Stratford
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Posts posted by Stratford
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We live south of that area in York, PA but attend a co-op in Mechanicsburg. We have been very pleased with homeschooling experiences in our area! I feel that it's a homeschool-friendly area. There are quite a few co-ops in the area you've mentioned, both academic and enrichment based. Lots of homeschool days at local museums and such places. Great museums and historical sites in easy driving distance - we love field trips! We recently discovered a homeschool symphony orchestra in Carlisle. The public schools allow homeschoolers to participate in music, sports, etc.
Not sure where you're moving from, but if you have any other area questions, I'd be happy to share what I know. Good luck!
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When DS2 was 2 years old, so seven or so years ago, he put some little plastic toy (it was blue) in the oven and it slid underneath the bottom pan. When I turned on the oven to preheat it, it caught on fire. It was one of my finest, coolest-headed parenting moments. I calmly opened the door to the garage, got the fire extinguisher, and told DH "The oven is on fire." We used the fire extinguisher (seriously messy) and once we felt sure the house wasn't going to burn down, we went out to dinner.
The oven still smells funny sometimes and the smoke detector goes off if we go over 400 degrees.
Parenting is awesome.
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We have a high efficiency top loader that we adore. It was purchased about 5 or 6 years ago when our front loader died a watery death, flooding our entire upstairs (and much of our downstairs, too.) I was never in love with our front loader - I was cloth diapering at the time and they were never really clean. It left our clothes with a funky smell. It was a relief when we could get rid of it. We went to the appliance place, asked the salesman what kind of washer he owned, and bought that one.
Our top loader is wonderful. I have a husband and four very smelly boys who do a lot of stuff outdoors, including working with horses, so we have a lot of gross laundry. We haven't had any issues with our washer and everything comes out clean, clean, clean. I'd buy another in a heartbeat. (It's a Fisher Paykel.)
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Oldest DS did the first few pages of a vocab workbook this week. This morning, he opened the book, and asked if we bought it used "because the answers are already filled in." Darling child, those are your answers, written in your very own handwriting. You wrote them two days ago.
So glad he's retaining stuff he learns. :huh:
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$204 for a 2600 sq ft house set at 72.
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I was just talking to a co-worker about birthdays. She spends the entire year celebrating decade birthdays (40, 50, 60.) She picks one thing to do each month and then she chooses a location/itinerary for their yearly vacation. When she turned 50 they went to Hawaii, because it's the fiftieth state (also, because it's Hawaii and who wouldn't want to do that?) Next year she turns 60 and she already has tickets to a show, a camping trip, a party with friends, and a few other things planned. I love the idea of celebrating the entire year.
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Way to go! That's a seriously impressive amount of stuff!
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We have a 50/50 double sink and I will never, ever again own one. Can't stand it. I can't soak a 9x13 pan in either side, which is a real stinker. I would much prefer a large single sink (like we used to have.)
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We used an iPad app called Word Wizard for the first three or four levels. Now Ds just writes everything in his notebook and doesn't need tiles.
We use this, too, for both AAS and AAR. Works well for us so far.
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I think a lot depends on your location. Our hospital hires many ADN nurses because, where we live, the vast majority of programs are at the CCs. We have one local university (very small) and a larger one further away that provide the majority of our BSN nurses. There are far more online programs offering an RN to BSN than BSN program available locally. Our hospital is encouraging RNs to get their BSN and still do tuition reimbursement (100% for full-time, 50% for part-time, work commitment required.) It is, so far, not mandatory. I've noticed a bigger push toward having masters degrees for all nursing management positions.
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We have used prescription goggles for my oldest from this website for several years and have always been very happy with them (and they're reasonably priced.) He is farsighted - by a lot - and they have + diopters up to +8.
He went into contacts at age 9 and though he wears them for most things, he still prefers prescription swim goggles for the pool.
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Currently oldest does horseback riding lessons, Pony Club, trumpet lessons, Boy Scouts, and church youth group. He's looking into adding a youth symphony next year. 2nd does horseback riding lessons, trumpet lessons, and scouts. Third just started cub scouts and will be starting piano lessons. We are looking into 4H lego robotics for the middle 2. The littlest doesn't do anything yet, thankfully.
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My mother gives everyone she loves a set of Bunnykins dishes. My brother and I each had a set and used them well into our preteen years. (I still have mine.) My kids all have sets and use them daily. They are well-loved baby gifts in our family and they don't outgrow them quickly.
(I also loved my ergo and those gauzy blankets. Those things were my top 2 favorite and most useful baby items ever.)
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What a tremendous accomplishment! Congratulations to you and your team!
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I dunno. We put down landscape fabric when we landscaped our newly built house 8 years ago. The areas we used it are still weed free, the areas where we didn't are a pain in the rear to maintain. I think it made a big difference.
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My two older kids have been riding for about 4 1/2 years. We lucked out on our first try and found an instructor that we love. We do not own horses and I do not anticipate buying one in the near future. My oldest is getting to the point where a weekly lesson isn't quite enough, so we added Pony Club, which has been an incredible experience so far. My younger rider isn't interested in Pony Club yet. We've been able to ride relatively inexpensively thus far - the only new equipment we have bought are helmets and the occasional pair of boots. Otherwise, everything has been found secondhand. Our lessons are reasonable (same price as the OP) and our kids have only ever participated in local schooling shows, nothing expensive. The benefits have been tremendous and I love the lessons my kids have learned from riding horses. Totally worth the price.
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We used AAR 1 with my K'er this year and it has been a huge success. I plan on using AAS 1 with AAR 2 for first grade. We had tried AAR a while back with one of my older kids but it was a flop; he's my dyslexic kiddo and it wasn't a good fit for him.
The tiles are the bane of my existence, however. When we tried it with my oldest, we lost about 50% of the letter tiles in just a few months. (Blame it on having too many littles around and nowhere really secure to store the board.) This time, I downloaded a letter tile app for the ipad that is similar enough, at least for the reading program. It's been a lifesaver. Plus, he loves using the ipad. I'm hoping the app works well for AAS, too.
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Cobalt, shamrock, peacock, paprika, marigold, and scarlet. I have a list of colors I'd like to add. :thumbup1:
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There's so much variation between plans and states and whatnot that I'd hesitate to recommend anything too specific. However, based on our experiences with insurance, Aetna was great (everything was covered - and we used that plan a LOT for surgeries and a couple babies - and no hassles ever) and United was a nightmare. I'm still paying off a huge bill for speech therapy for my youngest that United totally screwed up and then refused to pay. It was such a massive headache.
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My just-turned 3 yr old is potty training now and for whatever reason he's been the most challenging. The whole big-boy-potty-no-more-diapers was his idea, and heaven forbid you make a suggestion....like, "Hey, wanna try to go?" If it isn't his own idea, it's not going to happen. Not easy when we're on the go with the olders quite a bit. Bribery was a bust with this kid. (Who doesn't like jelly beans?!?) I keep a potty chair in the trunk of my van and that's been a lifesaver lately. Yay for peeing in the van.
My other 3 were pretty easy. The two olders started using the potty at around 2.5 without any prompting. A few days of nakedness and they were good to go. (They were also my cloth-diapered kids and I think that made a difference.) #3 trained a few months later than that, but it only took a few days (and telling him the diapers were all gone) and he was done.
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Our house was a nice house for us when we bought it 8 years ago....we had 2 kids at that point. Add 2 more kids and it's just not a good fit for us anymore. Too many people and limited storage and not a lot of options for adding meaningful storage. We don't have the money to build an addition or finish the basement, and, with all the real estate fluctuations of the past few years, we're just now back to being not underwater. Selling won't be an option for some time. I hate feeling stuck.
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We would love to participate, please sign us up!
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Our youngest had a mild case after getting the vaccine; however, I had been diagnosed with shingles the same week he had the vaccine. So who knows. He had a few dozen vesicles, mostly on his legs and torso. The only really unfortunate part of the whole adventure was that he developed the fever and rash while we were on vacation.
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We've had the crud here for weeks and nobody has an appetite. Our fridge is sadly bare but no one seems to care as long as we have bread for toast and eggs to scramble. I guess we'll shop eventually....maybe tomorrow.
Homeschooling in Mechanicsburg or Harrisburg?
in The Chat Board
Posted
Well, tough question. We chose York because that's where our jobs are located and we were moving away from terrible commutes, so proximity to work was top of our list. A lot of the things I like about York are actually applicable to the entire region: beautiful parks and outdoor places to enjoy, easy access to big cities (Baltimore, DC, Philly are all easily day-trippable), real farmer's markets, easy to manage traffic, reasonable cost of living, good educational opportunities. We have a rail trail for biking, a small ski resort, several state parks, Gettysburg, Hershey Park...lots of stuff to do year round. We have found a number of classes and whatnot in Baltimore for homeschoolers, like art classes and science center events, plus IKEA is down that way, so it's nice to be able to find "bigger city" stuff without actually living in one. Finding music teachers, scout groups, sports teams, etc. has not been an issue, there are plenty of options for extracurriculars. We don't have high schoolers yet, but looking ahead we've found some options for dual enrollment when we get to that point. Mechanicsburg has better shopping than York (they have a Wegmans, York, alas, does not) but shopping in this area can be limited if you're used to real malls. Mechanicsburg and York both have historic downtown areas, though parts of York are pretty unsavory (it's undergoing a much-needed regentrification.) Not sure about Mechanicsburg.
Overall, we're happy living here. South central PA has a lot to offer.