We avoid all soy for my DS. He had a reaction to something with soy lecithen.

There is a fantastic book that my DS(16) just read called "Achilles to Christ, Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics". It might be helpful to you.:) I thought I would add that I felt the same way as you when first started homeschooling, however I found that instead of my fears of it confusing my kids happening, the opposite is true. Their faith is stronger and they are able to ask the hard questions while they are at home which builds a very strong foundation.

I can't believe how much my DS(21months) loves the Wiggles. On long trips he is happy for a long time as long as there is a Wiggles CD playing and when he's watching a Wiggles DVD he sings and dances all the way through. He has no interest in any other movies. Anyone else have a Wiggles lover?

This is me too. One thing I wanted to add was that you really have to take face shape into consideration. I have a rounder face so everytime I have gone shorter I have hated it. I find my hair just below my shoulders thins out my face. Definitely try different stylists, I have an amazing one that put layers in that actually made my hair look tons thicker. Also great idea with the highlights, it does wonders for added volume. :)

:iagree:When I had gestational diabetes, I was only allowed fruit with a protein because of the sugar spike.

:grouphug: Praying here.

It is similiar to five in a row but not as involved. You read the book for a week and there will be an activity some weeks that relate to the book. As for the crafts, they are not every week and they are optional. The range from drawing a picture using springtime colors to making an ant out of egg carton having 3 parts and using pipe cleaners as legs and antennae. There are a few craft templates in the back. I think you could adjust the literature portions around easily. The book package is an excellent savings but not affordable. All the books are available at the library so I think I will go that route.:)

:grouphug: I know things happen at the worst possible time. Just make sure you rest and take care of yourself so you can heal. As you know ribs only heal if you take it easy for a while. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

The price is really great right now so even if you got it and thought it was a bit too advanced it would only be a few months before your dd would be ready so I would try it. HTH :)

It does depend how deep it is, but the problem is that you sometimes don't know until you start drilling. I had quite a bit of work done a few years ago and the anesthetic was wearing off before they finished, I never want to go through that again. With nerves, its a wierd pain and hard to describe. So, it depends on how deep and also your pain tolerance.

I saw your last post:001_smile: that you looked at the sample so I will answer your other questions. 2. Some of the poems are in the appendix(the ones not copyrighted), the others are in the recommended poetry books (there are 2) but they said they are quite familiar poems so you could find them other places or choose your own, they just want to encourage regular poetry reading. 3. Music and art are to be found online. However I would love to see an art card pack in the future and maybe a CD of the music selections..that would be a wonderful bonus.;) 4. I really don't think there is tweaking necessary in my opinion. It is so open-ended and thorough with such great suggestions that you could go further with the suggestions. They also say on a busy week you could eliminate the SS and Science suggestions and keep to the basics. I love that. 5. Just started. My son is half way through K and was doing McRuffy wasn't happy with the sequence, this program is exactly what we were needing and so much great practice. 6. The program really stresses teaching a child to write properly and there is quite a bit of drawing as well, so for motor skills I think an older K would be better, however if a 4 year old learned the basic letter sounds and even was just starting to put short vowel words together and started this program, it wouldn't be too easy. That's where my DS is and some will be review but they learn sight words as well all along and so much practice right away that he is not bored at all. Even the math is review at first but it will new fairly soon. 7. I really love everything. I have searched K programs for years having completed it twice with my older 2 and now having searched for my DS I was frustrated. This is everything I have wanted. Simple (having a busy toddler), challenging enough, beautiful literature, art , music , nature, crafts...but no pressure to do everything. The only thing i would like would be the CD and art cards, then it would be perfect;) If you like classical education, routine but gentle and flexibility, this is it in my opinion. :)

No, I really don't think it would take that long. However, maybe they are giving lots of time so it's more gentle, my son is pretty quick so I suppose it would depend on the child. Later on there is reader time in there as well. HTH

Wow, thanks for the great suggestions. I can see how that would work. I am definitely going to get started on this. :)

