We use the syllable tags but often skip the actual tiles. I just use the whiteboard and write the words out and the girls will put the syllable tags over the words. They prefer to write out the words as opposed to using the tiles.

No. We aren't big breakfast eaters. Breakfast usually occurs during our break (9:30 or 10:00) and includes cereal, pancakes (I do make and freeze these and throw them in the microwave), oatmeal, yogurt or cheese and nuts. I eat overnight oaks or drink a green smoothie when I do eat breakfast, which isn't every day.. We tend to have our hot breakfast food, which we do all love, occasionally for dinner. ETA my girls have never been big eaters. They don't eat what anyone would consider a "big meal".

Any chance it could be Raynaud's?

I have similar issus and also grew up in the Midwest eating pasta, rolls, bread, cakes and cookies. Now I'm intolerant of gluten, most gluten-free grains, fructose and lactose. I have IBS and SIBO, which I'm sure contribute. The symptoms escalated over the past few years.

We too are in NC (in a suburb of Charlotte) and home values have really gone up. We've had Realtors call and try to convince us to list! Houses here are receiving multiple offers the day it hits the market.

We are secular, so thank you for the heads up! I'll probably browse the the sale when it opens to see if anything looks interesting.

My husband works in IT and he negotiated as well. For both salary and benefits (vacation days). However, in both instances he was already employed and happy with his cuurent job so he had the ability to negotiate with nothing to lose.

I'm still semi-new to homeschooling. Can someone explain what a "bundle" is? Is it PDF documents like I would purchase via Teachers Pay Teachers? Or is it entire curriculum? I'm confused! ;)

Thank you everyone!! You've given me the confidence I needed to do this. I spent some time this afternoon on pinterest researching and pinning ideas. There is an abundance of materials out there. Great experiments, crafts, printables for lapbooks and worksheets, etc. We are fortunate to live in an area with a great library system, including three within a short drive of our house. Between the library, pinterest, youtube, PBS and amazon I think I would have more than enough information. And we already have an annual membership to our science center, with reciprocating entrance into various museums around the country (a few within a short drive), so we will be putting it to use. I tentitively have science scheduled for two days per week. As long as it's on my lesson plan it will get done. I'm actually pretty excited. As I was researching pinterest I kept remembering subjects they have asked about recently. Sharks, jellyfish, Saturn, submarines, bees and wasps, the Titanic.... I wish I would have thought to do this sooner! My girls have never particularly liked school, even back in preschool. Hopefully this will add some fun and excitement to the mundane math and language arts ;)

Since I pulled my twins out of PS first grade in January our science has been Mystery Science once a week or so. I already purchased R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, Earth and Space, for next school year. However, I'm starting to see the appeal in interest-led schooling for science. My girls are really interested in the Mystery Science natural disaster mysteries and that led us to watching Dante's Peak (volcanoes) and videos of landslides. In the past we've read about tornadoes and now they have a sudden interest in the Northern Lights so today we are skipping Mystery Science and instead watching a 60 Minutes documentary on the Northern Lights that I found on YouTube. I'm really debating shelving the RSO for now and following their interests and see where it takes us. I just don't know how to do it. I'm definitely more of a "by the book" homeschooling mom. I like having a curriculum and boxes to check. But I admit science was never an interest of mine and I love that they are interested in these topics. It's just out of my comfort zone. It is important for me to keep them at, or close to, grade level as homeschooling was accidental and we do plan on the girls eventually going back to school (probably middle school). With that being said, no set subjects are required in my state (NC) and I don't believe science is on the (required) achievement test so if there is one subject with flexibility it's science. How exactly do I go about doing this? Do I ask the what topics they want to learn about and then just find as much information as I can about said topic? I'm assuming, then, that there wouldn't really be a set schedule as we just dive in as little or as much as we want? Do you find that they do learn a lot this way? Meaning you are comfortable and confident that they are learning science? Do you worry that the interests aren't broad enough at this age? For example, not focusing on, say, the human body or the life of a plant? I hope that makes sense! Any been-there-done-that advice would be much appreciated! Tracy

I'm in a similar boat. There is a rather large homeschooling community here in our city/region, but as we choose to operate a secular homeschool I feel very in the minority and left out. We are new to homeschooling and I have met a few moms at various homeschool-only activities at the library, local museums, etc, but nobody I've connected enough with to become friends. Fortunately I have (non-homeschooling) friends in my neighborhood and town so I just let it go. I'm not interested in a co-op, but it would be nice to have a homeschool playdate-type group though!

