This made me bust out laughing. I have a um...er....cookie dough issue too. It does not come in the house anymore because of that. I think we confess to be real. I guess it makes some of us feel better. Some of us see we are not alone in our struggles. More than likely some of us feel better about ourselves after seeing others struggles, although that is sad. So many I read and wish I knew you and could just give you a hug and maybe clean something if you need me too. My house is not immaculate by any stretch of the measure, but it is better than it has been in YEARS (read-someone can come inside without me cringing). I like to clean other people's houses more than my own somehow. I guess I get to see it clean, leave and not see it instantly dirty (not that this doesn't happen!) like my own. 1. I abhor science experiments. I try to push them onto DH, but it never happens. I am with most of you on crafty stuff. Argh. He never helps with anything school related. I really wish he would. 2. I dislike my younger children (sometimes even my oldest) "helping" me do a lot of the chores, but then am unhappy that they don't help enough. :confused:Apparently I have control issues and they don't do it right. I try to show them the right way, but somehow I am not as patient as so many. Sigh. 3. I resent my DH going back to school. It is like many of you with DH's who travel and are gone. Mine is here, only gone studying. We can never just go somewhere or do something since there is school work to do. It seems never ending at this point. 4. I also HATE where I live. I grew up in the Midwest and this climate is the pits. I despise it. It is also very "big city" here and there just seems to me to be a mad rush and no peace. I need peace. 5. I constantly say I hate my life too. I really should stop that. I am so horrible! My life could be so much worse! 6. I am jealous of people with "normal" children sometimes. I love my autistic son, but sometimes his disability is so confining and I am surrounded by people who go and do whatever they please as a family, while we must plan every step with him in mind and how he might react. Many things my children will never get to do as a result. We do take them and do some things while he is in school or separately, but that grows tiring to always have the family apart. I wish he were easier in that respect. 7. I have had far too many chip ahoy cookies today and I don't even like them so much. There are just here and I am in a mood. 8. I would rather be somewhere quiet and beautiful with a book than with most people I have met. I crave alone time and never get it. How do some of you go off to your room to be alone? My children would pester me to death. I am jealous. I rarely am alone. I can't remember the last time I was alone in my house. They even follow me to the bathroom. :001_huh:Some things you should be able to do um...alone. ~Laurie

I am using it successfully this year with high schoolers doing World Geography. I am using the syllabus though at Hewitt. This is designed for high school aged students though. There are no lesson plans to speak of. They have it divided up like a meal- appetizer, entree, etc. It does have some lessons early on about maps, latitude, etc. that are fine, but I believe for the money you could do it yourself. The basic premise is using the checklists and an atlas and having the children map a certain area of the globe. The maps supplied have lines on them and the continent/country outlines. By year's end they are supposed to be able to draw the entire world (continents and a given set of countries, features) from memory at the correct approximate latitude, etc. One thing I do not like is that no maps with just lines are supplied for each area- only for the entire world and those are on a much smaller scale. So we are having difficulty here at year's end moving toward drawing the continents and countries as well as labeling them. They are so much smaller on the blank maps that it is challenging for the kids. I am still trying to figure that one out at this point. The final map is one you "build" and will be larger, but it is too inconvenient to make lots of those for practice. I am not sure you need your child to be able to draw the entire thing by heart on the correct latitude and longitude. I would be pleased with them just being able to label them all personally. It is good for them to have an idea where they are in relation to each other and on the globe, but that can be accomplished without the drama of drawing them on there. I have heard good things about "Mapping the World by Art" and would probably look at that if I taught it again. I had to add a lot to this to make it worth a credit for the students. I think the mapping and labeling is worthy of being done, but I would think you would also want to read great books about the area being studied and do other activities to reinforce what you are mapping. The maps and lists are nice, but you could come up with lists yourself. The maps you can actually buy separate from the curriculum at Rainbow Resource and make copies. They are good projections and well done in my opinion. He seemed to take a lot of pains with those. Hope this helps! Laurie

Vital? Can't thrive? Seriously? "OK, lady I'll see you in 15 years and we'll see what things look like then!"

Thank you for your responses. So many and so varied. I can say I have tried a lot of natural stuff. We actively do fish oil and several other supplements to no avail. He actually is worse it seems when I give them. We did gluten free, casein free and all of that years ago because of our autistic son. I saw no difference there with this son. He does get lots of time outside and exercise. I think that at least makes him less hyper, but does not seem to help with focus. He is a nightmare to parent honestly. He is my most trying child of the four, and makes my autistic one seem easy. He, of course, cannot focus on instructions I give or even requests to come or attempts to discipline him. I hadn't even considered that something could help with that. I understand that meds could backfire or it could take many attempts to help him find the right one. He is already an easily angered child that we have worked intently with to curb his rage, so I would be praying meds did not have that affect on him. Since his siblings are not so close to him in age he doesn't seem to notice that he cannot do some things like they can. His cousin, a grade younger in ps can do all academics quicker and more efficiently, but it does not seem to phase him right now. I do know that things are getting more difficult (getting ready to begin multiplication) and will continue to and I worry what that will look like for me. I am already usually working with him intently until 1:00. I have one coming up into K-5 next year and my high schooler actually needs me more now than in Middle school. I seem to have no time left. I already do pretty much stay by his side while he works. I only leave a few minutes at a time to tend to the other children or grab some laundry, move over some- then right back to fold them in his presence or something like that. I can see him (only feet away) from the kitchen sink, but a lot of the time I am right next to him. I had hoped by now he could work more independently, but that is certainly not the case. If he was going to grow out of it wouldn't it be getting better instead of worse? It is definitely worse this year, especially the last month or so. I cannot imagine how I will work with my youngest next year. If she is even in the room right now he can do nothing. NOTHING! :confused: So, who should I see- the pediatrician and ask for a neurologist or who? Do any of you just let the Pedi prescribe? She would be easier to get in and see if the meds were a bad fit. My husband does want him to see a psychologist friend (cannot prescribe) to also rule out his being on the spectrum since his brother is. At times I have wondered. DH did agree to at least go find out and see what they say. He is hoping for some sort of other techniques to cope though. I guess I am exasperated and just at the end of the rope. I have been asking DH about this on and off for years. He always has refused and blown me off and now I just feel defeated. Today I could really just quit the whole thing. I am tired and even though DH has agreed to go see a Dr. he is fighting me all the way and playing devil's advocate with every comment I make. Thank you all for your experiences! Laurie

One of the many reasons I have been glad to homeschool my oldest son is his severe ADD. The boy cannot focus. When he was younger I thought it was more his age and being a boy, but it is apparent he is afflicted. My husband has a mild case and since we have an autistic son and ADD is considered "on the spectrum" it is not that surprising to me. At any rate I am at my wit's end. We are already behind grade level in most things. He just could not get reading, then it was adding and subtracting. I could have literally waited until 7 years to even begin school and gotten as far as we have at this point. The last 2 weeks (unrelated to nice weather) he has been intolerable with Math. It is taking HOURS to get through a lesson. We use CLE (2nd grade though) and it has gone well the last year or so, but now he is creeping. He is so distracted. Then, once he has lost focus it takes forever for him to get back on task. I am so exasperated I cannot even begin to tell you. I am in tears writing about it. Today I took a break from CLE and printed out some MM worksheets, but that was no better. He is still working on the second one an hour later. The thing is, he is bright. Very bright. I feel like he is not living up to his potential in so many ways and I have to wonder and believe a medication could help. My husband is adamantly against this. He never had meds, DS needs to just learn how to "deal" with it and work through it. The thing is, HE is not the one teaching him and spending hours on second grade work. I feel like my entire day is gone and I have trouble keeping the house clean as I must stay very close by or he will totally lose focus and I come back from some simple task like switching wash and he has doodled on his page and noticed a bird outside and what it has been doing. Sigh. Can anyone sympathize? I don't just want a quick fix. We have been doing this for years. I cannot imagine if he were in school what he would be doing. I really cringe to think. I have tried to hard not to medicate him. I would really like to take the approach of a friend who gives her daughter the lowest dose of a med only for her school work, then when it wears off she gets no more. It is not extended release and her daughter at 11 says she can tell when it kicks in and she can focus so much better. I would not really want him on a lot for an extended period as he is already such a picky eater and paper thin. I appreciate your thoughts and insights. I am in such turmoil over this. Thank you all, Laurie

