My kids both have ipod shuffles which we got for $50 at the Navy Exchange. I would have loved to get them each Nano's but it wasn't in the budget at this time. They have all their kids music CD's on them. For books we use my Ipod Nano so they take turns. I recently bought SOTW 3 on CD and ripped it into MP3's for my ipod. It took me about 20 minutes to do it.

:iagree: My kids like there video games but we've never had to put limits on them. They go in spurts. Sometimes they want to play them a lot, other times they just sit. Although as much as they may be "into" a game if dh or I say it's time to turn it off, there's never an issue. I guess if my kids started misbehaving because of them I may view them differently.

I think it's a bunch of bunk. If that's how I would have to be with my sons then they'd be seriously hurting. My dh is military and is gone for long stretches of time. We're talking 6 months or longer. My sons would be a mess if things bounced back and forth between mom and dad being "in charge" like that. My kids know that I'm the alpha here because what mom says has to be followed or this house would fall apart when dh is gone. I say get another Dr.

Well WWE just came out and I just got my copy so I'll try to answer a few questions. Yes you would use GWG with WWE. GWG doesn't have much in the way of writing. WWE is strictly writing not grammar. As for where to start the WWE text has a way to place your child. The 2 workbooks correspond with years 1 and 2 in the WWE text, but you don't have to have them in order for the program to work. Basically the text will give you the copywork/dictation/narration for the first week of a section and then you follow the pattern for the next few weeks using your own selections from things they are using in science, history, or literature. The workbooks just make it easier in that they give you all the passages for copywork/narration/dictation so you don't have to find and use your own. My ds just turned 9 in May and has very little writing (I didn't read WTM right away when we started hsing 2 years ago) so the placement pages in WWE had me give him the year 1 eval week items to do, he did ok so I was supposed to give him the year 2 eval week items to do. I knew he wouldn't be able to do them all without a lot of trouble (he's not a great speller and has never done dictation) so I'm starting him with year 2 of WWE. As for your younger yes you could absolutely use the same programs for both boys. If you use GWG for the older I'd start him with the grade he would be going into in PS, they do a good job of going over things and reviewing in my opinion. Also you could use WWE for both at the same time, just use the levels they need. I use many programs with my kids that are the same even though they are not in the same level. Usually I get one started by presenting the lesson, while the other works on something they don't need me for then when the first understands they can move on to independent work while I repeat the process of presenting the lesson with the next. It really doesn't take that much time. HTH

This year I spent about $1200 for 2 kids, I'm really picky about things so I only buy used if I can see it first, I need to know it will make it through to my younger kids. Once my youngest gets into official schooling we'll most likely increase that total to around 1500-2000. My kids don't take outside classes so this total is strictly for curriculum and supplies.

Saxon, we used it for K and 2nd then tried Horizons for K and 3rd (the younger wasn't ready for horizons 1st) we're going back to Saxon. About halfway through last year the kids begged to go back. They just "get" Saxon, I'm happy as I "get" Saxon too and it presents things in a way that make sense to me so it's easy for me to teach it.

I'm sure the first many will ask is do you want secular or Christian materials? My thoughts are if you child is reading well then I'd skip OPG. Why beat a dead horse if you know what I mean. I think you're thoughts for Language Arts are good. My kids didn't care for FLL but that's just them. They like Growing with Grammar instead since they like workbooks for things like that. I'm also starting my 1st grader on the new Writing Program from Peace Hill Press, Writing with Ease, which looks great. So we won't be using a separate handwriting program since they'll be doing copywork and narration with that. We're using History Odyssey this year but have used SOTW for the last 2 years. The kids like it but wanted a change. As for Science you may want to check out NOEO Science we'll be using their biology this year. They use many living books and plan out all the reading and experiments for you. They also use the narration method instead of worksheets and tests. My kids requested this instead of another program I was planning on. Science has been hard for me, we had a lot of things that just didn't work for us the last 2 years, but NOEO looks like something we'll really enjoy. We use Saxon math and used it our first year but didn't last year and half way through the kids begged to use it again. It's one of those programs people seem to either love or hate, my kids love it. For Art I just use Evan Moor books like "How to teach art to children" and Theme Pockets, and Art for all Seasons. With the theme pockets we don't do the whole pocket just the projects I think they'll like. You can check them out at http://www.evan-moor.com We don't do anything for music so I'm no help there. Hope some of this helps

My kids are still younger so yes I do, but most likely I always will. When in FL I needed to as part of our portfolio, so it's now a habit. I actually bought some of these posters to help my reluctant reader son motivated. I'll keep one of his books on the wall and then one for the books we read. I also keep a log in my daily log where I'll write what we do each day. I'm not required to by VA law but you never know where the Navy may send us next and I'm weird that way and like to keep track of things. I also keep a record of things for the current year in Library Thing which I have posted to the sidebar on my blog.

