If you decide to do it, they need to be able to prove that they can buy this house when the time comes. They need a preapproval from the bank before they move in, and I'm not sure what you are listing your house for, but $7000 does not seem like enough earnest money. Perhaps, $7000 now and other sums to be paid towards a downpayment every other month. If they have a house to sell first, who is to say they will be able to sell it in the time allotted in the lease.

I have all of the DVDs--have attended Andrew Pudewa's workshops in person. I want to like his method, but actually it never worked with my older kids. I did use it for some creative writing. It made sense to have my kids take the plot from a story and change up things to make it their own, but beyond that blah!!

Name and date on everything. I'm down to three at home currently, but in the past five different kids doing five different things was just to much to keep track of. Now I need dates and names because we turn things into the charter school for a portfolio.

I'm working on the same thing---can't you read me working hard! My dh is coming home tomorrow. I want to have a nice clean table with a candle burning when he comes home and oh yah, I'd like to sweep out the garage, but you know I'll wait till tomorrow to do that. Why do now what I can put off until then.:glare:

Sounds great--clicking over there to take a look.

Erthromycin does it for me. Started as a teen for me.

I graded when I had a high school student. I had to come up with a transcript when my dd decided to attend high school this year also. I gave her an A across the board except for her math last year. I hadn't kept grades for her at all. I figured that since I had taught for mastery she had earned them. Math is something she struggles with and since it is something she did on line, I actually had a percentage to award her--it was somewhere in the 80s. I awarded her a B. I start all my kids with tests in fourth grade. They take the Shurley English test each week. I don't keep track of the test scores. It's more so that they can learn to take test. My 7th grader is asking for grades now. Perhaps, I'll think about it for the new semester in Jan. It's alot of work to do grades.

We are currently using: http://www.thamesandkosmos.com/products/pw/pw2.html I love it and we will stick with Thames and Kosmos. I like that the parts are durable. The experiments are great. I've added Usborne Internet Linked Science Encyclopedia to make it more of a complete science course.

This is my first year dealing with fleas also. Never had fleas before. What you bought will break the cycle, but its not instant. You have fleas in your home--In the larva stage. The larva can stick around for up to 9 months. They lay in wait for a warm body to walk by. Then they hop on board. You want them to hop onto your animals because the treatment will poison them and keep them from making more fleas. Sorry, but I would expect to be dealing with it for about 30 days. Anything that can be dried---put in the dryer on high for more than 90 minutes. :glare: Sorry, you're dealing with this. The vet here said that its been the worst flea season he's ever seen. Just keep vaccuumming, drying things. We also bought a fly bath that we had to use on our cats twice. After about 30 days, we were flea free.

We are pretty close to 45%. We have always been careful about how much house we could afford in the past and have paid mostly cash for our past homes. Unfortuntually, right now we own two homes. One has been on the market for over a year and a half. The home we are living in was bought with almost zero down(because a lot of our cash is in the other home). So between both homes, we are paying a hefty portion of our income. The mortages alone isn't what pushes us over the edge--it is paying for utilities in a home where the temps are high in the summer and low in the winter. Our electric in the summer runs about $150 and the gas is at least $200 a month--and we aren't there using it! In a few months we will pay off our car and that will give us some breathing room. Right now we don't have savings, can't even think about a vacation, don't have cable, are putting off dental work for two kids--even though we are paying for ortho for two others. We just couldn't pay for any school books, so we enrolled our kids in a charter school which pays for books and activities. I look at it this way. We have all of the neccesarities--food, shelter,clothes. We don't have many extras. Usually, I'm grateful for what we have. Sometimes I'm frustrated and upset about what I don't have and can't give my kids. I think I'm suppose to be learning something in this situation--still working on having a better attitude.:001_smile:

Amber, Is there a special place to sign-up as a homeschooler or did you sign-up as your own school?

Sounds like a great idea. Let us know some more of the things they chose to do.

Throw them out the door! I hate limas. Haven't eaten them in 20 years. I'm sure that as an adult, if served lima beans, I would eat them. But I remember hating the texture as a kid, and I remember the eating of the lima beans as being mandatory. Why, oh why? If your kids aren't picky about other foods and they hate limas then do all mankind a service and get rid of the limas. ;);)

If he can diagram the sentences, I would guess that perhaps he might not know the terms for complete subject and complete predicate, but understands the concepts. When going through R&S with my dd, I made sure that she kept a notebook with all the terms in it. Also, I've found that the oral review at the beginning of the lessons are essential for remembering all the terms. I'll be all :bigear: here. We are getting ready to move from Shurley 4 to R&S 5 soon. I've never used Shurley 3(always skipped from 2 to 4)--I have noticed in Shurley 4 that complete subjects and predicates are not really reviewed once they are covered once briefly at the beginning of the year. Once a week, they are mentioned on the test where the child underlines each for one sentence.

