:lol:

Oh...I see. You just have to be "really smart." Of course, being able and willing to read and learn an DO has nothing to do with homeschooling. Oh, and I definitely need to go get my degree in how to control a classroom of kids so I can teach my two at home. Open mouth, insert foot.

That is amazing and such a wonderful way for God to remind you that He is with you. I am reminded of the way God led Abram out of Ur. Abram just followed...not knowing where he was going, why he was going or exactly how this fit in God's plan. All he knew what that he trusted God and he followed. :)

Why in the WORLD do they sell bulbs that, if they break, you use a vaccuum and then have to immediately discard the bag in a plastic bag. Yeah, I want that kind of bio-hazard in my home. UGH!

My dh doesn't believe me either. Of course, I don't blame him...because I know it isn't true....

My dh takes him mom out to a nice dinner, just the two of them. I am not sure what I will do for my mom this year. She doesn't live close by, so I am just not sure. I may just take the kids and show up at her door on Sunday. Boy, that would be a surprise, huh?

LOL. I have honestly NO IDEA why. :001_huh: Good point! Their schedule in the TG says you are supposed to start LTR first (at LU 101), then when you get to LU 106, you start in with LA 101 at the same time. Of course, the schedule also breaks it up over an entire day from 9am to 3pm. That is SO not how we homeschool!

I really hesitated to post this because I know that opinions are varied in this area and what works for one doesn't always work for another. A little background. My son is 5.6 years old and reading at about an end of 1st grade or so level (maybe start of 2nd, I haven't tested in awhile). Anyway, we were doing phonics with ETC and LLATL Blue and it was working well...but going really slowly. Both ETC and LLATL take a couple of years for phonics instruction. My son was getting bored with the slow pace and really wanted a bit more. So...I started looking into something that would get us through phonics a bit quicker. We plan to continue ETC (because I Love ETC and so does he). Even if he learns the phonics and is reading wonderfully, I think ETC is useful and helpful and I even have my older son doing the last 3 books to help with his spelling and decoding. The problem is finding what will replace LLATL Blue. I had first planned to go on with red, but it just wasn't happening. I just.don't.like.it. No matter how hard I try! So, I have settled on CLE for the Language Arts portion and I really am liking CLE LA 1. It starts simple enough and I skipped ahead to the 9th lesson and we are reviewing a bet before we start into it on his level. To go with that, I chose CLE's Learn to Read program and started at Light Unit 106 (which is still one below where I probably could have started). Today, we tried it all together and school took 2 hours and 45 minutes of sit down time with a 5.6 year old. Sorry, but that is just NOT going to work for us. Obviously! The biggest issues is that ds doesn't want to stop reading the LLATL Blue readers because he is filling the little sticker chart. He could care less about what he is or is not learning, of course. I have thought of doing JUST the readers, but then LLATL does something fun that I want to do with him (like reading Blueberries for Sal this week). So...my issues is that I am throwing too much at him. He did LLATL Blue (parts of it), CLE's LTR, CLE LA 1 lesson 9, ETC online, and Come Read with Me today (we are finishing this program and just trying to get it DONE this week...so it will not be part of the schedule). So really, I have no idea why I am posting. Once again, I am confounded on English. I always try to do too much. :blink: What I want is a good and faster than ETC Phonics program. I guess what I need is something that goes well with ETC, but faster. :bigear:

My grandmother lived her whole life (71 years) believing that she was adopted or at least not related to one or both of her parents. Many of her reasons were the same as yours. She never pursued it and now none of us really have any clue and all of the "evidence" is long since deceased. I think you should definitely pursue this. If your parents are certain they are your parents, then there is no reason at all for them to NOT submit to the testing...even if they think it is the most ignorant thing ever!

Much of that describes my son too. Unfortunately, there was no information there on how to help with this. :(

All About Spelling was a bust here for us - my 9 year old laughed when we did the lessons and he told his dad it was "baby stuff." He was so insulted by the level of work that he would not take it seriously at all. I also found it teacher intensive and I skipped A LOT of stuff in level. Finally, I gave up and that is when we started Spelling Power at Level A.

