We were struggling a little bit, but dd has extra on her right now because she is the lead in our children's musical at church, which is next month, and doing sewing lessons this month along with starting back to piano. What I did was actually leave off her formal reading curriculum for right now. I use Bob Jones because I love all the comprehension skills and literary lessons. She reads avidly and always does well, so it's not necessary for now. I do an assignment list each day off of Homeschool Tracker, the free version. We start our day at 9:00. We do devotion, prayer, pledge, then we work at the table together on most of their subjects. I don't really follow a schedule, just work on the list. We usually have lunch around 12:30. I read their history to them while they eat. They take a break while I eat lunch. We do any project type activities after lunch, then dd finishes anything else left, which is usually her piano practice, working on her lines, etc. I hope it gets better. Evaluate what your really need and maybe leave something extra off. It sure helped me.

It is a good point at having larger fractions later. In algebra, he will be continually looking for factors and trying to reduce to make the problems then even simpler. Reducing really helps improve their multiplication and division skills, as well. The more they do, the quicker it will become for them. If the directions say to do it, then I think it is just fine to say "because I said so". Many kids and adults don't want to do what's required of them. It's human nature for us to want an "easy" out. I would try to be understanding to a point, but in the end, you're the teacher and he should do his assignments. What do you do if he doesn't? Do you give him grades for completing his assignments? Does he lose privileges for it? If my kids were to purposefully leave off part of an assignment, there would be consequences. My attitude has been, if my child were in school, they would get in trouble at home for failing to do their work, so they should for homeschool work, too.

Yes! That would be great. I have a K son who is a worksheet LOVER!!! The more the better for him. He has surprised me in many areas!

We are really enjoying Mystery of History. It is finally something I can do with the both of them! Dd is really enjoying A Reason for Handwriting. I felt like she needed a refresher, and it's been a joy for her. Horizons Phonics has had its pros and cons. I like that it's moving fast, since ds was all ready reading some. I don't like that it is labor intensive. Many lessons are 3 pages, front and back, with lots of writing. Writing is difficult for him. A friend of mine told me boys develop fine motor skills later. We are adjusting the curriculum to his needs, so overall it's going well. He is reading more than he was 2 months ago. All the rest is going just fine. We haven't dumped anything this year.

We are using 7th Bob Jones for our dd 6th. We have our kids a grade ahead so they will do Algebra 1 in 8th, if ready. We started using BJU last year and really like the math, plus other subjects. It is a traditional, mastery approach with chapters on topics. There are quizzes after every 2-3 sections, chapter tests. There is a cumulative review at the end of each chapter.There are word problems throughout, with a special section at the end of the chapter focusing on problem solving. Here's the chapter topics: Adding/Subtracting Whole Numbers; Multiplying/Dividing Whole Numbers; Adding/Subtracting Decimals; Multiplying/Dividing Decimals; Geometry; Number Theory-Fractions; Adding-Subtracting Fractions; Multiplying/Dividing Fractions; Equations; Ratio-Percent-Proportion; Using Percent; Integers; Perimeter-Area-Volume; Measurement; Sets-Statistics I hope this helps!

I chose the 6 yo and 2 yo to be together and the 8 by himself. The reason I did is this...if you stay in the house even a few years, your dd is going to end up in a room by herself because of being a girl. Why not wait and do that when she's say 8 or 9. If you have the 8 yo by himself now, then he's had a chance for a room by himself for a while also. It may be hard for him to go back in with someone, but I think it's the more fair thing, and you know how kids like fairness! You know their personalities the best though. It just seemed to me that the 8 year old would never have any time with a room to himself the other ways.

I have a K ds as well. I have a few questions, though. Are you wanting fiction picture books or easy readers? Are you planning on buying the books, or library? Do you want them to cover certain subjects you are studying? We are going to the library every week, sometimes twice. I am trying to choose a variety for K ds. I always get easy readers, and help him with words he can't read yet. We are really enjoying Cynthia Rylant's series called "Henry and Mudge". She is one of my favorite authors. An all time favorite is "When I Was Young in the Mountains." I also look for easy fiction books that cover topics we are studying in science or history. Magic School Bus has great science oriented books, but he couldn't read them himself. I also do an advanced search in juvenile fiction for science topics. Through that I can find some good stories about the topic. I always check out the juvenile non-fiction books for Ancient History. We're doing MOH Vol. 1. They sometimes are too long, but the pictures have been great. I also love to get great picture books to enjoy with him. A great math series we love is Math Start by Stuart Murphy. These are fiction stories that teach math concepts. I hope this helps!

Thanks for all the input. I am feeling slightly out of breath on stairs, but only if I'm not careful to breath well. I can exercise, and if I breath well, I'm fine. On the day I went to the doctor, I did 30 minutes on the indoor bike we have and did 6.2 miles. I never had shortness of breath or chest pain. I think what is bothering is just that I can "feel" my heart more than usual. My mom was about my age when she started having heart problems, so maybe it's nothing and I'm just worried. I do have a cup of coffee, but usually just first thing in the morning and it's the half caffeine kind, too. Most days, that's all I get, but occasionally more. I'll see if I tell a difference on days I have more, one of which is today. I could try to cut it out completely. I had read somewhere that heart palpitations are a big complaint of entering menopause. Does anyone know if that does happen? I have been stressed some lately with a lot of family issues, so maybe it's that. My older sister has been disabled for about 4 years, my nephew has epilepsy and it's been getting worse, and just this week, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Maybe I'm just "old" and out of shape, which I'm trying to correct now. My goal is to exercise 4-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes.

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Thanks, I guess I could have thought of doing one myself...my brain is tired on Sundays. It is my "work outside the home" day. I'm on staff at church with dh as CE Pastors and I teach 4-6 year olds. I need to do it on paper so I can laminate it. Thanks, again!

Are you going Vol 1? We are, and there are several threads here on reading lists for ancient history. If you do an advanced search for "ancient history" in titles on the K-8 board, you'll come up with some lists in the last 3 months that I've used. I also used the Sonlight catalog, 6th grade is World History, the first half. I believe there were also threads for specific civilizations, such as ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome.

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I have been having a problem for a couple of months. I am waking up in the early morning hours feeling like my heart is pounding, more hard than really fast. I even got up and check my heart rate one night and is was around 90, so not above normal range (60-100 is what I read). I went to our walk-in clinic because of some ear pain and ended up letting them go ahead and do my pap smear because I was overdue. I told the doctor, he listened a while and said my heart sounded great with nothing irregular. He did blood work for cholesterol, thyroid, sugar, anemia, etc. He really didn't seemed concerned, but I realized after I left that he never told me what he thought it was. All my blood work was great, except slightly low "good" cholesterol, but total was only 147. Is this possibly a pre-menopause thing or hormonal thing? I am 41, still having a period every month, but they are starting to become irregular in number of days (some shorter, some longer), and are heavier than they used to be. I don't really have cramping, though. Sometimes I realize I'm having a little pms, but not really bad. I also sometimes have slight pressure feeling not pain, but I do have reflux and take zantac at bed. Maybe I just need something stronger for that. The pressure does improve sometimes with moving around, that's why I think it's not heart related.

Does anyone know of a blank door knob hanger template I could print free? I've had a hard time searching for one. Thanks!

Does anyone know of a website for book reviews, specifically for content? My dd loves to read and can finish books quickly. We are Christians, and want good material without questionable stuff. I would never have the time to read every book beforehand. I also can't afford to buy every book in the Christian bookstore!!! Thanks for the help!

Okay...I am a "fuddy, duddy" also. I believe modesty is important. I am amazed how quickly our society has become immodest. The magazine covers are crazy and don't get me started on the huge window photos in the malls. My 11 yo dd announced to me in the grocery store aisle that half of the magazine covers had something about sex on them. She asked me, "what are sex tricks". AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!! An 11 year old shouldn't be asking THAT!!!! We have all ready taught her about sex, but I really don't want to go into those kind of details yet. We are Christians, and I feel that knowing men are aroused by sight, that I have a responsibility to not tempt them. My dh said it was very difficult being a Christian teen boy. He said the more skin he saw the worse it was for him. We have consistently had our dd dress modestly, even when she was little. I'm not saying "I'm all that", but I do have a good amount of cleavage that would be "out there" if I didn't choose clothing accordingly. I want to dress attractively for dh, but some things should be left for the bedroom, IMHO. He's the only one I really care about being attracted to me anyway. One problem that I'm having is the amount of cleavage and short skirts at our church. There are a few women in their 30's wearing mini-skirts and showing lots of cleavage. To me, isn't that just a distraction from the purpose of being there? I could see you going out to dinner with your husband like that, but at church? I guess I am old-fashioned...and I'm all right with that. I never have been one to follow the crowd.

We are done and dh took care of it 4 years ago. I went through about 6 months a year ago wishing we had another. I still think of it often, sadly. We had some trouble getting pregnant with dd, then I had to take some stomach medicine that was a category C which put off our trying for another. When we finally got the okay, he took a while also. We felt like we wanted to be done with kids before 40, so they wouldn't be so young if something happened to us. We really didn't want 6 years apart, but I think it has had some great advantages. We are both 41. Who knows...maybe God will send someone for us to adopt?!?! It would have to be Him, because we don't have the money, so I know he'd provide it.

