Don't be depressed. Children are resilient as long as you don't dwell on the issue and continue to tell them they are beautiful your voice will be louder than the occasional outside voice. My daughter went through a phase where she wanted bling straight hair after watching Tangled. We talked a lot about how everyone is different and blond isn't better than brown, etc but the bottom line was she wanted to be like a character she liked. A few weeks later she was wishing she was a pirate. Do your best not to be overly focused on racism in America vs discrimination in general throughout history and it will help them stay grounded.

I've found recipes online and in books and tried them and they always seem to taste terrible. What I do is just get the stuff I want and throw it all in there together. It might not be the most efficient or pretty solution but it works. This morning I made juice for dh and I and here's what I put in there. 1 apple 1/2 small lemon A handful of spinach leaves 1/2 a cucumber 1 small kiwi 3 or 4 large pieces of celery 3 or 4 carrots It was supposed to include broccoli but I forgot it. Basically I've found that the more I throw in there the better it tastes. Sometimes I also use a small amount of ginger (very small because I learned the hard way that too much ginger is yucky and too spicy)

There is a difference between noticing color and noticing racism. My daughter refers to people's skin tone as apricot (because that's the name of the crayon closest to muslin tone she says), peanut butter, chocolate, etc. Until we influence them with cultural stereo-types most children notice color as just another thing that's different...like hair color, eye color, etc.

I am white, my husband is not therefore our daughter has light brown skin. We've chosen at this point (she'll be seven next month) to deal with issues of racism as they come up in history. We're in SOTW 2 so we haven't done American History or the Civil Rights Movement yet. I say we deal with it as things come up because racism isn't just a black/white thing. There are many instances in Ancient History where one people group has hated another for no good reason. In the Secret Garden the Indian servants are referred to with a negative slang term. We discussed why this was wrong and how attitudes about people different than us are an indication of what's in our heart. In Peter Pan they refer to Native Americans with negative terms and in ways that dehumanized them. We discussed this and why it's wrong. We watched a Brainpop about a famous female mathematician (who's name escapes me now) and it referenced the fact that during the time she lived most educated men believed women were incapable of learning to read. Again, we discussed it and why that was wrong/ignorant. We've discussed discrimination, hate, & slavery as we cover Old Testament Bible stories. We didn't specifically focus on MLK for the holiday but she watched a Brainpop about him. Because she's learned about history and various groups discriminating against each other for many centuries when she was introduced to the topic it didn't seem like it was just a problem for dark skinned people. It was just another instance of one people group disliking another for no good reason. I think how/when material is presented along with the attitude of the parents and/or teachers presenting it makes a big difference. If your skin is dark, you haven't learned a lot about history and you go to a pre-k program where graphic details are presented about the civil rights movement I can see how it would be quite disturbing. If it were me I would leave the lesson worried that those things were going to happen to me since in pre-k kids don't have a good sense of time and have no idea how long ago these things happened.

If it works like regular iBooks you would be able to view offline. You only need an Internet connection for downloading new content.

Before I had the ipad I made folders for each subject and either copied the pages or tore them out of workbooks for each subject. I did this even for larger textbooks. I copied the pages we needed for those days and shred them when we were done. It was too difficult to carry around ALL our books. Now with the ipad I scan what isn't already in pdf and load it in notability and she does everything on the ipad. ETA: I bought a large zipper case/3 ring binder notebook thing from walmart with a handle on it. We put all the folders, pencils, etc inside the notebook and when we weren't working on the school stuff we kept it in the binder. We also do a lot in the car or on plane trips. DD prefers to get a lot done while traveling which gives her more free time when we get to our destination.

I have used ideas from www.savingdinner.com when I was in a cooking slump and need inspiration.

I don't think this announcement is going to change the world or anything but I think for teachers and parents who are already engaged and doing a good job of instructing their students this could be a usefull tool. We love our ipad. It doesn't replace books but it is very convenient. We travel relatively frequently and carting around boxes full of stuff for homeschooling was a pain. This is substantially more convenient. Also, I suprisingly find researching and reading on the ipad to be convenient and easier at times than using the computer or physical books. I mentioned this on another unrelelated thread earlier but I bought my husband Logos software for Christmas. Using it on the ipad to read and cross-reference is awesome. If etextbooks function anything like that I think they could be a good addition to our teaching toolbox.

This isn't exactly what you asked for but I'm currently reading. 131 Christians Everyone Should Know from the Editors of Christian History magazine. It has sent me on a lot of rabbit trails about particular movements or issues that are referenced in the stories. Off topic...but I love the Logos Bible software that I bought dh for Christmas. Either on my desktop or on the ipad I can read these books in the Vryso reader app and then research those rabbit trails electronically. It's a huge time saver.

The activity guides are well laid out and very helpful. I also like that the "textbook" really is a narration and it feels more like reading a book than doing a lesson. My dd always reads ahead (we're in SOTW 2 now) and picks up the SOTW 1 book and re-reads portions of it just like she does with Magic Treehouse, Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia and all the other books piled up all over our house. I think the narration style and writing fostered a love for history that I expect dd will maintain through all of her life. I was even inspired to get the adult/high school version of the book to get more details because I immediately recognized that my history education was sorely lacking. We are pretty conservative theologically and I haven't had any issues with the curriculum. I did notice the things mentioned by the pp but we addressed those while doing Bible Study. I think there have been some unfairly harsh statements made about the materials. I appreciate the tone and introduction to the broad scope of history and think it is both easy to use and very thorough.