I looked online at the table of contents in the ninth edition. We have NO GAMES in our edition. There is the shuffle game but none of the others. Otherwise it looks exactly the same. Guess I am out another $18 if I want these. Bummer. I have used that book fine without the games until now.

and believe me she has watched them all. So far that is making no difference. I agree those DVD's are excellent help though. My autistic son memorized all of the phonics this way.

I have an eighth edition. I have had it many years and used it with my oldest. Is this something new in a later edition? I cannot find this train in my book. Stink. I hope I do not have to buy a new one. Can someone tell me how to make this game or is that a no-no? Sigh. :confused:

My youngest is 5 1/2. The way her birthday falls this autumn she will be an older K-5er. She has known her phonics for over a year and I have tried to get her blending multiple times. She just cannot do it. She cannot hear it. She can zoom through sounds, but put two sounds together and things come to a screeching halt. I have taught my two others to read, so I had some of this with my son. Honestly though he was just not ready for any part of school at this age. He was immature and I just backed off. DD is the opposite. She has wanted to read for a while. She colors well, is learning to write her letters better and better, knows colors and shapes, and can count to 50. She loves for me to read to her and pretends to read all the time. It is breaking my heart that I cannot seem to help her get over this hump. She is so eager and excited. I always end on a good note, but still things do not progress. I have the CLE LTR and we have started that, but anyone who has used it knows it begins with some sight words. Of course, she is bright so those are easy. I also have tried to get even simple words like "at" out of her to no avail. We have phonics pathways, which has seemed to work better than OPGTR at this point. Does anyone have any advice? PLEASE give me some new exciting way to help her with this. I just don't know what else to try. In Phonics Pathways, do I move ahead to the next page, even though I helped her do the blends and she cannot do them on her own or are we stuck there? She wants to do the book and can zoom through the vowel pages in the front or any single consonants, but then we were stuck when s-a came along. I helped her through all of them so she would not feel badly, but now do I do the M page tomorrow and help her or do the S one again? I think she will be upset to do the same one again. I appreciate any help you all can offer. This is a new problem for me. I realize she is not officially in Kindergarten, but she wants to read and begin school so I did not want to thwart her. ~Laurie

It has worked out that I just "call" the new school year in June. Some things are finished sooner and I just move on. I don't see it as a huge issue. We just keep moving and the next grade is when we are in all new books? We school year round with the average of six weeks on, one off most of the year with a longer summer break usually somewhere, along with the "normal" breaks of Christmas, Thanksgiving (a week for us since they are too excited and I have so much cooking to do), Spring Break, etc. It works out well for us. We also do more of a four day week with the fifth day being centered around fine arts and nature study. Usually my DS does Math then too and we read a little, but sometimes not. He absolutely was the one who made me have to go to this schedule. He just was losing too much and after our first summer between K-5 and first it was like starting over and I said never again! On our weeks "off" we still are usually not completely idle. I like to spend that time doing extras and catch-up if needed. By catch-up I mean that I am anal schedule lady who writes down what should be covered each week and if something is not completed for some reason or I feel something is lacking or was not understood we will go back over it. This is a great time for extra history projects or science experiments or field trips or anything extra (like making a volcano) that is not so easily done during the school year. My DD spent her last week off learning some new songs for guitar, finishing a book or two that were free reading, catching up on her blog, and finishing a scarf she was crocheting. I totally agree with losing the guilt over appointments or errands that interfere with school and again the bliss of not having them "forget" everything they seemingly learned the previous year. I also am kept in my routine, which I personally like. The days off for gorgeous weather or snow (since we rarely get snow here and homeschooled children get no snow days) are also a thrill. We are actually taking off tomorrow to garden and plant. It is to be warm and glorious and I plan on enjoying it. We will get up early and set off to get more plants, then they will help with setting them out. Oh, there will be questions about what to put where, full sun, partial sun, types of plants, and the like- but there will also be dirt, water hoses, spades, shovels, popsicles, picnic lunches and the like. One final thing, for us schooling year round changes things even further from a traditional school to a lifestyle of learning that we have hoped for. We take short breaks to refresh and explore something new, then we go back at it. We aren't just in it to finish and get er' done. :lol: Does that make sense? I hope so.

I do like it. Cost and effectiveness are excellent. One issue for us was ALL the writing so early on. My son did not have the strength for a long time and it was very tough for him. We improvised by doing some orally and with him pointing when he could. There is TONS of review. Some days my son would say "They are asking me this again?". Seemed like overkill on some things like sentence, phrase, question and identifying which is which. I did finally move to marking out some of the review that was over the top on every other lesson to give him a break.

I am at a loss. There are so many selections now. I have been looking at Noeo, Elemental, and Real Science and I just cannot choose. I will read how lots of people like the biology for one, then not for Chemistry, etc. I am SO UTTERLY CONFUSED! Someone please help! Can anyone give me comparisons? Has anyone used all three? I need grammar stage science and want to be able to go through Chemistry and Physics for sure. We have spent a great deal of time on Biology the past few years. I appreciate your comments as always.

:iagree: I have used pieces of AO on and off with my children for 5 years. Now, my oldest DD did not start out with AO and when I started her with it at sixth grade it was TERRIBLE. She had never experienced that sort of literature and it threw her for a loop and me too. I thought AO was the hardest thing ever. Totally different story with my son who has used AO literature since K-5. His vocabulary is stellar compared to his sisters at that age. His narrations have taken off this year. His spelling without having ever used spelling until last week is excellent. I also cannot get over how far the nature study has taken us. My son adores nature now and is so observant. He brought me an empty chrysalis he had found the other day. My husband said "You have a what?" with a confused look. I had to laugh. We are also WAY too excited this week at my house because we have to have a tree taken down and we plan on counting the rings and talking in depth about the tree.

I am currently using Mapping the World by Heart with a group of high school students as part of a World Geography co-op. There is a syllabus available via Hewitt and that is what I shaped my course around. http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/bsingle.asp?i=2801 Most of our class time is spent mapping the different areas (maps come with the course) and also giving oral reports over the country they chose in our current area. We are doing our final area right now and then will begin practicing for our final map. I can tell you that my daughter can now locate with EASE about any country you can throw at her along with major mountain ranges, rivers, etc. I have been impressed by her ability to do this with only the outline of these countries. Africa in particular was not easy and now she says Australia has been challenging because of the many islands in that area. Otherwise, she went easily through North America, South America, Asia and Europe. I did struggle for a while (she can zoom through a map) to make sure she was spending enough time to earn a credit. I decided to supplement their work some half-way through the year to include some tidbits I had from other resources. I decided to include some literature that would force them to make a map and discuss the geography mentioned in the book. I have found some helpful geography games online this year that the kids have enjoyed as well. I think the book is helpful. The syllabus added a lot more to it. The basic idea after going through the early lessons on the basics of maps is just handing them a copy of the blank map and an atlas and letting them map. It serves them better to find the places on their own. They become handy with an atlas and it sticks better in their minds. You really do not need someone to hold your hand. You can sit down and do it too I promise you will learn a ton! It really is not a difficult subject to teach. (That is my inner cheerleader!).:tongue_smilie: I do not think the final map is necessary. I think it is something impressive to show friends at parties, but unless you continued reviewing I am certain they would lose some of it. :) I think spending a month or so of each school year on a continent mapping the places in the book, spending time on the culture- maybe choosing a country or two and learning about them, then adding in a book or two with geographical references (over the entire year) would be splendid at a younger age. If you can get your children to know that you will have accomplished so much.

We did about half a day of "normal school" then before noon headed out for some nature study and garden work. It was a lovely day and unfortunately we have not had as many as I would like so far this year here in southeastern Virginia.

an Earth/Space set for grammar stage. I am looking at it for my son to go through this summer. I think he would enjoy it. http://www.elementalscience.com/

Today must have been a special day as my 5 year old finally blended and read her first word today after a year of knowing all her phonics. I thought we were in for the long haul. I was so thrilled. It is awesome when they get it. :)

I have chosen MFW for next year for my 3 who are at home. (My autistic son goes to ps where he is in a great program.) My main questions at this point are surrounding my DS who will be nine this summer and should be entering fourth grade. I have spoken to MFW staff about where to place him and ended up settling on ECC. We are just finishing a year (and a half) of Creation to Greeks or thereabouts (using Ambleside), so he will get a re-run soon OR I will skip that year and go to RtoR after ECC. I am keeping an eye to the order of MFW some since I have my youngest beginning K this year. I am hoping in 2 years when she is ready to join him it will not be too difficult for her. For a little background on him, he has been a challenge. He is on the spectrum also and has had extreme focus ADD issues. Literally I wish with all my heart I had waited to even begin school until last year. Up until then it seemed like he would never read or do sums. I fretted after my over-achieving oldest DD. It literally took us until last year (so two years) to get him reading. He gets stronger each day and this year has made up a lot of time, but still is behind grade level. Last year it was Math issues. He could not seem to memorize basic addition and subtraction and each time he saw them it was like it was the first time. Totally scary! This year he is zooming through Math and again has made up a lot of ground. I believe by years end he will only be a year behind textbook wise. This DS is a science head. That is his love and up until now we do spend a fair amount of time on it, just nothing textbook wise. We have used Usborne books as spines, supplementing with appropriate texts and experiments. I do feel he has a lot of potential in this area and wondered if anyone ever goes another route or adds to MFW science in these younger years? I want to really work on being intentional with science with him and the ECC year science just does not feel like enough. I know I could add Apologia, but I was not even sure if that would be enough. I want him to be grounded in Chemistry and Physics before middle school as well. I appreciate any of your suggestions here. You all are always so helpful. I have looked at REAL science, NOEO, one of Sonlight's sciences. Which one makes my head spin. I appreciate your comments as always. Also anyone with children who were behind and have comments about "catching up" or some encouragement there- please comment or PM me. Thank you all!

I am hoping you ladies can help. My oldest DD is in 9th grade currently. We have been doing a Charlotte Mason style via Ambleside online for a little while. I will add I believe she is still somewhat weak in composition and struggles there more than with Math or Science. I have been looking at MFW and am perplexed as to what to do. I love the looks of it. I also like that it is incorporating Notgrass, which I was already looking at for history next year. I am not sure how I feel about skipping the Ancient 9th year, even though next year she will be in 10th grade. It goes back to the composition skills and worrying that she will feel in over her head writing wise if she jumps right into World History. Should I go ahead and start Ancient History now (not ideal for me sanity wise or money wise!) and plan on it going into next year? Perhaps I could skip some things- she winces. We do school more year round with breaks built in, so she could work on it this summer without a lot of issues. Or, do I go ahead with the World History? I appreciate those who have walked ahead of me here advising. How difficult will it be to go right on to 10th? She is not extremely strong on her essays is my point. Also those who have gone on into the 3rd year of high school via MFW is there continued composition there or no? I was not seeing as much on the samples online. Thank you for your time! Laurie

for a middle school aged child to replace SOTW 4. I would appreciate something along the lines of a living book, not a reference book just to outline. Something with a Charlotte Mason style. Thanks for any help!

(I already posted this on the general board, but it was suggested I post here too since I have an 8th grader). I have been around here on and off for a long time. I remember when Susan first wrote her book I went to see her speak since I am not so far away and was enthralled. Back then I had one child and life was simpler. So now I have 3 more and what I attempted to begin with my first has went down the tubes. I mean, I have homeschooled them, but not the way I had hoped. I REALLY want to give them a good classical education, but how do I do that? HOW? PLEASE HELP! I am overwhelmed with all 4 of my children home. My third is autistic, so we are actually looking at a private ABA placement for him (another story) as he is non-verbal and difficult to even work with. I have to find some balance. Does anyone do it like Susan? And how? Do you get anything else done? :confused: I am most concerned with my oldest. I just don't even know where to start we didn't even get through the trivium once before all the others came along, my Mom died suddenly, autism, you know- life happened. At 8th grade- what do I really need to get in and do before she graduates. She is bright, but nothing compared to what she could be in my opinion. I REALLY do appreciate your input- anyone. My kids test well and are not just sitting in the corner slobbering, but I so wanted things to be different. Sigh. Thanks ladies. I like being able to talk to others on the ground too!

I wasn't sure where to post this and I did a brief search, but I am not having much luck. I have been around here on and off for a long time. I remember when Susan first wrote her book I went to see her speak since I am not so far away and was enthralled. Back then I had one child and life was simpler. So now I have 3 more and what I attempted to begin with my first has went down the tubes. I mean, I have homeschooled them, but not the way I had hoped. I REALLY want to give them a good classical education, but how do I do that? HOW? PLEASE HELP! I am overwhelmed with all 4 of my children home. My third is autistic, so we are actually looking at a private ABA placement for him (another story) as he is non-verbal and difficult to even work with. I have to find some balance. Does anyone do it like Susan? And how? Do you get anything else done? :confused: I am most concerned with my oldest. I just don't even know where to start we didn't even get through the trivium once before all the others came along, my Mom died suddenly, autism, you know- life happened. At 8th grade- what do I really need to get in and do before she graduates. She is bright, but nothing compared to what she could be in my opinion. I REALLY do appreciate your input- anyone. My kids test well and are not just sitting in the corner slobbering, but I so wanted things to be different. Sigh. Thanks ladies. I like being able to talk to others on the ground too!

I think I jumped the gun, having not seen Chalkdust, but hearing so many good things about it. :ack2: We have checked it out and honestly my DD is NOT ready for this. I know, keep it until she is, but I really cannot afford to, so I am going to sell my set. For anyone who is interested it is the Algebra 1 set 4th edition with the 13 DVD's that cover both Alg. 1 and 2. Here are the ISBN's: Text: 9780618388172 (you can choose this text or the other on the opening DVD screen, as we did load it and look) DVD's: 9780618753963 Solutions Manual: 97806183388196 (This also matches up- I checked) These are all in excellent condition. I will post the actual "for sale" on the sale and swap board, but if any are interested it is over there and I am only charging what I paid for it. Thanks, Laurie

Me tooo! I do better with low carb, though I usually can never keep it up and end up going off it. This particular one I have managed to stay on in the face of some big temptations. The first 2 days I have some headaches and felt sort of tired, but today I feel better. I lose nothing, absolutely nothing on WW. I just don't. It is depressing. I have tried a few times. I too am not sure that this is healthy long term. I mean some of the fat from nuts is healthy, but bacon, sausage, and eggs on a regular basis seems like a recipe for a heart attack? It concerns me a little. I find myself feeling like I am unhealthy after eating those things. For the time being I am going with it and seeing where I end up. Laurie

as some others have pointed out. I mean eating bacon and lots of eggs seems a little cholesterol raising? That being said, it does seem to be high protein mostly with some high carb days and some days with a few carbs mixed in. I chose the diet generator and have lost 6# in 3 days, so I am doing well. I personally think I do better low carb and have felt better on this particular one. The food combinations are strange and are what put me off when I first bought it, but I am trying to withstand since my weight loss has been at a stand still for a while and this seems to be doing it. I am not sure it is a good option long term health wise, as far as coronary risks? I guess it depends how overweight one is.