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!

Thanks so much for sharing!

I remember running through a little playhouse in our backyard, and tripping over a play ironing board. It punctured the back of my leg (they were metal then!), and I remember being at the doctor for it and seeing into the wound. I was about 3. I also have a few memories being in the house we lived in at that time, but they are just flashes of rooms. I have another memory that really stands out, but not sure the age. My great-grandmother lived in an apartment in the basement of my grandparent's house. I was about to come up the stairs, when I heard my mother and grandmother talking about another great-grandparent who had just died. I specifically remember standing there a long time thinking about the sadness in their voices. My sister, who was 2 years 2 months at the time, remembers JFK dying. I was amazed that she remembered that.

Okay...I know it's weird, but we don't have a digital camera. We really want to buy one before we go to WDW in October. I was wondering if anyone has any good advice. I don't really know much of anything at this point. We want a camera that's easy to use and takes good pictures. I would be very interested in some video capability as well. We have a slot on the front of our computer for memory cards. It says: SD/MMC/SM/MS/MS-PRO/xD We also have a usb port on our printer called a "pictbridge" and a picture of a camera beside it. It is an HP psc 1315v printer-scanner-copier. Thanks!

Thanks for all the ideas everyone. I really liked the idea of a caddy. I went looking at our Wal-mart and found something great. It's actually a plastic tool box for about $6. It has storage in the lid (small compartments of varying sizes, which are holding, paper clips, hole punch, staple puller, white out, glue sticks), a pull out carry tray(holding some pens, pencils, highlighters, dry erase markers, etc.), with good space underneath (holding stapler, calculator, box of crayons, colored pencils, etc.). It will definitely hold all the stuff we use on a regular basis. I'm sorry I don't have a digital camera to put it on here, but I'm going to start another thread for buying one. I did really like the over the door idea I read on another post, and may consider getting for my art supplies. Non-regular supplies are going into a small plastic tub in the linen closet or where I all ready have art supplies in my garage.

Sound of Music is my all-time favorite, then Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I. I do love Beauty and the Beast as well. It was a gift from my husband. I also love Prince of Egypt and Joseph King of Dreams, but I don't think they count as a musical.

Is it the bias that bothers you, or the fact that it's conservative bias? Would you be okay with a news channel that's biased to the left? Are you wanting to practice censorship? I'm assuming since you were offended, that you are liberal. I thought liberals were very tolerant of others. As one other said, I don't know anyone who isn't biased (I'm not sure how to do 2 quotes, sorry!). I believe it's called having an opinion and freedom of speech. It's great we live in a country where we can turn on the TV and find all kinds of opinions.

We have been to WDW a few times now. Some longer, some shorter. We actually did 4 days when our ds was 2.5. We did 1 park each day and went all day. He did fine. It really depends on your kids. Our first trip was when our dd (only 1 then) was 5.5. She went all day, walked everywhere, and didn't complain at all. ENJOY!

They have tried the ketogenic diet and it didn't help him. He's 14 and his seizures started with his 4 month dpt. Their pediatrician talked them into just 1 more shot several months later and his seizures became worse after that. Most of his grand mal seizures are during his sleep. My sister has fibromyalgia now due to her sleep being interrupted so much. Hopefully the diet is going to help her with that, although, they've told her good sleep is the only way to fix it. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll tell her about slowing the detox down some with more cooked foods.

Does anyone have experience with the Hallelujah Acres diet or people? My sister and bil went there and are trying it. My nephew has epilepsy (from immunization shots, the old DPT). They were hoping it might help his seizure activity. It is actually worse. He is 14, so it could be a puberty thing as well. He's had 40 seizures this month, which is the most in 2.5 years. He is taking the product "Barley Max". Has anyone tried this and had problems from it? He has to eat gluten free, but they are watching that closely.

I was wondering how others store their school supplies and office supplies. We do school at our kitchen table or our living room couch. I have a linen closet designated for storing school stuff, plus a bookshelf by the computer in my bedroom. I need something that I can carry around to hold pencils/pens, crayons, colored pencils, stapler, paper clips, glue sticks, scissors, etc. I'm having a hard time visualizing something to hold that variety of stuff. I would prefer one big container that is easy to carry and will store on a shelf in the linen closet or on top of the bookcase. Any thoughts???

