I agree about moving it around. I just read the post the idea originated in and I'm so jealous!! It sounds like so much fun. No chance of me making it out to the west coast though.

We are an extreme example, but, just to show you that it works.. It is not at all an exception to find us doing schoolwork (yes, even the "core" subjects: math, phonics, etc.) at 10 o clock at night. We are both night owls, and DD is honestly at her best in the evenings. We've actually taken to doing phonics at bedtime. I'm sure this won't be the case for you, but... as a PP said, there aren't any rules. This is one of the (many) reasons homeschooling is so nice... you can figure out what works for your family and do it! :D

DD is an only child, and I don't often play with her. She is expected to entertain herself. I can't juggle both of our educations and taking care of the house plus play with her. We do interact all day, as she will usually be playing in whatever room I'm in, and she is constantly talking to me and asking me questions. Occasionally I'll actually get down on the floor and "play" with her. (Oh, and we are starting to play board games pretty often now that she's old enough to play good ones... :tongue_smilie:) We all need a little bit of time to wind down. I don't think it is being a bad mom to expect your children to play on their own for a while. (Or even for most of the time!!)

Schedule? What's that? :lol: I tried to have a schedule, it never works for us. I have days of the week that I aim to get certain subjects done. But this can change at the drop of a hat. For example, math is done M, W, F, Sa, Su. One program M-F and another Saturday and Sunday. Art is done on Fridays. But, Fridays have recently been really nice days here, so... we've been outside! I don't really worry about catching up, I figure it'll even out in the end. Of course, I don't have to report to anyone this year, and DD is ahead of where she needs to be anyway. The only thing she really NEEDS to be doing right now is learning to read and having fun. We have fun all day, and we do phonics at bedtime. We go to bed everyday, and we've worked out a good system where DD reads one book to me in exchange for me reading a book or a couple chapters to her.

5 for sure, but usually 7. I have class Monday-Thursday. DD has dance on Tuesdays. Library Wednesday mornings. Library or park Thursday afternoons. Grocery shopping generally gets done on Monday nights or Sunday afternoons. Sunday morning Church. Now that the weather is letting up some, we'll go to the park anywhere from 2-4 times a week. Soccer will also be starting back up, not sure what day that will be though. Oh, and every other weekend we visit the grandparents from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon. This schedule changes every couple months, since it has to work around my class schedule. Next year may be even crazier because DD is hoping to be in the performance squad at her dance school or do competitive cheerleading. (And she'll also be taking violin lessons hopefully.)

Wow. With two exceptions, our district schools are rated anywhere from 2 (2!!)-6. The two exceptions are actually the primary and intermediate school DD would be zoned for, they recieved a 7 and 8.

I'm using a YouVersion app also! I'm officially on day 25, but I've read ahead and caught myself up many times. I actually only started about a week and a half ago and I'm on Exodus 16. I was actually inspired to read it again by a young adult fiction book I read. This will be my second time reading the Bible from cover to cover, and of course I've read bits and pieces throughout the years. My first time was as a child. I found my grandmother's Bible when I was 9 and decided to read it.

I have horrible headaches. Migraines a couple times a week, and often "normal" headaches on other days. I couldn't ever find a cause for mine, but they are exacerbated by a lack of sleep as a result of various sleep issues. What helped me was Topamax. It was amazing. For an entire year I didn't have headaches. Then my insurance lapsed and we're back to headaches... :glare:

Just wondering what conferences everyone will be going to. This will be my first year going to one and I'm excited! Haven't decided WHICH one I'm going to though. (I'm on the Eastern Shore, but would most likely be going from my parents house in southern MD if I don't want to bring DD).

August 10th is my birthday... come on time baby!! :D I've heard that even in a car accident, babies that early are unlikely to be hurt because they are so well protected. A teammate of mine found out she was pregnant in the middle of the season and her doctor told her she could keep playing soccer if she wanted, because the baby was well protected by fluid and such. I wouldn't worry about the doppler causing injury.

I've loved ES. We are doing Intro to Science and so far all the experiments have been both exciting and fairly quickly. Plus, word on the street is they are putting together experiment kits, which I am so excited about, and will make finding some of the more random items easier to find.

We started with French because that is my strongest language, and since I know it and DD saw me studying, she was eager to learn it. We'll add Spanish soon, because.. well, that is my second strongest language, and thanks to Dora and Diego DD really wants to learn this also. She is constantly asking me how to say words in both French and Spanish. We'll add Latin eventually, but not until she can really understand the grammar.

Uhm, I do. I'm laughing just thinking of ways a laptop could break a fan! No experience with VAIO, but I know someone who had an HP and had lots of problems with it. (FWIW: I love my Dell. I *really* want a MacBook, but will probably get another Dell soon because the MacBooks are out of my range)

Just got home from the library and picked up WTM again. This will be my third reading in.... a year? Maybe a year and a half. And I'm as excited as I was the first time, possibly even more so since I know what awaits me. Help me feel less crazy and admit that you re-read it often also! :D

Well... I'm not married, so take this with a grain of salt, but. (And I'm probably going to explain this all wrong) I read on a blog somewhere that sometimes it is about the actions. So, you should hug, even if you don't necessarily feel like hugging. The physical contact is supposed to release... something in your brain, that makes you feel good. I guess the theory is that if you act like you love each other, you will love each other? I'm sorry, I know this is completely vague. When I get home I'll try and find the specific blog for you. In the meantime, :grouphug:, and take heart in the fact that he is willing to work on it. That says a lot about how he feels for you, more so that his words.

