The smartphone can act as a hotspot for the iPad, can't it? I don't know if that's expensive, in terms of data, though. I don't have a data plan at all, so I only use my iPad with WiFi, and it's really rare that I wish I had the 3G on the iPad. (Occasionally if I get lost, LOL, but a) a smartphone could find directions for me, and B) many of the gas stations around here have free WiFi that's usable from their parking lots.)

Hmmmm. Well, we never actually watch things like NBC or FOX as broadcast; the shows we like are on at inconvenient times. So we watch them on the weekends on nbc.com (or the iPad app) -- can a blu-ray player stream from places like nbc.com? Thanks, Bill!

We do have a reasonably fast wireless connection; it streams to the iPad and desktop just fine. I'm not sure our TV is an HD TV; I think it's not, but it does have the various slots on the back for different connectors (HDMI, etc.). I did not know Blu-ray players could stream. Hmmmm, that's not a bad idea. Can they stream TV channels like NBC? And will a Blu-ray player be good even if the TV itself isn't HD? (Can you tell I know little about this, LOL?)

I can't decide if it's worth it or not. I have an iPad 2. I currently have a Netflix account, because DH and I are working our way through a couple of shows that are too popular for the libraries to have the DVDs reliably, but I don't know if we'll keep it after we're done or not. We do enjoy watching a few TV shows online, but otherwise, we're not huge TV/movie viewers. However, right now, we're stuck watching Netflix or TV channels at our desktop machine, which isn't the most comfortable place to watch, for one, and for another, I like to watch TV/movies while I'm folding laundry on our bed. (Currently, our TV is in our room, but since we only watch when there's something we really want to see, I'm okay with that.) I don't mind watching by myself on the iPad, but it's really not great if two people want to watch something together. When we do want to watch a movie, it would be really nice to get it online and be able to watch on the nice TV screen. (We also live 10 miles from anything that has a Redbox kiosk, and it would be really nice to watch something spur-of-the-moment on Saturday night without someone having to go out.) So I'm considering an AppleTV or Roku box, because when we would use it, I think it would be really, really usefl. Which would be better? Do I need the latest thing, or no? Of the following, what will the AppleTV/Roku boxes stream? (And is it that it streams through the iPad onto the main TV? I assume there's a connector cord of some sort that I need?) -TV channels -- ABC, NBC, FOX -Amazon movies -Hulu Plus -Netflix -Blockbuster online (and Redbox -- do they have a DVD online rental? not sure) ETA: I do not have Amazon prime and don't intend to get it; we have occasionally bought/rented TV or movies from Amazon, though, and that has worked nicely. Thanks in advance for any help you can give a clueless luddite. :)

I have a iPad 2 with the upgrade to iOS 6+, which is the most important thing. I have yet to find anything that it can't run, and it's amazing. The camera is terrible, but I don't use it for that; I have a nice enough point-and-shoot that does a very good job. TV looks great on the 2, certainly not terrible by any means -- definitely not worth (to me) the increase in price for a 3 or 4. I have the case with the bluetooth keyboard, and that plus a few dollars spent on the Notability and QuickOffice HD apps has made it so that the iPad functions like a laptop. I rarely use my desktop machine any more (and while it's not the latest and greatest, it's no slouch either) unless I need to print something (since I don't yet have a printer that will print right from the iPad) or download stuff I don't want cluttering up the iPad (photos or librivox audio books). The iPad would not be nearly as useful to me without the keyboard.

I don't know. We didn't really see results until two or three weeks of consistent use.

We saw improvements to dawdling and the time it took to get a subject done. We also saw careless errors on math decrease significantly. We also saw increased free time reading, more finishing of books instead of starting and then discarding.

My (non-ADHD) son and I (probably ADHD but not hyperactive) are not at all auditory learners. Part of it for me is that my hearing is okay but not great, and so I never cultivated listening as a big skill. I learn by seeing, and my son seems to as well. My DD, my DH, and my 4yo son (some of whom are ADHD hyperactive) are very auditory learners; they follow audio books well, and they remember things we read to them very easily. When it comes to reading to DS1, we need to stop frequently and make sure he knows what's going on (but when we've done so, he's really enjoyed even complicated things like Treasure Island and The Hobbit at age 4-5). For your child, I would do the following: -Have her hearing tested if you haven't already, and have an ENT rule out any issues. -Read a paragraph or two at a time, and have her narrate/answer questions about just that small portion. Build up to longer sections. -Try a different book; maybe SOTW just isn't for her. -Give her some things to listen for -- names of kings, two facts about a city, stuff like that. Maybe even write them down for her. -Let her draw or fidget while listening. -Try something like WWE; this year, DS1 has done WWE2, where I read a passage to him and then help him answer questions about the passage. The guided narration has really helped him learn to focus and listen.

