Are you sure this species of homeschooling mom actually exists, Hunter?? Have you SEEN one in person or only been told about them?? I'll believe it when I see it!! :lol: Whoops--I forgot to congratulate you, OP, on getting your homeschool books! We just started in Jan. 2011 and it is the absolute best thing I could have done for my son. He told me a month ago that he wouldn't go back to his old school if they gave him a million dollars. It absolutely made my day!!

We own the boy version of the first bed you posted a link to (same bed in a brown finish). Bought it almost 3 1/2 years ago and it has held up nicely against daily assault from my two boys :lol: (now 8 and 10). The bottom bunk is pretty high off the ground, so we bought a bunch of fairly large Sterlite plastic bins to hold their toys. It has room for at least four large rectangular bins underneath. That said, the set on Amazon looks really nice, so if money isn't an issue, I'd lean toward that set. But the Walmart set has been surprisingly durable for the $189 we paid, and I have no complaints at all. If you want to save almost $700, the Walmart set has been sturdy and has served us surprisingly well. HTH, Christina

Well between you and me, you are batting .1000 :lol:

Sure do. My first son skipped kindergarten, so he's finishing up 5th grade but just turned 10. Second son (who has the same birthday as big brother, just two years later) is in 2nd grade, but school does not come easily to him like it does for brother. I think he's on grade level for reading and math, but definitely not for handwriting/fine motor. So they should be exactly two grades apart, but they are three. I'm curious--why do you ask? Christina

Bear in mind that I haven't read any of these with a 19 year old in mind, but Harlen Coben writes really action-packed mystery-type novels that strike me as very clean. Maybe a smattering of bad words but usually few to none. I think one (Gone for Good) had one scene of a teenage boy on a couch with the girlfriend, but even that was not described at all. And I can't think of anything in any of the other four I've read by him. Maybe his stuff would work? It's definitely edge of your seat for me and for my hubby (who introduced me to his stuff). HTH, Christina

We've spent some time doing "Games for Writing" by Peggy Kaye this spring, and ds has enjoyed it. He actually ASKS to do this, which floored me, since writing a four-word sentence was a big accomplishment back in the fall (2nd grade). http://www.amazon.com/Games-Writing-Playful-Child-Learn/dp/0374524270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334864919&sr=8-1 It's not a cure all, but it sure helped him like writing more. I grabbed a copy on the for sale board for maybe $8.00. HTH! Christina

Hear hear! No Kindle for me, but the local library in our town rocks, and I've got two cubes in our Ikea bookcase dedicated to library books. No matter how busy I am, I'll squeeze in some reading every day. I cannot imagine how brain dead I would feel without books. True, I didn't read much when my boys were 0 and 2, and then 1 and 3. But eventually I figured out how much I missed books...and it was wonderful getting back in that habit!

I'm with you. Always have a book going. ALWAYS. Thank God for the local library or I'd be more broke than I already am :lol: But I've noticed more and more friends in the various places we have lived who have no books. I mean ZERO books. No bookcases. Nothing. And they are almost proud of the fact that they do not read. It's really weird.

Well poop. This is what I get for trying to be all funny. Instead, I just revealed my newbee-ness for all to behold. :001_huh: Note to self: never go from memory. Always check to see who the heck said what the heck... Hey, wait a second...doesn't quoting the wrong person lead to a flurry of activity and accusations and (wait for it) kerfuffle???!!! That's exactly what I was trying to do. Yeah!

I vote for making it illegal to dress your poor dog up in any of the ridiculous outfits on the page Jean linked to!!! My puppy would make it easy, and would simply EAT his way out of any outfit I put him in (since he's already eating our fence and making a hole in the drywall in the basement larger by LICKING it :glare:. Do not get me started.). But those poor teensy little dogs who aren't tough enough to escape from outfits like that are being tortured. Save the puppies from the kilts!!! :lol: Christina

This is great news! We're only at the start of Level C, but I wonder occasionally what we are going to use once we run out of RightStart levels...and this buys me one or two extra years before I have to make that painful decision! Thanks for sharing!

From what you listed, the only one I've used is WWE, which we use and enjoy. But I spent months looking for something to help ds learn how to write a great sentence, then a paragraph, and on from there in a gentle way. He is too young for Killgallon and many of the other writing books. For me, it came down to Understanding Writing or Writing Strands. I went with UW because there was a long thread about it over on the TruthQuest History Yahoo group, and we LOVE TQ. Well, we LOVE UW, too! We've only been using it for about three weeks, but my son actually asks to do this most days right after history. Now we're still in Level I doing games with words/sentences, so he hasn't had to WRITE anything down yet :lol:. But still, he thinks it's great and is asking to do it before science and several other favorite items daily! I've added in a few Brian Cleary books to flesh out a few of the grammar terms, and it has been quite a hit at our house. Sorry I can't compare/contrast the other programs, but hopefully this is helpful! Christina

That is absolutely ridiculous behavior on the part of the school system/teachers toward a 13-year-old girl! Why don't they go ahead and make her read "Forever" so she can learn about premarital s@x and get herself pregnant, too!!???!! :lol: That will really solve things. Sheesh.

Hi, Tazzie! Welcome! I was a longtime lurker myself, and I still don't post often, since I'm only a few months into our second year of homeschooling. I'm one of the question askers instead of the answerers most of the time! Anyway, in case this helps you, I've got two boys. My oldest has always been at public school (he's my left-brained kid and loves ps--does not want to be homeschooled...yet. I'm working on him :D). I homeschool my younger (sitting still and doing worksheets did not work for him). I find that my life is doubly crazy b/c I'm doing what the other posters have mentioned: have to wake up early to get first son to school, come home and rush a bit to squeeze in our homeschool, lunch, etc. before I turn around and pick up ds1 from school. I feel like a hamster on a little metal wheel most days :lol: I'm sure that homeschooling so many more kiddos all at once would be a challenge, but probably less of an exhausting one than doing both homeschool and public school. At least, that has been my experience so far. HTH! Christina

Rosetta Stone is on sale at the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op through 4/16, so you are just in time: https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=868&c=1 It is 20% off of the homeschool edition with free shipping and a bunch of smartpoints. HTH, Christina

FWIW, we love RightStart, too! I almost listed it but TQ edged it out just slightly. My son thought he hated math and wasn't good at it. Within just weeks of starting RS Level B (we are at the start of Level C now), he was going around singing "I'm a math genius! I'm a math genius!"--and he was only six at the time, so it was cute, not obnoxious. You have clearly done your homework!!

Not hard at all. In fact, TruthQuest feels quite natural/organic to use and the commentary is wonderful. Would have sworn I was a box checker, but this is working great for us. I found a PDF on the TQ Yahoo group site (where the author posts almost daily), downloaded it, and used it as a base to plan out the year (we're only in our second year of HSing, so I was pretty intimidated by TQ at first). I made a lot of changes to the schedule, but it helped me ballpark how long to spend on the Vikings versus, say, Jamestown or Ethan Allen. We spend close to an hour reading from living books every day for history (we're doing Am History for Young Students I--exploration to Am Revolution), though you could easily plan fewer books and read for less time. My son is absolutely soaking up the stories. We have a timeline book to paste pictures into, and we've used all of the 3-D maps for American history that have applied. We are watching the Liberty's Kids DVDs (which the other gal had already put in her schedule) right now as we cover the Am Revolution. A lot of people use the various binder-builders but my son doesn't like too much writing/cutting/pasting, and I haven't seen the need. He's only in second grade and seems to be remembering things well. He often acts out scenes from the day's history with his army guys or Star Wars figures (my favorite was the day he reenacted a pirate ship scene, but the "pirates" were all Clone Troopers). Feel free to PM me if I didn't answer your questions well enough. Hope this helps! Christina

TruthQuest History. Ds asks for this first every.single.day. We love it!

