Thanks for the link Tammy... I just can NOT spend $200 right now!! :( I hope you enjoy learning to knit!! Check out knittinghelp.com. I primarily crochet, but I do loom knit and needle knit some... crochet is just faster for me. That reminds me... I should try teaching DD again... we tried over a yr ago but she became very frustrated. I think she could do it now. Patons has a wool yarn you can find in a lot of craft stores, if you are looking for a worsted weight wool yarn. :) It's feltable too.

I have not heard of this! I'm off to google! I was looking at WWE2 as a possibility, but she would LOVE an online course. Any other suggestions? (OK, Bravewriter is a bit out of my price range... :()

I have not read the whole thread but as a mom who was pulling her hair out a few weeks ago, I'll share what has been helping. I set a timer for each subject. Roughly 40 min each for CLE math, LA and reading. If she does her work with a good attitude and a happy heart, she gets a marble in the jar. If she beats the timer, she gets a second marble. 40 minutes is MORE than enough time for her if she doesn't piddle around. For science and SOTW we don't need the timer. :) I also started applying the marble jar to wakeups in the morning because they were little beasts in the mornings. Getting out of bed without me coming to tell you to get up earns you one marble a day (on days we have to be up early--Tues-Fri and Sunday). My little one gets marbles for playing independantly and allowing sister to finish work (1 a day) and she also gets marbles for completing her workbooks (this is pretty sporadic) with a happy heart. I have some rewards written on slips of paper... "trip to chuck-e-cheese or monkey joe's (inflatable place)" "$10 to spend" We were doing allowances but the markoffs for chores were not really working with my need to create a system for dawdling. Now, basically, if they complete morning jobs with a good attitude and at a good pace, they get a marble, and they can earn one more in the pm. Doing an unexpected job without being asked earns one or two marbles. The other day my 4yo put everyone's shoes back on the shoe rack without me asking... (shoes were ALL over the house! grrr). I gave her two marbles as it was a long job and she did it so happily. So right now this is working, LOL!!

And I have On Teaching Writing, but I'm not thrilled with it...

Hi everyone... We are back in to homeschooling again and loving it!! She is doing CLE 300 level LA, Reading and Math, Apologia Flying Creatures, and SOTW 1. There is some writing in CLE LA, but I want her to get more experience with it than is allowed within the LA curriculum. I'd also like her to learn to love writing... I know it is work, but if we can help her learn to love writing that would be awesome!! Any thoughts?

:iagree:We love this book too!

We're using apologia elementary anatomy and also planning to use My Body. I will have a 3rd grader and a pre-k'er. I'm hoping even my little one will get something out of it since we'll use My Body.

Just when I think I have decided, someone else replies and I rethink it all. :lol: Seriously though, it's great to get the feedback. I definitely want her to used up the R&S stuff, so maybe I'll start with that if she wants to do school... and we could always move to MFW K after seeing how interested she really is... :001_smile:

It is a great idea to have a bin of the workbooks available to her to "do school" with. I think I'll get the R&S workbooks out and put them in a bin for her in the fall. She can choose one from the bin to do when she wants to "do school". I really don't think she's ready for a structured program next year. She has loved preschool this year and they are doing a letter a week, and it's very much so play based. She does write her name every day on a laminated card (traces her name with a dry erase marker) so we'll have to make one for her that she can trace next year. She LOVES that. I can have the Lauri stuff available during school time for my older DD and that should help keep younger DD busy and help her feel more included in school time. Thanks for the ideas everyone and feel free to keep em coming!!

Thanks everyone... Would love more ideas. :) I am totally fine with a play based approach for next year. I am really in no hurry for her to grow up.