You may want to visit South Grand to find neat shops and lots of different ethnic restaurants. This area is about 6 miles from the arch(less than 10 minutes on the freeway) and not touristy at all like the restaurants near most tourist attractions. Most of the restaurants are very family friendly in this area. It is neat to drive down Flora Place or Longfellow Blv(both right off of South Grand) to see all different types of architecture and mansions built during the turn of the century. Tower Grove park is in that area and is the largest Victorian Walking Park in the country. Right there is the Missouri Botanical Garden (often called Shaw's Garden). During Thanksgiving weekend, it features a train display that is magical. We use to always take our Christmas card pictures there. Central West end is another similiar area. Euclid Ave, the main street in Central West end, has lots of neat shops and restaurants(more high end and hip than South Grand--not so many ethnic restaurants). Off of Euclid Ave are several private streets with beautiful homes that would be fun to walk down. I found that architecture in St. Louis to be fasinating. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis (also called the New Cathedral as opposed to the Old Cathedral--which is at the Arch) is a free must see. The mosiacs inside the Cathedral contain more than 2,000 colors! Free tours are offered everyday. That is in the Central West End area and just a few blocks from Forest Park. Forest Park is where the zoo and a lot of musuems are located. Think of Central Park size-wise. You could spend your whole vacation there if you were so inclined. You can rent small boats at the boathouse, visit the museums, zoo, see the largest Victorian Greenhouse in the USA--called the Jewel Box. I believe you can also rent bikes to bike around Forest Park--although I'm not sure if that is available at that time of the year. If it is cold enough, you can visit the public skating rink in the park. If you are downtown to see the arch--which is free, unless you chose to ride to the top, you may want to stop in at the Dred Scot musuem(free). Also, in that area is the Main Branch Library which is a magnificant building as are several other public buildings right in that vicinity. I would skip Laclede Landing--it is very touristy and not always family friendly. The one exception would be The Speghetti Factory. There is a mall downtown that I would also skip with kids. For some reasons, these two places are always listed as must see places. I'm seconding the other places mentioned previous to mine. The city museum is very pricey, but unlike any other museum I have ever been to and worth the price, if you can swing it. It is easily an all day excursion. Often during the holidays and weekends it is open until midnight or one am. When we moved to St. Louis, I couldn't believe the amount of free things there are to do there. I really misss that about St. Louis. Have tons of fun and let me know if you have anymore questions.

Thanks so much for information, gals. I was thinking level 5, but kinda needed the nudge. Thanks for the links, plain Jane. I am heading to them to check them out right now.

I am going to move my ds (11years old) into Rod and Staff English. We have been using Shurley English for the last two years. We are finishing up level 4. In the past, I have used Rod and Staff with my older kids, so I know it is what I want to do. I was using Shurley because I like how it teaches parts of speech and also because I need the three youngest to be all together for grammar. Anyway, it is time Rod and Staff--Shurley is really easy for him---just wondering if we should go with level 4 or 5?

I agree with Christina's take on creative writing. I just wanted to add that R &S English includes writing. It isn't included everyday, but I would take the concept learned in the writing lesson and make sure to focus on that concept during narration time or any other writing done. That way you will have a focus for your writing. I've been where you are not to long ago and this to shall pass.

I feel inspired by all the creative ideas bounced around on this thread. I usually have some candy, but mostly give away UTZ's prezels. One lady in St. Louis gave out fresh baked soft prezels. I think for the trunk or treat maybe we'll do something different.

We go to church in the morning from 9-12. Afterwards, we have lunch and chill for a while. It's a time to spend with family. I try to limit electronics--not always successful. We work on sitting goals for the week(all of the children have different programs that require goals be set and accomplished through church that they work on). In the evening, we have family home evening or visit with friends. We do not shop, go out to eat, participate in sports, or do school work. I really enjoy having a quiet day set aside.

Just a little comment which will most likely be TMI---whole cloves in = whole cloves out! I warned you it would be TMI!:001_smile: I've learned to chop up my cloves. I think a clove every few days would do it.

Mine is up. I didn't post last week, so this week's got a little long. We're taking a week off next week--which means I won't post an update, but will be able to hang out on the boards more often! Also, I hope to add some personal entries to my blog. Have a great weekend everyone!

:lol: We loved Happy Phonics--three sounds about the right age for it, also. (the smile is for me son):D

I am replying to the post about Phonics Musuem. I loved using that program and have many good things to say about it, but I don't think it would be a good fit in this situation. Sometimes the lessons took us as long as 45 minutes--which worked for us, because it covered so much--but most likely wouldn't work for this charming young women.

I'm going to second Write Source. We are using it for the second year. I really like how the writing portion is broken down into small steps. The Teacher's Manual is nice for the lesson plans, but not required at all. Not sure its worth the price. That being said--I haven't used the grammar portion of the program--just the small bit of grammar in the writing books. If you are familiar with grammar and feel comfortable teaching it, than that amount of grammar might work for you.