Thank you for your advice. Yes this is exactly what is going on. Which is kind of funny because now I have more friends in the ward than I did one year ago, but that's because I've been going to the other activities: book group, enrichment, Zumba, etc. Church is just so easy to stay away. I'm not there for any social reason, so no one is counting on me. I don't have a calling, so I don't HAVE to go. 9am church makes me cry my eyes out. I think I scared DH with all my negative talk; I think he realizes how bad I am so he's trying extra hard to make it happen. Oh yes, I am at the HEART of the bubble. Just a few blocks away. DH was at the library earlier. I wish I had gathered my braves sooner and had the courage to ask sooner. Now they're closed til Monday :glare: Maybe I'll see if there are any good ones on the Kindle.

Thank you. That's a great idea. I'll have to see if I can find any good ones at the library.

This is not really related to General Conference, but I was wondering if any other LDS moms have experienced this. I find myself drifting toward apathy about the church and the gospel. It all started about 3 1/2 years ago when I found out my dad was leaving and did a lot of truly evil things. I had so much anger towards him that I didn't want to be anywhere the Spirit was. Then three years of postpartum depression and more anger. We've only been to church a couple of times this year, mostly out of pure laziness of not wanting to go to bed early, get up early, get children ready, etc. And now I worry that I'm past the apathy stage and drifting closer to the unbelieving stage. If you've ever been in a funk like this, how did you get out?

Well, I wouldn't call myself a veteran as my son is only 6, but I can tell you that once you start, you realize it's not so scary and that you are perfectly capable. In fact, I think it's a lot of fun. :001_smile: Oh and it did take me about 6 months to add in all our subjects to the rotation and find my groove. Be patient and kind to yourself as you figure out what does and does not work for you guys. Like I said, it's not really all that scary once you get started.

I started using StartWrite You can make your own copy work pages and they have the HWT fonts.:001_smile:

If it were me, I would drop the co-op. I couldn't handle all that travel and teaching with a newborn. Is there a reason you couldn't use the same curricula but just buy it on your own? To me, it's easy to buy a lot of the WTM recommendations and plan out the next thing. Planning each week takes me 20 minutes and that's while I'm watching a TV show. With the cost of gas, I think that would save a ton of money over the long run. As for getting it done, I found that I just needed to get in the habit of doing school. Having a Sonlight schedule won't automatically make that happen; that schedule could hypothetically be ignored as easy as one you make yourself.

This is a pretty good summary of our day and how I organize. I have since added science and geography to our day, although the geography is usually the first thing to get dropped. I apologize for it being so long; it was originally written to answer a bunch of questions that some friends of a friend on FB had. To sum up, all workbooks get the binding cut off, hole punched and put in a three ring binder. All teacher manuals get the binding cut off and are spiral bound. Everything I need each day is stored in a Desk Apprentice. Every week, I go through the worksheet binders (MUS, WWE, and science) and pull out the pages for that week. I have folders in the DA for each day. I split the worksheets up amongst the folders. I write the assignments in a teacher's lesson planning book. When we finish the assignment, I highlight it so I know what was accomplished and what wasn't. When each page is finished, I put it in the "Completed Work to Be Filed" folder and at the end of the week, I file everything in a big 3 ring binder. That's essentially our yearly portfolio, even though our state doesn't require them. To me, this method is quick and simple and allows for flexibility. Suppose he only did one math sheet (I usually put two in each day), I just put the unused one in the next day's folder and we'll get to it then.

You may find that 5 months will make quite a difference in your toddler. He may be able to sit for a few minutes at a time. I did a blog post here about keeping my toddler occupied. I also did a post here about what our day looks like (I apologize that it's so long, the part I'm talking about is the final third of the post, the part that says "What we do now".) Good luck. I would suggest trying various things until you find something that works. There are a lot of interruptions, but just try to go with the flow.

I only ever get Pigby to listen with conference bingo and coloring pages. I haven't even looked for any yet. There was an activity in last month's Friend that he wanted to do. It had the comfy chairs with the First Presidency and the Twelve's names on them. You cut them out and stick them on the podium when they're speaking. Or something. Digby? Fat chance of him sitting still for anything. I'm hoping Chuck will at least sleep through the majority of it

Thank you for the ideas everyone. I am not miffed that I was expected to host a dinner. Well, I was miffed that she hadn't really talked to me about it, but I was willing to do it anyway. I was mostly miffed that she wanted a party and then backed out. I am kinda miffed that my mom was intervening, but that's another story. I see my sister 4-6 times a year and do enjoy her visits. I think she wanted everyone to meet her "friend" and that's why she wanted a big party. I have no problems with that. I wish she had finalized all of her plans which would have let me come up with some final plans. That way she wouldn't have had to back out. What ended up happening: I told her to make a decision about when she was coming here. She did. I told my brother, she told my aunt. They probably won't be coming. So I told her that her and her friend could go out to dinner and we'll do dessert and games here when they get back. I will tell her to next time please just call me because the texting thing drives me crazy. Or I'll call her. But now that it's all figured out, I can relax and we'll have fun. Oh and the meeting for the boys was for DH, my brother, and her friend. Sorry for not being clearer. It's not my children though, the grown up boys.

I don't know how common it is, but yes, I found a little wiggly, creepy crawly in one a long time ago. I haven't been able to eat any since.

I've been simmering all day and might lash out. FB is not a good place to vent/ask this. Story: My younger sister and a friend are coming down from Idaho for the weekend. They will be staying at my aunt's house about 10 away. A few days ago I got a text from her Sister: Did you tell M (our brother) about dinner on Saturday? Me: What dinner on Saturday? Sister: Oh I forgot to tell you, I think we should have dinner on Saturday. :glare: So I said fine, we could do dinner. We picked something to make. Then yesterday she sent me another text. Sister: Did you tell M about dinner on Saturday? Me: No, can you? Sister: What time should we do it? Me: About 5, I guess (because the boys have a meeting to go to at 6 that lasts until 8). Sister: Oh we might be late if we come, but go ahead and start without us. We can play games or something. :banghead: Ok fine. Text from her today Sister: Did you tell P (our aunt that she's staying with) about dinner on Saturday? Me: Are you planning a party at MY house when you may or may not even be there?!?! Sister: Mom thought it would be nice. Am I crazy in thinking that this is rude? She's always been a little spacey, but this seems to be irritating me a lot. Now she says they'll be available for dinner at 630/7. So now the boys have to miss their meeting or be hungry until after. DH says to cancel. I think it would be rude to uninvite people who have already been invited. I don't mind hosting dinner. I'm just about ready to throttle my sister though.

I'm not a children's lit expert by any stretch of the imagination, but here are some that I recently read and just WUB :001_wub: Princess Academy by Shannon Hale Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians series by Brandon Sanderson I would guess they would be good around 5th grade-ish

:iagree: No kidding :glare: Our contract states that we're responsible for all plumbing issues and paying the plumbers. When the bathroom sink was leaking, I asked our landlord if he could walk me through it, since I didn't want to have to pay a plumber. He came by four or five times to fix the darn thing because every few weeks it would start leaking again (and not just a drip, drip, drip. It was streaming water.) He's such a nice man, I really do appreciate him and all he does. DH and I had one awful landlord when we first got married. We've had two really good ones since then. Landlords can make or break the situation.

For science, I would recommend looking into Elemental Science, REAL Science Odyssey, or BFSU instead of what the book recommends. For memory work, I would recommend checking out this website. Can be used with poetry or other works instead of scriptures. For notebooks, no that's not how I do my notebooks. This blogpost explains how I do my notebook. Essentially I plan on one notebook for each year instead of several notebooks that are used for four years. I have to run so I can't answer your other questions yet, I'll be back later.

DH used to say that we were homeschooling because Pigby would be too bored in Kindergarten because he already knows how to read and spell. DH would say he was worried Pigby would have a lot of behavior issues. :001_huh: Ummm...what the heazy, DH?!?!?! Now that I've clued him into why we're really homeschooling :001_rolleyes: no one has even asked.

I am awake but not very alert. Very, very tired still. How was your weekend? Did you do anything special or fun? Yesterday was my birthday. I got a Kindle on Saturday (which was almost a disaster). We had some friends over last night for cake. What's on the menu for today? No idea. Do you take a "spring break" or "Easter break" from school? If so, when? Before the year began in August, I had planned all the breaks for the entire year. Apparently I rebel when things are written down because I stuck to that schedule for two weeks. So I guess we'll be taking our breaks whenever Pigby and Digby stop asking to do school. If you don't follow a year-round school schedule, when will you be done with this "school year?" When will you start the next year's curriculum? I'm planning on schooling year round. Technically kindergarten will be over in July and we'll start first grade the third week in August. We'll be keeping on with the same programs, so we'll be starting the new books whenever we finish the ones we're on. That's anywhere from a couple weeks away to next January.

Regarding the age and the grade thing, it is ok to still call him a second grader even though he's doing third grade work. It makes it easier for groups like scouting and church and reporting to your state. You teach whatever is appropriate to his abilities, but go with age according to the official grade. For example, Pigby is kindergarten age but reading and spelling on at least a second grade level, doing math and grammar on a first grade level, handwriting on a kindergarten level. But he's still in kindergarten. That way if his acceleration ever slows and he levels out in certain subjects he wouldn't have to redo any years. Just some food for thought :001_smile:

Here are my thoughts. Please feel free to disregard as my oldest is only 6 and I am by no means an expert. If it is your first day of homeschooling, I'm assuming you had to bring him out of public school. The 3 R's are a good place to start. I would keep to the routine you had planned for a week or two as an adjustment period. If he thinks homeschooling is easy, then I think it would be more likely for him to want to do it. If he wants to do it, it would keep him going as quickly as possible. Once you have the routine down, you can evaluate on how well it's working for you both and start to add in new subjects. Then let him adjust and reevaluate how it's going. That's the beauty of homeschooling. You are always evaluating and the ability to change things that aren't working are up to you. If he starts begging you to do science, go ahead and do some every day. It doesn't have to be anything big, just reading some books on the topic or lapbooks. We do science everyday here; it's Pigby's favorite subject now. I only added it a few weeks ago.

It's here!!!! The lady I talked to said that since it was an Amazon package it had to go through them. She said that was Amazon's policy. I went to the website she gave, which had nothing on it anymore. So I went to the "Help" button. Amazon said to wait a few days. And that made me burst into tears. DH called UPS's 1800 number again and talked with someone else. The shipping address on Amazon was correct, so it was definitely UPS's fault. Through some more finagling (I think that's the word I want), they went and picked it up from the wrong address and brought it here!!! :party::party::party: I've been having so much fun with it reading back and forth between about five books. I'm in lurve :001_wub:

I guess

:banghead::cursing::banghead::cursing: UPS says they delivered it to the wrong address but I have to go through amazon now to try and get it sorted.

That's what I thought, but DH thinks we ought to wait.

I bought a Kindle for my birthday present. Amazon tracking says it was delivered 15 minutes ago. But there was no knock, it wasn't outside on the stoop. I am about to die of impatience. Why would it show as delivered before it was delivered? Why are they torturing me?:willy_nilly:

starfall.com is how my son learned to read. I had a newborn at the time and he would play while I fed the baby. After he could read CVC words, we moved to OPGTR and finished out phonics with that.