If you are lucky, you may be able to find them in your local homeschool store - used, which would be 1/2 price. Well that is how mine prices them anyways. They go fast though. :)

I took a free online class last semester taught by a Stanford Math professor that talked about Teaching Maths to students. One of the things she said is that timed tests are bad for kids. It causes unneeded stress and can cause a child to hate math, and you don't ever want to do anything that can discourage them from liking a subject. I used to give my son timed test on an online site, and he hated the timed part. He did better on the untimed part. There are some battles that aren't worth fighting. :) Vicki

Yes, we do have teachers that have crappy classes...as someone else pointed out, those teachers don't have kids sign up for their classes, or we ask them not to teach again. The bad classes or teachers are taken care of by natural selection. Most of our teachers really put in a lot of work. When I taught, I would spend 2-3 hours a week planning. I taught it so long that by the last year I didn't have to plan because I had done the class already. I was on the board of our co-op, it is why I have the no-BS attitude. We don't make anyone sign a faith statement, we do make kids sign a behavior statement. It's nice to bring it up when kids are being a PITA. We have a $15 annual fee that goes as a donation to the Temple we have our co-op at. We get $150 budget from the homeschool group budget (the fee to enter our support group comes from that). That pays for our supplies. We make families give us a $50 on-time check. Post-dated to a month before co-op ends. If your family is 1 minute late 4 times in a semester, we deposit that check and donate it to the Temple. We had to deposit 3 of them this past semester. The first semester we didn't have to deposit any. I used to teach the first hour and class would start 10-15 min after the hour because 1/4 of the class was on time. It sucks to have to have that rule, but homeschoolers have a hard time being on time. When I plan field trips, I give a time 15 min prior to the start. Then only one family is late rather than 5 or so. Our classes are elective type classes. Teachers quickly learn not to give much homework because parents just don't make their kids do it. The older classes require homework, and the teachers many times email parents telling them, even though it's in the syllabus.

Teachers get priority because it takes a lot of time to plan for classes and they are putting in way more work than a volunteer. Sometimes a volunteer is just a warm body. If we didn't give the teacher's kids priority, it would be hard to find teachers to teach. Why would I want to spend my time teaching if my kids weren't pretty much guaranteed to get the classes I wanted them in? The system is set up in a very fair way, IMO. If you want priority for your kids, get on the planning board or teach. If you want to put in little effort, volunteer. Our homeschool group requires no faith statement, so we have a very diverse group. Also our co-op does not do field trips. It is a branch off of our homeschool group, and our homeschool group has specific people that plan field trips. We have field trips for preschool as well as school-age children. With homeschooling, you just have to accept that babies and toddlers will be at most field trips. Only a few field trips require no toddlers or babies. We try not to plan those.

Co-op is short for cooperative. Meaning everyone chips in and helps out. If you don't teach, you volunteer. If you want a drop-off opportunity, then you need to look for paid classes. No disrespect to your situation. Now in our co-op, you only have to volunteer so many hours. There are hours you don't have to help out. If we had a drop off situation, the co-op would not work as intended since all of our volunteers that are needed would be out running errands. Co-ops are cheap as far as money cost. Your tuition is paid via teaching or volunteering.

For history SWB says to use a history encyclopedia for a spine...whether it be DK, Kingfisher, USborne - you have the child read the two page spread about the subject, write down 5-7 interesting facts from the pages, then go to the library and find a book about that subject (or a specific subject mentioned in the pages) and read more about it. From that (library) book, she says to outline about 5-6 paragraphs from one page so they get outlining experience. Pick whatever time period you want and go from there. Yes, you are putting this together yourself in a sense, but you can put the work on your child since they are old enough to do so...they pick the book they want by going to the library, typing in the subject and finding the book themselves. You just have to take them to the library.

I can't rave enough about Coconut Oil. You can throw away all of your lotions and replace it with coconut oil. TMI, but it's also a good, natural use in the bedroom. ;)

I don't sell anything. LOL. If you were to only get ONE EO to try, I would say PEPPERMINT OIL. It works for headaches. I put it on my kids when they complain about headaches. They ask for it. I put some in a roller bottle, it's easier to put on that way. I bought something at Bath & Body Works once that was for headaches...it was peppermint oil (likely diluted with a carrier oil) in a roller bottle. If you have a really bad headache, the Peppermint Oil likely won't cure it. I carry the Peppermint Oil around in my purse. :) Vicki

My mom passed away on the first day of spring this year. My dad had been with her the whole day, went to get a bite to eat, and she passed away in those 20 minutes. It is interesting that people choose to die when no one is around, as if they feel bad for making someone experience that.? I'm so sorry you are going through this. (((hugs))).

I'm curious as to what combo of EO's you used to help with your allergies. I moved to TX 8 years ago, and we moved farther south in TX 4 years ago. Last year I got bronchitis twice, and I had never had it before. A doctor said perhaps I have developed a 'healthy' allergy. In April, I got a cold that I thought developed into bronchitis. I went to urgent care, and it hadn't developed into bronchitis, but I had started losing my voice. However, I was at Great Wolf Lodge, and the chlorine in the air likely aggravated my system. I was out of town, so I didn't have my inhaler. Instead I was putting peppermint oil on my chest with a carrier oil (it's all I had with me...I use it for headaches all the time). I was also inhaling the peppermint oil through a little steam to clear out my system. I quickly learned you only need one or two drops, not 8. Anyways, I read that the pores on the bottom of your feet are the biggest, so I believe that is why they put it on your feet. I know there are diagrams of your foot being connected to the rest of your body. I put some Peaceful Child EO on my whole family. I put it across the toes because it says the toes are connected to the brain. Is it, who knows. I bought it for one of my kids, and my other kids ask for it. They claim it helps them sleep. When my oldest is doing work and can't concentrate, he asks for it. I bought the oils to make the peaceful child myself. Does it work? I have put it on myself, but I'm a pretty relaxed person, so I'm not a good subject - it has helped me get to sleep quicker. My son whom I bought this for, he seems to be less crazy. It is not the cure all, but I believe it does help. It's kind of like it helps take the edge off. I started giving him magnesium in a powder form...a friend recommended it saying it helps her with her anxiety. The combo of the two seem to help him. IMO...at least I think. LOL Since peppermint oil has worked so well on us, I was open to using other EOs. That stuff works so well for headaches...not big ones. I have to take aspirin for big headaches, but if I get small tension ones, I put it on my forehead and behind my neck, and the headache goes away pretty quickly. For the Peaceful Child, I put it on my son's feet, over the heart, on his wrists and on the back of his neck and rub it down his spine. All the places it said you could put it. Some people swear by the Thieves EO as well. I bought the ingredients to make that. Rosemountainherbs.com - sells EOs for wayyyyy less the Young Living or doTerra. Frankinsence is 1/3 the price for the same amount. What Rosemountainherbs didn't have, I bought on Amazon - the NOW brand. FYI, the "Theraputic Grade EO" is a trademarked term by doTerra. So they will tell you to "Be sure to buy theraputic grade EO's only..." but you can't find it anywhere else since it is TM by doTerra. Good marketing. As long as it is pure, you should be good to go. Rose Mountain Herbs says all their EOs are organic. :)

Why can't you just tell them you can't do this? If you aren't getting paid, I can't imagine you are obligated. I was on the board of our co-op for a few years. We had people say they would join, teach, what have you, and some would bow out at the last minute for one reason or another. We had no hard feelings. Don't feel obligated to fulfill something that isn't going to benefit you, especially if you can't afford it. They will understand.

Get the book 'Queen Bees and Wanna Bees'...it talks about social dynamics in groups, but teaches the kids how to deal with bullies and what to say. It is a good book to read in the tween years, or when drama issues start with your child. This is a book I would buy and keep for reference at any time. The movie MEAN GIRLS is based off this book. Vicki

Open a case with eBay right away and ask them how you should proceed. I would also file a paypal claim to get your money back, unless ebay does it all in one claim now since they own Paypal...

Going through this now. Allinonehomeschool.com- McGuffey Reader and her word videos. If they don't know a sound, I tell them...and the McGuffey Readers uses symbols for pronunciation. Love it. Simple and free. ;) With my oldest I used Saxon. I like the simple method better.

Horrible Histories has a few fun books on US History. On topics that interests my son, or we want more info, I go find more books in the library about that specific topic. They are not done by the same person who wrote all the English Horrible Histories. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=America's%20Horrible%20Histories My son loves the books. They are entertaining. ;)

I have 3 kids, I homeschool 2, and my developmentally delayed-special needs child goes to public school. He's 7 & in 1st grade. He has a special ed teacher and is mainstreamed with a regular teacher. He sees his special ed teacher for 3 hours a day for writing, language arts, and math. This week I got 2 pieces of homework from his regular teacher..math and writing. I don't understand why I got that from her since she does not have him for those subjects. I have talked with his special ed teacher about the homework she was sending...some of it was too hard, so she revised what she was sending. I told her I did a lot verbally and using manipulatively...so I write some of his answers, and he writes some. He gets very frustrated and cries when we do homework. Writing anything is a challenge for him. He knows he doesn't do it right and gets upset. Anyways, I emailed his main teacher and told her I thought the worksheets she gave were above his skill level. She asked him to write 3 sentences about his family. He can barely speak in complete sentences, so actually writing them would be impossible. I told her copy work of sentences would be better (it is what SWB recommends anyways). I told her if the homework she sent was above his skill level, it would not get done. To no disrespect to her, but it isn't worth the time and fight to do work he is not ready for. His homework grade is a reflection on me, not him. He should get homework of LA or math from his special ed teacher since she knows his skill level. I also told her that I had issues with homework in the young elementary grades, except for reading. I think he is exhausted from all the work he has done at school, and he sees more work and freaks. I told her I believe in the 10 minute per grade rule of homework.i said it all nicely with an explanation, and I hope I did not offend her. The battle to do homework with him is not worth it for me. If I have to spend a lot of time on the homework every night, then he is getting pulled and I will homeschool him. He has no concept of grades, so if he gets a bad grade, he won't know. I have issues with grades too in young grades, but I know they need to do it in public school. I just tell my homeschool kids to correct what they got wrong. I rarely grade anything. *sigh*

It takes time for relationships to form, and can take even longer for some introverts. I know in our group when some people start going to park day they expect their kids to find a best friend right away...it doesn't work like that. I personally think it takes a good 6 months to a year to fully acclimate and feel comfortable in a new group/environment. So I am in the minority of votes here. I think you should stick it out and give it time. If after a semester you still don't feel the love, then I would drop out. Going to co op and seeing the same kids all the time will help facilitate friendships. I think you get out of it what you put into it. We have new people in our co-op every semester. Some people get right in and fit in quickly, forming friendships...some it takes longer, usually the introverts. Introverts have to get out of their comfort zone even more than extroverts in these situations, but after some time, they get a new comfort zone and acclimate. I think if you made a commitment you should keep it, unless someone is being bullied or harmed.

Edmodo.com sounds like it may fit what you want. I haven't looked into it much, but it is for teachers to keep their tridents up o date on assignments, etc.

In Houston, you can make appointments at the post office, which are weeks out, so that is a bad option; or you can just walk into the county building and apply for the passport by waiting in a small line that day. do ou not have the second option? Sorry you missed out.

Threaten them with extra sentences. One sentence for every time I have to repeat the sentence. It will make them listen better. LOL! For a sentence as long as in this example, I would break it down in phrases of however many words I thought he could comfortably remember.

I don't have a COLOR laser printer, but I have a laser printer - that just prints B&W. I LOVE it. I have an inkjet to print color when I need it, and if I don't NEED the color, I print it on the laser printer. If it is a lot of pages, but not a TON, I email it to my husband to print at work on their color laser printer. I buy some of the scholastic $1 books and I have printed a lot of those. I go through about one toner cartridge a year, maybe a little more, and it is $60 for a new toner cartridge. I get a few thousand pages from it. Maybe 3,000. I usually get my paper free from the Office Depot/Staples/Office Max deals. Staples is my favorite place to deal with for rebates, etc. I did not pay more for a Wi-Fi printer, and I wish I would have. Then I could print things from the iPad or iPhone. It was a maybe $50 or $60 more for that. ;) Vicki

What city is this in? Maybe different cities have a different selection. I live in Houston and if I was in need of books, I would drive that far. The warehouse is huge. They have rows and rows of books. They also have some toys, posters, etc. everything is 50% off unless it is listed on the sheet they give you....then it is 25% off-those are popular books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I spend around $100 each time I go. Well, less as I print their coupon for $25or $35 off $100. They have a $1 area where damaged items are sold...some are not damaged much. I got a book with 12 rubbery cupcake holders in that section. They sell the Backyard Safari stuff, some wooden toys like Melissa and Doug. They have Almanacs. Dictionaries, atlas', books in Spanish (they have a section for that). I think it is a good sale. They have every book that school book sales have. Ours has a lot of hardbacks too. I drive 30 minutes to get to it, but that is with city traffic. 30 minutes of driving in the city is like 5 minutes in the country. LOL! It goes by fast.

What about grade 4?

