Farms where you can pick your own. My sister has done that before and it sounds like fun.

I used the All About Threes when they were 3/4 (that first preschool year) when my kids were wanting to do school like their siblings. We moved on to The ABC series for Preschool and K (like someone else already posted). My kids really liked it but when they got tired of the repetion, we put it aside and came back to it later. They are very sweet and well done

The top two drawers are for these types of supplies. It works well here.

But I only go every other year or so.

By Bruce McInTyre I think it looks great

I'm so sorry if I offended you. I really didn't mean to. It's just that I have a lot of those symptoms. Ok all of them to one degree or another. I think I'm in denial about my time management, and sometimes money management. I work hard to keep on top of the clutter, and I blame my thyroid for being overweight. So I guess I'm in denial about that too. It makes sense that these could be signs of depression or that we could make excuses for all of them. I was thinking more along the lines of a general lack of self-control tying these things together. April in TX

being overweight, having house clutter, being in debt/poor money management, and/or poor time management? I think it's all related, and I also think if you suffer from one of these, then you probably also have at least 2 of the other symptoms. I'm convinced that I will lose weight once I become debt free and declutter my whole house. I used to have another theory: that people who fold their socks and underwear have more house clutter than those who dump it all into a drawer without folding. I am trying to get 50 posts so that I can sell some of my homeschooling books from more than 13 years of homeschooling. Instead of posting, I'm mostly spending hours on the forums now reading what everyone else posts. I just love this place. April in TX

I think I know, and it sounds like a great idea, but . . . how does it work? How do you remove and "dump" it? Wouldn't you spill blood all over your hands (like in Carrie)? Sounds messier than tampons. Am I not understanding? Maybe I should google it. . . April in TX

For years I have used the semester planning forms on Donna Young's website to plan each subject for the whole year. Now I use HST+, but before that I used my own created planning form that I filled out each week based on the semester planning sheet from Donna Young. I first used HST+ for the transcript feature and ease of calculating grades, but now it does much more for me. However, I also need to have it written out on the planning forms so I can "see" where we are in our school year. Very OCD of me, I guess. . . April in TX

In Texas, you can be "listed" for $20 a year. You are required by law to be at least listed if you keep any kids for money. If you are listed, you may keep up to 3 non-related children. This is how I am registered. http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/About_Child_Care_Licensing/become_home_provider.asp I keep a little girl in the summer who has been coming to me since she was 3. At the time she started coming here, I charged $115 per week, so I still charge that rate for her during the summer since I also keep her brother and sister the rest of the year. I charge $135 per week now, for any age. I'm in the Dallas area. I don't go anywhere with the kids, as I also keep very little ones, and it throws off our day if we leave the house. She has a great time playing with my own kids, and she begs to come here instead of her daycare (which transports her to school) when she is out of school. Hope this helps. April in TX

I also love CLE. I switched two years ago from R & S English and Bob Jones math. In fact, I loved the LA, Reading, and Math so much that I decided last year to add in the Science and Social Studies for my 1st/2nd, 5th, and 8th graders. It was ok for the 1st/2nd graders. I would rather read James Herriott books or nature study books and be done with science. We can do read-alouds for history and be off on Fridays if I want to without feeling like they will finish their school a day later into the summer if I give them a day off of science. With the 5th & 8th graders, we dropped both levels after only 1 light unit. It was that horrible for us. This year, we are dropping the science and social studies. I also added in Bible last year, and they like it, so we will keep it. I did buy the book "On Teaching Writing", and I really don't like it. It does give ideas, but it would be hard for us to get it done that way. I have used Write Shop with my 8th grader, and he gets it done. I've tweaked it to meet my needs, and it's working for us right now. April in TX

I plan each subject out for the whole year on Donna Young's semester planning forms. (www.donnayoung.org) That way I can see at a glance how much we have completed and how much we still have left to do. Then, each week, I take the next five lessons from the semester plan sheet and fill them in to a weekly checkoff sheet using Homeschool Tracker Plus. Often I will do 3 or 4 weekly checkoff sheets at a time. April in TX

Well, we have now spoken with the next 2 higher up people. This last lady actually told me that there is no homeschool dual credit program in the state of Texas! Even though I had to sign a contract with the community college. When ds told her we had a contract, she clarified that what he wanted was to enlist at E-3. When he said yes, she said thank you and hung up on him. Who knows what they will do next? When my husband asked what they wanted us to provide them to show that the credits applied to both high school and college, she said that it sounded like our son was just trying to get more money from the navy and maybe the navy wasn't for him. They are getting me so hopping mad! April in TX

Yes, but HSLDA told me that since he was still doing his dual credit classes in a homeschool setting (with me at home) it counts toward homeschool. Therefore, if at all possible, he doesn't want to have to take any more classes. HSLDA is meeting with people at the Pentagon Tuesday in regards to my situation. Hopefully they will be able to straighten it out for us. April in TX

