When ds was 1 we had to walk and school. I would put ds and dd in a double stroller and the older two would walk and school. We would walk about 3 miles per day. Sometimes I would read and oldest dd would push. I would read history, literature or science books. We always did memory work and recitation. I would bring a folder that sat on top of the stroller and we reviewed foreign language vocabulary, sang songs, etc. We did nature study while walking - everything I could fit in. I also counted it as phys ed. :)

Dolciani - Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II

We have school every day my dh works and it has never been a problem. He is off one day a week and the day changes every eight weeks. We just have school every morning he goes to work. We try and get done before lunch on days that we have afternoon plans. If we don't get done, we finish after dinner. :)

Hi Jo, It was a very large charitable organization whose function is not allowed to be discussed on this board due to board rules. It is not a charity that I personally support - so it was especially shocking to see it show up on the bank statement. :) When we contacted the charity the man we spoke to was very forthcoming and knowledgable. He had no problem identifying the donation and fixing the problem. In fact, it had been identified and corrected before we even called. It simply took overnight to refund to our account.

No. We get each child one gift of his/her choice. Then I usually buy a family gift of my choice - perhaps a game for the family.

We cover dinosaurs in science. We do prehistory, as in early humans, before ancients. But the dinosaurs are covered during life science, zoology, etc.

I grew up in Sturgis, MI!!! Small world. :D I lived in Sturgis from 2nd grade through my sophomore year in high school (1990.) Not bad. Cold, dark in the winter, nice town. Before that, I was in Traverse City, MI. I loved living on Lake Michigan. I was young but have only great memories of that area. Finished high school in Kalamazoo, MI. Larger town than Sturgis which is nice for high school. Still cold and dark in the winters. I already knew I was going to attend college in Florida. I applied to five colleges - four of them in FL. Went to college in St. Petersburg, FL. I loved the college and loved the hot weather and being right on the Gulf of Mexico. The town was a bit too large for me, but overall very happy. I spent a month in Athens, Greece thanks to a scholarship from my college. This is still my favorite city ever. I almost didn't get back on the plane - REALLY! I am still homesick for Greece now and then. Fort Myers, FL I really enjoyed living there. Met my dh and had all four children there. We lived on the river, were less than 30 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, the weather was hot and sunny all year. I loved it. But a couple of years ago the growth got out of hand. The town is now too large and really struggling economically. We just arrived home from visiting yesterday and agree that it was a wise decision to move and wouldn't move back. We now live in northwest Florida. It is absolutely beautiful here. There are less than 1000 people in our town, still hot and sunny most of the time but wonderful cool evenings in the winter. There is nature and wildlife everywhere. BUT there is no culture, AT ALL. There is no theater, or art, no museums of any sort, not even a decent a library. Nothing. Overall, I love Florida but Athens is my favorite city ever.

Our bank credit card number was stolen on Friday (or hacked from the computer - not sure) and the person who stole our number used it to make a $1000 donation to a charity! :confused: :confused: I check my account every morning - so while on vacation yesterday, my dh and I drove to our nearest bank branch. We had to cancel the card and have a new one issued. Later that day we called the charity (they are out of California so we waited until noon) and the man we talked to on the phone said this person had used 60 card numbers to make donations. I would assume $1000 each. The charity didn't appreciate it, as they had to go back and refund all of the money. What is the point of this??? Is it just a joke to the person stealing the numbers? It seems like a great risk with no benefit to anyone including the person stealing the numbers in the first place. The money was returned to our account the next day, so it was only a small issue for us. If I hadn't checked, maybe we could have overdrawn the account before the money was credited back to our account? Is this a common thing? I have never even heard of stealing bank numbers to donate money to charity. And using 60 different numbers is a sure way to get caught. Or at least it would seem so to me. :huh:

Thanks for both replies! I like the two year Pre-algebra plan. I'm going to give it some consideration.

Why does K12 do Pre-algebra over two years? Do they use two Pre-algebra books or one book over two years? Why would it take two years to get through Pre-algebra? I tried to look at the scope and sequence, but I would have to register first and I really don't want to do that. Thanks!

1160 sq. ft. - 1 bedroom / 1 bath (We converted both the loft and sunroom into bedrooms.) 4 children - love the small house ( but wish the converted rooms had closets)

We do multiple history cycles at the same time. We've never had any problems. A timeline is a good way to "see" where everything fits in.