This made me lol....he answered the question and provided his reason. My dd often tries to come up with the shortest answer possible and in that regard this was a great effort.

I was going to suggest something similar. Start with one subject and then add another after a few weeks. After you have started all the subjects you might consider staggering the schedule.We actually did quite a bit by the time my dd was 5 but in short spurts. We did Bible for 5 or 10 minutes and then HWOT for 5 or 10 minutes before taking a play break. Just before lunch we did Explode the Code and Math....etc. We probably did 45 minutes to an hour and a half but it was split in to several short sessions throughout the day. Now that dd is a month away from turning 7 and her attention span and tolerance for sitting still longer has grown we do an hour or two before taking a reading break during lunch.

:iagree: I understand why shelter is the answer and it is what I would have picked but it could be confusing for a 4th grader.

This is not an answer to your question but have you checked other churches in your area that have AWANA programs. We signed our dd up at a different church because of the schedule. Near us we have churches that do it on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday afternoon. If that won't work then there are some good resources here http://www.doorposts.com/ I like the brother offended checklist and there are lots of verses in all of the resources that can be used as memory verses and tied to life situations and to emphasis appropriate behavior and responses.

I have no language background other than a few years of Spanish in high school and one semester in college. I don't remember much of what I learned either time. I only have one child and she is working on a 2nd or 3rd grade level. We have completed Song School Latin, Greek Code Cracker, & Prima Latina. We are currently using Latin for Children A and Song School Greek. We are early in the process but at this point success for us is learning the material we've covered so far and we are doing that just fine. I am learning with her. I plan to continue with Latin and Greek. In a few years we'll add Spanish for practical reasons because we live in Texas. Beyond that I will let her choose if she wants to add any additional modern languages. She has asked learn Hebrew so we will probably do some sort of curriculum to learn the alphabet and she if she's still interested after that. ETA: After starting with Latin I am fairly certain that when we start Spanish I will be much better able to retain it than when I was in high school. I haven't decided on materials or methods but I think Latin is providing a great foundation.

This is what dd came up with today for her narration. I'm looking for some feedback and suggestions to help her improve. The Mongols were a tribe of wild men that fought each other a lot. Ghengis Khan of the Yakka tribe decided to unite all the Mongol tribes to conquer Bejie China. The now united Mongols conquered Bejie. She wanted to look up how to spell Bejing but we were in a hurry because company arrived so I just told her how to spell it and she misunderstood. She spelled everything else correctly on her own. I also think "tribe" after Yakka should be capitalized and told her she needed a comma in between Bejing & China.

All the time. Dh and I often have to remind each other she's only 6 which she's acting her age and we're expecting too much from her.

Very cute picture! That statement would be totally normal at our house too.

We are self employed business's owners and for years have struggled with ridiculous insurance premiums. Last year we switched to a health sharing company and have been pleased so far. The premium is much more reasonable with a lower deductible (they call it family sharing portion but it's basically the same as a deductible). Part of the reason for switching was that no private insurance covers maternity but Samaritan ministries and Medi-Share which is the one we decided to go with both do. There's a third company Christian Healthshare ministries that we considered. In the end we went with Medi-share because it is the one that functioned the most like health insurance. The network of doctors is pretty extensive. If you decide to check out Medi-share pm me. I think there 's some sort of referral incentive.

I have always enjoyed weight lifting. I started back about a year ago after being sedentary for way too long. I never understood why more women didn't like to lift because it's the best way to change the shape of your body. I also read in a magazine several years ago that almost all of the arm weakness elderly women experience could be avoided and eliminated with a consistent workout routine that is kept up after age 40.

If it was up to her she would stay up all night. She goes to bed between 9 and 10 depending on our work schedule. She doesn't always fall asleep. Sometimes she stays awake for 2 hours or more. If she goes to bed at 9 she would wake up on her own around 9 or 9:30 but we usually get her up between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on our schedule for the day. If it's closer to 10pm when she goes to bed she wouldn't wake up on her own until 10 or 10:30. We have quiet time most afternoons but she rarely falls asleep during quiet time. She usually reads or plays quietly in her bed. During vacation or holidays she has been known to stay up past midnight. She is definately a night owl.

I have a Keurig and love it and it is a nice treat but an ipad would be better. Buy refurbished from apple.com. They have the same warranty as new and are cheaper so you could probably get two. We thought we were going to share too....we now each have our own. It is easily the single most useful and fun thing I've purchased in the last 10 years. ETA: I bought my ipad new because I didn't know any better but have since purchased 2 refurbished ones. We gave my mom and ipad2 for Christmas as a group gift and the first generation one for dh. There is absolutely no difference between the new one and the refurbished other than price.

I was just thinking I would feel better about myself if I said we were unschooling history and science because we just can't seem to get to them regularly. DD loves both subjects and would do it on her own but I have this darn schedule and plan that keeps making me feel guilty. I think we're doing most other subjects in a classical way and doing Latin & Greek and reading lots of classics and other books. Usually once a year I re-read some parts of WTM to get myself back on track. I'm due for that soon so I imagine I will answer differently when I'm done re-reading.

Writing with Ease teaches those skills.

Documents to go will work. There was also an app advertised the other day called online desktop which is supposed to work but I haven't figured it out yet. You could also use Team Viewer or Splashtop to access your computer remotely to do it.