I use a wallet I bought from Dave Ramsey's website. Has several envelopes on a coil binder thing, a spot for receipts, checkbook, change and a note pad. I was so tired of having loose envelopes floating around in my purse.

We went to one last year when my daughter was only 7. I was a little nervous that some of the thoughts and concepts would be above her, and even introduce things we weren't ready to handle even though modesty is often discussed here. In our experience, it was absolutely wonderful. She had a great time and we had a great evening of bonding and fun. Some things may have gone over her head, but we had a great experience. There was no boy talk that I remember, and that was one of my concerns, just because she isn't there yet. There were fun games, a really great segment on labels we give ourselves and/or others give us and countering those with the truth of God's word. The fashion show was one of her favorite parts, and she doesn't really care about clothes. It's been over a year since we went to the event, so I'm slightly sketchy on details, but we still talk fondly about that night and she remembers much of what was talked about. In our experience the night was more about fostering great relationships between mom and daughter and having a positive self-worth than it was about clothes and boys. We've turned into big SKG fans and are hoping to make it to another event. Don't know if that is helpful to you, but that was our experience.

We have had past frugal success by staying at ski resorts in the off season. We've done it in Pennsylvania, but I'm sure the principle applies anywhere. We've booked great accomodations rather inexpensively and been able to hike, swim and do lots of fun things. I don't love crowds, and the places we've stayed have been very relaxing and enjoyable.

I have a daughter named Harper. Our pediatrician's office still thinks she's a boy. She is nearly 3. :) Oh well. . . . Harper was my maiden name. I only have sisters, and daughters, so we figured it was a way to keep my heritage going. We did consider it for a boy, but decided we preferred it for a girl. Thankfully she complied. :)

I'm teaching a "weather/seasons" class for our preschool co-op next year. It's a 50 minute class, so we're going to read some books, play some games, make a craft etc.

We had a stomach bug here this week too, and when my daughter finally had a normal bowel movement, she looked in the toilet and exclaimed, "It's beautiful!". :) She was just thrilled because she was closer to being able to have dairy products again! I totally get it!

I don't know if this helps or not, but I just had my printed SOTW activity book bound. I have the print shop cut the binding off, and just bind just the teacher part. Then I have the loose student pages that I can either use, or just copy and save the originals for child #2. It seemed cheaper and easier to me to do that than to pay to print all the pages, but I don't have a great printer and would have had to send it to the shop at 9 cents a page. I like having the teacher materials in an smaller book form. Makes me happy. :)

For 2nd grade this year we do the following daily: Math Phonics/Spelling Reading 3xs a week: Latin FLL 2xs a week: History Science Once a week (sometimes if we are lucky!): Art Music Geography/Mapskills

I made my own planner for 2011 by using the Organizing Life as MOM Planner templates available here. http://lifeasmom.com/organizing-life-as-mom-the-ebook I LOVE it! It has calendar sections, my *ahem* cleaning schedule, meal planning sheets, addresses, goals, budgets etc. I loved that many of the planner sheets were customizable, so I could print out my own info. I've never made anything like this, so the ebook was very helpful. I added some other forms I found from Donna Young that I wanted to add, and other personal things like book lists, gift lists etc. It was a bit of work upfront, but I LOVE that I finally have a planner that has everything that I need and want. ETA: The ebook is $9.

After you verify, I think they only send them out twice a month---like the 15th and 30th, maybe. Then you will get an email saying your gift card has been posted and you can go to your SB account and get your code to use on Amazon's website. LOVE Swagbucks!! Isn't it great?

I don't really know about buying larger sizes of socks like this, but I have heard that you can make them by putting lines of puffy paint on the bottom of regular socks. Apparently it does the same thing as the anti-skid stuff. Might be a good fix if you can't find the anti-skid socks in your kiddos size. :)

I've been reading the boards for almost a year, beginning when I decided to drink the WTM Kool-Aid. :) I've learned so much here and have really been able to relax about educating my daughter and enjoy learning with her. To be honest, I'm quite intimidated by the whole idea of implementing a Classical education myself, but SWB makes me feel like I can maybe do this! I have two girls--7 years old and 2 years old.

