I know this has already been said but boxed curriculums are really not a good fit for accelerated kids. I understand your worry about missing something because I felt exactly the same way when I first started. Reading the Well Trained Mind helped a lot. The bottom line is if you have an accelerated child you are going to go through material a lot faster and the boxed curriculums are just too easy most of the time. You mentioned using your tax return to buy curriculum. Cost is another reason to avoid boxed material. Things like Explode the Code for learning phonics are MUCH less expensive than programs that have all the readers included. You can use library books. I think the Explode the Code books are $8 or so each. I think the normal pace is 2 books per year but we finished all 8 in 2 years. Doing the equivalent in Abeka or something else would have cost a fortune. If you haven't read the WTM I would suggest doing so. If nothing else, it makes you feel like you can do this. After that, pick something for phonics & math and read lots of books. After your son is reading well you can add history, science, literature, etc. You can do things informally on your nature walks and with library books to keep him interested and engaged.

We have tons of homeschoolers around our area. There's a co-op about 15 minutes from here that meets at a Christian school and has 500 families. There are about 75 kids in the p.e. class we go to. There is also a nice bookstore/co-op/school in the area that offers a one day classical school. We also were considering visiting a church about 30 minutes away and discovered that they have a classical school that meets 2 or 3 days a week and the rest of the week is at home. I think that's called university model?? We aren't really joiners and tend to do our own thing but the few moms I've talked to during pe seem to lean towards unschooling. On top of being classical in our approach dd is also pretty accelerated so I pretty much avoid curriculum conversations. I considered the 1 day classical school but we had already covered the materials they were using this year so it seemed like a waste of money.

The big difference is the camera. FYI, the camera only takes good pictures outside in bright sunlight. The developers intended for the camera to be used mostly for video since most people have a smart phone or digital camera these days. The ability to Skype and use FaceTime is also a plus for the ipad2. We have an ipad2 with only 16gb. It's fine for me but not if you want to store a lot of movies, pictures or music. We got an iPad 1 with 64gb for Christmas for dd and dh to share. Dh likes it a lot more than he expected and is finding it difficult to share so I imagine before too long we'll get him an ipad2 with 64gb and let dd have the one with no camera. I plan to switch to having dd do as many of her worksheet type school assignments on the iPad as possible.

Great advice so far. I agree that reassuring him about the work situation is key. If he has a few less days off in a new better job it will still work out. Plus, you can often negotiate those sorts of things on the front end. I kept telling my husband that there were 18 years worth of child rearing years ahead of him. I could handle a little extra duty the first few weeks. There was an annual church related conference around the time our daughter was due. It is something that dh always came home refreshed and renewed from and it really gave him a spiritual boost that lasted the entire year. When I was pregnant we discussed it and agreed that if the baby arrived before the conference that he would go, if not he would stay. He was hesitant about this especially because other men insisted that I really didn't mean it and if he left me at home with a week old baby I would never forgive him. Our daughter was born and he left 3 days later for 4 days. I'm happy to report that all he missed was dd and I napping and laying on the couch a lot and no one was permanently scarred from the experience. Also, I agree with your dh about the life insurance. If you can afford it, you should have enough to pay off the house, all other debt, fund college AND provide the equivalent of his income until your youngest is in college. This usually is somewhere between 8 and 12 times your annual income.

I use the reminder app in my iPad. You can make categorized checklists. I'm sure any task management software would work. There's an android app that links with google I think. I had it on my phone but deleted it after I got the iPad. I also like the Evernote idea.

For my 6 year old who just asked to add a third language to our already hard enough for mama to keep up with curriculum schedule, it's her Woodie & Jessie dolls from the Toy Story movies. :lol:she sleeps with them and carries them everywhere. She also occasionally teaches them long division.

Then I would say go ahead and skip. Level 3 definately continues to work on summary skills. There are more specific instructions which seem to help dd come up with better narrations.

:iagree: dd does extra math just to get more iPad time. I have an app called PDF converter that I use to make pdf's. I also use PDF expert if I want to type on a PDF but found the writing to be more difficult than in notability. The zoom writing works well for dd and it's seems more intuitive to use.

This looks great and free is always good:lol: Does it teach the notes or does she need to understand some basics before using this?

I did but whether or not it's the right option for you depends on your son's reading level. I skipped level two because even though dd needed more work on the summaries she was ready to read the passages herself. Level 1 and 2 are designed for the teacher to read the passage and dd was bored with that. Level 3 assumes the student is reading the selection for themselves but still needs prompting to answer the narration and summary questions.

Thanks. I'll see what other suggestions I get but this looks like it might work at least for an introduction to notes, etc. ETA: You would think I could have found this when I searched the app store but so many options come up under "piano" that I hadn't seen this one.

