We just moved and have not made any social connections just yet. They do have loads of cousins in their age group though so that makes things better. I am hoping to find a new church home soon which should help. 2 of my 4 kids are not very outgoing and are happy with just one or two good friends. My youngest is happier with just family connections but I do have 1 child who loves to have big groups of friends.

I have enjoyed reading through. Wish I had more hours in my days to read more.

If it makes you feel better I school 4 for pretty close to free (we have no budget for schooling right now) For spelling we use the Zaner Blosser free lists (you get the list plus one worksheet for free) and we use spelling city for practice and testing. It's worked pretty well for us so far. I don't know anything about the OM curriculum but thought I could toss that spelling info your way atleast. :grouphug:

Not all set in stone just yet but so far Im thinking. MEP reception Zane Blosser writing (maybe FLL1 in the spring) Phonics pathways,ClickNKids, starfall etc. She is already sitting in on SOTW 1 so she will sit in on 2 next year She will sit in for science too (looking at Mr. Q). I wont be expecting anything from her though. K year I usually just hit the 3 R's and get teach them how we behave during school. Technically she wouldn't meet the cut off for K this year (she will be 5 in Nov.) however, she already knows her letters by sight and sound, her shapes, colors, addition/subtraction (with color blocks) so Im ready to get started on K if it takes 2 years to get through it I'm ok with it. Chances are it will because she isn't writing much yet, the maturity level just is not there with her. She writes what she wants to and if its incorrect she tells me how wrong I AM... lol

I would plan to take some time off. Moving is stressful! Keep a few things out but keep it light (read-a-longs, educational videos, independent worksheets, etc.) This way you can still make part of your day about school but a lot of your day needs to be about setting up your new home. In the long run you will be happier that you got yourself organized not that you did school everyday and still have piles of boxes to get through. We just moved across country last month we took 3 days to drive, a week to get "settled" and 3 days to visit with family and friends. It did put us a little behind but we are making it up quickly.

Keep plugging the leap frog videos. Dd4 also learned a ton from iPad apps. I was shocked how much she retains from these things. She did though watch the leap frog videos over and over and over again for a solid week when we got them from the library lol.

Im going to go with sometimes. Our current food bill is a bit high because we are currently have an extra 4 kids and an extra 3 kids on the weekends one who is diabetic plus 4 adults. I'm hard pressed to afford $5 per person. We do a lot of fresh and frozen veggies, lean meat, chicken No pork or fish. I do a lot of soups and stews it amazing how 3 chicken breast can feed 15 people if its in a soup. When its just the six of us. I can usually still keep it under $5. I am super frugal and I know how to stock, and stretch a pantry ;)

Lots of math games, when we are between programs I will do some Evan Moor daily practice stuff and maybe play some dice and card games, domino math.. just to stay sharp!

I use tons of ebooks and pdfs. I do a ton of printing too. Our library is awesome though because it gives you 75 pages of free printing every week and we have 6 cards so I take advantage lol. I like to view pdfs/ebooks on my macbook so its right out on the table while we do school. I like it for answer keys and lesson plans as I like to only print materials that the kids need in print. I do some on my ipad as well for when we do school at the park or library so I don't have to drag the macbook along.

My kids also think the C word is "crap" totally happy with that for now (though I do not like them saying it. I don't think I knew what the real C word was till I was grown. My parents rarely swore and my friends usually stuck with the basics lol.

We are taking the first week of April off because that is when PS takes it. With our 4 PS nieces and nephews living with us it just works out better. I cant get much done with them at home, temptation to play is too great.

My mom had me at 22, I had my oldest just a few days after my 19th birthday. As much as the idea of grandchildren in a few years excites me. I do hope my children get married and have a few years before kids come along. Right now I am more excited about my great niece arriving this summer.

I would echo the suggestion of a specific time needed to be home for dinner, then going back out afterwards if he wants to.

I would do some salsa and maybe make some sun-dried tomatoes (I assume you need a dehydrator for that though) I know my mom loved to eat tomatoes on homemade mac n cheese. My youngest eats them like apples so its rare we have a "too many tomatoes" problem lol

We just moved across country in a mini van with 4 kids and a dog, no hotels just rest stop napping. It was actually a lot of fun. The kids slept a lot. We had to do a lot of potty breaks for both kids and dog. It wasn't all ideal or anything but we lived to tell the tale.

Moving across country with only what fits in a mini van helps, we currently have none lol. Before that I would randomly dump out the toy bins and get rid of broken or toys missing pieces. That would generally do the job with out getting rid of any toys that they wanted to keep. Also at times I would get rid of things we have simply outgrown.

This is a great site (lots of freebies too which I adore) http://notebookingnook.blogspot.com/p/notebooking.html This should get you started. I'm considering doing some notebooking this summer to see how we like it.

eek! that seems pretty steep. If you can manage it more power to you!

you might find this link helpful http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/schoolroom/physed.php#sthash.fH4VxU7X.dpbs

Divorce is sad, when children are apart of it it is much worse. Currently dealing with a lot of issues with our nieces and nephews surrounding SILs divorce and quick remarriage. Truly heart breaking stuff.

I just started one, the link is in my siggy its all pretty generic right now but hoping to put some time into it over the weekend.

Green chili chicken & black bean burritos, and Copy cat Chipotle corn salsa w/ chips and blueberry pie lol

I try to eat healthy but I could never do it 100%, or even close I need an oreo or a cheeseburger from time to time.

I took Alg 1 in 7th and Geo in 8th, some students took a slower pace class and did 1/2 in 7th and finished in 8th, and some took "general math" or something like that and started the first 1/2 in 8th and finished in 9th. Personally I would of rather been in the 1/2 and 1/2 class because it led me to have little choice but take very challenging math in high school since I was ready for Alg 2 as a Freshmen.

I agree 100% my reluctant reader often needs me to pull out the easier level 1 or 2 books. I try to do this before she gets upset because at that point she gets into complaining, fighting me etc.