Kareni and others, What about using the Khan Academy SAT materials, which are geared to the revised SAT, to study for the new PSAT? Any thoughts? That's what my rising 11th grader is doing.

Thank you! That's my heart . . . to encourage others.

Wow, Jennifer, my hat is off to you! I never had twins but it was just yesterday that I was in the thick of it as you are. Ahhh. . . the bliss of everyone under your roof at night, everyone loaded into the van together for outings at the same time. I am deep into the revolving door season.

Hands-on physical science. You can do lots of wow experiments and demonstrations. I have quite a few on a pinterest board if you're interested. Discovering Great Artists using this book Native American study K'nex simple machines or bridges ETA: Here's another great pinterest board with science experiments by Steve Spangler. I used several of his when I taught physical science for that age a couple of years ago.

I'm right there with you! Single-parenting it here and it seems that I am getting more, not less busy, even as my olders are graduating and heading to college. But they take huge chunks of time -- days to help them with something, late nights when they call to talk, weekends home when I drop lots of other things to cook and be with them. It's good and I wouldn't trade it, but I'm still figuring how to juggle it all. This year, I'm ramping up my own writing as well. But, gratefully, we've been homeschooling long enough that the academic part seems like the easy part. And no one is graduating! Woop!

I'll chime in . . . I got two great phone calls last night one right after the other. The first was an update from my college son just returning from NYC for his college program and pre-interviews. This might mean my very first trip to NYC is in the making. :) As he hung up, I got a call and update from my oldest son just returning from a medical mission trip deep in the rain forest with his wife. I was amazed how very normal my days are and what an exciting season my older kids are in. P.S. Almost as exciting: a retiring homeschool mom who did a bang-up job schooling her daughters gave me two boxes of her books. Woop!

Thursday, absolutely you have to be a student of your child. I'm right now coaching my youngest through bed time. ;)

I marked through the suggestions that wouldn't work for me. I have no desire to teach my 2-yr-old that tv = babysitter or to give them that much screen time. It's not cruel to teach a child to self-soothe and it's not cruel for YOU to be able to rest and restore that you're a good mom for the rest of the day. The wake up at 6 am seems like a punishment for you. All my kids have always (baby on up) had an hour of nap-time, quiet time in their room. In earlier years, it was THE only way I could homeschool. I had to have that time to rest and revive. I think that's a reasonable and normal expectation and wouldn't let others tell you you're asking too much. Too many families and households do it successfully. Anyway, based on all that you wrote (being mean in the afternoon), I would say he will benefit greatly from 2 things, even if he gives you a hard time: training and a rest time. If he won't stay in his room, it's an obedience issue. Your rest and his rest are at stake. I would set aside a couple of weeks for boot camp to work on behavior and put your time and energy toward that. Stop and drop everything else when you need to intervene. Kindly but firmly tell him and when he doesn't follow through (or hits or bites or otherwise acts out) figure out beforehand a reasonable but firm response. You're going to have to do it over and over and not much else may get done but it will be worth it. It should spill over so that you can find pockets of time for him to be quiet and entertained while you school. My littles ones were nearly always around for reading aloud. . . they nursed or played with toys or ate a baggie of snacks or toddled quietly from lap to lap but they didn't interrupt. Re: quiet time, put him in his bed with a rail and a stack of books. Instruct him that he may not come out. You could set a timer on a dresser. If/when he comes out, repeat the short instruction and put him back in his bed. When he does it again, do it again. I added in a small pinch on the bottom and that seemed a reasonable consequence for willfully disobeying. You may have to do this 20 times the first day, hopefully less the second and not much the 3rd,4th. Are you maintaining the same expectation and schedule everyday? Do you talk beforehand (during lunch maybe) about what will happen after lunch? Do you have by in with your olders? My toddlers didn't want to miss out and so seeing everyone go to a quiet spot helped. I hope you sense the sisterly advice here and not any judgment on parenting whatsoever. I've just been here and I think it's worth it, especially given your need for the quiet time, to make it work and find a solution rather than ditching it altogether.

Shiny, Hugs! I have so been here before! I'm at a bit different place this year . . . single mama'ing it and I have no desire for the kids to be in school but I'm struggling with the weight of responsibilities longer than I'll ever get to. Can you fold in something for you? When I'm forever pouring out to my family without filling my own bucket back up,that's when I get really burnt out. What would fill your bucket? Maybe lunch out once a week? Maybe a special coffee to wake up to? Maybe one day off to do the things you want to do? Maybe 2 hours of *do-not-talk-to-me-I'm-thinking-my-own-thoughts* time every day? Maybe a morning off to yourself once a week? My own little people are waiting on me or I'd encourage you more. Here's to you and the important work you are doing. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

We've always done memory work together (predominantly chapters or long passages of the Bible) and the youngers ones are always a part. They memorize at their level and at some point, they step up and memorize full-length passages along with the others. It's part of our morning time together. Sometimes we memorize passages that I know they won't understand fully until they are much older (Colossians 1) but they are able to do memorize it just fine. And I'm happy that they'll be able to grow into those passages. We did start working through the Linguistic Memory book with my 2 youngers two years ago. They did this on their own as part of my *circle time* with them. You could either memorize separately with her OR if she's already been hanging out with the others in their poetry memory time, let her begin to join in. Stopping By the Woods isn't too difficult to memorize; she just won't fully get it until she's older. You could then dismiss the others and spend another 5 minutes with her on the lighter, fun poems or put those on tape for her to work on in the car, during quiet time, etc.