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm going to have him sit down with me tonight and look at them to see what he thinks will work for him. He does prefer breakfast type food, but he will probably be willing to give other things a try. He likes most food and will always try new things.

I did A Beka K4 Phonics with my ds last year. It did get him reading short vowel words and introduced the 2 vowel rule. I really didn't spend a lot of time looking elsewhere for pre-k reading, because my dd did it at a homeschool co-op and it worked for her. It included writing, which was a little difficult for him, so I didn't have him do it all. You can choose manuscript or cursive. I did manuscript. Their ABC 123 book includes numbers as well. I had him do some of the pages, but he was doing BJU K math. It has a lot of coloring in it, which we started off doing, but it really got frustrating for him, so I didn't make him do all of it. I'm glad we did it, because it did get him reading early. I didn't want to use A Beka past Kindergarten, because we love BJU reading for comprehension and stuff. BJU is expensive, and I found a set of Horizons really cheap so we're are doing that this year. We'll be in BJU by next year, regardless of cost. I'll keep looking for deals, though!

Maybe they are selling them! I heard about this story of someone selling them online: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38340/117/

Please help! My dh is not a morning person and wants to sleep as much as he can in the morning. He wants breakfast that he can take out the door to eat on the way to school (he's a public high school history teacher). He also has a huge appetite in the morning hours. Non-protein breakfasts leave him starving. He does keep snacks in his classroom. I've done egg salad and egg/cheese sandwiches, toaster scramblers to death. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know he probably doesn't need eggs every day, although we don't eat tons of other foods high in cholesterol. Thanks!

We use it to make our own Southwest Salad similar to McDonald's. We use salad greens and any fixings we have, add whole kernal corn (drained), black beans (rinsed and drained), crushed nacho cheese tortilla chips, the chicken, and use Paul Newman's Southwest dressing. YUMMMM!!!!!

Dh is a public school World and US History teacher. This is going to be his 3rd year in public after 16 years in private, Christian schools. His high school had a 60% drop out rate last year. We've been told our county has the highest pregnancy rate in the state and the most section 8 housing. He teaches no honors or AP classes. I'm amazed at the stories of the simple things these students don't know or understand. The first year he said he was watching the downfall of western civilization as we know it. It's not been easy, but Christian and private schools can be unstable and there are no benefits in a lot of them. He has enjoyed the schedule. He has about 13 weeks off a year to be with us. We love that!

I just recently read an idea somewhere (not sure, maybe even here??) about a mom who was tired of so many dishes. She bought each kid their own color of cup and big, wide bowl that could be used as a plate. Each child was responsible to wash their own cup and bowl after each meal. By color coding them, if one gets left out, it's easy to see who didn't. She boxed up everything else and said if you don't wash it, you don't eat. I'm considering it for our house. If I can't find bowls big enough, I'll do a plate, cup, and bowl.

We have cable, but basic extended (not digital). We signed up for basic only and the guy came and put it in. He asked me why only basic and I told him it was all we could afford in the budget. He gave me the next level up. I spent 6 months telling the cable company we had more than we were supposed to, but they wouldn't come change it. I finally gave up. I tried to do the right thing. So we pay $20 a month for 75 channels. I love Corner Gas on WGN, and so does my dh. As a family, we enjoy Man vs. Wild, most Food Network shows, and SpongeBob. The kids like some of the Disney stuff (we don't like it all, though). We belong to Netflix, so we can get movies. We love all the Fox Faith films, especially.

I voted used it didn't work, because I taught it and didn't like it. I didn't use it with my own kids, but was considering it until I taught Alg 2 and Adv Math in a co-op setting. I have a math degree and love high school math, but hated teaching Saxon. I found him telling kids to do things (ex. leave negative exponents in answers) that wasn't allowed when I was in school and still isn't in public. My youth pastor's wife teaches public school math, so I checked. He also used longer Algebra 1 methods to teach Alg 2 and Adv math problems instead of teaching new formulas and methods that all other programs I've seen teach. So many times in class I would present his way, then the way I learned. 9 times out of 10 the kids thought his way was harder to understand. As a student who excelled in math, I would have been bored to tears with this curriculum. I am thankful I had the chance to teach it to others before trying it on my own. It saved me a lot of heartache. I love BJU or Glencoe, but I know I'm confident in being able to teach it myself where as some may want more instruction with the curriculum like Teaching Textbooks.