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!

So, tonight my DD picked up the Read With Me story Bible. She has read from Genesis to a story on Moses and she is still reading, LOL! I need to get her in bed... :P She got to the 10 commandments... read the one about not misusing God's name. She looks at me sadly and says, "Mommy. Some kids at school misuse God's name and I don't like that." :( Aww man, my heart is broken FOR her!! I hate the way folks use God's name as a curse whether it's "Oh my..." or, adding the D word onto His name. :( And she doesn't like it either. DH is going on a field trip Tues with her and her class (she wanted daddy -- said mommy went to her parties so it was daddy's turn, lol). I'm going to have him tune in really well and see what it's really like with the kids. I am thankful my DD's heart is still soft, and praying no matter what we do this year that her heart stays tender. We will have her home next year.

Our church does it for free and it's seen as a missions outreach. Every year they take up an offering for something, last couple of yrs it's beenm to buy backpacks and school stuff for needy kids. They do sell CDs of the songs and themed t-shirts, but the CD's I think were around $4 and the shirts maybe $7?

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. A couple comments... 1. She WANTS to finish the year. BUT, I will watch her closely to be sure she's not becoming too traumatized over this and I AM willing to pull her before then if it keeps up. A bit nervous to jump in at the tail end of the year, but, it would be doable... 2. She has a field trip next week that she wants to go to badly, and her teacher is pregnant and we're planning a baby shower at the end of the day on 5/6. She would be really sad to not be there for that. Also, I know I could deal with teaching her whatever math she would miss fairly easily (she is doing Saxon and I can probably find what is left for the year), but DH and I did decide we needed to commit to a full year and we want to stick with that unless this keeps coming up. 3. The teacher talked to the girl, and today nothing bad happened. DD is still feeling like she can't play with her friend A because of this girl, but I told her that she should just go over to A and see if A wants to play or something. I said she didn't need to worry about the bully girl because A is her friend too. I will have to see how this plays out. I told her there is NO reason she should be afraid to play with HER friend and she needs to tell me/her teacher/the playground aide if the bully threatens her again. She said A tells her she wants to play with the bully girl, and I told DD she might just need to tell A that the bully girl is not being kind to her... DD wasn't sure about that... 4. We've had a lot of upheaval on my side of the family, which is what led to us doing PS in the first place. I hesitate to cause my kids ANY unexpected losses because their uncle was arrested last year (then detained until sentencing this year), and my oldest struggled with that. I feel selfish to admit, but I was so depressed and in such a bad place that I felt like I needed some time away from homeschooling. Once things resolved somewhat on my side of the family, immediately I was ready to homeschool again! :) I realized that I was depressed even after things had gotten a bit better, because the sentencing being done helped me come to a point of closure and more fully shake the depression. We've had a lot of changes in the last year--going to a new church, dynamics on my side of the family are weird, uncle gone, now kids in ps. I hesitate greatly to change anything at this point, but I AM willing to bring her home if this situation doesn't stay resolved. I do appreciate everyone's thoughts and comments. The analogy of the copier kinda brought home to me that as an adult, I could and would remove myself from this situation... and that my DD needs to have that option if this doesn't resolve now with talking to her teacher and me suggesting she talk with A... I DO worry that she's going to be messed up just for going to PS for the one year and leaving... it was somewhat good because she learned to appreciate being home a lot more... but this crap just negates most of the good that seems to have come from it, at least in my mind. She has like 36 days left, and she'll likely not go the last day anyhow due to it being Memorial Day Weekend and we're going out of town. I will keep a close eye on her and spend plenty of time with her one on one... don't worry, i'll definitely keep up with this situation and watch her for behavior changes and such. I am glad to know that folks don't think she just needs to toughen up or know that this is just how the world is. :( that makes me sad to think people really think this is okay!! Well, my mom doesn't think it is ok, but she thinks it is a part of life. :(

OK, well, we have decided to homeschool regardless of how this all pans out. Our choice is mostly to provide her one on one teaching, then one on two as the little one starts... Her class right now has 29 kids. Also, we miss the spiritual training opportunities, flexibility of homeschooling and all of that. So this is not why I'm bringing her home, but I had a chat with my mom about it, and I completely disagreed with her take on it. You don't need to tell me I'm right, or that she's right... I'd just love to hear honest thoughts and opinions on this issue. DD is 7.5 yo and in 2nd grade at our local PS. She has made friends, some have moved on to other friends but she's always had someone to play with. She finally really linked up with this girl who I'll call A. A's family is very involved in their church and outwardly Christian. Both A's parents work full-time, and she has very nice things and a nice home. We have a nice home, but much smaller, and we live cheaply. Aaaaanyhow. LOL. So, DD and A played together a ton at school and A came over here one day over christmas break. I was pretty excited about my DD having a new friend come over here. This girl came over though, and made several comments about how her house was MUCH bigger than ours, etc etc. My DD told her "you said that twice, lets talk about something else." DD never told me it bothered her, but it sure made me mad. I chalked it up to the girl being a kid, and not getting that we are where God has us, and "things" are not what is truly important (though having nice things is not a bad thing!). They played together okay until a couple weeks ago. DD finally told me the other night that A has linked up with a couple other girls who IMO are bullies. DD will get on the swing, and the bullies come right over (she is normally swinging with A) and the bullies tell her they are going to count to 20 and if she doesn't get off, they will tell. :( DD is VERY concerned about doing the right thing, and not getting into trouble, so she listens to them but she bawled her eyes out to me and said it wasn't fair. I said she was right, it was not fair, but if she was hogging the swing, that she should share. She tells me it happens right after she gets on to swing, so it's not like she's hogging the swing. She said the girls try to get others off their swings, but they don't listen. DD does because she doesn't want to get in trouble, and she said she is scared of them telling on her. :( And because A is now with these 2 bullies and not playing with my DD, my DD is even more hurt because her friend has "betrayed her" (her words). I got her calmed down, encouraged her to always come to me when things happen and to always tell me these things because I care and want to help her get a solution. I offered several solutions, one being to stay on and tell the girl when she was done she would stop (she tried that, the girls kept counting loudly and being rude). I suggested idnoring her, that she could continue swinging and get off when she is done. She tried that, again the girls stands there yelling up to 20, so dd gives in and gets off. I finally emailed the teacher, and she talked to my DD and the other girl separately. I'm hoping in 2nd grade, that "snitching" doesn't get her more trouble. I guess if it gets worse I'll pull her out before the end of the year, but I really think she needs to finish ou the year at this point (less than 2 months to go). I just didn't know what to do because all my solutions were things DD tried and the problem was getting worse and not any better. I was half tempted to go up at recess and give the kid a piece of my mind, lol. Don't worry, I won't. LOL I told my mom all of this, and her response was DD needs to learn that not everyone likes her. I agree with that. I told DD that not everyone will want to be your friend, and that she may not want to be friends with everyone because some people are cranky and just not nice... I said she should be kind to others but she doesn't have to take abuse. My mom went on to say that my DD has not been in the "real world" while she was homeschooled, that she learned everyone likes her and is kind. I know this is true, but at 7 does she really need to learn there are mean and hateful people out there, and also that she will get emotionally, mentally and maybe even physically beat up by these people if they won't listen and stop?? I mean as an adult if someone was threatening me, at some point I could take legal action. Somehow in schools it's seen as "part of life" and something a kid must just live through. I also know sometimes bullied kids snap, and things get really tragic. :( I think it would takea while, but this is really wearing on my DD :( I don't think my DD needs to be taking orders from any child at the school, and she certainly shouldn't just "tough it out" and figure that this is just life. I don't think bullying of ANY kind over anything is acceptable!! I was bullied in 7th grade and I STILL get upset and cry when I reflect on it. I WISH someone had taken me out of the situation, but at 7th grade, I feared snitching would get me beat up. :( I told my mom I was glad we were going to homeschool because of crap like this. She said my DD needs to learn how to handle this because this is life. I feel like she should be supported and loved as she grows and in a loving home she can learn the world is not always a nice place and she can deal with it while having the support of her family all of the time. I know as she gets older we will have to talk through things in the world that are not nice and safe, but I will be there to support her and help her thru. If you got this far I'm not sure I said this how I wanted to. I'm pretty upset over this. I've been thinking about my older DD all day the last 2 days wondering if she is okay. :( And I don't want her to think she can stop going to school if she keeps telling me she's upset, but darn it, I just hate sending her anymore. Hopefully today will be better now that she's talked to the teacher. I just learned about this this week, so it's not like I knew about it for ages and just now contacted the teacher... but I did try to work on it with DD before going to the teacher. I just want my kid to finish the year and not get hurt in any way, is that too much to ask :(

