I found some toffee that was shaped as coal and put it in the foot of dh's stocking last year! I get a LOT at Cost Plus world market chocolate coins ds and dh get a nice honey (for toast) dd a chocolate spread (last year was dark chocolate banana. They usually have a christmas or odd soap of some kind there. There is a drink there, I think it is japanese. In a glass bottle and there is a marble you push down to drink it (someone here will know what I am talking about) funny socks chap sticks toothbrushes bookmarks glue sticks smencils Then a movie and book each.

I tried GD, I have switched to HWT as the teacher manual is just so helpful. My daughter is also left handed and I had no clue what to do. The manual is great for where to sit when you are teaching, different grips. There are also lots of tools. We have the CD (which dd plays for fun) Songs like "Where do you start your letters? At the Top." We do wet, dry, try. It is fun, we can easily waste an hour on handwriting skills, and she loves it.

is a 2 min intro to Andrew Pudewa's Spelling and the brain. I really found that lecture to be very helpful in my approach to spelling. We are using Phonetic Zoo and it has been a huge success with my 5th grade boy, just in case your 10 year old doesn't take to apples and pears. Always nice to have an extra idea in your back pocket with a difficult subject. I hope your spelling situation turns out as well as ours did, I totally sympathize with spelling issues.

On the new light up set, Timberdoodle has a better price than Amazon, and you get doodle dollars :hurray: . The new light up set looks pretty cool. This is the set we started with. My son has had no problem playing with others with this set. We would love to get more, they are so much fun.

I think I heard Shurley does

:iagree: I see this is a boy we are talking about. Have you read the WWE text? I LOVED that book. It really helped me with the confidence to wait till my son was ready. We just kept on the individual skills, and then this year we started WWS, in 5th grade! He is doing great. Kindergarten, just work on handwriting.

Hi, Welcome to the Hive. Reading TWTM is a great start. Other books that I have enjoyed are Homeschooling year by year by Deborah Rupp (I believe) it is another good overview. Homeschooling for the rest of us is one that gives practical parenting advice on how to homeschool if you don't fit in a nice little box. It has given me my favorite discipline tool "couch time" (oh, and I picked it up 2nd hand at Powell's :hurray: ). I really enjoy Honey for a child's heart by Gladys Hunt (again, name from memory and I could be wrong). It is the original read aloud handbook. Other than that, consistency and follow through. I like to keep the rules in our house few, clear, simple, and enforced. I also like to set kids up for success. If one of the kids is going through a time of testing boundaries I get a box of brownie mix, and 4 different types of chips. I line them up on the counter and tell them that each time they get in trouble that day one bag of chips is going away, then the brownies. That whatever is left the next morning we will bake after breakfast. They have never lost more than 2 bags. It is a clear, visible reward, with a clear time frame to it. Oh, and you can not earn back what you have lost. That only teaches be a brat all day and an Angel for 10 minutes and get what you want. Best of luck.

Have you checked out Phonetic Zoo? We struggled with spelling till we found that (and ds is a TT kid). Here is my review of it

We are looking at this one for World History. We have this one that we got before we even had kids. So far it has worked well

Hi, just something else to add to the mix. Have you looked at Galore Park? My son really loves Latin Prep and So you really want to learn science. You can order them from Horrible Books (also the horrible histories that are great fun). He also really enjoys Life of Fred, we are just finishing the elementary series (apples-jellybeans) and getting ready for fractions in the New year. IEW has some good resources other than writing. We have been having a lot of success with Phonetic Zoo and Linguistic Development through poem memorization. He really likes the independent nature of it and the fact that it involves a portable cd player with headphones. Best of luck.

Thanks for the heads up. We finally caved and started Hey Andrew this year with the thought of maybe doing First Start online with MP next fall (I just want him to get comfortable with the alphabet) This is worth a look though as he did not do well with Latina Christiana and is doing well with Latin Prep.

Thank you! It is a silly thing, but member since gives more weight than post count. It is very different, but the faster the boards are getting and the more I am understanding them, the more I am thinking this all could be good. Other than the fact that it makes me feel very old :huh: . Thanks for all the work and the patience to walk us all through it.

Ok, the hover thing is cool. I could possibly get used to that, I would still like it under the post count though! :hurray:

I know it is small beans in all the work you are doing, but is there any chance the member since can be back showing up with posts? I know I am being terribly judgy, but, when reading on the internet there are certain things I look for to see how much weight I put on a post. People join and can have post counts as high as mine within 6 months. I see it is on the member profile page, but I really don't want to click on every single profile to see how long they have been members here when I am reading about grammar :svengo: Thank you in advance for considering the request :thumbup1:

:iagree: Please

We are using it, but it is a supplement. We were using Evan Moor editing and Fix it well, uses Tom Sawyer instead of those silly for education paragraphs about kites etc... Diagraming is important. We have only really dove into it this year (5th grade), but you it is useful for more advanced writing. When your child is in 10th grade writing a research paper, there will be those funny sentences. The ones that just are not right. When you diagram the sentence, it usually becomes clear where the issue is. In other words it is a very advanced editing tool. I am learning diagraming along with my kids as I was never taught it in school. We are enjoying it. Also, I am very visual and as we are getting into more complicated grammar (beyond 8 parts of speech) the diagram helps to give a visual.

