I'll bite. Our day yesterday went something like this. Started school at about 8:30 which is a miracle on a Monday morning. I nursed the baby while doing Bible class with my third and seventh grader. The first grader did his handwriting work independently at the same time and my high schoolers were on their own - doing whatever they chose from their schedules that I had prepared on Sunday night. (I use HSTracker and get the assignments ready for the week on Sunday night). After Bible, I did our latin root study with the same kids and set them to making their cards (Vocab from the Roots Up) and finished cleaning up the breakfast mess in the kitchen and got my two-year old dressed. My oldest daughter needed some help with math in the meantime. We're struggling through the end of Algebra I. Then on to spelling power with my third grader while my seventh grader did his grammar and handwriting independently. My first grader, 2yo and 4yo were playing in the basement so it was fairly quiet and I actually managed to get the seventh grader through seq. spelling and my third grader doing his grammar. Soon after this I moved my first grader to begin working on his Singapore math assignment and my seventh grader worked on his reading while my third grader did his Singapore math assignment without me. This sounds like it was moving pretty smoothly at this point but I just remembered that there were several fights settled between the two youngers and my baby was refusing to nap so I was carrying her around and trying to entertain her during this whole hour. We all had cookies and milk for a snack then back to the books. The middles read their history with me then the seventh grader started on his science without me and I did my first grader's MFW work. . . I don't want to bore you with minutia but you can see how it goes... some days smoother than others and I just keep moving from one thing to the next and rotating kidlets in and out of independent work and Mom-supervised work. When I only had two doing school I couldn't imagine this either but remember, you generally only add one in at a time :) Right now I'm trying to imagine how I'm going to manage to get my new K'er started next year but I try not to panic about it :) One thing to keep in mind, the days where we were done with school by noon are far over - I don't even try for that anymore. We're usually all done by about 2:30 (at least with the subjects I have to be directly involved in.

I've got two high schoolers using MFW Highschool Year 2 and I can tell you that we are all loving it. It seems to be a perfect balance for them. The only book they've really complained about is "Church History in Plain Language" but they just say it's boring. Other than that, we've really enjoyed the way it is set-up for independence. I really like the weekly parent conference - it's an easy way for me to track what they are doing and call them on it if I find out that they are not following through on things they should be doing - or getting behind. If you've got any specific questions about Year 2 let me know. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with for Year 3 for next year.

With our most recent addition we ended up taking about a week off and it worked out perfectly. The kids were happy to be back into a routine. The kidlet before this arrived on December 6 (he's two now) and we ended up doing no school until the second week of January and it about drove me bonkers. I realize now that I really needed something besides walking the floors with a newborn to think about and the kids really needed a routine of some kind. At the time, though, we had relatives in and out because of the holidays and everything was messed up. I was so relieved that this time it worked out so neatly and I was able to enjoy that newborn stage much more with a routine established for the olders. Much less stressful.

:iagree:

Our experience has been positive with Calculadders. My olders had used it years ago and we started it again this year with my first grader and third grader. They love and will throw fits if I decide I'm too busy to do it everyday. My first grader, in particular, loves the aspect of trying to beat the clock and will say, "Did I win?" afterward while he waits for me to record the score. I've always liked that it's a competition against themselves. We've always followed the recommendation that if they score at least an 8 in 12 tries we go on and they just repeat that level again next year. If they don't score an 8, we do it six more times and then move on no matter what and just repeat again the next year.

As a Bengals fan - I'll just say that I really enjoyed reading the sports section of the newspaper this morning :)

I'm still searching for Christmas for my 4 yo, 6 yo and 8 yo. I came across Bloco building sets on Timberdoodle. Does anyone have any experience with these? Are they durable? Do your kids like them or should I just stick with Legos? Thanks!

:iagree:

We have two or three sets that we keep in a plastic tub. All of my kids have been seen playing with them lately and even my 2 yo loves to stack them up - he can accidently make some really interesting designs.

:iagree: We live in a district that doesn't allow participation at all so right now I'm driving 30 minutes each way to a small Christian school so my son can play basketball and yes, they practice every day. We are very thankful that he can participate at this school but when I write my check for our real estate taxes which are mainly school taxes I get very annoyed. It seems that if the schools are going to be the center for sports (especially true during jr. high and high school) then participation should be open to all who live in the district but I would love, love, love for the sports organizations to be taken out of the schools and placed in the community's hands!

We're really enjoying MFW's high school.

If you want to peek at these before you buy, you may want to check out your library. Our library has them on the shelf and it was nice to hold them and then make my decision.

We have the MUS blocks so we just use those with Singapore when we need them. I don't think the abacus would be a problem. Any manipulative will work that will show the different place values in a way your dc understands. If he's been using the abacus, I'm sure it will work out fine.

Hobby Lobby is another place where you can find different styles. They have the "collector" types but they also have the cheaper bags of different soldiers than we've been able to find elsewhere. We've also had good luck at Target. During the Christmas season they have some different sets that include tents, tanks, etc. that my kids like to put togehter with their other sets.

