I got this: http://www.net10.com/phone_details.jsp?model=UCMTST_008477 at Walmart. There is no 'net on it, but it can text. It uses the TracPhone network (AT&T, I think). I think it was about $20, and came with a 30 day/200 minute card. If you buy minutes online you can get 2000 minutes that last for 6 months, but you may prefer the $15/mo plan that auto-renews for 200 minutes. It stays charged for days, which is really nice!

FYI, I didn't have an account and it only offered me the $20 for $10 deal, not $20 for $5.

I'll second Little House books, we've been reading them aloud at dinner time lately (because we're reading Farmer Boy and it was making us hungry when we read it when we weren't eating!). DS finds them engaging enough, I think it helps that Laura is a bit of a tomboy and of course Farmer Boy is about Almanzo.

339033 for 10% off some restrictions apply http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=2547320&sp=101083&p=1162499 339031 for free shipping on orders of $25 or more http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=2547325&sp=101083&p=1162499 Cannot be combined. HTH someone :)

I keep forgetting I'll have a K'er too, lol. We'll be doing: Just her: OPGTR FLL Lots of read alouds and some readers if she picks it up fast (big sis was reading independently by 3.5 so I'm a little lost here, lol) Singapore EB math Leading Little Ones to God Evan Moor Beginning Geography With big sis: listen in on history (Miller/Guerber Ancient World and Greeks, may be able to squeeze in some Romans too) Apologia Astronomy and Zoology 1

How many are in your family and what do you spend per average on food? It is myself, and 3 children (10yob and 2 girls 8yo and 4yo). We average $185 per month for food and $50 each for eating out and household items (although I try to cut these down-everything tends to get thrown in here since I budget every penny. So, if we buy some Christmas decorations...it goes here. Extra gifts? Goes here. Etc). I *could* spend more, but we can eat well at this budget level, and I could also spend less, if needed (I could also qualify for food stamps, but choose not to go that route since we have wiggle room in the budget even without them; I'm actually taking a trip to England in April with my Mom, doesn't seem right to be on public assistance with that in mind, kwim?). What do you do to cut corners? I menu plan and shop sales. I watch for things we use a lot of to go on sale (ie PB for $1 a jar or less? I'll get 3 months worth, since it goes on sale for that price about every 3 months. Ditto for spaghetti sauce). I actually budget $35 a week for "regular food" and $35 a month for stock up items. Aldi is my friend. I plan visits to my parents around the JayC ads.... Any great ideas you want to share on saving money on your monthy food budget? I love the people at livinglikenooneelse dot com for ideas and support on frugal living. Otherwise, living in a low cost of living area is *very* helpful, but its not really something one can do much about....

Indiana wouldn't look too pretty, but most other states look worse :tongue_smilie: Here's a report on our fiscal health here: http://www.indianafiscal.org/pdf/IFPI-FY-2010-Closeout-Report.pdf

I combine my 3rd and 5th graders for many subjects; basically, if you look at my siggy they are combined for everything not in parenthesis next to their name (although with Bible they are in the same level but one is in OT and the other in NT so they have different books). This works for us mostly because my 3rd grader is able to keep up with DS (she's strongest in LAs, he's a science nut). Next year I will have to split them up for science, though, but I'll just have the 4yo sit in on science with big sister instead, so her science will still be shared (I think that helps with her comprehension), at least for a while. And, I'll have the 4yo sit in on history with both too. Science is really the only other thing I see us splitting off for the older 2 (she'll even do logic with him, since I think she's capable), but of course if I need to split them then I will :001_smile:

Sorry for not reading all the replies, my hour a day of internet I allow myself is almost up, but I personally found it very helpful. In short, 18ish months ago I had 55k+ in debt and was living on more than I took in per month. Friday I paid off my last credit card (total of 42k debt paid off, still have a student loan) and although my income will drop about 1200 a month next month, we can easily live on our income and continue to pay off debt at a good rate. I really love the forums at livinglikenooneelse dot com for help, try getting the book at the library first. It does take some personal discipline, and it really helps to have some accountability (kind of like real life....). Good luck :)

If you paid via paypal then you have her e-mail address in your paypal :)

I have a 2004 Greenleaf and it has black and white pictures. I can't speak to text differences, but already owned the Greenleaf version so I didn't spring for the Memoria Press version (although I do have their guide).

