OKay, what is LOTR. It is not on the abbreviations list.

Wow, I got a lot of response last night. We are all full. Thanks everyone.

Bump we have 3, looking for 5 more.

I am looking for about 7 3rd grade boys who would like to take part in a flat Stanley project. I don't want it to get too big, and I would like my 3rd grade son to maybe gain some pen pals out of it. In the interest of penpals, I want to do this as a non digital, instant form of Stanley, We would each do a flat student. Either a Stanley or a photo of the child and Make a journal to go along with the flat student. One page for information on where the flat student is and a photo, one page for each student to write about themselves and a photo. This would then be sent to the next person on the list. We would each have about 3 weeks, to get the work done and send it on, so not in a rush. Then at the end of the year we would get our flat student back with a book filled with the adventures, and maybe some future pen friends. PM me if you are interested and then I will send my real e-mail through that. Nicole

Bump Also did you get my e-mail for WA?

I was in England so it was afternoon. I was cross stitching and watching the film "where the heart is" My dh called from work and told me to put the news on. I was already watching in disbelief at what was happening, and then the 2nd plane hit live on TV. I couldn't get hold of anyone, I remember being scared not know where the 4th plane was headed. I still can't cross stitch for some reason. I was born in NYC, my family is from there. The towers were opened the year I was born.

Okay, I am taking some deep breathes and calming down. At least my plan looks good, it might not work, but it sounds like it is a good starting place. I need cake, and lots of it! Thank you so much for the support and for taking time to look at my plan. I really appreciate it.

I wouldn't say it was a curse word, but it is one of the words that I don't use or allow my children to use without careful consideration of how it is being used. ie suck the lollipop don't bite it. Our other words are hate fart (I prefer pass gas) can't never you get the idea. One thing that my mum told me when I was little, and it has always stuck with me. Is that slang and curse words show a lack of imagination and creativity. We have a language filled with many words and can come up with many ways to express displeasure. For one thing if someone cuts us off while we are driving we call them some sort of vegetable, because they are exhibiting as much brain power as a vegetable at that time. "what a radish" is more fun. Nicole

Thanks Aimee, no I will not be doing every subject every day. That was just my idea of which weeks to start everything. Math and spelling will be everyday Latin will be 3x a week Spanish 2x(we are just doing that as he had 3 years of Spanish at his old school and we don't want him to lose it) WWE 4x FLL 2-3x History 3x Science 2x Christian Studies and Lessons in responsibility will be about 5-10 min a day, at 1 lesson a week. Does that make it seem a little more reasonable?

We are starting on Monday, and I am in full blown panic mode. All the kids in the area went back to school this week, and my son is not enrolled in school. What on earth am I thinking? Math, especially math. I was horrible at math, and now I am going to teach it? I think I have lost my marbles! Okay, I got the crazy thoughts out. As this is a message board I will clarify that while yes these thoughts are going through my head on a regular basis, I know that I have made the right choice for our family, and that it will be okay. I will make mistakes, but everybody does. Could you please look at my plan for the first couple weeks and tell me if it sounds reasonable. Once I have mentioned something, I will be carrying on with it, this is the plan for building up to a full day. Day 1 Pictures first day of school survey (thank you Carrie) Going over schedule, expectations, and rewards introduce independent work Math WWE3 Day 2-5 start independent work SOTW3 w/AG Rosetta Stone Spanish Christian studies 1 Lessons in Responsibility Week 2 AAS Adventures in Atoms and Molecules FLL Latina Christina Getty-Dubay italics Week 3 Formal reading Art and Music DS is a bookworm who is always reading. We have PE and other things like that just happening already. Does that sound like a slow enough, but not too slow start to the school year? I am sorry if this is not the most well formed message, but I am a little panicked. Thanks in advance

Thank you everyone. I can see the sense in that. I will start with what I have and see how it goes. If I find it really overwhelming I will then look at changing. I was thinking that I had scheduled too much, but it sounds like maybe I haven't. I am lucky that this year DD is only 3 and won't be needing to be taught much. I think I am just in panic mode, everyone is heading back to school, so it is suddenly much more real that I am stepping off the main stream path. I will take some deep breaths and just start. Cheers, Nicole

Love it!

