Thanks so much for sharing with me. All your posts are very helpful.

I'm revising our school day for this second term and I find that sometimes I don't get to Latin or logic, or something else because we've over-scheduled our day. We do everything every day except history and science which we do twice a week each. (I keep a four-day week and use Friday for field trips, co-op, etc. This is what I'm juggling this year. How would you parse this out? Grammar Writing Reading Literature (reading and audio) Mathematics World History Art History Music History Science Piano Spanish Latin Logic

Thanks, Heather. That's good advise. We'll be going into sixth grade starting Homer. The kids will be between 10-12 next year.

I've started to plan. Let's see: we're keeping Analytical Grammar, Classical Writing, Teaching Textbooks and Singapore Math. Lively Latin is working for us, so we're keeping that too. We'll also keep Rosetta Stone Spanish and Typing Instructor. And we'll keep plugging away at TimezAttack if he's not done with his times tables this year. We're switching from Real Science-4-Kids to Singapore Science. I already bought that and was wowed. Ds loves it and begged to start with it this term. :001_huh: I'm still up in the air about history. We're doing SOTW3 this year, and I'm not sure if I want to get into twentieth century history before I've had a chance to do a year of American History. Ds will be in 6th grade and so far all we've done formally are the Mike Venezia Meet the Presidents books and 100 American Stories. As an aside, Venezia manages to get a surprising amount of American history into the 43 books. We're reading one or two per week and are about half way. That's it so far. I'll have it all thought out by spring, when I usually purchase all our curricula.

Keep going. Don't get her something different at her grade level -- that would just hold her back. Just keep feeding her more math and as long as you're satisfied that she has learned the material, go on to the next level. There's no penalty for a third grader doing seventh grade math. ;) And congratulations. Whatever you're doing in math, it's working!

We're loving Classical Writing. Next year, I'd like to teach it at a co-op -- apparently writing is the one subject that befuddles many of my hs friends. Have you done this? If so, how did you organize it? What did you do in class, and what did you leave for homework? Any advise would be much appreciated.

I'm sorry this is going on in your life now. I understand completely about being isolated when you're homeschooling. I struggle mightily with it and it's the only thing that has ever tempted me to stop. Some people don't do isolation well -- I'm one of them and you might be too. In your place, I'd take care of myself first. If you are struggling with mild depression you can get help from your doctor, and you can also do some things to help yourself. (Ask me how I know.) These are the things I do to stave off depression: 1. I go outside every morning. I walk my property, pay attention to my gardens, look up in the sky and generally enjoy the outdoors for 20 or so minutes while I have my coffee. 2. I use my full spectrum lights daily because I'm prone to SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). The lights have done more for me than anything else, by the way. 3. I take my Wii for a spin and do my yoga and exercises. On days when I don't workout I feel gloomy. Just power-walking around the block once or twice and it colors my day. I would definitely go to my doctor and explain what I'm feeling. Suffering through depression is like suffering through a toothache. There is no point to it and it makes things worse. Your doctor can help you. After your head is clear and you're back to being yourself, then you can reassess your marriage and see where it needs tweaking. But I encourage you to seek help first before doing anything that will be life-changing. You'd be surprised how your point of view changes once you're feeling well again. Good luck. Don't lurk. Let us know how you're doing. Part of the value of this board is that it's filled with women (and some men) who have been through everything you're going through now, and they are happy to lend a virtual shoulder and be supportive of a fellow homeschooler.

This has been my personal experience as well. When things are outside the box, a good teaching/research hospital is the place. Mayo is both. I've never heard anything bad about the Mayo Clinic, but then again, I've never been there or known anyone who's been there. What have you heard? Also, I agree with the previous poster about earwax buildup. If you haven't checked that, do it right away. Before ds was born, I worked with a girl who started suffering form dizziness and lightheartedness. She fell down the steps twice in our office! She went to the doctor who sent her to a specialist, who sent her to the hospital, which sent her to more specialists. In the end they found she had a giant ball of wax in one of her ears. They cleaned that out and she was cured. This went on for a couple of months and you could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out it was ear wax. I'd seen her tottering in the office, hanging on to the rails so she wouldn't fall. I'd have that checked and ruled out.

