Anybody have any FREE Columbus Day resources or activities that they would want to share? My older 3 will be home from ps and I want something we all can do (ages ranging from 12 down to 4). Thanks in advance! Oh...I am not a member of Enchanted Learning (can't afford it right now) but did find some neat worksheets on there.

Will be praying for him. My dh has the very same symptoms, as does my dd4. All of us have had those symptoms to some extent or another. Dd4 and dh seem to have it the worst...cough, fever, chills, body aches, etc. I just had the body aches and sore throat...no cough or much of a fever.

Dh and I watched the trailer for it online. There were adult situations (teen couple in bed together) and reviews said that there was extreme profanity. Even a "little" profanity is a no-no in our house for our children. I spoke to the teacher, explained my position and she was eager to accomodate and understood my position. I've yet to speak to the principal although I copied him on the original email to the teacher. Suppose I'll call him tomorrow. I just can't believe this is policy. My dh was a public hs teacher and was apalled that this was happening. All the teachers at the school he visited today were open-mouth, jaw on the floor shocked (and this was a Baltimore City public school). Crazy. It just makes me wonder what else goes on without my knowledge. :glare:

My dd12 just finished reading That Was Then This Is Now with her 8th grade English class. Some of you might remember my dilemna in whether or not to let her read it. Well, I did. She enjoyed it. She came home yesterday and announced her excitement that they would get to see the movie. I immediately looked it up online and it was rated R! :001_huh: Does anyone else find this appalling? No letter home, no announcement or request for parental consent to watch. These are 12-14yo kids and rated R, I thought, meant no one under 17 w/out a PARENT or guardian. This film was approved by the PRINCIPAL of the school! I spoke to dd's English teacher and will have her removed from the classroom to work in the library during the movie. Her excuse for showing the movie? That it was a 1985 movie and what was rated R then would be PG today. :001_huh: I said, of course...our world today is MUCH more liberal and TV and movies are MUCH worse as opposed to their 70s and 80s counterparts! I found this "excuse" ridiculous. We really do lose control of our kids when we send them to ps. :glare:

Ellie, we are still on the letter sound/formations in PR. His handwriting has just recently starting getting to the point where he can form the letters w/out much help. We haven't even made it to the vowel teams or consonant teams or numbers (although he does know his numbers and formations from math). In the Reading Lesson, he is still at the CVC words so I cannot imagine him "getting" vowel or consonant teams yet. We shall see. Guess I should just choose I program and do it meticulously, huh? Problems is...I love AAS AND PR...and he IS making progress with The Reading Lesson...albeit slow.

We do PR as it is suggested each day. We are still on the letters right now b/c his handwriting is not that great. AND, he often forgets the letters associated with sounds when I dictate a sound and have him write the letter. Now, if he SEES the letter, he knows the sound right away. Weird. So, we ARE doing PR as suggested...just adding in the Reading Lesson. Explain how you think I'd see more progress? I'm curious. :) Thanks!

I'll put in a plug for AAS. I'm using it with ds8 and ds6 (slowly). I LOVE it. Love how it is taught, love the letter tiles (so does ds8 and 6 and dd4 as well), the rules-based progression, etc. I also like that it isn't just a list of words to memorize and then forget. We also use the Phonics Road to Reading and Spelling with meshes well with AAS (although rules are taught in a different order). I plan to continue with AAS and PR. Just another thought. Children learn to spell best by USING the words in their own writing, IMHO. Many children (mine included) can memorize lists for a test but will often misspell those same words in their writing. I am planning to have my ds8 do more writing so he uses the words. We also do dictation (with AAS). Can't speak to RFS...although i did look at it for the Biblical content. We love a Reason for Handwriting :001_smile:

No advice really, just sympathy b/c my ds6 (7 in Jan.) is struggling with reading as well. He knows letter sounds, can sound out CVC words with difficulty and will often "guess" at the word or memorize them instead of actually sounding them out. My other children were reading by this point and so this worries me, but I have to tell myself that all children are different developmentally. Just keep at it slowly, at his pace. Some kids just don't "get it" until age 8 or 9 and then they take off. Note to self: take own advice. :D

Personally, I hate it. Sorry. We never get clear reception and since our Internet is constantly going down and we have to reset...it gets very frustrating. On the positive side...the customer service is good.

My ds6 is using The Reading Lesson, simple Phonics books I have left over from our K12 days and Phonics Road (very s l o w l y). He occasionaly will do ETC online but the novelty has worn off and he has become frustrated with it now. :glare: He knows his letter sounds. He can sound out words...but with difficulty. For instance, in the Reading Lesson, there are four-five new words introduced, reviewed and then mixed in with NEW words. Ds6 "memorizes" the old word list and won't pay attention to the actually letters of the NEW words. Ex/ the old word is CAT and the new word is COT...he consistently says CAT instead of COT. He memorizes instead of sounding out or guesses instead of sounding out new words. It is frustrating for BOTH of us. Any advice? I'm really beginning to worry about him. While I am so proud that he has come at least this far (and I tell him that EVERY day), secretly I am worried that he won't "get it". What am I doing wrong? For the record, we spend about 10 minutes each day on The Reading Lesson, 5 minutes reading a story from the Phonics Reader and about 10 minutes with the handwriting/dictation of letters in Phonics Road. We haven't even gotten to the vowel teams yet. I can't see him getting THAT at all! HELP! Oh...and it doesn't help that his 4yo sister just "gets" reading and is quickly moving past ds6 in The Reading Lesson. I ALWAYS do the phonics separately with them so there isn't competition and consistently praise ds6 for what he accomplishes each day apart from what dd4 does. KWIM?

