I'll add a other vote for the Rocky Mountains. There's cool stuff to do in Denver but Estes Park is awesome that time of year. You have the YMCA of the Rockies, white water rafting, hiking, shopping, etc. Estes is great because you literally get to see Elk walking down the street. My aunt has a store there and called me a few weeks ago because there was a large elk bull in front if her store with Christmas lights stuck in his antlers. That's not something you get to see every day. The weather is great in July.

Thanks, if we can't find any free tickets we will do this. I googled but apparently I wasn't doing it right because I didn't find this.

This just about describes our November and December minus the rehearsals and performances. We've traveled and had relatives visit here so we've been doing school "lite" for about 6 weeks.

I called and they told me that you have to have 15 students to get the discount.

Thanks. I'll go check some after Christmas sales.

DD6 is currently supposed to be cleaning her playroom at our office. Instead, she's reading the family tree book she put together when we did SOTW well over a year ago. She keeps running in here excitedly saying, "did you know your sister's middle name is Lynn", and "Grandpa's favorite memory is meeting Grandma". I'll have to remind her how fun this homeschooling thing is next week when we get back to a normal schedule. I would probably be more willing to make her focus on cleaning if I weren't posting on here instead of doing what I'm supposed to be working on.:lol:

Someone posted on here recently about free tickets for kids on lego packages. Dd received quite a few lego items for Christmas and none of them had a free ticket. Do you have to sign up for the lego club first and then you get the ticket?

Is there a minimum number of students required? I thought I checked in to this before and you had to have 15.

I bought this for dh as a suprise Christmas present and have been playing with it. I could probably spend all day on there looking at cool links, references, charts, graphs, pictures, etc. I'm definately thinking we can use this for school. If anyone else uses it I would love to know how you've incorporated it.

Do you have an ipad? I would save the extra $100 towards an ipad and keep the android phone. I have an older android and an ipad. I have things like my banking app, kindle, navigation, etc on both but find myself using the ipad more and more. The only thing I'm going to change when I'm eligible for upgrade next year is to get a little better android that will act as a hotspot. Other than that, I'm happy with my Android phone. If you have an ipad I would still stick with the android phone and save the $100 for something else.

I stopped watching most live tv...I watch everything on DVR so I can skip commericial and that's freed up a lot of time in general. I even watch basketball on tape. I always like to read in bed but the light bothered dh. Since I bought the iPad I can read without disturbing him. The iPad has has made it easier to fit in reading for me. I always have it with me so I can read in the car (while dh is driving) while waiting for food in restaurants or for dd to get out of various activities. When I was a child my mother carried a book with her everywhere so she could read "when she had the chance". I find the iPad allows me to do that without carting books around everywhere. I even started reading a book for pleasure this week which is something I haven't done in a long time. For the last few years I've only read Bible, business and homeschooling related books.

I don't know if you're locked in to the idea of a hotel but we are going in February and are renting a house instead. There are tons of options available on www.homeaway.com. We are going with another family and the total cost for the 4 bedroom/3 bath condo we picked this time is $600 for the week. We went a few years ago and did the same thing. It was cheaper for us than a hotel and dd gets her own room and bathroom so we get privacy.;)

Yes but rarely fiction. He reads Bible study type books, books about business and leadership, magazines related to his work or the Bible, etc but nothing just for fun.

I just ordered it too. I really need to stop ordering stuff but it's only $3 right.:lol:

Thanks. I'm going to try it. I've already downloaded both photon and splashtop to try so I'll add it to the list.

There are several options. You can email the file to yourself if it's only on your computer. If it's in email already you can just "open with" iBooks or your favorite PDF reader. You can also use the free Dropbox app which has software to load on your Mac to make a folder to transfer files. Also, if it's a PDF you want to write on you can "open with" notability. There are recent threads about how many of us are using this tool

Dh had swimmers ear in September and was originally prescribed the expensive medicine. We called back and the doctor changed the prescription after realizing how expensive it was. The cheaper mess worked just fine. Eta I think the cheaper option was the same med in eye drop form. If I remember correctly dr said it was okay to use the eye drops in your ear but not the other way around and to just ignore the directions on the bottle that said to put drops in your eye.

I will admit to not reading all the replies so this may be a repeat. As long as you are modeling good eating habits and encouraging physical activity you probably don't need to do anything. I was an athlete and at 14 I could easily eat two big macs at one meal (not that my parents let me do that often because we ate ate home). Going up in pant sizes at 14 is pretty normal as girls begin to mature. If your daughter isn't currently overweight don't worry about it. Portion size should only become an issue if she is at an unhealthy body weight or fat percentage. Otherwise, chalk it up to a growth spurt and don't allow excessive amounts of fast food or junk food. I grew 2 more inches after graduation so she's probably still growing too.

You might include writing thank you notes for gifts received if you haven't already done them like some of the super organized people on here. :lol: I'm planning on incorporating more life skills starting in January also. I haven't really made a plan yet but my general list for my 6 year old so far is a more disciplined approach to chores, cooking (especially some easy breakfast and lunch ideas), dishes & laundry (she already helps but I think she's ready to do more), getting up with an alarm, managing her time for assignments, etc. Cleaning and organizing is a big one we've got to address. Her idea of clean and mine are 't lining up right now!

How old is your son? I rarely buy gifts for children under two unless it's a specific event related to them (I.e. baby shower or birthday). Even then I normally buy practical things like diapers. I bought gifts for a friends' 6 and 4 year old but not the 2 month old.

Can you just look at her iPod at the end of the day and review that particular thread? If she's forwarding you the messages I'm sure she could be trusted not to delete them. It means you would see both sides of the conversation.

Notability for writing on pdf's seems to be the best option for dd 6 I also have PDF expert which allows me to edit pdf's so I can take large lessons and break them in to smaller parts (i.e. I have the Andrew Cambell memory book in PDF which is 400 plus pages and I just made a 5 page weekly memory lesson from it). There may be a cheaper app for doing this but I already paid for it so I haven't checked further in to it. Appshopper was recommended by another board member recently. It keeps up with app sales and you can make a wish list of apps you want and it will notify you if they are marked down. I've only had it for a week and already purchased the Art Authority app I wanted that was originally $9.99 for 4.99. We have and love all the apps matrips listed. We also like Toontastic, sat question of the day, sat vocabulary, Greek essentials, scrabble, trivial pursuit, math bingo, this day in history, hangman, word wit, geomaster plus, rocket math, jungle coins, & star walk. I put all my PDF teachers manuals in iBooks which keeps my place so I always know where I left off. I also love the free logos bible study app.

If you already have internet at home you can just buy a wireless router from walmart. Something like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Belkin-N-150-Wireless-Router/11060711 The least expensive options are usually around $25 or $30. All the of the instructions will be in the box and they are very simple to hook up to your existing internet modem. ETA: If you have had service a long time and are eligible for upgrade with your current carrier you might be able to get a modem that has wireless built in from them for free. If that's not an option the router from walmart is your best bet.

I voted equal. I think they are important but for different reasons. Classical language study builds discipline, helps with English grammar and vocabulary and allows for study of great books (including the Bible) in earlier translations. It also builds a great foundation for making modern language study easier. Modern language study is practical and valuable for different reasons. It provides more career options and/or options for missions work.

I love this idea. I am giving both of my sisters gift cards because I just coudn't think of anything else. Now I just have to figure out what to fill a jar with for th one who is diabetic.