I personally think it is very sensible to get as much education as ypu can as soon as you can. If something were to happen to your DH its good to be prepared to support your family and earn a higher income then if you had to go on welfare. Thats why I am doing it..security for the future which is just as important to kids as having a parent home 24/7 when they are little. You will be there most of the time anyway... my kids went to kindy at 4 yo a couple times a week..they loved it and have no ill effects. They got sick exactly one time the whole year and it was a slight cold.

It sounds doable to me. I am doing a degree part time..two classes a trimester usually but only one this time around as I was getting burnt out on writing papers so taking a break. Mine are all online so I can schedule easily around other commitments. Having two full days on campus would be great if you have childcare. Do your classes then work on your papers/homework whatever you have to do in the library for the rest of the time. You will need to do further study. The best time for me is at 5am when my kids are still asleep. They get up around 7-30-8 so I get 2-3 hours every morning to study. We do school 9-1 pm every day. Afternoons are free. I can do extra work then if I need to but I usually don't. I use Sundays when we are home all day anyway to make sure everything is finished for the week. Honestly though, I waited till my youngest was 5 to try my own school because my kids were the type who just needed too much of my time and had unpredicable sleeping habits. Its only now when they are semi independent I can cope well with my course but your kids might have a more predictable routine which would make it easier to handle. Also make a firm goal that you will not shortchange your homeschooling routine. It is very easy when you have deadlines looming to push it aside to get your work done and then come end of term you find your kids are way behind and spent a ton of time entertaining themselves or watching tv. I am very strict that I won't shortchange my kids education for my own...I get extensions etc if I have to but my kids schooling comes first. Your oldest is just 6 though and there is only one of her so school should take next to no time. I school all three of mine in 4 hours a day. Honestly at your DDs age I would just school her three days a week and let her play the days you aren't home but I'm a minimalist unschooler at heart. My oldest has dyslexia, my middle is gifted and my youngest is a high spirited craze ball LOL. Even with these needs and 4 hour a day schooling my kids took the standadised tests and got above 90% in every subject..even my dyslexic kid. So having kids with extra needs doesnt necessarily mean you have to spend many extra hours with them to accomplish learning goals. I've found the opposite to everyone else...as my kids get older they want to work independently more and more. They get offended when I suggest working with them LOL. I purposely chose curriculum though where the lesson is all spelled out in the student book so they don't need me unless they don't understand something. That is something you will have to consider...try not to choose curriculum that is heavily parent intensive. I do still do everything with my 6 yo as he is not a fluent reader but his lessons are all short so they don't take long at all. I think you can totally do it but you need to make a strict schedule and stick to it and carve out set study time, family time, homeschooling time etc so nothing gets shortchanged. As for having "me time" and looking after yourself LOL..forget it. During semester your me time is study time or family time or reading your text book in the bath. Your excercise will be limited to grabbing the baby off the slide while trying to read papers and watching your kids run around the park. But if you are willing to make the sacrifice...you should be able to do it. You are lucky you have childcare and a DH that can help. My kids are with me 24/7 and my DH is gone 8am-9pm everyday so I do it all on my own and I manage and its not even stressful once the routine is in place. Go for it girl.

I am NOT a morning person but I get up at 5 am to study (I am doing Uni). My brain does not work properly after 3pm so night study is out. My kids get up around 7.30 -8 so I get about 2.5 to 3 hours peace. They interupt me every 5 mins anyway when they are awake as does my DH so its pointless during the day when they are awake. I just go to bed when the kids do..9.30. I don't do anything special to plan but I dont have young toddlers so its easier. We school from 9-1.00 and the afternoon is free for whatever. Sunday we never go anywhere so if there is any catching up to do I do it then.

DH and I met online on a dating website. He was in Canada and I was in Australia...couldn't get much farther apart then that lol. I didn't believe him when he said he was getting on a plane to come meet me...he did. We've been married about 16 years now.