DH just talked to the recruiter on speakerphone. He says the Educational Specialist says "the last curriculum year of high school (homeschool) must be completed at home". Since it was exclusively dual credit, they are sayinig his high school is short so they applied 15 of his college credits toward the high school. So, he will have to take another class to qualify for the Navy even thought the community college will give him an Associates Degree without that extra class. Recruiter also said the navy doesn't pay signing or enlistment bonuses unless you're in special forces or in a critical nuke position. HSLDA has forwarded my email to their military specialist, and I really pray that what they say will help me. . . April in TX

It seems like when they look at the transcript from the community college, which is all A's and B's with 37 credits at hs graduation time, they wouldn't even question the homeschooling. They all thought he did a great job on the ASVAB with an 85. The public school girl who went with him to take the ASVAB only got a 30. I haven't heard from HSLDA yet, but I didn't send my email until probably 5pm their time. Hopefully by tomorrow I will know something more. My son is a little on the fence about my getting HSLDA involved. I think he doesn't want to ruffle any feathers, and unfortunately, I think he's believing everything the recruiter says, whether or not it's true. April

Here is the email I sent to HSLDA... My son is trying to enlist in the Navy under the Delayed Entry Challenge Program. He graduated our homeschool in 2010. In 11th and 12th grade, he took Dual Credit college classes at the community college. The people at the recruiting office have told him that he does not have enough credits for high school since he only had college credits and not homeschool credits on his high school transcript for 12th grade; therefore, he did not actually graduate from homeschool. In order to rectify this, they must apply some of his additional college credits to high school. He will have enough for his associates degree this May. Now they are saying he must have 2 additional credits for going in with a pay grade of E-3. Also, they will classify him as having a GED instead of a diploma. He is fine with taking one more class, but I don't know if what they are doing is fair. Please advise me. So, what do I do? I left some of the credits off his transcript since he didn't actually complete everything in World History and Spanish 2. I felt like 3 high school credits for bible were too many, partly because the community college had me drop some in order for him to be eligible for more dual credit classes. Do I redo his transcript and tell the recruiter: Oopsy! I made a mistake. Then I'm going to lose all credibility with them. By the way, this is their first dealing with a homeschooler. We've already gotten past the questions about where I got my curriuculum and how did I know what to use? He thought the State of Texas had their own homeschooliing curriculum or something. I set him straight on that, but this new information is coming from someone above him. April in TX

I'm intrigued by this. I just heard of mint.com today, which is why I'm reading these boards about it. Just how safe is it? How do you know it's safe? April in TX

They were every month, pretty regular. Now since February, it has been 21 days, then 19 days. It lasts a week. Nothing else is different. She is 17 1/2. She started her period at 12. She is a 2nd semester Freshman at college (away through the week, home on the weekends). I think it is stress and lack of sleep. (Also lack of nutrition because she complains endlessly about the cafeteria food.) She does not want to see a doctor, and I think if it keeps up, she will have to. How long do I wait and track it before insisting she see a doctor? Also, I'm afraid they will try to put her on birth control pills, which I don't want. I think unnecessary hormones aren't so good. Is there anything natural she can take to help her? I read the posts on red raspberry leaf tea. I'm sure she would take that in pill form if I told her to. April in TX

I am taking a prescription compounded progesterone cream and would love to know how I can switch to an OTC version. My doctor says I won't be able to go off it until I reach my goal weight. It costs me $30 a month. How much are the different options? Does Dr. Lee's book tell how much to take?

Thank you. I will try to get HST to give me the report I need. It seems to take a little figuring out. April in TX

My son is trying to go into the Navy on the special forces delayed entry program because he wants to be in SWCC. He graduated our homeschool last year 2010. He took dual credit classes, and now in May he will have his Associates Degree. They said they want a transcript from the community college and also a list of the curriculum he used in homeschool. (Not a transcript.) I can come up with the list, but I have no idea what format it should be in. Should I just simply make a list? I would think it should be more professional than that. Like a report of some kind. I have Homeschool Tracker Plus, and I can't figure out how to get a report that way. . . Any ideas would be tremendously appreciated! April in TX

My 2 older kids used Learnables Spanish Levels 1 and 2 for high school. Unfortunately, they have not retained any of it. Maybe I was using it wrong? I have decided to go with something else for high school with the rest of the kids. But I think Learnables would be perfect for upper elementary or middle school introduction to Spanish. April in TX

I have the dark blue Runkle hardcover text ISBN: 0-970-11120-7, c2000. I also have the dark green paperback Student Activity Workbook ISBN: 0-9701112-2-3, c2000 and a dark gold paperback Teacher's Guide ISBN: 0-9701112-1-5. I went to Amazon to search for Runkle and found a gold textbook. This is not the one I have. Maybe it is an older version? Hope this helps. I looked into this thinking maybe the gold one was the teacher's guide like I have (which is gold), but it isn't the same. Hope this helps! April in TX

I have read the threads on Visual Link and Breaking the Barrier, but what about others? I googled "best Spanish curriculum" and found Tell Me More (Tell my why it's so much More money...) Musical Spanish Spanish Uno Magnum Language Systems The Easy Spanish Rocket Spanish How do I choose? And are any of the above programs better or as good as VL and BtB? I already own the Learnables Levels 1 and 2, but I'm not sure it was good enough for my oldest 2 kids who used it. I'm anxious to hear many opinions on this. April in TX