I am using Story of the World 3 this year as my spine. We are going to work through that, and take a little longer when we get the the US history parts. That way he is getting the idea of where the US history fits into world history. I am using the story of the USA, some Evan Moor History pockets and other little things that I have accumulated to fill out the US side of it. When we are in years 1 and 2 which don't have much US history I am going to use that time to do our state history one year, and a cultural study of America the other year. Food, customs, dress, differences in regions etc...

My 8 year old boy has had a lot of problems staying on task. I think the feedback he got from his teacher last year made it worse, one of the reasons he is staying home with me now. I talked to a counselor about it, and she told me that independent work is something to be taught, and that a lot of times we expect too much out of kids. One of her big frustrations is that teachers now will not remind kids to empty their homework folders. Even if the kid does there homework, puts it in the folder and takes it to school, they don't always remember to turn it in, then it is marked as late and the child is made to feel bad (again, our problem last year) So, I talked with my son and told him that he is not a forgetful person, he just has not been taught independence at a good rate. Every night I right a list for him on the white board, and I put a small amount of work in his daily work folder, with notes on it. I put this on the school table. My husband reminds him after breakfast that he needs to do his work. If he gets his work done by 9am he earns half an hour of screen time (computor, ds, or tv) So far it is working, and he is feeling better about himself too. In another month or so, I will add one more thing, and just keep doing that at a pace that he can handle.

Check what he is on. Ativan has a slight amnesic effect to it and they give that to a lot of patients before surgery. Also, he might be over medicated. I have had that happen to me, they cut the narcotics by about a third and I was much better

We are "officially" starting on Monday the 13th of September. We have been do school lite over the summer. One or 2 days a week. A little of his Spanish and math so that he doesn't forget it all. Math though is Rainbow Rock the computer games from Singapore Math. He thinks that it is a game. We are also doing some work on explorers that were before 1600 in preparation for Story 3. It is a heavy history year, and doing that before we really start makes it lighter for me.

Thank you everyone. I am doing third grade this year, so I think I might give it a miss until he is going into 5th or 6th grade. I am pretty comfortable with the elementary curriculum that I have chosen, and that will be good for these next two years. Maybe there will be a closer convention by then too, but I will definitely go with a plan of attack. Cheers, Nicole

I am in Oregon, and I almost went to the Midwest home school convention this year but I could not get the money together. Is there a convention of that size closer to Oregon. Would it help with my home school journey? I just wonder if I should make the time early on, I don't want to be 5 years down the road and kicking myself for not going earlier.

Assume the friend is throwing the shower, and call and offer to help. Let her know that it is early and that you understand that she is probably not far along in the planning, but if she needs any assistance you wanted to offer her some. That way if the friend hasn't thought of it, you give her a chance to do so, if it gets to close to the wedding she might feel bad that she didn't think of it. An English tea is always a good shower theme (babies and bridal) little tea sandwiches. Easy to make and fairly inexpensive. I get one loaf of white and one of brown and make the sandwiches with one of each slice of bread. looks cute. Then cut one set of sandwiches into triangles, and the other into fingers. Cucumber sandwhiches are just butter and cucumber slice with a little salt and pepper. I then usually do egg salad for the triangles. Good luck

I am with Audrey again. I take care of all the money, it works better that way. For us anyway. DH just is not interested in shopping and spending.

Thanks for posting that. With just starting out on this journey it is nice to hear a positive outcome like that.

So, when I was 8 I was taken to see Jaws 3 in 3D, then when I was 14 one of my classmates older sister was killed by a great white. http://www.listphile.com/World_Shark_Attack_Database/Fatal_Shark_Attack_McAllister I agree with Audrey, I don't go in the water and bother them, and they don't come up on land and bother me. Nicole

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I am enjoying WWE. It is my first year too, and I feel that it is not only teaching my ds writing, but it is helping me learn how to teach. Same with FLL.

Hopefully it is just cysts, but make sure they find out for sure. It is not overly common, but it could be little tiny gall stones. I started having periods like that around the age of 12. At 14 I would have some where the pain was much more intense, about twice a year. For lack of other things the doctor said it was ovarian cysts. I just dealt with it, and felt bad that I got sick so often. When I was 33 a stone got caught in my pancreas and I had to spend 10 days in the hospital. I had lots of stones, they were just very small. I finally don't have to deal with pain and it is wonderful. Just know that there is an explanation and don't let them tell you that it is normal and she will grow out of it. Good luck.

oh, and children's motrin, it is anti inflammatory and for pain. Just make sure they have something in their tummy first. Yogurt is good to coat the tummy.

solorcaine? I think is the name. It is in the first aid aisle with treatments for burns. It is a spray, so you don't have your hand rubbing the burn. It has aloe vera and lidocaine in it. The lidocaine numbs the burn. I have used it on me, my hubby and the kids.

