We eat a lot of leftovers for breakfast on days we don't rush off here and there, and I'm pretty liberal on what breakfast can be: Natural peanut butter on toast w/ side of fruit Salsa & scrambled eggs in a tortilla Yogurt & granola Smoothie (juice, frozen fruit, honey and plain yogurt) Slice of pumpkin pie On days I have time to cook we do a lot of french toast. It gets the nutty multigrain bread into the kid who swears he doesn't like it.

Nope! You are definitely not alone! We have a school room that is mainly used for storage. It's also a quiet area because the baby is not allowed in yet (at least without being held!) We school all over, though. Yesterday we went from the pool to the kitchen to the driveway to the upstairs hall...and finally back at the kitchen table for writing work. :D Just because we have a pretty room to store things doesn't mean we stay there!

We're like the others. No set time, just a routine. It's just something we fell into naturally: -Get up, breakfast, chores. -go over daily schedule - what assignments are expected, which books he'll be using.. -let him decide what order he's doing them in and off we go! Right now the schedule in our house also depends on the baby. Subjects The Kid needs more help in are reserved for nap time. Today we missed one part of LA because it involved an iron and we had Mr. Cranky Baby hanging out all day. *sigh* Tomorrow, right?

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c79686605528a110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD If you're looking for better time flying is the way to do it. To give you an idea, it's 8 hours from Venice to Rome by train. Costs vary depending on season and day. Here's another site to bookmark - http://www.autovie.it/ If you go to About Motorways->Toll Collection, you can calculate how much the total will be if you drive any distance on the highways.

Let me ask around, but up here we get gas coupons rationed to us. We pay $4.00+ a gallon, while on the economy it's $9.00+. Travel can be done really, really cheap. We looked at going to EuroDisney from here and plane tickets were about $70/person with taxes included. Train tickets can be cheaper than driving especially when factoring tolls. Food is more expensive for some things, like milk. We only get half-gallons here at the commissary and pay almost twice as much. The rules to eating out are the same - stay away from the tourist-y places and prices will drop. I think we spent E60 for our family to eat dinner in Pisa because dh wanted a view of the tower. In Venice I have a haunt where we might spend E25 and get the same quality food or better that you would find closer to St. Mark's. You definitely won't be paupers, but I've known one too many who blow the extra income and then complain when a bill finally comes due or some such thing. The rule given out here is to get an Italian bank account and have part of your pay put in it each month for rent and utilities. Don't touch any extra in that account until you pay up when you leave. It's better than getting a sticker shock because the company has estimated the bill until then. (which happens a lot!)

LittleRed, Go get your notebook. Sit down and just watch your son. Pretend he's a science project. But just watch him. See what he gravitates to, how he handles objects, what kind of energy he has. Watch his eyes light up and take note of that. Watch him slump in disinterest, and note that, too. That's how I spent quite a few months. I watched my son and then matched curricula to him. While I love the WTM, at certain ages it didn't fit him. He needed very hands on, and if it didn't come that way then by golly I needed to make it fit. I mentioned before that 5th grade was the year we added The Dangerous Book For Boys to our curriculum. Oh, yes...and it worked. At 12 he's more ready for the formal schooling. Not before. While we did SOTW, we focused more on the activities than writing summaries and timelines. I don't think it hurt him. I think it actually improved his love of the subject. Just give it time and really look at what your son wants/needs. And ask him - what do you want to learn about? Take him to a curriculum store if you have one in your area and let him pick out a subject or more. You'll figure it out. :001_smile:

I honestly don't know. We don't have base housing here, just what is called GRP and base-leased along with privately rented houses. Health care is so-so. We have a clinic and the city hospital off base. It's standard, I guess. I do like that our base doctor is very down to earth and has no problems with cloth diapers or delayed vaccinations. She was a pleasant surprise. If you use a hospital off base, get the phone numbers you'll need and put them in your cell. Here, we call our patient hotline and they call for a translator to meet us at the hospital.

:lol: I just like selling people on the place. I never wanted to come (didn't NOT want to come, either) but now that I'm here I'm in love. Would you like the bad now? :D -the first month sucks. Hate to say it, but it's true. "Domani" will become a curse word and the fight for houses is rough. Don't worry, you'll get a house, but those few weeks will exhaust you and what can go wrong, will. Everyone has a different experience - which is good, because what happened to us will not happen to you! :lol: But look on AHRN and if your sponsor (do you get a sponsor?) is willing they can set up appts to see homes the first few days you get there so you hit the ground running. -budget wisely. Bills come infrequently, as do speeding tickets if you get one. Our phone/internet bill arrives about every 2-3 months, for example. People have gotten speeding tickets after they've already been gone for up to a year. -you will need a GPS if you don't have one. Our family center loans them out for house hunting but they are really handy for day to day things. There's about 40 different towns in my area and after a year I don't have them memorized yet, let alone the street names. I wish you were coming up here! We've got a great co-op and homeschool group that meets weekly. It's one of the best groups I've ever been a part of. :001_smile:

Even for contractors. :) They're covered, too. You will absolutely love it here. I'm pretty sure it's open to you, so take advantage of ITT trips when you can. This fall we're going back to Camp Darby and going to Vinci and Florence. We did Pisa last time and it was beautiful. Spring is Naples and taking a Pompeii trip. We've already done the local area (Venice, Verona, etc.) on our own, but I'd rather book through ITT if I'm going far. Especially since I won't drive in southern Italy if I can help it. Most bases have on post campsites for pretty cheap, but there's also what are called camping villages that are the Italian/European version - about E100 for three nights and you get a camper and access to activities, private beaches and the like. Or there's dh's and my method - hop on a train, go somewhere, and go from hotel to hotel asking if there's a vacancy. :D We've gotten some pretty cheap rooms that way! Ryan Air flies into most major places, too, so take a look at costs to go to France or the UK (Olympics 2012!). The BIG thing is, Italy is not handicap friendly. That means if you have a little one pushing a stroller can be a pain! We use a carrier most places we go and keep an umbrella stroller in reserve. It's just easier than expecting 2000 year old streets and buildings to accommodate 21st century children!

I am in Northern Italy. It's beautiful, and so homeschool friendly! The laws for homeschoolers don't pertain to us - SOFAs help us maintain our American status, and the military/DoD wants nothing to do with regulating homeschooling. They welcome us into the schools for parttime education if we choose and leave us alone if we don't. There's no reporting needed. I found out about our local group through Yahoogroups. There's probably one for Sigonella, too. Definitely check, or ask your sponsor to ask around on base. Here we try to get a rep to Right Start but it doesn't always happen. And I understand your apprehension! We had a family emergency less than a year after we left and could barely send dh home (btw, definitely look into the hops schedule, too!). Now we maintain an emergency fund dedicated to the cost of plane tickets and a rental car. It's not perfect, but it does mean we can get there in a day if we had to. Benvenuta a Italia!

I live in Italy right now and the difference in habits/food choices between Italians and Americans is very interesting. -they eat more carbs. But they balance them more. Pasta is a 'prima' - a first course, not the meal. A small dish of pasta, then a meat. -they exercise more. Daily. I have not seen an Italian gym since I got here, but I have seen plenty of people on their bicycles and taking public transportation. With gas $9/gallon, who can afford to drive everywhere? -they eat less preservatives. Markets come weekly to the towns and you can buy just about anything there. What you can't, you grow yourself. Corn syrup is not in food here and most certainly not in soda. Look at the difference between their popular orange soda (Fanta) and ours (Sunkist) Fanta Water Orange Juice Sugar Sunkist CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE), MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, NATURAL FLAVORS, CAFFEINE, ESTER GUM, ASCORBIC ACID (PRESERVATIVE), YELLOW 6, RED 40. Fanta colors their bottles, Sunkist colors their drink. -there is a greater emphasis on 'clean' flavors. They use more herbs and less salt and fat in their cooking. I have seen far less overweight Italians than I have Americans. I don't know what part of the above is the magic recipe, but they're obviously doing something right!

They are very different programs, imo. You're aware that while Noeo-the-company is Christian, the program is not? It takes a closed mouth during lessons on God or Christian beliefs. We've only done the second level of Noeo and although only a few experiments come with, there have always been many more options to do throughout the year. I think they try to average about one a week at the very least. You can take a look at the Young Scientist Club kits at places like Amazon and see that each one has about 3-4 experiments listed, so multiply that by the number of kits Noeo provides and that's the minimum of how many you'll do.

We used it and it was a godsend. We had tried Writing Strands before but the amount of work expected with it was not suiting my son- he'd freeze when it came to thinking up ideas. The next year we switched to Writing Tales and he adored it.

Oh, thank you! I was so disappointed when I could only find bits of History Rocks on youtube, but this more than makes up for it! Does anyone remember that show? It was like VH1's pop-up video but went decade by decade, matching up songs of the time to old video footage.

I tried keeping pictures and journals but that's just not us, unfortunately. We have moved too much to try to keep extra things around. Instead, we started making yearly . It's mostly to help us remember, but also to share with family who live too far away to see very often. :)

We're going through about the same. I don't think he's testing my authority (at this age, he still believes he rules the roost, lol, and he's not exactly a clear thinker anyway). He is getting in at least two molars and just went through a growth spurt. The tylenol only helps if it's done before bath. By bedtime he's not interested in waiting for it to take effect. Dh and I have an air mattress on the floor of his room so after he goes in his crib or if he wakes up at night one of us will lay there until he falls asleep.

Our library had them. We found them so-so. They didn't really capture our attention or add any insight to the books. This year I stumbled on the Moving Beyond the Page units and we like them a lot better.

Each timeline comes folded accordion-style to fit in a binder. There's an extra bit that hangs off the left side to punch holes in.

There's Noeo. The first levels are for ages 6-9, but could be pretty easy for a K'er to follow. We initially went with them because we lived in an area where it was hard to get supplies on a short notice. I'm not a fan of the way the Young Scientist club kits' instructions are written (the kits that Noeo recommends) so we eventually did away with first the instructions and then the kits altogether, but I am glad that the option is there.

I accomplished running around? :D It's bedtime here. Today I -washed a load of diapers, folded and put away other clothes that were on the drying racks overnight. -drove dh to his practice. -dropped off The Kid at his dress rehearsal and walked to the library to get a few books for next week. -picked up dh and took his friend home. -packed up the diaper bag and got everyone out the door for The Kid's show. -watched the play. -picked up last minute ingredients for the bbq we're going to tomorrow. -went out for pizza to celebrate The Kid's success. -walked a few blocks to the gelataria down the street and enjoyed the sunshine with a scoop of cherry dripping down the cone. (I'm trying all the flavors I can one by one. :D ) -sat out with The Kid and discussed the pendulum we're going to make tomorrow to try to prove/disprove Galileo's thinking. We're hanging it from the balcony. And for the past bit? Not a thing. Course, there's nothing to show from my day except a bunch of pictures and some dirty stroller wheels. It was a good day, though. Tomorrow morning we're going hiking if the weather holds and then to the bbq in the afternoon. I love this time of year when it's nice enough to stay outside!

We're using Rosetta Stone Italian, homeschool edition, with a 10-12yo. The first level of lessons I set up so that he had LOTS of practice, as much as it would give him. He's just starting the second level and his confidence in the language grows more each day. Speaking is still poor, writing is still poor, but listening and reading are getting there. He's hoping to go to Italian school next year so there's that incentive for him.

I think it depends on how it's done. "We prefer dd doesn't do these things just yet." or "I wish I could say yes, but that goes against our belief system" are both statements that are very non-offensive and says nothing about the other person. However, "We think that little girls shouldn't be tarted up. Thanks, but no thanks." is rather insulting. Bringing up your personal beliefs as a measuring line can be done tactfully when done without inciting or looking for an argument. On the same note, nobody says you have to give reasons for WHY you believe what you do, and the bean dip approach is a good help for setting those boundary lines for people looking to argue about why you should change them.

Since she wants to do it, they probably don't assume you had an objection. I would bring up your family values to her mom and gently let her know what you prefer she doesn't overly expose your dd to. I feel your pain. I'm the "overprotective" parent because I don't let my tween play violent video games. 1st person shooters are out. Not at home, not at friends' houses. Not at all. So when The Kid goes to visit friends, he often has to make a difficult choice. Even though we've talked about it as a family it's still something he struggles with. I feel for him, especially after he's come home because his friend wouldn't turn the game off, but it's not going to bend the rule. I just hope that one day he really does understand. You know, 20 years down the road when he's having to be the decision maker. :lol:

Try thinkgeek :D However, I also like the building blocks. The baby is still too young for that kind of thing, though, so I think we'll start with the ABCs before moving on to the periodic table. :lol:

It was. It looks exactly like the pictures on Pandia Press's site. We're using the Ancients one right now, with the other three tucked away in a drawer.