Have you thought about Mystery of History, or are you committed to Sonlight even if 3 kids is difficult? I'm doing it with my dd (6th) and ds (K). So far, so good. He can't do nearly all that I'm having her do, but it was the only thing I could come up with to bring them together. She is doing the quizzes, memory cards, and additional reading. I'm doing the lessons as a read aloud with both of them and we're doing the lesson activities together. We start our vocabulary program next week, so we'll see how that goes together. I'm also going to do science unit studies that coincide with the topics she's studying. If it were possible to work your 2 older kids into the same core, that might would help cut down on some of it.

I would multiply the whole thing by 30 to get rid of the fractions. You will then have: 18x - (15x - 45) = 10x + 20 (then remove parenthesis) 18x - 15x + 45 = 10x + 20 (then combine like terms on left side) 3x + 45 = 10x + 20 (then subtract 3x from both sides) 45 = 7x + 20 (then subtract 20 from both sides) 25 = 7x (then divide both sides by 7 x = 25/7 It's kind of hairy to check, but I did and it checked out.

I've seen this on posts before, so I'm finally asking! I feel so "out of the know"!:001_huh:

Do you want a master because your kids keep their own, or is it something else? I bought wipe-off charts at our Dollar Tree. They came with magnets on back, so they are on the fridge. They're pretty big, but I only have the 2 kids. They also had a lot of incentive charts and stickers for the start of the school year. I'm using those for tracking fruits/veggies each day.

I really don't think those should have happened. Like I said before, this should be the one time we set politics and policies aside. It's not fair to the individual athletes who've worked hard. They can't help what their government does.

Thanks! I've been told that here kids are supposed to be 12 before they are left home alone. I would definitely stay close to the house in our neighborhood and give her a walkie talkie. She tends to not pay attention because she always day dreaming, so I'm not sure how comfortable I am with it. I think she would do it, if she knew she had to. I'm so not a morning person. I wish I was so that I could do it early while my husband's still home. Any advice on becoming a morning person when your naturally a night owl?

I did 32 minutes on my exercise bike and it was 6.2 miles. I have never tried running, but love walking. I really hate the humidity here in GA, and prefer walking outside in spring, fall, and winter. I'm not sure my knees could take running. I have one that hurts occasionally. I've been noticing this thread for a few days. It definitely motivated me to do that today. THANKS!!!!:001_smile: I got the bike and started using it in late June; however, I haven't been consistent. I've had to go out of town to my sister's 3 times in the last month and a half, plus we started school 2 weeks ago. She is disabled now and had medical procedures then became very ill. Any advice on being more consistent? Today, I let the kids take a break from school after lunch to have time to do it. I don't know if it's going to be hard to get them back into it, though. We don't have much left thankfully!

I don't have time to read the whole thread, but I think our President should go to every Olympic Opening Ceremony, no matter what's happening in that country or the world. This should be about the athletes and what they've worked so hard to achieve. I think it's the patriotic thing to do. I think it should be the one time the world sets politics aside and has a good time competing with each other. We should rejoice with others who win and be sad when those don't. There's something almost magical about the Olympics. The whole world comes together in an effort to accomplish something great. Can't something remain "sacred" and not under the scrutiny of the all-seeing eye of the news channels?

I tried a crustless quiche last week that was yummy and reheated VERY well. Heat oven to 350. Spray a pie plate with non-stick spray (I used butter flavor). Mix 6 eggs, 1/2 c. low-fat cottage cheese, 1/2 c. shredded mild cheddar, and turkey sausage links cut into very small chunks. Cook until set in middle and light, golden brown on top (I guess this depends on how brown you like it). It cooked in less time than the recipe said, so watch it. I really can't remember how long it did take. My husband likes breakfast to go because he's not a morning person. I posted a thread asking for ideas that had some good ones. I'm sorry I don't know how to link to another thread, but search for breakfast in the title and I'm sure you'll find it. We also like cereal, yogurt, or oatmeal with fruit. We like egg salad on toast for a change with eggs. My dh makes pancakes on Saturday mornings and there is usually some leftover to freeze. They reheat well. My kids love cinnamon/sugar toast, too. I love these kinds of threads! I love to hear what others do.

We don't usually have leftovers. When we do have something left, dh usually takes it for his lunch. We keep lunch simple. Dd is helping prepare lunch now on some days. We always have fresh fruits/veggies (my kids prefer fresh to cooked), then add in an entree like sandwiches, quessadillas, pizzas made on tortillas. We also love grilled cheese and tomato soup. I will sometimes buy them something frozen that they like such as corn dogs or chicken nuggets. We will be attending clubs 2 Fridays a month starting in September, so we will probably eat out on those days. That will be a nice treat for them and me!