The first one was the best but I guess publishers didnt want to do it anymore when people weren't paying anything. I think its good advertising though...I got a full years program for nothing but I loved it so much I am now paying full price for all the year levels...so you dont always loose if people pick things up for free. I never would have tried it if I had to pay for it the first time.

On the news last night they mentioned it hasn't been released in Japan yet because they were afraid it would crash the servers with the rush LOL. So they are letting the other countries have a go first ...presumably to get it out of their system before the Japanese take over LOL. My DH downloaded it...figured out it ate his battery power in triple the time and got rid of it. I don't care if my kids play it or not ...its a fad that will go away. Mine are Minecraft and Skylander addicts so they have enough to fill their time anyway. We geocache...I prefer that then catching pretend monsters but really its the same thing yet no one bashes geocaching...its only computer based stuff that gets bashed. I havent really seen anyone playing here but phones and data plans are expensive here so its not a given everyone has one...definately no free wifi in the parks. If people were playing it in the park I'd let my kids go up and see what they were doing. I like my kids keeping up with pop culture especially since homeschooling sheilds them so much. I dont want them looking clueless when talking to other kids. Most kids here go to public school so they need to keep up with fads if they want any friends.

Just in case you didn't know...this was written by an LDS woman so there are references to the Book of Mormon thrown in there as well as some of their beliefs.

Our library runs awesome school holiday programs...so much so that every event is completely booked out within ten minutes of being listed online. There are age guidelines and they are strictly followed because there are too many kids of the right age on the waiting list to allow spaces to be taken by younger kids. That being said..its a public library and the librarians encourage people to bring all their children. The activities are set up near the childrens section so the little ones can play or read in there. They also set up large tables of Lego and games for smaller siblings. The librarians there also very much encourage education for everyone...so if you did happen to have an extremely bright preschooler you could probably ask for special consideration... but there are no drop offs ever...even the older children must always have a parent with them or at least somewhere in the library. I've seen a few younger siblings become interested in the classes and wander over from the Lego table and so long as they are not disrupting and sitting beside their parent they are are allowed to join in... if the older child is making something the younger one can 'help' them. They don' t turn interested little ones away. I tend to have the opposite problem...I book my 6 yo into things but once he sees the Lego table he disappears lol...luckily its right near the classes so he usually just listens in while playing with the Lego...which quite a few of the prschoolers do too. We must have very conscientious parents in our area because I've never seen one sit and chat during a program...they go out the back to do that..but most of them come knowing they are supposed to stay with their child and help when needed and they do. I recently took my DD to a learn to crochet class. My boys were so NOT interested lol but they came along and entertained themselves fine in the areas allowed as did other siblings. I sat with my DD and both she and I needed a lot of help lol...but parents are expected to be involved because the instructor cant get around to all the kids and all the parents I've seen have always supported it. I dont know..maybe its because its so difficult to even get into the popular classes parents make sure the littles behave so as not to ruin it for the older kids. No drop offs helps too.

Whatever...I could also do all that if I had a wife...but unfortunately...I only have a husband :(

Age really does count for something. I had my kids at 31, 33 and 35. With my last I joked to my doctor that I was at the advanced maternal age stage and he laughed and said because my health was so excellent he wouldn't classify me as advanced maternal age till at least 40. Well when I was 36 I miscarried at 11 weeks. At 37 I miscarried at 7 weeks. I was never able to get pregnant again after that..my youngest is almost 7. So depite excellent health and no previous issues...suddenly I became "old" and the system stopped working. People do have babies when they are older...but I don't think it is as common as we are led to believe.

