Just wanted to update- I got a very nice email from CEP explaining how to download and she also gave me extra downloads. So yay!!!

My dd is in fifth this year. We don't have set in stone times, but it generally averages out to approximately- 5x per week Math-30-45 min (CLE 5) LA (spelling, grammar, root words, writing)-45-60 min (IEW, Fix-It, Language Mechanic, Red Hot Root Words, Rummy Roots, spelling pulled from grammar/writing) History and literature-20-30 min (SOTW and coordinating literature, right now it's Robin Hood) Reading-2-4 hours. Other than history literature, I don't assign any reading because she reads at a high level and enjoys challenging books. She reads on her own for hours per day. 3x per week Science-coding class-1 hour, nature studies class-1.5 hours, at home science-30 min (Mr. Q chemistry) Logic-15-20 min (Logic Safari and Logic Liftoff) Geography-30 min (this is mom-made using a variety of sources) Memory work-5-10 min 1x per week STEM club Presentation club She has a ADD/executive function difficulties and a heavy gymnastics schedule, so that factors in to our shorter days. I tend towards a more CM bent with short, efficient lessons and hours of outdoor time daily. We do almost no busy work-we all hate it lol.

I only have three kids, but I never felt that my youngest 'needed' social preschool time. *I* needed a break from her sometimes, but only in 1-2 hour chunks. And so, I structured our life to have that time built in almost daily-Monday she does a Kindy unit studies coop (drop off) for 2 hours, Tuesday she does gymnastics for 1.5 hours, Wednesday is nature study class for 1.5 hours, and Friday gymnastics for an hour. I'm not sure how much that adds up to be annually, but it's less than $4,000! $4k is a ton for preschool. If I was at all unsure, I would pull her from that first. However, if you love it and she loves it, keep her there and don't feel guilt AT ALL for not doing extra stuff. Seriously, she will be fine! And I totally understand about not doing crafty kid stuff. I don't. My other kids do that sort of thing with her, and she does it at coop. She has materials at her disposal, and I try not to worry about mess, so if she gets a creative idea, she's welcome to do it-no adult interference necessary. And I also understand about the big kids having their thing-my two big girls are doing 15 hours of gymnastics between the two of them. Add in my little dds 3 hours, and we are at the gym a TON. But that is the beauty of homeschooling...we have all day together and can afford, time-wise, to spend our afternoons at the gym without feeling like our family relationships are suffering. I wouldn't feel that way if they were in school 8-3, you know? Best of luck in your decision!

So I went ahead and bought a bunch of sets as downloads. They come as a zip file, and when I tried to download them onto my iPad, they wouldn't download. I tried on izip, iBooks, and Cudasign. Now I have no downloads left to try on our home computer! I emailed Creek Edge a few days ago and haven't heard back from them. I'm getting nervous as it would be a very quick and easy fix to resend me the download links. Has anyone had experience with their customer service?

I'm looking into these for my dd for fall. She will be in sixth grade. Specifically, I'd like history and science, and as a bonus, artists/composers. I know about the Creek Edge Press task cards, are there any others you've used and would recommend? I feel like I see them on Pinterest all the time from TeachersPayTeachers, but there are so many and I'm not sure of quality. The CEP ones look great, but if I bought the entire science and history sets, it would be close to $200. 😳 Which is why I'm looking to see if there are any others out there.... I really would love all four periods of history to be available from the same place, like CEP. Same with science, I'd love anatomy, physics, biology, and chemistry to be available from the same place. Any ideas? And if you HAVE gone with the CEP task cards, how did you feel about them? Did your student enjoy them? Did they really deliver on the whole 'independent' aspect? Are the activities repetitive or are there lots of ideas? Are the activities mostly writing based or do they also have ideas for crafts/non writing activities? Do you feel your student really retained what they learned? This in advance!

Oldest dd will be going into sixth grade next year. She is a creative, out of the box kid, and hates busy work. She's had plenty of struggles with writing, but is coming along nicely as of late. She is bright, but very much a little girl still, who wants to get school done so she can play. She loves reading and will read for hours everyday. She is also on a gymnastics team, which has her at the gym 9 hours per week. January-April is meet season, which takes up most every weekend, so I try to make sure she has plenty of down/play time during the week. *Math-CLE 6, Alcumus, and Algebra in the Real World *History-she'll listen to SOTW in the car because I play it for my little girls, and she will be doing the Creek Edge Press task cards to go along with it. We have lots of history reference and literature books I've collected over the years. *Science-nature class at the nature preserve, task cards to expand on Mr. Q (physics? Not sure yet) that I'll be reading with the little girls. We also do a ton of interest led stuff, and have lots of kits and materials here for her to explore. *Language arts- Grammar-fix it Writing-IEW SWI B Spelling-Phonetic zoo Reading/literature-she reads well above grade level, and averages about 200 books per year on her free time. I'll also pull some books to go along with our history studies, and some good classics I'll read aloud at bedtime or listen to on our way to the gym. *Logic-we've done some of the workbook logic curriculum, and she loves those. We also play games requiring planning and logic skills. I'm unsure of where to go next with this...any ideas? She does a coop and this year has done science, geography, art, martial arts, and a programming/3-d printing class. I'd love for her to continue art and the computer class, but other than that, I don't care what she chooses. And then there is gymnastics.

