The South Beach Diet book is good for some education on reducing sugar/carbs, increasing veggies, protein. Initial 2 week plan to get you off of craving sugar then it introduces it back in phases. Probably free at the library if you just want to read through.

Ds 11 is using Vol 1 this year. I like it more than Writing Strands. I've also changed the order of lessons around a little bit. Like it enough to stick with it next year. We won't finish the whole volume this year, about two lessons shy. Do you have specific questions? I think it takes slogging through a couple of lessons together before we both felt confident about it, and I have an English/journalism background and son has always done well with language. Maybe just because it was new and different for both of us.

Great Pyr mix here shedding like crazy. If you're in the South now I can tell you it's not going to let up anytime soon, think... Christmas. And, honestly, maybe not ever. Mildest winter we've had. We have ours shaved down to near skin just to keep from re-shaving for 2 months. HUGE difference...like I-don't-care-if-my-kids-get-their-hair-cut-but-that-dog-will HUGE. I'm looking into clippers and DIY because it costs us around $85 to have it done. No one will do just clipping here: bath, nails, sassy bandana, yada yada yada.

My first was my toughest, but it's hard to know for sure because Dh and I were so ignorant of what life with baby is really like until it happened. By the time #2 came we had a routine and she fit right in there. With #3 I did strap her in the Baby Bjorn and go to the grocery store, the pumpkin patch and a concert at week 2...but it was The Wiggles not Bonaroo. I say it takes a good six months to a year to get to a new "normal" after each kid.

My youngest uses CLE and Singapore. Another child has used Saxon for five years but I haven't supplemented him with Singapore. I liked Horizons the one year I used it but I did not like the teachers' manuals. I don't necessarily need scripted lessons but I do like plenty of explanation and detail for me, as math is not my gifting :001_huh: I learn, re-learn, or find new ways of doing something right along with my 5th grader.

Spend a little time with youngest ones first. Doesn't have to be "educational." Holding, laughing, talking, short story if you want. Lower expectations. You'll probably only get 30 minutes max of uninterrupted teaching time and you'll have to spread it around. Teach reading/phonics during younger ones' naps or later in the evening when Dad's home. Include all kids for read alouds but give the baby something to hold or fiddle with if bored. Will probably grow to like that time if you're not doing already. Set up/out some fun things for youngest two to play together with in another room but close enough for you to check in. Encourage their playing together. Give it a name if it helps build enthusiasm for them. Try your best to remember it is a season of your life that you will one day miss, believe it or not (or parts of it anyway), and soak in as much of those sweet baby years as you can. It is not easy but those early years of homeschooling are some of the best. :001_smile:

Great thread. Good ideas to inspire some conversations with other homeschoolers in my area and our library. We have a new library director who seems open to community input.

Agree. She's a good start for familiarizing yourself with a lot of different things early on, and I include her review when I'm looking into something I'm unfamiliar with. But like others have said there is nothing like actually getting your hands on a copy of the products yourself. Of course, the more years under your belt the better you are at evaluating how it will work (or not) for you and your kids.

All three of mine started Saxon a grade ahead (K with Saxon 1). My oldest (5th grade in 7/6) is the only one still in Saxon, and, for him, I love it. The middle child went through Saxon 3. We never hit a point when I felt like they were being moved too quickly or weren't ready for what was being asked of them. (I switched the girls out of Saxon for other reasons, part of which was Mom teaching Saxon three times a day is a looooong day.) I plan for ds to stay with Saxon, and I like feeling that I have the option to linger over certain areas if the need arises or spend a year doing a supplemental study to stretch him a little. (We all have this option no matter at what level we start, of course, but I am more tightly-wound than I'd like and view it as giving myself guilt-free permission if needed).

I remind myself that all the time. :iagree:

Samples here at A Reason For website: http://www.areasonfor.com/article.php?id=7#Handwriting_Downloads

I half-seriously asked my oldest if he could just take the manual and teach himself the lesson on Monday after a long day and I'd already done two lessons with sisters. I still find it worth it. I don't review cards every day, but I do key cards and sound cards the majority of days. Sometimes I gather all the kids together and have a joint card review lightning round, just pointing to a kid who should know the answer according to the level and step number on the card. At least the other two are hearing it even if it's not their turn to answer. If big brother misses I point to a sibling and hope the humiliation of younger sister answering will help him remember (kidding).

Thanks so much for the feedback. Good to know both are good options and looking at Gatlinburg, too. I'll look for a good deal. I've been to Ripley's at Myrtle Beach but that was 10 years ago. Did anyone find it too crowded on the homeschool days? If it gets crazy crowded all I want to do is leave.

We've done Adventures, ECC and doing CtG now w/ a 5th, 3rd and 1st grader. If 1st grade is your oldest I think you'd have to adjust CtG too much to keep it interesting. Adventures was a great year for us when I used with my then 3rd and 1st graders.

It absolutely happens, and I don't think there is any way around it. Think of it as in investment in YOUR education. Homeschooling is as much about figuring out what will work for you and your kids as the best-sounding curriculum. Maybe it should work but it does not necessarily fit with your and your child's needs, abilities, preferences, and tendencies. That's why you will see the same titles on this board in answer to questions like, "What was the worst curriculum you've ever used," and "What's the one curriculum you couldn't live without?" The upside is we can usually resale our mistakes. Or hang onto it to see if Child B needs it even if Child A didn't, says the woman with three children in three different math programs. They all started out exactly the same but somewhere along the line changes were needed with two of them.

I can't address the AAR program but I do use AAS. I think it is practically a basic phonics program itself and definitely enhances any phonics program. You might consider sticking with a phonics program you've successfully used before and adding AAS around 1st grade.

Don't do it all. For mixed practice, ds does odds plus any problem that was introduced within the last 10 lessons (going by the lesson number in parenthesis).

I've used OPGTR and Phonics Pathways. Sometimes one works better than another depending on child, and with my last we started with OPGTR and switched to Phonics Pathways. I've used real books, Pathway readers, Bob Books and the Nora Gaydos readers. Haven't used but All About Reading looks good, too.

I'm looking at adding to our MFW Rome to the Reformation study next year with Truthquest history for my 6th grader. You can pick up a used guide for $12-15 and there are lots of good resources, thought-provoking questions for students to answer and writing assignments, including a paper that requires more long-term work. You can see samples here for the era you would be interested in. http://truthquesthistory.com/store/products.php?categoryParentName=Books&categoryName=Age+of+Revolution&itemId=34

If you go w/ MFW, another vote for Adventures for both children. Our family has used Adventures, ECC and Creation to Greeks right now. Adventures was a great year for us. My oldest was in 3rd grade and middle child was in 1st.

Using this next year. Have the printed version but with 3 kids another version on Kindle will be handy. Thanks!

It could be all the Brady Bunch episodes we watched last week on our spring break talking but you could challenge them to put on a show to be presented to Mom and Dad at the end of the week. They have total creative freedom (i.e. you don't have to do anything). But the name of the game is fun. A group skit, individual acts, whatever. Depending on your kids this could take up a lot of their energies and time.

We are studying Apologia Elementary Swimming Creatures this school year, and I'm looking for a good aquarium experience near Nashville (we live here) or Atlanta (parents live near here). I wish a beach trip were in the cards but it's not this year. I have read on this forum that some felt the Georgia Aquarium was not worth the expense, too crowded to feel safe and more touristy than educational. I'd most likely be the only adult with three children if we visited there. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga is a possibility but I believe it's a freshwater aquarium and we've been studying mainly ocean life. Any suggestions or feedback?

I can't find sale details at Adoremus site or any AAS level other than Level 6 and partial supplies for Level 5. :001_huh:

Great to know! Need to buy 2 levels. I thought the prices were fixed. I know I haven't been able to get a discount at Rainbow Resource.