I am voting for the ranch~

I have the same issue with DS who is homeschooled and his older brother comes home at 2:45 from high school. By 4 they are all home and I can't get anything done. I have no option but to be done by 2:30 b/c all the activities and stuff start and then I have to run around town driving.

NM-I should have known I would get grief. Forget I posted it. Won't bother you guys again.

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

I have been plowing through the US History theme based with my DS and it seems to be working okay. There are many times he doesn't know/want to try to come up with a better verb/adjective or whatever and I have to pull it out of him or give him examples. I figure as long as we are spending the time one-on-one with writing and getting the assignments done we are way ahead of what the aren't doing with writing in the PS. He had no clue how to even begin a paragraph!

Yikes, that is a bad week!:grouphug:

Well it was good when we discovered the terrible neighbors we have are selling their house. Then yesterday I was leaving to take the girls to dance and their daughter and her lovely pack of friends decided to block most of the road. I approached, they looked, they didn't move so I drove around them. Apparently that wasn't what they thought I should do so they began yelling and screaming. As I came back into the development they were STILL in the road but near the corner. As I turned the corner her and her one friend decided to run (because looking out for cars when you are in the road is not what they do) and I had to brake and drive around them again. So sure enough last night at 8:30(because the mom doesn't come home until like 8) a police car pulls up in front and he goes into their house. I can only imagine their version of the story. My friend was in her front yard and saw me both coming and going so I have a witness that I did nothing wrong. This is how that mom operates. She is gone all day and the kids come home to an empty house and she tries to make up for it. So now she has called the cops on all 3 of her adjoining neighbors. Does she not see the common factor there? Geesh:glare:

Isn't it amazing what they can and cannot eat? Mine DS is deathly allergic to walnuts, pecans, hazlenuts, cashews, slighty to peanuts, very to eggs, but can eat almonds...go figure

Sure! My kids have loved DC since they were toddlers!

guidance for me as well oh wise one!!!

I totally sympathize with you. I have about 35 pounds to lose and am a stress eater. 6 kids=stress. I need to diet and walk just to get some exercise in my life. I have a brand new hi-tech treadmill downstairs but can't get the time t get on it w/o all the kids coming down.I have to go low carb b/c I crave them when I have them.

thank you!!!

Thanks that was helpful! I have hopes of DD using this over the summer.

Okay that's really weird b/c my son is VERY allergic to eggs and has gotten all of the shots. He was not allowed to get the flu shot however. He never had any issues but then again his reaction is not anaphylactic. He vomits violently and then he is fine. Sometimes I think that he is going to turn inside out! Even the slightest amount of egg, cooked or uncooked, gives him a weird taste in his mouth and within minutes he is terrible ill. He has been this way since 15 months.

When I taught 1st grade I encouraged them to use picture clues to help them figure out what a word might be if they got stuck. She has to be using phonics to connect the picture with printed word so what is wrong with that? I don't have documentation but it is a strategy I learned in my graduate courses.

My 9 yr old DD can't spell at all! Her math skills aren't great, and the whole popularity thing that has been mentioned is the worst. My oldest will go through PS all the way but the girls will come home next year and the 2 youngest will never step foot in that place!

:lurk5:I'm interested in anything that would work!

I am using the R&S as suggested by WTM b/c she has absolutely no grammar skills thanks to PS. It is killing me that she has to stay until June. I just can't handle 3 at once right now with the 2 little ones driving me nuts! Sigh...

do I need FLL 4 as well? She has never done copy work at all.

Since DS is only home for 5 months I dont stress too much about SS and Science but he really stinks at writing. We are using Saxon 6/5 for him and he is technically in 5th. There is nothing that he doesn't know as soon as I go over it with him so that helps. We are working hard on IEW US History and it takes over an hour to get him going and motivated! He doesn't like to read either so it is a daily struggle. We do about 3-4 hours per day but only b/c we dont hit on everything. Remember the WTM even says not to stress the history and science stuff at the younger ages.

You know Percy Jackson is not written on that high a level. I think the first book is only 4.1? Perhaps that will motivate him? The 39 clues series is also written in 4th grade level and that is supposed to be really good. If he like Magic Treehouse then that might be another step for him.

It sounds interesting but with some on PS I could never keep up!

Heck no! He got up at 3 this morning:D

This is great! Getting the book and downloading the pieces to the book!

HOAs are a joke really b/c they can't enforce anything. Bylaws don't hold up in a court of law. Our neighbors dogs bark non-stop of they see us from their yard so we plan on running a really beautiful black plastic contractors fence along the top of our 6 foot fence to block their view. What are our choices? Not use our deck for the 3rd year in a row? Let them try to fine us.:glare: