If I were to use CLE without the reading program they make, will we be missing some wonderful element of the LA program? I am planning on doing DITHOR with my older ds who is doing LA 300 right now and will finish this summer (fast tracking through it for review). I was thinking of starting my younger on CLE LA 100 with the CLE Reading 100 and then just transitioning him over to DITHOR in 2nd grade. Would this be just goofy?

Boy, did I need to read that right now! I have been driving myself NUTS over the last few weeks trying to find the "perfect" thing and then questioning and re-questioning myself. UGH! You are right!

Another vote for Heart of Dakota. :)

I plan a whole week for 2 kids in about 45 minutes on Sunday night. A lot of our curriculum is just "next week, next lesson, next day" type stuff, except for math and I hand pick math each morning based on struggles I see the day before. Sometimes we slow down and do extra, sometimes we trudge on. Prep is minimal for what we are using, so usually I do it the night prior to the lesson that needed the preparations. i.e. We finish school today (papers everywhere, school room a mess). I straighten, put away papers that need to be filed, get books together for tomorrow based on the schedule for the week. As I put out the books, I look at the lessons to see if there is anything special needed. If so, I get those items at that time and all is ready for school tomorrow. :)

I loosely use TWTM and I do follow and agree with a lot of what is written there. However, no homeschool curriculum, guide, or anything else is going to be the end all for me. I follow, I look to it for suggestions, and then I go with my gut - with the way I can teach or the way my kids can learn. In TWTM, they give options that "fit" the classical education model. Some of the curriculun that I use wasn't even around when the 2004 copy of TWTM was published. I will be interested to see how many of our picks make it in the revision. :) I think of TWTM as a way of thinking - a guide, if you will. Not THE way, but A great way.

Heart of Dakota. :) They are a "boxed curriculum" where you get to PICK AND CHOOSE! You just can't beat that! You can pick math on your child's level and it does not have to be the same level for English or read alouds. It is mix and match curriculum in a box. History, Science, Bible, and Reading are all these wornderful living books! We are starting the History and Science this coming fall and then I will likely transition to HOD for everything in the coming years....other than LA (they use R&S) and writing - for LA, I prefer CLE for the older, WP LA for the younger and for writing, they are both starting WWE.

Could you back up a bit and get a pic of maybe her arm where there is a "patch" of the bumps? Sometimes I can tell more by the appearance of the rash than just by the bumps themselves. Also, my best friend is a nurse in a dermatology office and I would be glad to forward the pics over to her and let her give you her medical opinion, if you like.

Or...maybe...keep their sick kids HOME! :(

Thanks! Dh and I both really watched him closely today when he was outside playing to make sure he was sweating properly. His cheeks were really red because he was hot, but his temperature was normal and he was sweating a little bit. I am definitely going to keep an eye out. He was playing with a child who had had the flu when we were at the park on Wednesday (of course mom mentions this AFTER my son had been playing with him for 15 minutes GRRRR). His fever was Friday night, so I just assumed it was the flu from the child at the park. However, my ds had the flu shot...so maybe it really did fight the virus??? I sure hope it was just a fever...

I once sold a $25 gift card on e-bay for $37.50. :001_huh:

I am not sure what will help...but the vaccines are not what they are cracked up to be anyway. Example: Little boy at my younger ds's preschool last year got chicken pox even though he had had BOTH vaccines (the first and the booster). My ds only had ONE of the vaccines (we aren't getting the second or the second MMR for that matter) and never got chicken pox even though he played with the boy after the dots appeared but before they realized what it was. Other kids did get chicken pox at the preschool - ones who had been fully vaccinated included. So don't feel too bad about that. I don't think there is anything you can do for your middle since exposure has occurred...other than get ready for round 2 of the chicken pox.

I am not even sure how to go about asking it really. A few nights age, my ds woke an hour after going to bed with a 102 fever. However, the way he woke was by yelling for his dad and telling dh that he was "burning up." (red flag #1 - most people are COLD when they are feverish...not hot). Dh went in there with him and was patting his back when I came in and immediately knew something was up. He was HOT, so I got the thermometer. The room was sauna hot. The electric heat had kicked on (from the heat pump) and with the door closed, his long sleeve/long pants pajamas and a comforter on him, no wonder the child was burning up. But he was not sweating. His temp was 102 at that time. That night, his fever went down with some cooler clothes, a cooler blanket, and a motrin. Here is what is weird to me. My son never ran another fever. (red flag #2) He never got sick. It was just...gone. This has NEVER happened before with either of my kids, especially my younger who is kind of a "fever" running kid anytime he gets sick. I am a bit worried about this. If it were a fever caused by illness, wouldn't he have gotten ill in some way? And if it were overheating from the electric heat, the blanket, and the pajamas, wouldn't he have started sweating??? I read once about a child who could not play sports because he did not sweat and could easily have a heat stroke. Part of me wonders if there is more to this than just a fever in the middle of the night. Am I just being a paranoid momma?

Well, I am not sure. My child at 6 once told someone at school that my dh hit me. The school called as if investigating (LOL) and when it all boiled down, my ds told me, in front of them, "yeah, you remember mommy when Dad hit you with the mail and you were giggling at him." :/ I am pretty slow to trust a really young child. Now, if you see the mom tomorrow and she has a cast on her arm, yeah, you may wanna ask her if she is okay. Realize, though, that battered women do not really reach out for help until they feel ready. Offering is great, but don't expect her to take you up on anything unless she is really ready to leave her dh and start the "war." That is, if she is a battered wife.

Oh my God. That is just insane. I mean, honestly insane. :( I am so sorry *hug*

How long have you been homeschooling? I read a lot of things like than when I first got started. Now, I don't really want anyone telling me how I should run things. LOL I realize they are just suggestions, but probably nothing that years of experience hasn't taught you/won't teach you.

I can't speak enough to how wonderful Singapore is. I am using it with a 1st and 4th grader. Also, let me mention that I have an English degree and I failed math in highschool. I was always terrible at math. I am actually LEARNING math with my kids doing Singapore.

We use their LA and Bible. I also am not sure what the handbook is.

My dh is an engineer and makes that kind of money, but he has worked long and hard for that salary and is now in a management position in charge of several engineers. I can't imagine making 6 figures for stocking beer in a liquor store. Are you sure he isn't lying to you?

Yeah, we just finished CHOW too, but here is my "plan." I figure CHOW will be different this time around because it include the more in depth read alouds. My son has LOVED CHOW. Am Hist with Bigger this coming year (1st and 5th grades). Preparing w/extension with my older (6th grade) and Beyond with my younger (2nd grade). Preparing with younger (3rd grade) and HHTT w/extension for older (7th grade). HHTT with younger (4th grade) and my older (8th grade) can do the next one that Carrie publishes. :) ETA: Bigger will work for both this year because I am only doing the History and Science. We do our own thing on English, Reading, Phonics, Bible, and Math. I could definitely NOT use the whole program with my younger this year. However, I do LOVE how they allow you to choose a level up or a level down with each. That really helps me. One day, I really may use this as an all in one, because it already uses stuff I love (like Singapore math!)

Yes, a NO END collision does sound like the best means of repair. :( EEK! I am so sorry this happened all at once. A friend of mine once told me that "Woes never come in single soldiers but in batallions." How true. :grouphug:

Sure...but I stay away from discussing school curriculum and such with the mom. ;) But no, we aren't "school method snobs." LOL I do have a friend who schools her kids very strangely (to my tastes) and her oldest child is in middle school and does not know multiplication tables. This does bother me a bit....but other than that, the child is super smart, well-rounded and one of the nicest kids you will ever meet. She may very well just have a hard time in math, IDK, but the mom admits to hating math herself and not teaching it well. That gives me an "eeeekkk! Find a co-op" type feeling, but it is not my place to interfere. Her daughter passes the state tests...

Well, my son is 5 and reading books that are listed for a 2nd grader...so I consider him a 1st grader (because that is what 99% of his curriculum is - 1st grade) who is reading at a 2nd grade level.

Oh, that is absolutely heartbreaking! On the flip side, I am so glad it was not you, dh, or one of your dc.

We use Spelling Workout A. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. But he likes it and so do I. :)

We had an elderly dog who ate glass when a cake pan I was using burst (I won't mention that I took it from the oven and put it directly in the REFRIGERATOR...). He never had a problem with the glass he ate. However, he was a medium sized dog and not a bull mastiff sized dog, so that could mean a big difference in how much glass was eaten and how large the chunks were.