We lived on 5 acres before moving to where we are now. I thought it would be easy to sell living on land, but it was harder. The market did start to slow down when we had to move. It only took 6 months to sell, but at least it sold. We may have lost some money in numbers, but we ended up ahead, I believe. Not everyone wants land because of all the work that goes with it. You said you live in the country, so I am assuming you have a nice piece of land that needs mowed. :) We did have an HOA, but only 10 houses. It was not a problem. The layout was a little different, but we changed some things and I really liked the house, but the layout made it harder to sell. I like 2-story houses because the kids mess can stay up there rather than accumulate all over the house. HOAs are not awful...they keep the house values up. When you live in the city, they are pretty hard to avoid, but the neighborhoods all have their own pool (and swim team in May/June), tennis courts, playgrounds, walking trail...ours had a baseball and soccer field)...it's very nice, but it (HOA fees) is pricey. We also pay for two full-time constables/police. Just make sure your house isn't full of clutter. One house we looked at, I believe she could have asked twice as much if she would haver repainted everything and took out 1/2 the crap in her house...plus didn't have 10 different scents in her house. I had a headache coming out. If she had a purpler room, it had a purple ceiling. All the ceilings were painted colors (not white or off-white)...and it was a big house. Some people can't see past the easy fixes. Her house was a steal. We thought about bidding on it, but someone beat us to it, and it was on the corner of a busy road and I didn't want that with kids. I won't buy a house that has lots of smoke or lots and lots of animals that live in it that may mean there is animal feces or urine in places I can't see. Good luck prepping your house to sell when the time comes. :)

For dictation and (some) spelling, I use Modern Speller from Google books,which is FREE! http://books.google.com/books/about/The_modern_speller.html?id=-vIAAAAAYAAJ Sentences start simple, and no words are added to sentences that they have not learned. It does not explain rules, it is really for dictation, but using words in sentences over and over helps to remember he spelling. Get the book ABCs AND ALL THEIR TRICKS - it explains all the rules and has similarly spelled words on the page with the rules. It is a great resource to have. I didn't care for AAS. Too pricey in the long run, and my son hated the magnets. I do Spelling Workout and Modern Speller. V

Get a laser printer. Your printing costs will go down significantly, and you will likely freely print a lot more just cuz you can - get your paper free after rebate at Staples - those deals come around on a semi-regular basis. :)

I have a Samsung ML-2525. It costs about $100. It only prints on one side at a time, so I just have to flip the paper to get the print on the other side. More work, but no big deal. Sometimes I wish I would have gotten the ML-2525W because that is wireless and then I could print from the iPad. I buy the cartridge that will print more pages for $60 or $70 and it should last about 2000-2500 pages. I have bought 2 in 2 years. I am sure I printed 1000 last week and it is still going strong. I have a regular color printer as well, but I don't use it much. It cost much more to print on that. It would be nice to have a duplex and wireless laser printer. The wireless version was about $70 more and I didn't want to pay $70 for the convenience. :) I found some grammar curriculum online that was 192 pages...It would cost $.09 a page to print at Office Depot...so $14 something. Instead I printed it at home with no problem on free paper. You can get so much paper free during the year if you just watch the Staples deals of Free after Rebate. I don't get 1/2 the deals and have more than enough paper during the year. You will save so much in the long run with a laser printer. I just wish I had gotten one years ago. :)

The Dynamic Moms and Newbeehomeschooler websites are done by the same people. Between that and Donna Young, you will get a lot of great resources for your planner. I have been working on mine for the past few days. As for your computer....girl, I feel for you. My house got flooded 2 months ago from my lovely 6YO sticking a hand towel in the toilet and my laptop was on the floor as my son was using a webpage to help him build his erector set. I quickly took my hard drive out to dry in rice...the next day I remembered there were TWO hard drives in my computer. Since we had an insurance claim, some company came and took my computer to try and dry it out/fix it. My computer was F.R.I.E.D, BUT my hard drives were saved and I have all my info on new hard drives. So your laptop may be fritzed, but your hard drives may be good. Rice works wonders...or the little drying packets you get in shoe boxes, some food products...I had an ipod touch that got washed in a washer...I put it in rice for 5 days without turning it on and it lasted 18 more months. :) Good luck. Sorry about your computer. I did have most of my info backed up, but maybe not 3 months worth, which was probably just a few files and some pics. Definitely have an external hard drive to back up everything. Vicki

Is your 6YO ready to learn hundreds? Maybe developmentally, she is not ready for that yet. My 6YO is developmentally delayed and I would not attempt to teach him hundred's place value yet. I think it is important to have pre-numbers math experience before numbers math. This is where Cuisenaire Rods come in (white rod + red rod = green rod). Cuisenaire rods can be used all the way up to complex math in the elementary years. Cuisenaire rods and an abacus can teach a lot of math. Does your daughter have a good concept of money value? You can use money to help teach the place value of one hundred (1 dollar), tens (dimes) and ones (pennies). If she doesn't have that concept down, I would try teaching place value of hundreds later. Math U See may be good. They use the same concept of cuisenaire rods. For K work, I use cuisenaire rods, an abacus, and other manipulatives. My 6YO is frustrated by cuisenaire rods though. My 4YO gets it and loves them. He can count just fine, but adding and such, not there yet. He may get it, he just doesn't show it...I think he has a lot of knowledge, he just doesn't know how to always spit it out. :)

Math: Cuisenaire rods & abacus - I may use some Saxon too, but I love Cuisenaire rods and you can do all sorts of math with them...will use Life of Fred as well...maybe Family Math too. Lots of manipulative playing with math. Writing: Handwriting w/o Tears Reading/Phonics: Ordinary Parents guide to Reading Science...whatever older brother is doing History...see above statement Art & Music: Co-op classes My daughter begs to do lessons and she is only 4.5, but she is ready, so I oblige :) K is easy.

We don't require a statement of faith for our homeschool group or co-op. We make the families in co-op sign a behavior statement...I will be respectful of adults and the property...that type of thing. Faith statements exclude certain faiths, or those who don't have one, so I don't agree with them personally. I am happy that the group I am in does not require that. We have many who are religious as well as those who are not. :)

So my 6YO flooded my house last month (stuck a hand towel in the toilet), damaging my computer because it was on the floor...my oldest son was using it to look at websites to build things from his Erector Set. Anywho...I had a laptop, and I need to buy another computer, okay, so I don't NEED to, but I would like one. The insurance company is giving me a bunch of money to replace my computer, so nothing is lost. The computer wouldn't turn on, but the hard drives were saved. Woot. So why am I telling you this...I don't know if I will get another laptop because we have 2 iPads, and we have my husband's old laptop we can tote around if we want. I was thinking of getting an all-in-one screen computer (computer is in the monitor). I love the iPad. It is so portable and has so many cool apps on there for kids and learning. One thing I love is GOOGLE BOOKS, now called PLAY BOOKS. I have found so many cool old resources/books and I can use them on the iPad. My favorite is MODERN SPELLER. Great for dictation...sentences start out simple and they add new words, and no sentence ever has a word they have not already learned. It goes up to 4th grade and has paragraphs by that point. But there are lots of good books-if they were published prior to 1923, they are free as there is no copyright permission needed. Think Mark Twain, Robert Frost, lots of good books from loved authors. But there are some other rockin' old resources that can be used for curriculum choices in there that are free. There are spelling apps on there where you say the word and they spell it, and then it tells you how they spelled it and how many they got right or wrong. You can visit KHAN Academy for math if his videos will help with what they are learning and you need another teacher to explain it differently so they get it. You can open Pandora and have it play classical music in your room while they work on math. Brain Pop is pretty cool...educational cartoon videos - free app. I like Fruit Ninja. Stupid game, but it sucks me in. ;) That is not educational, just a fun/short game. I have used it for my lesson plans too, but I am annoyed with iLesson Plans and quit using it a month ago because it doesn't separate students work, you have to set it up so you know what student is doing what, but you can't get separate reports for your students. (my youngest is just starting to do school work, so I was only inputting for one student last year). I complained, but it doesn't look like he has a good fix for it or will any time soon. He gave me an answer of "put the students name first before your subject." Still didn't help for the reports I wanted. It is ok for one student, more than one, you need something else. You can get GOOGLE BOOKS/PLAY BOOKS on your iphone of android phone too, but I love the sizeof the iPad. It also keeps tracks of my sons chores and he can enter in what he has done and it calculates his running total. Computers don't have all the cool apps iPads and tablets do. Some may have some apps, and the apple computer I think can run some apps, but not like the tablet world. I would go with the iPad. :) The only thing is it can't run FLASH, so not all sites work, but there is app to make some of the educational sites work (such as Starfall). I think it is called ROVER. Just my two or ten cents. :)

I teach music...I would start a few minutes after 9, but we sing songs the first 10-15 minutes, so I started on time, but the main lesson would start at 9:15. Most people fulfill their volunteer hours, it's really the tardiness that bugs me. I think we are going to have a rule that if you are 15 minutes late, your kids can't go to class...because it is a disruption to the class, and the child has missed a bunch anyways. Also people will miss and not let the group know - that is a big concern. I think if they missed without letting anyone know prior to the start of the first class, they would forfeit their funds. :) All they have to do is send an email to the Yahoo! group.

Nordic Naturals. My son is special needs, and I have been on special needs boards/facebook etc., and many recommend Nordic Naturals fish oil. If you buy the Jr 3/6/9., you get 500mg I think per 1 or 2 capsules. The adult version is the same, it's just 1000mg per 1 or 2 capsules. But I think one of them has primrose in it. One is EFA (Essential Fatty Acids), the other is EPA. I don't know what EPA stand for. I give my son one or two of each. He hasn't taken them in the last month, I need to start giving them to him again. They taste like lemons and he likes them. My oldest doesn't like them. Honestly, I think it makes somewhat of a difference, but who really knows if it's the vitamins or development. I give my son NutriiVeda by Zrii. It is a weight loss drink, but it apparently helps special needs kids. He has been taking it for about a year. It isn't 'cheap', $80/month, and it actually tastes really good. I buy the chocolate flavor and add a frozen banana to it. He loves it. It doesn't have gluten or fake sugar - I think it has Stevia in it. I think the person who runs CHERAB (for late talkers) was using it as a fund raiser, gave it to her son, noticed improvement and had her friends use it on their special needs children, and they noticed improvements, so it's a popular thing among those who travel to the CHERAB facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cherab/ You have to ask for the original forumula, and it may be $88 now. I got in when it was $80, and they have never raised my price. Lots of good info on the CHERAB facebook page. As with fish oil...does the Nutriiveda work? I don't know if it does or if it is development, but it doesn't hurt, and he is improving, so I keep giving it to him. We call it his 'special drink'. :) Vicki

Hi We are considering charging families an enrollment fee of $20 or $30 a semester, or maybe even $50 with the ability to get $20 or $30 back as long as they are on time and complete volunteer hours. We would allow a few tardy's. I teach the morning class, and out of 10 or 11 students, 3 are there right at 9 - everyone else just trickles in, some are really late. I pretty much start my 9am class at 9:15. Our only cost has been the class fees, but we were considering charging a family enrollment fee just so people would (maybe) be more accountable and be on time. We would donate the funds to the church for a (bigger) love offering, give some of it to our scholarship fund, or hold the funds to help pay for a building that requires a fee to use their building (as we need a bigger facility). So the enrollment funds would really be a donation. So if you are in a co-op, is there an enrollment fee, and if so, what is it? Are there any other fees besides class supply fees? What do you think of a $50 enrollment fee with the ability to get 1/2 of it back as long as you are on time and do all volunteer hour requirements? Thanks.

My 6YO flooded my house the last day of April by sticking a hand towel in the toilet that had running issues - 4th time that thing had flooded, but this was the worst of them all (2nd time he put a towel in it, why, I don't know - he is a little 'special'). I have no carpet in 3 areas. It sucked, but this too shall pass. A month later and it's better and we are making improvements to the house we wanted to anyways. :) And the company that deals with the flooding couldn't get to my house for over an hour, so we had all the water cleaned up by the time they got there. I feel for you.

I went twice here in Houston. Once in January at a FREE teacher event. I went with my husband - they had champagne, beer, light snacks, teachers could do some art projects to get ideas, they gave us a free CD with educational info on it too. It was really nice to be able to go through it at our own pace, however it was a longer exhibit. I went in March or April with the homeschool group and my kids. The Art Museum is not very kid friendly, so we don't do many field trips there. From what I understand, the King Tut exhibit is going back to Egypt soon and won't be back out of it for a long time. So if you can go see it, go see it. It was very neat. Get an audio guided tour for your kids if you take your kids (you know they listen to a remote control looking thing at certain points). I didn't buy anything and didn't feel the need to. I enjoyed the exhibit a lot.

