When I was pregnant with our first the whole 2K scare was going on so we had withdrawn a good chunk of our money from the bank. Well, we had this salesman come and gave us the hard pitch on how useless regular smoke alarms are and pretty much scared me to death for the life of our unborn baby. He sold them to us that night (over $1000) using the cash we had withdrawn. When reality hit, we felt really stupid. I was so glad to leave those smoke alarms behind when we moved because they were an awful reminder. I no longer will talk to salesman at the door or on the phone. Thankfully we are totally debt free right now. We are driving beater cars and our house really could use some updating but it is way to freeing to not owe anyone.

I entered but I don't know why. I'm not really an espresso drinker. I'm glad it went to someone who will appreciate it.

Those were some fast replies!

I getting ready to put in a small order for a few more things I need this year and I am thinking of getting another logic for my 5th grader. He is flying through Mindbenders A1 just fine but I don't know if I should pick up A2 while I'm ordering or go with more variety like the Logic liftoff book. Help!

I like to keep the Kindergarten year very low pressure. The A book has only 77 lessons so I don't feel rushed going through it. My oldest started right into B but that wasn't until first grade. By level E, things can get pretty challenging, so I want them to be mature enough for it. I have only boys and they seem to need more time both physically (can't sit still long) and mentally. I also like that B reinforces what they learned the year before and it's easy enough to fly through the lessons they already know.

My 3rd grade ds is doing: SWR (20 - 30 words per week), quiz everyday except test day R&S English 3 most done orally but he does the worksheets WWE - he's doing Lev 1 from the text but I have not decided whether to get the Lev. 2 workbook or wait for Level 3. Mc-Call Crabbs reading test (3 x per week) My ds is a slow reader so this is our focus this year BJU Reading 3 also workbook Sonlight intermediate and advanced 2 reading schedule Alone reading The Little Kids Adventure Bible. I know this is a lot of reading but he is getting better. RightStart D plus 2 challenging word problems per day. Do drill sheets as needed Lively Latin 1 with his older brother - he's great at memorizing. World Studies - This includes Trail Guide to the World, R&S Homelands plus corresponding read alouds. We are also doing the Visual Manna for art Classical Science (the free download) - this is a quick, simple science giving him a base in scientific ideas. Typing Instructor 2x per week. No history this year. We are going to start again with ancients when his brother is in 1st grade next year. As I said, we have many similar curriculums, I am happy now with the amount. If you need to I would cut back on the # of SWR words. My guy does have older and younger siblings so he knows he is expected to work but he is a stallaholic.

I make these almost ever week using crasins and no nuts. http://www.recipezaar.com/114874 Duh - This is why I don't post early in the morning. Wrong type of recipe.

We are doing a loop sorta schedule but it isn't like the ones first discussed here. I want my summers off so we start school at 8:30 sharp. If you haven't eaten your breakfast - tough, I also expect the animals to be fed, and teeth brushed and body dressed. If those aren't done, computer privileges are gone for that day. At 8:30 we start, and go till 12 noon. The boys are free until 1:00. Then we pick up again and go until we have completed the loop or 4:00. I am done at 4:00 whether the loop is or not. We will pick up any unfinished work on Saturday. This method has really helped me to optimize my time with each kid and get things done more efficiently. I decided that I will not bug this year to keep my one "head in the clouds" boy to keep going. With the schedule he sees the end of the tunnel and is more motivated to keep working - usually. Also, I don't sit around waiting for him to finish something before we move on. If he spent his time for working on math staring into space, we still move on when I come back to him for his next subject. I used to wait for things to be done to move on. I figure that math now becomes work he can do on his own time. The biggest advantage of the loop is incorporating my K'er who could be easily skipped over. This helps me keep him going but still giving him a lot of play time between sessions with Mom. We are flexible though. Last Friday was absolutely a gorgeous day and I knew Saturday wasn't supposed to be. So we decided to only do Friday morning and finish on Saturday. With the loop, it is easy to pick up where we left off.

I think their is a fine line between sexy and just looking cheap. I really try not to judge the looks of others but I had to literally bite my cheek one day to keep from laughing as dh and I were out for a walk. We passed 2 teenage girls who were smoking and one had a very low cut top and her lighter was shoved right in her cleavage. I guess it is a handy spot.