I definately think the screen size makes a difference. It was one of the major factors in my deciding to go with the ipad instead of another device. The 10" screen is close enough to an actual page size that it makes working on pdf curriculum much better for us. DD still writes on the pdf in a zoomed mode in Notability but she sees the whole page at once which seems to make a difference. Reg made a good point about the whole tablet conversation a while back which helped me lean towards the second ipad instead of a Nook or Fire. The licensing structure which allows for sharing apps on all of the different apple devices is a definate plus. Any app purchased for the ipod or an iphone can also be used on the ipad. You can share apps on up to 5 devices which makes it cost effective. It has probably saved us over $100 minimum so far not having to "buy" software or apps for multiple devices.

I'm looking for a recommendation for a good app for learning piano on the ipad. I know they have that new keyboard thing to attach to the device but I think that costs $100 and I want to try something less expensive first. My dd actually wants to learn guitar from my dad who is a guitarist but he's told her she has to learn basic piano first. We have a piano which she could practice on but she needs to learn how to read music and the basics. DH plays by ear so he can't teach her and I am the only member of my family who was skipped by the music talent gene.:tongue_smilie: ETA: I'm aware that lessons would probably be the "best" way for her to learn but I want something she can try out on her own first because adding lessons to our schedule is not ideal now. I'm looking for something she can do during her free time at the office while dh and I are working.

If you are having trouble with Dropbox try emailing the file to yourself. Then use the "open with" option to open it in Notability. This also works if you can access the pdf in the safari browser (like if it's KISS or something you can access online instead of it being on your computer already). Also, to get around the no bookmarking thing for right now I keep the teacher copy of things in ibooks which does bookmark. That way where we left off is always bookmarked. I then only load a week at a time in notability for dd. That way there aren't too many pages to go thru to get to what she's working on. On the ipad to extract the pages I want to use out of a pdf to get in to notability I use PDF expert. It was a paid app and there may be a free option but it allows me to open the pdf and delete the pages we don't want.

Thanks for sharing! We are going to have to try this one out. I love the idea of incorporating the math/savings side of the experiment.

In general, the only reason to refinance is to save money or time. If you can refinance for 5 years and the reduction in payment is enough that you can accelerate and pay it off than you are currently scheduled to do then go for it. The loan officer you are working with on a potential loan should be able to provide you a truth in lending disclusure which full fees and also an ammortization schedule which shows you the loan with the difference in payment (the savings between your current payment and the proposed payment) applied to the principle monthly. This schedule would be the most accurate way to determine payoff.

This is probably a silly question but I don't cook with the crock pot much and I'm sure most of you know more about it than me.:lol: I have a recipe which I've cooked before and it turned out fine. My crock pot is larger than what the recipe recommends. Since there's plenty of space in the pot I want to double the recipe. Do I need to adjust the cooking time in any way?

Thanks for the link. I just downloaded.

:iagree: too...

:iagree: We didn't let our daughter watch any TV until around that age. We started allowing a few dvds but the only one she had any interest in was Leap Frog. She asked to watch it over and over. Once she knew her letters she starting watching the Word Factory.

I will check the new suggestions out. Now that I have the ipad with the free Kindle app I'm finding it a little easier to read more and preview some stuff for her.

I will admit to not reading every single reply but it seems that some consider politeness and being extroverted as the same thing. Speaking when spoken to is a politeness issue imho. I am naturally introverted but I don't think that gives me a pass for being rude. I also think that what is considered shyness in children can often time be overcome with proper training. I understand there are exceptions but for most children simply practicing (we do role-playing here) social politeness gets them over the hump and able to say hello to people. This isn't the same as being extroverted and striking up conversations on your own...it's just being polite. FWIW my dd is naturally extroverted...talks to everyone, everywhere including strangers in line at the grocery store. This does not stop her from doing the same hide behind me, refusing to speak behavior described in this thread as being normal for shy children. She prefers to start the conversations and just chose not to be polite. We had to practice and role-play a lot to get her to speak when spoken to.

After getting back home and looking at our stack of stuff... I forgot cursive and ETC book 8 which is ridiculously easy at this point for dd but I figure we might as well finish it. I'll also add math games and probably geography games too. We have a few on the ipad and the 10 Days in Africa game I saw recommended here as a Christmas gift. It was a last minute addition for Christmas and is a big hit so far. After cursive I think we'll learn typing. I've been trying to find an app to do it on the ipad but so far I haven't found a good one. I'm also looking for an app for piano. DD wants to learn the guitar from my dad who is a musician but he told her she has to learn basic piano first.

Currently I'm using a combination of Skydrive, dropbox and my laptop to store stuff off the ipad to free up space. You can also move things back and forth using itunes (like movies).

I will check. I live near Houston so probably. I wouldn't have even thought to check.