We find that when we have free field trips, we have a good percentage that flakes out without letting anyone know. It is awful. I personally think our group should charge for all field trips and if a field trip is free, put the funds from the free field trip towards the yearly scholarship they give out...or let them go for free, and if you don't show or don't let someone know when numbers have to be in, you pay $5 per person for all other free field trips for monies to be donated to a scholarship fund. We have a co-op and I think we are going to charge a family fee this year and donate the money to the church that lets us have it there as a love offering or put it aside for a place that charges more as our co-op is a decent size. We have the late issue as well. We are not going to let people who are 15 minutes late volunteer or go to class. So if they need volunteer hours, they don't get credit for that time (we have already filled the spot since they were late). If they don't fulfill so many volunteer hours, then they can't come back next semester. When I have set up field trips, I would put the time as 15 minutes earlier than it should be. Then most everyone is on time. Good luck.

Yes, it's okay to not like your sister for a few months, years, ever. Just because they are a blood relative does not mean you have to be their friend, especially if it is a toxic relationship and they are doing things to manipulate, bring you down, cause trouble or unhappiness. If you write a letter, then she has the words on paper to stew over and take wrong, she can't hear the tone you intend, gives her more ammo if she wants to look for some, etc. So if you think she will take your letter all wrong, then it is best to call, unless you don't like that type of confrontation, then just write the letter. However, my stubbornness wouldn't call, and if she called and said "why didn't you call", then I would say, "well, it wasn't your place to get mom in the middle of this, and if you wanted to talk to me, then you should have picked up the phone and called me, not put the responsibility for your discomfort of our relationship on me." If you don't want to deal with her, don't. You don't HAVE to let her know. If your mom asks about it, just tell her you would rather keep her (your mom) out of the issue and you will deal with it on your time. Sorry you are going through this. Sisters can be a pain. I have a toxic sister I pretty much disowned for many reasons. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior...and her past behavior is no good indication of reasonable behavior around me or my children. Do what you think is best for YOU and your sanity. :)

Texas is so homeschool friendly. San Antonio is beautiful. It is not a huge huge downtown and seems easy to get to and around. You have the hill country there too. San Antonio is one of my favorite cities. I live in Houston. It is so easy to homeschool here.

The iPad 3 is coming out March 7, so the rumors say. I would not get an iPad 1. It does not have a camera, which you use for FaceTime, which is just like Skype, but you use it with others who have an iPad 2, iPod or iPhone 4 or above. We talk to the grandparents through FaceTime. I use my son's iPad more than my computer. It's so much earlier to carry around. I have a laptop, bu it is slow sometimes and frustrates me. It's only 2 years old. See what the iPad 3 offers and if you don't want it, get the iPad 2 refurbished, maybe the refurb price will go down when the 3 comes out.

Yes, there are. A lot of midline crossing exercises or opposite arm/leg exercises. Such as raise your right arm and left leg at the same time, turn your head to the right. I remember laying on my back and doing those, along with on my knees. I had a 6 degree curve. I still have a slight curve, not sure if it is better or worse. I went to a chiropractor every other week all through high school. They will help keep her back in alignment. However, I went to one that always cracked my back. I had frequent headaches in high school and I have always wondered if that was the cause. I go to a NUCCA chiro now. They do gentle adjustments. Basically they believe if your 1st two spinal things are in alignment, the rest of your back will follow. So they use the side of their hand and lightly press on the neck while you lie on your side and put the neck part of the spine in place (I can't think of the specific terms, sorry). They check how your feet align together, and weigh you on a scale to make sure you are in alignment. When you are in alignment, they stretch your neck basically rather than do the hand pressing. They use a gun thing on a few spots in your back too. Mthen you go meditate for 5 minutes in their meditation room. My husband went to this chiro first because he had an accident where he could not go to a chiro who cracked the back - if they did something wrong, he could lose mobility. He cured his pain, so I went, and he cured my upper/middle back pain. I am sore the day after stretching sometimes. My husband isn't. after he puts you in alignment, you may go back out of alignment as your neck is used to one way. So you start going twice a week then once a week, every other, once a month, as neede... I had my son go to see if he was out of whack - maybe it could explain some of his issues - he is 5- he was in alignment. He would just stretch the neck. He never charged us for our son, since me and my husband went, I guess. That was very nice of him. You can find a NUCCA chiro here: http://www.nucca.org/find_doctor.php However, there is only one in Houston. So they may be far and few between. There are different philosophies of chiro care, just find the one that works for you.