We generally don't watch anything except Disney channel, so no worries about those kinds of commercials. The ones that get me the most are the animal shelter ones. Playing the sad music, showing all the sad animals... DD will be hysterical by the end of the commercial if I don't catch it and turn it before she realizes what it is.

:party: I love the curriculum (we are doing Intro right now) and was planning on doing biology next year, but I had been checking this thread because I knew I could convinced to switch if I found something with the experiment kits. Great timing!

Our system is complicated to describe, but easily implemented. DD has 5 chores a week. (Feed the cat 2 times a day, brush her teeth 2 times a day, clear her dishes after mealtime, make sure toys are all picked up at bedtime, go to bed without whining). I have a chart for checking these items. For each chore she completes the entire week, she gets a dollar. If I have to speak to her about whining, or she throws a temper tantrum, I take away 25 cents. At the end of the week, whatever she's earned gets paid out in the following manner: First, .50 to donate. Once she's saved up a couple dollars, she can pick what to donate it to. Right now she wants to donate to the zoo. (10%) Second, $2 for long term savings. This is to go towards college. (40%) Third, $1.50 for short term savings. This can be used to save up for a big ticket item, which is picked with my approval. She is currently saving for a Toy Story bike, but since that is what I had decided to buy her for her birthday, she'll be changing this in a week. (30%) and the last fund she contributes to is spending money. If all goes well and she earns all $5.00, it will be a dollar a week that she can spend how ever she wants. (20%) Birthday money, Christmas money, etc. will be her choice on what she wants to do with it. Money earned by doing extra chores around the house is subject to the 10,20,30,40 percent division. Wow, that's complicated! DD understands it though, and it works well for us. :tongue_smilie:

:glare: Well, luckily I realized that everything was closed BEFORE heading out today, but of course I had already told DD yesterday that we'd be going to the library. Plus I had FINALLY found the second ID I needed to get a post office box (my voter registration card), and need to have some things mailed to me. I was hoping to get that taken care of today. Tomorrow will just be extra busy, we have a lot to do now!

I was taught one, so I always used one. THEN, just last semester, I was told that we were supposed to use two. TWO? It threw my whole life into a loop! :tongue_smilie: So NOW you people are telling me that the correct way is to use one? -sigh- I'll never get this. (FWIW: I use one normally, and two for formal writing. Guess I'll go back to one? I give up! :lol:)

I don't have too much to say, but one of my professors went there and always has good things to say about it.

My DD went through a phase of about a year where she was determined she was going to go to school, and it was about 3.5-4.5. Many of her friends are older, so they were all going to school, and her one younger friend started school this year. She kept talking and talking and talking about going to school. I just kept reminding her that she DOES go to school, just at home, and making sure she had many chances to be with other kids. She doesn't ask about going to school anymore, and when other people ask her if she's in school yet she happily says "I'm homeschooled!"

I started homeschooling for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I feel I can provide a much more superior education to that which she will recieve in public schools, and even better than private schools. Well. I don't have to report until next year, so technically we haven't even started. But once I made the decision, I knew I was in it for the long haul, but that I'd also make the decision each year. So, my default position is homeschooling, unless something drastic happens to change my mind. My favorite thing about homeschooling.... oh, this is tough! I absolutely adore being there when DD makes a big breakthrough. When she reads a particularly tough word, or figures out a math concept that she's been struggling with. The look of pride on her face, and the fact that I am there to share it with her, is just amazing. I also love being around my kid. I see so many parents who barely have a relationship with their child, even at 6, 7 years old, and I can't imagine what that will look like in another 10 years. Not that homeschooling is a guarantee that we will be close, but I do think it promotes it. The hardest part for me is a combination of financial and time management. We live off of my student loans, which aren't very much, so I have to really stretch our money. Since I'm in school, I have to worry about where DD will be while I'm in class. Luckily it is somewhere around 20 hours a week, but still a lot when you are 3 hours away from family. I've had so many people tell me that I could put her in school, not have to worry about getting a babysitter, and not have to PAY for a babysitter.

For us it depends on the day whether we are in pjs or not. Some days we get up, eat breakfast, and do school. In which case, we will most likely be in pjs. Other days, we have to leave the house early, either for my classes, church, storytime at the library, etc.etc. and if we come home and do school we will be in our clothes. Still other days we don't do any schoolwork until after we've eaten dinner and taken a bath, and at that point we'll be in pjs.

Ok I'm going with it. I was thinking that the table could double for puzzles, legos, she could play with her cars on there.... if she wants to put the train up all over that is okay too! But at least the table will give us somewhere to store it. :D