Summer, Thank you for starting this thread. I had kinda thought it was one thing, but it wasn't and now I know more. We never learn if we don't ask. Kathleen, thanks for your last explanation, it made sense and I now get it. Kelly, It is a fascinating time in history, if you ever do want to read more about it PM me and I can refer you to some interesting books. Cheers, Nicole

Like I said, I do not know how it is used today, but the Anglican church was a product of the reformation. Yes Henry the VIII was the King while the change came about, but there was a lot more going on then just him wanting a divorce. This is just for anyone who finds it interesting by the way, not meant to be defensive or anything. (I just want to clarify as it is sometimes hard to tell on the internet. Oh, and I do have a bias as I am Anglican (I have lived in US and UK so it is easier to use the general term) Henry was the second son and never meant to be King, he studied to become a priest. Henry experienced first hand the corruption and politics that had taken root in some people within the Catholic church. Henry became King when he was a teenager and his brother died. Catherine of Aragon was already Queen of England as she was married to Henry's brother. The reformation was already happening and had already come to England. Many of his advisers believed in the reformation. This all happened over years, not just for a quick divorce. He had an option to go back to the Catholic Church while he was married to his third wife Jane Seymour. Anne had been beheaded by this time, and Catherine had also died. As a widower he could have gone back to the church but he did believe in the reformation. I find all of this history fascinating, I love seeing how things started.

I am not 100% sure here, but I was always under the belief that Reformed Christianity are the branches of the Christian Faith that stemmed from the reformation. Primarily the Lutheran or Anglican Faith's. There are more Faiths that came off of those, (puritans, etc...)

Thank you Merry and Alexandra, That helps so much. I forgot to say part is because I am budgeting for the year. I already have level 1 and it did not look like it would take us that long to do, so I will budget level 1 and 2. I will skip the readers now, but look into them when my dd starts getting to that point. I will also see what new and wonderful things are on the market at that time. I am really starting to feel excited about the AAS decision. Merry, your blog is amazing, I think I could spend hours there. I am hoping to get my up and running in the next few months. Cheers, Nicole

I am another newbie, my son is entering 3rd grade. I am getting nervous, but I am mostly excited. Good luck to all of us.

I am starting AAS is September with my 8 year old/ 3rd grader. Has anyone else started this program with an older child? How long does each level take? Are the readers really necessary? He is reading at an 6-7th grade level, just a really poor speller. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers, Nicole

I haven't figured out the quotes yet, but I agree about the summary. We look at when the bible was written. When God first sent his stories down to us, Jesus had not lived on earth. He was explaining what he did from the beginning, not with all the information that we have now. We present things in different ways depending on where we are in life. For example, if your three year old asks you where babies come from, you would explain it very differently than if you were lucky enough to not ever have to address the issue until your child was 14. We look at the story of creation that way, it is a story that God used to explain how everything came to be, to people that no longer had first hand knowledge of how mankind was started. He has given us enough information to navigate this lifetime, and the rest we will know when we join him. I hope that was not to rambling.

However, I am doing the cutting on my own. I prepare everything before we start, it just takes too long and is not as fun otherwise. There was a recipe for hardtack which we made yesterday with the Christopher Columbus pocket. I am however spacing it out over the whole of year 3. Also instead of the construction paper folder they use, I am using a report cover and sheet protectors.

I am new this year too. My ds is 8 and we are going to give third grade a try. I have been looking into home education since he was about three, but for one reason or another we never started. I feel I have been planning for years, it is scary that it is now starting. We did 3 weeks as soon as he finished his school year as we were both excited to see if it would work. We then took 3 weeks off, while I went over everything to see what worked and what didn't. Spectrum Spelling was a no go, and we are going to give AAS a try. We are using: SOTW3 - Story of the World 3 Evan Moor History Pockets FLL - First Language Lessons 3 WWE - Writing with Ease 3 AAS - All about Spelling 1 LC - Latina Christina Rosetta Stone Spanish (he has already done 3 years of Spanish) Singapore Math Christian Studies 1 Getty-Dubay italics Adventures with atoms and molecules We are going to start doing 2 days a week for the rest of the summer, and then dive in fully September.