We adopted a male stray. He was about 18 months when he was desexed so already had roaming and spraying habits. He doesnt spray in the house but by the smell of him...does outside. He likes to go outside as well..it is what he is used to. We have tried to train him to be inside but althpugh he now spends about half his time i side he still likes out. We let him out in the day and he usually stays in the backyard now or doesnt roam too far. Having been a stray he is pretty streetwise plus in Australia we don't have worries like cyotes or hawks...the biggest danger to him would be cars and dogs. At night he sleeps in the enclosed garage otherwise he annoys us to get out..night is prime wondering time for male cats. As for protecting the wildlife...that is an issue. Our cat bought home two half grown rabbits the other day...but since they are considered pests in Australia I am not worried about that. I do get upset at the birds he gets though..but there are millions of them around here so one or two probably help keep the population in check. Anyway..I don't have a solution except that we let our cat outside because he clearly loves it and would go crazy inside. We let him in as much as possible to encourage him to be in...but since we rent it is best not to cause him to go crazy and destroy stuff with pent up energy.

Come to Australia...that style never went out As for cullottes...they were a uniform option when I did nursing. I refused to wear them and wore an uncomfortable skirt instead... there are just some things that should never be worn...even for comfort. I've never seen a woman they looked good on.

LOL..the video is hilarious. It reminds me of being in school and when you did something wrong the teacher would make you write an apology essay to read to the class...clearly this is a traditional Australian punishment lol. That being said...his wife looks like she could be his daughter :) and bugger off is not really a swear word in Australia...it's considered politer then the other version lol

All 3 of my kids hate writing.... with a capital H. One is dyslexic, one is gifted and one has poor fine motor skills. Honestly the tears and hating became too much so I just gave up on it for now. Suddenly they are writing on their own now I no longer require it. Seriously, my gifted child cried for half an hour because I asked him to write two sentences in a journal. Yet two hours later he sat down and wrote a 3 page story of his own free will and I just shake my head. My other two kids rarely write anything ... I'm not pushing it for now. I am currently taking University courses and there are tons of remedial writing classes available, with tons of students taking them, all who passed through 12 years of public school with heaps of writing experience but still cant write properly. I hate writing myself and only do it when required but still get top marks for my essays. Some people will just always hate it. Focus on the skills for now rather then the actual doing. It will all come together soon enough. I believe reading is more beneficial to learning to write well anyway..so keep reading a lot to your uninspired writer and keep giving heaps of fine motor activities to strengthen those hands. I agree with a PP. My dd was like yours. No punctuation, random capitals everywhere, etc. We started using Sequential Spelling and in just one month she has improved in her writing so much. If your dd has a hard time spelling, writing will be incredibly difficult. Even copying is hard...because she doesnt know how to keep chunks in her head if she cant spell, which means she will look back and forth at each individual letter , which is tiring, difficult if you keep loosing your place and which will,take them forever to copy one sentence. If you can spell well you can copy easily because you just have to remember a few words at a time as you copy them. If you cant spell you are trying to remember a random bunch of letters that dont make sense to you and will need to copy each and every letter looking back and forth for each one. Work on the spelling and copying and writing will become easier. Watch your DD as she copies. If she is looking back and forth for each individual letter or close to it...she has a spelling problem. She cant hold enough of the word in her head to make copying easy and quick. A kid who cant spell cannot do dictation. Don't try it.

Yes. but my kids dont seem to mind so we keep using it because it works. I hear the third level gets a lot better so I'm hanging out for that. We also don't start their LA till second grade. No way could my kids have understood it at 5-6. We used an easier language program for 1st grade which is why my kids are a level behind. However as the lessons are short its easy to progress quickly. My kids do 2 lessons a day.

We have a huge spelling chart on the wall for my DD who has dyslexia and has a hard time with it. Her spelling is improving so much now she doesnt have to completely rely on her memory. The CLA math lessons my kids are doing have lessons on how to refer to a maths chart so they dont have to remember everything.

