How sad!! :( I feel terrible for him, and for you too mama!!!

Honestly? I would take my part. You deserve it no less than the others who are recieving the other 3/4. I had to learn this lesson the hard way as my ds9's bio dad (whom he never met) passed away last year (at 27) and I was completely against taking any money from him, ever. But my parents discussed it with me & made me realize that the $ we could get through social security benefits for ds9 would be a HUGE relief to us as a family, and also enable us to do the things we've been wanting (and needing) to do for him as far as schooling, sports, etc. We went through about 9 months of paperwork & run around, but as of 01-10 we'll be getting a decent monthly payment until ds is like 18 (or 22 if he's a fulltime student). SO, all that to say--take what is rightfully yours. You deserve it just as much as they do!!!

*giggles* THANK YOU!!! :D

Please! Spell out what all the abbreviations for curriculum are in your siggies! Or point me in the right direction! ;) TIA!! :D

I just ordered my 2.5yo some workbooks from Rod & Staff. They were $2.80 each and looked like stuff he'd like to do--practice cutting/pasting, coloring, letters & numbers. Just fun stuff for littles! We use lots of books, puzzles, playdough, paint & playtime for learning too!! Just make sure you're little is engaged in activity (not sitting in front of the TV!) and they will learn as they grow! They don't need a ton of "work", it just happens through play. :D

Ok, gotcha. That's how it will be for us too, and I do plan on staying with SOTW until we've finished the series, then in 7-8 we're doing American history, but I'm thinking for grades 9-12 we'll move on to something a bit more mature in nature, possibly MOH. :confused: ETA: for grades 5 & 6 (SOTW 3 & 4) we'll be using a more logic stage approach than what we're doing now. ETAA: and you know about those best laid plans!!! ;)

This is exactly what I was going to say. I've never taught "calendar", lol. At some point, the kid will ask to have it explained to them. Its not hard to learn or confusing at that point, yk? It makes sense when they're ready to learn it. We use the days of the week & months of the year as handwriting and then cursive practice, then learn all the little songs, memorization, etc. But we don't sit down in front of a calendar everyday. We have a kitchen calendar where all our events go. I got DS9 a little desk calendar for Christmas & I find him bringing it into the kitchen to copy down his activities for the week/month so he sees how useful this information can be and "learns" from using it on a daily basis.

Do you consider your 4th grader logic stage?? :confused: We've just finished SOTW1 & have SOTW2 on the way so we'll be doing it through 4th grade as well. I was thinking a 7th+ grader probably wouldn't like it as well as a 1st-4th grader, yk? I'm not too sure abt the whole trivium thing (haven't read the book!) Don't worry tho, it's on its way with SOTW2!! :tongue_smilie:

This is our plan as well. IMHO, SOTW is written for elementary aged (grammar stage) children. I can't imagine a logic stage child enjoying the stories like my grammar aged child does.

we use childrens poetry for copywork. My 2 reasons to do copywork are to work on handwriting & spelling. try some shel silverstein. also, defining vocabulary or spelling words is good too, and helps them develop good dictionary skills. hth! nak! ;)

Has he been publicly schooled previously? I found that the first year we homeschooled (2nd grade), my ultimate goal was to get him back to the point of LOVING to learn, LOVING to read. We took it *REALLY* easy the first 6 or so months (de-schooled), and I tried to put as little on him as possible as far as "mandatory reading" or work. We turned off the TV and he had the "option" to read whatever he wanted. He found the speed racer series which I was a little iffy about but WHATEVER. The kid was reading. And enjoying. Then he devoured the wimpy kid series and started getting hungry for more. I had a box set of children's classics that had just been sitting around since he was like, three, that he just all of a sudden gained interest in last summer. He read the whole box set in 2 months! :D I personally, at this point, would get him to reading WHATEVER INTERESTS HIM. Even if you have to grin & bear him reading Star Wars or whatever. Just get him to enjoying reading, and you can focus on more educational, mandatory reading after his confidence and interest is peaked. FWIW, my ds is now doing grade 3 and we're all the way through SOTW1, just ordered SOTW2. We had it for our whole 2nd grade year, but didn't start until mid year and took it EASY (like a chapter per week +/-) so we're just now (15 months later??) getting done with it. I'm still SUPER proud, and now we're BOTH excited about moving on to SOTW2. HTH some! Goodluck! Those 8/9 yo boys can be quite trivial!!! :tongue_smilie:

What about defining his spelling words for the week? My DS has 15 words/wk, so he defines 3 words/day. This helps with both copy work, handwriting & dictionary skills. HTH! :001_smile:

We just bought a Nautilus for DS2 last weekend (during the Great Trade In Event at BRU). LOVE IT. Super easy install with LATCH and it will 5PH to 65lbs, then becomes a high-back booster and then a backless booster to 100lbs. We'll be getting DD one when she moves from RF to FF. Another, more expensive option, is the Britax Frontier. I think it 5PH to 80lbs, but not 100% on that. HTH! :001_smile:

Definately do not get a dog unless you are 100% positive its the right decision for you and your family. Puppies are a LOT of work (like a newborn!!!) I just can't do inside animals like hamsters or guinea pigs (or cats for that matter)... What about a bunny hutch? You can make one fairly cheap and the bunnies can stay outside so they aren't as messy. Still TONS of fun for the kiddies!! :) We're starting a worm farm next week! :D

ikea?

We have 5 in our family. 2 in cloth diapers. 1 dirty coal miner. ;) We do workclothes 2x/wk Diapers 3x/wk Colors 4x/wk Towels/whites 3x/wk Bedding .5x/wk (do this every other week) So...11.5 loads for us. CDs really get us. Can't wait to get back to one in cloth!!! ;) We're ALMOST there!!! :D