I have a friend at church who uses Abeka and she says it like this, "I'm traditional and nerdy, and I like the curriculum because it's a traditional classroom curriculum." She finds comfort in that and it works for them. It would bore me to death and I think my kids would mutiny. However, I have decided to use CLE for reading, math and LA because I *do* like the comfort in a "regular": curriculum that is open and go for some of our subjects. For history and science, I wanted something that would teach them well, but be enjoyable. I HATED the way history was taught in school, and I vow to never make it like that for my kids. And, my DD's LOVE science, so I wanted something that looked fun, and allowed for lots of experiments... as well as being a topic they were really interested in. :) Try what you have for next year and you can always switch things out. I've seen the PS curriculum and I am now fully confident in my ability to provide an education that is just as good as PS--well probably much better, honestly. LOL

What is GSWL? Thanks for the feedback. I was looking over the samples and my older DD was pretty fascinated by it. I also found a coloring book I could have my little one color in (and my oldest if she wants to). I'm hoping to get her excited about learning another language, and it sounds like this will do just that. Thanks :)

I'll look into that one. I love the awesome vocab learning that will come with learning latin. Also wondering about greek... LOL.

I just wanted to say welcome! :thumbup: We hs'd for K and 1st but sent her this yr. We have realized how much we miss the flexibility with homeschooling, and how much we miss our family being together during the day. I miss learning with my kids!! May 27th can't come fast enough for me! :lol: Definitely find a support group. My local group does PE at the Y once a week and they also do field trips. When we hs'd before, the ds of a friend of mine was in the same program we used for my DD and we went on some field trips together (butterfly house was one). That was fun. We talked abotu getting together for the science stuff but it worked better to do it on our own and take our own pace with it. Also, in my area, the middle/high school kids do some co-op clases, so you might want to look into that when you get to that point. What I am planning to do is in my siggy below. I do plan to have my younger DD sit in on history and science. Both of my DD's are interested in the human body and I think they will both like the history stories in SOTW. I can have my little one do color pages where my older one will do more of the writing/map stuff in the AG for SOTW and in the notebooking journal for the anatomy book. Then the year after next, I'll be dealing with a K'er and a 4th grader... I'm a little nervous about that, LOL. But, I have a feeling we'll just keep the little one kinda doing what the older one does for science and history for a while. I used My Father's World K and 1st with my oldest if you want to know about those curriculums.

Do you think my 3rd grader would be ok w/ SSL? I think I saw it is for K-2nd. I'm looking for a gentle intro to Latin if we do add it because I don't want to overwhelm myself/DD with us going back to homeschooling after a year of PS. I looked at the sample pages and it looks awesome, love that she could learn so much at a young age. I am sure we'd need to move to something more intensive later on, but since I'm not comfortable with Latin myself, I thought this might work well for us.

I won't sweat it, lol. Just trying to think many years in the future, and wondering how my little one fits in. I'm hoping they can be together on some of this history/science stuff, at least until my older one is in high school years... now, my older one may have more required reading/work to do... but I'm *hoping* that they can kinda be on the same topics, kind of like a MFW cycle style setup. I hope this makes sense, lol.