OK, so... you can't really make me do it, but please tell me what you would do... :lol: We are bringing DD #1 home for 3rd grade in the fall. We homeschooled her for K and 1st. I have MFW K and MFW 1st here, all items except student sheets. I also have R & S preschool books, some used by her, but lots still blank that I could use for my little one. I have gone back and forth about preschool/no preschool for the little one in the fall. I have a spot for her at a church preschool that is 3 mornings/week but I would need to pay, and we're doing the Dave Ramsey class and I'm feeling bad about paying out for it when we have debt we're paying down. She is in public school pre-k now, but it is 5 mornings a week and it will keep us from being able to do some things with the homeschool group, like field trips. I'm 99% sure I'll just have the little one here full time in the fall, so I'm trying to decide what to do with her. She knows all of her letters. She knows a few letter sounds, thanks Leap Frog! :lol: She can write her name (doesn't form letters correct of course, but she's 4yo as of 2/14). I thought of doing several things... 1. MFW K, slowly, and just when I have time... maybe not even a letter a week, nice slow pace... 2. R&S workbooks I have left from DD#1--the preschool stuff... 3. OPGTR, did not use with DD#1, but I do have it on hand and could use that. I would keep showing her the Letter Factory to get the sounds down really well. 4. Just have her sit with DD#1 for science/history, do color pages and wait until K for more "real" school. 5. Use Lauri toys I have on hand bought from MFW. I have pretty much all of them. She could just play for this year and I know she'd pick things up. 6. Maybe watch Letter Factory and play about half a year then start MFW K mid year if she's really wanting more? She WANTS to be read to constantly, so it's a given that we'll read a lot. She loves writing her name, and writes notes (scribbles, but says "here mom, it's a letter!" :)). She very much so wants to be included in on any big girl things her sis does. I hesitate to do any K program because then what do I do in the actual K year--MFW K is REALLY easy imo, but 1st is a lot more complex. My older DD is young for her grade (July bday) but she would have melted down with MFW 1st in her year. My oldest could be different. I'd love to use stuff I have on hand for her because I'm watching the budget... but good items at a decent cost are welcomed as suggestions. I have what I'm doing with DD#1 in my signature, if you'd want to look at that and see how my DD#2 who's 4 could fit in. Whew, that was a massive brain dump!

:iagree:

:lurk5: Taking it all in... as my two will be in this age/stage before I know it!! And I too have been flabbergasted with some of the clothing for my little girls. When they develop, it will get even harder and my husband may not make it. He hyperventilates if we just walk past the girls' bras in Walmart... :lol:

I actually taught for 4 years before my older DD came along. I taught 7th grade reading/LA in an inner-city school. I had great kids, and rough kids... But that experience was part of why I wanted to homeschool even though we live in a different area than where my school was, I saw the way the kids interacted, the "herd" mentality--good kids who would go "bad" because of the crowd, I heard the things they said to one another and said, nope, school's not for my kids. Life happened, and we put her in... it has not been all bad... but, I can see where eventually it will change who my DD is and who she can become. I had myself convinced that at 2nd grade there wouldn't be issues with bullying and other stuff, but... I was wrong. I have had rheumatoid arthritis since age 5, so I dealt with all the crap that goes with having a problem in school... add to that a lazy eye, then glaucoma from eye inflammation due to RA. I got comments about how I was a cripple, comments asking where was I looking because of my eye... yeah... beat down. I liked school overall, I did meet some nice friends... but I dealt with a lot of crap, too. It took me until college when I met some nice folks, to find the most true sense of acceptance I had ever found before. I joined InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, met friends that I STILL talk to today, met my future husband, etc. I learned what it means to be seen for me and not for my problems. Slowly, the words and things I dealt with in school were fading away. I always felt like I wasn't ":good enough" or that everyone was better than me. :( I'm not sure if I would have felt differently if I had not endured the abuse in school. I'll never know. But I think, if I had been homeschooled, I would have enjoyed it. Especially not having to deal with the mean people. At my senior year band banquet, even my band teacher got in on the comments. They "roast" the seniors and his roast for me was "_____ is the only one who limps when she marches." Yeah, real funny. I wish my mom had talked to him. Every once in a while when we talk about band and high school she tells me she wishes she had confronted him. Anyway, just thinking about how college was a time in a supportive, loving environment school-wise... makes me thankful I have the option to bring DD home. I will definitely keep an eye on her, and she WILL come home before the end of the year if she starts behaving weird, or changing or anything else. We stayed up last night until 11:30 (dh is out of town) and she just chattered away about life, about how she thinks homeschooling is better for her... "public school doesn't seem to be for me. a lot of the kids are mean and cranky. i don't like cranky people." We told her she WOULD come home for 3rd grade, and she needs to keep talking to me about what happens at school... so trust me, we'll watch her closely.

Oh, thanks so much for complimenting her. I think she is pretty special, but I'm obviously biased. She is a kid who just draws people to her. We changed churches in May of last year and we knew it was a good move because she instantly had friends... kids and adults. It takes us a good 20 minutes to get out of the church because both of my DD's have so many people they need to talk to and hug on the way out. My DH is out of town overnight, so my older DD is staying up with me... and she's just really chatting me up in between reading this story Bible. She is the neatest kid!