I have the pictures with the pocket chart organizers in photobucket but need easy to follow instructions for posting here......anyone?:001_smile: I was able to post them in my user control panel but if someone can give me directions to do it in a more direct way....I would be happy to! We love our pocket charts!

OK. I love this and will remember it for a long time mostly because I can easily fall into the rat race. Thank you. I have a pocket chart for each kid to use. They have ten laminated cards with subjects to complete (some days less). They monitor the completion of those cards, move them to the back and I correct their work at the end. We try to get done quickly. So we can go do other things. This year teh success of that has been more frequent. So I guess that means we are "...do the next thing" kinda people. But that being said, most curr is based on one school year so it fits naturally. I do not hold to a typically school year so if we get mired down part way through I am certain that part of our summer will be available for "catch up". I love to plan out things but I do not often follow through precisely and life does happen in good and bad ways so, I like the freedom to respond to that in a more casual way. It takes the stress off of me. Have fun planning!

My dd at 11 yrs has one and she is the only one to use it. It is one of our old ones when we upgraded but it is mostly for an alternative to a land line since our home phone is my cell. When she is home alone for a bit she has a way to get in touch with me. My eight yr old doesn't even know how to use it. So it is hers. It happened only because we do not have a land line and she is starting to be alone while I run errands with my youngers or she is waiting at the pool for me to pick her up.

My daughter is a little more than half way through. She loves it. The changes we made..... We use Spelling Power and Word Roots (for a Latin component). IEW in a small co op setting (but not the Ancients one) instead of whatever HOD recomends. I have her leave off the Art as, for her age, it is simplistic and she enjoys other handiworks activites that I think are more stretching for her. Crochet, knitting, sewing. Finally, I do not have her do the Answers in Genesis but she does the other Science stuff. My husband is an Ecologist and he has asked me to be careful of books that set our kids up against parts of the scientific body of knowledge. He has reservations of Answers in Genesis so I respect that....they get lots of Bible otherwise so I am confident that they have the needed info to make a decision for themselves. My son is doing Singapore Science and I am thinking of going that route next year with her as well. The thing I would not drop at any cost..... Notebooking, both Science and History. The extra reading chapter books on history. Even if you do them as a read aloud. They have all been great! HTH

For this recipe, you could probably use mashed potatoes or sushi rice. For other recipes, I have no idea. For the OP, this is VERY cute! I will be reading Popper's Penguins for our school this year just so I can try it with the kids! Thanks for posting.

Thanks. I was thinking more of homeschooling curriculuum. Do you mean more about Sunday classes?

:iagree: This is what I need.....a place to add one thing each day and a master list for homeschooling jobs that are quick and easy to do and make it feel like I am flying through the job, on top of things before they become necessary. I started another thread but it died quickly for homeschooling tasks. I appreciate that many homeschoolers use this but I need the homeschooling element as much as the housekeeping one. Anyone have ideas?

It just occured to me as I was reading some of the Motivated Moms post that there should to be a Homeschool version that tells me each day what small chores I should do to organize and administer my homeschool. What activities would you put on yours? A few I though of that I should do everyday (or weekly) but sometimes do not..... shelf two home library books take two books to the thrift store return a friend's borrowed book file keepsakes with dates purge garbage worksheets that are not needed anymore I'm sure we can think of some more. Anyone?

Wait......there was an Orthodox thread? I do not have enough time in my day......good thing it is Christmas break! :D

Thanks for putting your self "out there" to answer questions. I have learned a few things as I have read this thread. One thing that is still unclear to me.....I see mention of the Temple. You must tithe for a year before you can enter it....how does one attend services to tithe if you cannot attend the temple. When I googled images of the Temple I found several images that all had different architecture. Is there only one temple or several? I have a Church of Latter Days Saints building down the road....what would that be called? (a temple?) And perhaps my most pressing question......Do you have certain Mormon curriculuum that you follow like Catholoics or Anibaptists? or do you just use the same as everyone else? Thanks for doing this ladies.....it is always interesting to see how different people from different faiths see the world and worship!

Same here. I did not pay that much but after having it for almost ten years, I would pay about $20 if I had to. :001_smile: I love mine!

The Kingfisher has a time line at the top which I find more useful. The red line moves across the top as the pages move on. Kingfisher does have a more mature feel to it as you read it, but I thought that it was harder to find than the Usbourne one. Go figure. The pictures are more realistic in the Kingfisher as well.