Consignment shops, while they are for profit, also give quite a bit to those that qualify as "needy." I owned a children's consignment shop for several years. I would get in much more than I could sell and most people do not want their old children's clothing and toys back. I made weekly donations to several charities. These items would go straight to people in need - for free. Most of the consignment shops I knew did the same. I'm sure this is true for thrift stores as well. I know our Salvation Army would give away items to those in need. They would give them credit to the thrift store and hold items that families were in need of rather than putting them out for sale. (Our Salvation Army actually kept a list for those people.) There is so much "stuff" out there. I donated almost as much as I sold, much of it to the local teen pregnancy shelter, the emergency shelter for abused women and children, the local hospital and a ministry for children of local migrant workers. There are lots of charities working behind the scenes to give to those in need and at no cost to those families. It is really a huge network. :)

We shop used for almost everything we buy. It isn't a question of what we can afford, it is more a question of what we believe. We always try and reuse before buying new, that includes clothing, books, toys, cars, houses, etc. We try not to support a materialist culture nor instill materialism in our children. We find it a waste of money to buy new. And we LOVE to thrift shop. We love garage sales, using things given away by others who are done with them, trading items, exchanging services, etc. It is really a lifestyle choice. :)

Plaid Dad, I was hoping you had some news on your memory work book. I talked to Memoria Press and they were very vague. But it sounded as if it wouldn't be out for some time?

What is your opinion of the Breaking the Barrier program (Spanish or French)? Did you use the CDs? Thanks!

The Tampa Aquarium is nice. If the weather is cooler and you like the outdoors I would take a canoe trip down the Weekie Wachie river. That is the best time of year to see lots of manatees and the river is crystal clear, so you get a really nice view. You can also swim in the river. But go on a week day if you can. It tends to be crowded on the weekends.

I loved our hardwood floors in our kitchen (and everywhere in the house.) Now we have tile and it is slippery!!!! You always have to be careful. When the little ones get a drink of water and spill a bit on the floor, someone is bound to slip. Or when you walk into the kitchen after having taken a shower or have just come in from the rain, the little bit of water you don't even notice on the floor always seems to be a near accident. It doesn't help that we have an island. We have had two busted foreheads so far, not to mention the three or four pulled leg muscles as only one foot goes sliding across the floor and the other remains planted. I really, really dislike the tile. ETA: I am surprised to hear that hardwood doesn't hold up. The hardwood in our last home was original to the home - 35+ years old and still looked great. It was in the whole house including the bathroom and kitchen. It had had plenty of spills and even a flooded bathroom. We made a point of wiping up water after baths and showers (but we do this with tile as well.) But my kids are not especially neat or careful, and we never had any problems. It certainly had scratches and dents, but I loved the look and feel of our home. We still miss that house and consider it our favorite home, mainly because it had all wood walls and floors (and lots of windows.)

I dropped First Start French - again! I need something to supplement it and I haven't been able to find it. So we have dropped it until I can get a better plan together. We have also changed our math plans. We were doing Saxon and Singapore together, but I have begun to find it unnecessary. (Again I feel for my oldest, always the guinea pig.) The math plan for my other children will be: Saxon K, 1, 2, 3, (4 if needed,) then Singapore 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (adding in some of the Key to.... books if needed,) and finally Dolciani for Algebra and up.

I actually like these lesson plans better than the CK teacher's guides. http://www.baltimorecp.org/lessons/draft_lessons.html I have the Pearson history books (the all in one book, not the separate books.) I like them and am using the 3rd grade book with my 3rd grader, but I do NOT think they are worth the price listed at Pearson. I purchased mine used and wouldn't pay more. I originally purchased the Pearson 7th and 8th grade history, both student and teacher (used again) and did not like them at all. I though they were written well below the level that should be expected of a middle school student. This is my favorite core knowledge school. I use their lesson plans and information off their website from time to time. http://www.ridgeviewclassical.com/index.html

If you are looking for a workbook - Figuratively Speaking is a nice one. http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Figuratively+Speaking%3A+Using+Classic+Lit+Tch/028214/1224732557-662659

I just purchased the First Year Latin workbook at a library sale today. I don't have the textbook so I don't know how much help I will be. :) The workbook has two or three pages for each lesson (or about six pages if it is a review lesson.) It generally has one page that seems to go over what was in the chapter and one or two pages of drills that I assume cover everything learned so far. The review sections look good. They go over vocabulary, forms, translations, etc.

We heard Michelle Obama today at a political rally in Gainesville! It was a lot of fun. The kids were upset that they couldn't see her. We were too far back. I could just get glimpses of her between heads now and then. I would have loved to hear her husband speak. But it was neat that Michelle was there.

Thanks for your thoughts! I should have said - I am thinking ahead to next year. So it would be for an 11 (nearly 12) year old. And I do have the time to spend two years going through it. But the literary terms are important to me as well. I don't want to spend two years on a program unless it meets our goals - which include having a good understanding of literary terms before entering high school. I do think she would find it interesting and enjoyable enough to spend two years working through it!

Does LLLoR do a good job of covering literary terms? I am looking for a one year program that is interesting and yet focuses on literary terms. I have Figuratively Speaking that I can use along side it to put more focus on the terms. But I don't think Figuratively Speaking alone is enough. I have a literature program that I want to use beginning around 7th (maybe 8th) grade. But the program assumes previous knowledge of literary terms. That is where I want to focus. I really don't want to pull my own thing together using different classics and study guides or online information. I would really like a one year program that is going to cover most of the terms and preferably uses whole books to do so. Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings is the closest I have found so far - but I am open to suggestions. For those who have used LLLoR, did it do a good job? Did the child(ren) come to understand the terms? Did he retain the information? Was it interesting?