You are certainly not alone, as you can see. I had to send my 3 oldest back to public school b/c I felt I wasn't doing enough with the younger kids b/c I was too focused on the older ones. And we still hardly ever got to Science or History or Art or Music. What I am finding now is that what we DID do...was obviously far more than their public school counterparts b/c of the comments I hear from my kids and their teachers. Rest assured you are doing a great job! I am still in the same boat this year, though. With 2 boys who fight me to get just the basics done each day it is difficult to get the "extras" in b/c I am so drained and they put up such a fight. I "try" to do some fun extras...crafts, nature walks, educational DVDs, science experiments, etc. But, I consider it a good day when all the core subjects get done!

And there isn't anything that can be done to lessen this pain? Oh Imp...I am in prayer for you daily. I am sorry you are dealing with this. :grouphug:

Ohhhh...that is a good idea. Thanks!

:001_huh: Did you all see the price tag? Now, I'm not saying it isn't totally worth it, but $1300? Yikes! I think I need 2...one for scrabbook/stamp/craft supplies and one for school stuff. Oh, and then I'll need a new, bigger house to store the storage boxes in! :D Right now...I'm off to find that money tree that my kids are always talking about. It's in the backyard somewhere...:lol:

my therapist. She is leaving at the end of October to join her husband and son who are already in AZ. They are pastoring a church out there. She and her dd8 stayed behind so she could continue to work (get her license transferred to AZ) and sell her house. She moves in 3 weeks. She has been so much more to me than JUST a therapist. I want to get her something special for her move. She has a long drive ahead of her so perhaps something to listen to in the car? Does anyone have any good ideas for a special going away gift? Inexpensive would be best...I'm sort of broke :( Thanks!

Praying for the entire family. I know a family who's son was making some very bad choices and those choices forced them to make some very difficult decisions on his behalf. Praying that God will get a hold of him and use those bad choices for his good and set him in the right direction.

Thanks everyone. I think I will use Child's Story of America as our "spine"...just reading a few pages each day and adding in some bios, crafts, field trips every now and again, DVDs (we have Drive Through American History and the curriculum that goes with that...I just don't know if it is too much for an 8yo). I'll have to look at it again. I guess I could look at the MFW Adv. books, WP AS1 and AS2 and Sonlight to get an idea. And, I did forget about Our Los Banos free schedule. Thanks for reminding me. Now...off to plan something!

Would Hakim be too much for an 8yo?

What would you do for Amer. Hist. if you didn't want to buy a curriculum or a program (like MFW Adventures or Biblioplan or HOD or whatever!). I simply cannot afford any more curriculum. Period. I have Child's History of America, some Joy Hakim books, etc. Could I piece together my own? Any suggestions? Thanks!

Congrats to you! My dh has been running consistently for the past year. He did his first half marathon last weekend. Today...drum roll please...I actually ran with him! Now, I'm not horribly overweight, but I'm certainly not where I'd like to be. I ran for about 20 minutes with him...taking a few walking breaks. AND, our neighborhood is extremely hilly. I was wiped out and just a bit embarrased but felt okay after. I might actually run a 5K with my dh next month. Way to go Nakia!

Imp, I'm praying for you and will keep praying. I wish something I could say would make it all better. I don't have physical pain so I cannot relate. There are times when my emotional pain is so intense it physically hurts, but that can't touch what you are going through. :grouphug: and lots of them...I wish I were closer to give you one in person and pray for you in person.

Part of his problem is concentration. He will sit there and color the pictures with his pencil, stare into space, scribble on the pages, etc. but not focus. I am constantly telling him to FOCUS! We teach the lesson from the textbook, do some problems together, etc. and then do the lessons. I just don't know what to do. I doubt it would be any different in another program...he'd still dawdle, stare into space, etc. until he was finally ready to DO his work! What can I do? He's not this way with his spelling (AAS) or handwriting or anything else really. Just math!

Ds8 is stubborn. He can do math. He really can. When he "wants" to, he can do it. We are in Singapore 1B right now. It took us 1 1/2 hours to do a page of SIMPLE subtraction problems today...using M&Ms as manipulatives. :001_huh: What am I doing wrong? Should I just STOP right here and just drill add/subtract facts until he has them down cold? I'm getting really worried about this. Or, should I switch programs? I've used Saxon for him in the past...not good. We also tried MUS and he didn't like the repetition and the blocks. I really like Singapore. He does as well. But it's just not "clicking". Help?

I don't know Chris, but you know my struggles with my ds8. While I don't think he'd do better in a ps, he certainly test my patience here at home. Some days he will actually sit at the table or on the floor in our kitchen, refusing to do his work...for hours at a time. :001_huh: His choice is do the work or sit. He will often choose to just sit...and will sometimes do his work after he has sat for hours. It confuses me to no end. Some days, I just throw up my hands and can't handle it. Yesterday we struggled for 2 hrs. with math. He's only on Sing. 1B so it is NOT too hard for him. I wish I had a magic forumula. I wish I had some good advice. Perhaps a :grouphug: will have to do. I know that around here, ds8 is not allowed snack, tv, video games, friends, playtime, outside time (unless it is work-related or running around the house to get his crazies out), dessert, etc. unless he has completed his work for the day. And as I said, some times I just give up and we read or watch a video or go to the library or what have you. Sorry you are dealing with this.

MONO?!?!:001_huh: Is THIS what I get for sending my dc back to the germ emporium, um, I mean ps? :glare: Nice. I suppose if I get worse I'll se my dr. I have to see her anyway for more blood work and such. Thanks Dr. Hive! :D