I am thinking it would all make more sense if I were 10 years younger....

Still can't find a list of my posts. It is bringing up all sorts. Help! I can for you Chucki, but not on my own member page

Yeah, I didn't read the posts that way either. :iagree: Yes, my house can't make a magazine, but it is clean. It might not always be tidy, and there are books everywhere, but it is cozy and clean. I also would not call myself bedraggled. I have always been a jeans and t shirt gal, but I am showered and my hair is brushed and in a neat pony or braid. I don't wear make up (never had) but my face is cleaned and moisturized. I am also the one whose kids join her when getting her eyebrows waxed. OP, you were asking about time management and how to get things done with kids in tow, that is what I answered. I think you need to re read if you were seeing the responses as us being a bedraggled mess with dirty houses and displeased husbands. My husband loves coming home to a house filled with music and laughter. I might not be dressed to the 9's, but he gets lots of hugs and love when he enters our house.

:iagree: :iagree: For me the biggest sacrifice of homeschooling was that of my time. It was hard to get around that idea, that I just would not be doing that. My youngest is in kindy this year, all the other moms from the moms group are going to lunch and coffee, shopping etc.... and I am not invited unless I can find a babysitter as it is an adults only lunch. So, the last 6 months I have been focusing on making some more homeschool mom friends, and that has helped. Each kid has a bag with things they bring with them when we go out to appointments. They are very good at sitting in a corner and doing their activities. They even come with for eyebrow waxing. At first, people thought it was strange when I walked in to "grownup things" at "grown up times", now people are used to us, and are always complementing me on how well behaved my children are. They even have started planning for them being there. I went to my dentist last week, and as I walked in, the reception asked if the kids could hang in the waiting room with her. She had brought in a movie for them and hot chocolate (with mini marshmallows). They have a big TV, that usually shows what the office can do (whitening etc...) she took that dvd out and in went the muppets. Now, there are certain things that you don't want to do with kids. Planning. DH asked work a few years ago, he works on Veteran's Day and Memorial Day and I plan my appointments for the Tuesday after. Tomorrow is OBGYN, Mammogram, and a massage (as I have to do both of those other on the same day) In May I do my Oncologist and yearly physical. If anything comes up, I schedule it for those, most can wait until one of those days.

Sweet Hubby! Mine caught up on all the laundry, cooked dinner last night and did the prep for today's dinner. We are doing well. I am sure we are technically ahead or behind in some subjects, but I am chillin and going with the flow this year. We are doing year round school, so we will get where we need to be eventually as long as we keep at it. Soccer is over, so our schedule's are a little easier. We have had a little of the fall blah's, but we seem to get them every fall and I am not worrying over it this year (hence, it doesn't seem as bad this year) My kids are also minecraft ones:D

:iagree: Where? North Wales is great for Castles The Scottish/English border is great with Hadrian's wall ruins, and the lake district nearby (swallows and amazons) Wiltshire is full of cute little villages with thatched roof cottages. The town of Lacock ( filmed in Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter etc...) Longleat is amazing (a historic home you can tour with a drive around Safari Park) We stayed here for 5 days and LOVED it http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/villages/longleat/index.jsp In Watford they have the new Harry Potter exhibit at Leavedson Studios which is supposed to be wonderful. Cornwall has the Poldark mines, cliffs, Lands end, St. Michaels mount and lots of Arthurian legend. Unless you are driving in the area, Stonehenge is really not worth the detour nowadays. You can't roam through it. Portsmouth is a nice city with a lot of naval history including a great d-day museum. People always talk about storming the beach at Normandy, but Portsmouth is where they left from. There are a lot of historic ships there to tour. Bath is well, Bath. Interesting and pretty town. London is great. We like the Strand Palace hotel. It is walking distance to Trafalgar Square and St. James park (and just around the corner from the theater showing the Lion King) They have a GREAT included breakfast and good deals. The eye and the Tower of London are both fun. Hampton Court is also cool. It was Henry the 8th's summer palace and has a cool maze.

Have you read the Poldark books? There is a Verity in them. This is what we did. My brother has convinced his wife to the middle name Danger for their son. My dh vetoed Magaret, which is still a favorite. I would have called her Maggie.