Middle dd will be going into third grade this fall. She is a 'get it done' kinda girl, very focused and detests busy work. She also trains at the gym for 9 hours and next year will be increasing to 12 hours per week. Starting in January, we have gym meets almost every weekend until April, so I try to make sure she is getting play time during the week. *Math-CLE 3 and Miquon (the last book, I can't remember the color) *History-SOTW *Science-home school nature class at the nature preserve and reading through Mr. Q. We are doing chemistry this year, and have done life science, so perhaps physics? Not sure yet. Also, we do a ton of interest led science-this year she loved mixing potions to go along with our Harry Potter reading. We have a Magiscope, and plenty of science kits. Our property had woods and two creeks, which makes it easy to find material to study and learn about. *Language arts- Grammar-Fix it grammar Writing-IEW fairy tales Spelling-Sound and structure Cursive-copy work Reading/literature-she reads daily, both to me and to herself. I'll increase this time to an hour. We also read aloud everyday, during school, at bedtime, and in the form of audiobooks in the car. *Logic-not sure. We have some of those workbooks (Logic Safai and one other one) but I think I'd rather focus on gaming for logic. She loves Catan, Labyrinth, and various card games. She does a homeschool coop, and will have her pick of extracurricular classes there. This year she did science, art, martial arts, cooking, and cross fit. I would love for her to continue art, but other than that I don't care which classes she chooses. And of course, gymnastics is a huge part of her life.

And back again to thank OhE this time for a fantastic post! Wow, you ladies are amazing.

8-thanks for that last post, it really resonated with me and I needed to hear it today.

I love this. My dad will be going into middle school grades this fall, and this is exactly what I am planning. Oh, we will still 'do school', but most of life will be spent gaining a global perspective and focusing on others.

Could you ask that the money be applied to some extra lessons for them?

A roast, roasted brussel sprouts with bacon bits, roasted sweet potato cubes (not technically super low carb I guess), salad with red wine vinegar and olive oil.

*For curriculum alone? Probably $500-$600 per year for three kids-K, 2, and 5. *For books that we read for fun (I'm including this here, because it's thanks to homeschooling that we are aware of and love so many wonderful books) I'd guess $700-$800 per year. I buy most of our books used. *For supplies and equipment-regular school supplies, art stuff, science, ect. I'd say $500-$700 *For field trips, educational weekends away, admission, memberships-$2,000-$3,000 *For homeschool coop-$1200 per year for all three kids. This offers them classes I may not be equipped to teach like music and art, and also gives them a chance to do group learning for things like science labs, which I feel is an important experience for them. *For extra curricular activities (that they would probably still do even if they attended a brick and mortar school, however, probably not to this extent because I wouldn't want them gone even longer from home if they were gone 40+ hours per week at school) -archery-$125 per year, gymnastics-$1,000 leotards/team gear fees, $1,250 booster club, $7,200 tuition per year for all three kids, $2,000 travel expenses, gym camp $1,000. It's insane. 😖 We view their gymnastics like paying for private school tuition. Since both my dh and I made our careers out of what we loved extra curricular wise, we place just as much importance on their passions as we do on academics. Who knows where it will take them?

INTJ was spot on for me. We do have a lot of outside activities though. Two reasons-1. My little people aren't all as introverted as I am, so having a planned time to hang with friends is key. And 2. During their activities, I get a break from their noise and hubbub. 😳

I love dogs. I have rescued all of our dogs from shelters or the street. I would not hesitate to rehome her. Big huge hugs. I know this is hard, no matter what you choose.

