Cooking (if you have the facility for it) is always popular with both boys and girls Robotics (can be expensive but makes a great class) Chess First Aid/CPR Engineering challenges (something like Junkyard Wars where you give two teams a bunch of supplies/junk and they have to solve a problem or create a certain machine) Square Dancing or English Country Dance (sometimes it is hard to get boys into that but if you can get enough they do end up enjoying it) Improv acting class

It happens to me regularly too. Recently I have also noticed I am hot when I wake up. I usually go to the kitchen and just check fb or read a bit and then go back to bed. Normally I can fall back to sleep within 30 min (which is my normal amount of time to fall asleep). There are days though that nothing helps but luckily those have been the exception and not the rule.

When dd was younger we would drive to visit my Mom and my one sister a couple of times a year. A few years ago our cats became ill and then one need to be on medication, so that meant it was really a hassle to travel. We have just started doing some more traveling. Airbnb has been a great way for us to find cheaper accommodations for weekend trips. This coming year we are going on a cruise. The nice thing is that most everything is included on the ship and we can budget the rest. So the trip is a huge splurge for us but is going to be well worth the money.

We had two cats a black/white one and a gray one. We lost our black and white one a year or so ago (kidney disease) and then our gray one had to be put down this March (multiple issue and they think there was cancer at the end). In May I saw 2 cats on a shelter's website brothers, one black/white and one gray. They reminded me a lot of our other pets and we adopted them. I could not love them more and their personalities are so different from out other cats. If you feel a connection with this kitty go for it. The reminder will be there but that is ok, it will not diminish your love for this new kitty.

We used to have a problem with the nursery which is why we only provide it now for those who are teaching or aiding in a particular period. Moms always have the option of keeping the babies with them (we have many who just wear their babies) but they have the option of using the nursery for kids up to age 2. We usually have no more than 4 (normally 1-2) kids in the nursery at any given time so it is manageable.

What is covered in your co-op curriculum/subjects? Our co-op is an a la cart co-op so the subjects can change each session. We normally offer Science, History, Literature and Gym classes but there might also be sewing. cooking, drama, art, music, dance, loom bands, jewelry, writing, Bible...... Are there subjects or classes you wish were covered? Most everything gets covered at one point or another. I love having the variety. How often do you meet and for how long (hours)? We meet on Fridays from 9-2:30, for 2 ten week sessions in the year. We do have some classes (mainly high school) that go into an extension time after the 10 weeks end. This is mainly for things like science labs and other high school classes. You can sign up for 1 -5 periods each session. We have some who just come in the am and some who just come after lunch. It is very flexible. Do you pay for the service? If so, how much? Cost vary depending on the class. Teachers are only supposed to charge for their costs. We occasionally have a professional come in, such as an art teacher, who is allowed to charge more for their services. Our classes normally range from free- $50 (art or science classes), many classes are around $5. Where do you meet? (a church, school. community center?) church Is it a drop off or parent participated program? And what would you prefer? Ours is a parent participated program which is what I prefer. What is done to manage non-school aged siblings? We offer classes for pre-k -12 and have a nursery where teachers can put their children in (who are younger than 2)while they are teaching. Have you encountered problems while attending? How could those be avoided? There are always hiccups in a given session. We have a leadership team that oversees various areas of the co-op (set/clean coordinator, room coordinator, registrar, class scheduler, aide coordinator, gym/supply coordinator...) and this helps things to run smoothly for the most part. What's the best thing about it in your experience? I love the fact that dd has made wonderful friends and learns so much each session. It also provides me some time to fellowship with other Moms. Are there other things you think I need to know? As your co-op grows try to spread out the work. We started with only 30 families and one person pretty much ran everything. We now have over 70 families who participate and we have grown our administration team to 8 people. Communication is key and having set expectations of what you expect from participants is very important. We have a small handbook that we give to new members which helps.

Here is a link to the info from ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) and the should know : https://www.arba.net/PDFs/CAW.pdf

Several of the homeschool groups in our area have proms. The dress codes are not terribly restrictive but there is normally one. Girls are normally allowed to wear strapless dresses as long as everything is not hanging out.

Check out Sonlight for some of their books, they have some great selections for historical fiction

We did it over the 30 weeks. This took a bit of the stress off of dd with the assignments. It worked really well for us. I actually know some folks who do it in 2 years so that it is at an even slower pace. You know what your child can handle and you can always speed it up or slow it down based on what is going on with you at that moment.

I have a Tracfone and love it. We upgraded to Smartphones with QVC and it cost something like $149.99 for the phone and 1500 min, 1500 text and 1.5 gig of data. QVC also has a flip phone for around $50 that has 1200 min, 1200 text and 1.2 gig of data.

I used mine for the extra sheets, drills and the answer key. Yes I know I can do the math myself but it did save me some time. I never really used any of the lesson plans.

I did it at a co-op over two 10 week sessions. There were a couple of weeks where we doubled up shorter fallacies. We did watch the DVD for part of the class. It was good as a conversation starter with the kids. I also gave them weekly challenges to find previously discussed fallacies in every day life and then there was an end of year challenge to find at least one of each type of fallacy. We did most of the cumulative stuff in class and would read through some of the Socrates Dialogues in class. Oh and if you do the DVD make sure you watch the extras at the end of the course. It is funny. Here is how we laid it out: Due Date Topic Read and answer questions (Further Research Questions and Cumulative Worksheets are optional ) 9/11 Introduction p.5-27 9/18 Fallacy 1 p. 31-36 9/25 Fallacy 2 p.37-41 10/2 Fallacy 3 p. 42-46 10/9 Fallacy 4 p. 47-51 10/16 Chapter 2/Fallacy 5 P.52, (53-57 optional), p.58-62 10/23 Fallacy 6 & 7 p. 63-74 10/30 Fallacy 8 p. 75-79 11/6 Fallacy 9 p.80-85 11/13 Fallacy 10 p. 87-95 Break Due Date Topic Read and answer questions (Further Research Questions and Cumulative Worksheets are optional ) Over Break Chapter 3/Fallacy 11 Fallacy 12 Fallacy 13 Fallacy 14 Unit 2 Chapter 4/ Fallacy 15 p.96-100 p. 102-104 p.105-109 p. 110-117 p. 118-12 p.121-127 Winter/Spring Session Due Date Topic Read and answer questions (Further Research Questions and Cumulative Worksheets are optional ) 2/5 Fallacy 16 &17 p.128-141 2/12 Fallacy 18 &19 p.142-149 2/26 Fallacy 20 p.150-159 3/4 Chapter 5/Fallacy 21 p.160-166 3/11 Fallacy 22 &23 p.167-174 3/18 Fallacy 24&25 p.175-187 4/8 Unity 3/ Chapter 6/Fallacy 26 p.188-200 4/15 Fallacy 27 p.201-203 4/22 Fallacy 28 p. 204-212

In our co-op parent teachers charge for their classes but it is just for the cost of supplies. The charge is per student. Our co-op classes range from free to $60+ per class depending on what the class is. Science and art classes usually cost the most since they have the most supplies. We do occasionally have a professional in to teach a class. Those classes are normally more money. I think one of the last art classes we had by a professional was around $80 for the class. Again that is a per student price. The way we run that is after registration parents are sent a statement that shows them who they need to write checks out to. They money comes into our registrar and then he distributes it to the teachers.

My dd became an only at home in 2nd grade when sd moved out for college. Over the years we participated in a co-op, did a variety of sports, found another hs family in the neighborhood, Girl Scouts, American Heritage Girls, music lessons, orchestra and 4h. (not all of those at the same time :laugh: ) She would also do virtual playdates via the phone and some computer games (at the time Webkinz or Build a Bear). Now at 14 she has a very active social life and when she cannot get together in person with her friends they find time to do a Google Hangout so they are constantly talking.

If you are going to do the labs you will need the microscope, slides and the dissection kit/specimens. Have you checked out home science tools for their packages. It is still a bit pricey but not $500. You can also normally find the slides and dissection kit used which is what we did. We also already had a microscope so we just had to buy the specimens new. https://www.homesciencetools.com/apologia-biology-kit-bundle-microscope

I do a plan for each subject for the year. Each week I check off what we completed and then make up a weekly sheet based on what is going on for us that week or if I need to adjust something. In my plan book I could be on week 5 day 3 in one subject and week 4 day 1 in another. I try to be very flexible when it comes to planning the week but having the overall plan allows me to see how much I want to get done for the year and keep me on track a bit.

We have tracfones and they work great. You can get a plan for the basic phone for $19.99 for 90 days (180 min) or 99.99 for 365 days (1200 min) either of which seem to be fine for your needs. We have upgraded to their smart phones and do $125 for 1500 min, 1500 text and 1.5 gig of data for a year. The nice thing is that the unused portion will roll over if you keep the account active by adding money before the end date. We also have gotten our phones from QVC. They have the best cost for the phones and they come with a year of service.

You can join 4h with out a group too. Then she can attend any of the events that your local 4h might put on. That might be a good way to meet some other kids and then transition to a group. You can also order 4h animal curriculum yourself and do some of the projects and such yourself. My dd got involved in 4h because another Mom got a couple of the girls together to learn about horses. Our group is really only 3-4 families. The main thing they do are the practices for horse bowl and hippology. The other thing they do is showing guinea pigs at the local fair.

We just got Sling. We are paying $40 a month because we added on a couple of their additional packages. I now get pretty much all the channels I used to watch on cable plus I found a new one I really like. Between Sling and our antenna I pretty much have all the tv I need. We still do have Netflix but dd is mainly the one who watches shows on that.

My nephew used it all the way through and now has his Masters in Chemistry.

I do schedule. I make a master generic schedule for each subject over the summer. Depending on the subject it is planned out for 3-4 days per week (occasionally 5 days but I try to make it 4 since we do a co-op once a week) for anywhere between 30-36 weeks (subject dependent). I keep all of those sheets divided in a binder. Dd then has a weekly planning sheet that I made. Every week I check off the lessons we have completed and then fill out the next week's plan sheet based on what we have going on that week. Doing it this way allows me some structure and plan but also the flexibility to change things up without getting to far off track.

It can be overwhelming when first starting. I started out with first grade I started using Sonlight because it was literature based and gave me a schedule for Bible, History and Language Arts. I choose Horizons for Math because I thought dd would like the way their workbooks were set up. When choosing your curriculum there are some things to think about? -Do you want a textbook approach, a more hands on approach, videos only, computer based - What do you want (or are required by your state) to teach? For something like History or Science you can choose the topic you want to study for the year. - What is your budget? If you are doing a program that has a lot of consumable (workbooks and such) that might be a little more expensive because you cannot find it used. The other thing to remember is that if you start with a curriculum and hate it or any piece of it you can change at a moments notice. You do not need to stick with something that is not working or you do not like. Also just because the teacher's guide says you are supposed to do something that does not mean you need to do it. Here is my one rule when it comes to curriculum: You use the curriculum, the curriculum does not use you. If you remember that you are all set.

As someone said earlier in the thread Sonlight updates their product just about every year. This would make it difficult to match up older curriculum with new product. That is why Sonlight offers discounted IG so that folks can match up the IG with the new program and new consumables. Now when it comes to things like timeline figures or the student sheets the best you can really do (unless you find them used) is to buy what matches that core and hope for the best.

We used God's Great Covenant through 4th -7th. A 3rd grader should be able to handle OT1. I loved the program and so did dd.