I have to admit that I have only read through page so far, but I will be coming back and reading more later, maybe with a cup of tea in the morning. It is nice to see that other couples have had issues with tea, we were having some too, but we have found a few things that work. We read something about romance, that for men tea is romantic, and means that we love them. Women need romance to be in the mood for tea. DH has taken over a lot of the evening chores. He puts the DC to bed, loads the dishwasher and has just taken over in the evenings, this puts me much more in the mood for tea. As for quickness, maybe everyone knows this, but I discovered it 6 years into marriage and I don't know a tea slang for it. Men's nipples have a purpose. For us it speeds things up and sometimes that is a good thing.:lol: The other thing we discovered is that you don't need a full cup of tea to be satisfied, sometimes some foreplay that has a happy ending for both is good. Still really intimate if you are both involved.

Thank you for the quick responses. I will look at those (after I check the abbreviation page to find out what some are:lol:. What about MCT grammar? I see a lot about that. Is it independent or is that another that has a lot of teaching with it?

We do some similar things. We have a count to 10 time out. That way if we are in public or with his friends I can say "take 10" If we are at home alone he does it on the time out wall, if we are out he just steps away. The one time that he choose to see what I would do if he didn't, I explained that DS was making bad choices and we would need to leave, and we did. We got to the car and he was told that I was very mad and the wise choice would be to sit down and not say a word until I was ready to talk to him. I found that sometimes not knowing the punishment right away is a very effective punishment. At home he got to help with chores the rest of the day. The take 10 also works, as now that they are older I will sometimes close my eyes and count to 10 when they are misbehaving and when my eyes open they usually look at me and say I am sorry right away. We do Cinder Fella punishments (I am sure my DD will soon get Cinderella) my favorite is cleaning the kitchen floor with a toothbrush. We also for repeat offenses do lines. My DS had a problem for a few months with telling lies. I made him write I must not tell lies 25 times and told him that I would add 25 every time he told a lie. 150 lines and after that we have not had a lie in over a year. I hope this does not sound like I am a harsh mom. My children are very good, and very happy. I believe in being strict but flexible. We have certain areas where I expect 100% obedience, but I try to make sure that there are more areas where they are free to be themselves and kids. We have a house where we put our feet on the furniture, are loud, sing alot and can all express our ideas and opinions.

I am starting home school on Monday and I am starting to panic. I really did not want to just sit my child down in front of a computer or with workbooks, (and just to clarify, I am fine if other people use that method, it just is not what I think will work best for my ds).However, I think I might have gone too far the other way. Things that I am pretty sure that I do not want to change. Story of the world All about Spelling Singapore Math (and MM when needed) Subject that I would consider changing if there is a really good, independent way for ds to do. WWE FLL Adventures in Atoms and Molecules I think I am actively teaching everything but Latin and Spanish. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. Nicole

We are starting on Monday

My husband does not want our son to read the Steeping Stones Treasure Island. He says that not knowing the end is part of the thrill of the book, so that I need to wait until ds is ready to read the unabridged book on that one. Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre and The Three Musketeers are other good ones. We are going to do A Christmas Carol as a read aloud this year, but we are going for the unabridged on that. DS is a 3rd grader.

You have lots of good organization ideas. Thank you for sharing. I think I will need to go to IKEA soon.

I am following a lot of the well trained mind's recommendations. Singapore Math and All about Spelling. This is our first year, so, it all looks good. I just hope it works well with us.

We have been using Getty-Dubay for 3 months and I really love it

Guadi now $13.99

Thanks, I just ordered it. I love Prime, and you can't really go wrong for less than $3 bucks.

If it doesn't improve, switch. My ds had horrible handwriting, never got better. He was learning manuscript. I switched this summer to italic and in one week we had huge change. He handwriting is getting better daily. I read something somewhere, that the two styles use different parts of the brain, and sometimes some kids just can not get along with one of the styles. So if it is not getting better doing all of those things. Start again with a different style. We are doing the Getty-Dubay italic series and I love it. I am sitting with him, we do three pages/letters a day. I guide him as we go. Love it!

Ours is 3. We give her the choice of doing school herself or playing in her room. It is not far, but far enough to not be too distracting. She has workbooks, and a planner like her brother. If I spend 5 min "teaching" her and setting her a task, I then get 10 min with ds. Some days just go like that. She also loves reader rabbit, but that can only be done very quietly and with headphones. That gives me my longest spurt of 30min (math time)