Congrats :) I celebrated 4 years last week too :) 20 years is very inspiring :)

if we get all our "core" done between 9-noon after lunch we do the fun stuff. I am just ready to be done with the main stuff before lunch if we are not done it depends on my mood. Today for example we ended up working another 1.5 hours after lunch but they begged to do "art" so I tossed a bunch of random bags of goodies at them and some glue and paper and told them to go nuts. I am not a mom who fears messes so we get pretty crazy in our projects. I feared messes more when they where younger but my 12,9 & 5 year olds are pretty good about clean-up.

When dd12 was in 3rd she tested at a 6th grade level, dd9 reads at an 8th grade level (this is according to what the schools tested them at no idea what scale/test they used) even though dd9 reads at a higher level I don't feel her maturity level is on par with some topics that go along with some higher level books so I closely monitor her selections.

I am new to WTM, but not message boards in general. Sadly, I have encountered a few. I don't share very openly here as I am not that comfortable here yet. My life is insane, crazy, bad things happen sure. I try real hard to be positive about the ups and downs I have experienced. I do always lend a prayer weather its a fake issue or not I try not to determine that. my own screwed up life pretty much makes me believe ANYTHING is possible :lol:. I figure if I am praying for someone, if it is fake God will redirect my prayers to the underlying issue :001_smile: I generally don't send $$ but I have sent a many cards or items someone may need. again if its fake at least I cheerfully gave and sure it would miff me some but I would forgive them and pray they get help/see the light what have you. gosh its late no idea if that made any sense at all.

I have never had a HB, so I would be thrilled for dd to have one, in fact if my oldest had one I would tell her "you owe me one" since it was her birth that risked me out of ever having a hb :lol:

Well considering I just scoured the house for loose change to buy milk I would be trilled for some diamond earrings to be my biggest problem with today :001_huh: However, I do get that buying a thoughtless gift can hurt :grouphug:. I hope he understands that you will have to return them for something you can use.

love it!

I spilt like this sunday- sheets/blankets Monday- dd2/dd5 tuesday- dd9/dd12 Wed- dh/me Thursday kitchen linens/towles friday/saturday- off I sort and stain treat, dd12 washes, dd9 drys, I fold and everyone puts away.

haven't been around much so I have no clue what is going on but always brings me great cheer!

I just kinda thumb through and pick things of interest I never cover all the different things but I figure when my 2 year old is ready for it I might pull my 5 year old back in a little. I always cover the basic geography/culture and try to do a little art. I will touch on the math/science if its introducing something new or corresponds with what we are already doing. I have only been using it for 4 weeks we have done just one lapbook. I am not much into them and it generally ends up being more work on my part than hers. I have a huge stack of printables to go with the lessons the mama I bought it from included like 500 printables but I really don't use them unless she is begging to "do more school" then I dig out something just to keep her happy.

I do for spelling, math & going to do science as well. I am kinda making up my own curricula in those areas already so it only makes sense. I use Zane Blosser Spelling (just the word lists) but I do take a few words from each list to do a spelling final just to make sure they have retained the words.

He Is risen indeed!! Amen!! :001_smile:

My kids embarrass me on a regular basis. Today we where visiting a HS family the first time meeting them. My 9 year old made a comment to me loud enough for the Mom to hear.. "hey mom remember how messy the office was at our old house? The upstairs here is worse" I laughed it off and said that is life my dear. The mom and I just laughed and I hope she wasn't embarrassed. I figure I just wont clean the house for a day or to before inviting her down to our house :lol:

My older 3 (12, 9 & 5) are always dressed in either clothes or nightgowns. My 2 yr old its a battle. I can usually win her over by saying "pretty dress" and pulling out a dress from behind my back. I don't require that they wear shoes of course but they have to have on socks or slippers. I like to model modesty and being somewhat well kept even if we are not leaving the home. This also means I dress from head to toe. We do sometimes have pajama days though ;) I'd rather have more laundry then spend an hour looking for someones lost socks so we can leave the house on a whim. My 9yr old and 2 yr old always end up in undies in the middle of the night they just wake and undress but my 9 year old does understands that she needs to at least put her robe/slippers on before she comes out to use the restroom.

my link is in my siggy. I do blog design as a wahm. if you need help pm me I am a plethora of useless & useful blog information lol

How long does it take your child to complete a light unit? I am considering buying this for my 3rd grader but would like to be able to complete it by Oct/Nov. (we are schooling year round) Do you think that is possible? She is generally pretty good in math but I want a little remediation before starting 4th grade math. We are 2 weeks into our Homeschooling journey.

Would it be wrong to just stop math for a little bit and maybe focus on some other subjects? My 3rd grader is dappling a little with Saxon 6/5. My 5 yr old finished a 1st grade Harcourt math workbook in 3 days.. I told her just do what you know. Not thinking she would sit and do the first 79 pages in under an hour :lol: I think this may be an issue on the horizon for us too.

thats crazy and it has happend to me (re cloth diapers on another site) .. I would gladly respond to HS'ing stuff :lol:

we have a lot of dust in our new house.. its crazy. I bought dusters for dd2&5 and just let them loose. while its not a perfect dust job it helps some :lol:

This is what happens when mom doesn't have a lesson plan for nutrition and starts looking on the backs of cereal boxes because that is where she learned a great deal of nutrition as a kid.

I try to have set times. Breakfast 8am snack 10:30am Lunch noon snack 3pm dinner between 5-6 evening snack 7:45 if they are really bugging me that they are just STARVING and I reach my breaking point they can have an apple or baby carrots that is really the only thing I keep a surplus of in the house. A typical morning snack is fruit and yogurt dip with a granola bar or some crackers. 3pm snack is usually something just to tide them over until dinner sometimes a small bowl of cereal, a piece of fruit, a handful of pretzels etc. I was getting so irritated of "when is dinner" asked 1,000 times while I am trying to cook so I figured they needed that afternoon snack to keep them less whiny while I am cooking. I generally try to have dinner ready at 5 on the dot but as you can see i am here at 4:40 :lol:

Maybe tutoring would be a more suitable option :grouphug:

We don't do cable at all for many reasons. However they have watched WOW at my Aunts house while she was babysitting for me. dd12 told me after the fact and I used this as a great teaching moment so I did a bit of scripture research so I could biblically back up my feelings about it. I found SEVERAL but the ones that stuck with me the most where these... you can read more in 2 Kings 21:6; Micah 5:12; Isaiah 47:12; Ezekiel 13:18, 20; Acts 8:11-24; Leviticus 20:27; Exodus 7:11; Revelation 9:21; 22:15 to namea few. I try not to be to uptight about things that are "make believe" but I do choose to gaurd them from things that I have personal convictions about. I know they get sick of me saying "we are IN the world not OF the world" but there are plenty of other quality shows or books we can watch and read. It's really hard sometimes to be the "bad guy" here but I think they will thank me for it later in life (I hope) dd12 has been begging me to let her read twilight and I just haven't been able to give her the go-ahead (it being about vampires and all) but I am considering doing my homework a bit here and seeing what I come up with because she just will.not.drop.it. ugh!

If it wasn't for used curriculum and people listing things low we would have no curriculum at all. I joke with dh that 25% of my free time is erasing things in used workbooks. Sadly I was ripped off on my first transaction here and it’s made me leery of buying used at all. I haven't sold anything here yet but I always go super low I am happy to make back 1/2 of what I spent on any given item. I have a postal scale so I generally estimate my shipping and add that plus the PP fees to the amount I wish to make on said item. I don’t mind when folks ask for a discounted price (not saying I honor every request) but I kind treat selling forums like a yardsale and open to haggling. All that to say don't stop selling I don't know if this forum has a area for gifting but some forums I belong to people can make a list of items they need/want and you can anonymously send them items on their list. That would be a wonderful way to bless others with items you don't need any more if you are not up for the hassles of selling.

Yes coming from my 5 year old who also wants to have 20 children :lol:. dd9 says she only would only if she child was struggling in school she would pull him/her out and school at home. dd12 says no way because she wants her kids to go to prom :glare: