Here in PA, your daughter would be in 4th grade, starting 5th grade as of this coming fall. Actually, here, if you have your paperwork in before July 1, you can start counting your days from July 1. Many people do this, myself included. My DD is almost exactly a year younger than the OP's daughter, and she's finishing 3rd grade this year, will be in 4th as of July 1.

2-3 hours, depending on how cooperative everyone's being. DS1 can be finished in 10 minutes with his seatwork -- a couple of workbook pages for writing practice, a Bible verse, and a reading lesson with me, and he's done. DD has a Bible verse, copywork/handwriting practice, usually some math, some reading on her own, short Bible study, and maybe a couple of workbook pages about grammar, spelling, or something. It's usually about two or three things that require writing a day. She can be done in under 30 minutes if she's working and not fooling around. We also have poetry, history, science, literature, and other rotating things (picture study, music study, etc.) that we do together, plus whatever project or hands-on activity is for that day (usually related to art, history, science, or possibly handwork -- today we worked on assembling a castle). A lot depends on everyone's moods. 3 hours seems excessive to me for this age; under 2 for the almost 9yo would suit me fine, but it's also not 2-3 hours of continuous work -- she gets bored while I'm helping one of the boys, or she starts staring off into space while doing her math, or some such. :)

I plan about a year ahead, but mostly with just the topics I want to cover (and supplemental books/activities). We may or may not get to all of it. This year, I aimed for six-week blocks (with a week off in between), which sounds great in theory, and I think it would actually work very well, but it didn't quite end up working out that way. Next year, we're anticipating starting our year (which starts July 1 in our state) with a newborn, so the first couple of months need to be very flexible. A week by week plan will not work for next year (if it would ever work for me at all). So a general plan for the year that includes specific supplements, chapters, etc. is best for me. Then I like to take some time every weekend and plan out what I want to do for the upcoming week. That way, if I didn't get to a project from the previous week, it's not messing anything up to move it to the following week.

My DD has enjoyed both series. The Dear America/My America ones are not quite as interesting as the COFA, I think, but the COFA is easier reading. I think the series about boys is called My Name is America; we've not read those, as she's not interested, and my DS1 is a bit young.

We've done the HS days twice in September but have visited in Feb. The weather in Feb. is so much more iffy; I'd opt for Sept. You will be outside a lot, and dealing with coats when you're in and out frequently would be kind of a pain (at least for us). We haven't been able to be there during the week (just did long weekends), so we've missed a lot of the special activities, but we've had a wonderful time just talking to everyone and enjoying the buildings and everything on our own. Have a great time, whenever you go!

I use the same amounts as I would with butter or oil.

Yep, btdt with the carseat thing. I've currently got three kids (one who doesn't need anything, one who is forward-facing in a Graco CarGo with the lap-shoulder belt, and one rear-facing in a Graco MyRide) in a Ford Focus. It is tight, but it works, and they are all safe. (DD8 is in the middle, the toddler behind the passenger seat -- this works because I'm the one who rides in that spot, and I'm short.) The Graco CarGo is a fantastic seat; I really love it. It is big, though, but IDK how it compares to other convertibles. It might fit behind your passenger seat. I think it would be great for your younger daughter, though I personally haven't tried it with one that young. We used a Graco SafeSeat I, the "bucket" one that goes up to 35 pounds, for our younger DS, and even though he is on the big side (born at over 9 pounds and at 26 months is 29 pounds), he fit in it until 18 months. It's a bit pricey, but it might buy you a bit extra, though it's longer than a standard bucket seat, I think. You might try, for your older daughter, a Graco CarGo, with the 5-point harness in it for now. It's a good and narrow seat without a big footprint, so it works well behind someone else. I think it also "puzzled" well with our infant seat, meaning the baby could be behind the passenger, and the CarGo could be in the middle of the backseat. I've heard good things about the Radian too. I think you will just have to try out different combos and see which ones work well together.

That situation would make me uncomfortable. Yes, you'd have enough to cover some minor-major stuff but not major-major stuff. The possibility of hundreds of thousands of dollars for one illness/accident would make me uncomfortable. Or what if someone breaks an arm in the same year as someone else needs a tonsillectomy in the same year that someone gets cancer? I'd be looking for other types of insurance, personally, though I know the options vary between states. The other thing you might consider is, if you're Christian, one of the medi-share programs like Samaritan's Ministries. You could still end up owing quite a bit if there were too many needs to meet at the time you needed it, but at least your monthly payment, while not going toward you if you're healthy, would still go toward people who did need it.

We dress. There is the occasional pajama day, but most days, we dress; the children dress before breakfast, and I try to as well, though sometimes I don't dress until after breakfast.

That's pretty much what I was planning to do, lots of fiction and other smaller supplemental books. I was just hoping there would be some good resource out there with a basic framework, but maybe it won't matter so much if there isn't. I'm not opposed to learning about the US's connections with other countries, but I was hoping to avoid overwhelming them with a lot of talk about the rest of the world at this point. Maybe a few selected chapters from SOTW4 will provide enough general context. Thanks, other posters, for the other suggestions too -- will have to check those out. :)

I'd rent from you (your place sounds lovely!), though I'd have to take into consideration the cost of hay. You may need to discount the cost of hay from the rent and make sure it's easy for the renters to get the hay too. (Would frequent trips to get hay be necessary, or a pickup truck? Those might be deal-breakers for some people. Also, what about mowing the lawn -- would that need to be done?) But all of that for a reasonable rental price, just to feed a horse a couple of times a day? Absolutely! (Then again, we have a couple of acres and have an outdoor furnace that needs to be fed twice a day in the winter, so a horse wouldn't be that much of a stretch.)

My children have done well with Marshall's TCOO (we read aloud, so I do edit some), but it ends during WWI. I'm not really liking anything I've found so far that covers US history from WWI through the present. SOTW4 looks okay, but I really want something more US-focused right now. I was unimpressed with Hakim. I think A Child's Story of America might be okay, but it looks like I will need to do some serious editing, and it sounds like it's overly biased toward the conservative side. What I really want is something that will provide the very basic context -- major wars, Presidents, what was affecting the American people (Depression, Cold War, etc.), so that we can then add in supplemental books, look at clothing, listen to music from various decades, etc. It's sounding like I am going to have to create this framework myself. :)

It does seem like it could be a lot for a second grader. I'd probably drop or limit some of the grammar/spelling/reading/writing. Not all of it, if he still needs the practice, but maybe together, it's a bit much for him right now.

I can remember having horrible cramps during my cycles as a teen, bad enough that I'd leave school early at least one day during the month, usually about the second day of the cycle (or the school nurse would call home asking if it was okay to give me something). We only lived 2 miles from school, and I was in so much pain that I couldn't drive and had to have my mom come get me (with my homeschooled younger sibs in tow) -- thankfully, she was understanding, having btdt herself as a teen. The best thing to help with my cramps was some Advil or Midol, and a nap. The nap was the kicker, though; without it the meds wouldn't really work (I'm still like that). I think I took, at most, three doses of Advil/Midol during a cycle, maybe twice on day two and once on day three. For me, since I was tiny, 200 mg of Advil was enough (still usually is). I think you're right to be cautious about the amounts she takes, and for that reason, I'd probably look into other remedies and/or causes. I think looking back, I probably would have taken me to a specialist, but I'm not sure if I was particularly abnormal for a teen or not, y'know? (It did get slightly better post-babies, or at least I've had fewer cycles in the past decade, thanks to breastfeeding having a heavy effect.) I think I'd encourage other remedies for the non-cramp pains too and leave the meds for the cramps. I feel for your DD, poor girl!

I use wool exclusively (except when we'll be swimming -- wool is too heavy!), and I love it. Unfortunately, I can't recommend anywhere to buy them because I sew and knit them myself. (I actually taught myself to knit just so I could knit wool longies -- I can knit them for under $12 a pair, rather than paying around $50 a pair.) I have heard that you can make wool soakers out of old wool sweaters that you felt; google for directions and check your local thrift stores. For using the covers, I have some that are longies or shorties, and some that are shaped like a disposable diaper. I use prefolds with all of them, though with longies/shorties, you can use fitted diapers too. Snappi clips and pins are how I close the prefolds/disposable-shaped covers. If the covers are just damp, I just air-dry them (or lay them over my wipes warmer) and use them again when they're dry in a few hours. If they get dirty, I soak them in some lukewarm water and a bit of wool wash (like Eucalan) or I use a wool wash bar. If I've done that, or if I've noticed that the covers are leaking, then I need to relanolize them, which I do by dissolving a bit of lanolin (you can buy liquid lanolin online, or just get Lansinoh and stir it into a tiny bit of hot water first) in some lukewarm water, then soaking the cover in it for about 15 minutes, then gently squeezing and air-drying. No dryer or washer, or they'll felt. (The exception is that my dryer has a rack that lets the item to be dried lay still, while the dryer tumbles around it; that dries the covers much faster.)

Thanks, and thanks Kfamily, as well; this is very helpful information. It looks like it's easiest to order L'art de Lire with the CD anyway, so I'll probably just do that. I think for those two children, it probably would not be the best plan to wait a year and do them both in it together, only because the potential for competition is really great with them, and I'd rather avoid that. So I think I'll order L'art de Lire for DD, as it looks like it's a good combination of oral and writing, and maybe get L'art de Dire for DS1 at some point, and/or just let him come along for the ride and get what he can out of L'art de Lire and other casual French books/CDs/etc. I really appreciate all the suggestions!

I use parts of it and have really liked their book suggestions!

