Jump Start? Math Blaster?

Always! We're in Carrollton - just do a search on meetup for "carrollton homeschool" and you'll find us! :)

I run a homeschool playgroup meetup and we have several families that have only children. We don't exclude anyone, and certainly not based on faith or family size! I appreciate ALL kids and parents at the homeschool groups. Several of the boys that are only children are my oldest son's age, so I am so glad that they decide to come out and play or participate in the field trips because he really enjoys playing with them. :)

My kids are similar in ages to yours. Here is what we do (and it works VERY well): My kids each earn "marbles". We actually started out with real marbles and each kid had a bowl for each day so they could SEE their marbles they had earned/used throughout the day. Basically for each assignment they do, they earn 1 marble, which equals 10 minutes of screen time. It is individual per kid and if they play a Wii game TOGETHER, they both have to redeem 1 marble per 10 minutes. This works well for us. DD earns about 8-12 marbles a day and DS earns around 5-8. It's still quite a bit of screen time, but I'm comfortable with it because they work hard to earn it. My DS's "work" is usually 2 pages front and back of mazes/dot to dots or a cut and paste and color sheet from a preschool workbook (that's pretty time consuming for him) or something similar. I don't want him to have school burnout before reaching K! ;) I also count reading lessons as a marble for him. My DD earns one for doing her Math Mammoth page or two, one for doing her grammar lesson, one for spelling, one for WWE, etc. That's just how we do it! We don't even use marbles so much anymore - now we pretty much just do a tally sheet and call it marbles. ;)

The ones I have been to have a lot of things that aren't techy - office supplies, books, heck you could even buy it off of her to buy vacuum bags or something. :-) What about movies or educational computer games?

The codes should work for those that already have accounts!! So feel free to use them! :) I signed my 3 kiddos up!

This sounds awesome and we'd be in! With as many kids as I have, I know they'd use the additional lessons!

I learned my own address from a song on Wee Sing or something similar... It's "Myyyyy name is _____ _____ and this is my addddre-esssss ____ ____ ____ ___, _______ _____." so for me at the time it was My name is Jennifer ____ and this is my address.... 2801 Honeysuckle Lane, San Angelo, Texas As far as phone number, my kids have practiced it as a chant. We recently did a name/address/phone number/safety thing in our Girl Scouts lesson and my DD was able to recall it all, so I think we did well! hehe

I really wanted to join a co-op this year but didn't because we moved here mid-August and many were full or too far away, or seemed like they would require a HUGE commitment on my part. Honestly, I don't feel like we've missed out! I *did* start a homeschool playgroup on Meetup and that has filled our socialization needs MUCH better. We keep it secular and open to anyone because I don't want other people guiding their education and I don't want to be responsible for theirs.. ;-P

For me, it's all about mixing up the workouts to keep my body guessing.

We do 1-2 pages and it keeps her interested and motivated to do well without being an overwhelming amount of work. We don't skip problems, except for about 1/2 of the Puzzle Corner sections.

I am bummed we are having to move from our very fuel efficient Toyota Corolla to a gas hog van since I'm due with baby #4. BOO!

Dollar Tree tests!

Our troop is having the opposite problem! No one is paying dues and as co-leaders, we've been footing the bill for EVERYTHING. It has been frustrating! We have 6 girls in the troop and will be spending over $100 on patches and pins between now and the end of the year - not to mention snacks, craft supplies, service-unit sponsored outtings and activities, etc. We are planning on reimbursing ourselves with our Cookie Money and since our girls are all bridging to Brownies, we're hoping to subsidize the uniforms/patches for their Brownie vests and swag. We're thinking about having them just pay $18 or so (for $60+ worth of uniform stuff and patches).

Thanks! :)

My pre-K son is OBSESSED with mazes and dot to dots. I love that he's working on fine motor skills. I'd love to get him more and thought I'd ask the Hive where to find the best stuff! Also, for those that have had kiddos drawn to these, what is the "next step" as far as suggestions for similar, but advancing, activities?

I have really enjoyed being co-leader for my daughter's Girl Scouts troop this year. I'm about 95% sure I'll actually be leader next year. I'm starting to get a little nervous now that I have my 3rd boy on the way... We will have a 1st grader in a year and a half and then a few years later, the next one will be old enough, and a few years later, the next. Assuming they all enjoy and want to continue scouting, how hard will this family commitment be? I have to admit that I'm a little worried, even though this possibility is years down the line. I'd love to hear how it works in Boy Scouts. If it really came down to it, I could do Juliettes with my DD so that she could continue on without having to worry about the schedule of a formal troop. I am not sure about Boy Scouts, though.

olive oil or butter in baking - coconut oil is another good one that I like to use, but I usually use that for stovetop foods. I won't use canola or corn oils....

Yes, but most of their magazines are weekly - so you get a bundle with the full month's magazines, plus teacher materials. I like it because it's bite size snippets and they're usually seasonally appropriate and applicable.

I did a youth acting troupe at my local community theatre from 8th grade through my junior year. I LOVED it. I also did theatre at my high school for one production and loved that, too... they really needed someone with a voice for their production of Little Shop of Horrors, so I recruited in. haha

Ours, too. I'm co-leader now and will be starting my own troop next year and I keep it secular. It is not my place to foster the faith of these kids. In fact, we have an optional activity we sent home with the girls related to their faith because we didn't want to talk about it in scouts because you know how little 6 and 7 year old girls can be (well, any kids, really!) and we didn't want any peer pressure/swaying/judgement going on. If they want to do it, cool - I'd like to learn about different viewpoints so I hope some girls participate... but if they don't no biggie. I read over the activities in this and an athiest could easily tailor the assignment to themselves, just as a Jewish or Christian or Buddhist or whatever kid could. That said, another friend of mine mentioned this: http://navigatorsusa.ning.com/ and this wikipedia article has some ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting_in_the_United_States

Great question! I'm listening, too! :)

Yes, but you'll have to call them and the rate will be more expensive than listed. They are still VERY inexpensive compared to other magazines and my kids LOVE them! :) 1-800-SCHOLASTIC

Scholastic has some great ones: http://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/ Cobblestone puts out several: http://www.cobblestonepub.com/mags_science.html There is "KNOW": http://www.amazon.com/Know-Science-Magazine-Curious-Kids/dp/B000BNNIBY

I don't have my book in front of me at the moment, but the puzzle corner, etc problems I kind of play by ear - I think they're meant to be an extra challenge for kids that need a little something more.