[Awesome spelling app!! Had to share:)]

I found a great spelling app called My Spelling Test for my iPhone. You create your own spelling tests by typing in the word and recording yourself saying it. The child listens to you say the word and then types it in. Once they complete it, you can go back to see how many they missed, which words they spelled wrong, and how they misspelled it. This has been awesome for us. We use Sequential Spelling so I just make up the list the night before and hand the kids the phone:). Then I can go over the missed words and add them to the next list. Just thought I'd pass it on as I know we all need our kids to do a little independent work every now and then.

[RoughCollie's Artery Is Bleeding Out As We Speak]

Prayers sent:grouphug:

[Do you reevaluate homeschooling year by year....]

We are in it for the long haul. I don't reevaluate anything but our curriculum:)

[Read-Alouds and Yawning]

Yup....and I yawned just now reading about your yawn:)

[Do you want to host a house-conference--or organize a meeting at a local venue?]

But, but, but......you forgot TN?!?!? I'm sure it was an oversight:)

[Book a Week in 2011 - Week eighteen]

I have fallen behind these last few weeks. We had family living with us.....my SIL, her dh, and their 3 kids! Serious chaos! Anyway, this week I am reading Seeds of Vengeance by Sylvia Noble and Ashley Judd's memoir (which is surprisingly good).

[My 21 yo ds says his hair is falling out]

I met dh when he was 21. His hair was already receding and thinning. He started shaving his head by 23.

[3rd grade LA? What are you using?]

We will be using:

 

FLL 3

Sequential Spelling

IEW

[Does it matter to you if a curriculum developer doesn't have a college degree?]

I tend to be skeptical of popular hsing curriculum that others tell me about. I find that what fits one child will not fit another. Which is probably why I veer away from hsing curriculum for that reason. I tend to use publishers and companies that I have used from my old days of teaching.

 

One publisher for math aims at the special education market and I love them for elementary and junior high grades -- and they are on the same level like Saxon Math. The school I taught at used Saxon Math. I thought for sure my son would do fine with Saxon (I loved it) but it was not a good fit (he hated it). Fortunately, I remembered that small company I used as a special ed teacher for an individual student book for $13. Son loved the math book! I was happy as it was the same as Saxon Math. But if you ask many homeschoolers, they have NEVER heard of the publisher.

 

What publisher is this? I am always looking for curriculum for my special needs dd!!!

[30 day song challenge - day 9: A song you can dance to]

Anything by the Black Eyed Peas!

[Mike's.....it must be universal:)]

I took my son to a homeschool science class yesterday. It's just a free workshop at a local Christian play place. Anyway, they made thermometers using a glass bottle and straw. The glass bottle was none other than Mike's:). So, now we have a Mike's Hard Lemonade thermometer:lol: it must be a universal coping method amongst homeschoolers!

[Sweet Valley Kids]

On the other hand, some of us really enjoyed those old series and don't regret the time we spent with our noses in the books one. little. bit. ;)

 

I don't think that everything that a person reads has to have some 'greater purpose' or whatever….

 

:iagree: I loved SVH!! I saved the entire series:) they never led to a love of romance novels for me. As I got older, my tastes changed and matured. But, ahhhhhh, such fun memories reading SVH and chatting with my friends about it!

[Do you cut your own grass?]

This just blows my mind. How can anyone make a living charging only 50 bucks for that? I'd love to see his books.

 

Just a retired guy that lives in the neighborhood:). He does a lot of the neighborhood and surrounding areas. I have no idea how he files his income....

[I don't usually cry when I read the news, but this is terrible]

Wow. Absolutely disgusting. I'm speechless.

[Do you cut your own grass?]

That seems so expensive. We have almost 2 acres and we had someone mow, edge, and blow it for us before we got our riding mower. It was only 50 a week.

[Safe weather locales]

We moved to middle TN from CA 6 years ago. The weather doesn't bother me. There is SO much warning for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. The first thing we did was buy a shelter. We have only used it 2 or 3 times, but it's nice for peace of mind. In the time we've been here there has never been a tornado in our town (south of Nashville). We've never even had hail! Maybe you should move South a little....the storms always seem to go around us:)

[non-prescription sleep supplements for adults?]

I've tried Valerian and Melatonin to no avail. Benadryl works, though i'm always groggy in the morning. I have a prescription for Klonopin for my TMJ. Aaaaaahhhh..... That's wonderful stuff. I wake up so cheerful:). But, that's a prescription and not really relevant.:)

[Cheap dessert for around 300 people?]

Dump cake....sooooo easy, soooo good. I use cherry pie filling, dump a box of vanilla cake mix on top (dry), top with slices of butter and bake. Don't have the exact recipe on hand, but you can google it. Most recipes call for canned pineapple as well, but I leave that out.

[How often do you replace your vacuum cleaner? (Kind of a rant... but HELP!)]

We've had our Dyson 5 years and it's going strong.

[Anyone have ceramic tile in their living room?]

Our old house had tile in the family room. I hated it. It was so cold and uninviting (though I am a huge tile fan and we have it in our kitchen, entryway, and bathroom). We had to keep a huge rug down, which was no fun to clean. Even with the rug it was no fun to sit on the floor. My kids live to lay on the floor to color, do flips, watch movies, etc. It just wasn't as cozy on a rug with cold, hard tile beneath.

[Do you belong to a homeschool support group and/or co-op?]

We have one co-op (well, technically a tutorial), one group that I host every other week at our house, and belong to a local support group. We enjoy them all:)

[Are you sorry you used a popular name]

My youngest is Ava. Super popular in the last few years. I don't personally know any, but they must be out there as it makes the list every year:). I really don't care if it's popular. I have loved the name for years (even before it made the lists) and always knew I would use it for a dd.

[Can we talk about CLE and others?]

My ds uses CLE math. We love it. I like the spiral approach. I also like the fact that we do daily speed drills and flashcards to improve memory and speed. We used Lifepacs for J. I was not a fan. I think CLE is far more thorough. We have also used CLE LA and enjoyed it (although we used a separate spelling program). We have switched over to FLL to get out of a workbook rut, but I still use CLE as a supplement. Retried their reading program, but disliked it. The kids thought the stories were boring (and, honestly, so did I!),

[30 day song challenge - day 6: A song that reminds you of somewhere]

3 Little Birds by Bob Marley. Dh and I have been to Jamaica (without the kiddies twice). It always remind me if lounging on the beach....dirty banana in hand:)

[phonics/reading program for my (bright) almost 5 year old]

We used Hooked on Phonics. My 5 year old knew all of his letters and their sounds before we started it. He picked it up so fast. HOP is so easy to implement and doesn't take much time. I used it with my older two and plan to use it with the youngest next year.