Have you looked at Noeo? It might fit the bill.

I would stay home. My DH travels a lot for work and we skype (well, Facetime) with him every day. My youngest is just a little over 2 and he loves talking to his daddy and the fact that he can see him makes all the difference. There is no way I could keep a 2 year old quiet during the day while DH slept in the same room.

We encourage our daughters to get an education or training of some sort beyond high school so that if the need or want arises, they could get a job and hopefully earn more than minimum wage. I got my bachelor's degree, had dd the following summer and have been a SAHM ever since. So even though I've never worked in my field, I am glad I at least have that degree should I need it in the future.

We use R&S with HOD and love it. We haven't tried FLL though. I say, if it's working for you, don't change it.

Only if they're playing in the sprinkler. I am concerned about foot injuries (I had several as a child and I was barefoot constantly); we have white carpet (which they have to walk on to get to the tub to wash their feet); and it's rarely the perfect temperature to be outside barefoot. It's either too cold or so hot that they burn their feet on the blacktop driveway and sidewalks.

Just wanted to let you know that I finally took the plunge and got HOD Preparing for my 8 year old in January. We have tried Sonlight and MFW in the past. Both DD and I absolutely love Preparing. It's exactly what I was looking for.

My DD has been in dance for years (and I have no doubt she will dance as long as she can) and this is my biggest fear. I just know it's only a matter of time before she is required to wear a costume (or do moves) that I do not think is appropriate. If I were in your shoes, I would talk to the moms first and see if we could all come up with a cheap, nice-looking solution. Then, I would go talk to the instructor. I really think most instructors' biggest concern is that everyone looks uniform on stage and they would be willing to compromise as long as this goal was still accomplished. :grouphug:

I have used it for years, as has my MIL (she has used it for many years) and I like it. I don't know exactly what's in it though.

Unless it's sweatpants and a sweatshirt or something similar, I can't imagine sleeping in clothes would be comfy. Even when my DS2 takes his nap, I make sure the clothes he is wearing are comfy. If he's wearing jeans or something with a zipper, I change him. We get dressed in the morning (most of the time) before we go downstairs and the kids put pjs on after dinner when they are getting ready for bed.

My DD has 2-3 songs to practice each week and once she masters one, it is replaced by another. Her teacher will rarely let her move on until the piece is pretty much perfect (there have been a couple exceptions, when the piece was beyond her ability).

2 of my 3 kids have a dairy allergy. As newly weaned toddlers they drank rice milk, calcium fortified juice, and a lot of water. Be careful with nut milks (like almond milk) if your kids have possible allergies. I also give them calcium supplements. If the toddler isn't getting much fat from other sources, you can add some oil (like olive oil or maybe coconut oil) to rice milk. It's basically tasteless, but ensures that the child is getting the fat they need for brain development.

Agreed. We watched it recently too and I thought the same thing.

My DD8 is 49 lbs and 49 inches. She's always been on the petite side. My younger two are almost two years apart but very similar in height and weight: DD(almost4) is 31 lbs, size 10 shoe and DS(just turned 2) is 30 lbs, size 9 shoe.

Taco salad? Could you break up the dried tortillas into chips?

My DD3 is like this. I started always putting her pencil/crayon/spoon right in front of her so she had to choose which hand to use every time. As I observed her, I noticed that she chooses her left hand more often than her right. So I think she's more left-dominant.

My oldest had eczema as a baby. A lot of it went away when we realized she was allergic to dairy. The rest went away when we discovered her egg allergy. My little guy has eczema that comes and goes. He's 2 now. A lot of it cleared up when we removed dairy from his diet but I think he still has another allergy that we haven't pinned down. I also recommend removing high allergy foods from your diet one at a time. Meanwhile, try Cetaphil and if it's really bad, hydrocortisone cream does wonders. Just use it sparingly. Good luck!

We have our neighbors' key and they have ours but we are best friends and specifically built houses next to each other. We watch their pets when they are out of town but I would never go into their house to borrow anything. If it were truly important, I would call them first and ask.

We used to sing Jesus loves Me to DS before bed (the girls have gotten "too big" for songs before bed, although we constantly sing during the day). But he started disliking that song, so we switched to Itsy Bitsy Spider (his favorite) with motions on his back.

This probably doesn't count as a "program" but I use Kumon books for my DD3 and it is mostly tracing over lines. We have the upper case book, but I believe there is also a lower case one.

This sounds like my 8 year old DD. Things have improved a lot since we switched from Horizons to Math U See. She watches the videos and does the worksheet on her own now without a meltdown (they still happen, but not nearly as often). And she no longer tells me that she hates math. One difference with MUS is that I really feel they teach the concept behind the formula. So even if she doesn't remember how to do a certain problem, she can usually try to figure it out because she understands *what* it's asking. I don't think she was getting enough of that when we used Horizons.

Does the Arithmetic 3 student workbook answer key contain just the answers or does it show you step by step how they worked a problem? (I'm trying to get the bare minimum). Thanks!

Out of my 3 pregnancies, the only time I felt I knew what the gender of the baby was, I was wrong. I was totally shocked at the ultrasound.

I don't do laundry all at once. I tried, but it got overwhelming. But maybe you can still use some of these ideas. I do a load of laundry every day. I don't separate laundry. I wash everything on cold. We have very few white shirts and not a lot of reds either, so I can wash everything together and not worry about it. I do laundry by hampers-Monday-mine and DH's, Tuesday-girls, Wed-DS, Thurs-towels/washcloths, Fri and Sat.-sheets and blankets. Then I fold the load in the evening while watching TV and put it away the next morning after the kids have gotten up (if it's one of their loads). Our laundry room is upstairs by the bedrooms so there's no going up and down the stairs with it.

This is one of the major reasons we no longer use MFW. I had too hard of a time keeping up with the book basket and couldn't afford to buy a lot of books. We now use HOD and are much happier since, imo, it works just fine without the book basket.

I've used all 3. I used SL the most, but had a few issues with it. I felt like all we did was read. I also felt that my oldest, although a very advanced reader was not emotionally mature enough for the topics in some of the books and I was too busy with my two little ones to read and discuss with DD all the time. And DD was not retaining history info well since there were no hands on activities. I don't like their LA at all, it always felt too scattered to me (we tried it 3 times). Then we tried MFW. I got the Adventures package (2nd/3rd grade) and tried to like it. I liked the concept of it, but in reality it was just too light for DD. She was more advanced in several areas and both she and I felt that even though the projects were very fun, there was not enough substance to it for her. Part of this was that I didn't have time to constantly go to the library and get books for the book basket (and this really is an important part of the program). I could have gotten the next level up, I suppose, but I was not 100% on board with some of MFW's ideas by that point (delayed/slowed grammar, for example). It also had very little independent work, which was not ideal for us. Then, after reading a million reviews, I got HOD for her. And both she and I love it. It is exactly what we've been looking for. The level is perfect for her; it uses many Charlotte Mason principles, but is also rigorous and systematic in grammar and writing; there are hands on activities, but it doesn't feel like we're spending most of our time doing crafts instead of learning (I know many kids learn by doing crafts, but DD does not learn best that way). She is retaining information better because she uses different methods to reinforce it (drawing, copy work, narration). Since DD is an advanced reader, I have her read many subjects by herself and don't worry much about her reading something she is not prepared to handle emotionally. I also have 2 littles ones: DD4 (in Feb.) and DS2 and I plan on combining them in one program and using different levels of the 3Rs with them. This is easy to do with HOD since in the guides, the 3Rs are on the right side and everything else is on the left. All 3 are great programs, it's just a matter of what would work well with your family and educational style.