Field trips will be a big thing for us this next year, so I am trying to narrow down to the top 30 places to see near the D.C. area. There are so many more than 30, but I think 30 trips is my limit with the kids (4) by myself, during the week. We will also go places on the weekend with dh. So help me compile the top 30 places to see, things to do. Also if there are any other MUST DO trips while we are on the East coast, let me know those too! I've never lived in that area of the country. I am thinking a trip to NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.

Timely thread for me, but I don't want to take over the thread. We are moving to NoVA at the end of the month, but in the Springfield/Burke area, I think. Any other co-ops that would be close to that area? I looked up Capitol Baptist co-op, and chess. Chess seems a little far with traffic? We are coming from a Great Plains state, and 7 miles takes 7-10 minutes of travel. I know the same won't be true there! It'll be a bit of a culture shock!

I think is what I'm striving for as a teacher - to know where I am and where my students are and to know where I want them to go. I've been homeschooling for 6 years, but I still feel like a newbie. So many things looked like the latest and greatest and I thought we had to have THAT. Now I'm craving a steady path and trying to avoid going from one thing to another. I'm trying to formalize my goals for each student so I can choose a resource that will fit. Goals are not usually my thing, though. Thanks for the other replies, they have all been helpful.

How do you determine what goals to set for each school year? If you use a math textbook, for example, do you determine that learning everything taught in that level is the goal? Or do you follow a more "in this grade, we should learn x, y, z" plan?

I bought two because of this thread: American history and English Language. They happened to be $7 on Amazon, so I figured it would be a good way to see if 11 year old dd likes them. She was excited and after perusing them asked if we could buy the rest of the series. I think they look very well laid out, and visually appealing for a kid that likes color. I'll have to decide whether to fit them into our school, or just let them be reference books.

I'm with you, OP. I greatly dislike last minute requirements. I would buy some, but grudgingly. Once my dd had a Christmas function with her troop, and the night before the get-together, the leader sent out an email to tell everyone that there would be an optional gift exchange. Ack! Of course we had nothing, and of course there was a suggested amount to spend. And I knew if I didn't get something, my kid would be left out and have hurt feelings. We were barely able to make it work, but there was 1 or 2 girls that left crying because their families weren't able to. It was horrible. The leader should planned much farther in advance, OR brought a few extra gifts so no one was left out.

Here's another, without her "make-up". [emoji1] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So here's our littlest! She was 8lbs, 10oz at birth, and best guess is that she's 10 1/2lbs now, about a month later. Picture was taken around 2 weeks old. She and I are avoiding the rest of the family right now; they all have a bad respiratory virus. I am praying I stay healthy and that baby stays healthy! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The 2017-18 school year will be an active one for us. Lots of road trips that will be hours long and field trips that will be 30 min -1 hour away. I'm thinking of making our curriculum more portable, but I need help! ideas! maybe new curricula! Preschool: ? I don't know yet, but our little guy is ready for something. 3rd grade plans so far: Math: Saxon 3 Spelling/Grammar: Logic of English Essentials & Fix-It Reading: BJU Reading 3 Writing: IEW Geography-Based History: Notgrass America the Beautiful (with big sis) Geography: USA states & capitals & features Science: Apologia Human Anatomy Language: Song School Latin 6th grade plans: Math: Saxon 6/5 Spelling/Grammar: Logic of English Essentials & Fix-It Reading: literature guides? Writing: IEW US History-based History: Notgrass America the Beautiful Geography: USA states & capitals & features Science: Apologia Human Anatomy Language: Latin for Children A My thoughts so far: I could put the math in binders. Logic of English has way too many pieces to take it along. Maybe I should switch to grade-level workbooks? Writing would be okay to travel with, I think. History is hard. Its a textbook, so that's kind of bulky for a car ride. Geography is easy - drawing/tracing maps, singing songs. Science will probably be at home - I cant think of how to bring that along. Unless there aren't many projects/experiments? Latin seems hard to travel with too, but maybe it's not? If you have used those programs, I'd love to hear about it. I could use an old school trapper keeper for all their work, each subject with its own section. The problem would be with the subjects like history, it has a student workbook, timeline, review book and map book. Apologia science has journals that go with their books, although I haven't decided if we will use them. Right now we use drawers to organize all their schoolwork, and they have grade-level workbooks for spelling and reading. We began the year with Logic of English, but I had such bad morning sickness that I didn't keep up with anything teacher intensive. Maybe I should give up this one? ETA information.

Question is in the title...if you use multiple math resources for your students, how do you schedule them? We are only using Saxon currently. Saxon 3 was just started by my 7 year old and Saxon 5/4 is being wrapped up by my 11 year old. I have Life of Fred Apples through Jelly Beans, Math Mammoth, Right Start Game set, plus some other math games. I'd like to combine some of these extra resources into our school schedule, but I'm not sure how to do that and also finish our main math curriculum during the school year. My oldest drags her feet about math - it's her least favorite subject, and she is further behind than I would like. My second really likes math and usually works through it quickly. So, if you utilize different approaches, how do you do it? Just one day out of the week? Maybe 20 minutes a day? During a morning time/basket time slot? Do you also have a goal of finishing a main math curriculum during a school year?

We have fed Natural Balance foods to both our cat and dog for 4-5 years. They are both healthy and doing well. Our cat is 12, and this past year I added Natural balance wet food. She gets a can every other day or so, and doesn't always finish. She eats both, but definitely prefers the dry. So I think dry would be fine to leave out alongside the wet.

If it were me as the head of the company, I would forward the email on to the school and let them sort it out. As a PP said, if there is paperwork to turn in, people who would ask a businessman to lie would probably forge his signature, too. Chances are, if the school isn't notified by the business, and they don't randomly call, these kids will get away with the deception. That could emboldened them to other deceptions in the future.

Thanks, everyone. I think I'm going to sell everything except 3rd grade, which second dd will use next year, and then evaluate our options when we come back around to first grade. :-)

I think I'll hold on to grades 1, 2, and 3. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the student worktext in two or three years though...so maybe shedding them now would be smarter. I could always buy it used again. Does anyone know how long BJU continues to publish the worktexts of previous editions?

Congratulations! He is perfect!

I've been wanting to share our baby girl pictures, but I can't figure out how to get them small enough to upload. Mainly I'm using my iphone, but also have a Mac mini. Help?

We are moving, and I have BJU Reading sets (grades 1, 2, 3 and 5) taking up two shelves and a lot of weight. They are not the newest edition, which will make finding workbooks for the two youngest in our house improbable (ages 3 and newborn). Is there another reading program like BJU that doesn't have so many heavy TM's? Would it be worth it to sell these sets and invest in a new program? Oldest has gone through them all, second is through grade 2. Overall i have been satisfied with the stories and workbook exercises, although I could do without the phonics reinforcement, since we don't follow BJU's phonics.

We splurged on a Grace 4Ever All in One seat for our most recent addition. So far it's great! At 9 pounds, it fits her like a glove.

No, she doesn't have a fever. I am watching closely for that.

Our fourth baby is 17 days old. She sounds more sniffly/snotty/congested than she did before. There isn't anything coming out of her nose - it sounds like it's in her sinuses. Her breathing seems fine. We have a bulb syringe, but there isn't anything to remove. What worries me is that our 3 year old developed a cold this past week; he still has a runny nose. Would you call a nurse advice line and/or take her in? She is eating, has been awake and alert at her regular times, seems a bit more fussy when I try to put her down. When she breast feeds, I don't hear as much "congestion", and it isn't constant - when she is upright, she doesn't have many snorting sounds. When she is laying, I hear the snotty/sniffles/congestion but still not constant.

She's waited too long to see the world! There's no time for sleeping! 😉 Sending prayers for good rest your way!

Wonderful!! Congratulations! 🎊ðŸ¾ðŸŽˆðŸŽ‰

Thanks for all the suggestions, ladies! It's been 11 years since our first baby (the second and third shared her stuff), so I didn't know if some new amazing item had popped up. Thanks for helping me brainstorm. In the cart now I have a backpack diaper bag, a summer infant pop n jump portable activity center, a fisher-price infant to toddler rocker, an oversized diaper changing pad (20" x 30"), and a newborn boppy lounger. I'm not so sure the boppy lounger is a go, but a friend highly recommended it, so I'm considering. Wow, those look so wonderful. None of my other babies liked being swaddled, and they all slept near me, so I don't know that we would need it. But it does look like a great product. Yes, diapers and wipes ARE always needed! I thought about cloth diapering for about a week, based on the other thread about sewing them, and thought the money could help us start. In reality, though, the last time I tried CD it didn't go well, and dh really likes the disposables. Plus this is probably our last baby, so the investment won't take us as far. (Car seat is a graco convertible- we should be good for many years. Thanks for that suggestion, too.) It was a group gift, so I'm sure there will be some inquiries. I'd like to be able to identify what we used it for. Plus, I'm afraid if I don't spend it all at one time, it will get frittered away on all the other household "stuff". We purchase a lot of things from Amazon.

I received a very generous gift card for Amazon, and now I have to spend it wisely. If you already had most things that were necessary for a new baby, what would you spend the money on? We have: pack and play, bouncy seat, high chair, changing table, activity mat, swing, blankets, bibs, burp cloths, pump, ergo, moby wrap, car seat, basic clothes for 0-3 months, a few packs of diapers/wipes, feeding pillow.

Hey! This is me too! I nested in the last couple of weeks and now, at almost 37 weeks, I have nothing to do! (Except teach, laundry, cook, clean, yell moodily at the messy child whose room is a disaster, etc :lol: ) And it definitely makes the days longer when you keep fielding questions from the family like, "what's new?" Um, well, here I am, big and round, just waiting for baby. :001_smile: