We tend to get them only for road trips, for some reason. I don't buy boxes to keep in the house, but I'm certainly not anti-PopTart.

doing the dishes and (hangs head in shame) my kids. They are annoying today.

Oh, yeah. My DS's brain shuts off by lunch. I have to make sure to hit the hard things (math, reading) before then or it's a no go. We take lots of breaks throughout the morning. We start on the couch with me reading to both boys. Then DS can have a few minutes to play if he needs, then is desk work - ETC, math, handwriting - usually with a few play breaks thrown in that. We have some simple phonics games to play thrown in there too. We're usually done with that stuff by 11 and the boys play until lunch. Right after lunch is when we do any science activities or things like that - still school, but not a brain breaker. For us, we've got to do the brain work in the morning. Absolutely.

I have a 5 yr old boy too, so I know about the whining. There's sometimes where he just has to do it, whether he likes it or not (like reading an I See Sam book that I KNOW he can read) and other times I have to find ways to do the work without it looking like school. I remind him a lot that there will be times where we both have to do what we don't want to do and that we choose our attitude. Basically, he has a certain amount of work to do (generally speaking) each day, and the longer he whines about it, the longer it will take him...but if I can see that he's really getting bored with it, we will do it another way for a while.

Wow, I've realized I'm not using the iPad nearly as effectively as I could be using it! I have a ton of preschool and early elem apps for the kids to play with, but I can certainly be using Notability in better ways. We do have MM1 on it and DS is just starting to work on it occasionally. I use it to take notes for church board and have some long term homeschooling thoughts written up in it, but I will certainly be using it more often now. (By the way, did you know you can password protect a category? Makes it nice!) I have Educreations but would like to figure out how to really use it. We are working on some sight words and blends currently. Doing them on that would be more fun than notecards!

My 5 yr old received Spot It jr. and while it is a bit frustrating for him, overall he likes it and we've had fun with it. Maybe try the Jr. edition?

Legos for our 5 year old. We bought 2 basic beginner sets for him. It's overwhelming for him unless DH is playing with him. I never would have thought Legos would be a bust. I have him signed up for Lego Club next month in co-op, I'm thinking I will need to see if I can change that.

Count us in too. My 3 yr old had it last week (24 hr flu, just laid on the couch sickly). The 5 yr old got it yesterday and I enjoyed it last night and today. My 5 yr old slept for 18 hrs straight. He's bouncing back slower than I am and we missed a family Christmas and Christmas Eve service tonight.

We just finished wrapping gifts at about 12:30. We had to miss the Christmas celebration on DH's side and the Christmas Eve service with them due to the flu hitting our house. Finally feeling like I am not on my deathbed anymore, feeling much much better but sad we missed it tonight.

Mine sound pretty bland compared to some! We have done things in our early 20's that were just so wrong ( not illegal, just um, quite immoral) that DH and i never ever speak of it and our kids will never ever know . Yeah- someone above mentioned kids not wearing matching socks. Heck, I am lucky if my kids even have socks on, let alone matching ones. No one in this house wears pajamas. The boys sleep in their underwear. I let my kids drink coffee. My house is a wreck, I don't fold laundry, and I am not a great cook. I am a yelling mom. Trying so hard and making improvements. My almost 6 yr old can't swim. He is terrified of water. We have a pool. He refuses to let go of the edge. I don't push it. I let my kids play in the back yard unsupervised. They are 3 and 5. But we have a 6 ft privacy fence with locked gates. no one is getting out and no one is getting in. I was once in a car that played chicken with a train. My kids eat McDonalds about twice a week.

Reported

Ah, good suggestion. I will make sure he drinks more. Come to think of it, he hasn't been drinking much lately.