I don't get flu shots - I meant to say that IF an adult gets a vaccine, it will most likely only be the flu shot unless their job requires vaccines - such as nurses and those working in the medical field. The flu shot is made for the three most popular strains from the prior year. Since the virus mutates, your flu shot may or may not cover you. Since some flu shots contain thimerisol, getting them has never been an option for my family. We don't vax, so it isn't an option. --------/ Also, if you homeschool, you are likely to be around unvaccinated kids frequently if you do a lot of things with a homeschool group or other homeschoolers. Many are vaccinated, but a good portion probably aren't. In the group I am in, I find just as many vax as don't. If you go against the grain in one portion of your life, it is more likely you will go against the grain in other areas because you educate yourself more on the subjects. Many still decide to go with the grain. I have no stats, it's just from reading the forums that I find more people get crunchier as time goes by (homeschool, don't vax, garden, eat healthier, home birth, etc.)

If your kids are vaxed, then they should be fine around unvaccinated groups. If you don't want them around unvaccinated groups, then you aren't fully trusting the vaccine they were given. If you really think of it 50% of the population is probably unvaccinated since most adults never get vaccinated after high school years and the shots wear off, thus why they always recommend boosters. The only thing adults get are flu shots. I vaccinated myself in college because I had to to get an internship. It's been 15 years and I don't plan on getting anymore booster shots, and I am sure my boosters have worn off. Please don't read this with a snarky tone, because that is not my intention. Nonetheless, I would be livid if I were the mom, but I would like the rest of the story...consent form, etc. I was checked for scoliosis when I was 12...and I have it. I visited a chiro envy other week all through high school. And I remember lining up in the library in 81 maybe to get some vax. I hated shots, that vision sticks in my head. ;)

Is giving up some babies to care for an option? Maybe just do after school care? What is most important to you/your family. Making money for your family budget or schooling your child? Don't take this as a snarky remark, it isn't. Not working may not be an option for you. Is there something else you could do to make money? It would be hard to homeschool with that many babies. My answer is to give some or all of them up so you can spend more quality school time with your son if you want to continue to homeschool him. If giving up your job isn't an option, send him to the charter school. If you send him to the T/Th school, you will have the same problem MWF as you do now. Good luck with your decision.

I went to Vegas 8 years ago when I was 4 months pregnant. Some waiter gave me pickles and ice cream there. LOL! It was for a Stamping' Up! Convention, so there was a lot to keep me busy. Although I enjoy a little gambling and dancing. We had good, clean fun. I really think you should stay in the hotel with them if you are all sharing rooms. It took me back to days of sleep overs in middle or high school. That is part of the (bonding) experience itself. I am glad you are deciding to go. I think you would regret it a little if you didn't...especially when the experience comes up in conversations. Enjoy the get away and the girls weekend. I'm jealous. ;)

It works through a free app called ROVER

Why don't you try a high raw food diet? It will break your craving of chocolate, breads, etc. you will get your carbs from the fruits. A raw food diet is used as a detox diet. You will feel crappy for a few days while your body detoxes. I felt blah days 3,4,5&10. I drink a smoothie every morning, have soup or salad for lunch and then eat a smoothie for dinner or another salad - or bananas with peanut butter. You could eat them with almond butter. You need a high powered blender (Vitamix or Blendtec) for this diet and a dehydrator would be a good idea. I had pizza yesterday, but I hadn't had any bread for over 4 weeks, and I don't really miss it-and I was a carb queen. I love bread and chocolate and cookies and and and... 30 days is a good number for this diet, as it's long enough to break your cravings and bad habits, and it will detox your body, helping you in the long run. After your 30 days is up, reintroduce foods you can have. Spend that 30 days researching meals you can have and you will be prepared and ready to go and will have formed better eating habits. Watch these Netflix movies: Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead & Forks over Knives. Both are food documentaries and are very informative. Good luck.