:lol:

You can freeze tomatoes beautifully. I boil water, dunk them for a minute or less to loosen the skin, peel them and cut them up. I freeze mine zip-loc bags (which are way safer than that white stuff they line cans with) in "one meal" packets. When I'm going to cook something, I open a baggie and just drop the hard lump of frozen tomatoes in the pot. You also don't have to grow your own. I do, but I never grow enough for the whole year. I look out for tomatoes on sale, or go to the farmer's market when tomatoes are at their peak. I do this three or four times a year and it keeps me well stocked. Hope this helps.

I find the review questions very helpful. We use those to start a discussion about what we've just read. I also like the suggested dictation (she supplies two for most of them). Sometimes I use them for copywork, other times I create rubrics from them.

On curricula I spend about $800 for my son, but when I add everything else like supplies, additional books, private lessons (art, music, swimming, gymnastics), field trips, trips, lab equipment and supplies, etc., it comes to $4,000 to $5,000 every year. It's still a lot less than private school.

But you still wouldn't like it if somebody came up to you and told you the religion you are currently practicing is defective and you're going to be consigned to everlasting torture by fire (by a most loving and merciful god) if you don't accept it.

It means that for the past ten years we've had occupying forces in several Muslim countries. We hardly ever seem to occupy European or Asian countries that can actually take us. You think the Muslims haven't noticed and the radical fringe within them haven't taken advantage of it?

A couple of years ago, I created a family wiki to help organize our home. I used it for the better part of a year, but nobody else paid much attention to it, so reminders and notes went unattended. I really like the way it helped organize my life and I'd like to give it another shot. We're all hard-core technophiles at this home, so it should have been an easy sell. I never integrated it to email, which I think would have made it a lot more useful. We all do email multiple times a day, but we don't always remember to view the wiki, IYKWIM. Do you have a family wiki? If so, please tell me how you and your family use it. Do you have email reminders? What software package do you use? Please help me resuscitate my family wiki so it will be a useful tool for us. Thanks.

Tofu freezes very well. When you defrost it, it will lose liquid (just like meat), so you'll end up with slight "harder" tofu. Like the previous poster, I like to use defrosted tofu for stir fries because I don't have to spend so much time squishing the water out of it. Try a bit in your smoothie, it should be fine. If you find it lumps a bit, save it for the wok. :)

Yes! Get a counselor now. If you can get him to go that's even better. But if he's not onboard, YOU go.

Just a thought, if you are there as part of a Christian mission, you are in a very bad situation. Lots of people don't appreciate perfect strangers from foreign countries coming to their land to proselytize and tell them their native religion is wrong. Consider our joy if Mexicans started coming over the border telling us all that we should convert to Catholicism or one of their native religions. I guarantee you that shots would fly. They feel exactly the same way you and I would if that was the case. If you're not part of a Christian mission, keep a low profile and hope for the best. A predominantly Muslim country is not a healthy place for an American these days. Either case, in your situation I'd pack up my family and leave. Things will get worse before they get better, IMO and the last ten years have done nothing to endear us to Muslims. Good luck, and take care.

That's why you homeschool. I've had to do this three or four times in the past and I never regretted it. You're doing exactly the right thing, IMO.

Can I just say that after everything you have been through to have your kids at grade level is nothing less than heroic. Your kids are little -- if you take off two weeks or even an additional month to just spend time with them with no pressure -- it would do nothing but good. The time they didn't spend doing grammar they might spend cuddled up with you reading a book. Seriously, this stuff is equally as important as multiplication tables. Particularly your little dd who is feeling fragile after having been without you so long. (I have a friend who is in and out of the hospital periodically, and I know what you mean about kids getting "fragile" because of it.) Take the two weeks off -- take a month if you think you and your children will benefit -- and just enjoy each other. Don't ever lose sight of WHY you're homeschooling. In your place I'd take the time off and give ourselves some breathing room to just get comfortable with each other. You've done a phenomenal job. Don't underestimate the teacher's review. The school she's comparing your kids to may be inferior, but she's still a teacher and she knows what kids need to know independently of the local school system. Pat yourself on the back, take some time off with your kids, and do it without a drop of guilt. There is absolutely no reason for any. Congratulations on your new baby.

