As long as you have a child under 4 you are allowed to board after Group "A," there are generally still plenty of seats together at that time. Do keep in mind though that there are only three seats next to each other on each side of the aisle...

:lurk5: That sounds like my daughter! I'll be watching this thread...

Speaking as a transracial adoptee and a social worker, I believe the most important thing by far is actually having people of that culture in your life. There are vast differences in the way that various people of any given ethnic or cultural group will live their lives. Your child will need to know real examples in order to learn how he wants to live out his identity in his own life. Books, music, food - all that definitely helps too. But - you are going to have to come to understand that there are things in this child's life that you will not be able to teach him or may not be able to understand. Think how much better it will be if you have trusted, like-minded friends that he can go to when he has issues or questions (which he will). OK, stepping off my soapbox now. This is really important, though. Please don't believe the whole "colorblind", love is all he needs hype - it just isn't true, in American society anyway.

My 5yo daughter attends art and music classes at our local public school and also a Spanish class after school. That three hours every week is plenty to satisfy her curiosity and remind her why she's homeschooling! I haven't heard any talk of wanting to go to PS since about week 3. It took a little figuring out with the principal, but they were very willing to let her come in just for those subjects. Maybe an idea for next year...

This was my first year, so I don't have much to compare it too. I only have a few complaints and thought overall the conference was very well run (this coming from a conference junkie in my former professional life!). I agree with some PP's that there were just too many kids around. I truly appreciate the conference being family friendly and I am continually amazed at the great behavior of homeschooled kids, but...it made it a lot more difficult to get around the convention center and exhibit hall. And in many of the crowded seminars, there were numerous seats taken up by kids instead of parents. If you bring your kids (about ages 4-12) along, I say put them in the children's program where they can enjoy age appropriate content and get to know other HS'd kids! I also wish that the colleges and other companies (not directly HS material related) were grouped together or something in the Exhibit Hall. I often felt like I needed to speed by and not make eye contact so I wouldn't get nailed by a sales pitch, kwim? My highlight was definitely SWB's Second Time Around talk - it felt very personal and intimate even though we were in that huge room with several hundred people! I think the location is great and I was pleased with my stay at the Hilton. There were plenty of food/parking options close to the Duke Center and I felt completely safe walking around, even by myself at night.

That's so strange, my 5yo did this same thing, with 3 x 4, a couple months ago! Maybe that is just a common pattern? She's in the second half of Singapore 1B right now, and while she doesn't have all the multiplication tables memorized yet, she completely understands the concept and could calculate most any problem you give her.

I'll be there, all by myself, too! This will be my first weekend alone in 5 years since my oldest dd was born. :) And my first HS conference!

We're finishing up K this spring - you can see our curriculum in my signature. My dd flew through SWO A and B and Abeka 1 Math was too much repetition. We seem to have found a good fit with these choices. We'll be continuing with most of these series next year for 1st grade, adding cursive handwriting, piano and maybe Latin (Prima Latina). Some of these are a little writing intensive for a 5yo, I just write for her (narrarations) if she gets tired, or do things orally.

We'll be using the following: FLL 2 WWE 2 AAS Cursive Handwriting (not sure which program yet)

I've been taking care of a neighbor's baby this school year, but only on Fridays. I am definitely glad I did not make a full-time committment, just because it definitely can affect your schooling. We're tied down by the baby's nap schedule and just don't get as much done when she's here. Now luckily we're just doing K this year, so an unproductive day is not such a big deal. I'm trying to decide about next year now, especially since the baby is getting way more active! I second what others have said though - make a short-term committment so you have a way out if it doesn't work. Also, short-term may be a good solution for everyone. I know my neighbor didn't want to put her 2mo in day care, but now that's she's almost a year, they probably wouldn't mind so much. So you make a little extra money for 6-12 months, show your neighbors love and know it's not forever. For me, one day a week has been just enough! I would also say to think about how independantly your kids can work on their schooling. With my little ones, I still need to be right there most of the time. If I stopped to feed the baby, put her down, etc., all work stopped! If your older kids can keep on working while you take care of something for 15 minutes, it may not be such a big deal. Oh and definitely make sure the parents are OK with you driving with the baby, so you're not stuck at home all day... HTH!

:lurk5:

I have two of these for my daughters and we use them for all outings, park days, etc. It's so nice to pack it all up with everything separate, nothing gets smushed, etc. and I'm not using 100s of ziploc bags. And somehow food in little containers seems more appealing to kids - my kids will eat stuff from their boxes they never would off a plate! It's almost enough to want to pack lunches everyday for school! (OK, not really. :)

I just wanted to say, that as an adoptee, I would not be "humiliated" at all because my adoption status was listed on a census form, or any form for that matter. In fact, I would probably be humiliated if it weren't. It makes it seem as if we need to hide the fact that we're adopted. Although it's not really anyone else's business, it's pretty common knowledge that it's best for adoptees to know they are adopted, so there's no reason to keep it sealed from anyone. JMHO....

Hey, I figure we deserve it! :) Dd's coop gymnastics class even met outside this afternoon - they just dragged the mats outside!

I'm using Singapore 1B with my 5yo and she loves it. She's very good at mental math like you described in your son. If I try to walk her through a problem she says, "Wait Mom, let me think, " stares into space for a moment or two and then tells me the answer. :) We began with Abeka 1st grade and she was hopelessly bored with the repetition. About halfway through the Abeka we were able to switch right into 1B. If I had it to do over again I would just start with 1A. I supplement with some MEP and other worksheets/games on whatever topic we're covering for extra practice if needed.

My dd has loved listening to the CDs this year (she's 5.5 now so started right about 5). We listen to them over and over and over...until they get "lost" for a couple of weeks. I'm sure it just depends on the kid.

Like others have said, I love to look and drool over everything but haven't actually changed our curriculum during the school year. I'm a little nervous about that vendor hall at the conf. in Cinninatti though - all those materials in your hands! :)

Oh, I also meant to say that I definitely need something that can fill in if I provide the ISBN. I know HST does that, but just a plain old list or spreadsheet in Excel couldn't obviously.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I need to keep track of more than just books read, though. I also want to keep a running list of books to read in the future. You know, when you get a great list from someone or suggestions from a book that you want to get to someday? I guess I could use the library/reading log on HST and sort by completed or not. But then I couldn't sort by a tag or subject though, like if I wanted to find all the history books listed that we haven't read... Keep the ideas coming!

So I've been looking at different things to catalogue my daughter's books/reading and can't find exactly what I'm looking for. I love the idea of LibraryThing, esp. being able to look books up by ISBN, but I also want to be able to track when a book has been read, like in a reading log. Does this exist? Anyone got any ideas? Thanks!

I have been dealing with this same issue with my dd (5 1/2yo). She has LOVED the historical American Girl books. Some of them bring up fairly mature issues (the Depression, World War 1), but I was truly surprised at how much she learned and understood about those events/issues. We have saved the Addy series for when she's older - it begins with Addy and her mother escaping from slavery... Of course reading the books has now led to an infatuation with the actual dolls, but that's another thread! :)

OK, you all are totally feeding into my school supply addiction!! I think my laminator is my favorite at the moment, and nice paper, especially colored paper card stock!

What a great resource! They'll be great for my daughter.

:iagree: We got this DVD for Christmas and my girls (2 and 5yo) LOVE it! We watch it several times a week. If my 2yo had her way she'd watch it several times every day! :)

Just one more vote for going ahead and reading the originals now. My 5yo dd LOVES these, read aloud and the audiobooks. She can read and understand most of them on her own now, as well. Her favorite Christmas gift this year was a set of all of the books!