3-ring binders. I seriously have a love affair with binders. I use them for everything. Storing lesson plans, keeping the kids portfolio, keeping track of medical records, keeping my daily planner in one, you name it and it can probably be solved with a 3-ring binder.

I've noticed too that when I go on WW or something similar I am hungry for the first 2 or 3 days. If I don't give in, I feel full sooner. I think it might have something to do with giving your stomach time to shrink a little.

interesting. I'm not LDS, but I run an inclusive meetup group and it seems to me like a lot of our members are LDS. Maybe it depends on the types of groups available?

Thank you for your replies. I think I'll talk to my doctor the next time I'm in and let her know that while I appreciate her as our doctor, the poor quality of her office staff is making me reconsider using her practice. Hopefully that will inspire some changes.

I love my doctor. She is a family practice and so sees me, my dh and all three of my dc. The problem? Her office staff is awful. I truly have seen no evidence that they know how to read. 2 of my kids files were "lost" for 5 months because they kept filing them all under my oldest child. We always have to wait when we check in so the 3 receptionists can finishing browsing the EW magazine that seems to be much more important than the patients waiting in line. I've looked a long time for a doctor that was homeschool friendly in my area. So what do I do? Change doctors? The office manager is just as bad as her staff, so complaining to her isn't really an option. Anything else I can do to get just basic expectations met at a medical office? I mean, I don't think that my kids medical records being filed correctly is expecting them to go above and beyond..is it?

You know you homeschool when you hear your two year old riding his tricycle in the back yard while singing, "-o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis,-nt." You also know you homeschool when you understand what this is even though you never took Latin and your first intro to it was alongside your kids!

We're reading through the Barnes & Noble classics. So far this year we've read: Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe, The Moonstone, 1984 & The Picture of Dorian Gray. All have led to some wonderful conversations. *Oh and 1984 isn't on the B & N list, but we read it anyway.

I think your email is very reasonable. You didn't fly off the handle or accuse anyone of purposely exposing young children to adult content. And, hopefully it will put the 5th Sunday on the pastors radar so they will know in the future to either keep the kids in SS during a questionable presentation or schedule those presentations for a different Sunday.

I think the "magic" in homeschooling is we participate in real and actual life. In my opinion, whenever you remove kids from an actual world and put them in a pseudo-world you will have problems. In the real world, kids have options in dealing with bullies, friends, time management, etc. In a pseudo-world, kids have no options. Bullies have to be "ignored until they go away" which never happens. Friends are only kept if the guidance counselor doesn't break you up for being best friends (as is currently happening in NY) or if you are scheduled classes together and every second of every day is spoken for through classes, extra-curriculars or homework. So, even if the academics could stack up to each other in a one-room schoolhouse...I still chose home education.

I recently read a book called Confessions of an Organized Homemaker and found it to be very helpful. Her organizational strategy was to get a 3-ring binder and store everything in there. I print off a month view calendar and then use regular notebook paper for the day to day view (it's the only thing big enough!). Then I keep track of what chores I want to do, appointments we need to keep (along with the address, phone number and any other info I need when we're there), which library books are due, and anything else pertinent to that particular day. I also have a running to-do list in the front so I never forget what I had intended on doing. I would recommend the book. I was in the same situation. My house is clean and my life is in order, but I just felt like I could be more organized with my life!

The CD has a song that helps greatly with memorizing all the cards. The CD also has the teacher's manual on it. Are you wanting to use this as your history program or just memorize the cards and use something else?

I make my bed, my 4 year olds bed & my 1 year olds beds every day. My 7 year old makes his bed every day. In fact, I've been known to take away screen time if he doesn't. When I go to bed at night, I like to get into a made bed. In fact, I have a lavender linen spray I spray on the sheets & pillows right after I make it. When I lay down at night, it's heavenly. For me, having a made bed is a treat I give myself. I belong to a Classics book club with my homeschool group (just for moms) and I do a lot of reading for that in bed (shhh! Don't tell SWB!) and I don't think I could have the right frame of mind if the covers were all rumpled.

I guess that's my problem, my family's favorite recipes are frozen foods so it doesn't warrant a whole lot of cooking, just preheating ovens. :( I thought if I had some sort of curriculum to follow, I could learn to be a better meal-planner/preparer as well.

I have 2 3" binders for each child. Each binder holds 18 weeks (or 1/2 the year). I also have an additional 3" binder for each child to keep their completed work. Every 9 weeks, I clean this out and keep only the really interesting stuff, but still be sure to keep a writing sample, math sample, and spelling words review from each semester for their final portfolio. Also, on the weekend I take each child's work and make any necessary copies or preparation that I need to do so we are ready to go on Monday. Making copies also makes sure all my materials are ready for the next child to use when they get to that grade.

Thank you so much for your reply. I'll check it out!

YAY!

So... I am thinking we need to spend more time on learning how to do basic things like make waffles and such. The problem? I don't know how to do those things myself and so don't really know how to teach it. I was made aware of this today when my 7 year old son came over to the computer where I was trying to find something already in existence. He asked what I was doing and I said I was trying to find a guide to follow to teach him how to do things like make waffles. He said "I already know how to use a toaster!" :glare: So, what do you guys use? Or do you use anything at all? I know that he's supposed to pick up all sorts of great tidbits from just helping me, but I wasn't taught home ec. I can follow a recipe pretty well, but wanted to see if there were other things that I should know how to do and not outsource that I could learn along with him. Any ideas?

I'll be a lifetime homeschooler. I have a lot of support from my extended family, so even if something traumatic happened, we would still be able to homeschool. I guess, for me, it comes down to truly knowing that this is the best option. This may not be popular (especially on a classical board!!) but I think even if kids are left entirely to their own devices they will still be better off than in a school setting. Then again, I have read a lot of John Taylor Gatto and to hear his actual experiences of the damage done in school, and to realize the damage done to me in school makes me not want to consider that option for my kids. That being said, we are not facing traumatic circumstances at the moment, so we are classically educating and I cannot even fathom it being any other way. :)

Classical Cottage Conference ? The Well-Trained Home Conference ?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1617750255/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_WwcTnb08KMM5Z Have you tried the above book? It might help some :)

I think Veritas Press has fantastic readers in their phonics museum. They are biographies so they don't seem babyish to the reader. And you also get some history and art appreciation thrown in for good measure!

We are doing Veritas Press 2nd grade next year. They integrate Institute for Excellence in Writing with Shurly English Grammar. We really only do official writing about 6 times throughout the year so I am strongly considering doing Writing with Ease level 1 additionally. So, here are my questions: Is Writing with Ease broken up into weekly lessons? If so, how many lessons are required for each week to finish the first book in 36 weeks? Would I need to purchase the teacher manual or is it a pretty self-explanatory workbook? I know writing questions abound on this forum and I promise I did try to find the answers to these questions first, but didn't really come up with anything yet. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

I love VP. Especially their history program. If you go to their website (or call them on the phone, they are incredibly helpful!) you can put in your kids ages and they will show you how they can combine all the different grades into 1 history program.

I just want to cry for your friend. My son was/is a very difficult child to parent. He would literally spend all day in time out and being spanked because he just.could.not listen. He would hear us, start to obey, and then forget. He was always forgetting the simplest things and I remember going to an event and hearing someone say how my child was out of control. He was. But...they didn't know how hard I had to work to get to the point where we could leave the house and walk through the parking lot. We were consistent. We were providing a stable home, we had routine, we had consequences to inappropriate behavior, we expected obedience...and we got none. I think for many ADHD children, the link in their brain between cause and effect is broken. My son could not connect his actions with the consequence. When he was being punished he would always say "But I didn't want to...." do whatever it was he was being punished for. At first we thought he was making excuses, but it was for everything. As an example, every night for the past 5 years (he's 7 now) his bedtime has been 8 pm. Every night to this day when 8 pm comes, he is absolutely surprised that he has to go to bed. He has never been allowed to stay up past 8 pm, he has the same routine every day but it's still such a shock to him. It's very difficult to understand because it seems like what works for other kids should work for them..and I'm sure that there are parents who do not discipline their kids well but maybe that's the best they can do until their child's brain catches up with their age.

I have horrible ADD. I seriously forget everything unless I do it immediately. That being said, I find that taking Xenadrine or Hydroxycut (over-the-counter diet pills) helps me SO much! I just take 1 per day in the morning (the normal dose is 9 a day :eek:) and find I can focus so much better on getting my tasks done instead of finding excuses to not do it.