In the area of TN where I live, your child would be in 3rd grade. The cutoff is in September, so my guy who turned 9 in August is in 4th grade. If he had been born in October of the same year, he would be in 3rd grade.

What did the doctor have to say?

Not really. They pretended to be supportive, and they weren't all overly opposed, but I knew they had lots of questions and doubts. Now, I think the proof is in the pudding. Both my MIL and my mother have made kind comments similar to, "I am so glad you homeschool those kids...they are getting the best education imaginable!" Coming from my MIL who is a retired ps teacher and may have had the hardest time of all with my decision, it was truly a compliment!

LOL - yep, that could definitely be it for me on this one.

I feel like she is not the only person out there to do this and yes, we are footing the bill (with our taxes) for many of these people...whether they are married couples or not. That is part of life and part of living in America. Her choices were not exactly smart or well thought out, but the kids are here now. It is not THEIR fault their mother is a loon.

:grouphug: When it rains, it pours huh? I am sorry!

My 9 year old who has ADHD has been doing this for YEARS. Only, he can actually play ds, watch a DVD, and listen to music on his i-pod at the same time. Honestly, it wears me out thinking about it. Weirdly enough, he still "gets" it. It is like his brain NEEDS that much stimulation to function properly or something. I let him have at it. If that is how he wants to spend his hour a day of Movie/game time, then so be it. ETA: Yes, headphones are a MUST.

eeewww...Yes. I also don't get in the shower in a hotel without flip flops. It is a total pet peeve of mine.

I have formed an addiction for hot apple pies from McDonalds. It has totally replaced chocolate for me. I assume that in a few months, I will be needing to buy a larger size in jeans...ahhh, but tis the season, right? :(

Right now, I am planning to go forward with New Elementary Math at whatever pace my ds gets there. Another option I have considered is teaching textbooks - starting in Algebra. However, I am just not sure yet. I want to learn the math with him (since I was never good at it) and TT would not afford me that opportunity unless I wanted to do the course on my own. I'd much rather we learn together...and I LOVE Singapore and so do my kids.

Have you tried going back a level with the CWP? I use CWP2 with PM 3B. If you are talking about the word problems in the text, you could always take a hiatus and do Extra Practice, Intensive Practice, or Miquon. My first suggestion, though, would be to go back a grade level in Challenging Word Problems and bring his word problem knowledge up to speed.

Really, no idea at all. Hmmm. Perhaps I read differently from my screen. Seems there is always some sort of...yes, fight or verbal attack around here. Not saying this is YOU per sey...I wasn't directing it at anyone particular. It just seems that there is defintely not an "agree to disagree" attitude on this board. It is more..."LISTEN TO ME, I AM RIGHT" kind of stuff. Just interesting to observe from a distance... I would say it does look totally different to someone on this inside looking out. From my vantage point (the outside looking in), it looks utterly ridiculous... very Mountain/Mole Hill if you will. :glare:

You don't even want to know...in the winter it is usually some mix match of shorts with long johns under them and a t-shirt with a sweater that is too small over it. Oh the fun we have at his expense....occasionally he will wear a green long sleeve T-shirt with this ensemble and I call him "the Grinch" because he looks very...well...grinch-ish (think Jim Carrey in the movie here with the shortalls and the furry legs... But really, I greet him at the door wearing my jeans which I then promptly change to jogging pants and top the outfit off with slippers. My little fella lives in pajamas and actually sometimes cries when he has to change clothes to go out in public...

Just a side note...I used the term "the usual" simply to include the things that are probably inherent to all of us. I was attempting to ask people to think outside the obvious and across the board type reasons and reach down to those other things that maybe we hadn't really thought about...which everyone has done. I definitely didn't mean any disrespect to the "usual" - I think those are things that are important to all of us. :)

Oh heck, I must be a slave driver! My 5.5 year old does school for 1-1.5 hours, most of it seatwork/reading/writing. It is all of the subjects for the day though...not just one thing for that amount of time. I had to laugh at the lego for approximately 14 hours comment. LOL My son is that way with transformers. Literally...HOURS.

Yuck...you keep it there and do NOT, under any circumstances, send it to TN!

My goodness. LOL Will it ever end? Post a sign on the front door..."If taking off your orthodic shoes before bedtime will cause you severe pain, please, do not remove your shoes. Everyone else, enjoy the clean floors with your clean socks." Sorry, but I find this to be the most ridiculous thing in the world to fight about? Are there no better things in life to disagree upon? Surely we can think of something else to attack and argue about.

In TN, I am seeing stores close down and go out of business that I never thought would go out. Lots of the small town, local businesses have also had to close doors. In Knoxville and other larger cities, there have been a LOT of layoffs. A ball bearing plant near my home gave all salaried employees a 20% salary DECREASE effective Jan 1. The price of groceries rises each day at our grocery stores. A lot of people are very worried about losing their jobs. Houses are not selling - no one is buying. Credit cards are hounding you to stay their customers when you call to cancel the cards. Banks are offering the lowest interest rates I have ever seen on home loans, though many many people are defaulting on their mortgages at the same time. It is only going to get worse, I am afraid.

I didn't respond to the 20 page debate post in regards to shoes because I figure, at this point, any comment is lost there. I will say here that I, as a guest in someone's home, try to be respectful. If they are standing there in sock feet, I will take off my shoes and tell my kids to do the same. If they have their shoes on, I wipe my feet at the door and go on it - again, telling my kids to do the same. In my home, we wear shoes. We have hardwood floors and I get low back pain if I walk about barefoot too much. But, one night in someone's home is not going to kill my back with my shoes off. I say just to make it clear when people enter. A guy I dated in highschool, his mom actually had a "mud room" and there were cubbies on the wall for shoes! There was a chair in the corner, a large open coat closet with empty hangers on one wall and the shoe cubbies on the other wall. It was more than obvious that one needed to remove their shoes there before going any further.

Hehe...I really enjoy reading all these super long heated posts. It is just AMAZING to me what people on here can find to disagree about. Sorry, just have to add to the post count. Continue as you were...

~I would be giving up control of my life! That is how I see it. When my oldest went to ps, my whole world (as well as my husband's and my younger son's) revolved around that school schedule. I can remember getting up and trudging out in the cold to take him to school. I remember picking him up when it started to snow and never going far from home for fear school would be cancelled or something would happen and i couldn't get back to my child. It was a very helpless feeling. Then, last year, the bullying started. The threats from the other child were things like, "I will kill you. Tomorrow on the playground, you will die." Did the principal care? Nope. So, peace of mind in knowing that my kids are with me and are safe is something I never want to give up again. ~The ability to travel with my husband. If my kids were in school, we would be stuck here all the time and not able to travel with dh when we wanted to. ~I would have to go back to work if the kids were in school. I wouldn't be able to pick them up at 3pm when school gets out and I would have to send them to afterschool care which would mean their days stretched from 7:30am until 6pm out of my care! I can say, from experience with my oldest son, that this is not exactly a way to bond with your kids. :( ~Quality education for my kids and the freedom for them to explore their interests and passions. ~Being able to do Bible study with my kids and teach them our family values and beliefs. ~Seeing my kids learn and discover new things in life. ~Feeling a sense of accomplishment in my kids' development. For instance, knowing that my youngest child can read because *I* taught him how...or knowing that my oldest is reading 400 page novels because *I* instilled that love of reading in him through my own examples and encouragement. ~I have found so many things in myself since I started homeschooling my kids. I know more now than I ever learned in school! I have rediscovered my love for reading - something I lost as an English major who had to read non-stop in college. Homeschooling my kids has made ME a better person. I only hope it does the same for my children. :)

Well...we sort-of did do that. :) We are much happier nestled in our little mountain rural town away from the rest of the busy world. We cut off TV, so I don't really watch the news. I pray for our family, and for our country and I believe that God will be there for us as we go through these struggles. These are hard and uncertain times...but we aren't the first generation to live through them...and we most likely won't be the last.

As I answered the post about what I gave up to be a SAHM/homeschooing mom, it dawned on me that there is another list of important things I would be giving up if I were NOT doing what I am doing. We all know the usual...time with your kids, etc. But what other things can you think of that you would really be sacrificing if you had to work outside the home full time or had to send your kids to school?

I gave up my technical writing career (something I LOVED and was good at)...but I did that for the opportunity to be a stay at home mom before I ever decided to homeschool. I admit that it was HARD at first. I am a very social person and being left alone all day with my kids when they were little was a bit more like torture than fun. :( However, it was important enough to me to be *that* kind of mom (because my mom never could be that kind of mom for me) that I kept at it, worked hard to find things to make the days less hard, found friends to talk to (online and IRL) and made it work. Sometimes I still miss my career, but luckily, my passion is for writing and just because I no longer make money doing it doesn't mean that I have to stop writing. That has helped me a lot! That, and Lexapro. :) Now...start a post on what I would be sacrificing if I sent my kids to school and if I worked full time. THAT would be a much longer list.

We use Singapore US editions. I am currently using 3B with the textbook, workbook, IP, EP, and CWP2 (I went a grade level behind only for the word problems). I used Singapore Standards Earlybird B for my 5 year old before starting 1A. Now he does 1A (US) with the text, workbook, IP, and EP.