I voted that I wouldn't start over, but I'd take a few weeks to work on spellings. (Actually, at that age, I'd just do it all orally.) If I were doing it written, I'd work on the spelling a bit more so that she didn't get incorrect spellings ingrained in her head. As for the macrons above the letters, I agree with the PP that they aren't that important, but I probably would work on them in certain spots -- the ones that come at the ends of the word, because, at least in our Latin curriculum, it's necessary to know which cases have macrons in the endings. For instance, it'll have multiple choices and want you to choose between a without a macron for an ending and a with a macron; which one you choose depends on the case you need. Other than that, I don't think they're terribly important as of yet. Mostly, I'd just want to make sure that I wasn't encouraging bad habits of not paying attention to details.

I would get a trampoline, particularly one that we could use indoors in the winter. My little guy would love that!

My under-8 set (okay, and the 9-10yo too) really enjoyed the state books from Sleeping Bear Press. They could be adapted for slightly older children by having the child pick a few topics upon which to do further research. http://www.amazon.com/Is-Keystonel-Pennsylvania-Alphabet-Discover/dp/1585361046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365211121&sr=8-1&keywords=sleeping+bear+press+key+is+for+keystone Some good ideas here too: http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/g_is_for_geography/

Our co-op does picture study, one artist per session. This spring, our session will have had five classes, so we've studied five works by one artist. I'm setting up for my class while the kids are doing picture study, but the way I think it works is this: the teacher passes out 8x10 pictures (public domain works are great because they're free), one for each child, face-down. When everyone has one, she has them flip them over and study them for a few minutes. Then she asks the kids to tell what they see, and they discuss the picture. She also talks about the artist's inspiration and such. She hands out a notebooking sheet with a smaller version of the picture (and its title and date), and the kids write a few sentences about what they see, what might be going on, etc. Everyone takes home their notebooking sheets (she reads them during one of the other classes, writes a nice compliment on each one, and gives them back to us), and an 8x10; we can post the 8x10s at home to look at further during the week. By the end of the session, the kids have a good feel for the artist's style. We've done picture study at home too (although my kids scowl adorably and tell me I don't do it like their co-op teacher, LOL); we pass the picture around, so that everyone gets to see it, and when everyone's had a turn, we discuss it (and then we post it to look at more). This is nice because we get to hear Daddy's perspective. In those cases, no writing is generated, but we still discuss the works. A simple biography of an artist (or composer) would be good too. For music study, we listen to a lot of music in the car, or the kids listen while falling asleep. In theory, we will also fill out a notebooking sheet that includes the title, artist, date, style of music, and the kid's impressions of the music; in reality, we're bad about that. :)

Probably one of DH's and my earliest slow dances as well; our first date (to our school's Homecoming Dance) was in October, 1991, so surely that was played often at dances in the next few years.

These are CDs, but I think some of them have DVDs as well, but my kids loved loved loved Susan Hammond's Classical Kids series -- Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Mr. Bach Comes to Call, etc. They're really, really good, and I credit them with not only teaching *me* more about classical music, but with introducing my children to classical music, in a gentle way that helped the music stick. Biographical information mixed in with music and a storyline, plenty of voices, very much like listening to a play. My kids also really like the Beethoven's Wig series of CDs.

I want my kids to have a basic idea of geography. It doesn't have to be perfect, but I want them to know the difference between Austria and Australia. I'm okay if they can't necessarily name every country in every continent, but I want them to at least know that Somalia is in Africa, Argentina is in South America, and Saudi Arabia is in the Middle East. I had to memorize all the countries in Africa in seventh grade; it was pretty much in a vacuum, with little to no context. I did it, scored 100% on the test, and have now forgotten most of them -- but I do have a general idea of where each of them is. I think context and background count for a lot. We had a friend in Afghanistan for a while, and we sent him packages, so we discussed not only where he was, but also how it was hot and sandy there, much moreso than here. Watching The Sound of Music gave us context for learning about Austria. And so on. This year is our first year to use the AG and maps with SOTW (ancients), and my kids have really, really loved the maps. We like that they're repetitive without being boring, building layers of understanding without being tedious. We do keep US and world maps on the wall of our schoolroom, so that we can refer to them in the moment; my favorite moment is when my 4yo sat, quietly studying the world map, and said, "Mama, tell me again where Persia is," because he remembered hearing it in SOTW. Context! When we did US history, we read the Sleeping Bear Press book for each state, as we came to its date of being founded/joining the union, and that was a lot of fun, seeing what was special about each state. Next year, we're using the Great Google Earth Puzzle Challenge book or whatever it's called, and I'm looking forward to that. I am planning to have the kids mark each location on a paper map, and I'm hoping to get a few supplemental books for each country/feature. So, yeah, I want them to have some understanding of geography. But I also want them to know that Lee fought on the Confederate side, and that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Benjamin Franklin were never US Presidents, and it seems a lot of people don't know those facts either. So I don't necessarily drill geography over other subjects.