I wouldn't worry about it. My DS was reading fluently at 4. Now at 8 he can read just about anything. His favourite books to read in his free time are the Magic Treehouse books which take him 30 mins to read the entire thing. I don't care so long as he is reading for pleasure. Just keep working on comprehension in school time. Oh and I don't see Star Wars encyclopaedias as junk. Its hobby related reading. My boys read Lego and Minecraft manuals daily. It enhances their personal interests and the technical vocabulary is challenging. I spend half my free reading time browsing sewing magazines and just looking at the pictures. It doesnt mean I cant also read my University texts. Its relaxing, entertaining and inspirational. If I want my kids to read something I think might be challenging for them...I get the audiobook so they dont see reading as an arduous chore. They recently took Standadised tests and both scored above 95% in reading comprehension...my son 99% which is amazing considering he spends his time reading beginning chapter books and Lego/Minecraft books. My daughter scored 95% for her grade...again great ...considering she has mild dyslexia and rarely ever is able to finish reading a book herself and relies a lot on audiobooks. She was still able to read and comprehend the test samples just fine. Don't sweat it.

I haven t heard of it before so took a look since the PDF is free. It sounds a little advanced for 1st grade but it depends on the kid though. My 1st grader couldnt do it but maybe yours can. I think it looks decent enough considering its free and I would consider using it if I wasn't already happy using CLE LA. It is written by an LDS lady which I was surprised about as LDS curriculum is hard to find ...so the Christian content is slanted towards their teachings but can be generalised for any Christian beliefs as most of it doesnt seem faith specific. I think its fine for a free curriculum and better then some I have paid for.

The online version is the same as the printed guides...except online. The only difference is it has live weblinks. So yes...it is just the lesson for mum/student to read through and the worksheets to print out or fill in online. We use online because its cheaper for me without paying overseas shipping on the printed books.

We school secular...I've never had trouble finding things to fit our needs but then I'm not fussed if things aren't strictly secular. We use CLE math and LA... its easy to adjust. We use build your library and moving beyond the page which are secular or mostly secular. SOTW is fine with me. I even considered Sonlight with the thought of skipping the religeous bits before Bookshark became available but didnt for other reasons. There is plenty out there for everyone...

My DD has mild dyslexia..she reads well but struggles with writing, grammer, puncuation, spelling, math. So far she is doing the best with CLE math and language. We just started Sequential Spelling. Supposedly the guy who designed it is dyslexic himself and used the method thatbhelped him learn to spell. My DD seems to be doing the best with this then all the others we have tried.

When I want extra curriculum but don't NEED it I just go to some curriculum I drool over and borrow from it. My DS is in first grade but not ready for anything too full on so I only ordered basics for him...handwriting, reading, math. Then when I thought it looked unfun...I went to Bookshark and downloaded their list of books for first grade then borrowed them all from the library. It sure was fun when they all started arriving...just like ordering a big box of something...yet free lol. Soon DS had a huge pile of books of his very own.

In this vein...I think life is about washing dishes and picking up after everyone.

I went to a city MUSEUM and they had typewriters, phones and cameras on display all of which I had once used LOL. You know you had your kids a little later then your peers when your DH takes your 6yo son to get his hair cut and the 20 yo hairdresser asks DS if he is having a nice day out with his grandpa LOL. DH is early 40s. When my youngest was a newborn, my mum, (19 years older then me and always young looking) kept getting congratulated on her new baby... everyone just assumed he was hers...even when I was carrying him....and no...I don't look too young to have a baby...I was 36 at the time LOL. My mum thought it was fabulous...I was less impressed.. LOL.

In The beginning I was always so tempted by Sonlight but never gave it a try because: Expense and shipping ...imagine the cost shipping all that to Australia..I've noticed they have recently introduced an online version...but too late. We went with Moving Beyond The Page because they started up their online version years ago. Confusion...the website is overwhelming and its hard to know what you need Age range...I attempted a few times just to use it as a booklist but the books were too hard for my kids. At 9,8 and 6 they are now starting to enjoy books from the first few levels...and my kids are great readers but the books didnt peak their interest till then. Difficult to use with all the page flipping and such. We use MBTP as well as BYL. We love the books for BYL and the activities for MBTP are great. Plus bonus...they are secular. We are religious but I prefer to keep religion out of schoolwork. Plus the biggest turnoff seems to be their customer service. I will always stick with MBTP because of their outstanding customer service. Sonlight doesn't seem to understand how loyalty works and offend their customers regularly.