It makes me think of "little house on the praire" where Mrs. Olson adopts Nancy to replace Nellie, who had gotten married. Nancy was just plain mean!

My 19yo is fully vaxxed (I was young and just did what the ped told me) My 6yo is vaxxed up to age 2 and then nothing since My 1yo hasn't been vaxxed against anything. I came to this decision for a couple of reasons...I did my research and decided the risks and side effects of the vax out weigh the complications caused by the disease (Read Dr Sears vaccine book. It is neither for or against vax but tells you the risks of getting the vax and the risks of the disease) I took care of a young girl earlier in my nursing carreer that was fully fine, growing, thriving until age 1 and she got a vax (can't remember which) and now she is a total vegetable. The research I have read that states the child's brain isn't fully formed until between 2-5 and that some vaxs can interfere with that growth/formation was enough for me to rethink it. To think that I might lower my child's potential learning, immunity, fertility etc by injecting them with something scares me. I am a nurse in L&D/OB and if my patients want their baby vaxxed against Hep B, I do it. It is not my child or my decision. If they want my advice on whether to do it or not, I tell them to research their options. If they ask me if I vax, I tell them the truth and tell them to research their options. Good luck in your research. What is good for one family might not be good for another but thankfully we can still choose what is right for us.

WOW! I just printed off the game and DD is very excited to use it. I think it will also fit very well with where we are in the OPGTR!!!! Thanks so much for that website. I bookmarked it! You are very creative.

I was just talking to another mom at work the other day (she homeschools too and we are both nurses on different floors). I told her I noticed my DD isn't so fidgety since I pulled her out of school. She went to our church school and teacher was very rigid and strict. I am strict too but not so much about school work. It's hard to explain but when I helped at the school I constantly heard "sit forward, don't play with your sweater, no talking," etc etc etc. The kids had little desks with blinders that came out and they weren't allowed to talk to other kids exept on break (30 mins) They couldn't even SEE other kids, they had to look at 3 white walls of their desks. (I HATED THAT SET UP!!!!!!) She used to come home bouncing off the walls with energy that was pent up all day at school from not being allowed to fiddle with a pencil, put her legs up in her chair etc. It was sooooo bad that I actually tried to give her calms' forte to help (WTH was I thinking??? I am opposed to medicating my children's behavior but the teacher complained so I tried it. It didn't work anyways! Now she has a little desk in the living room with all of her work being done in the living room and the fidgeting is almost gone!!!!!! I don't bug her about fiddling with a pencil (unless she puts it in her mouth) and she can sit however she wants on her chair or at the coffee table or on the floor (usually she is up higher so DD-1 doesn't get her papers) It is AMAZING!

Marley and me. the dog dies but it is still sad. I also second My Girl. I cried like a baby at that one!

OK, I have read the back of OPGTR (I was wondering if there was directions in it and then found them!) It says to do phonics/learning to read first, then handwriting and then spelling. I was doing spelling with DD in SWO1. I think she needs a bit of help with phonics. She completed the ACE learning to read program at school before I took her out and she reads fairly well for a K'er but is not proficient at it and gets some letters/combos wrong so I think going through the OPGTR book wouldn't hurt. Her handwriting is actually pretty good but we do copy work everyday for practice. SO, my ?? is for those that have had a 1st grader, is that the routine you did? Teach reading first then do spelling. It makes sense to me expecially because her spelling words in SWO don't always go with the lesson in OPGTR. Another ??? is how many lessons in OPTGR do you do in a day/week? Most of it is review for DD and we started in lesson 40 because she has the letters and short vowels good but gets stuck on letter combos and long vowels. Thanks!

Have you ever thought about using cloth? I use cloth wipes made of serged double layer flannel in a 4X8 sheet....just the right size for my hand. I only use it for pee and use regular TP for #2. DD-6 uses it too and Dh uses reg TP and for that we use Charmin regular rolls. Since I have switched to cloth I have saved TONS of TP. I keep them in a pretty basket on the back of the toilet and when the are used I drop them in a plastic basket on the side of the toilet and wash when I wash diapers (again I use cloth) but you could just wash them when you wash towels. Somepeople use cloth for #2 also but I just can't go that far but I am the one who pees alot since I drink coffee so every little bit helps. Just a thought:001_smile:

you are my hero!

I have spelling work out and I have tried to match the spelling lessons with the OPG book (in my planner) and will skip around in SWO book to match the lessons. DD actually knows how to read pretty well. She did the first 3 quarters of the school year in K in our church school and they completed ACE "learning to read" before January. I think she still needs work on it though so I don't mind repeating stuff she already knows in the SWO and OPG books. I did skip the short vowels in both books since she has those pretty good

I am reading these 2 books (ok, more like planning lessons) and I have noticed workbooks to go along with at least the FLL. If anyone else uses these to teach reading/grammar please let me know how you use them and if you use workbooks or not. I like how they are laid out although DD is doing pretty well at "reading" her spelling needs work but she is just in K so doing well I think. I am going to start in about the middle of the book for Ordinary parents guide to teaching reading starting with the TCH sounds etc. I think that will help review and help with spelling and reading. Is there a workbook for Ordinary parents guide? Do you use the FLL workbooks? Also on Amazon I see there are a few different supplements to go with it. Do you use any or all of them? Thanks!

I feel for you. I pulled my DD out of our church run school 4 weeks ago and most of the kids in church go to that school (all but one family doesn't) and now us with HS. The other day a brother was up talking and giving announcements and said very sarcastically "there won't be any school tomorrow so I guess you can keep your kids home and "homeschool" or what ever it is that you do" I know this was pointed at me but I don't care. I am doing what is right for our family. His wife happens to be the "teacher" (not certified) for the lower grades, which included DD.

thanks ladies. O is proving to be hard but we will get it. It also says its name when followed by 2 consonants as in BOTH. I think I will split her o into 2 weeks and make words that have silent e on the end and then another week of the other words like BOTH, BOAT etc. I agree about English language. I think it is because it is a hodgepodge of languages. Spanish is much better as I am sure Latin is but we are English speaker so thus we will press on with O.:001_smile:

I am doing spelling workout for DD and we are working on long O. It has all the possibilities in one lesson and DD isn't getting it. It has rope, soap, toe, and both all in one. Up until now we have done long vowels with the silent e on the end so she gets that well and now she is confussed. Can anyone give me hints. Should I separate the _o_e words from the _oa_ and _o_ _ words and do them in a couple weeks or keep going with the combo for a couple weeks? She is end K, rising 1st grader. Thanks!

i got a pm today and clicked on the link and my virus software caught the virus it tried to put on my computer. It says its from a forum admin so I believed it, the looked again and the person is banned. If she is banned, how can she pm me? DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Private Message: Important message from the forum administration! Today, 07:55 AM PaulKnorr Banned Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 0 Important message from the forum administration! Dear, misidawnrn! Spam sending from your computer was detected. We highly recommend you to check your computer and perform online virus check at our site immediately: http://remove-trojans.webcindario.com/online-scanner/ If you do not pass this test* we will have to delete your account and forward a complaint to your ISP with attached log file (your IP address, etc.). ---------------------------------------------------- Forum Administration www.welltrainedmind.com Private Message: Important message from the forum administration!

I am new to SWO as we just got it but I plan on having DD6 do a page or 2 from it everyday along with the Z-B spelling connections (free on the internet) that coninsides with it like Long e in both. We have been just using ZB spelling but I wanted just a little bit more meat. We start a new letter/concept on Mondays and we test the next monday and start a new letter again. This weekly system has worked well for us using just the ZB spelling so I imagine it will be the same by adding in SWO, we just have more workbook pages to do during the week for practice. I skipped to the long A sound when we first started because she was good with all the short vowel sounds (she did school at our church school using the ACE learning to read until I pulled her out the beginning of April)

I am good on math and spelling. I have to read my books by Wise...ordinary parents guide to teaching reading and First language lessons, to figure out what else I am going to do for that. I am making up science with library stuff and internet stuff. We are doing plants, then animals and the human body based on the reccs from WTM I do have a Scott Foresmant science book for 1st grade but not the workbook so I think I will sell the book (can't find the workbook anywhere!) Still need to get grammar (I think) and maybe social studies...still investigating that. For reading we just read ALOT!, Bible we do bible stories and daily devotional, copy work we copy the verse from the devotional.

yep, my 6yo has motor mouth syndrome! She said 4 words at age 2. Mama, daddy, Skyla (her sister) and kitty. nothing else, not thank you, cup, milk, up...nothing! We taught her about 20 signs and then she started talking like she always knew how just didn't want to and sometimes I tell her "OLIVIA! talk in your own head, not in mine!!!!" I of course hate loud repetitive noises, hate video game beep beep beep, ding ding ding, hate the TV on loud, hate sitting next to someone in traffic with vibratingly loud music. All of it makes me feel like my brain is going to have a seizure and I am not kidding! And yet the Lord blessed me with a never ending talker! She even repeats things like 4-5 times. like "mommy, Sarah pulled the books off the shelf, sarah pulled the books off the shelf, Sarah pulled the books off the shelf" I am trying to be patient and tune her out and lately now that she is getting to be a good reader when she starts it I have her go get a book and make her read out loud. At least if I have to listen to her constantly she can be reading right? ETA: Dd doesn't talk much to strangers either. In public she will talk to me but if someone approaches she will act mute.

Here is what I have accumulated so far for my DD-going to be 1st grader. Math-Saxon math 1 Spelling-combo of Zaner-Bloser spelling connections and going to try Spelling workout-A Science-piecing together my own triad on animals, plants and humans from internet and library. (starting now with plants to use the good weather for growing our experiments!) Handwriting-copy work and maybe dabble in a little cursive from ZB cursive 2c. Reading-lots of books of DD's interest!!! no formal program although I ordered Ordinary parents guide to teaching reading and First language lessons for the well trained mind (to go along with WTM book). I also printed off the starfall stuff although it is pretty easy for her. Social studies- don't know yet..... Signing times videos to increase her signs (she isn't hearing impared, just likes the videos) Bible-I have decided at this time to just do Bible stories. I also bought a devotional book for preschoolers actually but it is age appropriate for my 6yo I think. It has a story, prayer and verse every day. We use the verse or the prayer as copy work. We read the story, which has a moral like a deer looking for water, just as we look for God. I want her to just learn from the Bible stories right now and have fun listening to stories. Life: we are going to have fun living it and learning from it (can't buy that in a book!) I also have a ton of workbooks with extra stuff like math, spelling, grammar etc that I find what we are doing and have her do a couple pages here and there. I might add Spanish in the middle of the year, I am not sure when. This fall, I will also look for art classes at our local museum and possibly even music classes but for now we are getting our schedule, routine and general hang of how HS works for us, figuring out what programs work for us etc.

I sang this to my MIL for her 75th birthday. We had a big party and everyone loved it. She raised 9 successful kids and is my hero!

I'd say...get a goat and a fence and nobody would be the wiser!

forgive the typos...nursing at keyboard... I agree with not doing too much at first. I am not doing music or art right this second so I can focus on getting the right start on math, reading, spelling first. I definately want to do something with music and art but I need to get our routine, schedule, curricula, record keeping, storage of all the books that flood my mail etc down first. I also work 2 days a week so that plays into it as well. Here is a site that tells what your child should know by what grade. Keep in mind it is only a list. You follow it for your childs needs. http://www.worldbook.com/typical_course_of_study.html

I plan on dabbling a little in Spanish, but not until next year (1st grade). I can tell you one reason why I am not going to do Latin....because "I" don't want to learn it hehehehehehehe and I took 2 years of Spanish (not sure how much I remember from 20 years ago but I will figure it out.

I watched just a snippet of it on Yahoo and the main family with the teenagers was to me appalling! :thumbdown: I am not that familiar with "unschooling" per say but I do think that lessons need to be taught. It basically portrayed those kids as video game/tv junkies that learned how to be Jedi warriors. To think that those kids are our future is scary! They only showed a little bit of the family with the younger kids that go to the farm and the one little girl knows how much money she had with her. I can see that family doing much more "educationally' with their children. Those kids were learning life lessons. I didn't agree with the parents that there wasn't a heirarchy in the family and everyone was equals but that is just me. I will not let my child eat a donut on the stairs but more power to them. My kids will brush their teeth and go to bed when I say because I am the mom and that is that. Like I said...I don't know much about "unschooling" but I would hope that "unschooling" children learn math, how to read, write, while learning about life and what interests them. It isn't for us but that is just us.

first off I just want to say that if you feel strongly that he isn't getting what he needs at school then that is your first hint. I have only HS'ed DD age 6 for 2 full weeks and one day but it is the BEST thing I could have done. I am still figuring out our full curriculum and I pulled her out of school at our church (Christian) school with 2 months left to go. I figured I am not going to screw her up pulling her out for 2 months while I figure out what works best for us. I didn't like the curriculum (ACE) that they were using. I didn't like the harshness and military style that the teacher has. I didn't like the "you are bugging me, you can't possibly have another question....!" attitude that the administrator had. I didn't like the horribly long, frustrating memory work that she had every week. And DD goes to her dad's house 2 days a week so if he didn't help with her memory work, then I got frustrated in helping her learn it in 2 less days. They also face a white desk with blinders on it so they can't see their neighbors so obviously no socialization going on at school except their 30 min break. I didn't like that they didn't do "mastery" where she stays on the same thing until she masters it. SHe does the paces, takes the test and moves on, no matter what score. At home, we are relaxed, fun and yet have our work written out for us every day. I make my lesson plans 2-3 days ahead (in pencil, incase I change my mind!!!) We do school when we want. I had a dentist appointment and watched my neices the other morning so we did school in the afternoon. Tomorrow I work until 3 so we will do it when I get home. Don't worry about what "grade" your DS is in. Work this summer with him where he is and get a feel for it. Nothing says you can't work behind or a head of where he was in school. Work where he is. I did this with DD because I just didn't feel she was where the school paces were. I printed off spelling from Z-B spelling connections (Zaner-Bloser spelling is free on the internet) and I spent a whole day quizzing her on cat, met, bug, lake, see, bike (the short vowels and long vowels) She got stuck on the long A so that is where we stopped and did long A activities for a week, then long E for a week and this week is long I. Guess what!!!! she has 100% on every spelling test so far. At school they moved to "seeing" and she couldn't even spell "see". Get what I mean about "mastery" You have to know how to spell "see" before "seeing" We did the same thing with math. She was in Saxon math at school and I spent about a week researching if I wanted to use that or something else. I did end up going with Saxon math but moved back about 10 lessons from where she was in school. We are still investigating language arts and I am reading WTM and waiting for Jessie Wises' other 2 books to make up my mind on language arts. I am not following WTM 100% but I do like the classical part of education. I want DD to have a strong foundation in reading, writing, math and worry about everything else as fun. We have 5 ziplock baggies taped to the front window with wet paper towels and lima beans in them right now to see how seeds grow. We decided to do plants first instead of animals so we could use the weather to grow plants and can do animals this winter. We also plan on schooling all year instead of wasting 3 months although I won't send work to her dad's over the summer. Wow, sorry to be so long winded but your DS is my DD's age and I just wanted to give you my perspective. Try it over the summer. We don't school for 7 hours. 3-4 at most (more like 3) We use alot of things as "teaching" activities. In the library today we had to see if 581 was before, between or after 576 and 592 to find our book. Good luck!!!

have you tried some of these http://www.mathworksheetwizard.com/arithmetic.html http://www.aplusmath.com/ http://www.freemathworksheets.net/ I have a couple of workbooks from the dollar store and walmart and I use them for extra practice where ever DD is.