I love Nutella, I think Keurigs are overrated. I don't watch any of those shows, I prefer Once Upon a Time, Nashville and Last Resort :) Twitter bores me but I do love Pinterest. Meh on eBay and I despise Apple. I also think the Channing Tatum is no big deal. I have been to Disney World and Disneyland (Disney World is much better :p) I think that makes us even hehe.

Oh yes, he just doesn't want to teach them. He will remind ds10 to do his work but doesn't actively teach. Obviously if he is asked questions he answers them but I mean he doesn't get out the teacher book and conduct the lessons.

Let me put in dh is home with the kids. He, however, is not involved in the homeschooling. :)

I currently work 32 hours, so I have 3 days off. I may have the opportunity to get promoted and the position would be full-time (with a good raise). So what are reasonable expectations for the kids with regards for homeschooling? As you can see in my sig I have a 15yo and a 10-almost-11yo. I am not worried so much about the 15yo, she has always been real self-motivated. The 10yo though? I am unsure. I was thinking of just assigning straight reading work (like reading from the text for history and science) and maybe a math drill or practice sheet (not a new lesson). I would get home early enough to do grammar, spelling and writing, (which we don't do all every day it is staggered). Does that sound like to much to do alone? I need to make the homeschooling work for us and don't want to pile gobs on him and stress him out, but I also need to be able to work and make a little more money. What thinks the hive? Ask questions if need be! I really, really want opinions and ideas!

I too use HST+. I like it, it is easy...ish to use :) However I find myself liking paper and pencil too. I like writing it down myself! So I like to use HST+ for the planning and then write things down to do! Now if I could just get the physical items as organized as my lessons.

I am looking for ideas on organizing what I have. By subject. I haven't figured out yet a good system! I have tried workboxes. They were OK, if I had the funds to buy decent sets of drawers (not to mention had the space) I would have liked them better. Right now I don't have the time to load drawers every school day. The filing system won't work either because I want to keep everything together. The teacher and student books as well as manipulatives. I have tried putting everything on bookshelves. It gets confused because I have everything spiral bound and they are all the same color! I have thought of a bin per subject and keeping everything in there, but there is the space/logistical issue. I have thought of making color coded (each of our subjects have their own color for the kids binders) tote bags for everything but again, where to store them? Please, anyone have something that makes it much (MUCH) easier to grab a subject? Currently I flounder looking for everything!

I need some suggestions. My daughter and I would like to start trying Yoga but we are beginning beginners! I also just want the exercise, I don't want all the other "spiritual" or whatever with it. Can anyone suggest anything?

There may be a thread on this but I can't find it. I have a hard time searching in the new forum. I tried under PAL but got a nothing found type message. So, can anyone compare these for me? Or link to a thread that does? I have Saxon Phonics but I have a sensory seeking child and don't know if Saxon will fill the need (without me adding the sensory things in). I really want to start something with my youngest but I also want it to be engaging! :)

Is it essential to the survival of the program? I would like to save that $10 is possible!

I have looked at both. I have the 1/2 combo and looked at the separate books. The differences are very minimal. I would say that it is about 95% the same. They have the sample here and you can compare the table of contents. I am just going to use my 1/2 book that I have. :)

I have to say I love Tapestry.... I don't like the geography. We are in Unit 4 of Year 1 and we have skipped geography since half way through unit 1. The kids didn't like it and I didn't like it. The maps confused me. So my question is... does it get better in Year 2 (3 or 4)? Before I switched to Tapestry I was using Geography Matters. The kids liked it. So I was thinking of incorporating it back into our homeschool. However if it gets better than I will keep it. Geography and Writing are the only complaints I have with TOG. Otherwise it has been a life (and time!) saver! Any insight?

She wasn't quite half way through SWI-B. She is older now so if I was to go with it I would go for SWI-C. However, I just can't invest the amount of time the TWSS wants from me. Not right now.

I really want to get my dd more into writing. She likes to write but needs more structure to her writing. We were doing IEW and we loved the program. However, I just don't have the time needed to do the TWSS and such. I work 32 hours a week (I am working to get that down to 24 but still takes up some time). So I got her the Writing With Skill. She hates it. (Sorry Susan!) She keeps saying she wants to go back to IEW, she loved it. I am torn. I don't know what to do! What you you do in my place? Stay with WWS, go with IEW or something else?

Ohhh cool! Thanks! :)

I was talking about here http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/forum/15-for-sale/ It says that is where you should post but the button says I cannot post there! :)

Do I have to do something special to post there? I will be needing too soon. :)

I realize it is rated PG-13 but do you think it would be OK for an almost 11 year old? He has watched PG-13 before.. like Iron Man and Transformers.

Never. We have been here 6 years and haven't seen our landlord since we signed the lease. However, he does have his own handyman that he sends out for issues that need to be fixed. So he could look at the place while he is here to report back to the landlord but he only comes out if you call him. If we never had a problem with anything we would never hear or see from them.

My sister's 2 year old hasn't been sleeping through the night. My sister says she will get up 2 or 3 times a night crying and calling out to her. It isn't night terrors as the only similarity is that she wakes up but the timing is off as well as the behavior. She wakes up 3 or 4 hours after going to sleep then a couple other times after that. It takes sometimes an hour to get her back to sleep! It is wearing my sister out! :) She has a bedtime routine so her schedule is erratic in the evening. I told her to try to cut out all sugar to see if that helps but I just don't know if this is just a phase or something she can try to help. Anyone have any suggestions?

When you hover over a name there is a number highlighted in a greenish color (under our avatar pic). What does it mean? Anyone know?

My son was asking for something for Christmas from one of the catalogs we have received over the last few weeks. I have lost the catalog and I can't remember the name of the things. They are like Legos but not the Lego brand... any ideas? I will know it when I see it. It wasn't Kne'x. It did have a Wolverine set :) That was the one he wanted! Thanks! ETA: Wolverine as in Marvel. I think. It wasn't Megablocks either. Something else. Bugger my brain.

We have a hard time with this as well. Our kids just can't play outside whenever they want to. We have ticks and we have mosquitoes. The skeets eat up the kids and ticks are just gross. The skeets around here are out from about 9am to 8pm so they don't go outside much. They don't like (and I don't blame them) the repellant they would have to wear to go outside. We live in a small house so finding things to do is hard. Being inside all day is hard for kids. I work full-time. I can't take them places to play so my kids get way to much screen time. I haven't found a better way yet.

I wouldn't even get the note. I'd be in someone's face. I was and would be (if I had kids in ps) a horrid ps parent. I don't bend to them. If my child has to use the restroom then so be it. I'll be ****ed if I will spend money and waste the doctor's time in order to get a blasted note that isn't required or needed. I'd also be in someone's face again if it came down to them punishing my kids for it too. I have been there done that. I fought. This is why I homeschool, I got tired of having to fight over everything.

Thanks ladies!! Looks like a salad it is! :)

I want to make some tonight for dinner however there isn't much in potato soup so what else would be good to eat with it?