Has anyone tried essential oils, in a diffuser, for your chid with success? One of my twins has focus issues. I'm not sure if it's ADD (she is not hyper) or not because our regular pediatrician was able to treat her with medication without a specific diagnosis. However, I dislike the side effects, which are quite noticeable. And she is tiny as is (-5 percentile) and stops eating on her meds (generic adderall). Homeschool worked great for her for awhile but it's like the honeymoon period wore off (it's been less than 3 months) and she's back to not paying attention. She chews, she fidgets, she plays around and loses focus easily. On a whim I purchased an aromatherapy diffuser and an EO called A+ Focus for kids. I'm going to put it in our homeschool room and hope for the best. Just curious if others have tried this approach?

Thank you to everyone who responding to my post regarding year round schooling! I'm really thinking about implementing this in our homeschool soon. We are currently following our PS calendar since starting in January. We leave for 2.5 weeks in Europe and we will need a vacation after our vacation :) So I'm planning on taking the last week in April off and then starting back in May with breaks throughout the year. I have a few more questions for those of you who do this. Thank you in advance! 1) Do you plan all of your breaks in advance, or do you reserve some flexibility? I was trying to come up with some magic formula that naturally follows some of the breaks I would like to take, like a 6 week on/1 week off situation, and it's just not happening. Right now my calendar has some periods of 6-8 weeks of school followed by a break, then 4 weeks, then another break. And so forth. Does it really matter how many weeks of school you need in between breaks? NC only requires 9 months of schooling, btw, with no scheduled reporting. 2) Do you plan for every subject during every school term? I'm considering the idea of rotations. For example, 6 weeks of science, break, 6 weeks of SOTW, break, and switching between the two so we can devote more time to really diving into the curriculum, reading and watching extras that may pertain to what we are studying at the time. One of my girls has high functioning autism, the other has major focus issues, so our school days have to end by lunch time for everyone's sanity. Sometimes it is difficult to fit everything into our day and really get into a topic, kwim? 3) I like the idea of keeping summer days lighter and only doing LA and math and maybe something fun like art. This is difficult for me to grasp, though, without feeling guilty about such a short school day. It's the public school experience still rubbing off on me. Does anyone else keep summers lighter? I want time for them to play with their friends, trips to the pool and some general laziness in between school terms.

I'm new at this but I too am an accidental homeschooler. I didn't have dreams of visions of being a homeschool family. But when my HF ASD daughter started struggling in school and I realized the school could not properly accommodate her I decided that homeschool was the best solution. I am infinitely grateful to this forum, blogs, a d the wealth of online information and the ability to research all of my options. I would like to say I would have had the confidence to do this 20 years ago, but probably not. It made me confident enough to think I could actually do this. I'm fortunate to live in an area with a vast homeschooling community. Homeschoolers here aren't allowed to attend any public schools, for classes, sports, etc. However, as a secular homeschooling family I do find it difficult to find groups that are not completely Christian based so I haven't been able to do a lot with other HSing families yet. I know there is controversy over homeschool being too much like school. I get it, and in a way maybe it seems to negate the point of homeschool. For our situation, given that this wasn't our first choice, it's important to us that my girls stay at, or near, grade level in the event that they eventually need to go back to public school. I deal with some chronic health problems so we need to keep that option open. And, personally, for me as the teacher I feel more comfortable with a somewhat scripted curriculum. I get that it's not for everyone. But I'm just not the crafty, hands-on nature study type. I wish I was, and I'm envious of many of you that are. But my girls aren't either. So for us, and especially my ASD child, a structured school routine works best. She likes knowing exactly what she needs to do that day and she likes work with a definitive right/wrong answer. And our school is run efficiently so we are finished before lunch and have plenty of time for playgrounds, museums, libraries or just hanging out.

Hugs!! I can relate...sort of. It took us awhile to decide we even wanted kids, and then we just wanted one. Period. So at my 18 week ultrasound I find out I'm having twins. Everyone was super excited and I was devestated. I cried as I left my appointment. I had to mourn the life that I had envisioned of our perfect little family of three. I was also terrified. I didn't know how to take care of one infant, let alone two! Now I couldn't imagine it any other way, but it took me awhile into my pregnancy to come to terms with the reality of bringing home two babies. There is nothing wrong with feeling the way you feel.