My nephew has worn glasses for far-sightedness since he was a little boy. He is starting to outgrow it, and he's 14. He does have epilepsy and is on a lot of medication. I don't know if that would change it or not, but the eye dr. did tell my sister that a lot of children out grow far but not near.

I have had 2 children who were doing well early, but we didn't start K early. My dh has been in private education for 16 years and public for 3. He saw a lot of parents want to skip grades, and in the end it was not usually good for the child later. I am doing some 1st grade work with ds and some 7th and beyond with dd, but they are "in" K and 6th. I had people try to influence me to skip ahead with dd (she was in private school through 2nd), but I didn't want to socially. I didn't want her to be a year younger than her peers or graduate early. Where would she placed in church classes and things like that? By homeschooling, you can enhance what would be a normal K education in so many ways that when you do officially start, your dc won't be bored. So, I guess my advice is don't start it yet, but to wait until the right age. Thankfully, true learning happens over an entire lifetime, not just the prescribed time of K-12.

I am using BJU Math, and I'm a math major. My only other experiences are with Abeka and Saxon (I taught some of each for middle and high school in co-op classes). As far as higher level, I have looked at the BJU Pre-Calculus book and liked it. I'm doing 7th grade book with dd now (she's 6th grade). We did the 6th grade book last year for my first experience with BJU. I don't think she'll be going beyond pre-calculus because she is not the math lover and probably won't be in any technical careers. We'll do Algebra 1 in 8th grade and see how she does. We'll repeat in 9th if needed, but would do a different publisher. She does well in math (scored 11th grade equivalent on her 5th ITBS) so I don't anticipate needing to do that. With my ds, I'm actually trying 2 this year. This semester I'm doing 2 lessons a day of Horizons K, then going to do 2 a day next semester of BJU 1. He is a MATH lover, and I want to see what fits him best. I will want to use the updated versions for him. I didn't like the higher level of Saxon at all (taught Algebra 2 and Advanced Math). He gave students permission to leave certain things in answers that are usually a big no-no like negative exponents. He usually presented problems in round about ways, not like other current textbooks teach. It seemed like he was trying to teach them to do higher level problems with only lower level skills which could be a good thing, but if they aren't exposed to the higher processes, how are they going to recognize them in college? When I taught the classes in the co-op, I would always first demonstrate "saxon way" of doing a problem, then I would demonstrate the way I learned it or other current publishers present it, and 9 times out of 10, they understood the latter better. Just my thoughts.

This is really for your younger kids, but Stuart Murphy has a series of books called Math Start. They are easy reader fiction picture books that actually use stories to teach math concepts. They are wonderful!!! When we lived in Knoxville, our library had the whole set (Levels 1, 2, & 3) which went into levels as high as multiplication, division, etc. I read one book with dd that was to teach odd/even concepts. She totally understood it after that. Here's a link with more about them. http://www.stuartjmurphy.com/

My dh teaches public school, so we take his breaks. He works 190 days and we have to do 180. He started July 28 and had yesterday off, and will have the week of October 6th off. Because I start when he does, I get to take all his breaks (6 full weeks), plus 10 more days. I save those for unexpected situations. Our breaks this year will be the weeks of: Oct 6 Nov 24 Dec 22 Dec 29 MLK Day Feb 16 Apr 20 We enjoy that much time off during the year!

Nothing beats warm cookies right out of the oven with a glass of cold milk! I have always loved milk. One of my favorite things is to crumble cornbread and have it in a bowl with milk. My mom would cook white rice for breakfast and put sugar and milk on it. It's yummy! I have not done this for my kids because they are not lovers of rice, but it's probably because I buy whole grain. How I miss the days of not knowing so much is bad for you!

I checked every night because it's more than just a few. I cook usually 6 nights a week. I don't cook at all on Sundays. It's my "work" day, so I need some rest from something! We are part-time staff at church as CE Pastors. I'm our Sunday School Director, then I teach the 4-6 year olds during worship. We eat cereal and stuff for breakfast, eat out lunch, and snack the rest of the day. Dh does grill sometimes, but I do the stuff inside. Dd helps with supper some as well.

It does sound like a tough situation. Is Christmas the only time you see this family? Do grandparents live there? I would think it is important for your kids to see them at least once a year. We see both families during Christmas, but dh is a public school teacher and has 2 weeks off. My parents are 4 hours away, and his are 11 hours away. We also see them quite a bit other times during the year as well, both us going and them coming. I see these kids around here who practically live with their grandparents and wish mine could see them more. My mom goes to a surgeon tomorrow about possible breast cancer. I guess I just realize we don't know how long we have with any of our family, so we should make the most of what we do have. Whatever you decide, I would consider the kids feelings and make sure you and dh are in complete agreement over it. That will matter the most in the long run.