Interesting, and a good point. In our case, we did continue to do handwriting/copywork as a specific subject, and we also allowed typing. We just cut out any extraneous writing -- if she didn't need to write math, Latin, or narrations, she didn't. And we gradually increased what needed to be written. In her case, I do think the delay in writing was a good thing, but I can see how a parent might need to be careful about that.

OP, I read most of the thread (before my own attention deficit issues kicked in, LOL), and I wanted to say that I sympathize with you. I think with very bright (and even gifted) children, they do sometimes have to be taught to work, to persevere through work that is not so interesting, to keep going when it's a bit dull or difficult. I also think that around eight or so, there's a shift -- acquiring basic skills has been really easy for them up to that point, but now that work requires a bit of thought and effort, it's hard. Some kids need to be dragged through that more than others. I think a couple of years will make a huge difference. Can you do oral narrations and not much writing at all for a while? It seems that my DD's brain was much faster than her fingers, and she *hated* to write for a long time, especially around that age. We did most things orally, very limited writing. We have samples from picture study from 8-9 where she's written maybe two or three words; this year, at 11, she writes and writes and fills the page and runs out of time before she's run out of ideas. A few years of maturity really made a difference. Also, you might consider a different math program. I use Singapore with my son, and so far it's a really good fit for him; he intuitively "gets" the Singapore way of doing things. I think my daughter would hate it, though (DS1 loves Miquon also; DD didn't). Singapore requires mental organization that is not DD's strong suit. We use Saxon for her. It's less cute and fun, but that's actually a plus for her (she doesn't like cutesy). The Saxon blend of different problems is nice for her -- in any given set, there are several easy problems (which give her confidence -- "I've mastered this", "yesterday, I needed Mom's help with this type of problem, and today, I don't", etc. -- and which teach her to persevere even when life isn't always Super Exciting) and some more challenging ones. But the mix keeps it from being boring. So you might consider trying a different math program. The other thing that has helped my DD is starting Latin. She asked to start it, and she loves it. She memorizes easily, so it's fun for her -- enough fun that it helps her when there is a tough spot. It's also, honestly, one thing that she and I do entirely together; she doesn't have to read anything separately, or work problems after we discuss them, or anything like that. We share a love and ease of learning languages, so it's a bonding thing for us too (whereas DS1 and I bond over our love for math tricks). So far, she does it all orally (I occasionally give her a written test to stick in her portfolio), and that takes pressure off of her. Latin has also helped her learn organization; it's logical, and she needs to remember the same steps each time. Because she enjoys Latin in general, learning to follow the steps is fun for her in a way that learning them in math is not. The gentle perseverance when there's a trickier spot is good for her too, because it's teaching her to work; she is able to be proud of her progress, to own it. So you might look into foreign language lessons for your child.

For science, we're going to try Mr. Q's Chemistry, since we did life science last year; it's $50 right now, but it was $25 around the holidays, and for two kids, that's really good for me (especially since it's all planned out for me, which means it may actually get done). If you have a tablet or e-reader, or if you don't mind reading it from a computer monitor, that would be even better, because otherwise, it's a lot to print. Otherwise, for science, I'd just use library books and videos, or online stuff. My evaluator would suggest just having the kids write a few sentences about whatever they're read/watched. One of DD's samples for science this year is writing about going to see our baby on an ultrasound; last year, we took our then-infant for an echocardiogram on his heart, so I could have followed that up with a simple diagram of the heart off of the internet. Handbook of Nature study is available online for free, and you can join the email list where they'll send you the outdoor challenges for free. I think at least some of the Burgess books are online for free too, and at least for the bird one, there's the site with a collection of bird videos that is aligned with the Burgess Bird Book. Check your library sales too; I scored Physics Lab in a Housewares Store years ago (like, when my oldest child was 4) for about fifty cents, and it, plus some drawings or writings, should make a decent science program too. But I'd just take the kids to the library and let them pick out a bunch of books on sciencey topics and call it good (which is what I really ought to do anyway). Things like the Eyewitness books are good for sparking interest in topics. You can make simple notebooking sheets or lab note sheets for experiments, without having to buy a full science program. CurrClick had a really nice bird packet a couple of years ago, for free, and though I probably could have just picked up library books, it was nicely organized and did the work for me (and included worksheets for the portfolios): http://www.currclick.com/product/23381/Birds?it=1 Ask around and see if any friends have the butterfly habitat (or ladybugs or frogs or whatever); then you could just buy the butterflies and read some books. When we did that, I had the kids keep a log on a calendar with pictures of the creatures' developments. We have to do fire safety every year, so this year, I googled something like "free fire safety worksheet" and printed off a couple of them -- easy and done. For health/safety (and also for science), the Army Corps of Engineers will send you a free DVD (and there are free PDF printable worksheets to go with it) about water safety; it's a little hokey but full of good information. I would email the person on this page and ask how you can get it: http://watersafety.usace.army.mil/

