We started this last week. I told the website what grade my ds is in and it starts him on that program. It starts w/ several weeks of something called 'Jump into Keyboarding' that they have at the beginning, regardless of grade. Then it progresses to the other themes. It does have a lot of mouse work at the beginning (and my son is complaining, too). But he needs it. If it was something I thought he didn't need, I'd just do it for him to make the program go on to the next thing. :) I do not know if it is adaptive to him or not - I'm hoping it is. I have seen improvement in his 'Target Practice' game for the home row/left hand. I like how clean the 'games' or activities look, so far. The other programs I looked at seemed so busy in the graphics and just overwhelming. My kids don't play any type of video games (save a few learning games on the iPad) - so it seemed like too much. And the price of KWT seemed spot on, also. I'll probably add a license for my dd now that we've used it for a bit.

Here's our list (some we have read, some are to-read): Heidi, Black Beauty, The Borrowers, The Littles, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, Ribsy, Ramona the Pest, the Mouse and the Motorcycle, The Boxcar Children, the Railway Children, Peter Pan (edit), Misty of Chincoteague, Doctor Dolittle (edit) My son really liked the Stink books - about the brother of Judy Moody. Maybe she would like the Judy Moody books? My co op class liked Dahl books and Silverstein poetry, also.

We had a rat terrier when we brought Kitty home. She was nervous about the dog, so I actually carried her in a small bag around the house with me for a few days. Our dog was crate trained and outdoors a lot, too. So that probably helped. I try to take the 'pack leader' mentality with my dogs with this sort of thing and don't let them approach the new thing (cat, baby, visiting dog) unless I invite them. Basically, I'm taking ownership of the cat, and they get the hint to stay back.

Thank you, thank you everyone for your responses. This is such a help. I don't know why I waited so long to post this issue here. I have focused more on being at his side (w/o any distractions) and it has helped. Also, we finally (!) jumped to the next lesson/new skill and he is much better about doing his work. I also stopped letting him go on and on with it...after a set time, we put it up and move on. He had that happen once and finished the page later after everything else was finished (without being prodded). The main thing, I needed to realize, is that I need to focus more on sitting with him; he needed that and I was too caught up in bossing him. And Sassenach, thank you for your pep talk. You're right...I do need to reign in the 'public school' threats. I don't even want that for our family...I need to remove that option from the table, really. I just....don't even have the words...but you are so right. :)

OK, that is helpful. I honestly don't have a clue what a 7yo-doing-his-work-normally is supposed to look like. :) What do you make of the refusing to do the work (verbally refusing, staring, or stalling) even when I'm sitting right next to him? I feel like I've pulled out everything in my 'mom bag of tricks' for motivation/discipline. Could it be that he's just formed this habit of refusal? And how do you break bad habits like that? :) I feel like I'm chasing my tail with all these questions! lol

I have a 7yo doing 2nd grade work...or he's supposed to be doing it. Every other day he will not do his work. Math, handwriting, copywork, spelling list, you name it, he won't do it. Here is a perfect example: Today, I pull his MUS Beta workbook out and open it to 19C (like I have for a year). I have helped him through the last two day's worksheets, so today I would expect he could do this page independently (I know he can do this type of problem on his own, it's nothing new). Instead of setting to work, he first cries he can't do it, he doesn't want to do it; then he stares at the wall or anywhere for 15 minutes. He will talk to his sister, try to sneak a magazine, or watch the room for 30 minutes or more. I do not understand it at all. When I do finally get him to work, he will only do it if I am sitting right there telling him the next step to do. He will literally look up and talk to dd after writing each numeral! At this point I feel like screaming! Part of me says, 'he's 7, let him have a break.' But I don't want him 'winning' the battle of when/if he does his work. Earlier this year, he was doing the math pages more independently - it has just gotten bad in the last 2 months. I am really, really thinking about public school for him. It breaks my heart to think of one my kiddos being in the school system. I know I can teach him here at home, I know it is better for him to be here with me and his siblings. But I cannot get over the fact that he fights me every day to do his work! It is frustrating me so much. Is this a phase that you have seen with boys his age w/ no other factors at play? Should I switch curriculum? The fact that he does it across the board makes me think it's an attitude related issue, not curriculum, though. I have explained to him that if he does not do his work here at home, his father and I have agreed he needs to go to public school. But maybe he's too young for that to really sink in? Another issue: even if I put him in public school, I know I'd be wanting to get him back home at some point. So I feel like I'd be wasting a teacher/school's time by enrolling him. So that's holding me back from taking him to a public school, also. I guess I'm venting, but I could also use some advice from some moms who've btdt. PS: My sig is out of date, I'll work on it later. :)

