That's what I do, I Tues we would not be rigorous by many people's standards because we don't do 5-6 hours a day at 6, and we don't use multiple curricula for one subject. But, I know my son is getting a much better education than he would at any school around us, and we are in a very good district. He picks up fast, but I don't think that men's we should do 2 years of math in one year, it means he does not need as much time. I don't think ability should be rewarded with extra work.

I think it is challenging your children, whatever that may be. I am a less is more type person. We do one thing for each subject. I want to be able to focus and follow the path in that curriculum and really learn it. If we finish math early, I have supplements, but I don't mix. I want focus and retention. I expect a lot of my 6 year old. I erase work and have him redo it, and I test him over what he has studied, formally and informally. He is smart and I push him, but I know his limits focus and time wise and I don't push that. That will grow in time and we will lengthen our day a bit each year.

It is typical fi a child to be posy trained but unable to fully deal with number two unil they are four or five. Kids also have problems with clothes. My DD always wears dresses, she has trouble pullig her tighs back up. I have wiped many a bum as a dance teacher, I wouldn't think twice. I was also a babysitter from th time I was 10....I have been involved in the petty training stage with many kids that are not my own. I would be fine if the teacher came to get me, but I know her teachers and would be fine if tey did not. There are always at least 2 in the room and the bathroom is connected. I get the feeling that none of the moms have a problem, no parent has been pulled so far.

Here is what we do: SM 2b, 2-4exercises a day. 30 min max R&S 2 for grammar, done orally, 1-2 lessons, 15 min max Spelling Plus and Dictation, we alternate weeks-word list one week, dictation for that list the next week. 5-10 minutes a day. SOTW 20-30 min 3 days a week. RS4K biology 20-30 min 2 days a week. CC memory work, 10 minutes daily. 1.5 hours is typical, 2 hours is the max week do. He does silent reading daily outside of that. We just set up reading eggs and he spent two hours on that today. He read three books. He helps unload and load the dishwasher, washes dishes by hand, folds towels and puts away his clothes. He also keeps the playroom clean (sometimes). He makes his own lunch most days and helps cook dinner when there is something he can do. He does not have daily chores, he just helps me when it is time to work. We will be setting up a chore chart this summer for regular daily work. I push him academically, but I don't spend hours on school work (seat work).

Yes!!!

My second grade plans: R&S 3 SOTW 2 SM 3a&b along with IP and CWP 3 RS4K Chemistry, possibly Physics depending on how fast we move. We have spent a year slowly doing biology and he is really recalling a lot of it since we spend so much time. Lit from What You Second Grader Needs to Know and anything else we want to read. Reading is done aloud daily and we will up silent reading to 30 minutes a day and using Reading Eggs for fun. Music: Musical theatre and possibly piano PE: at co-op, dance, gymnastics

If his ear needs training, get him somewhere he can sing. At six, he should not be in private voice lessons, but a children's choir or a musical theayre class may help him a lot. Started piano at 6, we had a rented piano, I never practiced. My mom cancelled the lessons and sent the piano back. I followed the piano out of the house and cried as it left. 2 years later, we started again, we bought a piano and I did practice, a lot. Part of it was agr and part was desire to keep the piano. I struggled, piano was never easy for me. I practiced and did well until the day my sister, who had never had a lesson, sat down and played my recital piece by ear. I had worked months to get it and she played it on her first try. I lost all motivation and focused on dance. I sing, I have a great understanding of music and music theory from dance, choir, and voice. Music training does not have to be on an instrument if it is not working.

We do three days a week. The first day we listen to the audio book while he colors the map. We discuss the locations and he colors it as he wants. The second day, we listen again amd he does whatever color sheet there is. Then he narrated orally what he learned. I propt with review questions as needed. The third day we do the test as a review worksheet. Then we do a lapbook section. If we have to do two chapters we do one the first day and o.e the sec.d and both worksheets and lapbooks the third day. We take time to look at the Kingfisher encyclopedia some days, but not all the time. I have some extra books that we have use as bedtime reads. He reads his Bible to keep up with the Biblical timeline in that and our memory work.

This one? I have this, it is nothing but diagrams and includes the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

I took it in 7th grade, no prep, no algebra yet. It was good practice.

:bigear:

Lemonade slush wins this round....I finished about 16 ounces and am feeling a little more energized. I am, however, freezing!!! That is the most liquid I have kept down at one time in a few weeks. I was drinking yogurt smoothies until dairy started making me ill. :( I love fruit and yogurt smoothness.

Awesome! Thanks!

I lost 15 lbs in 6 weeks when I could eat nothing....but I could drink water. Lemon in my water stopped helping a few weeks ago. I have been chewing on crushed ice all night, I actually woke up without a dry mouth. Although, now it is dry again. I have been truly sick once a day. Every now and then I have a day when I am not sick. A lemonade Susie sound Yummy....I wonder if ice and lemonade in my magic bullet would satisfy this craving I now have..... Temperature does not seem to matter, it is adding pure liquid to my stomache. I wish soda worked. A nice cold fountain coke calmed my stomach with the first two. This time, I just can't find what works.

My husband does seed swapping. You can do if with purchased or saved seeds. He has doubled or tripled the variety we will have by sending people five seeds of each of 5 or so varieties and getting back different thinga from them. Check Craigslist for free and cheap garden supplies.

:grouphug::grouphug:grouphug:

We used a dog and cat scent removal spray. It did a good job.

Not exactly from the movie, but after all the Monty Python quotes I now have the song "I am not dead yet" from the musical stuck in my head! I used to be able to quote You've Got Mail. I love the line where she sends the woman to find the Shoe Books.

I am 14 weeks pg and water makes me sick. I can eat fine, drink water and I get sick almost immediately. At the very least, I have to sit still for a very long time. I am trying ice chips tonight. Some days oj helps, sometimes soda....really I am just having trouble with liquids in general. Anybody have this problem?

I voted math, that is assuming they can already read. I think reading, math, geography/map reading and history, then science and lit, finally the arts. If I had to rank. I think that a well rounded student is most important.

I had a similar conversation last year. DS missed the cutoff for K by 3 weeks. I wanted to know the options....they don't skip, especially boys. K is mandatory, so no skipping amd going into 1st next year....so I asked "My son reads at a second grade level(at least), can do basic addition, subtraction, fractions, and geometry....what wi he do in k?" The answer I got...."We would hope his teacher could keep him body with work on his level." Not a satisfactory answer....the final decision was made.

This sounds just like my DD. I know she knows things, like her letters and counting to 10.....but she will not tell you. She says I don't know to everything! My son was like that. He would be in kindergarten this year, but we have just finished SM 2a and he has flown through he 2b workbook, in two weeks he is half way through. We could have started with level 3 based on placement tests, but I wanted to start with multiplication tables. We do the IP and CWP after the main books. This has proven a good combo so far. I would test both of your kids. Test their spelling too. My mathy kid does really well with spelling too.

We have 3-4 casseroles, chicken enchiladas, Tortilla soup, spaghetti, and breakfast for dinner items on hand at almost all times. The casseoles are all the same base with a different meay, sauce or other thing added. I always have enough to make at least 3 of these meals. I keep canned soup, MAC and cheese, and pasta roni boxes. Sardines, crackers, rice, and canned chicken are also on hand. We live on frozen chicken breasts. I keep at least 10 pounds in the deep freeze. We also keep a few frozen dinners: lasagna, chicken Picasa, and pizza. Currently we have frozen meatballs, Brisket, and ground beef, and salmon in the freezer as well. We buy produce, milk, and juice once every week or two. (We also have an extra fridge now.) We can easily go through more than a gallon of milk a week with three cereal eaters. We cook from scratch a lot, but we like to have variety and quick meal options for crazy days. I make a menu with 10 dinners including a few of our staple meals and buy what I need to have 10 dinners every week. Why 10? In case I don't make it to the store on shopping day, and so we have choice. There is nothing worse than Saturday night with one option and it does not sound appealing! You either end up going out, or last minute shopping. For the next week, uncooked meals are added.to the next weeks menu again. I want to get into shopping once a month and precooking meals for the freezer....I have two books of recipies and freezing instructions....just have not done it yet.

You can just use Excel. With the data sort feature, you can reorganize with a click. Just make a column for title, author, grade, subject, whatever else you want.

If you need the library for all of your school books, reserve them online. Take the kids once a month so DS can pick pleasure reading, then you can run by and pick books up once a week on the weekend. Leave kids with dad for a little while, go get books. Then you get a little quiet time. You need a solid 2-3 hours a day with your 7 year old. I go with the Charlotte Mason idea of short lessons for my 6 year old. 2 hours gives you 6 20 minute sessions, 6 subjects. In 20 minutes we finish 2 SM lessons or wkbk exercises, 1-2 R&S grammar lessons, a section of SOTW, short science reading and discussion,3 times through CC memory work, or review of the weeks history timeline. I rotate history and science so we can send more time for projects. I try to start by 10am so we can be done by 11:30-12, then we make lunch. Thursday we have co-op, unless I have a drs appt, that is the only morning we are out. That is school for the day, we generally tackle a math lesson and reading comp lesson that day. He does it alone while at the studio after class. I dont like to leave in the mornings because I teach dance every evening. DS goes woth me three days a week. He gets PE at co-op and In his dance classes. Can you find a gymnastics class or dance class in the evenings? Most gums and studios offer most classes in the evening. Since your son does not like sports, try dance. My son loves his dance classes, he is not that interested in sports. If you switch to evenings, your days will seem less stresed, you will have more time to fot school in during the day.