My dog keeps eating my green peppers. I started about 30 plants from seed and most of them are bearing a lot but the dog keeps getting them before me. I had to buy 3 green peppers this week which really bothered me because I should be swimming in them. He also eats a lot of nasty things like cat and bunny droppings

It is a totally free download. For the age your looking at I would go with story telling Alice. It seems to be a great introduction to virtual programming. It is easy to use but be sure to go through the introductory lesson before just trying it. http://www.alice.org/

I think we did it about 4-5 times per week. About half-way through, I was in need of the "big picture" so we started a poster laying out the different verbs, nouns, endings, ect. Also, when we were about halfway through, the author released downloadable lesson discussions. I liked this a lot over having just the pronunciations. I did not have ds do any latin writing this first year. He would read the sentence outloud and then translate it and then we would play the author's translation.

Me and the kiddos want a pool for Christmas. I'm sure they will all change their minds when the snow flies.

I am planning on starting Monday only to get a little head start. Summers are just too nice here in NY and too short for us to have school. I only regret it when our home-schooling friends are done in May and we're still going in June because we started later.

Barn Boots - I am talking about the black rubber boots that go up to their knees. We have 4 boys out in the country with our own little mud producing crick. I also have given up on socks actually remaining white and each boy has a set of clothes in a special drawer for keeping nice. Baths happen every night and sometimes twice a day for youngest one. We really need a place for muddy boots and clothes so it all doesn't come in.

Outline Maps http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/

I would suggest the same as many above. We just went camping last weekend and I brought my booklight so I could read by the campfire. It was really nice. I brought some books and a few magazines.

I'm just starting it .... again. I read WEM 3 yrs ago and started DQ but then 4th kid came and that all ended. I think I read about half of part 1 but I'm starting over again. This morning I just read the prologue, I love the Spanish humor. DH is always supportive but he does pick on me because I get up at 5:30 to read. This morning he was asking how many credits I was going to get. I think I can, I think I can!

I literally just had to "remind" my oldest not to do it. It's not even that what I am typing is private but it still bothers me.

I don't plan on stopping at a certain time but I did need someway to figure out how to teach 3 kids this year. It seems like I am always putting the youngest (L) on the back burner. This isn't finalized (I haven't even bought the Latin yet) but it is my plan. The stuff below is what my oldest 2 can do if they are waiting for me to work with them. Some of this is not every day, in that case they would just go to the next thing. The oldest 2 each have a schedule of what needs to be done each day and they know how to check it. Loop Schedule 1st Latin - A & C q Workbook - L 2nd q Math - A q Math - C q Math - L 3rd q English - A q English - C q Reading Lesson - L 4th q Writing - A q Writing - C q HWOT - L 5th q Spelling - A q Spelling - C q SWR - L 6th q Reading Lesson - C q Bible – A (3x per week) q Bible - L 7th q World Cultures - A&C q Read Aloud - L 8th q Science - A q Science - C q Science - L or Read Aloud Independent Work ALEX: Mindbenders Reading McCall-Crabbs Typing Cwp CHRIS: Bible Reading Reading McCall-Crabbs Typing

For about one week he kept waking up screaming and no amount of reasoning would help. All I can figure is that he had been sick earlier that week and we were giving him a sore throat medicine that had an artificial sweetener which we never normally use. I stopped using the medicine and the terrors stopped and have never returned. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not. I would rather give my kids sugar than some of that chemical stuff. It is scary when it is happening.

light http://www.amazon.com/Multi-Flex-LED-Book-Light/dp/B000ITKKU8/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IPQTTTI9YSW9K&colid=2NI8CHBYIGGEJ or the Story of ....... cd's for example http://www.amazon.com/Story-Chopin-Words-Music/dp/B000001KCP/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3UHXM2Z43NNW2&colid=2NI8CHBYIGGEJ

Ours are all 10 and younger but I still need peace and quiet at night so they need to go to bed earlier especially during the week. DH has to leave for work at 5:30 am so we send the kids to bed about 8 or 9 so if we want to go to bed at 9 or 10 we don't still have 4 kids up and about. Usually I want them up by 8:30 at the latest but many times they get up earlier on their own. Unless the whole family has a late night schedule, I don't see a need for kids to sleep so late. There's work to be done and fun to be had and summer break is too short to miss it while sleeping. I know when they are older I will stop telling them when to go to bed but I will expect them up as part of the family to help out.

I'm not sure if you are asking me but I'm not sure where I got it. I've been trying to get it for other boards I am on but I can get it to work. From reading this thread, it looks like several people will be celebrating that day. Happy, Happy!

I only printed out the 1st 4 weeks so far but I think it will be perfect for my 3rd grader. Up until this year, I have always combined my oldest two but oldest is doing SL 5 and I don't think my 3rd grade ds will be into it.