As someone with tendonitis issues in my feet, I never ever wear heels, so I'm not sure how helpful this will be. I do know absolutely that shoes with enough arch support to keep my feet happy cost about $100. In summer, I wear only Birkenstocks. In winter, I wear closed-toe Birkis or Keens, which accomodate my orthotics. Yes, I sacrifice fashion for comfort, though Keens are pretty cute. Does anyone actually make a comfortable high-heeled shoe?? :lol: I know Oprah raved some years back about Cole Haan's new shoes (that had some air inserts, maybe from Nike??), but I think they cost something ridiculous like $300. Seriously?? That's a lot of money for one pair of shoes! A friend used to mock me for spending about $100 per pair of shoes. Then she went and tried on some Dansko clogs and now that's all she wears. To a certain point, you get what you pay for with shoes re: the comfort and support. Best of luck finding something comfy! Christina

:lol: You funny! I think you are talking about creating a signature that goes on every post you make. You do this by clicking on "User Control Panel" on the left-hand side of the blue bar near the top. Then look down the left side for the words "Edit signature," which I think is in the second or third section down. Welcome to the boards! We're on our whopping second year of homeschooling, and I just joined last summer, so I'm pretty new around here myself. I've learned a ton, though watch out--you'll become a curriculum addict before you can say boo! Christina

:iagree: RightStart is a spiral approach (don't know if they want spiral or mastery) and it has tremendously helped my son grasp place value and whatnot :lol:. It's also a lot of fun thanks to the many games!! Christina

I'm so glad you think TQ looks like a good fit! We love it so much that I'm always surprised that more people don't use it. I suppose that's a silly rookie thing to say (this is only our second year HSing) but anyway... We have not used any of the binder builders because my son doesn't like cutting/pasting/coloring activities at all, nor is writing (notebooking) big on his fun list. I've found it to be enough to simply read him the stories (we usually spend about an hour each day on history and he asks for it first every day). I review whenever an opportunity comes up, but he's only in second grade, so I'm not worried about memorization. I think next year, I'll try to do more discussion, but for now, I'm just thrilled that he loves history and seems to remember things when I ask questions. I think a lot of the people on the TQ Yahoo group use various parts, if not all, of the binder builders. I've heard good things and can't recall any negative comments about them. Also, Michelle just announced that she has put out some shorter, more focused binder builders, like for the American Revolution and other topics. So if you didn't want to do the extra work year round, you could still do it for specific topics. It's on the TQ Web site. Best of luck! Christina

Have you looked at TruthQuest History? My son is so loving the books that he has chosen a few as bedtime stories (which is unprecedented in his Star Wars/Calvin & Hobbes world:lol:). It is all living books and the schedule is totally up to you (though there are files uploaded at the TQ Yahoo group that I found very helpful in deciding how long to spend on various sections versus others). The commentary is conversational and excellent (decidedly Christian). The books she lists are wonderful (only one dud in the bunch this entire year for us and that was b/c I bought one way above grade level before I realized I should be paying attention to that). Her grade level suggestions are spot on, and you can do read alouds for all of your kids plus add in harder books for your older ones to read to themselves. I cannot say enough about the depth of understanding and love for history my son has gained this year. I never saw myself as someone who could/would operate without an IG, since I am a box checker. But for my right-brained son, TQ has been a terrific, natural fit for history. And I love it, too! HTH, Christina

Have you looked at the RightStart Math card games book? We are loving RightStart Math, and my ds, who used to hate math, now loves it. He memorized his math facts by playing the games that RS has you play. He's not an "oh how fun to memorize facts" kiddo (well really, what kid is? but anyway), so the RS games were perfect for us. I think the card games book is about $30, which includes the cards you need, and I see it for sale around here fairly often. If you want to stick with your math program but just take some time to solidify the math facts, maybe that could help. And it certainly would be a fun change of pace! :lol: Christina

It is a program from 1991 with a very limited Web site that has one sample: http://familydiscipleshipmin.com/faqs/understanding-writing-info/ Here it is at Rainbow Resource: http://rainbowresource.com/product/sku/009743/ If you search WTM for it, someone did a super thorough thread on it awhile back. It was very helpful. Sounds like a very incremental program that starts with word play, goes into making good sentences, then good paragraphs, and on from there. But I don't own it yet, so I can't tell you more than that. HTH! Christina