DH is one of 7 kids. One brother has 8 kids, the rest of us have 10 all together :) My sister has no kids, so we have 16 nieces and nephews....17 if you count the adoption in process. I expect we will be adding more in Tue next few years.

I do it. It works if the house is not too bad. I will find a hairbrush, take it to the bathroom and clean off the cabinet. Then go back to cleaning, find something for my room and then gather all the toys the life snuck into my room.....then I take thhem to the playroom and pick up all of one type of toy.....then go back where I started. It feels a little haphazard....but sometimes it works. Sometimes I have to really focus on a room so I use boxes to gather up what does not belong.

He has to read 15 minutes a day before he gets Wii or computer time. We just had to find something he liked. Right now, that is his Picture Bible. He also loves comics.

According to most studies, education of parents and income do not significantly effect the success of homeschooling. The effect is actually seen much more in public schooled students. If their parents did not finish high school, the different in performance is much greater in ps than HS (less than 1% difference from kids whose parents have college and beyond, I believe.) Both groups (low income and lower level of school completed by parents) far out perform ps students (including those whose parents have higher degrees and higher incomes.) There are multiple studies showing these results.

When he is home during the school day, he helps our 3 year old with her "school" so I can teach our 6 year old. :) He colors with her. Monday, he sharpened all of her colored pencils in the electric sharpener...on my desk...while I was sitting there...trying to listen to DS read his grammar lesson out loud. :glare: After the 10th pencil, I gave him a dirty look, he gave me a goofy smile and sharpened another.... He and DS had a math competition that day as well, and a handwriting competition. Dad one the math race, son had the neater penmanship :tongue_smilie: He generally does not teach, but he will be the enforcer if DS is giving me a hard time. It is nice to not always be the bad guy when it comes to school.

Reece's Rainbow has no say in who gets to adopt the kids. Yes, they could stop raising fund if they did not agree with the adoption scenario, but what good would that do...really...If the family has already been approved, it may just slow things down if the family needs a little more money. They start the fund-raising before the kids are matched with families. It is possible that all of the money was raised for the kids before the family committed to them. They raise the money to help encourage people to adopt these kids, it is expensive and by having some of the money there already, some families may be more inclined to adopt.

My BIL and SIL are adopting a little girl they found on Reece's Rainbow's site. They have to go through a different agency. RR is a non-profit that advocates for the kids and raises money for adoption expenses.

We have always made ice cream with raw eggs. We have never had a problem. We just use fresh eggs.

I have been sick for 36 hours....my house is a wreck! DH cooked for me....but he did not clean up any of the mess :)

We are in level 2. We do a lesson a day. We currently do everything orally. I type some pages up so he can circle and underline. Next year I will add more writing, but we are working a year ahead and his writing stamina is not equal to his cognitive abilities.

We got behind in several subjects this year. I just kept plugging away, one day we did two language lessons, the next day an extra math page, then some extra science or history. Plus, you can just extend your year a little bit, work through Christmas Break and Spring break, at least do one or two subjects a day.

We waited in lines when I was younger; now with the fast passes, you don't need to wait as long. Be prepared for rain, and if it rains...STAY!! Most people leave, then you don't wait. We waited an hour for Tower of Terror (before fast passes) and loved it. When we got off, it started to rain...we went 3 more times without waiting at all! The last time we went, we had one day, we hit 3 of the 4 parks and all the rides we wanted in that one day. (We had no kids, just 4 adults there for fun).

We used 100 Easy Lessons and skipped all of the writing. It went quickly and my son loved it. Had I made him write, we would have been miserable.

I liked the 50s diner at MGM if it is still there. They played black and white tv shows and served home style dinners. It was fun. My dad did not eat his peas...our waitress chastised him and then fed them to him! It was great!

I grew up in North OKC, worked at Tinker in college, and currently live in Moore. I love Moore. We lived in a very small town in Missouri for 7 years before we move home. With Moore, I get the benefits of a small town (everything close, even walking distance) plus the benefits of a big city (LOTS of shopping around S 19th Street, several malls within 20 minutes, and lots of activity options). MidWest City/Del City is the closest area to Tinker. There are some nice areas/housing additions; but the school district is pretty bad. As mentioned previously, that is a big factor in resale value of a house if you buy. In general, the area is not very nice. We have two Crests withing 15 minutes of our house. It is a local grocery chain that we love. I don't know what you like about Whole Foods, but I have been to a couple of Whole Foods (not the one here), and I prefer Crest. The newer Crests have great produce and meat sections. The new one by our house has a fresh sushi bar. Norman is a great area too, again, top notch school districts; but housing is more expensive. I prefer Moore because of the easy highway access. My parents live in North Edmond (far north end of the metro area) it takes us 20 minutes to get there, all on the highway. :) Homeschooling is easy, as long as your kids have never been in a school in the state, you don't have to do anything. I track our work and days, just in case, but the only reason you need it is if someone questions your HS. To my knowledge, that rarely happens. We have more homeschool support groups, mom groups, and co-ops than I can keep track of and an amazing convention in May. PM me if you want specific information on activities in the area (dance, theatre, sports, music, co-ops, gymnastics, etc.) If you can't tell...I love my home state :D

Romeo and Juliet Macbeth Hamlet Julius Caesar Midsummer Night Dream Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night or Comedy of Errors Richard III There are others that I would recommend...It is so hard to pick just 8! 10-12...I think I could limit myself to that many. :)

I am sick....we did not do school today and I missed that dedicated time with my kids.

Place a few paper towels over it and iron, repeat until it is gone.

I read the second edition once, then bought the third and reread the grammar section a few times.

I changed English Grammar after one day....since then It has been smooth sailing. I am going to add Lollipops Logic in Dec, for fun. DS has done really well with the CPW books, they contain a few logic problems and he loves them! I have changed my focus a little. We give more time to history than I had planned, because he absolutely loves it! I need to get some more reading supplements. :) I dropped copywork and added cursive. We print for dictation instead of adding copywork. It was just too much writing for him.

I don't remember that in TWTM. We are actually using it a grade ahead. My son is in first and we use the second grade book. We do of all orally. I turn some exercises into worksheets by typing them up for him. His writing stamina is getting better. Next year we will do a little more writing. If we waited to use it a year behind, he would be bored with it. Just use it at the level that works for your child, all kids are different.

I use yahoo groups for local HS groups. I think the set up works better than a forum. It is used more like an event calendar. Notices of activities are automatically sent out. I don't need another forum to log into and search. I prefer to get remimders by mail. It never occurred to me to go back and read all the topics from the beginning. Everything is time sensitive, no need to go back. I am in 2-3 local yahoo groups. I get 10-15 emails a day total. Everything is prayer requests, items for sale, or reminders. No reason to have a forum where someone can pull up old messages. The yahoo groups serve a different function. At least in my mind.

It is very mathematical, it helps develop various math skills. It also teaches patience, following directions, and so much more.

DH was HSed 1st-high school. I attended public school until 5th grade when I moved to a private school. I do moat of tyebschool work, but DH is very supportive and helpful :)

One rehearsal so fa, choreographed for a second, now getting ready for a baby shower, then my second rehearsal to teach what I choreographed. On top of that....laundry, dinner, lunch, bathroom cleaning, and so much more. I just want to sleep!!