It varies a lot in our house. Right now, we have one book that we're reading as a family read-aloud before bed (in addition to the children's Bible that we also read during that time). I also have a space in the schedule for history, one for literature, and one for science. So in the history space, we have SOTW vol. 2 and Our Island Story, but neither every day and not both in the same day. SOTW2 is the basis, and as applicable, we read the chapters of OIS that fit. Then in between those chapters, we add other supplemental books that apply, usually picture books or at least easier ones that are geared more toward my 5yo. Like, right now we're learning about life around the 11th century, particularly pertaining to castles. So over several days, we read SOTW chapter 16, which talked some about castles, and we read OIS chapters 27-29, which talk about some of the first kings of England after the Norman Conquest. Then in the days following, we read other books that give broader pictures of what life looked like around a castle or medieval town; currently, we're reading David Macauley's Castle, but we won't go back to SOTW or OIS until we're ready to focus on knights more than castles. Our literature space is usually geared toward our history studies as well, so we recently finished Our Little Norman Cousin of Long Ago (I cannot say enough good things about this series!) and are now reading King Arthur and His Knights. So it's usually two, occasionally three (if they're very short), books and/or chapters a day as read alouds for the history and literature spaces, total. Science is usually another book and/or chapter, sometimes two. Right now, it's the Burgess Bird Book and other books about birds. So that plus history, literature, and evening makes about four, plus the Bible. I've been a bit lax, but would like to get into reading a chapter of something church-history-related (we're in the middle of Trial and Triumph) and something from Tales from Shakespeare about once a week each. The kids don't seem to be confused by having several books going at once; it's just a matter of trying to fit it all in, which doesn't always happen with younger children around. :) (DD8 also has at least one chapter book that she's reading on her own at any given time, and I sometimes require that she read and narrate to me about something additional related to our history studies too.)

Thank you, everyone, for the suggestions! About L'Art de Lire -- I looked at it and think it might be what we want. Do you think we could do it without having done L'Art de Dire first? I was thinking about getting L'Art de Dire and going through it as a family, even though DD is probably a little old for it, and then moving on to L'Art de Lire whenever she's ready for it. I'm looking at sample pages for both Dire and Lire and can't decide which would be best for the fourth grader. I think she could probably handle Lire, but she might like Dire better at first. Will have to think about it. How necessary are the CDs? I studied French for several years, and while I'm not fluent and don't have a perfect accent, I do understand a fair amount and do know the pronunciations.

I buy both new and used. New (and usually from amazon, sometimes from RR or other places), if it's not available used, if the used price is very close to the new, or if it's something I know I'm going to want to keep for years and years. Amazon's sales, 4-for-3 promotions, and free shipping often make them the most competitive place, comparable to, or sometimes cheaper than, used. I've bought used for things that were really good deals, or when I didn't care so much about the condition. For super cheap, I'll tape a book back together if need be. I personally have bought from ebay, half.com, and homeschoolclassifieds, plus amazon's used marketplace, and I've never had a problem; usually I am pleasantly surprised that a book is in better condition than I expected. I've also used personal paypal and other payment methods with no problems at all. However, I've also not bought anything super expensive that way; usually the used items I've bought are well under $20 each, so if I get burned, it's disappointing but not the end of the world.

When I was in school, it was the heat that was the problem; only the high school had air conditioning, and our area could hit 90 degrees pretty quickly. As it was, we didn't get out until early June, so it was warm enough then. They probably also have to work around summer school dates for kids who need that.

I'm reading past threads, but they're a bit overwhelming. Can anyone recommend a good French program for a bright fourth grader? I'm not looking for anything too structured, like I might use for a high schooler, but I want something a little more than the random books and CDs I've been using infrequently. Something mostly oral, and bonus points if a 6yo would enjoy it as well.

We are using SOTW volume 2 with our 5yo and 8yo, as a read aloud. The 5yo wouldn't be able to read it on his own, but he understands most of it when I read it. The 8yo could easily read it on her own but isn't bored when I read it. I think the later volumes are a bit harder in level. I think it'd probably be fine for your kids; if the 10yo finds it a little too easy, supplement with some additional accompanying literature or other history books, such as H. E. Marshall's books. But if you're looking for a basic overview, I wouldn't worry if it turns out to be a little too easy for the 10yo; my personal opinion is that there's a time and place for challenge, and a time and place for just learning the info and enjoying it.

Ours did exactly that a few months ago, tumbled but no heat. Since it was only four years old, we didn't want to replace it. We found an appliance repair forum online and got some suggestions; they said it could be one of three things, all of which DH checked, and it turned out to be the element. We were also able to find an appliance store online that sold to individuals (as opposed to selling to repair people only), and in a couple of days, we had the new element here (about $85 -- not great right before Christmas but not horrible either). DH installed it easily, and it's been working fine. You do want to make sure there are no clogs anywhere, as that can burn out the element, but if it needs to be replaced, it needs to be replaced.

It's not a holiday for my husband, so we will be doing schoolwork that day.