Sculpey Clay is the going thing at our house these days. You can buy individual bricks or variety packs. Most of the packs have sculpting ideas and include one tool. Other tools can be purchased cheaply. I got ds a set of 3 sturdy plastic tools at Michael's for about $3. You can make figurines, magnets, beads, some varieties allow you to make erasers (haven't tried that one yet). Some are glow in the dark. Just form them and bake at 275 for 15 minutes per quarter inch thickness. Rainbow Resource sells many of the kits so you can check them out there. They are fairly reasonable. Just found this website that has lots of Sculpey Ideas on it. http://www.sculpey.com/projects/clays This'll give you a great idea as to what can be done with the stuff. I also check RR to see which kits they have. Some have been discontinued, but they still have lots of variety. I don't know if the multi-color packs come with tools or not. Some say yes; some don't say.

Way cool! Thanks for sharing!

I would suggest finding a native speaker that they could listen to or interact with. Or even check out the spanish speaking tv channels. You may be able to find some appropriate children's shows. Find audio books that they can listen to. You can teach them the basics, but this will allow them the opportunity to hear good pronunciation. Or you could take them to Mexico! Just a thought. :laugh: We are using Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish. I know enough Spanish to help ds, but am not fluent enough to just speak Spanish to him. RS is an immersion program and works well. It can be prohibitively expensive, however. We have access thru our school district and it only costs us $25.00 per school year to use (yay!)

Lots of library time Lots of notebooks Color pencils Online subject searches Outdoor time (hiking, biking, exploring, parks, etc.) "Interviews" with people from various professions (as a sort of free field trip idea)

I'm late in this conversation, but would agree with others that patience is key. My ds knew his letters & sounds by age 2, but was not ready to put them together until about age 5.5. After a few frustrating weeks (around age 4) of trying to get him to put things together, I finally decided he just wasn't ready and it wasn't worth the battle. We set lessons aside for several months until he was ready. He is now 10 yrs old/5th grade and reading above grade level. Waiting didn't hurt him in the slightest. In fact, I'm sure it helped. Anyway, I was replying to suggest that you check out Reader Rabbit. Ds had tons of fun with those cds - so much so that he was almost 9 yrs old before he was willing to give up the preschool version! They cover more than reading topics. JumpStart is another good one. Another great way to encourage learning fun is file folder games. A google search will lend you tons of ideas. And they can be easy to make and store. Children, especially the younger ones, learn more through play than in any other way. They will amaze you with what they can do when you don't even know they've been paying attention! Don't be discouraged. She is learning. I might also recommend "The Way They Learn" by Cynthia Tobias. It's an easy read that helps you identify different learning styles. The way you approach things can make a huge difference. :grouphug:

The books we used during the Middle Ages (okay, you know what I mean :001_rolleyes:) were: The Usborne Internet-linked Book Medieval World Magic Tree House Research Guide: Castles & Knights Read Alouds: The Door in the Wall The Minstrel in the Tower Castle Diary Tales of Robin Hood The Sword in the Tree

Wow! That's hard to narrow down! We've been to Pioneer Farms, Pumpkin Farms, Museum of Flight, Art Museums, Science Center, Zoos, Reptile Zoo, beaches at low tide, observation decks of tall buildings. In a couple weeks were going to a local elementary school (they invited our hs organization) to participate in a fused glass workshop. There are so many things to do! So little time! :tongue_smilie:

I haven't read all the responses so I may be "beating a dead horse" but here goes. We are also required to school 180 days at 25 hours per week (at ds' grade level). We are part of a parent-partnership program so this is who we report to. We also school 4 days per week because dh's day off is Monday. We try to hold on to that as a family day. I guess I say this to let you know I can commiserate with you. It is tough to get everything done that I have planned. However, it is not tough to get the required hours. In our state, field trips are counted toward the hours as are many other things. A trip to the grocery store counts if you're learning about the food groups, economics, product labels, etc. To help keep us on track, I make a schedule for my "box-checker" ds. We start at a certain time, take lunch at a certain time, end at a certain time (well, more or less). It has been helpful for us to do that. Before I started scheduling us, we would start whenever we got up (not a regular time) and work till the list was done. This was really hard because, inevitably we would work up till dinner time with neither one of us getting a break. Not fun. I encourage your plan to get on a schedule. It hasn't been perfect for us - still have a hard time getting to everything (I also tend to try doing too much) - but it has greatly improved things for both of us...and dh comes home to a happier household! Good luck & God bless! :D

Nice! Those sound good together.

Legos, Tangrams, Draw.Write.Now series, Dover Fun Kits, Kid K'NEX, My Father's Dragon (series of 3 books - we just loved them), Kumon Activity books (they have mazes, etc for beginning skills work)

Wow. People are funny. We all have our opinions, don't we! :001_rolleyes: Personally, I think Hezekiah is a cool name. I've never been that fond of Douglass. I agree that the two don't seem to go well together. Whatever you end up choosing, make sure you like both names. We named our ds and decided to call him by a shortened version of his first name. When he turned 8 yrs old, he decided he preferred his middle name and so we've made the switch to that. He had a good argument for making the switch - my husband has always gone by his middle name. What can you do? (Now before you say "lay down the law" after discussing it with him we decided to let him make the switch) I only say this because we cannot know for sure how our dc will react to the names we give them. Just gotta do what we think is best. :thumbup1:

Adding to the family, are you? :cheers2: I like "Kiya" the best. (pronounced with a long "i" sound, right?) My ds would have been "Kira" (long "e" sound) had he been a girl. Just thought I'd share. :D As far as least favorite, I'd have to say "Ellis". Every time I've heard that name it's been attached to a boy.

This may be off-base - I'm no expert - but I was watching a show a while back about various people who had unexplained symptoms. Has she been tested for parasites? I know you said she hasn't been camping, etc. but those things can be picked up in lots of places (undercooked meat, contaminated water...) Maybe she should be checked for cryptosporidium and the like. Hope she gets well soon!

The only one we've used thus far is The ADVENTure of Christmas by Lisa Whelchel. Lots of projects and some short stories/thoughts. I would say this one is more geared toward the younger set. I'm going to check out some of these other suggestions. Some I've never heard of.

You might also check out books like "The Way They Learn" by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. Lisa Whelchel also has a couple of books out. I've never actually read her homeschool books, but I have read other articles, etc she's written. She's an easy read. The Sonlight catalog (and maybe online) has some articles that may be beneficial in determining what route to take.

Candy is not a snack. At our house we have what's affectionately known as "Sugar Day" - Dad's day off. That's ds' day to have candy. Now, of course there are exceptions for birthday parties, holidays, etc. And if "Mom & Dad" want a treat some evening, he gets one too. But for the most part, that's how we've handled the sugar bug. It has worked pretty well for us (as long as me & dh don't give in to too many cravings!) :tongue_smilie:

I don't know if anyone's addressed this or not, since I haven't read the responses, but as a user of an "alternative learning program" we are required to report a certain number of hours per week depending on grade. Maybe that'll give you an idea of how you're doing on hours. K - considered half-time; 10 hours per week 1-3 - 20 hours per week 4-6 - 25 hours per week Above that I don't remember off the top of my head. It may remain 25 hrs through the upper grades as well. Not sure. Hope that helps!

Do they like puzzles? Jigsaw, crossword, maze, word search, word scrambles... Scavenger hunt Knot tying (sailors knots, etc) I'll keep thinking.

Well, I was going to say one (my son) but you said that didn't count! We have one Leopard Gecko, one Leopard Frog, many feeder crickets and tons of bugs in the flour I pulled out of the closet this afternoon! Ugh!

I love Imitrex! Sorry, just had to say that. My mom and I both are susceptible to migraines. She would take Excedrin to control them. It got to the point where she would have to take Excedrin every night before going to bed or she would wake up with a migraine. Turns out it was the caffeine in the Excedrin that was perpetuating the problem. I'm the same way. I took caffeine out of my diet (and quit my stressful job!) and have rarely had migraines since then (I mean rarely. I think I've had maybe 5 in the last 15 yrs.) Most migraine sufferers will tell you that caffeine helps their headaches. For me, it turned out to be a major cause. (Can we say rebound headache?) I tell you this so you can look for a pattern. For me, I never used a lot of caffeine and it was easy for me to determine that it was a cause because I could drink a latte or something and within two days would have a migraine. I would agree that you should check with her dr. just to confirm migraine and rule out anything else. Good luck! :grouphug:

Turkey/chicken n dumplings (I guess the dumplings would be the "sandwich") :) I use the bisquick mix for dumplings. Great way to use turkey/chicken leftovers! We also all enjoy Zuppa Tuscana from Olive Garden and found a knock-off recipe for it. We'll have that with breadsticks for dinner.

Samaritan's Purse also has what they call "Operation Christmas Child". You fill up a shoe box with various gifts and send it to them (or find someplace that's sending a bunch - our Awana group does this). They distribute the gifts around the world. You can get a tracking number, too, and find out where the gift goes. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/OCC_Impact/

Anamalia? There is a coloring book that goes along with that "story". Lots of detail, fun pictures although not "real". http://www.amazon.com/Animalia-Coloring-Book-Graeme-Base/dp/0810926334 I think Dover has the best coloring books as far as that goes, at least that I've seen. I agree with just buying a variety. If you're really ambitious you could cut the bindings so you have individual pages, then rebind them as variety books.

Tater Tot Casserole? Brown hamburger with salt & pepper, add chopped onion, mix in a can of condensed cream of mushroom. Put it in a baking dish, layer tater tots on top and pop it in the oven. Bake according to tater tot directions (I think that's 400 for about 15-20 min) Enchilada Casserole (sort of) My mom (her recipe) softens the corn tortillas first by frying them in a little oil. I skip that step. brown hamburger with salt, pepper and onion in another pan, mix together fiesta nacho cheese sauce, old el paso enchilada sauce and a little tomato sauce to taste (or instead of cheese sauce you could use cream of chicken/mushroom; instead of tomato sauce you could use condensed tomato soup) - I usually warm the sauce a little - it's easier to blend that way. you're going to layer tortillas dipped in the sauce, hamburger and grated cheese in a baking dish (I use pyrex). So mine looks like - tortillas, meat, cheese, tortillas, meat, cheese, tortillas. Pour leftover sauce over the whole thing and top with cheese. bake at about 350 for around 20 minutes (until cheese is melted/golden to satisfaction) This takes a few minutes to make, but can be made ahead and makes great leftovers.

Welcome! :seeya: