Tumtum and Nutmeg. Fun and adventure!

Also The Saturdays, The Borrowers, All of a Kind Family. All of those are series.

Tumtum and Nutmeg is a great read aloud.

I have found Microsoft Word very easy to use for this purpose. I love to make all kinds of planner sheets. Using them is another story... :huh:

Ds, age 10, has been slow to learn to read. It's just getting to the point where it's a bit easier and enjoyable. He just finished The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and wants something similar to read. He would like a series. He liked that series because it was funny, there was a combination of writing and pictures on the pages, yet it was a chapter book. Any ideas on something he might enjoy? Tia.

See if your library has it or can get it through ILL. I did this and decided it was not what I wanted. Unfortunately, that was a ways back and I can't really telly you WHY I didn't like it.

I went to a lot of parties in high school and I remember parents being at one (mine). Where were the parents? Out of town for the weekend. Out for the night. One friend had a single mom who had gotten seriously involved (maybe engaged?) with a man who lived over an hour away. She left her 17 year old daughter mostly alone in the house to be able to finish up high school in the town where she grew up. She drank A LOT. And she had epilepsy. It wasn't a great combination. I think her mom was pretty clueless about her drinking, though. IN that time it was very easy for us to get liquor. The drinking age was 18. We all had fake ids. No problem. Some people drove over the state line to get liquor because in that state the liquor stores stayed open later. So, super drunk, a couple of kids would drive half an hour (20 minutes if they were *good*) each way so the party could go on.

I haven't read all of this thread yet, but it brings up so many things......For one, yes I have two boys. They have very different personalities. One of them, try as I might, I cannot get him to even understand "no" from our cat. No joke. I know it sounds like I'm overreacting, but I have many times projected this into the future onto some yet to be date or girl. It is clear when the cats want to be left alone. It is clear when they mean "no" and yet, he does not listen to me. My other son is mostly gentle, empathetic, and sweet.. I don't know how to teach something to my other son which does not seem to be innate to his character. I will continue to try, but I'm just bringing this up.....???? I'm not sure why.... because I guess I have the fear that it could be my son someday and I am trying to teach him. Another thought I have on all this. This incident sounds like a typical Saturday night in my hometown, back in the day. Every Saturday night. Every party. So many girls. The main difference I see is lack of cameras, tweeting, cell phones, etc. If this hadn't been documented, bragged about publicly, pictures posted, what would've happened? Most likely nothing. I guess I have no point here only that it has happened so, so often and not been called rape, just a bad night. Or maybe, "what happened last night?" So so sad. I am also fearful that my boys may not be the perpetrators, but would not do enough to step in and help someone in this situation. I think I need to work on teaching that.

It helps me sometimes when I regret actions or choices I have made to know that I was doing the best I could do at the time. When I am capable of doing better, I do better. For whatever reason you have done something (even if you knew at the time that it was wrong) you chose that path because that is where you were (mentally) at that time. Try to be as gentle and forgiving with yourself as you would want a close friend to be with you.

I have a fantasy of living in a charming small cottage with just myself and my cats someday. Lots of books, flowers, window boxes, tiny nooks, window seats, just a couple of comfy stuffed chairs to sit and read with a kitty snuggled on my lap........ For now, however, I live in 1700 sq. feet with dh, two boys, and two cats. It's enough space, but not well laid out.

We have the first three books. We have used it only occasionally, but my son picked right up on the concepts when using this. I've been wanting to get the multiplication and divide books, but couldn't quite justify the cost. I didn't know that it was available as a download. Woo hoo! Thanks for letting me know.

I think it depends on several factors. Why you are homeschooling and the age of the child are important. But I would also really consider what the child's reasons for wanting to go. If ds said he wanted to go to school so he could ride the bus, it wouldn't be a major consideration. However, my ds is now 12 and he has several reasons he is thinking about it, which I consider important enough to strongly consider it. One is his involvement in a particular sport. Another is having more day to day interaction with his friends. And lastly, he just wants the whole experience. So, I think when they are capable of weighing the factors to some extent is when I would consider it. I definitely wouldn't ignore it at any point. Maybe the reasons for wanting to go are valid needs that can be met in a different way.

This is new to me. I had no idea there could be another way to pronounce it. Definitely short i here.

It sounds like you've already got a lot with MFW. If you want to supplement a bit, why not pick a few books off the titles used at Homeschool Share? http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ You could do just a book occasionally and then not have to stress about it as much. Either use books you already have or pick out a few to buy. I find the picture books done at Homeschool Share are often really well done.