Thanks for the responses! I'm going to give it a try for next school year and see how it goes.

My 7.5 year old first grader is using HWT based on the recommendation from an OT because she was holding her pencils with a fist. She is making progress on her handwriting using her "special" pencil with a grip. However, neither she, nor I, really care for HWT and I'm starting to get a lot of whining and pushback when it's pulled out. It's just "different" and I dislike having to pull out special HWT paper for her all the time. And I do not like the looks of their cursive, which I plan to start teaching sometime next school year. I'm really thinking about switching to Zaner-Bloser. I like the look of it and I think my girls would enjoy the colorful pages. I like their cursive exponentially better. Thoughts on Zaner-Bloser? Has anyone used it with a child with OT needs? And is the teacher manual necessary? I never use the HWT teacher manual. Thanks! Tracy

Raised in a nonpracticing Christian family and remain that way. Religion does not play an active role in our lives and we have a secular homeschool.

I just want to say hugs to you and congratulations on finally getting answers. As someone who has been on a quest to find answers myself I know what a huge hurdle that is. I've been diagnosed with fibro but my gut (which is also a hot mess!) tells me it's something more. It's an exhausting and very defeating journey. Best of luck to your daughter.

I love reading next door...pure entertainment! I live in a suburb of Charlotte with a population of 25,000 that is mainly middle to upper class with little to no crime and these people act like we live in the hood! In the past few weeks I've read about a "gang" of middle schoolers that are "destroying" our community (because they were skateboarding), a "prostitution rink" everyone swears is going on behind the scenes, how someone will no longer give donations to children because her checks aren't cashed quick enough and how the new micro brewery in our little downtown is the devil. And don't even get the started on the debate over which elementary school is the best. These people need a hobby :p

I think we have most things figured out... Math - this one I'm not sure about. We are finishing up MM 1 and will definitely make a change. Still researching. AAS 2 AAR 2 (finishing up) and AAR 3 FLL 2 WWE 1 Zaner-Bloser 2M for handwriting SOTW 1 R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Earth and Space E-M Daily Geography 2 Home Art Studio DVD's for art Continuining clay classes and PE

I am always hot! Our air is set at 68-70 at night in the summer. To compromise with my budget-conscious DH we keep it at 75 during the day. If I had my choice it would be set at like 65 all the time! I literally cannot sleep if its not chilly. I remember sleeping with a big fan blowing on my face when I was in early elementary, so I've always been this way.

Another one is farecompare.com. I get emails from them all the time! And I second (third?) google flights. I honestly never encountered weird toilets, and I've been to some rural areas in places like Bosnia, Montenegro, Slovakia and Turkey. Im sure they exist, but unless you are way off the beaten path, I wouldnt worry much about it. The bathrooms at Carowinds (or local amusement park) are more questionable than anything I've seen in Europe, including Rome Termini :p Sometimes you have to search around for the flusher (!) but really, its little things like that that make traveling abroad interesting.

These maxi dresses are so cute! I had yet to find a maxi dress that I think would look good on me, but I think either of these could work.

I wear a lot of casual dresses and skirts from Athleta and LL Bean.

Thanks everyone. I need to have my GP give me a referral to a rheumatologist. Sigh. Beyond tired of poking and prodding and blood work and tests that come back negative. Not to mention the out-of-pocket expenses, despite having great health insurance.

The best way to find out a "good" price is to watch the fares. If you see that, say, flights to LA are always $600 then you would know that if a $400 flight pops up you should take it. Unless said $600 fair is already within your budget. As I mentioned above, I just stalk the flights I'm interested in online and wait for the prices to drop. I would check multiple sites, but typically I personally have found the best prices when I've gone directly to the airline website, and you cut out the middle man in the event that something goes wrong.

I have about 10 places saved on airfarewatchdog at any given time. If you are purely interested in prices you can use kayak.com/explore. If pulls up a map with prices and you can select based on cheapest prices from your departing airport. Its fun to play around on it.

I'm eagerly following this because we currently use MM (book 1) and I'm waiting for CLE 200-205 to come in the mail so I can look it over. My girls are both struggling with MM. It may be mastery, but I don't feel like they are mastering anything! They just get very frustrated with the sheer volume of problems per page (despite my crossing some out) and when a review from a previous lesson pops up they have no clue how to do it because it hadn't come up in awhile and they forgot. I'm so not a mathy person and I'm finding tha I could use more help with introducing new material than what MM gives. We are forging through the end of this book but I am definitely not planning on using it next year. Hopefully CLE will be a better fit.