Praise God!!

I actually took a backwards approach. I was doing everything I could find to teach my ds9 spelling. I was doing so much that it became overkill. I think the best thing we did in all that time was spelling power starting over from level A and just going back and hitting the basics. Now, I have taken him back and we are doing ETC books 6-8. While it is on the "easy" end for him, it is starting to click as to why certain words are spelled the way they are. Taking a break from spelling has given him some downtime as well and he is not nearly as stressed when he writes...therefore his words are not nearly as badly misspelled. My ds is also a good reader...the phonics are helping him connect spelling with reading, I think.

My son has ADHD and we always worked with a Pediatric psychiatrist/behavioralist.

Please tell me what you think!

Hmmm..what is bad is that my post never did show up. :(

That would hurt me terribly. It is sad that they can be so...petty. :( I am sorry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I don't have a check for you, but will a cyber hug help? :grouphug:

My little fella who will turn 6 at the end of Sept will be doing Song School Latin next year. :)

who gets a "your post will be posted after reviewed by a moderator" on the for sale board? Just curious...or did I miss something? :bigear:

Did you originally buy the roast for your dogs? If not, I would toss it. Rebecca (who doeesn't feed her dog table food...on purpose)

Oh man! Prayers coming her way for NO CANCER and God's divine grace and healing.

We have not cared for LLATL at all. The theory is great, the program is...meh for us. Here is what we are using after a long trial and error with LLATL Orange, Writing Tales II, and Growing with Grammar 4. Mid-year, we dropped WT II and GWG. I chose the sections of LLATL Orange I wanted him to do - the poetry section and the last two book studies. That is it. LLATL is more a supplement (because we already own it) than a spine. Going forward, the Language Arts plan is as follows: CLE Language Arts (this covers grammar, Spelling, and handwriting for us and it is a good, solid, program. It does NOT have a lot of repetition and the lessons are excellent and skip around enough to keep the child interested IMO), DITHOR (from Heart of Dakota) for Reading (level 4/5), and WWE for writing. It is working BEAUTIFULLY. It is so wonderful that I am actually starting my younger on the same plan. It is not "all in one" because I mixed and matched until I found the best thing for my son. I have my BA in English, so I am extremely picky about Language Arts. ETA...if you want a "living book" approach to reading, check out DITHOR (Drawn into the Heart of Reading). It uses real books by genre to study all these different elements of literature, as well as character, etc. I honestly LOVE the program.

Even my 9.8 year old will moan and groan if the page seems too "full" of problems. I also notice he will work much more slowly through a full page than he will a page with fewer problems. It is not that he doesn't know it...he just gets the feeling he will never finish and he is overwhelmed. Sometimes, if it is something he knows, I mark out some of the problems. Other things, I may have him do half before lunch and the other half after lunch just to break it up a bit for him. These things have worked well for us (but he is also much older and is easier to reason with! LOL)

I would bet my grocery money it is the packed sinus cavity causing her issues. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I get packed cavities - as half the time mine just do not drain properly. When I get them, I feel dizzy, I see light glowing/halos, my head hurts so badly that I can hardly stand it, it presses on my left eye and my headaches are behind that one eye causing the vision on that side to be worse. Wow. I can't believe I didn't think of that! As a matter of fact, 4 years ago, I was convinced that *I* had a brain tumor...for the exact same reasons. What an answer to prayer! I pray that your baby girl makes a quick recovery and is her old self very soon! God bless!

Here, the compulsory age is 7 too, but that is just when you have to start reporting that you are homeschooling...it doesn't mean the child has to be in Kindergarten then. As a matter of fact, you CAN'T report a 5 year old kindergartener even if you wanted to. They just don't care. They whole point is..."Is the kid in school in some way by the time they are 7?" That is all the state is concerned with. I would call it 2nd grade.