I have the Samsung Galaxy Note. I went from having an iPhone 3S. My husband and I have had the same phones. We both don't really like the Samsung Note. I switched because iTunes is a pain, and we were tired of waiting for the upgraded iPhone (came out 6 months after our purchase). However, I think iTunes runs smoother for those who have Apple computers. The iPhone just runs smoother. If you aren't going to HACK your phone, I vote for the iPhone. It just runs smoother and is easi to use. I have AT&T, so our voicemail is stupid on the android. It doesn't separate the voicemails like the iPhone does unless you use another app. My husband was using Google Voicemail, but he was missing notifications and all voicemails were not showing up, so I just took the app off and he has to call in and hear "You have 3 messages..." and then listen to them one by one vs. only listening to what you want. I quit using Google Voicemail too and now use YouMail, which is working ok. You can do a lot of the same things with an android as you can the iPhone, but there are just more steps, and it doesn't always go as smooth. I.e, changing brightness iPhone: touch settings app...then BRIGHTNESS and change Android: touch Settings button, Display, Brightness and change It is one more touch, but when I am trying to change it and it is bright outside, it is annoying. I believe some new samsungs have a brightness button at the top. Pro's of iPhone 1. Easier to use, runs smoother 2. Email syncs quicker, typing emails is easier (sometimes my android phone won't actually type, or is seriously delayed) 3. Keyboard is more user friendly the way it is setup 4. You have the Apple store to help you out if your phone is being wacky, or if you break our screen or something, they may let you buy a new one for 1/2 price. You won't get that with the android. 5. Some apps just work better on the Apple products. I.e. my husband prefers to read USA Today on the Apple 6. Voicemail is better 7. Notifications for an app show up as a small number on the app, so you can look at your screen and see what apps need attention. The notification on the android is annoying and not always easy to see what needs attention. For me, anyways. It is at the top vs on each individual app 8. Siri 9. Shutting down apps so they aren't running in background is a lot easier 10. Texting other iPhones is FREE! I pay $5 for 200 texts a month. If I had an iPhone, I would never go over that number because a lot of my friends that I text have iPhones. 11. I think the camera on the iPhone is easier and better. When I zoom on the android, the picture looks grainy. Plus, when it clicks and shows you the picture taken, the android actually takes the picture right after showing you that snapshot. Hate that. 12. Google maps gives 3 options for directions vs 1 for android. The android has free navigation, but my friends who have the iPhone 5 or upgraded their software now have navigation free...a voice telling you when to turn. Google maps is one of my most used apps. Cons ITunes and syncing are annoying. I have wasted hours I can't get back doing that...it would erase everything off my phone, put it one, erase it... Pros of the android 1. Moving music on it is so easy 2. TinyShark app...which is no longer available. I can stream any song I want for free, butit doesn't always run smooth. Apple would never have that. 3. Widgets...allowing you to see some info quick...I.e. a 1.5"x2" area that shows weather, calendar info, clock, etc...quick info on some apps. This will make your battery die quicker if you use a lot of them. I had to deactivate the Facebook widget. It sucked my battery dry. 4. Screen size is nice, but it doesn't fit in my pocket nice. I will welcome a smaller phone when we change back to the iPhone in Oct. 5. I really like the pen that comes with the note, but I dont use it much Cons 1. There are more steps to complete same thing 2. Voicemail (for AT&T subscribers anyways). need app to do same thing as iPhone/separating voicemails, not always reliable apps 3. Email doesn't sync as quick, email app doesn't run as smooth 4. More steps when making a call...call sometimes says "number not registered on network" and will not make the call right away. iPhone NEVER did that. 5. Shutting down background apps/apps opened and still running is harder. Seriously, lots more steps on that one 6. No android store to help you out. 7. It is not free to text other android users. 8. Camera not as good. I had an iTouch that got washed in the washer. I put it in rice for 5 days and it worked for 18 months after that. So getting your iPhone wet is not a deal breaker. I use my old iPhone to check email than I do my android...if I am out and about, I check gmail using the Internet vs the app. I don't like iTunes, but I can live with dealing with that to have a phone that just runs smoother all around. Vicki

So a person can gift $11,000 to a person tax free while alive. Your FIL could set up trusts and give your children $11,000 in that account per year. He can set up parameters for how the money is divvied up after he dies in an irrevocable trust. Definitely recommend that. For his house...say he wants everyone to have equal share...he could gift it to the children/grandchildren nw $11,000 value per person...but write a clause that the house can't be sold without has permission in the deed. Then you avoid estate taxes, and if he does it now, he can avoid the medicare/nursing home taking his home if he as to go to one - he has to do it 4 or 5 years prior. I worked for a lawyer for a few years. We did the house thing with my parents. The house is in my brothers name. We had to do two deeds,one each year to cover the value. They have closed/passed the 4 or 5 year window. The lawyer I worked for said if he was terminally ill, he would rob a bank or act as if he were...he would go to jail and get better health care than most people and would avoid the cost of a nursing home and them taking everything. Nursing home/jail...you basically lose your freedom in both. Whatever he does,have FIL let his family have what money he wants them to have tax free now if he isn't planning on spending it. Copy the important photos now...scan them, take pictures with a digital camera...then you don't have to worry about them later. ;)