Yes, my house is fairly clean and 'company ready' most of the time. It's obvious we have kids-there are toys and games and books about, but generally the counters, bathrooms, floors, kitchen and all common areas are clean. Not perfect, but good enough. Here's how we do it- Kids are responsible for making their bed and doing one bathroom chore every morning. Their rooms and bathrooms are upstairs, and they primarily keep those clean. Bathroom chores are-mirror,, counter and sink, toilet. They rotate between the three kids. I mop weekly. They are also responsible for hanging their towels after a shower and putting their clothes in the hamper up there, not on the floor. Every night, we do a quick pick up of anything on their bedroom floor. Luckily (or not reallly!?) they don't play up in their rooms much. They don't play with toys much at all. I've gotten rid of a ton of toys, they each have an IKEA 4x2 expedit shelf in their room, four shelves hold books and four shelves have bin that hold small toys. After breakfast, the kids do kitchen chores while I start the days load of laundry. Doing laundry every morning means I typically only have five outfits to wash and fold. Every few days I have a towels load and a wash rag load. Saturday's I wash everyone's bedding. It's a heavy laundry day, but it's not terrible-I just throw in loads all day and the kids help me get their own beds back together. So while I gather the laundry, they sweep the kitchen floor, wipe all counters and the table, and unload the dishwasher. Again, three kids, three chores. They rotate daily. We start school at 9. We go pretty solidly until 1. I am so lucky that now we have a basement. In the basement we have three bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchenette. The bathroom/kitchen/one bedroom is where my mom lives and the kids pretty much stay out of there. The second bedroom is our toy/materials storage room. And we have a proper school room. It helps that everything has a place and unfinished school projects are in the school room as opposed to the kitchen table. Before we head back upstairs, we pick everything up. No exceptions. The kids are hungry by the time we finish school, so they are motivated to help pick up lol. We have lunch and the kids repeat the morning kitchen chores (loading instead of unloading the dishwasher) while I switch the clothes to the dryer. Then they walk the dogs. We have several acres in the woods, so they play out there if it's nice. While they are out, I fold that load of laundry and then I do my chores for the day-vacuum one level of the house, mop, clean bathrooms, dust, ect. I generally take 30-60 minutes at this time just working on whatever needs doing. Honestly, the house stays pretty picked up, so it's basic maintenance.

Yes, some dogs are dangerous. No, it's not always the same breeds. I lock my chihuahua up when we have children visiting our home. He is amazing with our own children, but I don't trust him with other kids. I ALWAYS ALWAYS supervise guest children with all three of our dogs. I always intervene if they are getting in the dogs space.

We have this set. http://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-Storybook-Treasures-Treasury-Packaging/dp/B002PTBSE6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454849744&sr=8-2&keywords=scholastic+storybook+treasures I like it because it's slow and gentle and it's all quality picture books. For some of them, there isn't even animation, it's literally just the pictures in the book with someone reading. The animation is usually very simple and not flashy.

That sounds like so much on your plate.😣 No brilliant words of advice, but I am thinking about you and your family.

Modeling it. Which I so frequently fail at doing. 😖 And talking them through their emotions, possible strategies and solutions, and helping them make a plan that they feel will help them.

I live just outside Atlanta. So yeah. We still get major overreaction here lol.

Congratulations! I'm very excited for you and your bigger family!

I wish I knew the right words to say...my dh sounds a bit like yours, hesitant to change or rock the boat, so to speak. I desperately, desperately want another baby. Or three. He does not. He is afraid it will be too overwhelming, we won't be able to do the things we (he) want to do. I say, *I* am the one pregnant, nursing, getting up in the middle of the night, full time parenting and homeschooling, dealing with the day to day stuff. He travels a lot for work and isn't home most of the time. He wants to take vacations and go skiing and a baby would make that sort of thing more difficult. When I have a hard day, or feel tired or overwhelmed, he takes it as I couldn't handle another. I've told him I've had bad or overwhelming moments since I became a mother, it just comes with the territory. The joy and love far outweighs those brief moments of chaos to me. But not for him. Like someone upthread stated, when I'm old and infirm, I won't regret missing that awesome ski vacation, or more sleep, or shuttling the kids to a thousand activities. I WILL very much regret not growing our family. His take is that we have three beautiful, healthy, amazing children, and I should be happy with that. We should stop while we are ahead. I say, it's BECAUSE of these three beautiful, amazing, healthy children I want more! He asks why I would want to go backwards to sleepless nights, diapers, crying, and catering to a baby/toddler. I say the memories of those precious and crazy times are too beautiful to not live through again. Is it hard? Yes. Our children didn't sleep well for years, we were exhausted and it felt like it would never end. Being on the 'other side' of having an infant though, I can see just how quickly that time passes. Sadly, with my first two, I was so anxious about sleep and nursing and teething and illness and milestones and baby proofing to be still and ENJOY it all. With my third, I held on to those night nursing sessions for dear life. My 'baby' is five, just lost two little teeth, and I am feeling so bittersweet about it all. I am not ready at all for all of these 'last times' with her. It's caused a lot of resentment between me and him, but I've pretty much dropped it. If he 'gave in' I'd always wonder if he would harbor resentment toward the child and I wouldn't want that for anything. And so I am left feeling very much like people are missing from our family. It's a very hard, raw place to be. I hope you both sort it out and both of you feel 100% on board with whatever decision you come to. I know how difficult it is to not be in agreement.

