First we use Dance Mat and then they 'graduate' to this one. They love it. :)

Growing With Grammar?

I've been on design teams as well, but seem to have no time to scrap anymore. :( I'm trying to talk myself into going digital so I can have a whole 'nother room in my house to put other things rather than having a scrap room that doesn't get used anymore. :001_huh: If I were you, I'd start with trying to get some inspiration from others. There are so many challenge blogs and galleries out there, it is mind boggling. Pick a few challenges or sketches and I'm sure your mojo will come around. ;)

Thank you for all these fantastic tips! I'm definitely printing this out! :)

:crying::001_smile:

:crying::001_smile:

:lol::lol::lol:

What a beautiful letter, Kari. Thank you for sharing it with us. :grouphug:

We have a Sleep Number bed, too. LOVE it!! :D Good luck deciding.

I read most of the replies, but not all of them. I agree with the folks that said you are doing nothing wrong. G-ma needs to mind her own business. I don't know how to get her to do that, but I wouldn't stop what you are doing at home with your own children. IMO, G-ma is a little strange to think that something is wrong with bathing your own children at such a young age. :grouphug:

As other have said, AAS is my all time favorite curriculum! We have switched some of our other curriculum around, but I refuse to get rid of AAS. :thumbup:

I agree with Simka and Secular Mom. :iagree:

Awww... how cute! Love that adorable smile! Thanks for sharing! :D

:lurk5: I plan on starting IEW SWIA in Jan. as well. :)

I :001_wub: this sub-forum. Thank you for making it so great!

Yup! Amazon has never disappointed me. :thumbup:

We love snap circuits here, too! My son hasn't stopped playing with them since they arrived.

For a struggling reader, I cannot recommend All-About-Spelling enough! Especially since you said your daughter is a tactile learner. My son has made great strides since we started All-About-Spelling. I know it sounds like a spelling program, but if you add in their readers, it's a wholesome phonics program. I am amazed. I highly encourage you to have a look at their website: http://www.All-About-Spelling.com We also like Math U See for hands on math. We were previously doing Singapore with Miquon (a mixture of the two), but we recently switched to Math U See and we are enjoying it. :)

We started with Singapore and we actually loved it at first. Then with my mathematically advanced son, I added Miquon to Singapore. But all the of the worksheets were way too much for him to handle (when it came to sitting still long enough to do them and all of the writing that was involved), so I recently switched him to MUS. He's doing much better now that he can play with all of the the blocks and stand and move around while he's doing his math. With my not-so-math-inclined daughter, she just couldn't pick up any of the math concepts while using Singapore. And I was having an extremely difficult time trying to teach it to her. We ended up switching her to Teaching Textbooks.

This. I do have one child that seems to get febrile seizure, though, so I watch his fevers closely. I hope your little one is feeling better soon! Being sick sucks. :(

:rofl: My son is getting Lego. Does that count? :tongue_smilie: Seriously, though, he's getting a Lego Technic set (the big crane) and we feel that that definitely counts as "educational". ;)

I did a lot of research about this last year, when my kids were the same age as yours. I read a lot here and other places on the web. I ended up ordering Song School Latin for my 8 year old (because he was not a fluent reader yet) and Latin For Children Primer A for my 11 year old. We love them both. The chants/songs that go with the lessons help my children remember the Latin more proficiently. And it's not just rote memorization... the information is sticking. Which is one of my main goals in homeschooling. :D Classical Academic Press (the company that puts out these two programs), also has a lot of go-alongs on their website. They have videos, games for the students, readers, coloring sheets for the younger kids, worksheets for the older kids, articles and tips for parents, etc. I researched a couple other curricula, and there were various reasons I didn't choose them. Lively Latin was too much seat work for my 8 year old. He's a boy and just could not do that much seat work. Also, I read that Lively Latin has bad customer service. At the moment, I can't remember why I didn't choose any of the others. :001_huh:

Another recommendation for BlogSheWrote. Here are a few more: Aussie Pumpkin Patch http://www.candacemercyisnew.blogspot.com/ Shades of Pink Another GREAT place to find ideas for FIAR books is in their Archives. There are also many good ideas on the forums. What I like about their forums is that you can find a lot of go-alongs. :)

:iagree:

I've done this before and used about 1/8 the amount of detergent since it wasn't HE. It seemed to be OK for the first month or so, but after that soapy bubbles started coming out of the back of the machine. A LOT! I don't recommend it. :tongue_smilie: