I have a hard time watching the Duggars too. She is just a little creepy to me. Have you ever watched "Kids By the Dozen"? LOVE that show. Each show is about different families that have 12 or more kids. There was a family from Massachusetts that I liked.

The thing that jumps out to me is the heartworm like "Soph the Vet" (apparently she's a vet :)) That can be a serious problem. The last thing you would want is for your family to get attached to the dog and then have it drop dead on you. I personally wouldn't take a dog that has a life threatening health condition before you even get it home.

I did this with the kids at the beginning of the year and this is how I screwed up... We had the cornish game hens too, two of them. I have to admit the first week I was good about changing the mix but then I got lazy and quite frankly it just grossed me out. I changed the mix twice over the next few weeks. When it came time to wrap them it seemed fine. After wrapping and over the next few days things started to smell funky and we had to throw them out. My advice, change the whole mix everyday for a week and then every week to ten days until done dehydrating. Even if the mix looks dry I would brush the bird off and replace the whole batch.

my son always wants "pop PORN" I love it!! oh, and "bam-baids" (band-aids) his airplanes shoot "whistles" (missiles)

I enjoy the show. I think they have a quirky relationship and she wears the pants as far as the kids are concerned however I am reminded of my own grandparents and their "bickery" realtionship. (is that a word?bickery) She has a high octane life with those young children but manages to keep things in check. I think the sweetest moments are when they are talking about their day, you really can see the love they have for each other. Jon has such a sarcastic and dry sense of humor, I love him. Real people with a crazy life doing the best they can. I DIG IT!

We have been using GeeArt online and she really likes that. She is able to draw with Corel. We also use Artistic Pursuits. We aren't really consistant with it though. She just draws on her own so I figure that is good enough most of the time.

My mom works for Brookstone and gets a huge discount on Temperpedic. I tried but hated it. I felt like I was laying on play-doh. We do have a sleep number now and we love it. My husband is a big guy and we have had a ridge problem with our traditional mattresses. This one we just puff up a bit and he is fine. I got it during my second pregnancy and it was bliss. I could create almost a hammock feel with it which was very comfortable for me at the time but now I like it a bit firmer. We also didn't buy the base for it which is basically just a plastic platform. We just put a sheet of plywood over our old boxspring and put a bed skirt over that. You can't see the plywood and it was MUCH cheaper.

We have to send a "letter of intent" then we receive a "letter of receipt" from the SAU. That is what I use if anyone asks for proof. Barnes and Nobles has a teachers discount and they will use this. Does that help?

I have a 9 year old daughter that has been diagnosed ADHD and Bi-polar. We don't medicate for the Bi-Polar but she has a very hard time functioning in the PS setting which is why we homeschool. She can spend 20 minutes to 1 hour on math but I sometimes have to break up the lesson into pieces. I use Growing with Grammar so that only takes 10 minutes or less a page, Sequential Speller which takes less than 10 minutes, Wordly Wise a lesson will take us easily a whole week. My point is that I try for 20 minutes or less per subject but if she isn't focused or is having a "bad day" I break it up or leave it for another day. She likes History and Science because I make it very hands on and she likes to color and draw. Those subjects she will stay interested in for at least an hour. I just try to keep in mind that when she was in PS she really was getting very little because the staff had to spend most of the day "managing" her. I can't compare her to other kids because she is different but I do my best as I am sure you do to. Some things we use are weighted blankets, ankle weights and wiggle seats. Those can buy right at wal-mart or target. She also likes to sit on exercise balls sometimes. We even have an inflatable bounce house we blow up in the livingroom for those days she just needs to go go go.

I use www.burpee.com

We use Netflix. We tend to get a lot of documentaries. They have a lot of nature selections. My favorite so far "Microcosmos" Also liked "Castles" by Dave McCauley, spelling may be wrong he writes books too.

I agree with th unit study idea. My daughter just came out of PS last year and it has been a bit of a struggle. We use MUS and SOTW too and she likes these very much. Next year however we are going all unit studies because now I know what interests her. There are neat science kits that aren't too expensive at this site. http://www.homeschoolscience.com/ As for the reading my daughter hates it too. I find reading TO HER is at least a way to make me feel better that she is doing something. Sometimes I have her narrate or draw a picture after the book. She does read everyday now. Maybe lapbooks would be something she would like too. There is a bit of writing but mine loves the cutting and folding so she doesn't seem to mind. There are literature pockets just like history pockets and that is another hands on thing she may like that may also get her reading. My girl likes Sequential Speller which is designed for kids with a learning disability. Good luck with her I'm sure you'll find a resolution. It can be hard when you feel like everyone has an eye on you.

Hi! New here but I have a little experience with this. Our PS teaches "Everyday Math". Similiar to Terc Investigations. This is my first year homeschooling and in the process of trying to find a math program for her I couldn't figure out why all her placement tests put her at such low level when I thought she had covered this stuff in PS. She started the 4th grade here at home but I had to start at the beginning of multiplication. She was considered at grade level for her Math. The only thing she was at grade level for in PS. I really couldn't even consider a Saxon or Singapore because she was all over the place. I would have literally had to start at book one to fill the gaps. So here's my problem with this stuff. They do not require the kids to memorize multiplication facts. They also do not teach traditional algorithms for multiplication or division. They also rely heavily on calculators because it is considered a waste of time to spend too much effort working out problems. The calculator was not an issue for my daughter so it may also depend on how the school utilizes the program. We use Math-U-See and they add and multiply with the partial sums method I think it is also considered expanded notation but he also teaches the standard way and quickly moves on to that method. The PS my daughter went to would mark her problem wrong and have her do the problems over again if she didn't work the problem how they taught. The partial sums method doesn't work for her brain so we skip to the traditional method at home but what I am saying is they don't even expose the kids to traditional multiplication algorithms. I could even understand "Here are 3 ways to do it and find the way that works best for you as long as you get the right answer." Not how it works in my experience. They reference a video in that article and those are the algorithms they are teaching now. So to answer your question, you are not crazy but I feel that way too. Homeschool or public school I don't understand why parents are not jumping up and down in our town about this.