I weigh in this evening, so I'll know how things are going. I have enjoyed the week and haven't been hungry. I don't think I went overboard on fruit and I used about half of my weekly allowance, but I just have no idea how tonight will go. I needed something new to get excited about and wanted to be eating more healthy foods, and this has definitely pushed me in the right direction.

We got Enchanted Forest by Ravensuburger for my daughter last Christmas. We've really enjoyed it. It involves logic and memory and some strategy. My 7yo is just now starting to get into the strategy part, and I think it will be a game we enjoy for years to come. :)

I'm really sorry to hear this. Continuing to pray.

I'm very new around here, but wanted to let you know I've been praying for you, and will continue.

I have the PSU fight song right now. Too bad it isn't helping them win any games!

First---let me say that I'm sorry that you are going through this. Fertility struggles are just hard and not fair. My girls are five years apart (7 and 2). It wasn't what we planned, but it is working out just fine. You have thought of all the cons, but there are some pros as well. :) My then 5yo was a great help when baby was born. She was so excited and involved with everything. I feel like I really get to focus on and enjoy each stage that both girls are in since they are in such diffeent places. They are very different, so there is little competition between them (yet). :) We won't have 2 kids in diapers or college at the same time. :) I understand your feelings, b/c I was right there. Was it my first choice? No. Is it always perfect? No. What family is? It has worked out beautifully for us though. My 7yo is a great help with the 2 year old. She enjoys teaching her to play pretend, and although there are frustrations, for the most part it is a great relationship. Naptime for the 2yo is special time for the 7yo, where we get to do special crafts, games and just hang out. And for what its worth, my siblings are 9 and 12 years younger than I am. We didn't play together tons as kids but were always close somehow. My sister who is 12 years younger than I is one of my best friends.

Pumpkin Jack. We LOVE this book!

Pumpkin Jack is our favorite. :)

My file crate is the first thing that has actually worked for me! I've tried several other systems, and they just didn't work out. I was a failure at workboxes! But the filing crate and weekly plans keep me on task, helps us get everything done, and keeps it all easily accessible. I love that there are so many ideas here, even though they aren't one-size-fits-all.

My daughter didn't have trouble with the capitals, just the lower-case, and it was mostly in writing. Someone pointed out to me that b is just the bottom of the capital B. I never had thought of that! Worked like a charm!

My reasons aren't serious, and I'm happy enough with the hard copies, but I will buy the next ones as ebooks. The books are smaller than 8.5 x 11. For copying animal study sheets, and other sheets in the books, I'd rather have it be standard size. I'm guessing with the ebook it would be formatted to print 8.5 x 11. Maybe I'm wrong. I did the major filing system for most other subjects, but it was too hard for my mind to comprehend how to do it with the science stuff. The student book is not divided by lesson, but the narration pages are together, experiements are all together etc. I'd love to be able to print off the sheets the way I'd like to have them for the files. My daughter is using the student manual, so I'll have to buy another for my next student. I love the flexibility of being able to print for multiple kids. These are silly reasons, but ones that bug me enough to buy the ebook next time. I just can't stress enough how much I enjoy this curriculum. My daughter loves it too. And we're actually doing science now, which beats last year!

We're doing Biology for the Grammar Stage now. The experiment supplies are all pretty easy---stuff like newspaper, toilet paper tubes, sand/salt, cans, egg, clear containers etc. The majority is stuff we have around the hosue. The only things I have to get that we don't have are 2 thermometers, a suction cup (not sure why I don't have one of these) and aquarium tubing. I'm terrible at science experiments, and we've been going for six weeks and enjoying the experiments. I bought the hard copies of the texts. I'm wishing I had purchased the ebooks now. Live and learn!

I have a 2nd grader, and it does seem very teacher intensive. I probably could have chosen things where I wasn't as necessary, but the things I liked were just that way. For some things I just need to get her started and then she can work alone for a bit, but I need to be available all the time. I'm doing the balancing act too, but with a 2nd grader and a toddler! Totally different! Not that I have much experience, but it seems like they gradually will need us for schoolwork less as they get older. I think the fact that students grow in independence and responsibility is a great part of homeschooling, and I guess it will just happen gradually. Maybe you could have a special tea time or something with your older girls in the afternoon to discuss what they are reading, or just to hang out.