OK, so this hasn't been the best year for my dd doing AP Lit (at home). Now the test is 3 weeks from today (tomorrow?) and she feels like she's never going to do well enough on it (meaning a 3 or higher). I feel like I have failed her. Ugh! I am so stressed about this and trying not to show it. :( Any words of wisdom or comfort or helps anyone can offer as the clock quickly ticks down??

What a lot of replies to my question! Who knew?! lol I have 1 full and 5 twin beds here (5 children), plus a queen air mattress packed in the closet. None of the kids use a top sheet -- they each have a favorite blanket and that is what the sleep under. In winter they just pile on extra blankets as desired. I used to think that was so weird because I was raised with "proper" sets of sheets with a comforter or something atop. But over the years I see that this works well for them. I still use a top sheet myself, but now I have a snuggly microplush blanket instead of a stiff comforter. Love it! But after reading some of your posts I can see that some of it is just household styles. I haven't often had the need to change sheets in the middle of the night, but when I did I would never remake the bed, just toss the dirties in the wash, throw down a couple towels or one of those unused top sheets really quickly, then go back to sleep and deal with it in the morning. :D Thanks for all the thoughts on this!

I really one use one set of sheets per bed (crib/toddler bed excepted), yet I feel compelled to hang on to "extra" sets for my full size bed. But seriously, when I wash my sheets, I wash, dry, and replace on the same day. It feels wrong to get rid of the extra sheets because they're still perfectly useable. I just always want to have a spare to be prepared for ... what??? I guess the day I need to replace my current set (which will probably last years) in case I don't have the $$ to buy new ones?? Hence the clutter. So as I am decluttering, I'm wondering if this is necessary. Thoughts?

I'm so excited to start printing tonight! I hoped it would arrive this week, but didn't expect it today. :thumbup: Anyone else get their CD yet, or am I early on this?

Wow! there were so many good thoughts and suggestions shared here. Thank you all so much! I have tried working with a friend, but we're both so busy it's hard to make time that fits both our lives. I guess we'll just be grateful for the few times it works out for us. I think my current plan is to really commit myself to getting RID of stuff and see how I'm doing in 3 months time. And perhaps pray for discernment because I have a really hard time not justifying keeping everything for a I-might-need-it-someday scenario. Maybe I should find a declutter buddy who is either doing the same thing or to whom I can report my progress. Maybe that would make me more accountable?? Not sure. But I did spend several hours cleaning out one small basement room this weekend -- largely a storage area for surplus food and household paper/cleaning products. It looks SOOO good!! Even my kids noticed how easy it is to walk around in there now. I am embarrassed to say I threw out a bunch of expired canned food (ah... rotation!), but it feels great to have the area looking so much better. Now I just need to build on that momentum -- thank you for all your help!

Thank you for the replies! My library has a copy of Reading Pathways so I'll go take a look at that this week. I remember looking at Phonics Pathways quite a while ago, but didn't realize she had this other book too. That and more consistent reading aloud... I guess finding books that are at the right level for what she needs (that's the hard part!!)... will hopefully do the trick. Thank so much! :)

:bigear: Anyone have any suggestions? ;)

My head is spinning from all the choices! I need to choose something for teaching my almost 7yo, plus her 5yo and 2yo siblings will learn down the road. I had 5 years of traditional lessons growing up and play and read comfortably enough to accompany at church playing just about anything from the hymn book -- although my piano theory is totally pathetic. Pretty much I can read it and play it. That's it. Don't really *understand* the why. So... can you guys help me think this through... please??! I don't have any musically-inclined friends IRL to talk this through with me. Simply Music - love the DVD component, I admit it. I think it would make it more interesting to DD and the younger ones would no doubt watch it a bit too. From what I've heard, I think it teaches a lot with recognizing patterns, which I like. However, very concerned about transitioning from the at-home DVDs to traditional approach as lessons with a SM-trained teacher would be hundreds of miles away. Also, not sure that I like delaying reading musics THAT much. Can this be combined with some traditional? And what will happen to the student after the 2 levels of DVDs? The Music Tree - someone here mentioned this at one point. Never heard of it before, but sounds intriguing. Sounds like it includes more moving around the keyboard and creative expression than a more traditional approach, but still introduces note reading, etc. More of a Suzuki-type approach?? Will this be hard for me to teach on my own, even with being musically "fluent"? Piano Adventures (Faber) - Well respected by others, I know. Feels "safe" to me, lol. OK, and maybe just a little boring. (Sorry!) Bastien is in this category too. Not sure how the two differ from one another. Play Piano in a Flash - Again, nontraditional. Like the idea of getting the kids to play, seeing patterns, chords, etc. I love the idea of some of the non-traditional approaches, but worry if they'll work, how to transition to some more traditional aspects (and when). I am so horribly undecided. I don't have oodles of time to devote to lessons, particularly with the toddler always underfoot. So I don't want something that is hugely teacher-intensive, but regular daily practice is not a problem. (Should I have posted this on the K-8 board?)