I love making muffins! Here is my favorite for this time of year. Cranberry Orange Muffins 2 cups flour (see note below) 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 salt 3/4 cup granulated sugar (or 1/2 cup agava syrup) 1 cup dried cranberries 1/4 cup chocolate chips (if you want) 1/4 slivered almonds(if you want) 1 egg 1/4 cup olive oil 3/4 cup orange juice In small bowl, conbine wet ingredients. In large bowl, combine dry ingredients by sifting. Leave the cranberries, chocolate chips and almonds to add at the end. Breifly add the wet and dry together, do not over stir. Add the cranberries, chips and almonds at the end. Bake at about 400* for about 15 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. If you google "Chef Brad" you willl find a recipe for Wonderflour....it is barley, spelt and brown rice put into the grain mill. It is tender just like white flour but has all the whole grains but remember to add in extra if you do use it. I have had huge amount of success with the combination but you can make these muffins with freshly milled whole wheat as well. Remember to add in extra if you do use Wonder flour. As far as recipes that do not have white sugar or exotic ingredients, truthfully, I can't help there. Agava is wonderful but I would consider it exotic and pricey. I guess maple syrup would work but it is costly as well. I do a lot of trial and error so not many of my recipes are repeats....this one is a tried and true! I hope you give the Wonder flour a try. It is surprisingly successful! HTH! I had a hard time finding the recipe when I just went there so here it is!! Here is the way to make Wonder Flour: 1 part spelt grain 1 part brown rice 1 part barley, pearled Mix the grains in a bowl and grind on the lowest setting in your grinder. To use I have found that for every 3 cups of white or wheat flour I need 1/2 cup more of Wonder Flour. Here is exactly how I do it: I take 2 cups of spelt, 2 cups of brown rice, and 2 cups of pearled barley. I mix them up in a bowl and than I grind them in my grinder on the lowest setting. When I bake I substitute the flour in the recipe with my Wonder Flour, using about 1/2 cup more for every 3 cups of flour the recipe calls for.

That happened to me this year as well. Went looking this summer for a table cloth that happens to be green and could not find it...... turns out that green = Christmas!!??!!! It didn't even cross my mind to look there either. :001_smile:

We enjoy Pork Tourtier for Christmas breakfast with Honeyed Grapefruit. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/french-canadian-tourtiere/Detail.aspx This recipe is close to the one my family passes down.....except I do not add the ground beef (extra pork is fine but not needed). I also add in two stalks of chopped celery with the onion and (ETA: about 2 cups mashed potatoes). It is yummy with ketchup!! My kids love it!!!

:iagree: Please hurry. We are doing R&S 5 for now. Although it is good, I miss the excellence of FLL for my oldest (and myself)!

....of a book I had heard about on this board. I thougth I had put it on my wish list with Amazon but I cannot find it now. It was a book of stories that each focus on a concept or definition about Economics or Literature. Each chapter was self contained but the whole was all in one subject. I was really interested in using it later on, but now I can't remember it!!! Help?! Does anyone use something like this? Thanks for any help you can give!!! ETA: It may be the Essential LiteraryTerms book that started me on this hunt but I cannot find a sample so I am not sure......

Dd is doing CTC History, Bible, Math Grammar and Science. Next year I may not use the Science. I find that it is worth the money but, I do not have a *really* tight budget. If you do, it may seem like you are not getting "your money's worth". HOD has been such a blessing to me as a mom and the CTC has helped my dd find independence in her learning and that is worth the money to me in and of itself. She is also getting the idea that learning is progressive and deliberate and this is a big jump from previous school years. So, I think of it as much more than just the boxes that are being used (even when we do not use all of them).

Thanks for posting this schedule. It is very helpful to me right now.

I lost a single baked potato, found in the oven the day after....but.....just before Christmas I defrosted a flat of chicken thighs and was not able to find time to make them up. Why I took them out to defrost I'm not sure. :confused: They got tossed Christmas day to make room for the Christmas food. I'm really kicking myself for that one as the meat was not cheap and I budget pretty close. I choose to believe that it happens to the best of us. Right?

Those poor, poor families!! I hope that they can get home tonight.

I totally agree. I had one 10 lbs and one 9 1/2 lbs and even my husband remembers that. The lengths are fuzzy but I could accurately guess. I just figure that if I lost my brain when I was pregnant with them then they must be smarter for it. :D It had to go somewhere right!!

I'm considering having my third child's birthday tatooed onto my hand.....I'm just glad it comes at the end of the month and I have enough forwarning to go look it up before it passes me by. The older two remember their birthdays on their own. ;) LMP. Ha. GL with that.

My husband took care of this just last weekend.....he put them in a colandar and ran cool water over them for ten minutes with the sprayer. They were cold when he was done and we ate them with cocktail sauce. I have quickly cooked frozen cooked shrimp and I found mine got rubbery very fast. Enjoy them....they are a Christmas treat here as well!!

Ouch! I needed that. Thank you for your wise words.....this is very good for me to remember. Haven't read the other replies but this one will stay with me for awhile. :001_smile: