I always do a gift certificate for a local spa. There is nothing like a massage after that first month or two of caring for a new baby 24 hours a day.

Another thing to look into is which diseases have had outbreaks in your area. we delay vax and have used a different schedule for each kid depending on where we lived.

We aree using Singapore and so far it is working really well. We opted for an additional book of word problems to mix things up a bit as 1a is pretty basic.

Helmets are nonnegotiable here and always will be. They each get to pick their own with the understanding that they will be wearing it so they had better like it. Would it help to point out that all the professional athletes wear helmets? Another thing to check is the helmet law in your area. Where we live helmets are required for 12 and under ($50 ticket). That makes the argument very easy for me.

And remember that in many parts of the country the age cutoff is 5 by Sept 1 so you would still have a preschooler. My oldest turns 5 at the end of Oct so we are in pretty much the same boat. We started last month and are quickly figuring out what works. We seem to have settled on the Usborne first Science Encyclopedia for Science along with local museums and science kits. For History we are reading the four volumes of SOTW as an introduction in preparation for next year (no activity books). For Language arts we are almost through 100 easy lessons and started MCP phonics plus lots of reading. For Math we are using Singapore. I do think the socialization question is valid but it isn't hard to address. My girls both take Hula and the oldest takes ballet as well. They have a few friends who homeschool that we have met through support groups and we get together at museums and such. The oldest also takes an art class and plays soccer while the younger does gymnastics. One thing I have discovered is that our Rec departments and local museums/zoo/aquarium all offer special activities/camps during school breaks. My older girl went to a one week zoo camp at the end of the summer and is going to a half day ceramics camp for a week during the next ps break at our childrens museum. Her occasional weeks at camp also give her a chance to really get used to being away from me and give me a little break (2 of the other arguments against homeschooling that I have heard).

We have shelves for all the supplies in our art area. The tissue paper is all in a plastic drawer on one shelf, specialty papers are stacked by type on another shelf, scratch paper is in a box on the bottom shelf and construction/colored project paper stands on end in a rolling bin under the art table.

Mine are almost 5 and almost 3. Nobody gets a bedtime story unless it's all cleaned up before the timer goes off at night and anything still on the floor after the timer goes off gets boxed up and sent to the garage for 5 days (with occasional alterations of the rules for ongoing projects). I fekt like a horrible mom for the first week when they were losing their bedtime book almost every night (what kind of mom takes away books?) and all their toys were in boxes in the garage but life is sooo much easier now that they realize I mean business and am not their personal maid service. (and it really only took one miserable week and a second so-so week for them to get it)

Situational for us. The area we live in has particularly bad schools which led us to homeschool this year (and I disagree with full day K anyway). We will continue moving every 2 years or so for the foreseeable future so we will reevaluate with every move. Our oldest would really like to try school and asks regularly if she will get to go next year so we hope to choose a location that will allow that to happen. Ideally we would find great school districts that will allow part time enrollment for students but I'm not holding my breath. A great coop would be another option (we have very little here). And if we do choose ps in some locations we will still have to afterschool for continuity across thei education. It will all work out somehow I am sure.

Very cool. I love that all the parenting approaches formerly considered odd are becoming more accepted.

I was told unlimited walking once I felt up to it then a return to running/swimming after 4 weeks. I started with half mile walks 4 days pp (c sections) and worked up to a mile by the end of the first week. By 3 weeks we were hiking a couple of miles, it wasn't cardio but it felt good.

You can write off your moving expenses so definitely keep all receipts. As far as Syracuse the winters are really not *that* bad and the spring, summer and fall are very nice. Housing is also fairly inexpensive.

My kids and I cooked all day. We cleaned the fridge and cooked zucchini bread, peaches and cream muffins, quiche and a couple of cold salads with all the leftovers we found. We then had to make playdough since they found the food coloring while looking for the cinnamon. I finished the day by scrapping dried playdough off the table and floor.

I would think after dying but you could search dharmatrading.com for directions. We get all our tie dye supplies there.

Did you look to see if it had a cd in the back? We just picked some up (my little girl was quite jealous that her big sister got to do schoolwork) and they were only $3-4. I did see some though that were around that price and they each had a cd of activities and games in the back.

My almost 5 year old learned to write all the letters with a marker on a dry erase board then we moved to paper and pencil. She can now write her name and some words but I am not doing any formal handwriting until at least January because I just don't think she has the small muscle control for it yet.

Fun reading books my girl enjoys that haven't been mentioned are the Bailey School kids series and the Nancy Drew Clue Crew books (Nancy Drew in 3rd grade).

What about Calvert?

I used flannel squares also.

This is basically my view so it sounds like SOTW will work fine. I don't have a problem with Christian content as long as it isn't presented as fact. There are enough Christians in the world (and religion plays into enough of history) that I feel like it would be a mistake not to teach the kids others viewpoints.

It seems like there is some disagreement as to whether it is. I am looking for a secular option for K/1 history.

We live in a tropical climate and staph from bug bites is a big problem here. They carry the bacteria from the ground into the bite and the infection develops.

We do a lot of hiking with the kids. The Kelty backpacks are nice for little ones but they tend to change your center of balance which can be dangerous. I love, love, love the Ergo for hiking. We used a kelty as babies then once the kids hit 18 months we switched to Ergos with them (before then having something freestanding is nice, after that point they don't want to stay in the backpack when it's off). The ergos are much easier when they constantly want to get up and down and are very comfortable. Our almost 5 year old still rides in one fairly often (she usually hikes a couple miles then wants a break).

My four year old learned to read last year with Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. It worked very well for us because there is a little story to read in each lesson starting around lesson 25. We went through the first lessons 3 or 4 a day then slowed down and did the lessons with stories one per day twice (if that makes sense).

and now I need a peanut butter sandwich...I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread. (for the record we don't refrigerate pb either)

I have no idea but I was told that if you get water in your ears you can put a few drops of a 50/50 water and white vinegar mix in them to dry them out and make them too acidic for bacteria to grow. (per our kids doc, they both swim almost every day year round)