I was curious about laws around here. I should preface this by saying that I live in the country. I didn't find any applicable laws, but found an interesting study about the minimum cost of living in Indiana for someone to have the "necessities" without using public assistance: http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/fall/article1.html My rent is $450 a month (utilities are about $200 a month for gas/electric). The cabin I live in could be considered anything from a 1 bedroom to a 4 bedroom, depending on how you count bedrooms and how the loft (DS's bedroom) is viewed ;) The main bedroom is huge and could easily be partitioned to make 2 rooms. It works very well for us. Before we lived here, we had a 2 bedroom apartment in a smallish town and the 3 kids shared a room (DS on top bunk, the 2 girls shared the full size bottom bunk after younger DD moved out of the crib). The landlord didn't care where I stuck what kid, as long as I paid the rent ;) ETA: I wonder how the level of government "oversight" on housing standards correlates to the level of oversight on homeschooling....just kinda made me think since Indiana has low oversight on both.

Thank you for asking this, OP, my rising 5th grader needs some practice too. And, especially, thank you Lori D. I've used so many of your very informative posts and links this week :)

My parents are in their 70s. Dad's folks went to college (met there, in fact; she was a school teacher and he went to law school), Mom's didn't. Dad took some classes at college, but never went beyond freshman or early sophomore level. He worked for a major auto corporation as the last tool and die designer they had who didn't have an engineering degree (and he frequently taught the degreed guys a whole lot about designing). Mom went to college on a Home Ec scholarship, in 1958. It was $400 per year and paid for her full tuition and books. She lived in a cooperative for room and board and if she had any student loan debt it was minimal (she ended up there for a 5th year). She got a degree in Interior Design (from Purdue, so she had to take Physics for it :001_huh: ) and ended up working as a teacher for a while. She was a secretary when she and Dad met (so the "find a degree that can do something for you" thing isn't new). My brother and I were both expected to go to college. He lasted one semester, I made it 2 years. He didn't care and I never learned study skills (and you can darn well bet I have now and that my kids will learn them...). I don't expect my kids to go to college, but want them to have that option. I do expect them to choose a career and get a degree that goes with the career (if necessary), not chose a degree and try to make a career out of it.

:grouphug::grouphug: So sorry for your loss.

Apologia doesn't have an elementary chemistry at this time. They have astronomy, botany, anatomy and 3 zoology books. We ended up using Singapore's My Pals are Here Science because it was easy to get to. I found that *I* didn't want to get to the Apologia books, so they didn't get done. We own them all because DS is insane about science, so he reads them on his free time (and 50 thousand other science books). You are probably better at follow through than I. I have done some curriculum hopping to find the different programs that work for the kids that we get to. We waffle on spelling. DD is a natural speller, DS not so much ;) We picked up the CLP spelling books because they are pretty cheap, the kids do most of the work on their own and I just give them tests. Lists off the net should work fine too. We did 2 years of SOTW this last year and it was *hard* to get it all done (and we do something year round), but I have a bazillion books to go along with history. We simply didn't get to all of them. I keep them on the coffee table, though, and the kids will pick them up to look at them at other times (no TV helps for that :D ). Next year, again, we will do 2 years and its again going to be killer. I just keep reminding myself that this run through is about pegs, and they really are remembering things even from our lightening fast run though. We ended up so far behind because I didn't start homeschooling them until DS was almost done with 2nd grade and he was failing so 3rd grade was all about redoing 2nd grade and getting 3rd grade done for the basics (math, writing, reading). For handwriting, we've used the Memoria Press copy books. They aren't horribly expensive and my 9yo has better handwriting than I do (Grandma teaches penmanship...).

LOF Fractions is 31 chapters (DS usually did 1 chapter per day) with 7 bridges, 5 tries available per bridge (I required him to miss no more 1 problem on 2 of the tries before he could go on to the next chapter). I allowed him to do 2 bridges per day if he wanted to. So, it took him about 8 weeks to finish it. He will do Decimals & Percents in the not too distant future. It has 33 chapters with 7 bridges, so again, about 8 weeks if done daily. The Pre-Algebra books are *not* required, but were written to give more practice to kids who aren't quite ready for algebra yet. Fractions says it covers one morning where Fred: teaches a class at the university, buys a bicycle and in his office he hurts his foot and is taken to the hospital. Decimals/Percents covers an afternoon and evening with Fred where you will learn: everything you need to begin algebra, why they no longer play football at KITTENS University and why you should never eat alone at the 5100th Ave Steak House. Pre-Algebra with Biology says it covers a spring morning in Fred's life where you will learn: what it takes to run a shopping mall, how to ask for oats in Scotland the correct way to deliver flowers to a hospital patient and even some algebra and biology. That said, Pre-A with bio has 46 chapters with 6 bridges. Some chapters cover mathematics and some cover biology (seed germination, genes, oxygen being carried by blood, bones), but most cover both, as well as many other interesting things (translating Divina Commedia into English, Victory Gardens of WWII and much, much more). HTH :)

Here is a 15 day menu of things that we eat, we don't have any diet restrictions (other than the 5 lbs I've put on this year :tongue_smilie: ) so many wouldn't be usable, but maybe you can get some ideas :) M-pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn T-quiche (I'll make one ham & zucchini and one mushroom & ham) W-smoky links, mac-n-cheese, corn, broccoli R-beef pot roast with homemade noodles, fresh mashed potatoes, corn F-biscuits & gravy with hashbrowns and eggs Sa-spaghetti Su-grilled brats with grilled potatoes/onions and corn M-potluck; I'll take baked mac and cheese (which I've never made before, lol) and a super easy but yummy bean dip (mashed up pintos with lots of taco sauce, sour cream, cheese and some diced onions) T-grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, broccoli or grape tomatoes (choice of 2 out of the 3) W-grilled burgers R-fake olive garden chicken con broccoli (with leftover from Tues grilled chicken) F - hotdogs/burgers on the grill Ss - going to try pizza on the grill Su - pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns M- chicken burritos HTH :)

I do to some degree, but for the most part I don't have the kids write in anything except their Singapore workbooks and their copybooks. And, if LOF comes out with some lower elementary math books in time for my 3.5yo to use them, we may even skip Singapore workbooks for her (I bought all the workbooks for DS and older DD a while ago, for Primary 1-6; I also have all the textbooks, extra practice books and Challenging Word Problem books but only one set of each and we rarely use EP or CWP). My kids just write their answers for stuff in notebooks for everything else. So, I don't really *have* to buy workbooks to go along with anything :) I do have them budgeted in for younger DD, to fill out Rainbow Resource orders to get free shipping :D

Not every state sponsors a program like this. I/my kids are eligible because I was an Indiana resident for at least 3 years of military service (actually, all 12 of them, lol) and I expect they will go to Indiana schools. But, definitely check out programs your state might sponsor for children of veterans. Also see if the VA has anything, I'm post-Vietnam so I'm not all the familiar with what they offer for kids of Vietnam vets.

Depending on your financial situation, you *may* be able to do dual enrollment courses, if you so desire, by taking classes from some of the online high schools affiliated with major universities. For example, my kiddos may end up taking some dual enrollment courses from IUHS (Indiana University High School). These courses count as Indiana University classes and work within the core transfer program for the state of Indiana. This is nice for us, since we live a county away from IU Bloomington, and as I am a disabled veteran with wartime service my kids should get free tuition at state universities here. Just a little food for though :)

I have a (fairly) set budget for homeschool items, so what I do is keep a spreadsheet of what I have coming in when (its $50 a month, at least until I get out of debt completely), and what I want to use to buy with it. Now, I also have flexibility built in, because I've got so much of what I am going to need already. So, I can slide my estimates of when I want to purchase things by quite a bit, really up to a year if I need to. Except for next years Latin, maybe...I'm still not totally sure we'll use Lively Latin, maybe something else? We've already got Latin Prep 1, lol. So, yes, I will purchase something for a year (or even more) out, if its a good deal :) I just wish I could afford 15 or 20 of those Teaching Company courses....

here were several of us at the beginning of the school year that took the plunge together and ordered MCT or had already been using it. I would love to hear how everyone's year turned out. We didn't really start Grammar Island until March and took things slowly, so I'm not sure we'll be *really* helpful, but I'll play too :) Will you be using it next year? Yes What level did you use? Island What level will you use? Town Did you use all of the components or some of them? All. We did grammar first, then started the other units at the same time a couple of weeks ago. We will work on it over the summer, because the kids won't let me stop :D If you supplemented, with what and why? No, we didn't, but we're probably going to add in some WWE stuff in the fall. Did you make changes along the way or did you stay the course? Were you happy with test results? We've stayed the course thus far, but we don't do our testing until June 8/9. I'll post back about the results when I get them. One of the absolute best things about the program is that the kids love it so much that it gets done every single time, and usually extra above what I scheduled. We took a day off school last week for my Mom's birthday and the kids were truly upset that they only got to do sentence island once that week :001_huh: We program hopped for a while, but nothing else we ever tried got done because it was such a struggle to get them into it.

It appears to be a British book. And its 800 pages, which is much longer than my Kingfisher (490 pages, copyright 1999). HTH. ETA: And, now I'm really curious. My kingfisher has this cover: http://www.amazon.com/Kingfisher-History-Encyclopedia/dp/0753403455/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275179931&sr=1-3 and the ISBN 0753451948, which shows a totally different cover. It also has something about 9/11 in it, with a copyright in 1999.

At least no kittens died...