looks great and I LOVE that you use only whole wheat flour. the rest of the recipes do not have only whole wheat flour - any recipes like that that work? I've tried one before but they didn't taste like anything I'd buy at the store (yuk!)

We're in Louisburg - TONS of fairly cheap land for animals (45 min NE of Raleigh; 30 min NE of Wake Forest)

I ditto this question. When dd1 reads simple stories, she does a great job with narration. When I read something to her, she doesn't do well, but I think that she just needs to concentrate. However, we just started reading chapter books. She did a good job with Five Little Peppers but with the Laura Ingalls Wilder biography, she can't get the succession of time - the fact that babies grow up to get married...she doesn't get that...how do we move towards that? (just explain it until she does?)

me too! :) I am doing Saxon 1 w/dd1 but we will finish up in Feb or March so we are going to do MEP 1 afterward (it is too difficult for her now but I'm hoping it can expand her mind once she has basic facts down pat). We are doing LA as WTM suggests - FLL 1, writing from that, writing letters, and writing verses she is working on memorizing, narration (she reads & narrates & I read & she narrates), reading challenging books aloud to me, and SWO B). I am reading CHOW aloud (not a huge fan - we're going to do STOW next year) for history - no activities this year. For science, we are finding an interesting subject, taking pics, reading lots of books, coloring & labeling pics, and making books. We have done butterflies, flowers, farm animals, and leaves (1 subject/month). I'm doing OPG and Saxon K w/dd2 and it's going great (we love the manipulatives and all the learning WITHOUT writing. She is writing names of everyone in the family and then we will move onto HWT workbook. History & science w/her sister. we love what we're doing this year - I hope some of this helps! ETA: In case you are wondering how all of this works out, I'll post a schedule: 7:00 - breakfast & I read CHOW 7:30 - youngers have roomtime; I do math & spelling w/dd1 8:30-9:30 - get dressed & play together 9:30 - Bible 10:00- dd1 plays w/ds (special games); I do 2 subjects w/dd2 (of the 4 from siggy) 10:30- They watch Elmo's World; I clean 11:00- science - everyone together; Grammar/narration/writing w/dd1 11:30- lunch 12:00- play 1:30 - ds takes nap; dd1 does independent work (math & spelling); I finish school w/dd2 2:00- ds & dd2 nap; dd1 reads aloud to me It may (or may not) seem like a lot but it is really spaced out and works for us. It ends up being about 1 hr of Kindergarten (it was only 30 min at the beginning of the year but now that she is reading more, it is taking more time) and 1.5-2hrs for 1st grade. hth!

Didn't mean to make this about me and my kids - I guess I'm just naturally a worry wart - don't want to screw up my kids, you know? :)

they are also cheaper to build (to go up rather than out, I mean).

this part scared me a bit - who wants their kids to 'crumble'? :001_huh:

Same thing happened w/dd1 last year...she was so stuck, she couldn't learn anything new and couldn't/wouldn't recite what she already knew. I was so frustrated but in the end, decided to start 1st grade over again with Saxon 1. I skipped some lessons but have kept most. She LOVED the confidence booster. For the first 1-2 mo, I was able to double up some lessons b/c they were review. Now (week 11), she is relearning things that she should already know from last year but b/c of the huge amt. of frustration & mental block, it is relatively new so I am just trying to take it slow and not act like she *should* know it already but just treat it as a new thing so she can see that she *can* learn new things!

yall are making me worry about my early readers! I LOVE having early readers - I love seeing how much they love to read, I love being read to, I love not having to read ALL the time...but you're making me worry about how they are going to crash & burn in the future :( Any early readers that turned out to be fine? btw, dd1 is almost 4.5 & is reading at a 5th grade level and dd2 just turned 3 and is just starting to be a fluent reader (about where dd1 was at her age) and we learned through puzzles, leapfrog, starfall.com, and OPG, NO sightwords, if that makes a difference :confused:

I've mentioned this on other threads but there is an article The Problem with Dr Bob's (Sears) Alternative Vaccine Schedule by Offit & Moser put out by the AAP...just to add to your awareness :)

You may still hold to your same statement but have you seen the charts on certain vaccines? They show a world map and show (currently) where the diseases are rampant, where they are mild, and where they are non-existent...then you see which of these countries has access to vaccinations for these diseases and it matches EXACTLY...that was something that was hard to argue w/for me.

my hubby (head of vaccines at his ped. office) says it is b/c mistakes happen/better to be safe than sorry kind of thing - there are SOO many people interacting w/you and your baby in the hospital...

People always look at me weird when I say, I can't wait to have this baby so I can sleep! :) (I sleep better and sometimes get more sleep when they are OUT of me!)

this is my feedback too :)

napping....yay naps!

playpen time and morning naps gave (:glare:) me 2.5-3 hrs of uninterrupted school time. We would eat breakfast and then I would do most school stuff w/oldest while younger two had playpen time and roomtime for 45 min. After that, we would get dressed and play together until the morning nap. Then I would finish school stuff...ds JUST dropped morning nap so it's a little more challenging these days... :) good luck!

I changed my original post...take it or leave it...I am leaving it :)

impressive!!!

thank you I do this stuff but it's always good to have reminders (as I have to remind myself again and again)

yes, thank you

this does NOT mean that I am anti-spanking now, but thank you for this - this DOES say a lot about grace and I will put it on my 'list' to look over again and again (I need lots of reminders) :)

Okay, I'm sure many things make me weird and I'm sure this is one of them...but I have copied & pasted all of the helpful nuggets so I can read through them and really contemplate...2.5 pp...so thanks again for all the helpful advice. :) here's to a better tomorrow :) good night

That IS what he means and yes, that is what I'm trying to do (making sure I know what I need to be consistent about). He is not an off-hands dad at all, he is just a lot less long-winded than me (isn't that just like a man? :)).

I understand there are 13 pp but it is obvious you have not read them. the point was how to train her WITHOUT breaking her will - that is what I DO NOT want to do - that is what I was looking for advice about. I have not responded to any of the absurd posts until this one...congrats :glare:

okay, laziness is the answer :) I never made them wash when I wiped (I am all about saving time) :)