Hope it's just summer-is-busy and back-school-is-around-the-corner stuff. See you shortly! Lisa

Sending prayers your way as you all deal with these changes. It might be helpful to talk about all the things that won't change. As hard as it is to move from what may be an ideal house to a less than ideal, there are character lessons for your kids that are way more important in the long run. I have a dear friend with MS and her kids have needed to step up lately with housework, meals and driving. I tend to say "let me come over and help" to which she usually responds "It's good for my kids to learn this and to give."

I can't even. This summer I really needed to fix the upstairs bathroom leak which meant redoing the bath. We cannot be 2 weeks from August. Hanging onto the dog days of summer for all we're worth.

A couple more ideas from these mentioned: * check to see whether your local school system has a book depository that gives away their unused/used books. In 2 counties I've lived in, amazing library discards were given away as well as workbooks, textbooks of all kinds. Another county sold them very inexpensively -- $5 for a textbook. *Make friends with your librarian. S/he will be a great resource for all kinds of resources. Even if your library doesn't have a book or video course, they can order by ILL. *see if you can barter for music or dance or extracurricular. You'd be surprised. I have a local friend who loves to barter with parents for music lessons. I've known moms that work off dance lessons by offering administrative help. *Ambleside Online has is a wonderful, free resource for an at-home Charlotte Mason education. Many of the books used are pubic domain and available online. *See if your daughter can volunteer at a place where she may be interested in the resources -- a science or natural history museum, a colonial history spot, an art center for example. Volunteer work is free, is super helpful when applying for college scholarships and can give her hours of a hands-on education. *This site (Free Homeschool Deals) pulls together all kinds of free homeschool resources. *Khan academy is a free site with amazing resources. Entire math programs, SAT study, and lots of other courses are available. As far as curriculum goes, some of it is expensive. Some of my favorite curriculum over the years (I've been at this 18 years) is very inexpensive, can be resold and bought used. Rod and Staff is excellent for grammar and soooo much less expensive (and more effective IMO) than the Shurley English we started with years ago. Hope some of this helps. From one single mom to another, I'm sending you a virtual atta girl and you can do this.

I also vote for a straightforward name if you want it found by others outside of the Academy. If it's only accessible to Academy students, that's another matter. As for tagline: Practical Help through the Middle and High School Years or Making your mom lose gray matter and gain gray hair.

My dc read To Kill a Mockingbird in 8th or 9th grades and Farenheit 451 in early high school. I think Farenheit 451 could be understood in late middle school, but I wanted some maturity to really discuss the repercussions and implications of Farenheit 451. Plus, there are other great books to be covered in middle school including the dystopia The Giver.

Reading (back and forth) Charles Martin's Where the River Ends and a review copy of Emily Freeman's upcoming release Simply Tuesday. The latter is a great non-fiction about living in the small, unassuming places instead of the pull of hurry. But, it won't release until next month. Put it on your list though if you like non-fiction!

I've been thinking about this thread and have something else to add: Get in the picture with your children. And in the videos. Do not be the one always behind the camera or avoiding the camera. After my dh died, every single picture of him became a treasure. His voice on videos is music to our ears. Even if nothing ever happens, these will be treasures for your children and grandchildren.

Three of my kids just came back from a mission trip and are each on their own sponsoring a child through Mission of Hope Haiti. They came back with eyes opened to so much, but one of the things was that most kids don't get to go to school b/c they have to pay for it. I think it's $35/month. Our family sponsors a child through Compassion International which has been at this for years all over the world.

Aww, we've had friends dance with Ballet Magnificat. I love their performances. Thanks for reminding me to check their schedule to see if they'll be anywhere near us next year!

2 things: 1st: walking across campus at the University of Florida on a gorgeous clear morning and seeing a white trail. I had no idea until I got to my class at the journalism school that it had been the Challenger explosion. 2nd: living in Tallahassee (Florida's capitol) during the 2000 Bush/Gore hanging chad days. I had just stopped practicing law, but every attorney and court reporter I knew was up to his/her eyeballs in work. National news was camped downtown and our homeschool group brought them hot cocoa and homemade cookies one night, well into daily December debacle. I would drive past and try to impress the importance of the event to my kids, but they were pretty little. Those are 2 in which I was somewhat present.

It's fine to pray for reconciliation but that is for all intents and purposes out of your control. So pray for that but also, based on the truth of the situation, you need to take steps to care for you and your children. Your dh may make you feel guilty and you may easily succumb because you are the type to be faithful. BUT, the covenant of trust has been broken. You should stay loyal to a husband with whom you've made a covenant but when he has broken that covenant (in many ways) then you need to protect you and your children. That doesn't sound pathetic. It sounds like a broken heart and a girl who has loved life as she now knows it. The unknown is always scary but it is not WORSE. Do not look way down the road. Look at this week. I pray that your husband realizes the ding-dong he's being and all that he's giving up. But if he doesn't, you are strong enough to take one step at a time. God has not got you this far to drop you now. Do not worry about school. Do not. If you want to have a day of reading or masterly activity or some good tv time because you're a mess and can barely get cereal on the table, that's OKAY. You won't feel like this forever. But right now, life as you know it has been hit by a mack truck and taking care of you and your family and processing your emotions is at the top of the list. Big hugs to you.

This is what we did. Even a 5-hour college math class was 1 high school credit. My kids always had plenty of credits, especially once they dual enrolled so it was fine.

Thanks all! I've bookmarked these to try. I should have a granola bar bake-off month and find a new favorite! :)