:iagree: My husband takes the kids out for the entire day from time-to-time. My in-laws take them for several days about every other month (next week they will be gone 2 nights and 3 days). And, I get away once a year for three days to a homeschool convention with my friends. This is essential for my sanity.

We have taken the Iowa test for four years through BJU, and the math computation score has never been included. I just thought it was that way for everyone. :confused:

Not the OP, but wanted to say thanks for all the great links!

I was six months old, so have no memories of watching it either. Dh was one month shy of being born. :001_smile:

laundered the towels (kids folded and put away) emptied van trash can loaded & ran dishwasher got spot out of family room carpet cleaned behind refrigerator

What a great room! Thanks for sharing!

It could be that she contracted a staph infection when she had her surgery. I'll be praying for you all. :grouphug:

:iagree: I would cut out the Friday activities for the oldest two.

One idea I am going to adopt from the workbox system is scheduling time for the educational games, and other fun items, that we never seem to remember to actually use. I cleaned off one shelf of our school bookcase, and plan to set out different items each week, like a math game, geography puzzle, or craft kit. The "fun shelf" items will be available for the kids to use after they finish their school work. I may even try to incorporate picture books, and have theme weeks that tie in to holidays and other happenings.

Thanks for the links. I wasn't really sure what "alum" was. :D

Good point.

Well, all the workbox systems I have seen so far seem to take up a lot of space. My kids' school materials are stored on the shelf of a bookcase (one shelf per child). They have a schedule of what to do each day in each subject. They work pretty independently already. My existing system works for us, so I don't see a reason to spend money to create a new system. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :D

Thanks for sharing! This looks really neat!

I looked in the archives and didn't see an answer to this question: Is the Sonlight supply kit for the Apologia General Science experiments a worthwhile investment? http://www.sonlight.com/7SKA.html Would I be better off buying the Home Science Tools kit instead? http://www.hometrainingtools.com/general-science---science-kit/p/AM-KTGENS/ Or, are the materials pretty easy to pull together on my own? Looking for advice from those who have been there/done that. Thanks in advance!

My extended family on both sides are mostly Mennonite. None of my family are old order or plain, so they dress and live the same as main stream society. You would never know they were Mennonite except for their surnames. :001_smile: My parents both went to Mennonite colleges (Goshen in Indiana and Bluffton in Ohio).

I second the recommendation for the Iowa test. I start giving this to my kids at the end of third grade, and then every year there after. It helps me see if there are any weak areas that need more work, or if there are things I have forgotten to teach entirely, like library skills. (oops!) We have to do some kind of year end assessment in Ohio anyways, so I use the Iowa test.

In your position I would have done the exact same thing - for the sake of your health and your children's health. :grouphug:

I was at Staples today and they had black, oval-shaped erasers they claimed were almost crumbless. Might be worth a try. They were in the back-to-school display.

When we were shopping this afternoon, dh was drooling over some desktops with tons of memory and hard drive space, plus giant monitors. The desktops had so much more than the laptops, for just a little bit more money. I definitely want to make sure that I would not just leave my laptop on my desk 98% of the time. Hearing how other homeschool moms use their laptops is really helpful in that regard. :001_smile:

Thanks for all the great replies! I had not thought about how handy a laptop would be during a power outage, or when traveling, or for trying out recipes in the kitchen. We looked at some laptops this afternoon, and I saw some reasonably priced Compaqs that did not have tiny keyboards. Maybe if I got a larger laptop and a wireless mouse, I could adjust. :D

Well, I don't really like the laptop keyboards and the flat panel "mouse". I know you can buy a wireless mouse and keyboard to use with a laptop, but I wouldn't want to haul an extra mouse and keyboard with me out of the house. And, as another poster mentioned, laptops are expensive to repair. We currently have two computer desks, so adding another piece of furniture is not an issue for us. We already have the space for a desktop. What I am really trying to figure out is if the portability factor outweighs the cons. And, if there are other pluses I hadn't thought of.

We are going to buy a second computer, and I am on the fence as to whether we should get a desktop or laptop. We have a desktop already, and that will be for the kids to use for school and gaming. The new computer will be all mine. :D So, can you give me some good reasons I should get a laptop?

Colin is very common here in the Midwest. I guess unusualness depends on where you live. :) Some unusual names I really like are: Anderson, Wyatt, Wilson, Clayton, and Grayson.

:iagree: We are going to use WP's AS1 for our spine this fall, and add in some of the Sonlight Core 3 books.

So, where do you get the clear plastic tablecloths? Do you buy them prepackaged somewhere, or do you get them off a bolt at the fabric store?