We've got a really busy term - a complicated house move at the end of it - so we're just reading Science and History. We might do some narrations/copywork/dictation but it'll be under the English umbrella for now if we do.

We haven't started properly either. That is to say, we're gearing up to our full schedule. It seems that almost every term I have to tweak (or in this case, completely revamp!) our schedule so I tend to spend a week or two "getting into" the new schedule.. doing more and more of it each day until I'm up and running. I'm aiming to be doing it all by the end of next week.

Depends on the child. If it's one of my older dds, then I tell them to stop in their verbal tracks (they rarely disobey this one). I then ask them why they said what they did, and we discuss what would have been a more appropriate thing to say/way to say what they were thinking. I've never heard either of them swear, so that's not an issue right now. If it's my ds, then I'll first try talking to him very quietly. He has to be quiet to hear me, and he's getting to know that if he doesn't listen when mama speaks, there's trouble. He usually complies. If not, then I might still have to get his attention physically. I prefer to do this by removing him from the situation and taking him somewhere alone to cool off, then we talk in a similar way as I would with my older dds.

Saturday is take-out night.. Sunday is crockpot roast as we're at church from 10:45 through 4:00. When I get groceries, I tend to look for the offers (what's on sale) and then buy whatever needs to go with it at the same time.. ie.. say Fajita kits are on sale, then I'll go get some chicken, peppers, onions and sour cream; or maybe fresh beef burgers are on sale, so I'll go get bread rolls/baps, onions and salad and try to remember if we have any mustard and ketchup at home.

How often do your kids hang out with their friends? Neighborhood kids - pretty much every fine day; church friends - at Sunday School and occasional playdates; friends from other activities (ballet etc.) - occasional playdates Does anyone else worry about socialization? I don't.. my kids are friendly, they enjoy being with people of all ages. They're also quite happy to play together at home, or spend time alone doing their own thing. Do you ever have doubts about homeschooling? Yes, but it's usually because my Mum or sisters are harping on about how brilliant their schools are; it feeds the worry meister in my head. Then I go back to my dh and he puts me straight, and I see my dc and think.. they're fine. We're fine. :001_smile: What do you fear most about homeschooling? Getting curriculum which is wrong for us and wasting money and time. I guess it's an almost inevitable occupational hazard, though - probably everyone has done it at some point. What do you love most about homeschooling? Where to start?! I love having my dc with me - they are the best (and I'm not biassed :D); I love when the educational penny drops for them, especially when it's something they were struggling with; I love my dc's enthusiasm for pretty much anything, and the hilarious and also profound things they say; I love the fact that they get along really well (most of the time), are usually well behaved and people comment on it when we are out - that helps reassure me that I'm doing something right! I could go on and on but you get the picture. ;)

This is just my opinion.. I think it is less confusing/better practice in the long run to insist on cursive for all writing once the child has learned it. There might be a cost to how much they want to write initially, but once they're used to it, it'll be just as quick as printing is now and hopefully the handwriting will be neater. HTH.

We all use Saxon, at the appropriate level for each child. I'm maybe lucky that it fits us all fine at the moment as it makes it cheaper - you only have to buy the teacher's book/textbook once and then you just get extra worksheets for each child. I guess if my kids were very different I'd have to get the program that suited each one's needs.

:iagree: I wish I could say that I've never said anything out of frustration, but I surely have. So I have to apologise to dc, and we talk about it. These conversations are often very productive - they learn that although we try, people aren't perfect and everyone makes mistakes. You're a great mama for working with your son to help him become a diligent, hardworking adult and he'll thank you for it when he's old enough to realise how important it is! :001_smile:

Hehehe.. :lol: kids are so funny.

Unschooling.. I jumped on the bandwagon with enthusiasm at the beginning, and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom, but "woke up" after about 2 years realising that dc hadn't really learned anything at all. They'd had a blast playing a great deal, but didn't know much; it just hadn't worked for us as a method. Last year I found out about the WTM and classical schooling, did masses of reading, decided it was for us and haven't looked back since. (It's rocky at times but I'm confident it works for us!) :001_smile:

Sorry.. no answers.. just :bigear:

Um.. can I just ask.. if she's in Grade 4, why isn't she writing in cursive? That made a big difference to my now 4th grade dd.. not sure why. Both my 6th grader and my 4th grader do handwriting practice 2-3 times a week.

Flashcards are a great idea. I'm not totally up on the lingo (living on the other side of the pond!) but if drills means timed math fact sheets, then speed is important. As I understand it, the purpose of the exercise is to get the child to recall the fact(s) as quickly as possible so it becomes automatic. This makes the higher level work much easier for them, if they can just pull a math fact out of their memory rather than having to work everything out from scratch. Maybe, when you do narrations, you could write/type it out for him sometimes? That'd be another thing that would take time for a slow writer. You know your son best, so each time there seems to be an inordinate amount of time spent on something, then assess whether the time taken matters or not and adjust the work accordingly. I'm sure his writing will speed up over time. I'm planning on teaching my 10y dd touch typing at some point so that she can do some of her high school English by hand and some on a computer. If she's still writing very slowly by then I don't really want to hinder her written creativity.

Yes! Yes! :thumbup1: Seriously though, there are a number of websites which have little quizzes on to see which kinds of dogs you'd be suited to having. You might like to check that out? We have a lot of dogs on our street. On one side of us there's a boxer, and a bulldog on the other. The one thing I've noticed about the bulldog is that she has terrible trouble breathing. The boxer doesn't seem to have this problem. Both dogs appear to be very good with their families. HTH.

As far as I know, what soap you can use depends on your skin type etc.. some people need soap/clarifiers/moisturisers, others don't. I find all I need is a very mild facial soap (Clinique mild bar soap) on my T-zone and that's it. If I use anything else, acne reigns!

I could do a BIG post here.. but you'd all be asleep ;) FIL died some years ago. MIL decidedly positive; she HS'd dh for some of his school years and loves the fact that we HS. My family are another matter. Supportive with some back-stabbing.. if that makes sense? My Dad is a (retired) high school Science teacher, and my Mum is an elementary school administrator in what is actually a very good small school. They like to be a bit involved and do ask the kids what they've been learning, which is nice. My Mum is apt to "just mention" how lovely her school is and how they would never have any social problems there because the teachers "always deal with it so well". Hmmm. Maybe. My sisters are not supportive and I hear a lot about how wonderful their kids' schools are, how many opportunities they get and what nice friends they have in their classes; therefore, my kids would be so much happier in school etc. etc. etc. bleagh! :ack2: I even got told that they thought HSing was a good idea.. but only if you did properly :001_huh: and if you knew my sis you'd know "properly" meant "her way or no way!" It doesn't make any difference to our decision though! :D

My 10yo dd is similar. Loves her beautiful handwriting and English takes a long time (she enjoys it though, so it's not so bad). She used to get pretty frustrated at me when I had her write everything out, so I changed my methods a little to accommodate her. Things I've done to help out.. mainly that I don't make her write every last thing. Once she's done her Spelling Workout lesson, she learns the spellings out of the book. If I have some memorization for her to learn, I type and print it out. She has got gradually better over the 3 or so years we've been HSing, so I reckon it'll get faster as she gets older.

You have my prayers and sincere best wishes for your son. My nephew (14yo) has epilepsy that cannot be controlled by drugs and it's VERY hard on the whole family. :grouphug:

But I'm glad you did post it. If you're anything like me, it's the kind of thing I'd worry about. If he still feels the same way, I think this answers your question. I don't know whether this is accurate for this particular friend of yours, but there are some people who just won't be helped, kwim? I guess my only thought is (dependant on how your dh feels about this) you could offer to have your friend write your or email you.. but I suppose it might be very difficult not to be drawn in to helping more actively. I totally agree with another post.. your family comes first. :grouphug:

It's kinda nice to know there are others out there who are sharing my frustration!!

Getting pretty bedding for dds is a lovely idea - we've done that more than once in the past and the dds were delighted! If you want to, and think they would enjoy picking out the colors/designs, how about getting them a gift certificate or equivalent for an appropriate store and going with them after Christmas to buy it together?

Just read this post and your first post on the same subject. Nakia, you sound like a wonderful mama and your kids are so blessed to have you. I think you've done totally the right thing here. I hope B gets some appropriate help; I don't envy the pastor's job on this one! Children are so precious. Praying for y'all here. :grouphug:

:lol: Ok.. you asked!!!! I actually feel safe enough writing this on here because no-one knows me. (Maybe now I'll make sure y'all never do!!!!) As my signature says.. we've been married 12 years, we have four dc. To begin with we struggled financially, and lived with parents for some time before we were able to get our own place. That was stressful. But the biggie for me is that my husband has been unfaithful - not just once, but several times. Curiously teA has always been good - dh is imaginative and unselfish, but I do have a niggling feeling that it might be better if I knew that the only woman he'd ever been with was me; but in a sense it's a pointless way to think because you can't change the past anyway. You go through the "is there something wrong with me/am I not good enough" question quite a lot, but my rational self knows that it doesn't really have anything to do with me. I try to show him reverence and make the home welcoming for him when he comes home from work; I know I'm not perfect at it but I'm trying. I know he's trying to be faithful to me, too. We're only human, after all.

Ok, this is partly my fault. I didn't make my curriculum choices soon enough, and it's a busy time of year for the resource companies. But it does seem that some deliveries have been particularly slow!

Just thought of something else.. I cannot type texts on my cell in this modern, teenage text-speak. I can't even read it. Does that mean I'm just old, or have a severe case of spelling OCD?