(uncirc'd, if it matters) DS did have 1 UTI a few years ago, I think he was 2 and pretty newly potty trained. I was clued in because he suddenly started wetting himself again. They did some sort of kidney ultrasound (I think?) to rule out reflux and it was fine. Normal UTI cleared up by abx. Now he's almost 6. He is a very sensitive/dramatic kid where any minor uncomfortableness is super sensitive for him (SPD). He's been complaining (ok, whining and crying) that it still feels like he has to pee after he goes. It's very uncomfortable for him and makes me a bit crazy. 9/10 times it happens when he's very tired, saying he has to pee but nothing comes out, jumping around, yelling and screaming. This went on for 2 hours last night. I finally talked him into letting me look at his parts, and he has a yeast infection (diag'd by me and my pharmacist friend, also mom of uncirc'd boy). We started treating it last night and I went over cleaning again today and have been helping him every time he pees to clean well and apply new lotromine. The kid has no fever, no frequent urination, no burning when he pees. This yelling and screaming is brought on by his SPD (sensory avoidant) and tiredness and the yeast infection, I'm pretty sure. I'm giving it a few days to start to get better. If we had ins. right now, I'd take him in for an exam and UA, but DH's ins. with his new job hasn't kicked in yet. Since this doesn't seem to be an emergency, I'm hesitant to take him in. Basically, my thoughts are if this is only happening with a tired kid whose sensory overload drastically increases when it's sleep time - it's sensory caused by the uncomfortableness of the yeast infection, right? Thoughts?

DH and I usually aren't breakfast eaters, but every (ok, sparing being sick or up all night with a sick baby) day for 15 years I get up with him, fix his coffee, pack his lunch, and zip out to start his car in the winter. It's just a small thing to show love. He does little things for me all the time too. It's so ingrained in my mornings that I don't think I could stop.

I am having second thoughts. I roasted a chicken Friday. We ate some of it and then it went in the fridge. I didn't have a chance to do anything with it over the weekend, so about noon today I stuck it in the crock pot on high to heat it up. My plan is to pull them meat off for dinner and then let the rest simmer overnight and tomorrow to make stock. Now I am thinking about how long it will take to get hot in the crock pot and wondering if I am setting us up for nastiness. Eat it? Or not?

Ad we celebrated by making a fruit loop necklace, watching the old Disney Robin Hood movie, and will have cake after dinner to celebrate. A fun, low key, laid back, non schooly school day!

Really, I wasn't even sure if I needed the student pages or not if we continue to do our own thing too. Sounds like I may need them to use also. Thanks!

so many good suggestions! We are tentatively starting 1st grade in the spring. Thanks!

I grew up with NIV. I just recently switched to an ESV because I really liked DH's Bible. I still like and use NIV some, and it's what we use to memorize.

I'm kind of using MFW K right now. We are doing our own math, phonics, and handwriting, but using the activity guide for a loose guide each week. A while ago I bought a used MFW 1st grade TM, science books, and student Bible from here. MFW is changing the TM in 2013 and supposedly you can't use the old TM with the new student sheets they are coming out with in Jan. I was just going to buy the worksheets now, but now I'm rethinking that. I still want to use our own math, handwriting, and phonics. DS is doing really well with it all. I'm thinking of just using the 1st grade TM as a guide like I am doing now, branching out with their science activities (I have Elemental Science Intro, Nature Study Handbook, the library, and Pinterest to help) and following along with their Bible activities and lessons. So if do that, I will be using MM, ETC, ARFH, and MFW 1st grade to go along. Thoughts on that? Do I need to add a first grade grammar?

Happened to us last year! Our 7 ft artificial tree that was quite old finally gave up the ghost. Just a gentle nudge was all it took, and the whole thing went down. It's a great family memory now!

I'd hand wash it and return it with a note inside.

I drink a lot of coffee. My kids are 5 and 3 and are allowed a bit of coffee in their morning milk whenever they ask.

We have always taken the coats off, buckled, the put the coats on backwards to cover them. Usually I start the car and let it warm up so they may be cold for a minute while getting in, coat off, buckled, but they are fine.