I didn't spend much more than that this year for two kids. I did spend a fair amount of time looking for deals, though. Used books, library, borrowing from friends, major sales, etc. There's so much available for free now!

I think you could easily give the pancake pan at the shower, especially if you made a big deal out of passing the tradition along to her and her new husband (and hopefully future children). I think a mom/MIL/grandmother could get away with that sort of gift (even if it's gently used) because it's a tradition specific to your family -- sentimental is good! (I would totally not have been offended if my MIL had done that; I'd have appreciated that she was passing something down to me.)

DS1 really wants to visit Boston, and we've wanted to do that for years. (We lived there for the first two years after we got married and would love to visit again.) It's not going to happen this summer, with a new baby coming, but maybe the fall, or next spring or summer. Are there homeschool discount days at any of the popular attractions (like Plimoth Plantation)? (We probably wouldn't go to Old Sturbridge Village -- cool as it is, we have several similar places around here that we've explored already, so we'd probably prioritize Plimoth, the Boston landmarks, and the like.)

Most of my stuff is from Old Navy or Motherhood, but most of it is also 8-11 years old and has been through four or five pregnancies. I like fairly simple stuff, though, like simple tees, polos, and jeans.

Here you go: http://www.fi.edu/math/index.html Some other sites (geared toward algebra, since that's what I was looking for for my DD, but the sites may have other types too): http://www.mathworksheets4kids.com/word-problems.html http://www.dadsworksheets.com/v1/Worksheets/Pre-Algebra%20Word%20Problems.html http://www.algebra-worksheets.com/algebra-word-problems-worksheets.html

This is a really good point, and I really appreciate it; it was just what I needed to hear. They aren't lacking in history knowledge, and we will be attempting more science and more writing next year (or at least, I hope we will). I'm also planning to put DD through a bunch of classics (I have a thread from a few weeks ago about must-reads for an 11-12yo), many of which are early American in nature, *and* I've never had a young 2yo and a newborn at the same time before, so I should be gentle to myself and DD. A bit of "coasting" in history is actually probably a good thing, since it's otherwise a pretty strong area for us. The portfolio is probably my biggest concern (other than DD possibly being bored, but I think she'll enjoy showing her skills to the youngers, and she'll love the cooking parts), but really, I only need a handful of things to put in the portfolio, and I'm sure I can find stuff to put in it. Our evaluator is a good friend of mine, so at any time, if I'm concerned, I can chat with her about how to represent what we're doing. Thank you. :)

Next year, I will have a youngish kindergartener, a third grader, and a sixth grader (and a newborn and a 2yo along for the ride), and since it's DD's last year in the early grades, I'm feeling really called to have one last childhood year for her. We recently acquired the Prairie Primer, and I feel like it's now or never for it with her. I think the boys will enjoy it as well. However, I'm concerned that it's not enough history, especially for DD. I think we'll have fun with the activities and such, but I am looking for suggestions for supplemental books, specifically that would cover history for a sixth grader. (There may be some in the PP itself; I haven't had a chance to look through it much yet, but I would love personal recommendations.) ETA: I should also add that my kids are, in general, history buffs. They've spent a lot of time in Gettysburg and experiencing living farms and such, so they're well-familiar with many of the traditional crafts and such that the Little House books mention, especially DD. So I really do feel like I need a bit more for them (but I want to do some of the crafts and all because the younger kids haven't gotten to do as much of that sort of thing as DD has). I guess I just want to add more depth for DD, so that she's not bored.