I always work out a rotation schedule where one of the olders is always with the little in a different part of the house but I see that you don't have the extra hands I do. Does your two year old still nap (or will he be) in the Spring? If so, I think I'd just spread that test out as long as it takes and do it during nap time unless you can hire a sitter. The first grade test will probably require a LOT of reading on your part (we do the Iowa and I know it's true for that test) so you really have to be completely available - though - I was just remembering that there really isn't any timing on the first grade test so you could interrupt the process if you needed to deal with the two-year old, probably not ideal, but doable if necessary. If the two year old is easy to entertain, I've set them up with markers and pieces of paper at the other end of the table and let them go at it - or play dough. The testing sections are short enough that this may work if you don't try to do too much of the test at a time.

Any opinions? I have MUS sitting on my shelf for my daughter (second child) but my older son used it and wasn't impressed and he thought that Saxon might be a better choice for her. She's a sophmore and just now finishing MUS Algebra I so she needs a dedicated geometry course. I'm tentatively planning on using Saxon Algebra II for her next (since I have it) so I also thought of the option of going through Saxon Algebra I with her and just covering the geometry lessons/other lessons that are new and then moving on into Saxon Algebra II. Thanks for any help/recommendations.

Hi Marie - We just switched my third grader (Young 8 year old) over to Singapore from MUS. He had been half way through Alpha and tested into 2A in Singapore. On the other hand, my first grader (just turned 6) had completed Primer and I started him in 1A with no problems. My Father's World recommends waiting until second grade for 1A but Abe is a bit advanced in math (or at least seems to be some days - LOL) so I decided to try it - so far so good.

For me, the line is crossed when I realize that I'm spending more time with disciplining than on a subject. My third child hates, hates, hates Latin and I fought through about three or four years but we weren't making any progress AT ALL. I finally realized that it was damaging our relationship and we dropped it this year. We are both much happier with our lives :) My compromise with him is that we are doing a Latin Root study instead and it's working out very well. We may try again later in his school career, I haven't decided. Are there any other issues that are causing your daughter to not like Latin? I finally realized that with my son, he was frustrated with Latin because he is a terrible speller. Because of the spelling issues, he just could not do his written Latin work with any accuracy. Sometimes I need to be hit up-side the head before I realize something so basic! He couldn't spell in English and I was trying to require him to do writing in a foreign language. It was a recipe for disaster. I have to remind myself that I never had Latin and had a fairly successful life - LOL, then I read WTM and found out that everyone HAS to learn Latin. Yes, it's a good thing to learn, but it is possible to survive and even thrive without it.

Oh, we can take it off for baths also, but I "try" not to stretch that time out too far. There's usually a contest as to who gets a quick cuddle after bath time. It's amazing how much cuddlier she is without the Pavlik. I'm really looking forward to the next u/s because they are pretty sure she'll be able to just wear it at night after that. Two more weeks . . .

Just saw this today - so glad you are "velcro" free. Our little one is still in her's at least until the 24th of November and then will probably have to wear it half-time for at least another month. We all enjoyed one day of freedom last week because I got permission to wash it and since it had to drip dry, we got to cuddle without all the straps in the way.

We have many bins of Plamobile here. Wonderful for make-believe . . . it's not really a "building" toy though there are some components that are mix and match. My kids really play with very little else. I think it's expensive because of the high quality of the pieces and the detail involved - they are virtually indestructible. I think we've had a few pieces over the years break but very few. I remember a horse that broke a leg by being stepped on by an adult and a few swords that were bent back and forth so many times that they broke. My kids will set up elaborate scenes, usually involving battles (I have lots of boys). They will set things up and leave it up in our basement for as long as I will let them. Knights and horses are particularly popular around here. One of my kids loves the police and fireman themes. Every dollar is well spent - though I do wince sometimes when I run the sweeper and hear a "clink" as that usually means we've lost a pistol or a flower or some other small piece. I honestly would rather spend money on playmobile than on the cheaper toys available elsewhere.

Our Hadassah is 7 weeks old :) It does not seem to be very popular in our area though because since her birth I've only had one person who had ever heard the name before and most don't even realize where the name came from. I've sent a lot of people to the book of Esther :)

My oldest is taking it for the first time tomorrow. He seems very confident after doing a lot of practice material but I'm guessing he may be in for a reality check. He's only beginning his junior year so he has lots of time to improve upon this score. I didn't sign him up for the written portion this time (the college he's interested in doesn't require it). I'm nervous about it just because it seems like the first "real" test of the success of our homeschooling journey.

Piggybacking a question onto this post: Did Saxon change the content of Algebra I, Algebra II and Advanced Mathmatics when they released the Geometry program within the past few years? I thought I read somewhere that you can still just cover geometry using the old sequence of Algebra I, Algebra II and Adv. Math but that if a seperate course with proofs is desired then you would use the new Geometry. Thanks for clearning up my confusion.

Thanks for sharing this Traci. We've been praying for him and his family. Praying for His peace and comfort on all his family and friends on this day.