Congrats! It feels so good to complete a day! :)

We start "for real" tomorrow. We had a trial run the last two weeks (we only did 4 days combined) to see what we were missing and how to organize the day and all that. We were just getting our feet wet. Ha! This is year FIVE for us! I cannot believe it! I still feel just as overwhelmed and unsure and confused as I was five years ago! ha! I will be saying a big prayer for all the homeschoolers tomorrow!

Ohhhhhhhh! I love to read. Anything! Everything! I have been putting books down that have lots of bad language though... I am forcing myself to read Bringing Up Girls. It is really good, but I much prefer fiction :)

You can get rhodium plated (both or just yours). It turns them silver and looks beautiful!! It is fairly inexpensive. The only drawback is that you would need to do it every other year or so to keep it bright silver. One of my girlfriends did this and you would never know her ring was once yellow gold. It is the best of both worlds!

HAHA!! I used to love that movie when I was young...

My absolute favorite are the seasonal ones with the colored creme. It doesn't matter what color, I just like them best! ha!

I agree with the Bible Story book. We are a "churched" family (my husband is a pastor), and I still start the day with a bible story book. We will alternate with a story, a Bible puzzle game page, or memory work (I am going to have them illustrate what the verse means to them). We also go over the books of the Bible like we do the pledge. I wanted to do something that all three of children could do together! We also pray before we start our day. To me, the important thing to teach our children is that Jesus loves them, and that we can have a relationship with Him. So, I try to be that example to them by letting them see me reading my Bible and praying with them about everything. Good luck! I will be praying for your husband to come to know Christ soon!

I don't think so...she just really struggled last year. It was HARD work for her!

Really? So, if I did the AAS as her reading/spelling, then she would also have math, history, and science. That is all. Is that enough for first grade?? My mind is just spinning!!

I was using Astronauts to Zippers. I thought it would be great because it was more kinesthetic than most others I saw! We did it every day for about an hour. This was pushing her attention span. There was singing and different activities though. It was not all seat work. We completed the program...she read all the readers...but it never got easier for her. She just didn't like reading. That was her big complaint. She would copy things and answer questions and choose the word when I read it aloud from a list of words. Yet when it came to reading a reader, she closed up and started to cry before we even started. It was painful to watch...

Okay. More info :) When I said "we", I meant that I am reading Charlottes Web aloud to all three of my kiddos. My 6 year old also needs some work with comprehension, so I thought that would be a fun way to work on that all together. Background info: We are in the process of becoming missionaries with the International Mission Board, and they required my children to take a standardized type test to gauge where they were in the learning process. My 6 year old tested low Kinder on reading and comprehension (pretty much everything except math). For kindergarten, we used the program Astronauts to Zippers. She read the readers (like pulling teeth, but she CAN do it). This year, we are going to use All About Spelling, which I have read will help a lot with phonics, and we will be using a curriculum given to me by a teacher (she highly recommends it). It is Read, Spell, Sing and Write. We also work with the Bob books (which my daughter says are easy and is not intimidated by at all most of the time). She has just now shown an interest in sounding out words she is writing. She wouldn't even attempt to write a word last year unless I spelled it for her. Now, she tries her best to spell it like it sounds. I am hoping this means improvement and that she is gaining an interest in reading! I appreciate all the feedback!!

Oh! I just saw that you already finished your gift! :)

How about a gift certificate to a car wash place? If she just got a new car, she may love to have her car washed for "free"!!

My daughter (I am new and haven't quite figured out the abbreviations yet, so you get full words. ha!) is entering first grade (she will be 7 in Feb) this year after struggling all through kindergarten with reading. We were reading Charlotte's Web the other night, and when we finished the chapter, she wanted so badly to keep going to find out what happens! I told her that soon she will be able to read on her own and she won't have to wait on me to read to her. She immediately flipped out and cried saying that she didn't want to learn to read! It was tooooooooo hard and she didn't want to! I have changed curriculum for first grade thinking that perhaps what we used last year just didn't speak to her learning style, but I am terrified to start school with her! Last year, we were both in tears by the end of the school year. Do you seasoned homeschoolers have any tips that may help us?

My husband and I are doing the P90X workouts and diet...the first phase is low carb (almost no carbs). I am making my kiddos something else with the meats we eat. For example, we will all have grilled meat of some sort and veggies, but I will make my girls mashed potatoes or something to go with it as well. I just do a small side though...the main food is the meat!