One of our favorite dates was taking a 5 hour stained glass class together one day. We could only get someone to watch the kids during that time frame, so we did a candlelight dinner on fine china with sparkling grape juice with them and then put them to bed early. A sparkling clean bedroom (which I did the day before), music, and candles made for a romantic date night at home.

:iagree:We are starting a 2nd year with our co-op and it has been a very positive experience for me and my children (nursery for the little guys, but the 3yo did start in the preschool group this year). I find the support of talking with other hs parents helpful and encouraging while my social butterfly thrives in having more time with other children.

:iagree:

You made me smile! Enjoy the sweet grace and freedom of Jesus Christ!

I don't think we've had any misses here. Our favorite hits: AAS - I've seen big improvements in my DD6's reading because of this (she's not guessing as much and is sounding out more)! MIF: - we've really enjoyed this Singapore approach to math SOTW - by far my DD's favorite. I just wish I had more time and energy to do more of the activities. IEW's poetry memorization - really enjoying Level 1.

:grouphug: I'm sorry it's been so stressful. I don't have personal experience with K12, but I've heard from two friends (one with a special needs child) that it ended up being a lot more work than they had expected. Keep working to find a good fit for your family.

I bought MIF for some of the reviews listed previously - but I bought it used. As much as I wanted it, I'm not sure I would have paid full price for it. I did buy the TM, so I still paid more than I would have for SM. I have to say, I think the TM is fabulous. I like having the Student Textbook pages AND workbook pages in small size (with answers) in the TM. Yes, I do think I could get by without the TM at the 1A/1B level (and many obviously do), but I find it gives me subtle direction in how to focus and teach that I would have missed if we were just using the Student Textbook and Workbook. I will do my best to find used copies of the TM and ST so that we don't have to pay full price for additional levels.

I just finished Step 13 of Level 1 with my DD6. We do the next thing when it comes to AAS and that usually looks like this: Day 1 - Review, new teaching, spelling with tiles. Start spelling on paper usually. Day 2 - Short Review. Finish spelling on paper (or white board, or with sidewalk chalk). We read through the More Words list, but I haven't yet seen the need for her to do additional practice that way. Do a few dictation phrases Day 3 - Short Review. Do a few dictation phrases. Day 4 - Short Review. Finish up dictation phrases if necessary. Move on to next Step if there is time. Since we do a short review most days, we usually only review 1-2 types of cards each day. We spend about 20 minutes a day, 4 times a week. I'm not sure why, but the dictation phrases seem to take her forever. It's only 2-3 words together but that seems so much harder than just one word and there is much moaning and groaning.:glare:

My DD6 is a bit of a wiggler (love the exercise ball for her to sit on) but I usually try to get 1 hour of work in the morning before we take our first break (she is usually doing some moving around in that first hour). She gets to choose one 15 minute break and I get to choose a 15 minute break each day. Of course, we often get interrupted by the toddler and we usually get to a point each day where it's better for all concerned that we finish school during the toddler's afternoon nap. We often change our location after every couple of subjects and that in itself provides a short little break and seems to help her refocus - I think she gets bored being in the same place for too long. And sometimes changing rooms is more of a distraction but for the most part it works for us.

B4FIAR is for 2-4 year olds. I pretty much followed the suggestions of FIAR with my firstborn for KG. I just got B4FIAR do with my DS3 but honestly I haven't done much with it yet - it's been more of a book list than anything. Some of it is busyness on my part (hs a 1st grader and keeping the toddler for wreaking too much havoc) and some of it was that I just wasn't as interested in the suggestions for the books we have read. I also feel like a lot of what is suggested gets covered in everyday life around here - it helps to have older siblings. I'm sure I would have done more B4FIAR activities with my firstborn if I'd had it then. update: Sorry, I later realized you were asking about BFIAR which is recommended for 8-12 yo. Silly me - I've got preschoolers on the mind!

We average 4 full school days a week, sometimes more, rarely less. Our 2011-2012 year is scheduled to run from early July to early/mid May with a few week long breaks scattered throughout the year. It's not unusual for me to squeeze in an extra day or half day when the weather is bad (too hot, too cold, too rainy) so that we can take more time off when it is really nice out - like today!

I hate to admit it, but I am just about done by 8:00 most nights. At about 7:30-7:45 kids go to bathroom/get diapers changed, brush teeth and get pajamas on. I turn on some music in the boys room and hold my toddler for a few minutes before putting him into bed. He is usually reaching for his crib at this point but still cries for about 5 minutes most nights. Once he's quit crying, I cuddle with my 3yo for a couple of minutes and send him to his room without me (if the toddler is still awake or gets woken up and sees me then he will cry for quite awhile and the 3yo will start crying too). My dd6 gets to listen to an audio story as long as she is getting ready for bed quickly and with a good attitude. We're a bit flexible with the actual bedtime. If she seems cranky from staying up too late to listen to stories, I have her turn off the audio story at some point and listen to "bedtime" music. Sometimes, I pray with them, but we pray at other times during the day so bedtime prayers are usually pretty short. If they ask for more cuddling, I often do crawl in bed with them for a few minutes. If we have a read aloud that I really like, then I may read it to them at bedtime - it's sometimes a reward for getting ready for bed quickly and with a good attitude. That said, most nights it's bathroom/diaper change, brush teeth, pajamas, and to bed with a hug and music or story on the CD.

A friend and I ended up watching each other's kids (at her house) so we could take turns running errands on our own. Her oldest is in ps and the rest are still too young for school. My DD6 read a superhero easy reader to the little boys (not her choice but they just have boys!) and history got covered by looking at pictures, papyrus, hieroglyphs, an Arab headdress and other clothing, Arabic writing, and some other things that my friend had from a trip to Egypt 10 years ago. We're back home now and we'll try to squeeze in some math, spelling, grammar, science and cursive before the day is over. We'll spend a few hours in the car this weekend so I think we're going to try to get ahead with STOW and some suggested read alouds in the car.

We start Bible (and sometimes Memory work) at the kitchen table during/after breakfast. I spend a little bit of time on chores and then put the toddler in his room for crib time. We spend an hour in our unfinished basement doing math and spelling with a baby monitor on to make sure the little guy is okay. Then we move back upstairs to the family room. We go back and forth between the family room and kitchen for the rest of the day, but occasionally we venture outside to do some reading or oral work on the swing. I keep the math and spelling supplies in the basement, a binder for seat work (usually anything with handwriting) and some of the art supplies in the kitchen, and the rest of the supplies are in our built-in cabinets in the family room that is next to the kitchen. My dd6 really does better with a frequent changes of scenery. It seems that a lot of our stuff is spread out, but it works for us and I don't seem to be running from one end of the house to the other for supplies...well, at least not very often.;)

:iagree:If you register on their forums you can look at their archives - that is where I found some of the most helpful information - that and homeschoolshare.com.

The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for your Child by Robert Sears, Md provides a delayed vaccine schedule. I would recommend taking the schedule to the doctor's office.

My husband is very supportive, but I handle all of the educational responsibilities. He goes to the annual homeschool convention, lets me set our hs budget, and is willing to watch kids so I can plan lessons, go to the library by myself (or at least without the toddler), or sneak out for a sanity break. He is much more of a natural teacher than I am with everyday life and taught ps high school for six years, but he has shown no interest in participating in the formal education of our hs. I do wish he would ask more about our day and what we're learning, but I think that will come as the kids get older. He communicates verbally so much at work that when he gets home he really needs a (communication) break most days. He doesn't care if the house is a mess (and never once complained the week I set aside to do some major curriculum research and the week I focused on doing most of my lesson planning for the year) or doesn't complain about eating sandwiches for supper when I haven't gotten my act together to actually cook a meal. He doesn't mind running errands (something I do not enjoy) and does some of the grocery shopping. He doesn't really do any additional housework (unless I ask), but he does all home and yard maintenance and as much auto repair as he can. One of the things I appreciate most is his willingness to take the kids out of the house so that I can stay home - I am such a home body! I count myself very blessed with all the support he provides.

My DD6 was doing the same thing as your daughter (although, she is still in leveled readers). We are on level 12 of AAS1 and I have seen a big improvement in her sounding out unfamiliar words rather than guessing. Between the help with phonics and using tiles to do a lot of the spelling, it has been a great fit for her - and she really likes it!

I know what we'll be doing tomorrow!;) Thank you so much for sharing your list.

I grew up with a lot of camping trips and then moved onto 4-5 day backpacking trips (and then no camping or backpacking for several years). I've had some really great camping experiences and some pretty awful ones too. With that much rain, yours sounded pretty bad and worthy of a bail out!

I have learned that I am a much better momma and wife if I can get 1-2 hours quiet time in the afternoon (I am much happier too!). Unfortunately, between my toddler tornado and DD6 who is so much more compliant and ready to learn in the afternoons, I usually settle for just 30 minutes. It has been such a balancing act to figure out what is best for all of us. For the next few months, I realize that I will have to use much of my toddler's nap time for homeschool, but I still need to carve out some time for me to physically and emotionally rest. I've learned that watching tv helps me zone out but it does not let me recharge. So I've quit watching TV and only watch a movie when a movie when my husband asks me too. It was hard to quit, but I'm glad I did. Training my children to be kind and well-behaved seems exhausting at times, but I know we are all a lot happier when they get a long and and they know what are their boundaries. I've learned it also helps if we stay on top of keeping the house picked up. A few weeks ago, as I sent my dd6 off to a week long day camp, I thought, "Am I crazy? I could be sending her off every day when school starts?" I'm so glad, I decided to ignore that thought, but I also realized I need to take better care of me so that I don't get so frustrated with the kids that I take it out on them.

What about a special breakfast and then spend the whole day (or a portion of it) doing something they love to let them appreciate the joy and flexibility of homeschooling? I am hoping to do school one morning at a nearby arboretum (after some play, of course) soon. It will be a nice change of pace and a great way to do science.

:lurk5: I can't answer your question, but I can tell you I was drooling over the planner a few days ago when I saw it for the first time. It looks like it has everything I'd want in a planner, but I recently created my own and printed 6 weeks worth to put in a binder. I liked WPD so much, I might go back for it. My DD6 doesn't need her own planner to look at yet - we have painted craft sticks with a subject name on each and she chooses the order that we do them in.

We have to do a substantially equivalent number of days, which is 167 or 168, I believe. We usually do school 4x/week most of the time, sometimes more, sometimes less. We started the 2nd week of July and I hope to end the beginning of May. We'll take 2 weeks off at December and probably 3-4 other full weeks as well. It helped to do a lot of my lesson planning into weekly sections, but I can cover those weekly sections in a 4 day week. So I have 36 weeks planned, plus a few short weeks where we'll school light with math, spelling, writing, and reading and anything we might need to catch up on.

One of our favorite kindy math activities was to play with large foam dice. We'd each roll and then she'd tell me who rolled more/less. Then I'd have her add the two together. After awhile, we'd each roll two and add our own, and eventually she'd add the sum of her two with the sum of mine. We also did subtraction that way. It never felt like work to my daughter.