Yes, I saw that too. I was planning to just buy it, but now have serious reservations about the prospect of moving forward after the at-home DVDs. With no possibility of continuing on in that method, I don't know if it's worth it for $71 -- maybe I'd be better off putting that money toward the traditional books?? <sigh> Too many choices! lol

Any more opinions? Thanks for your thoughts, Snowfall! An additional concern that I have is that the nearest Simply Music teacher is about 300 miles away. lol So if we did do the at-home DVDs, they would then have to transition to a more traditional method....

:iagree: totally, 100%!! The one P.O. I did speak to this week assured me that her philosophy is a "less is more" attitude and that, in her mind, the very last step is organizing with containers, etc. That should only be done after all the letting go. You know, the whole, "we use 20% of our stuff 80% of the time." That is the idea I'm working off of, but it's still so hard! I'm fighting myself, knowing I can rationalize keeping just about anything because I will need / might need it, etc. Any tips for how to stay in the letting go mode? I get a lot done when I'm there, but don't spend nearly enough time in that frame of mind. ;)

Having not actually done this, I can't say for sure. But there is a National Association of Professional Organizers so that's where I went because it seemed like a way to get a more reputable person. You type in your zip code -- they didn't have one in the 25-mile radius, but there was one (just one) in the 50-mile radius for me. I would think asking for references (previous clients) would be a good step. I think $25-$50/hour it pretty common. Probably depends in part on your region. The gal I called charges $35/hour, plus travel $$ (she lives an hour away from me). So ya, a 4-hour session would be $174 with travel expense. Yikes!! That's a lot. But looking at it as an investment?? IDK. It's still a lot. lol How "bad" a room is and hence how long it would take would vary, of course, but she said that she would be thrilled if we (she said we would work side-by-side) could get through a room in 3 hours. That is a lot of money to me, I'll be honest. But oh, to see some results!! Wouldn't that be fabulous? I'm so easily distracted and filled with indecision....

You make a lot of good points. I'm going to check out those links, thank you! Some of the points in your first paragraph and things I have thought of... and probably part of why I want to do this w/o an organizer person. I have worked with a friend a couple of times and it has gone pretty well. The problem is that she is so busy, and she homeschools, so I feel terribly guilty having her help me. But good food for thought. Thank you.

He has a number of books, but his "It's All Too Much" is a great foundational book. I'm currently reading his newest one...can't remember the title, lol, but it was just published this year.

I can't believe I am even considering this, but I am. I found a thread on here from almost 2.5 years ago on this topic, so I'd be curious to hear if anyone has worked with a professional organizer to declutter your home, and what you think about it all. This week I called a lady with that "official" affiliation (can't think of the designation right now). It would definitely be stretch financially to do this, but I'm sick of organizing being my hobby! I know I have a hard time letting go of stuff, and frequently feel overwhelmed at the prospect of what to do. I didn't used to be like that, but I have been for a number of years now. My oldest kids could be out of the house in a year, but I still have preschoolers too. I just want to have my life simplified and ... I don't know. I want my older kids to remember a time when I actually kind of had things together! lol But I feel like I *should* be able to do this on my own... yet I haven't made much permanent progress. :( I've read oodles of books, done FlyLady, etc. My favorite organizer by far has been Peter Walsh, probably because I love his focus on having a vision for the life you want to live, what you want from this space, etc, and then moving toward that and letting the rest fall away, rather than just focusing on the stuff. I do NOT want to just containerize everything -- been there, done that. I actually have probably 8 or so EMPTY large sterilite boxes, so I am making some progress at letting go... it just takes SOOO long to get anything done! And I feel like I spend more time thinking and reading about it then getting the work done. Sorry for my rambling. Any comments?

It has 2 pages filled with suggestions -- maybe 40 or so. Many of those are listed as "excerpt from...". There is no statement on how many to do; just the list. Perhsps Level Five is intended to be more of a transition to individualized lifelong habits? Just a thought....