I wouldn't use it, I probably would take it back even if it was just to let the store know that someone isn't rotating the stock as they should be. I'm a stickler for expiration dates ie: we always drink our milk before the sell by date or out it goes, even if they say it's good for so many days after that. Not in my house it's not LOL

I'm very excited about the Olympics. I'm an Olympic junkie LOL. I don't care what sport it is I'll watch it if it's the Olympics. My mom and grandma were visiting me during the last Winter Olympics and couldn't believe I got up at 8am to watch curling :tongue_smilie: I never get up before 9am, but it was the olympics and curling is one of my favorites.

Another vote for Growing with Grammar. My son loves it and we can't wait to start it with my dd this year.

Thanks to whoever suggested this book. The Complete Guide to Animals We just got it today from Amazon and my kids love it. It's just the information I was looking for.

Cynthia, This sounds delicious. I'll have to try it. I've been looking for something different for dinner. We're so sick of the same stuff over and over again. Also do you have any suggestions for other noodle options if I can't find the frozen ones. I haven't seen them around here, but I'll keep looking.

Check out http://www.bookadventure.com It's put out by Sylvan and it's free to sign up. Basically they have little tests for books and they can earn points for prizes from them or you can make your own prize certificates up. Of course just like AR you'll have to make sure the book your child wants to read is on the list, but they have a good book search feature, so you can look up the book they want to read or if you need suggestions for books to read they have a book finder which will narrow the search down based on reading level and subject. Hope this helps

We actually have 2. One is laminated and in our school room. The other is framed and when my dh is on deployment when he calls or emails us to tell us where he is the kids and I stick a pin in that spot on the map. The pins are also color coded so we know what ship he was on when he went there.

We met online and then a month later met in person when I went to stay with him for 10 days. He was in RI and I lived in WI. After those 10 days we knew we'd get married and about a month after I got home I got an engagement ring with a small note in the mail, yes he sent is Certified US Mail. LOL

Not really a big deal but my Dh's cousin (on his mother's side) are cousins of Kevin Sorbo, the guy that played Hercules on TV. They call him Cousin Herc LOL

When we lived in VA last time my son was 7 and he got strep all the time. He had it 8 times within 4 months. He'd be done taking the antibiotic and within days he'd have another sore throat we'd go in the Doc and he'd test positive for strep again. They suggested taking his tonsils out that following summer and since then he hasn't had Strep once.

Thanks for the tip. Do you think it's interesting enough for a 3 year old. He will sit and watch children's movies in a theatre?

I'm personally running apples Safari on my windows PC and love it. IT's so much faster than IE and I've lost nothing in switching over.

My kids are now 9, 6.5 and almost 3 For read alouds they loved 1. Charlotte's Web 2. The complete works of Beatrix Potter 3. George's marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl 4. Goonie Bird Greene The favorite books my son has read on his own (my dd is just starting to read bob books) 1. Anything Magic Tree house 2. Magic School Bus 3. Hank the cowdog

2 dogs, 6 fish and 3 snails

Karen, I'm so sorry for your loss. Sounds like she was a great and dear friend.:grouphug:

:iagree: I did a lot of research on them and decided I would be ok with all she required, but many out there don't and for that reason I don't think they should sell them anymore. We really loved her, we even went as far as to have an operation done which cost us $400 because she got sick and turned out to be egg bound. If she didn't have the operation she would have died. It wasn't easy for me to come up with the money as I was only 19 at the time, but I did and she lived for 9 years after that. My mom sure got attached when I had to leave her with my mom. They were best buds:001_smile:

My first car was a rust colored (not rusty just rust orange in color) 1980 Chevy Citation. Most don't even know what that is, but it looks like a oversized chevette. Then I had a 80 something Chrysler Lebaron that had door stops shoved in all but the driver's side front window to keep them up. My dad insisted this was a step up from the citation, I didn't think so as it would also get stuck in park any time you parked on the slightest hill. Next came an 84 Pontiac Grand Am. Which was really nice and ran like a champ. After that finally went belly up I got a 90 something Geo Metro. Looked like a little shoe but got great gas milage. My dad drove it once and said it was like driving a Go-Kart. What did he expect from a 3 cylinder engine, and indy 500 race car? LOL Then my last car before getting married was a Hyundai Accent, which my mom dubbed the Hyundai rocket ship as she got it up to quite some speed when we were on our vacation to florida. After getting married my DH took that car and gave me his Ford Explorer to drive. I loved that truck but we traded it in on a minivan when child #2 came, boy was that a bad idea. The minivan (a ford windstar) was like trying to drive a toboggan in the winter, it had no traction control.