I have a child with that temperament. His reflex answer is "NO!" even if it's something he doesn't mind doing, or even wants to do. He HAS to say no first, to anything suggested by anyone else. I've found that my best bets with him are to start AT breakfast. I read bible, do scripture memory, and something from our morning time loop as he is finishing eating before his bottom is off his stool at the bar. Then I write down what else he needs to do that day (school subjects, out of the house activities, chores, etc) on a small white board that I keep in the kitchen for this purpose and discuss it with him. I want him to know what time constraints he has, if any (like, we need to have xyz done by such-and-such time because we have to leave for ____). Then I ask him what he wants to do next. If he says nothing, I want to play, that's fine, I give him some choices for play that involve big muscle movement (trampoline or bike riding are my preferences, weather permitting), and ask him how long he needs before he's ready to come work on a subject. Usually he says 15 min. LOL So I look at the clock and say, "OK, 15min from now is 9am. I'll meet you at the table for whatever subject you want to start with at 9am. Deal?" and we shake on it. Giving him some ownership usually cuts down on the fight. At nine, I pull my bin of his stuff, lay out his options and call him. I call with "Hey, come get a piece of gum and pick a subject!" or "Hey! Do you want to work inside or outside?" It's a giant pain to give him that much control over the schedule, but he's VERY happy to do his work and he makes excellent progress, as long as I make sure he feels ownership over it. Any days that I choose to try to drag him along on my timetable always end in frustration for both of us. Now,I will say that my son is 2 years older than your daughter. For K? I just didn't make him do much of anything. He wasn't ready. I didn't find it worth the fight.

Too Luna Lovegood for me. I love Luna Lovegood, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't want my child's name to be associated with a Harry Potter character.

We have recently learned Hoppity by AA Milne and Cricket by Mary Ann Hoberman. My kids love them both! We just look for inspiration during poetry teatime when we have finished our current poem and need a new one to work on. I'm OK if that means we go several weeks between finishing one and falling in love with the next one to work on. It's been so fun, though!

Yep. my maternal grandmother > my mom > me > my daughter, all have the middle name of Catherine DH's paternal great grandfather > DH's father > DH > one of our sons, all have the middle name of William My mom made it VERY clear that I had no obligation whatsoever to carry on the Catherine, but I wanted to. I will tell my children the same thing. I'm perfectly happy if it stops with them. I happened to like both names and wanted to use them, but they do not need to if they feel differently.

She has five kids, so she has to put 3 somewhere. ;)

My best friend and I both have this model of Sienna, and she is a car seat tech. I recently needed to get all 3 of my kids in the back row (all ride in boosters) and she helped me do it. It's possible, but not super fun. We managed with two harmony literiders and a graco turbo booster. The turbo had to be on the passenger side to make it work. You need the two skinny boosters (like Harmonys) on the driver's side and in the middle. They cannot easily buckle themselves. It was a giant pain. I would not want to do it long term. If I had your kids in my van, here's what I would do (not that you asked, LOL). I have the 8 passenger version, and those three middle seats are ROOMY. At one point, I had three Britax convertibles installed with room to spare in the middle row of my Sienna. Seriously roomy. So, I'd put your 5yo twins in the back row, in boosters, in the two outboard positions, and they should easily be able to buckle themselves. You could use high or low back boosters, with just two of them back there, anything would be fine. I'd put the 2yo in the middle seat of the middle row and the infant on the driver side of middle row. I'd put the 7yo in the spot by the sliding passenger door, because she's old enough to handle a small lightweight backless booster. When you're loading the toddler and baby, she could remove her booster, tumble her seat. let the 5yos into the back row, put her seat back in place, reposition her booster, and buckle herself up. I imagine that would be the most straightforward way to do my van with kids those ages, and it's similar to what I do when we babysit or have other kids that need to ride with us.

awww, I was so hoping one of my children would get DH's beautiful blue eyes. I am brown eyed, with two brown eyed parents, but I also have 2 blue eyed grandfathers, so I was hoping I had a recessive gene in there somewhere. No such luck, it appears. Three brown eyed kids.

We are easily getting first grade x3 (my kids are all roughly the same age) done in the morning, with a similar work load as you. I've noticed from many of your posts that you and I seem to have similar approaches and like similar materials. I think we're fine, so I think you're fine. ;) I don't think you need to worry.

Singapore essential math here. Loved it!

This blog came through my feed reader yesterday and I remembered this thread. Thought I'd link if it if has any ideas for you. http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/2014/09/books-for-kids-not-ready-for-harry-potter.html

You may want to check the lists for Ambleside Online Year 0 and 0.5. AO has wonderful challenging reading lists for all ages.

this was my favorite ring sling, but I think she's super busy, so I'm not sure how hard it would be to get one: http://www.sleepingbaby.net also really liked this one: http://www.mayawrap.com/shop/maya-wrap-baby-sling-new.html

Elizabeth or Evangeline would be my first choices maybe also Charlotte, Amelia, or Madeline

The Simply Charlotte Mason blog is currently in a series on narration. I believe the most recent post was the 9th part. You can read them here: https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/

I wore my toddlers mostly in my ergo but also some hip carries with a ring sling.

I'm Erin and I like to craft, specifically with fabric and yarn. :thumbup1:

We eat it as a side dish in place of rice pretty frequently, but this is our favorite quinoa specific dish: http://www.skinnymom.com/2013/08/05/quinoa-mexi-lime-salad/

We're using Ambleside Online, with oral narration and discussion.

Pretty much this. We do not do lit guides. IMO, they kill the enjoyment of the book. We read, we narrate, we chat about our favorite parts or what we might have done if we were a character, etc. We move on. We enjoy the books!

I often wore my kids until age 2.5-3 on my back in my ergo. I had mei tais, but didn't like them as well for bigger toddlers. I never figured out woven wraps, but the are gorgeous. I just preferred the simplicity of a soft structured carrier.

I'm a life-long Texan who could never imagine living anywhere else. Yet about 3 years ago, DH's job moved us to New Orleans. We expect a move back to Houston in the next year, and I will miss this city so much!! It's been a wonderful adventure, and one I wouldn't have traded for anything. But I was TERRIFIED. I know where you are right now, and I hope that if you're faced with a reality of a move to the PNW, that you're able to embrace the adventure!

ooh, I like this! I've never seen the Complete Book of US History, so I didn't know what it was like, but this sounds like a good plan!

Just do it! It's OK if it's not tidy and pulled together. You can have a GREAT year of US history with what's on your shelves and library books. In your shoes, I might check out the Betsy Maestro books from the library in order, one at a time. After you read through and narrate/discuss/whatever you want to do with the first one, then spend a couple of weeks or more doing some of the activities from your lap books, your videos, map work, crafts, recipes, whatever's in your collection that applies to that time period. Then check out the next one and repeat. There are seven of them, and they'll take you from pre-European settlement through the Louisiana Purchase (ish). They're fantastic. Meaty enough for an 11yo, yet would be accessible read aloud to kids as young as K-2nd, IMO. After you finished those, you'd have a better idea of what it looks like to use some of those lap books, and you might feel better about using the ones that come after the time period that the Maestro books cover (Westward Expansion, Civil War). Sounds like a fun year to me!

Yep! We use ideas from Miquon and the Education Unboxed site to introduce and practice concepts with c-rods, but our main math is Singapore.