About half hour. I sit with her the entire time to keep her focused though. The concepts of math come easily to her, the drudgery of review and arithmetic do not. She is a bit scattered and will make simple arithmetic/handwriting mistakes, so I help redirect her when I see that happening. If we were spending 1.5 hours of math, her brain would just turn off and no learning would happen after a time anyway.

I have three girls, ages 10, 7, and 5. What we started this year (as injanuary, so not long. Which means take this with a grain of salt lol) is I go into the basement (school room, 'living room' and play room, and set up 'stations'. Each station is about 15-20 minutes, except math with my oldest, which is two station times. Our stations are *Work with mom-math for all, reading aloud to me for the 7 year old, and phonics and handwriting work for five year old. I put all those books down on a mat on the floor. *Independent work-spelling, writing, grammar for the oldest, language arts, ETC, and cursive for middle, and mazes, worksheet, cutting and pasting activity for the littlest. This is at the desk, in the same room I am in, so I can quickly answer questions and keep them working. *iPad with educational games and headphones, also in that room. I pick the games that reinforce what we are working on. *Reading station-I have a kiddie pool with pillows and blankets and a bed tent thing hanging over it. This is in the living room area. Oldest reads her history, middle reads books that are easier for her to her little sister. *Math/science station-independent 'fun' activities. I set up two, one geared more towards upper elementary or middle school and one for lower elementary. This can be physics/engineering puzzles, balance with unit blocks, Lego challenge sheets, simple experiments, nature journaling, tangrams, geo boards, roominate kit, science wiz kits, magnet set, magnet blocks, kepla (?) blocks, circuitry set, ect. Basically all those fun things we never used to get to because we were so focused on getting through curriculum. 😳 This is at the coffee table in the living room area. *Art/music station-this happens once or twice a week instead of the math/science station. I have a lot of art/artist books, so I set one of those out (usually I can tie this in with the history we are studying, but sometimes it's random) and some simple art supplies. I also have plenty of composer books/materials, so I can download some music on my phone and let them listen to that while they read. *Sensory therapy-my littlest has SPD, and needs lots and lots of sensory activity. This looks like fun, so they all join in and help her get her 'therapy'. We have a gorilla gym with various attachments, rody pony, bouncing ball, balance board, stretchy band, balance beam, octagon mat, gym mats. This happens in the play room. *Game and puzzle station-also in the playroom. This is when I'm working one on one with one of the older two, the other older sister plays with the littlest. I set up sight word zingo, a human body/countries/solar system puzzle, Brain Quest game, ect. This is mostly for my little two girls to do while my oldest works does her longer math/writing stations. Generally, I start working one on one with the littlest. Middle does LA at the desk, and oldest reads. It suits their personalities...some of mine are more demanding of my attention, some are self starters and independent, and some are slower to start.😉 After the first station, it varies. Sometimes the littlest needs to get her wiggles out, so she does therapy. Sometimes I see that math for my oldest will be a bit more challenging so I get her in with me early, I just feel them out and call out everyone's next station. The rule is they have to stay at their station until I call a switch. If they finish their 'work' they can play quietly or read. Since math and writing with my oldest takes a bit longer than one station, the two little girls use that time to do a game/puzzle or therapy/play station. We generally work from 9-12, and then break for lunch. While I make lunch the girls take the dogs for a walk. They walk our backyard, which takes about 20 minutes. During lunch I read aloud, we work on memory work, or geography together. I do outsource science for my oldest at a coop, so that is the only subject I don't 'do' with her, curriculum wise, though we do DO lots of interest led science. It takes a bit more planning for me, setting up different activities and tying them into reinforcing skills or content we are working on, and at times it can be a little like keeping a three ring circus going, but their feedback has been positive. They are no longer waiting for me, I don't feel like I'm constantly neglecting the littlest, or asking her sisters to play with her. The school day wraps up nicely and in a timely manner. We are actually DOING all those extras, the fun kits I've bought, the activities that cement the book work, the art and music and geography. I am able to stagger a harder, more focused subject with a lighter, fun subject for brain breaks. I am not running between three kids, I sit on the mat the entire time helping one child. I have found that *I* can not concentrate with three people at different levels at one desk (initially I thought we'd all be working on math or writing or whatever, so I bought one of those semi circle desks that we could all sit at together. Disastrous. For all of us lol) and my kids can not focus that way either. Because I am able to work with them one on one, their work gets done faster and better. I will say, most of the time, oldest did still has something to work on after lunch, and the two little girls are content to play together for a while, so I can work with her. I try to leave our 'project work' fort his time, because she really enjoys that, and I see how much she devotes herself to it, so I want to be supportive and attentive to her. Currently she is working through the Adventures in Fantasy book and working on writing a fantasy book. We are able to have deeper discussions regarding the theme and character development, do fun things like making scrolls or maps for her book, sketch her characters, look up information online, ect. Like I said, this is a relatively new thing for us, but so far, everyone is really liking it. Hope that helps some!