We have an Australian Multi-gen Labradoodle that was bred by a U.S. breeder from Australian bloodlines. Our breeder didn't even remotely resemble a puppy mill. She is passionate about the emerging "breed," having served on the board of the breed club, and focuses on raising incredible family pets. Our prior dog was a shelter rescue that we got before kids and she violently attacked my oldest DS when he was a toddler (he is lucky he didn't lose his vision, and he still has scars on his face), and had to be put down. When we were healed enough from that experience, we did a great deal of research in deciding on the right type of dog for our family and we have not been disappointed. Was our dog, insanely expensive? Absolutely, but we could afford it and to us, it was totally worth it to us to get the right dog for our family. I just wish those working on developing the breed could have come up with a better name, as there is a huge difference between our Australian Multi-Gen Labradoodle and the puppy mill Puggles and Maltipoos filling up the pet stores. But even if you don't see the difference and think I'm just a sucker with an overpriced mutt, that's alright. The bottom line is that my family has a great dog.

:iagree: I have the Kirkland Satinless set and LOVE it!

Mine has been going in the crockpot all night and we woke up to some wonderful smells this morning. I remember laughing as a kid when my grandparents would say "what a beautiful carcass" before turning the turkey leftovers into soup. I have to admit, I kinda get it now :lol:

It's a wonderfully diverse group of intelligent, thoughtful homeschoolers. I've found some marvelous curriculum ideas here that I never would have encountered otherwise.

I find myself doing it sometimes and I hate it. Text speak is baaaad.

:lurk5:

So good to hear. I am really bought into this approach after listening to SWB's writing leactures, and looking forward to starting WWE 1 with DS next year!

I have 3 kids 5 and under. My oldest, who is K aged, has Asperger's and we incorporate some computer-based prgrams, as he is really motivated by computer time and learns really well that way. I would prefer a more classical approach, but it is what it is. Our curriculum right now: Reading: Headsprout (computer based: 3ish episodes/week) and ETC 2 (2 pages/day), BOB Books and other easy readers, lots and lots of read-alouds Math: Math Mammoth 1A (usually 1 page/day), Kumon telling time and money workbooks, Destination Math (computer) Handwriting: HWOT K Science: Magic School Bus, assorted read-alouds History: The American Story, biographies, Liberty's Kids, map study Spanish: Elementary Spanish (Discovery Education Streaming) Character Education: The Jesus Storybook Bible, The Children's Book of Virtues, Veggie Tales Art: Meet the Masters (haven't started yet) Music: church children's choir For 1st, I plan to add FLL and WWE. By then we should be finished with Headsprout, and we'll continue with ETC instead of a formal spelling program. For math, we'll just continue with MM (I'm aiming to spread 1A and 1B over 2 years for kinder and 1st. We'll probably start with Ancient history when my oldest is in 2nd and middle child is in kinder. But really, who am I kidding - I'll probably have a whole new plan in place by then. I'm too new at this to really have much figured out in terms of long-term planning.

Clarks! Very comfortable and stylish. Not very easy on the pocketbook, though.

Lactaid pills are a must for the lactose intolerant. These pills are just the lactase enzyme that lactose-intolerant folks don't produce. By taking lactaid with an occasional dairy indulgence, I am able to avoid most of the unpleasant side-effects. I carry it with me everywhere, just in case. With lactaid, I do fine with yogurt and hard cheeses. Some things like milk, cheesecake, ice cream, and anything with cream cheese will still be problematic, but the lactaid at least lessens the reaction.

We have granite and love it. I've never had quartz to compare it to functionally, but I definitely prefer the more random look of natural stone. But the flip side of the natural variation is that when picking out granite, what you end up with might vary considerably from the samples you see, unless you are able to pick out the actual slab. The counters we ended up with looked rather different from what we thought we were chosing.

We are doing our refi with Quicken Loans. Rates were very low and they are able to do a 10 year mortgage, which is what we wanted. We just started the process, but it's been very painless so far. Bankrate.com is a great place to start your research. Like other posters said, most mortgage companies sell your loan before the first payment anyway.

My oldest DS discovered "Walter the Farting Dog" at the library when he was three and it's been a lost cause with regards to that word in our house ever since.:tongue_smilie:

Sorry, I must have worded my question poorly - I don't actually own A. I haven't ever used RS math, so I'm not sure if it would be a good fit us or not. The main reason I'm thinking B instead of A for my older DS is that he is on at least a late 1st grade math level already (double digit addition, understands simple multiplication, etc.). I am really appreciating all of the thoughts so far - thank you all!

:iagree:We have found Magic Treehouse to be a perfect introduction to chapter books in our house. They have a lot of pictures and very engaging storylines. From there we have gone on to child adaptations of classics, Narnia, etc.

We are currently using Math Mammoth 1A for my DS in kinder. I absolutely love MM and it is very much the right level for my DS. However, it is like pulling teeth to get him to work on it right now. I think the main problem is that he is just not finding worksheets (in any subject) very engaging right now. Since he is only 5.5, I want to create good habits with regards to school work, but I also want to make sure that above all else, we preserve his curiosity and love of learning. I should mention that he is very bright but has some special needs (depending on the specialist we've seen, he is diagnosed with either ADHD/anxiety disorder, or Asperger's). He loves math computer games (we're using Destination Math right now), but I'm not willing to let his early math be entirely computer based. So, I'm wondering if something more interactive like Right Start might be a better fit. I'm thinking I could use level B with him and start slowly playing with level A with our 3 y.o. when he is wanting to "do school," too. The other option would be to just let math go for now since he is way ahead already and just in kinder, but DS is so bright at math (his dad and grandfather are engineers, his uncle and grandfather on the other side are accountants) and I would like to keep him going. So, I'd love to tap the collective wisdom of the hive. Do you think RS would be a good fit for us? Those of you who have used it - what do you like about it? Thanks!

We're big Math Mammoth fans here, too!

We use Startwrite, too and I've been pretty happy with it.

I agree that I would avoid most of the Craigslist piano ads. If you do find one that you are very interested in, I would highly suggest paying a piano tech. to take a look at it before you decide on it. A little bit of money upfront can save you a lot of money and headaches in the long run. We went through the used piano purchase decision a year ago. The Piano Book is an excellent resource that will help you better understand the piano market. I also spent some time on the piano world forums leading up to our purchase. We ended up purchasing a used and refurbished gray market Kawai from a local piano tech who also runs a small used piano business. We ended up with a remarkable piano for a very reasonable price. Good luck with your decision, and may your house be filled with joyous music for years to come!

We are doing a simple and informal overview of American History in Kinder, then starting the chronological cycle with Ancients in first grade. Mainly, I want to introduce some history this year, but want to be very informal with it as we are mostly focusing on the 3 R's for kindergarten. Also, I would like to start our first chronological cycle when DS #2 is old enough to get something out of it, so waiting another year just makes sense for us. I have a history degree and Love, Love, Love history, so it is one of the things I am most looking forward to about homeschooling. As long as your approach to American History is also chronological (which I think is so important as an organizing foundation for further studies later on), I don't think you can go wrong either way.

We bought the preK-1 version of Destination Math via HSBC. It was a good review for my DS, but I don't really see how it could be used as anything more than a supplement. Like you mentioned, there just are not very many lessons. I think my DS pretty much exhausted the content in a day and a half. He had fun with it, but I probably wouldn't purchase again due to the limited content for the price.

We pulled our DS from PS Kinder two weeks ago and have been quickly throwing some sort of curriculum together for him. My original plan was to do Singapore 1A + Miquon Orange with him, but I had purchased Math Mammoth at HSBC and decided to start with that while waiting for our planned curriculum to arrive. I am so impressed with MM so far! We're using light blue 1A. My DS is very mathy, so that helps, but he loves the presentation. I have two littles at home, so I love that he is able to work through it with minimal guidance. I love the worktext format, and the price was amazing. I love that with my one purchase, I have enough math material to potentially get all three of my kids through elementary math. I love that it's an Asian math format which my engineer DH prefers, and my brother (a former CPA turned economics PhD student) was impressed that 1A was basically teaching algebra in disguise. So I am now thinking about ditching the Singapore and Miquon and just sticking with MM. But part of me is still waiting for the catch. If we use it as a stand-alone curriculum, will my DS really end up with a strong foundation in math? Is Math Mammoth really as good as it seems?