I've been reading about the life of Beatrix Potter. I know she is not known as an artist, but she really was a talented artist. She was quite amazing at a young age.

Maybe use plastic bins with lids that snap on? Store on high shelves? Give the toddler "centers" too, like some people do with workboxes. Just some thoughts. The toddler years are quite a bit behind me now, so maybe I'm completely off.

How about setting up some learning centers? These can be areas for mostly exploration, and can be set up to be used independently. some ideas for centers and what to include: math center: scales, rulers, measuring cups, dice, cards, cuisenaire rods You can give her specific things to do (ie. measure all the tables in the house and write which is biggest to smallest) or just let her at it to play and explore. science center: binoculars, bird identification book, sketch pad magnets geography center: maps, compass, atlas continent boxes The idea is to set these up, but keep it simple so you are not having to create new projects to set out each day. Hold some things back so that you can change it up. Add in books and dvds. I'm not sure if some of these ideas are bit advanced for your dd, but I think you could adapt it to her level.

Books that Build Character http://www.amazon.com/Books-That-Build-Character-Teaching/dp/0671884239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360625435&sr=8-1&keywords=books+that+build+character is a good guide to finding books that focus on important values.

I think maybe you're trying to help with a situation that she doesn't want to change. And quite frankly, I'm not sure you are in a position to judge. There are those who do no schooling (not just unschooling) and do that well. I guess I have an issue when homeschoolers start judging how other homeschoolers do things. I think we get enough of that from the rest of the world. We need to support each other. I know that is what you are trying to do here, but it sounds like it may not be what she wants. It really depends on the why you are doing this and is this really the family you want to do it with? If you are prepared to bear the brunt of the work to do this with them, then I would say a hesitant maybe. It sounds more like you want to help them and maybe you can, maybe just not like this. I think if you really like her/their company, keeping it more social for now sounds best. Hope I'm not sounding harsh. I'm trying to figure out if I should reword this or delete something. I just mean that if the kids are okay (physically, emotionally, mentally) then don't worry about how they are academically. One other thought, you could ask if maybe just the older kid wanted to participate on his or her own? If you have this many reservations about it, it sounds like it's the wrong path.

Hard to pick one thing, but I think the best homeschooling thing I ever did was to stop unschooling. I know unschooling works wonderfully for some families. I even think one of my boys could do quite well with it, but for my older ds he wants and needs structured school time. Best thing I ever did was to make it more like school at home for him.

I completely forgot about this. Mrs. Toodle used to teach here. I'm not sure where she's been....on sabbatical, maybe? Anyway, she had an accent--kind of Russian-ish. Forgive me if I offend anyone with this, though my family did come from Russia. She wore glases and was a very typical teacher. Sometimes she got a little goofy and weird. Occasionally someone else showed up. Mrs. Toodle used to appear sometimes when we were driving somewhere. The kids loved it, until one day they didn't. I think maybe her feelings got hurt and that's why she hasn't been around. I think I'll have her come in as a substitute one day next week. I bet they'd be glad to have her back instead of grumpy old mommy. Other than that, I don't know that we do anything particularly unique. Hmmmm....let's see... I'm going to start doing Friday Films. I want to find good books that have been made into movies (hopefully more than once.) Then we will read the book, watch the movie(s) and compare them. We will discuss the differences, what can and can't be done in each format, etc. I thought it might be fun to do a blog review from each of us on the books and movies. =

Friday. :)

what is LCHF? I'm waiting to hear what others have to say on this. I do a lot of pasta, potatoes, etc. which keep costs down, but don't keep the waistline down. Also, I have been trying to make things ahead and freeze them, but again, those items don't always seem best for me. When I'm trying to eat healthy/lose weight I end up making more salads, which is good, but not necessarily cheap nor can it be done ahead. So, I'm all :bigear:

I just went back and looked at the original emails. It clearly stated media mail shipping. Whether she noticed that or not I don't know. I saw that she actually was getting antsy and emailed me 8 days after I shipped it. Granted, she had paid two days before, but I had a question on the address and we emailed the next day on that. So, if she thinks I ran right out and mailed it after that, it would've been 9 days. I think she's being a bit unreasonable. I do understand the impatience at this point, but I still think it might take this long.

Okay. I think asking the Post office what is reasonable at this time of year is a good idea. I will do that today and tell her. I will also let her know I am fine with giving her a refund, but perhaps can wait a bit more based on the amount of time the PO tells me. Thanks for all the advice.