 2 pages and if she really has the concept down, I only make her do a few for review. She picks things up really fast. My older two are working on their independent subjects at this time. I chose curriculum that is fast to work through on purpose. I like reading curriculums like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons & The Reading Lesson. I use a lot of living books etc... I follow the Charlotte Mason method. We incorporte Nature Study, Fine Arts, Picture Study and Handicrafts every week, but not every day. We usually have lunch and I put the baby boy down to bed while the younger two go play. Then I get toghether with my older two working on math, TOG, projects, Spelling etc... Again, I choose curriculum that is not busywork, is not time consuming and I follow Charlotte Mason principles. Every once in a while I will assign after school work for the girls to do as "homework" but not very often. I did today because I wanted them to do some research on the computer and I didn't want that part of my school hours. So that is how we do it. I don't consider "extra learning" that takes place to be part of school. Things like reading, crafts, educational TV, projects etc... But they are constantly working on things. I guess it is a form of unschooling. Thankfully they have the time to pursue these interests because I don't keep them busy all day with school. They do have atleast an hour of chores each day plus just general duties throughout the day. My girls are always writing plays, writing musicals, producing TV shows for their Blog TV they do. I am content in what they do. God Bless, Michelle

We average 2 1/2 - 3 hours a day. Occasionally we go longer but I prefer shorter school days with combined subjects. My oldest daughter (age 14) has the same workload. Michelle PS I know I am the odd ball on this, but I don't care!:001_smile:

Hi, I have noticed a strong desire to learn how to play piano in my 8 year old daughter. My oldest daughter (age 14) has several years of piano lessons under her belt (still currently taking lessons) and is pretty advanced in her lessons. I would love to allow my 8 year old to take lessons, but it would mean a jump from $50 a month to $100 a month for lessons. We just can't afford that right now. So I have decided that my oldest will teach her for now. She has already taught her some random lessons, but I would like to make it a weekly, well thought out lesson. My oldest daughter loves to teach so I know this will work for that. My question is, I need to put together a program for my daughter. What books should I use? I know she will need a basic beginning book, but what else? She she have extra song books? What about tecnic or theory? My oldest daughter likes her Thompson books, so I'll probably go with that. I would be thankful if someone could lay out a weekly plan of what she should do exactly while teaching the lessons. Thanks so much!!! Michelle

I personally do not think they are that pretty. Have you looked at Life of Faith dolls? They are gorgeous!!! Way prettier than AG dolls. We have a couple AG dolls and a couple LOF dolls (same size dolls) and I can't emphasize enough the quality difference. http://www.lifeoffaith.com/shop/catalog/index.html