Thank you ladies for all the advice and encouragement :) I thought about pulling him out now but the school charges a ridiculous fee for breaking the contract and it would be the same cost to just leave him in 3 more months. He is taking the Tera Nova next week. I am going to talk to the teacher and request that we review those results as soon as they get them due to his change in grades. He did wonderfully last year. He got between 7th stanine in English and 9th in science and history. I am hoping that this will give me an idea of where he is right now. I hate to think I am a big part of what is wrong with him. I explained about my injury and the financial stress it has caused. We all know how good kids are at picking up on their parents stress. He is very worried about my health, he talks about it often. He started seeing the school counselor last fall because of the grades and all she can find wrong is his stress about me. He asks about my prognosis a lot. I refuse to lie to him, the truth is we just don't know. It will be a year before we can determine if the surgery was a success. If I "behave" myself I have a good chance to have a pretty normal life. Doctors have told me that if I return to the same work and continue to put all that stress on my body, I will probably cripple myself within 10 years. Obviously this is why I have no plans to return to work full time. Maybe in the distant future I will be able to handle part time like one day a week. We shall see. When he asks I tell him that Mommy and the Doctors are doing everything we can to make sure that I heal correctly. He understands that I have a lot of restrictions. He has been awesome about stepping up and helping me with housework, laundry and all those things I can't do. Again Mom feels guilty that all the kids have had to take on more work because of me. We definitely plan on hsing more then one year. At least through middle school for ds10. Not sure about high school, ds10 already has his sights on playing high school baseball. We will tackle that when in comes. I myself was hsed in high school so I'm certainly not against it. I know life happens but for now the plan is long term. Now for curriculum. Like I said I'm mostly worried about the oldest because I feel I have less time for error. For ds10 and dd8 I was thinking TT, but now I'm not so sure. It is $$ and that is an issue. Currently I'm considering MM. As for grammar, spelling and writing I'm completely lost. There is so much to pick from! Maybe R&S? I'm open for suggestions but not very good at the hives abbreviations yet:tongue_smilie:. For history I'm looking at RC Connecting history. I'm thinking I could do it with the 2 older together with the oldest doing more of course. Science I have no clue but want something secular. My second biggest fear is how to teach ds4 (will be 5 in August) to read. I need a good phonics program that won't take all of my time. I'm not looking for a full K program. I think just a good phonics program, some math workbooks and math play with lots of read alouds will be enough. Plus he will be tagging along with the older 2 in history and science. Well I've written another book. Thank you again for all of your help:001_smile:

:party::party:Congratulations!!!!

I have posted on here before about my dilemma I am currently facing with my children's education. They are currently in Catholic school. Right now I have ds4-k4, dd8-2 and ds10-5. The original reason we started considering hsing was purely financial. I'm a nurse and injured my back at work last year (had surgery 3 Weeks ago). No idea when or if I will ever return to work. All 3 of my kids are doing wonderfully at school socially, with no discipline issues EVER (I'm shocked by this lol). All the teachers have nothing but good things to say about them. My younger 2 are also doing awesome academically. Its my oldest I'm worried about. First let me backtrack. We did preschool at home. He started K reading 3 letter words , could count to 50. All the normal preschool stuff. K was in ps. First week in the teacher yelled at me for teaching him too much at home. By January he was coming home telling us how the teacher was having him teach the other kids that didn't know anything :001_huh:. We pulled him out and finished K and did first at home. Life happened and I needed to go back to work the summer he finished first. So I put him and dd4 in a private Christian school. That worked well for 2 years till 3rd grade when my son got beat up on the playground because he was Catholic and his God wasn't the "real" God. The school refused to discipline the other boys involved and stated my son was being too sensitive. Sooooo we switched one again to their current school. As you can see my son has been rather jerked around from school to school. It didn't seem to be a problem. He made honor role and tested well above grade level on standardized tests. Then we started this year. He has held a steady C all year with the occasional D thrown in there.Like I said before behavior is wonderful. I really think he has learning gaps that are just starting to show. I've talked to the teacher and she seems to think he just needs to slow down. I really feel there is more to it. He really likes his teacher, she is young and seems to be laid back and lots of fun maybe too much fun. So here I am trying to plan hs curriculum for 3 kids with no education other then what I've learned here, which is a lot. As I do this I'm getting this nagging feeling that I'm just going to screw him up more by pulling him in yet another direction. For what it's worth he hated the idea if hsing at first but is now excited by it. I'm not sure what brought on that change of heart other then a lot if his buddies are leaving at the end of the year to go to PS. Please tell me I'm not going to ruin him. PS isn't an option, the middle school we are zoned for is 25 miles away and has is own police department! I think if I do it right I can very possibly get him on track, but how do I do that without screwing it up? I'm not near as worried about the other two because they are younger and I guess I figure it is simpler and I have more time . If you are still reading this thank you . I pray the hive has some words of wisdom for me.

