I have 6 children, 1 under 5. All the children pitch in (as they are able) to keep the house clean. I have a schedule of sorts to get the deep cleaning done. I make from scratch almost all the meals - at least one child makes one dinner each week. Hubby works a 40 hour work week and maybe small amounts of overtime. While he will help out if asked I tend to 95% of the household management. would rather he spend his limited time being with the children - not mowing the lawn or whatever else we can do on our own. I don't choose curriculum that is highly teacher intensive but I am still teaching young ones and every curriculum takes time at that age. By middle school they can handle most of the work on their own. But I am very accessible to answer questions no matter what age. My days are full, even when my calendar is empty. Things get easier as the children get older and can really help. If you can outsource great. If you can't, focus on the basics (just reading writing and arithmetic, just the basic cleaning, simple dinners) until the next season. And the next season will come.

http://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/math/resources/ These are either mental math problems or a daily set of problems for each grade. The daily set has only 5-7 problems and are a variety. I like them a lot.

I had forgotten about Mr Putter and Poppleton. Thanks for the reminder as well as the other suggestions.

Thank you for the suggestions. I don't think I have read Nate the Great aloud, I'll have to check into those.

Thank you Annie. That article looks good.

I have some friends who could use some reminding that learning outside of textbook is still "real" learning. They get so bogged down with hours/credits/grades. Do any of you know of a good article/blog that is inspiring in that direction? I only come up with unschooling articles, which are good, but they would just dismiss it since they aren't unschoolers. Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can send my way.

Not the OP but thank you for that detailed listing!

:lurk5: Very interested in what others suggest too.

Congratulations - keep on keeping on.

:bigear: Listening In

Load of Laundry Finish up some scrapbooking (nothing fancy) that I had started yesterday Buy peaches for canning? Do some detail cleaning in the living room Take son who stayed dry last night to get some ice cream Take other young ones to dollar store since the money Grandma gave them for working in her yard is burning a hole in their pocket Go to a board meeting tonight Get the dry ingredients mixed up for a big batch of pancakes in the morning

Praying for safety and peace.

Oooh I wish - the crop around here wasn't as good as other years. I like to make peach syrup for pancakes and smoothies. The first year I made it, it was an attempt at peach jelly but it didn't jell. The children like it so much though that I did it on purpose the following years. Wash, peel, and take the pit out of the peaches then throw into a blender. Cook the juice down until it is a thickness you like. You can can the syrup or freeze it in baggies if you like. You can also add sugar and pectin if you want it thicker without waiting for it to cook down. But of course you have then added sugar. Peaches also make good fruit leather if you have a dehydrator. Enjoy!

:bigear: I am curious too.

You can get 225 ebooks for $50. http://www.yesterdaysclassics.com/o/hsf.php The list of books starts about half way down the page.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I don't mind reading "girl" books to him, although we do seem to have a lot of books where the main characters are girls, especially in the easier levels. My girls woulld sit (and still do) for any amount of reading aloud I am able to do. My voice gives out before their ears. :-) I am in need of titles that would keep an active boy interested for longer than a few minutes. I'll give The Wind in the Willows and Doctor Doolittle a try as well as Milly Molly Mandy which is my favorite for this level.

Mythmatical Battles Its a card game where you battle the other player. Your strength level in attacking and defending are multiplication problems. You have to be able to do the math to know if your card will win, but there isn't a time factor. My girls enjoyed playing the game. www.mythmaticalbattles.com

Maria mentions on her web site that the Blue Books cover a range of grades each so you might have to do only a part of a book and then revisit again another year. These are definitely in the upper range. I would have said grade 4-5.

I agree with all of these, especially the old appliances. Good hardware to go with the wood - brackets, hinges, and the like.

I feel for you, this has happened in the past. We don't take more than a month off at a time. This year we even did a lite schedule (just math and read alouds) with my two middles just to keep a sort of rhythm to the days. Slow and steady, it will all come back.

:lurk5: Please post if you see it for sale anywhere in the US! The sample looks good and I love tying science into history.

:lurk5: Following

Hubby just about hit the floor. Way too funny.

I don't have a list like that but How Children Lived by Chris and Melanie Rice and Turn of the Century by Ellen Jackson are great for showing then vs now. Growing Up in .... are great for kindergarten level cultures. Come Look With Me would be good for art at that age.

When I was in college I helped with the incoming freshman during the weekends where they would register for classes, take placement tests, and get to know the campus. Even then there were "velcro" parents that wouldn't let go of their children (well young adults). I saw parents erasing class registration forms and signing up the children for the classes they felt important. There were certain sessions for the students that parents were .not. allowed to attend. But they would be hovering around the doorway. But I had to laugh at someone mentioning a 15 year old who had never packed a lunch for themselves. I don't think my 16 year old has ever done that. She has helped pack picnics for the family, and makes dinner regularly, and helps the little ones with their lunches, but no she's never packed a lunch for herself. :laugh: