At first I tried it without the frame holding the screen protector, but it let a lot of dust in at the edges. I was able to pull the plastic protector off the back of the frame because it was glued down, and popped the empty frame back in. It looks more polished, and helps protect the screen because of the "lip" it makes, IMO. Dust still eventually works it's way underneath (we have lots of pets), but I really like the grab-and-go function of the case. I take my iPad with me EVERYWHERE. I don't have a smart phone, so my iPad has become my brain. *lol*

A friend of mine is hosting a virtual "party", and I'm considering getting a few things. Is anyone familiar with Thirty One Gifts? I saw a blog page where someone was using their utility tote sort of like a desk apprentice. I'm curious if anyone here has done something similar, and if they recommended their products. I'm normally not a party person, and I've never seen any of these products in person. With tax and shipping my order is starting to be a bit expensive, and I'm worried about ending up with an expensive mistake. Thanks!!

I've tried three different cases over the last couple of years. I really love my new GumDrop Drop Series Case that we got for my iPad 3. I liked it so much I got one for my DH too, who inherited my iPad 2. My first one covered the whole iPad, and the cover flipped over the screen like a book. I've tried several screen protectors, but IMO, they pixelate the image and it's very annoying. The GumDrop does have a built in screen protector, and and did pixelate the screen a bit. However, I bought it because we were going on a three week road trip around the Southwest and I wanted something sturdy to protect my iPad. I love the GumDrop because while it protects it still leaves the important features free to use (ie: camera and speakers.) I had tried the Defender, but the flaps always fell back and made the iPad nearly impossible to use. Since we've returned from our trip, I pulled the plastic screen protector off the frame. If I change my mind, I can reorder a new one (screen protector only) from GumDrop for a few dollars. My other MOST favorite iPad accessory is my Arkon Portable fold-up stand. It holds my iPad (inside it's case too!) both portrait and landscape. Plus, it's handy for ereaders and other electronics. It's really handy and lightweight. Hope this helps!

I have tried HST+, Scholaric and Skedtrack. Most recently I've tried PlanbookEdu, and I really like it. It's in the cloud, and I can access it from my ipad and laptop. http://planbookedu.com/

Don't forget Four Corners! It's just a quick stop, but a good place to stretch your legs and take photos.

I have a 14 year gap between my oldest and youngest, my only children. DD has lived at home until just last week, and I find myself wandering around the house, subconsciously looking for her. :sad: The past few years I've gotten used to doing things without her, but usually they are smaller things....going to the library or a movie. But we just got back from a two week cross-country road trip to see the Southwest, and there were SO many times that I missed her and felt sad that she couldn't come with us. She couldn't go because of work and semester finals. The day she moved out someone said to me "Well, at least you still have your son at home." I had to explain to them that it not that simple...it's more like losing your left arm. You're glad you still have your other arm, but it's still a big loss. (A bit dramatic maybe, but you know what I mean. *lol*)

I've done workboxes off and on over the last few years. At first I tried using the shoeboxes that Sue Patrick recommended, but I didn't like that my supplies couldn't lay flat. I tried some 12x12 plastic Sterilite drawers, but they weren't deep enough. Now I'm using a regular bookcase and metal holder/file thingies. I don't use use them exactly as she describes, but more to hold the current books and supplies for each different subject. I can just grab one, plop it on the table, and then put it back when that subject is finished. It's not perfect, but it's working for me right now. ETA: I don't follow any plan or use velcro numbers. I don't have special boxes for extra stuff like recess or phys ed. I have a paper "daily" plan of sorts, and when we've finished x number of boxes, or worked about an hour, we take a break and do something physical.

:iagree:

My son has only been going for a few months, but non of the instructors has EVER done anything like that. The only place I've ever seen the instructors touch is the shoulder, knee, and arm/hand, and only in context of correcting a stance or motion. Two of the instructors are even long term friends of mine, and they have never acted anything but professional when they are in the building.

We've always had to use the kitchen table for school since we live in a small space. However, as my DD moved up into middle and high school she started doing more work independently. She eventually got a desk for her bedroom and did most of her work there. With my 8 yr old we're back to the kitchen table again.

Please check the first post for an update and a picture. Thanks! ETA: I did try a 4x4 Expedit in the area to act as a divider and storage, but it didn't work very well. I think partly because it's too dark (black/brown) and it made it even harder to sit at the table.

I have two kids 14 years apart. The oldest is in college and the youngest is almost 8. We have lived in the same house for the last 12 years and I **still** have not figured out how to arrange things so it doesn't look like Staples threw up all over my house. :confused: We have a small house, and basically everything happens in just 500 sg ft. Our living room and eat-in kitchen are basically all one room, and that's were all of LIFE happens. The rest of the house is bedrooms/bathrooms. I don't expect my house to look like something out of Better Homes, but I must admit that I lust after homes with dinning rooms, or *gasp!* an actual family room! I've surfed for homeschool "room" ideas on Pinterest and the annual blog hops, but I rarely ever see rooms/tips/ideas that are for those of us without dedicated rooms. I'm desperate enough to shamelessly beg and bribe someone from IKEA to come work their magic on my house. (Have you seen their little "house" displays? Amazeballs!!) So I'm asking (almost begging!) that if you are in the same boat, please post some pictures or tell me how you've survived! I have a 9x9 area and one small wall in my kitchen to work with. No kitchen islands, or extra cabinets or drawers. There is a light that hits me in the head every time I write on the whiteboard, and a backdoor that fights with the chairs for space. The table is also craft central, and my living room is Legoland. Looking forward to your photos, ideas and suggestions! :bigear: ETA: I'm adding a photo of the area I have to work with. Reading through the responses I've realized that part of my problem is that I'm split about how I want my house to look. Part of me wants it to be a fun and creative area that embraces the culture of a lifetime of learning. The other half wants a home where I would feel comfortable inviting people over. I think maybe that's why I love IKEA catalogs so much, because they really seem to effectively combine LIVING areas with function and storage. So, here is my space, which is actually much cleaner looking that normal. *lol* This is what you see the second you walk into our house: To the left of the frame is the TV. The fireplace has never been used the last 12 yrs, and often becomes the dumping ground for toys and books. I've been thinking about cleaning out the inside and using to store/display books. It doesn't have a real mantle, so I finally bought a floating shelf from IKEA to act as one. The middle of the photo shows the space we usually use for school. Just behind the fireplace wall is the galley kitchen. The window has a window seat of sorts, but is usually piled high with crafts and books that we move off the table so we can eat. What you can't see is the back door which swings into the space and crashes into the chairs. I have two ledges on the wall by the table for our whiteboard and a large canvas that we use as a bulletin board of sorts. I use it to hang our art piece of the week, motivational posters, weather charts, etc. I use the ledges so that I can switch the two boards as needed. The theory behind that was that I could also hide the boards and put artwork up instead when we have company over. That's NEVER happened. I hit my head on the (off centered) light over the table several times a day. To the sides of the ledges is a small bookcase that holds some of our current books and supplies, and a set of plastic drawers that holds more supplies and manipulatives. It's very disorganized and cluttered. Finally the rest of the right side shows our living room. The secretary was supposed to work as a command center for me and my laptop. But it's become more of a hazard because the top doors threaten to impale anyone who comes too close (lol). Since it's an antique, there are no places for the wires, and it's turned into a giant, cluttered octopus of wires and papers. Couch pillows are on the top of the secretary because the cat leaps from the couch to the top of the secretary, and then to a beam that you can't see and knocks off the breakable decorations up there. Sooooo fashionable, don't cha think? *snork!* Finally there is the couch, and just outside the photo is another bookcase and another pile of junk. The coffee table lid slides apart and holds a billion lego blocks. This is only about half of the ones we own. DS has another two or three underbed boxes that are in his room.

Sleeping Queens is a favorite with my son and his friends. Rat-a-tat Cat Ticket to Ride (with parents) No Stress Chess (great for learning, and fun alternate ways to play) Set Carcassone (we got the 5 expansion box) Qwirkle Uno Flash, Attack and Spin (all fun variations!) Most Lego board games, except Heroica. Too hard. Blockus Life Stories (my fav! Non-competitive) Froggy Boogie Connect 4x4. Much better than regular connect 4. Boochie. Fun inside or out! Ruckus Blink Swap Left, Right, Center Rory Story Cubes Hit the Deck. We have Dutch Blitz, but we need someone who really KNOWS the game to teach us. We've tried figuring it out on our own, but we need help. *lol*

I iron perler beads for the kids. :D

I would love to see what people do WITHOUT homeschool rooms. We have a tiny house, and no room to dedicate to homeschooling, so we end up at the kitchen table. But I struggle with figuring out storage, whiteboards, maps, etc., without going crazy from the mess. Especially since we basically LIVE in 500 sq ft. (The living room and eat-in kitchen area all one big room. Everything else is bed/bathrooms.)

We love lots of classics: The Court Jester with Danny Kaye Herbie the Love Bug movies (the classic ones) Arsenic and Old Lace Father Goose The Apple Dumpling Gang Robin Hood with Errol Flynn Ben Hur (esp. the chariot race) Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone For Older Kids/Adults: North by Northwest (Cary Grant) Operation Petticoat To Catch a Thief Rear Window (with Jimmy Stewart) The African Queen Modern Movies: Incredibles Up How to Train Your Dragon Night at the Museum 1 Star Wars (original trilogy) Despicable Me Lady and the Tramp Aristocats Wall-E Classic Looney Tunes cartoons And a bunch more that I can't remember at the moment... :001_smile:

I have this too! My 7yo son is very tiny, and basically still needs a booster seat at the table for schoolwork. He was terribly embarrassed by his booster whenever friends would come over to play. I got one of these for him, and now ALL the neighborhood kids want to sit on it when they come over. :D He does a lot of standing at the table during school, but it does help him focus when he decides to sit.

After using Saxon for a few years with my DD, I will personally never use or recommend it to anyone else. I am not a mathy person at all, and found the directions to be confusing and frustrating. We loved Teaching Textbooks, but of course YMMV. Is there any reason he should be told that he might be doing pre-algebra again? Can you just explain that you'll be working at a pace that will allow him master to the subject? He's really not "behind," just working at his own pace. Perhaps you could find some pre-algebra or algebra based games that you could play over the summer, vs textbook type learning. Maybe some living math books? Or maybe you could explain to him that different math books (like schools) teach different topics at different times, and that any review will be just to fill in the missing gaps in the books. Emphasizing the books are the problem, not him.

There is a workaround but it's somewhat clumsy, and will require you have a wifi connection most of the time for it to work. I have an app on my Ipad2 called SplashTop HD. http://www.splashtop.com/remote When SplashTop is running on my laptop, and I open the app on my Ipad, I can remotely access all my computer functions. For me, using hand gestures is a bit more awkward than a mouse, but it's mostly because I keep forgetting the commands. I just tested accessing my DE files, and I can read them on my Ipad just like I can on my laptop. It's not ideal, but it does work. If all you mainly need are the Student Pages, they can be accessed for each week through the "workbook contents" link. You can save them to your computer, then upload and store them in your Ipad to access anytime. There are a few ways to do it... 1. Save the workbook contents to your computer. 2. Use a program such as Dropbox or Evernote (my brain!) to store the PDF file. 3. Using the Ipad app, access the PDF documents as needed. Options: 1. Save the document in your program of choice (mine is Evernote) for storage and access. 2. Save the document for storage in your program of choice, BUT....also open/save in iBooks for easy access. (Files look and act more like ebooks.) 3. Same as above, but open and use the PDF files in an app like Notability (my choice) which allows you to mark up PDF files. For example, if you don't want or can't print out the student worksheets, they can fill them in on the Ipad. Or, you can check off the little check boxes as you work through the week's topics, make notes, etc. If you find you need a hard copy for your records, you can print the individual pages before or after they have been filled in. I haven't played around with this too much, as I have both DE and Print. But until TOG comes up with an app, this may be the best workaround currently available. Hope it helps!

Unfortunately that would require selling the house. Not that I would mind, I've been trying to get out of here for the last 11 years. (Didn't want to move to TX in the first place. :tongue_smilie:)

We do play in the backyard sometimes It's just that the kids also like to ride their bikes and scooters, and driveway is too short and the alley too dangerous. I was hoping the Hive could come up with some great ideas that we hadn't thought of yet. But I think there are no easy answers in this situation. :glare:

Bumping... Any other ideas? The street has been deserted all week except for the kids from Family A (who are now throwing rocks at cars to entertain themselves). It's so sad.... :sad:

The police were called for the gun incident. And for the time that he was overheard yelling on the phone (they're always outside talking on their cell phones) to "come and get him," and then yelling into the house that there was going to be some shooting and to get inside and hide. :scared: He was sitting on the front lawn waiting for the drive-by when the cops finally came to diffuse the situation. My friend (who called about the shooting incident) asked the police about this family and was told that we do NOT want them as neighbors. The 18yr old has made a target of himself by turning other thugs into the police in order to save his own skin. The police told her to move because they can't protect her since he keeps getting into trouble. She says she won't move unless they pay for it. (She's a Section 8 renter.) CPS has already been there threatening to take the grandkids away unless their mother (Mom A's daughter) comes and gets them. Empty threats because nothing has been done about that. The parents have even tried getting the kids kicked off the schoolbus for bullying and foul language, but so far all that's happened is there's been an aid put on the bus. The Family A kids will corner the neighborhood kids (even with the parents there) and verbally abuse them, trying to get the kids to fight or burst into tears. If they won't fight, then the Family A kids follow the kids up and down the sidewalk, bumping into them with their bikes. It's like our own personal gangland. *sigh*

We live in a quiet neighborhood. Probably lower middle class, lots of hard working families. Within the last 5 years there's been a bit of a baby boom and there is a group of about 10 kids on our block that all play together nicely. There's a few squabbles, but just normal kids stuff. This spring we had a family (let's call them Family A) move in that has been terrorizing the neighborhood. It's a single mom with two kids, but also other grandkids, nieces, etc., so there is 8-10 ppl living there at any one time. The oldest (18yrs) is in and out of jail; has pulled a gun on another teen down the street; and has had the police out here looking for him several times. One of the other kids has to go to the special school for violent kids and has been in and out of juvy. The other ones are bulling the kids on the schoolbus and all the kids on the block. (And this is only SOME of the stuff that's been going on. :() Since we homeschool we've been able to avoid the worst of the trouble. But the few times DS (7yrs) has been outside to play he's been bullied by the Family A kids, even with me standing right there. (I don't let him play in the front without supervision anyway.) So now all the neighborhood kids, except for Family A, are hiding inside their houses rather than playing outside. When the kids aren't bullying, they're going into neighbor's yards and taking stuff. Mom A will stop the kids sometimes, but she's really not an involved or concerned parent. It's ridiculous that one family is holding an entire block hostage. There's been a flurry of phone calls between homes, but most families afraid to get involved. But what can we/should do, if anything? Should we contact her landlord and tell them what's been going on? Confront the Mom and ask that she somehow control the kids behavior? (I don't think this will work since she told her son to "kick (another kid)'s a**" before.) Call the police? Call CPS? (Both of which are already involved with this family anyway.) Ignore it and stay quietly inside our houses and hope she moves soon? (She's a renter) I'm open to any suggestion! :bigear:

STEAMPUNK! I totally want a Steampunk ceremony in a cool location, like an old hotel, warehouse, or (safe) abandoned building. I'd love if our family and friends would come dressed up too, and we'd have a big party afterwards with music and dancing. would be the song I (we?) would use to walk (dance?) down the aisle. In real life, I don't know if any of our family and friends would actually be willing to take the time to dress the part....but I can dream. :001_wub: We'll be married 15 years in exactly 10 days! (Wowzers...that time went by fast:svengo:) I'd like to renew our vows, but there's not enough time to plan it for this year. We had a totally conventional wedding, which was nice, but I've grown a lot since then and am more willing to embrace my geeky/nerdy side than I was back then.