We have privacy fence all around our yard, and our dogs bark at the neighbor dogs and kids, their dogs bark at our dogs and kids, etc. Its just incessant barking, until we make them ckme in. Our newest neighbor with two large dogs (ours are small breed) says his dogs are friendly...but they sure sound vicious when they're barking at us (every time we go outside). They were obsessed with our dogs, and sure enough they dug under and broke through the fence into our yard. I let my dogs out and the next thing I hear is my dogs crying. I'm just glad it was my dogs and not my kids back there with his 'friendly' Rottweiler. Yes, I'm probably biased since my dogs are small, just glad they weren't hurt. We used to have neighbors behind us with two pit bulls that charged the fence and tried to dig under. That was scary. They left the dogs out all the time and they barked all night. It was just irresponsible ownership. We tried the police and animal control and talking directly to the owners; none of it worked. He eventually got rid of them after he got some heat from his commanding officer (army town...) I believe. I was always afraid that I'd look out and see a pit bull in my back yard. I don't think I'd hesitate to defend my kids in that case. I don't know what to do in your case. I think I'd try the noise zapper thing, it keeps my dogs at bay(when I answer the door), not quiet though. And I'd keep making noise to animal control about him jumping at the fence.

We like the Simply Fun games. We're playing Diggers Garden Match lately. But they a ton of games, many more advanced.

Our 5yo broke his collarbone last year, too. We did restrict him and try to make him take it easy for a week or so. He had a figure8 brace he had to wear. We also made him sleep on his back as much as we could. They said a collarbone would grow back together no matter what, really. I think we had his arm on that side in a sling for a few days, too.

Another vote for tummy and side sleepers. Early on, I put them on their side, with rolled blankets/burp cloths in front and behind them, very low on their torsos. I always make sure clothes/bibs/toys/extra fabrics are out of the bed and nowhere near their heads. We have no history of SIDS, though, but I know at early ages they wouldn't be able to move something blocking their face, obviously. Once they were rolling, they were always on their tummy. Both my kids used a pacifier, too. That helped me feel better about them sleeping on their tummy, for some reason. I really don't know what to say, given the reflux issues. I will say it is wonderful when babies sleep...and that I truly think there is so much 'they' don't know about babies and sleep issues. I lean to the 'momma knows best' side, honestly.

We love them. I use them for basic freezer stocking (mixed veggies, fruit for smoothies, chicken breast, and of course, ice cream). Their chicken breast are rather large, and I can cut up one to put in a casserole for us and it's enough. We like their breaded hake filets, also. My new fave is their pre-made pizza crust. It is so yummy and you use it frozen, just throw sauce and toppings on and it's good to go. We also like their southern style biscuits, another easy, cook from frozen thing. I have found that my DH does not like any of their fries, for some reason. And I don't buy their meals already made...it's just not a cost effective dinner for us. V

I have a computer armoire from Office Depot. It has a slide out work surface and slide out KB tray. It also came with a printer shelf that we removed to make way for paper storage. On the right side it has drawers and shelves; along with shelves up above that can double as display shelves (glass windows so you can see in). I love it, because it has tons of storage that I use boxes and such to compartmentalise. I store my patterns, yarn, needles, idea books, paper, scrap booking stuff, cricut and cartridges, and tons of misc crafting supplies. I'm a sporadic and all-over-the-place crafter. The pull out work space is nice because I can work on something even if the desktop surface is cluttered. The best part is, if I'm working on something like a scrapbook page, it can lay flat on that slide out surface and be stored that way, and not get messed up. I can open the cabinet back up and be right where I was when I closed it up last time. We added some mods that make it work even better for me, too. We put a peg board on the inside back, and there are all types of things I can hang on it. I have wire shelving that we put together with zip ties to hold my 12x12 scrapbook paper (a common way for scrapers to organize). I also have a small nail/screw organizer inside it to hold punches and stamp pads. And I put paper over the inside of the glass panes to hide my junk. And now that I'm looking, they don't sell mine anymore, this is the only thing comparable that I can find...but I paid a third of that for mine. And it's a monster, so heavy to move, even when it's empty. http://www.quill.com/dmi-rue-de-lyon-office-collection/cbs/124040.html

Your day sounds a lot like ours. We start with Math and Reading, since those are the most important to us, and seem to be the most difficult to get through sometimes. Some days I do let him have a break between, just so I can prep something on the whiteboard (5-10 minutes). Other days, we just jump right in. I think if I 'scheduled' time I'd end up regretting it, say if we were trying to hurry to finish or the lessons were really simple. I like the idea of a hands on activity (like a puzzle or game). I will have to try that on days he is easily distracted. Some days I need the break just to get away from him for a few, though. :-D. I do always give him a snack break/recess after those lessons, before we head into language arts and science/history (30 min to 1 hour if we have lunch during that time).

There's also a Legoland, the aquarium, and the museum at Love Field. Our friends love Medieval Times, and said it has a new show now. And I think the Galleria mall has an ice skating rink, still. It did years ago.

We were looking for a large piece of land to run cattle on and my husband had a quarter section in mind that he liked. He knew who owned it several years ago since he and his family have been here for 50 years. We contacted them, they had given it to their grown daughter, so we contacted her and her husband. They are at retirement age, live about an hour away and were willing to sell it to us. They turned a $1500/year lease on the land into a much higher mortgage payment from us in order to finance their retirement. Pretty smart on their part, since they and their kids had no use for the land. Long story short, find an area you like and start asking around. The people in the area will know who owns what and it never hurts to ask if they'd consider selling. So, we now have a nice piece of land to play on and run cattle - we may eventually build there, too. At the moment, it's not worth the hassle to us. But you'd be surprised at how many family members have asked if we'd be willing to part with this or that corner so they can build out there.

During my 1st pregnancy it was the worst. Especially at night. I like the generic fruity Tums or the little minty ones. I would also eat a small bowl of ice cream before bed, it seemed to help. With this pregnancy, yogurt with granola helped, too. I was amazed when my heartburn went away the same day my son was delivered. :-)

We didn't do much writing other than what was in the book for kindergarten. And if we did, I made some gray block paper on my computer to help him out. Toward the end of the book, they introduce lines, I believe. And at that point it made more sense to him. Hang in there! My lefty son, has exceeded my expectations on handwriting, and I think it's due to HWOT. :-)

Saw it last night, and it is so hilarious! My mom was the same way watching my sis play basketball. I finally stopped sitting with her, even at away games. lol

We've done HWOT for two years now (preK and Kindy) with only the manual and workbook. I bought the slate and dough letter thing also. The dough it came with dried out too fast and we rarely use the slate. Hope that helps.

If you have boxes and boxes of stuff, one of the mobile services would work well. I've called them and asked about their rates (can't remember it), But they said I could bring it in. Another option is to call your bank and ask if they would let you put your papers in with theirs for when the truck comes. My favorite though, is to take my shredding to office depot and pay them (by the pound, I think) to shred it.

If you have an iPod, you can get in iTunes and download books in the section called iTunes U. Search for a book you'd like, then scroll through the options, past movies and music. It's usually at the bottom. You have to download each chapter, but there are tons of books free in the Podcast and iTunes U sections.

Here's an easy one (not real healthy, I'm sure) that we all like. I know it sounds crazy, but it's yummy: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/beefy-one-pot-dinner-107265.aspx Another one we like is something I call DIY Chef Salad. I basically chop up all the veggies I have on hand, boil some eggs, mix up some ranch dressing, and chop up leftover chicken or lunch meat. I put it all in bowls in the middle of the table and everyone builds their own salad. The kids love it. You could pre-wash and chop everything for this kind of dinner, and pull it all together right before dinner. One thing that has helped me a lot is to cook a whole package of meat when I'm cooking one dinner, and put half of it in the freezer for another dinner. It cuts my time on those busy days so much.

My schoolroom storage includes room for a 'Banker's Box' cardboard storage box (I buy a set at Office Depot). As the year goes on, I put finished papers and workbooks in the box. I like to keep some things in binders as we go along in the year, but anything loose goes in the box. Some 'artsy' things stay on display for a while, but eventually anything worth keeping goes into the box. For this past year, both kids' work (I save a few things my 3yo dd makes in sunday school and at home) fit in one box. I cleaned out the 5yo's binders and put all that work in the box. In a month or so when we start the new year, I'll label it, packing tape it up real good and put it in the attic. I can see us keeping this box indefinitely since it's ds's first years of work, but in the future we'll probably be more apt to toss ordinary stuff after a couple of years. Granted, OK doesn't require us to show any work, but we feel better keeping some of it to show progress if need be. The office I worked for used these for long-term file storage. That's why I chose them. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/352016/Office-Depot-Brand-60percent-Recycled-Quick/

Can't help with downsizing (I'd love more space...or less junk). But this website may be useful to you. Her books are neat, too. http://www.notsobighouse.com/

Love it! You guys (and the clothes) look great!