Ok, so the sample on the website shows what every week is like. In the beginning of the TM it shows you how to deal with literature, music, art study, nature study and recitation. These are just the few pages before the day to day starts. I like that the book is not big so not cumbersome to tote around, just a small coil=bound book. It suggests a 4 hour morning and has a sample schedule. The first thing on the daily list is recitation. There is a schedule in the back as to what you recite each week. A sample would be vowels, where you live, counting by 10 etc. The next thing is phonics. This goes by letter but gets them reading within the first couple of weeks. It also adds in end marks and sight words. So week 1 is "m' color m words, draw pictures of something that starts with m, write M's. You do work with M that whole week in various books. Week2 is the letter "a" as well learning " I am" . So by week 4 they are reading "I am a man" and writing this as well. So you don't learn all the sounds first just a few at a time and read, read, read and write. Next is math and you will only go through half R&S math 1 and the other half in grade 1 program. Math is this and counting with numbers and getting on eagerly all at different times during the week so it is broken up. Next is copybook and a bible story. Then memory which is a verse from the copybook. Last is literature and enrichment. There is one story per week kind of like five in a row. There is one piece of classical music to listen to and one famous artwork to study. Here there is also 2 poems per week. THere is one SS activity and one science activity for the week. This also includes a craft. The SS and Science relates to any of the literature, artwork or poem fo the week.. For instance week 5 you would draw your favorite season and relate it to the art for the week picture "red popppy" and has instruction. for science talk about your habitat and talk about climate,terrain,seasons, animals and plants. Thenit asks how the mice in the literature for the week was affected by their habitat. Well, I hope I was thorough enough;) Feel free to ask anymore questions, this program is really amazing and simple.

:hurray:Mine just arrived today. I wish I had this for my older two when they were in K. This is everything I have ever wanted in a kindergarten program. I'm so excited to start. The first few weeks will be review but will quickly catch up to where we are at. I love all the practice.

Hi, My DS(16) is very social and loves to talk to people but he struggles getting his thoughts and words together and ends up with a lot of um..um...um's and its hard to listen to him. I also would love to help him carry himself confidently. There isn't a toastmasters nearby so I was wondering if anyone knew of a curriculum that could help him? Thanks:)

:iagree: First of all :grouphug:. If you can cancel the company, do that, and if you get a chance, get out for a coffee, it always helps put things into perspective to get away for a little while. I've been where you are, you are not alone.

Praying for you!!:grouphug:

Oh, that familiar sound.:svengo: In our last house we battled with rats, they got into our heating vents and we could hear them running through them all night long...never got into our living space thankfully. We were told that the only way to get rid of them was to cut off their access to the roof. If they have nothing to climb the can't get on the roof essentially. That's what the exterminator told us anyways. Hope you get rid of them, and hope they are just squirrels. :grouphug:

I have always struggled with low milk supply and instead of formula the doctor (who specialized in breastfeeding difficulties) actually put my baby on early solids, so formula is NOT necessary. My fourth son had health problems and the dietition always tells us to add olive oil to all his foods to increase the fat in his diet. This was also told to a friend who's son had failure to thrive. I think letting him nurse and just adding the healthy fats is enough. Also, at this age when they are more active it is quite common for them to go down on the growth chart. Just as long as it eventually stops. :)

Well I am reorginizing, decluttering and making a family room into a bedroom to free up extra space for my toddler to play during school. I hate that I have so many papers and stuff to go through. I have had a sick baby for 22 months and so much has slipped by. Just need to make the house more functional!!

I hope people can see this thread for what it is. It's not meant to be depressing, we all have our down times and it doesn't last forever. It was just so refreshing to read this and know that I wasn't alone. It felt so good to let out all that I was holding in. I can't share all that I feel with most people because they will just say to put my kids in school if I can't take it. But thats not it. Sometimes life is hard and thank-you so much for making me feel normal today. :grouphug: :grouphug:

:iagree::iagree::iagree: I'm tired of saying "Let's hurry up, we've got so much to do!" I'm tired trying to do it all. I'm tired of feeling inadequate. I'm tired of disorganization. I'm tired of perfect people or at least the ones that think they know it all! I'm tired of watching my husband live with the pain of a neurological disorder. I think this is my favorite post ever!!!!:)

YES!! but only if your child struggles with memorizing the times tables. My DS memorized quickly so it wouldn't have been worth it but my DD just could not remember them and TT was the only thing that worked and stuck. She had them down in about a week. Love it.

:iagree: I am encouraged by the posters who shared their highschool success stories (I have one too) but there is such a condescending tone. This thread is full of people defending themselves and what they do. Don't we get enough of this in our day to day lives, now we have to go on a homeschool support site to prove that we are doing a good job. Very sad.