Lightbulb moment here - this all sounds exactly like my DS's learning style!

How well is she doing with what you are doing? With Abeka math, is she moving along as expected, understanding the concepts, etc.? With reading, are you using a phonics program, or just ETC? With DS6, reading has been a bit of a challenge too, but I set aside a number of things we've been doing to concentrate on the reading more so he'll be up to grade by the end of the year. His not reading as well as I thought he would by now hasn't hindered his progress in other subject though (and shouldn't IMO) - we just adjust and adapt more to oral and visual, or hands-on stuff, to accomodate the reading gap at the moment. What I'm saying is, don't let her reading gap slow down other areas she is doing well in....! What's worked for us with reading is Horizons Phonics - we started with K and have quickly progressed to the 1st grade book 1 (and I'm using pages from within the K books as practice pages since the K program is very similar to 1st, just more pages to work on and books to go through....had hte spines taken off the workbooks)....it's a colorful program and it seems to keep DS's attention and focus better than other programs we've tried. Now that we have reading going along nicely, we've started FLL 1 and GWG for grammar and writing skills. We're pacing slowly with these and will move to a more robust schedule once we start 2nd grade. I'd go with something a bit more structured for science, but that's me. Are you doing any narration, copywork or dictation with her? Those add a lot of value at this age I think and are worth doing, even if just a couple of times a week - they can easily be added in to almost any subject if you don't want to do it as a separate item.

I don't like switching, but have found the need to switch a few things along the way in our first real year of homeschool. Mainly it's been because what I chose didn't work well for us once we got started (Saxon Math), or not meaty enough for the level DS can work at (RS4K pre-Level 1 books) or doesn't go into enough depth (RS4K Level 1) for us. I had a hard time getting into the groove with a phonics program and after a number of switches, we finally found one that works for us. I was in the camp thinking it was he was a boy and young, maybe he needs time - while that really could still be what was causing the slow progression this year, I'm not sure, since we switched and switched had to have an effect on its own, slowing the process down....but also finding a program that we like, that's got to be helping too since he's pacing well now. For us, the switches are, I think, more due to being a rookie than grass-is-greener.....we'll see next year as I we start our second year!

:iagree: Same here.

Since I have to record hours for state requirements, I do count DS's swim lessons toward PE since PE is considered part of the elective hours. I also count one break a day, 15-minutes, taken for him to go burn off energy (ride bike, etc.) as PE since if he were in school, he'd have that time credited toward PE time....if he takes more time than that, it's still 15-minutes in the book. Other than that, his active play is just that, active play that he'd do anyway.

I'm also in the camp disappointed with RS4K....both the pre-Level 1 and Level 1. Now granted we are very science focused in our home, but the biology (both levels) is scant and disconnected; while the chemistry is a decent introduction at level 1 (only because it isn't typically taught at such a young age) - I wouldn't bother with pre-Level 1 since everything is fully repeated in Level 1; and physics is meh, really nothing to write home about, and it too is disjointed IMO. They also don't have any earth & space offering, so you need to find something else for that. To me BFSU isn't great for use as curriculum, but nicely lays out a good approach to what order to introduce and cover each discipline (not by grade, but by topic), so for us that serves as a nice guide to refer to. I still have not figured out what we are going to use for next year, for now we're just pulling together different resources and doing our own thing with BFSU as the basic outline of topic order.

LOL RahRah is a nickname my nephew coo'ed when he was an infant when he wanted my attention....it stuck, so now that's me!

I just had a baby in January - I'm 44 :tongue_smilie: - and had zero complications, despite all the doc's worried to death about advanced maternal age (geez, it runs in my family, relax!) My dad was born when my grandmother was 42, his younger sister when she was 44 (she died when she was 82, so my dad was 40) - he was actually an uncle before he was born! My dad is also one of 12 children. His sisters also had children into their 40's. My dad is now 75, so that was a long time ago, when women having babies that old were considered really old! Maternal aunts had kids well into their 40's too....cousins on both sides too. I think the oldest woman on either side to have a baby (without any intervention) was my cousin, her baby was born when she was 46. When I was younger, I never thought I'd have my first when I was 38 and my second at 44....but, that's just how it worked out, and I wouldn't change a thing, even if I could!

Glad I read ahead- that's what I was going to reply - daily life!

Must be a lot of hearing impaired folks around here if that's the problem! The vowel in our last name is a short vowel, everyone around here wants it to be a long vowel - makes it a totally different sounding name!

Encourage eggs, whole milk yogurt (she needs not just the protein, but the fat since she's not eating meat, poultry, etc.), whole milk cheese (real cheese, not processed) and, if she is open to it, fish - fatty fish like salmon. I know vegetarian doesn't include fish - but some folks who have ethical issues with factory farming will consume wild caught fish, so you might want to ask. You could also ask her what she'd like to be eating in the framework of what you'll be making. Two things are important for her health at this age - and both impact her long-term fertility.....getting enough protein and maintaining an adequate level of body fat stores. She can do that and be healthy eating vegetarian if she's paying attention to include the limited animal sources of protein in her diet that vegetarians often do consume. Eggs and dairy are both good sources of essential amino acids (protein) and essentail fatty acids (fat).

Stop and introduce yourself! You all live in a rural area - simply say, hey, I've driven past a number of times and see your kids out playing and thought I'd stop - we're neighbors - to say hello, I'm Cindyz, nice to meet you! If they don't seem too receptive, say well nice meeting you, maybe our boys will bump into each other in town/at activities, have a good one....but, they might be receptive to meeting someone nearby! You don't know unless you stop and say hello!

I can understand mispronounciation of names - but if you said her name and then it was mispronounced as she repeated it back, that's less tolerable. I have a pretty easy last name to pronounce, but it could go two ways, depending on where you live...it drives me nuts when I say my name to someone and they repeat it back the wrong way! hello? - what's up with that?

Not the OP on the pot pie, but you can make the crust for the top and it'll freeze well if you freezer it separately, in it's own bag, already rolled and ready to place on top when the pie part goes into the oven too. The thing I'd suggest is both the pie part be thawed before reheating, frozen crust topped on it, so that by the time the crust is cooked (since it was frozen raw), the inner pie part is hot and ready too....if you pop the pie part in frozen too, the crust would burn before the pie part was thawed in the re-heating in the oven.

I usually cook a lot - and mostly everything is from scratch, and I prefer to use fresh veggies and ingredients. But, I did the same thing when I was getting ready to have DS and my mom was coming to help out - I didn't want to have to cook daily and I didn't want to expect my mother would, even though she does like to cook too (and is good)....in my freezer I had, all in containers that held enough for all for one meal with maybe, maybe a small portion of leftovers: meatballs and sauce sausage & peppers with onions beef stew chicken stew pea soup with ham lasagna (small tray) mini-meatloaves + homemade gravy (separate containers) spanish rice (which you can stuff into fresh peppers) chili con carne turkey vegetable chili Carbonera sauce (alfredo with peas and bacon) and a package of fresh cheese tortellini (separate) to make tortellini carbonera in a few minutes veal in a mustard-cream sauce I also had packs of chicken cutlets, ground beef, steaks, italian sausage, keilbasa and pork chops ready to thaw and grill if we wanted that instead since they're easy to make once thawed. I threw a couple of packages of hamburger buns and hoagie rolls in the freezer to have on hand if needed. We were stocked up with frozen vegetables since they're quick too. We're still eating stuff in the freezer (baby is 11 weeks old)....I made way too much and didn't realize that my mom would cook as often as she did, as well as DH cook as much as he did - and pick up meals now and then to give everyone a break!

:iagree:

So within the structured days now, he has friends to play with....can you talk to the parents and set-up some type of arrangements for the kids to continue to interact and play over the summer? Maybe not going out to your place, but places like parks, library, rec center, etc. where they could get time to play and have some fun? Does your area have a Y or other type facility you might be able to use to set up a place where, once a week, you and other parents with kids in the rural setting can gather for the kids to play for a few hours? Parks with picinic shelters to have a potluck playdate? A trail system to have the kids do a nature hike or other activity, like a bike ride, together? I totally get the not clicking with the other parents thing - our DS is a total social butterfly, me, not so much...DH now and then, but not so much.....but, now and then, here and there, we do meet other families that we like and that we're able to establish a relationship with and have the kids get together. DS loves to play with other kids....sometimes I like the parent, sometimes I tolerate 'em for the sake of DS - it's not that they're bad or anything, just not much in common, ya know? I don't think DS needs tons of friends - just some - with some variety.....and that's what I try for, not a huge number, not oodles and oodles, not a constant, never without someone to play with thing - because it's also good, I think, for DS to learn to play on his own, entertain himself and be with himself and his own imagination too!

I wouldn't do it myself - with free, from a post on CraigsList, you potentially will have a kid the parent can't control and will dump on your first opportunity they have. Also, what if your child and they don't get along? My DS, also six, was an only until January - a very social kid, loves playing with others, yet we are in a rural setting too, few neighbors, no kids to play with his age. We find things to do that involve other kids.....last summer he did a couple of summer camps, made some friends there, we had them over and still do; we joined a swim club (pool) and spent a good amount of time there, he made friends, we had them over, still do; we went to the park when the weather wasn't crazy-hot, we invited a couple of the friends he did have over for playdates and they us throughout the summer, and we traveled some. If you take a child in for daycare, how will that impact your flexibility to do things throughout the summer with your child and family? Are there other things you can do, with the same end result - playmates - without feeling like you need to take care of someone else's child so yours has a playmate?

:thumbup1: Congrats! It feels great when they finally do it, doesn't it?

We go through phases - we'll just listen to the CD's for a few weeks, then get back to doing some activities, map work or coloring pages too, then just listening.....whatever strikes our fancy that day/week!

:iagree: And it was probably the best advice I heard at the homeschool convention I attended in Chicago last year - boys learn to sit just as they learned to walk, talk and do other things. Sure enough, in time, DS (six) has gone from sitting only for a short period of time (about 5 minutes) to focus on a lesson, to now between 15-20 minutes at a clip. No way would I even try to go longer than 20-minutes at this point, unless he was engrossed and wanted to continue along.....which doesn't happen that often, but does now more with frequency! Once we're done with a lesson, he's off to play and move, move, move - then we're back to whatever lesson needs our quiet attention. I do also do some things actively with him - that we don't necessarily have to sit and focus on.....things like science (especially the earth science stuff and nature topics) can easily happen outside while we're also doing something related, history happens mostly in the car as we listen to CD's of SOTW along our drive, we do math in the car too.....so for us, it's balancing the need in some subjects to be seated, with the need of a little boy to be active, move and play.

DS6 was having some issues with b and d....not p though.....I used "the bat comes before the ball for b" and "the doorknob is before the door in d" sayings....DS slowly but surely has been getting much better with differentiating the letters - and when he has a struggle now, I just prompt him with 'bat before ball is..." and "doorknob before the door is..." to remind him if he needs some help, which is now pretty infrequent after a month or so of working on it. I also did a lot of practice writing of the letters and the letters in words - like a page a day for a couple of weeks - as his handwriting practice....I figured if he *did* the formation of the letters, in the words, he'd start to wire his brain to *see* the difference in time....so I'm not sure what is really what's worked - the saying prompts or the physical writing?

It happened about 20 minutes ago - the AP just reported on it about 5 minutes ago.

I've eaten controlled-carb for well over ten years now...I measured initially to get an idea about how much to eat - but that was only for a short period. What I've learned over the last ten years - eat to satiety, eat an adequate (but not high) intake of protein, lots of non-starchy veggies....and you'll be fine. If you're hungry eat, if you're not, don't.

Low-carb diets work, and work well, if you understand five basic principles: 1. The majority of your food intake, from a volume perspective, should be non-starchy vegetables and salads. You can top with whatever you'd like that's rich with fatty acids - full fat salad dressings (less or equal to 2g of carb per tablespoon), butter, olive oil, etc. Realize too that many of the things considered vegetables are in fact fruits, you're not eliiminating all fruits, just high glycemic index/load fruits! 2. You eat a protein-adequate, not high protein intake - that is, you consume protein based on your weight, since protein requirements, for essential amino acids, are determined by your weight - not your gender, not averages, not anything else other than your weight. To figure out how much protein you should eat, divide your weight by 2....that is how many grams a day you should target eating.....then take that number and divide it by 6 - that is now how many ounces a day, which is much easier to do than calculating grams! For example, if you weigh 150....150/2 = 75....75 grams.....75g/6 = 12.5 ounces per day of meat, eggs (1 egg = 1 ounce), whole-milk cheese, etc. 3. While losing weight, avoid starchy roots, grains and anything with sugar added. Limit fruits to low glycemic load selections - berries, honeydew, canteloupe. Limit dairy (whole milk selection of cheese or plain yogurt) to no more than 4ounce a day. Do not use a lot of artificial sweetener that is powdered (it's powder is maltodextrin, a corn based powder that will stimulate an insulin response), and even when using liquid AS, limit to no more than 3 servings a day. 4. Consume good fatty acids - olive oil, coconut oil, butter (yes, butter), nut oils, seed oils - cold pressed is better than heat extraction....avoid oils that are rich with PUFA's in a higher ratio than MUFA's (ie. soybean, vegetable, liquid oils mostly). 5. Eat to satiety - low-carb intake inhibits appetite and will spontaneously reduce caloric intake - don't count calories unless you stop losing weight and only then, lower to your basal m etablic rate, not below it. Too many people hold the belief that low-carb diets are nutritionally deficient - they're not if you actually follow the recommendations to eat most of your carbohydrate from vegetables and make sure you're consuming the largest volume of food as non-starchy vegetables....basically if you're having 6-ounces of chicken for dinner, you'd also be having a cup (or more) of say, green beans + a salad....so by volume, you're consuming more vegetables than meat. Once you've lost weight, you can add back in many more foods - as long as you don't start gaining.....you'll find a level that works for you and stick with it......I've been doing controlled-carb for well over 10-years (lost 75-pounds and have kept it off -- or gotten back off after pregnancies).