My recent Whole30 was a Whole20 as well ;). It worked to help with some of my GI issues but I too got tired of all the extra prep. I do still eat mostly paleo due to various food intolerances. I really like the recipes from http://www.paleorunningmomma.com/30-days-whole30-recipes/

We've done three lessons so far and really like it! Today we taste-tested different apples and rated them on sweetness. So much fun!

Thanks everyone! And yikes...sorry for all of the typos in my original post. Typing on my phone isn't the easiest. I'm in North Carolina. We leave for 2.5 weeks in Europe in early April. I'm counting much of this as school though, as they will be immersed in culture, visiting museums and journaling their experience. And I already had it excused prior to pulling them out so I'm keeping it :) Okay so I think I may start with this next school year when I plan, but ignore the start/end dates and plan our schedule accordingly eventually working towards and January-December school year. I do want to keep our summers lighter, if possible, to have plenty of time for the pool and playing with the neighborhood children. It's really hot here though, so the majority of our time in spent indoors, in the air conditioning, anyways. But I really like the idea of not taking a lengthy break so the material stays fresh. TexasMom, thank you for the link! I will definitely use it!!

I pulled my girls out of public school and began homeschooling in January. So because of this I'm following the PS schedule for the remainder of this school year. I'm starting to get more interested in year round schooling so we can take advantage of the fantastic spring age fall weather around here. And I like being able to do things while everyone else is still in school ;) How do I start? Do I cut their summer break short and start then? I don't want to burn them out and this has been a tough year for them and we jumped right into homeschool so this options concerns me a bit. Do I give them their summer break and start in August when we start up again? FWIW our state doesn't mandate a specific schedule. The only requirement is 180 days of school per year. Thanks! Tracy

Art. I'm not the crafty/artsy type so I send my girls to a homeschool clay/pottery class.

I posted that I completely disagree about 8 days in Rome being too long. 2500 years of history...8 days barely scratches the surface :)

The Vatican museums can have crazy long lines. I suggest ordering tickets online to bypass the line. Or better yet consider a tour. Context Roma does great tours and you would get much more out of your trip. We rent apartments in Paris as well. On our upcoming trip we have four different apartments reserved. Its great, especially with kids. After a long day of sightseeing its nice to spread out and maybe have some alone time. We've gotten SIM cards in Europe bit I think you can by them here? Another thing we did, on our last trip to Turkey, was by an unlocked international phone on ebay with prepaid minutes. It was cheap and easy. I've only been to Venice once, awhile back, so I'm of no help there. You will have an amazing time!

I've traveled extensively throughout Europe for years. We leave in 2 weeks for our daughters' first European adventure and I can't wait! We are doing Grindelwald (Swiss Alps), Alsace (France), Paris and Bavaria. Okay so for Rome, one of my absolute favorite places. Check out Ostia Antica. It's a really interesting, huge, unearthed settlement. Much much less crowded than Pompeii and you can take the metro from Rome and be there in about half an hour. http://www.ostia-antica.org I cannot recommend highly enough to book the scavi tour u see St. Peters. It's limited to only a few tours a day in English and you have to email the Vatican for a requested tour. They will get back to you with a date and time and, trust me, it's worth planning your itinerary around. There are several churches that St. Peters is built on top of, a d the tour commences at the spot they believe St.Peter is buried. Not many know about the tour http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20090216_en.html. It's fascinating and we've done it three times. The pyramid of Cestius is pretty cool and not well visited http://www.worldsiteguides.com/europe/italy/rome/pyramid-of-cestius/ I personally disagree on 8-9 days in Rome being a lot. We've been four separate times and still haven't seen it all. Granted we love ancient history. If you find yourself wanting to get out of the city, consider day trips to Orvieto, Siena or Assisi. Not sure a Rail pass would be a great idea. Trains in Italy are fairly inexpensive. You would have to price out your entire trip to see if it's worth it. Bathrooms are usually easy enough to find but always keep change because you may be asked to tip or pay to use them. In Rome, be careful when spending money. We've been "accidently" overcharged twice. Review receipts carefully and do not be afraid to call them out on it. Good in Rome is expensive and, for the most part, not that great because they cater to tourists. To save money, visit the Campo di Fiori market for picnic supplies of frequent the takeaway pizza places or head out of the main tourist areas. Many times you can rent through VRBO and save money, especially on food, as you will have a kitchen. This is especially the case in Switzerland, where things in general are a lot more expensive. Zurich isn't all that interesting. If possible, consider staying the night in Interlaken or Lucerne instead. You will get much more of a mountain feel. We we using our phone (T-Mobil) and getting a new SIM card in Europe to avoid the high international fees. There are many websites that can explain the pros/cons of cell phones abroad better than I can. Here is one http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/using-your-cell-phone-in-europe,190/ Hope some of this helps!

A couple of camps at our Y and lots of hanging around by the pool and relaxing. Homeschool is exhausting for me....mommy will need a break! :)

I'm not a breakfast eater and neither are my twins. This caused problems in PS, because they would get hungry well before lunch, but at homeschool it's no problem. We usually take a break around 10 and that's when we all tend to eat breakfast. And yes, sometimes is not breakfast food. One of my girls wanted leftover mac and cheese for breakfast yesterday. I've never been a breakfast eater. I like breakfast-y foods...just not for breakfast!

Thank you both for responding! I didn't even think about utilizing the tests. Duh! I want her to get familiar with how MUS works so I will start at the beginning and once she sees how it works I'm going to try to breeze through some of the chapters/tests until we figure out where to pick up. I was told by the sales associate at the conference that the book wouldn't arrive for a few weeks, but I got a fed ex tracking number email and it looks like it arrives tomorrow. Yay! We will finish this up our current MM chapter soon and I'm hoping to get the MUS reviews knocked out before we leave on vacation so we can jump in and hopefully make some decent progress before the end of our school year.

I posted about one of my daughter's struggle with her first grade MM. We are switching to MUS Alpha. I found they teacher's manual, DVD and manipulatives used, and ordered the workbook last week at a conference. In comparing the two (MUS teacher's manual and the MM 1b that we are currently using) it's obvious how completely different the curriculum is. Do I have to start at the beginning with MUS? If so, can we quickly move past the material she is already familiar with? I'm just concerned about how far behind she will be at the end of our school year in June. The workbook hasn't arrived yet, and we leave for a 2.5 week Europe vacation in early April so it will be late April before we even start it. Both girls are already behind in MM as I started at the beginning of 1a when I pulled them out of PS at the beginning of January.

No, because I can't find a secular co-op nearby. Not sure if I would be interested even if there were, but I would be open to exploring the possibility.

I discovered this site. You can search by category or key word. Here is a link to family subscriptions https://www.cratejoy.com/category/family-kids-subscription-boxes/

Thank you! Very helpful! Okay so now I have some concern. I did a few of the tests. They missed a few 1st grade words but read most of the 2nd grade words with no problem, which is kind of odd. We definitely need to work on silent e some more. I thought they knew that, but both of my girls missed every single one of the silent e words in the 40L test. If they read the word in the context of an entire sentence they don't have problems, so this was surprising to me. I think I may switch up our phonics. I like ETC, and at first my girls loved it, but they are having more and more problems with the pictures (which aren't always easy to figure out, even for me) and some of the vocabulary that isn't widely used. We are over halfway through book 5. I know AAS also reinforces phonics rules. We just started last month so we are on lesson 9 today. I'm thinking about switching to something like Phonics Pathways or Plaid Phonics. Thoughts?

Hello again! Is there an easy test that I can use with my girls to check their reading levels? In PS it was easy as each of their readers had a letter assigned to it with an end-of-year goal of getting to, say, L books. My girls are good readers but I want to make sure they are progressing. We are using ETC (and AAS) and I want to make sure it's sticking. ETC is starting to feel like busy work, and my girls are starting to groan when I pull it out, so I'm considering a switch for next year. That test would help me make that decision.

Thank you all! I will take all of the great suggestions and put them to good use. I feel reassured that we can do SOTW! :)

I plan on starting SOTW volume 1 next school year. I purchased the components used at our local homeschool consignment shop and I'm excited. However, as I've mentioned in previous posts, my girls have never been great listeners during read-alouds. It's getting better, as I let them choose our read-aloud (currently reading Magic Tree House Mummies on Monday), but I am a bit concerned that they won't get as much out of SOTW if I can't get them to listen and pay attention. I bought History Pockets and a Professor Noggins ancient history game to go along with it, to hopefully keep the interest going. I really want this to work as I am excited about it myself. Just curious how successful SOTW has been for others who may have been in a similar situation?

I tried an online planner and two purchased planners but I find it easier to just make my own with Excel which I print off weekly.

$71,368 in my town (in South Charlotte, NC) according to recent data.

This is interesting. I have 7 year old identical twin daughters. One is on the spectrum (formally diagnosed two years ago) and the other is not. Both have been vaccinated.