I am considering using this with my ds who will be in 6th next year. He is currently in private school. I have heard that starting in 6th grade the English becomes more advanced. Has anyone found this to be true? English isn't his strongest subject he currently has a 75 average in it.:glare:. I am new to this and am finding all the options overwhelming. I don't want to get the 6th grade level and it be too much for him. Also has anyone used their spelling? He used to do wonderful in spelling but has a 65 in that at the moment. Are y'all getting an idea of why we are hsing next year? I also have a dd who is currently in 2 she makes straight As. He did too at that level.Not sure what is going on with him. It seems something just isn't clicking this year. Ok sorry for rambling. Any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated . :)

I had gestational diabetes 3 times. Fries were my worst enemy. Actually any potato was. Also exercise while certainly good for you can effect your blood sugar. My best friend has type 1 and always has to adjust her insulin when exercising. Your body needs sugar for energy and will pull glucose from the liver sometimes during exercise.

Thank you both for the quick reply!

This may sound silly but how can you tell if a book is eligible for the buy 4 for 3 deal? I've looked at tons of books and don't see any thing about that anywhere. Am I not looking in the right place or not at the right books? Please help, I'm feeling rather slow at the moment. Thank you!

Ok I just got SOTW 1 today. It is the first time I've actually had my hands on it. I like the book and think it will work well with my 3 rd grader. That being said I understand what you mean about it being too simple for my 6th grader. He read one chapter and said "Mom this only took me 5 minutes to read" So the search continues.

There are a TON of possibilities. I would just stick with something masculine and classic (which you obviously already like!) I really like Thomas, Benjamin, Joshua or Caleb. I would definitely stay away from ones like Jayden, Aiden, Liam ex.. Just because they don't flow. Naming my second son, third child was so hard because I'm funny about names "fitting" but not being "matchy" kwim? Happy naming and congratulations!!!

I will have to look into separate history for my 6th especially since he LOVES it and could read about it all day. He has never had world history and I believe that is what he is truly the most excited about as far as hsing. I had them take the TT placement tests last month and they placed on 3&6 level BUT they still had almost 4 months left of learning of 2nd and 5th at the time. Maybe I should hold off buying that and let them take it again in June? I chose TT because I feel like I need something they can do somewhat independently. Do you think they need a supplement to that? Thank you so much for the help so far :)

Not too far away. We live in Hampton Roads.

Any keyboarding suggestions? All 3 kids take technology twice a week but their typing skills don't impress me at all :(

Thank you for all the suggestions, keep them coming! As far as science I have no clue. Please help:D

Ok I was settled on SL for our first year hsing this fall but all these new changes have turned me off so I'm trying to get myself straight. This is what I have so far. Nothing is final. I know things are missing. Please feel free to offer suggestions on what is and isn't there:D. I'm scared to teach my kindergartner from scratch. I also have a 6th grader who always made honor role (they are at Catholic School) But this year he has averaged a C- and he really does seem to be trying but something isn't clicking. I'm just not sure what. So here goes. 6th grader Teaching textbooks 6 R&S Grammar&spelling SOTW 1 with some Connecting with history HWOT (He has TERRIBLE handwriting, print and cursive. That is bad enough to get his answers marked wrong when they were right) 3rd grader Teaching textbooks 3 R&S Grammar&Spelling SOTW 1 with some Connecting with History Handwriting? Not sure if she needs HWOT her handwriting is rather good. Kindergartner Hanging with other 2 during history and science HWOT He was right handed, then broke his right arm and was in a cast for 3 months. He started writing with his left hand. Now he can't decide which hand but both are equally sloppy. NO CLUE about phonics or teaching him to read. Math I can probably figure out but suggestions welcome. Not sure what to do about science but would rather keep it secular. Thank you for the help!

My oldest was 4years 1 month. That includes tandem nursing over a year with his little sister. I strongly encouraged him to wean, that was too much. Dd was 3.5 years weaned completely on her own when younger brother was a month old. She nursed with both brothers lol. Youngest is 4.5 years and was still nursing once a day. We had many complicated conversations about weaning :tongue_smilie:. I had surgery two weeks ago and was in the hospital 4 days, he hasn't nursed since. I'm sad because he is my baby. Glad because well 5 freaks me out lol. I nursed 10 years 8 months straight which is impressive since I was only 19 when I started:D

:iagree: My ds10 plays baseball and this is pretty much exactly how it works for us.

Ok I'm going to confess to having done this before and after the big v. Glad I'm not the only one who had thought of that lol Results were fascinating before and well pretty boring after thank goodness:lol:

Actually it does make sense. If you research the success rate of v reversals they will tell you this is why the rate is so much lower then that of a tubal. The swimmers have no where to go and they get backed up and the body eventually figures it out and majorly slows down making them. Supply and demand. Being sterile doesn't mean no sperm. Just not "enough" That being said like breastfeeding Moms can "restart lactation" It makes sense that mens parts could do the same under the right conditions. I think the procedure has gotten more advanced which is why you heard more about surprise babies 10 years or so ago. And the more resent ones well you gotta follow through with the test. I have also wondered if it is possible for them to grow back, shouldn't they also check at maybe 6 months and a year post op when things have had a chance to grow?

I'm not saying it hasn't or doesn't happen but I'm confused. The urologist told us that 2-3 years after the vasectomy dh would be completely sterile. As in he wouldn't make any guy at all. He said vs are almost impossible to reverse at that point because there just isn't any sperm. He explained it like breastfeeding, the more demand there is the more your body makes. The more milk that you put out the more it makes. It's supply and demand. So if the v was done correctly and no guys are getting out he will eventually stop making them. But like I said if it was successful in the first place. If a few were still getting out I can see how he would still make a little bit. We all know it only takes one!

I'm not too concerned about it. I googled my ds10 name last year and he was the second result! His first name is uncommon but our last name is pretty common. I was shocked! It was the church bulletin listing the children who were making their first communion. All the other results were some Irish soccer player that has the same name lol. So if something as innocent as the church webpage is putting him out there, I'm not going be able to stop it. Also without the last name attached it's highly unlikely anyone would put it together. Now because of a very famous book/movie series he isn't so searchable. His first name is Cullen and yes it was his way before Edward had it :tongue_smilie:

I'm a homehealth nurse and bought myself one off Ebay for $60 last year. It's held up great so far. It does take pulse and O2 saturation. Your hand does need to be pretty still for a moment for it to work, but only for a few seconds. Sounds like a good idea to me !

He dropped them, trying to take them from one room to another. A 34lb 4yr old carrying a 17 in computer is not a good idea. In both cases Grandma left him alone with it. He should not have been carrying it but you don't leave a kid that young alone with it either:glare:

I've been told with all my phones to let it die as much as possible then charge fully 3 or 4 times. Something about letting the battery find all the cells. After that it doesn't really matter. I just got the Droid razer max and am in the middle of doing that now. I let it get to red and it started seriously yelling at me to charge it:lol:

That is true! I download PDFs all the time. But never worksheets. Off to find those threads.:D

I never thought about the screen going out on an all in one and that actually happened to us a few years ago! See this is why I need the hive! Dh is no help he just says "whatever you want honey" lol. He says he doesn't use it but he got rather frustrated the other day trying to use the tablet to order the kids new baseball/softball stuff. You know they have priorities :glare: The tablet was meant to be for an ereader, quick Web surfing, and games to entertain the kids (and dh:lol:). It's definitely not cut out for what we need.