Ds is a reluctant reader, but he reads at grade level. It took him until fourth grade to more or less read independently, then he caught up and is now reading the Mike Venezia "Meet the Presidents" books which are leveled 5.1 to 5.9. He's always done some quirky things when he reads. For example, if the book says, "Yes, we like to go to the beach," he might say, "Yes, we really do like to go to the beach." The added words don't change the meaning, but where did they come from? I get the impression that he's getting ahead of himself all the time. The reason I'm posting is because his piano teacher thinks he's having trouble sight-reading. He's a music "reluctant reader" too. Just as he pushes back reading a book, he pushes back reading his music. He compensates in several ways, mainly by memorizing the piece, or winging parts. This is a new piano teacher who just noticed that -- his old piano teacher was not aware of this (???) I've downloaded NoteAttack to help him practice his sight-reading, but the whole thing worries me. I had put the reading thing behind us because he caught up and is now reading at grade level, but the music thing bothers me because maybe it speaks to an underlying issue that should be addressed. Would you think he's having a general decoding issue? His comprehension is fine -- he understands what he reads. Is this a "boy" thing he'll outgrow? In my place, would you have him evaluated, and if so, by whom?

I need to get the baby weight off. The kid's almost eleven. I started doing research and there is so much advise out there and much of it is contradictory. The South Beach Diet looks good. The Atkins Diet is intuitively unhealthy, but research has vindicated it. I tried that once. The first two weeks where you go carb-free cold turkey almost killed me with the headaches and nausea. The Mediterranean Diet has a lot of science behind it, but I'm not sure how you lose weight on it with so many beans and nuts. When I was a teenager, a guy in my church lost 80 pounds over six months eating only tomatoes. :tongue_smilie: I'm trying to find something sensible and healthy that will allow dh and me to lose weight. I also want it to be the "center" of our family meals so all I have to do is supplement extra carbs and whatever for dh who is thin and athletic. I don't want to cook two dinners each night. I'm interested in knowing what weight loss method has worked for you. Did you use a book? Did you just stop eating white food? Were you able to integrate it so it became a lifestyle? I'm sitting here trying to create a healthy weight-loss menu for myself and dh and I don't know where to start. Thanks for any advice or book recommendations you can offer.

Maybe they just love you and they all decided to show it this year. Could be a fluke, so enjoy it. ;)

Stephanie is doing pretty much what I have been doing and for the same reasons. I like that I can handpick ds's peers to come to our home and share our learning. A class that might seem dull and uninspiring to ds by himself might turn into a fun learning experience when two or three of his friends are there too. I have charged for classes only once. I charged $60 for a three-part basic web design class. It worked well. In every case I have some simple rules I've developed over the years. 1. Everyone buys their own books and things they will use individually. I buy the supplies we share and make any copies. I figure out in advance what that is going to be and I take the money up front before the first class. For example, in a few days we're going to start Term 2 of our co-op. I will ask the parents to give me $30 per child which will cover my costs for the next 18 weeks. I have purposely over-estimated by a few dollars. This gives me wiggle room if I find new interesting things for the kids. All the leftover money (perhaps $20 total) will go to a small year-end party we'll have here at my home also. 2. No drop-offs. Parents must attend with their children. I have a large covered patio with plenty of chairs and tables, and an even larger back yard where the sibs can play while their parents watch them. (One of my personal friends drops off her son, but that's a special circumstance since our sons are playmates and he gets dropped off here to play all the time too.) 3. Everyone brings a picnic lunch to eat around the pool. I always provide coffee or tea for the moms. 4. Last, but most important of all, I create a task list. Everyone helps. Someone sits outside with the younger siblings. Someone cleans up the kitchen counters after the experiments, someone else reads this book, someone else does that other thing. This way it is never overwhelming for me. When the last person leaves, the house is back in order and everything is in its place. Before I did this, it was a huge undertaking and I did much less of it. Now that I've learned to distribute the load, I find that the moms are very happy to help and I'm very happy to have them and their kids often to learn with us.

This year we're going to watch tadpoles grow into frogs. This is our first time and we don't have any experience, so I think this time I'd like to buy a kit that comes with everything. Can you recommend your favorite frog hatching kit? I'd like to place an order in the next few days. Thanks.