I was looking at getting Explode the Code Online through the HSBC deal, buy now after having my 5 and 6yo do the demo lessons I'm not so sure.... They can read pretty well in terms of decoding -- the older one could do all of the samples through Book 8 and didn't get any wrong. The younger one could read all the words but got caught up on a few of the fill-in-the-blank words because she didn't know what they meant. Particularly for the younger one, I liked the lessons with the words split in two, pairing up syllables. She got them right, but I could tell she was thinking more about the words, which was great. And of course those fill-in-the-blank ones would be good. But is there something else that anyone could suggest? I don't know if it's worth it to buy the online subscription if she can already "decode" the words in the higher levels. She really needs to work on comprehension, and certainly work on approaching new big words (doesn't get pronunciation always and wants to guess on 3+ syllable words). My plan was to just make sure she reads aloud to me daily, but I love the online computer games because she would think that is such fun. What do you think? Would ETC online be worth it? Something else? What about her older sister? OR should I just focus on having them read aloud to me from whatever is around the house? Thank you! :)

Do you think the book would be a good read for 16-17yo who had a traditional upbringing in math? They are finishing up Algebra II and precalc at this point, with another year of math each ahead. I am using a different approach for my younger elementary ones, but am wondering if my older would be able to benefit from reading the book at least. Thoughts? Thank you! :)

Has anyone used either of these for early piano lessons? (I'm thinking of the 2 DVD set for Simply Music, not a teacher.) I do play fluently myself, but am looking for something to use with my almost 7yo and possibly 5.5yo. My older teens learned in a more traditional way many years ago at this age, which I facilitated; when I pull out their old books, they just seem so ... flat. Looking for opinions, positive and negative. Thanks!

I used Spelling Wisdom for several years with my kids when they were probably in the 9-12yo range -- some copywork, but then moving into more prepared dictation. I was happy with the product. We very much followed a CM philosophy with that, and there was definitely a focus on good handwriting for that (much of their other written schoolwork was typed at that point). Just this year I started using the first level with my K and 1st graders for copywork On the hand, I felt like maybe it wasn't going to be worth it because I could just find my own lit passages, quotes, etc. But it was great for the convenience and being completely ready to go. Particularly if you are applying a CM approach to copywork and spelling and dictation, I think it's a good resource.

We used a Pur faucet mount type for a couple of years (and a sinktop kind before that) but IME the filters are costly, at least with 7 water drinkers living here, and the filter units break too easily. We finally switched to an Aqua Rain gravity filter and LOVE it. You fill up the top and the water filters through to the bottom where it comes out a spigot. The cost savings is amazing, even compared to getting good deals on Pur filters through eBay. The filters last a ridiculously long time and there's no wasted water while waiting for the filter to "activate," plus the main faucet is always available for other uses.

Auntie M, you seem like a great resource for giving me a virtual kick in the pants to declutter. I usually stick to the elementary and high school boards, but wandered over here today for piano stuff... then I find this thread! I have been working for years at decluttering -- I think it's a hobby now! Seriously! Probably not a good think, right? Do you have more discussions or step-by-step counsel to share? Or maybe you could point me to another thread? I love to read Peter Walsh's stuff (It's All Too Much, etc., love his approach) but with the busyness of life from toddlers to teens, sometimes I seem to like reading and thinking about decluttering more than actually getting off my duff and doing it. I definitely drag it out with THINKING about every decision too much. Advice on getting back in the game and actually seeing progress before I'm an empty nestor?

OK, so I "taught" my older teens to play the piano, starting maybe around age 6. But really I say they are more self-taught and that I just facilitated, really. I did some formal teaching earlier on, but they took over and went with it. We used some Alfred books early on, something else (can't remember!), then transitioned to several levels of the Royal Conservatory piano books (live in the US, but a friend showed me those and I really liked them). I would like to use the RC materials again with my younger set at some point, but for the early period... what to do?! Now I have a 6yo (and youngers coming up) and I can't figure out what to do! I took lessons for 6 years myself and can play pretty much what I want -- mostly from the church hymnbook nowadays, but I used to play more classical and such -- but my music theory is terribly weak and I can play what I do because I read music. That's it. One of my teens plays beautifully by ear; obviously a gift, because I sure didn't cultivate that. :( I see things like Simply Music and Play Piano in a Flash (Scott Houston) and wonder if I shouldn't do something like that with my younger set as they get to be 5-7yo. Has anyone used either of these? Comments? Not sure how it would go for ME, coming from a more traditional piano background. Or do I go with a more traditional piano track for them? And if so, any recommendations? I really like the Royal Conservatory materials, at least for down the road, but I was so wishy-washy with my first set until we found the RC books later on. I just want to start something, love it, and stick with it. Is that too much to ask?! lol

We have homemade oatmeal every morning for breakfast, so I served up green oatmeal instead this morning. I didn't let them see it until I set the bowls on the table. Unfortunately, my 6 and 5yo almost started crying and didn't think it was very funny. I had to repeatedly tell them it tastes THE SAME as it does every morning, show them the bottle of food coloring, etc. The 6yo finally believed me, but the 5yo never did fully recover. lol Oh well! So much for trying to keep it simple and not freak them out.... ;)

Thanks so much for the clarification, Robyn! Sounds great, and I appreciate hearing more specifics! Stacey :)