I am not a big fan of healthy snacks. I want to be healthy....but I dislike many things that are healthy. I eat some fruit, but mostly, I drink soda. I try to quit.....but I can't, I blame my mom.;)

I won't pay to shop. I would not go to a convention just to shop. I will pay for the classes but not to get in the vedor area, if that is included with classes I will shop.

I still have my two dolls. One doll has all of her accessories. One is just the doll. My sister also has one doll with all accessories and one with just the doll. She never plans to have kids. That works out well for me :) DD will have 4 dolls and pieces slowly given to her over a few years (later when she is at least 6). If we have another girl, they will share :) Saves me a lot of money!! I also saved money on My little Ponies. My sister and I had quite a collection when we were little and now DD has them all!

Lunch today will be fried dumplings. DS found a recipe in a book we got this weekend and we have put off making them. I promised we would do them for lunch today. What am I at piece with today? Hmmm....I can skip around a bit. If DS has something, I can skip problems and whole exercises in math, we can push through grammar exercises a little faster if he gets the concept, and if we don't do the biology test today....we will survive :)

:svengo:Wow!

I was told by oneexperienced HS mom that the one hour per grade level was a good judge of how long you should be working. I do think that some kids can be done faster. If DS is focused, he can do a SM lesson in less than 15 minutes. He would be in K in ps, he is in SM 2a. I don't think I should push him more, I don't want him finishing calculus at 12. Spelling takes 5 -10minutes. I dictate the list, he writes it. If ue gets them all on Monday, we practice a few words a day to reinforce and retest on Friday. Last week we did 3 lists to dind one that he missed a word on, this week I dictate sentences from those parser words (we,did a 20 minute full spelling lesson on Friday to learn the new rules). Yesterday's dictation took 5 minutes with no mistakes. I play our work to take about an hour a day and we cover math, grammar (all oral write now), handwriting, spelling, science, history, and phones. We added memory work this week. That does add and extra 10 minutes to go over. His independent reading is done at the end. With everything, on a good day he is done in 1.5 hours. If they are progressing and retaining, don't worry. If you speed through things and they don't remember it, you should take more time.

HSLDA advises that you not let them in the house. If you're a member, you can call them and give the phone to the social worker while they stand on the porch. TXBeth - Not all social workers think like your husband. I would not let them in my house.

What about 2 and 3? If my son is really getting book 2, could we skip 3 next year and do 4? or should we just move through it quickly. the 25 lessons on Sentences in 2 has been a lot...but he does REALLY get sentence structure now.:D

If all I was keeping were a few stories and research papers (4-6 per year), photo albums, and test scores so would probably keep it all. I don't think that would be much. If you have test scores, you dont need math workbooks. The proof of growth is in the scores on harder tests each year. And the pictures, they just become great family memories. My mom has one plastic box of work my sister and I did in PS - drawings, projects and cute stories. We have both had our 10 year high school reunions!

Does a standardized test score from each year count? If so, I would test yearly and keep that as my main record. I would keep a writing sample from each quarter. You could also take pictures of history and science projects and field trips. Make a photo album or scrapbook. I don't know if that would be enough, but I would assume that shows good progress as well as demonstrating breath and depth through visual proof of activities. I am keeping my blog, partially as a record of our Homeschool activities.

DS would be Kindergarten in PS. We started school a year early and he Is now in first grade if someone asks. He goes to the first grade room at church. I did put him in the K group at one VBS this summer so he could be with his cousin. His social and emotional skills are more in line with first grade. He only missed the cut off by a few days. He does work at a second grade level in every subject. I figure we are meeting in the middle. He turns 6 this month. It is not dishonest. He has completed K, he would not be happy if he was labeled that for anything.

If it is taught to the exclusion of the traditional algorithm, it means kids must start using calculators very early. It becomes too tedious after 3 digit numbers. I don't like the method. I would be teaching traditional multiplication at home.

Hey! I live in Moore, too!! I have never seen anyone on these boards who lives so close to me! I would save to have your emergency fund (6 months pay in the bank), and refinance. Once you have the emergency fund, I would start saving for a bigger down payment on your next house. If you plan to sell in the next few years, I would not worry about extra payments on the loan, unless you think the house will sell for less than what you owe, then I might try to pay it down and hold off moving for a little longer.

Spelling Plus is a spelling program, it it is the 1000 most common words and it has supplementary lists in the back to add to it. The book was only $10-12.

I would make you replace the carpet. It would come out of your security deposit and pet deposit. We put in brand new carpet before we moved because we were trying to sell our house. Now we rent it to pay the mortgage, but it still goes on the market between tenants. Our first tenant's dog (that they were not supposed to have) messed up the carpet and they paid to replace it. Normal wear and tear is one thing, but bleaching spots of the carpet is not normal wear and tear IMO. I am sorry that the cleaner you used bleached the carpet, but if my dog had that problem, I would leave him outside and he has always been an indoor dog. It is not your house. Our house only has carpet in one small room, so it was not much to replace. I would not think you would have to replace the whole house. Unless the carpet is really old, they can probably still buy the same carpet.

The word once at there'd of the sentence makes it sound like an operation has happened. If it said "once, they had a female..." it would read the other way more naturally. After reading further, you can get the true meaning.

I would be getting a refund!! They have been going out of business for a while. Different stores are just closing at different times. One in our area closed 6 months ago. That was dishonest of them to sell a membership, unless they know their store will be open a full year.

Norman, off of Ed Noble Parkway (I-35 access road) and Lindsey. The children's books were picked over, but the late elementary and young adult sections had quite a bit. Lots of test prep books!

You have to read about these 4 girls. They have worked together to create a blog and begin fund-raising for families adopting children with Down Syndrome. For the next to months they are helping my BIL and SIL (two people whom they have never met) to bring little Constance home! I have met some amazing kids, but I have never seen any so dedicated to something. Their blog posts brought me to tears. These girls are amazing!

On really good days, DD is still asleep when we do school. Most days, she wants to do school with us, so I bounce back and forth with a color page for her, and math set for him. On bad days, she watches tv which distracts DS; or she tries to get in bubby's face.

If you can use excel, do that! It will be much easier in the long run. And set up does not take long.

I should be wearing tennis shoes as much as possible...but I do wear flip flops to church a lot. I had a really great pair of "dress" flip flops. They lasted for nearly 10 years!!! They finally got a whole and had to be replaced. Now I have to live with a solid black, cheap pair. I have not found another pair I like :glare:.

I had lots of dreams. They changed a lot as I went through school. I wanted to be a teacher, a vet, a doctor, a lawyer, a dancer, and actress...the only constant was that I wanted to be a wife and mom. In high school one of my best friends and I talked about opening a dance and theatre studio. We did that 4 years ago. It has been rough, but very rewarding! I love teaching dance! Yes, I had big dreams. The most important came true and I did achieve one of dream careers.

1. This is my good news!! After a record breaking summer with something like 100+ days over 95 and 60 some days over 100 and I would guess half of those over 110...we had a high of 80 today!! It is currently 75ish and it rained all night last night! I think we are supposed to get more rain in the next few days. A/C went out in both vehicles this summer...this weather change is amazing news!! 2. We looked over our enrollment numbers tonight and we are 35% ahead of where we were this time last year in student numbers!! We are a little behind where we ended last year, but we have a lot of students who attended our "free week" who need to enroll. :001_smile: 3. DH, myself, kids, and our families are healthy. 4. We are a month away from celebrating my grandma's 90th birthday!! 4 years ago she had a brain hematoma (sp??), we unconscious in the kitchen with beans on the stove. Grandpa and Uncle came home to find the beans burned and near the point of starting a fire! My Uncle is a Fire Chief/Paramedic. He checked her out and go t her to the hospital. She had brain surgery at 86! She has some memory issues, but has regained a lot of what she initially lost! We are ready for a party:D 5. I found some amazing book deals at Border's today. 6. SIL and I put together a bookshelf without husbands (I have done some bookshelves, but this one was particularly difficult) and I eyeballed hanging two nails for a cork board; when I checked it with a level....PERFECT!! I was quite proud. 7. School is going great and my parents are starting to really come around to the idea of homeschooling as they see the progress DS is making.;)

My DH has gathered enough fence panels to make about 10 4x8 raised beds and cold frames for 2-3 of them. The fence panels were free. He found them all on Craigslist. The beds frames are all lined with plastic. We have really good soil, so he will fill the beds with that and buy some mulch or manure as needed, to finish filling them. He has found manure on Craigslist for free. He also found gravel, for free, to line the paths. It is taking a while and we won't have anything this year, but next year we will have a large garden in our little back yard. He hopes to be able to use a few beds through the winter with the cold frames and green house plastic.