I purchased the science kit that goes with the program. Everything required that is not in that kit is common household stuff.

With REAL Science, it is possible to use their reading lists to gain more information. The text itself is pretty skimpy. Very heavy on experiments...there is basically one every lesson.

Please tell me about your experiences with using a child's room as the school room. My son is 5.5 years old. I also have girls 7, 3, 1. My husband and I brainstormed and think we have a pretty good set up. But of course, I have to talk to the Hive and see how this worked or did not work for other families. Right now we're schooling in the kitchen (eat in dining area), but with most of the supplies in my son's room so there is set up/put away time every day. I guess I'm hesitant to turn a bedroom into a more public space?

Thank you OP. I've been going back and forth on RSO or NOEO for next year and I think I've finally decided. I'll stick with the RSO (I'm already familiar with it), but see if I can nail down the reading list from NOEO (and SL) to round out the RSO reading. Ahhh, relief. I have no familiarity with RS4K, but hope that you are able to come to resolution soon.

Does anyone have a link to where it said it was the brother in law's?

Ours just died...must be something in the water, lol. We had to search all over to find one that wasn't new fangled "green." Finally found a good one that I hope will have a long, long, life.

Run to the bedroom, inhale as much chocolate as I can in the 2 seconds the kids can't find me. Rinse, repeat as often as possible. Vent to my friends online. Drop what I can from school and do it the next day.

I've read "Tree" and "Joy" and they are among my favorite reads. I am off, immediately, to look into "Maggie"

And not just lyme! There are other tick borne illnesses out there that get even less attention, but are just as serious. It's scary and frustrating.

In your opinion, what components are necessary for a very good writing program, in the 2-6 grade range.

Gatorade! And try it at different temperatures, as pp have said about drinks in general. There are lots of flavors, you should be able to find one tolerable. Frequent sips.

I don't do the games either. My daughter has a very good grasp of the concepts so far, so I've started to skip a few things here and there, from the worksheets. I don't have any of the felt stuff either. I bought some fish tank/vase gems and we do counting and word problems with those. I bought flashcards from WM instead of theirs (much cheaper). I use the white board to illustrate things like place value. I imagine if I bought and used all of their props, there would be a lot of time spent just shuffling between them!

What is your desired goal? We've used VP's OT cards this year. I supp with some coloring pages from online. It's working, they're remembering the material. It's not devotional, if that is what you're looking for though.

We're using RSO Earth Science this year and at first I was completely turned off by it, but it's growing on me. I purchased the science kit, so I do have almost everything needed for the labs. What's missing (so far) has been common items like a big bowl. That said, if you go with this, you'll probably want an encyclopedia or two (I have a couple of Usborne books). What I wish I had done, as well, is scour the SL reading lists to see if there was anything else I wanted to add, but our budget ran out. The book itself does not have a ton of information, at least, not enough for us. Thus, the extra books. I've also been finding some interesting sites online to supp. as well.

Fantastic 4 1&2

We school at the kitchen table, it's the only place in our small home. For last year and half of this year, I kept everything in one of the kid's rooms. So, yes, every day I hauled everything I needed out and back. Just this week we rearranged a few things so that I have three small shelves to keep some of the stuff I use every day. This way I only need to retrieve the things we use less often, when they're needed. The trick, I believe, is to go up. Use wall space.

Take a look at everything you'd like to do. Then decide what needs to be done daily or less often. For us, math, reading, spelling, other language arts, and Bible are daily. I have science and history on a loop with art or music being every 5th day. Hope that helps.

What is addition war?

Many good replies here, stuff I needed to be reminded of for my 17 mo old. I have found with the previous three, and this fourth, that around 17-18 months, they really do seem to want to nurse all night long. It drives me to start weaning, no doubt. Oddly enough, each time, it's as if I've forgotten how to do it. lol.

I'm not knowledgeable about the programs being discussed, but I want to suggest Abeka. I'm using it with my first grader right now. I like the way it builds the blends and then puts them together. As a pp mentioned, /sp/ot/. You might also want to look at the starfall sight. It talks about chunking words. We don't just chunk big words here, but little ones too.

Try starting prep earlier. Have everyone in their beds by 930. That leaves half an hour for them to really settle down. My grandmother always said that she went off duty at 7. Kids were expected to be in their rooms then for the night. I wish she was still alive b/c I'd love to ask her HOW she did this.

I have found good results with jergens extra moisterizing. I also use it on my knees, which tend to dry and crack as well.

Last year we homeschooled, the oldest did K. This year, I have one in first and another in K. I also have a 3yr and 1.5yr Our normal school times runs from 9am-2/2:30 with an hour break for lunch. So we took last week off from school and this week. The kids behavior has been deteriorating. My oldest at times just sits on the couch with what is clearly a "bored" look. Squabbles abound as does whining and other not approved of behavior. It's really driving us crazy...after all, we are enjoying a nice break...so what is their problem? It occurred to me today that they are used to having 5 hours of their day not only structured, but it's time spent, solidly, with me running the show and involved. Both my husband and I take time, during these vacations days, to play games or wrestle. The kids just seem to have no clue what to do with themselves. Is this how it will always be? When we aren't doing school, they will still expect me to entertain them? Can some more experienced homeschoolers chime in? What do I do with these kids? It's vacation for crying out loud!

1) Does include the RDA on vitamin bottles? 2) How did you find this out?

My 5 year old is having the same issue. When I hold the flash card up, I say "not twenty" and he gets it. I'll be trying some of these other ideas though.