Tonight was: Chicken/Cheese Quessadillas w/pico de gallo, sour cream, quacamole; fresh veggies (carrot sticks, cucumber, tomato) Tuesday: Grilled Bistro Chicken Pizza; Salad Wednesday: Spaghetti, Green Beans, Garlic Bread Thursday: Chicken Casserole, Corn, Carrots Friday: Taco Pizza, Salad Saturday: Might be taking a picnic to a state park Sunday: MOM'S DAY OFF We eat out lunch and snack the rest of the day (I'm the Sunday School Director and teach Kinderchurch (4-6 year olds) at church.) The kids get dessert each night if they've eaten 5 fruits/veggies that day. I keep low fat ice cream and ready-bake cookies around. Off to the library we go!!!

I am using 6th grade for dd and I all ready have the 7th grade TM (bought at a used book sale). Neither one has seemed way above grade level. I'm not familiar with what you've all ready done. Do you do any standardized testing? How did he do on the Language Arts? That might give you an indication of what grade level he should be doing. We did A Beka for 3rd and 4th, then switched to BJU for 5th. I wish we had used it the whole time. We will definitely continue. If you want to know the contents of the 7th grade, I could give you a list of the chapters.

Teaching definitely! Now the question is what!! I would want to teach high school math in a small, Christian school...or...math for GED programs. I think I would really enjoy helping adults finally "get math". I have a BS in math, but no teaching credentials. I would not want to do the TAPP program here in GA. It is for degreed professionals coming into the teaching field. You have to teach full time and attend classes practically full time. It's very draining from what my dh has observed. He teaches public high school, so I'd be inclined to want a school with the same schedule as him.

We've all ready started and my signature has most of it. Music: Dd starting back on piano lessons soon Ds wants to learn, so I may start him on the Primer type books (I took 3 years, then played flute for 6) Art: We are going to do a unit study at some point this year (free art activity & lapbook); try to plan a special art project monthly Outside: Keepers at Home & Contenders of the Faith clubs (starting in Sept) Homeschool group (belong to 2) activities

One thing I did once was keep shallow boxes to put shoes under our couch and love seat. You might not have room for all, but you could put the ones you use most often. We currently keep our shoes in the bedrooms. Dd has several white shelves (plastic covered wire) that fit together. Ds has an over the shoe rack on the back of his door. We do have a big closet, so we have a shoe rack. I wouldn't want mine at our entry way because we usually come in from the garage and our hallway there is small (no mudroom here either). I think I wouldn't want the garage because of fear of spiders in shoes. We actually killed 3 black widows around the outside of the house in May(one was in our grill).

I'm doing MOH Vol 1 with my K son. We've only been doing school for 2 weeks, but so far so good. There are 3 lessons a week with activities for 3 different age groups. There is map work, memory card, time line suggestions, etc. I'm not having him do the memory cards or time line. I felt like that would be overwhelming to him. I was looking for something he could do with his big sister. It comes in 5 volumes (3 are published and she's working on the other 2), so you could cover all of history by the end of 4th. It is chronological and you study biblical and world history at the same time.

I used A Beka Language for 3rd and 4th; BJU for 5th, and now 6th. I wished I had used BJU all the way through. The 5th and 6th grade books each have 16 chapters. They alternate a chapter on grammar followed by a chapter on writing. You end up with 8 different writing projects for the whole year. You can purchase 2nd -6th grade BJU through Christian Liberty press at a greatly reduced cost. They have permission to print an answer key/teacher guide and tests. You don't get a full teacher's manual, but I felt confident enough at these levels to use what they provide. I plan to use it all the way through unless I'm presented with something better. My ds is not doing BJU K, so I'm not sure what I'll do next year. I do know that he'll be in BJU Reading and English no later than 2nd.

I taught A Beka 6th one year, then BJU 6th the next in a homeschool co-op a few years ago. The A Beka curriculum is written okay, but it's so much about memorizing tons of material. I also taught their 7th grade science in the same co-op. There was 1 test that covered 200 pages of material!!!.:banghead: I couldn't believe it. I really enjoyed the BJU book because it was more interestingly written, and more critical thinking. I used BJU for 4th and 5th with dd, and adding 6th for extra reading into MOH Vol 1 this year. I really enjoyed 4th and 5th, but they are American History 1800-2000. I got a free ebook from Knowledge Quest that is learning world geography in 7 months. I got it for signing up for a digital subscription of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. You might could see if that's still available.

Yes, I do clean when I'm upset or angry. It does help me to get calmed down. I also think that clearing the clutter away feels like clearing the problem away. I'm not a clean freak, but there are times I know if the house was more clean it would help me feel better. My dd doesn't understand that at all. In fact, I'm not sure that any of my family does. I started homeschooling 3 years ago, and housecleaning has become more challenging for me instead of better. My dd was in private school for 3 years. I did work very part time, but was home enough to keep things in pretty good shape. I feel like it's so much harder with us home all day.

Can anyone give me some advice? I think I'm dealing with a slightly perfectionist child. My ds is 5 and we started K this year. He is really having a hard time with writing and saying that his tracing is horrible. He says that when he goes off the line just a little. How do I help him let himself off the hook? Should I let him skip some of the writing? I'm not really keen on that idea, but I don't want him to dislike school because of it. I've always let my kids know that things we have to do in life aren't always easy, but we do what's required of us anyway. His phonics and math have a lot of writing practice in them right now, plus I was going to do A Reason For handwriting. When he traced circles in it today, he put an x on the one he thought was worst and circled the one he thought was best. I have not criticized him in his writing at all. I don't know if anyone has at church or not, though. We've actually been homeschooling him since he was 2, because when we started with his sister, he wanted to do school work, too. I started trying "hands on" kinds of things with him and he really didn't respond. I picked up preschool workbooks at the grocery and he LOVED them. They were same/different, matching, mazes, that sort of thing. Last year we did BJU K math and A Beka K4 phonics. I didn't push the writing because I wasn't sure he was ready for much of it yet. He does have a tendancy to want to quit something when he's not good at it right away, althought we usually don't allow him to quit something once he's started. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Are you currently using Homeschool Tracker? I am only using the free version. If you are, have you made templates of your most common assignments? I do templates for almost everything and you can easily update the template with minor changes. I've not found a way to assign something to both my children at once. I did find that if I went to the correct date on the calendar, then clicked the template, it would automatically fill in that date for the assignment. On my templates, I try to fill in as much as possible, even the points they will get for doing it. I give mine full credit on daily assignments if they did it all. I only give grades on quizzes or tests, so on those assignments I leave the points earned blank until they actually take it. I do a master plan on paper for the whole month, then I enter each assignment for the week on Sunday nights. I hope this helps.:)

Okay, I know this is probably weird...but my dd has been reading the Jedi Apprentice series books and Jedi Quest series books. We are all big Star Wars fans LOL!! Tonight we had an incident where she potentially ruined something here at my sister's house. I told her that she would have to pay for it if it couldn't be repaired (she has plenty because she is a huge saver). She was very upset because it was an accident and got an attitude about it. I was able to fix it. When I showed it to her, I saw her physically calm herself down, swallow her pride, and thank me for helping. I was amazed! In just a few minutes, she told me it was because of reading the books. She said they are really teaching you that anger, hate, rebellion, fear...all lead to the "dark side", and she doesn't want to be like that. So far, she has also had much better attitudes about her school work this year (we started in July). As far as creative consequences, I think it depends on what's most important to your kids. I've heard of a discipline wheel where you make a spinner and kids have to spin to get their punishment. Deciding ahead of times takes the pressure off you when it happens. I haven't tried it because I know certain things that my kids don't want taken away and will usually ward off any severe behavior.

I'm doing MOH 1 with my 6th grader. I am adding in reading to enrich it. I am reading the lessons aloud because of K son. I'm not really crazy about how it's written as if talking to you and some of her comments. Those seem a little young to me. What do you plan to do next year? I'm all ready wondering if I should have done this because of where she'll be starting high school. I saw her recommended high school schedule, but that doesn't address starting in middle school. I'm hoping for some duel enrollment in high school, and I haven't really checked into requirements or what courses they even allow in GA. I really chose it because it was the only thing I could come up with that I could have her do with her brother. I'm not having him make memory cards, but she is. We aren't doing the timeline. I just didn't feel like we had time for it this year.

We have Phonics Game Board Book by Learning Resources. It is a set of 6 games all covering phonics (rhyming, vowels, blends, etc.). I did A Beka K4 phonics last year and ds is reading short vowel words really well and starting to recognize some things on his own. We are doing Horizons K Phonics this year. Try to make it fun for him, and I'm sure that will help. My sister makes up her own board games to cover whatever she's teaching. Dollar General sells posterboard in a packet of smaller sheets that is just the right size.

We love games and, because of the age difference in our dc, have always had them playing games designed for older than they are. I noticed you have Caribou. We love all the Cranium games. Try HULLABALOO (fun, physically active game), BALLOON LAGOON, ZOOREEKA (designed for older, but our son played at 4 with help on reading). We also love SORRY and TROUBLE. We have especially loved GAME BOARD BOOKS from Learning Resources. They are sets of 6 games that all come in 1 book. They have a preschool set involving, colors, counting, numbers, letters, etc. They also have sets for phonics and several math concepts. I always check our local thrift store for games. I have purchased $20-$25 games for as little as $.50. I do always check the contents to make sure the pieces are all there, though. If you spend just a little, you don't feel bad if you get it home and the kids don't like it or it's too hard. Happy Gaming!