I am not a huge fan of posting pics of my kids in highly public places, but I will post their curriculums. :) We use Calvert, so it all comes in a box...and wow...do you ever get what you pay for (okay...you get a lot of stuff anyway! LOL) K curriculum

Hehe! I have thought this very same thing myself. Our area starts back Monday and we won't be there...because we are HOMESCHOOLING too! LOL :) Love it!

And I thought the 40 or so bags we have in the freezer were a lot! LOL Yep...we have corn coming out of our ears here. My dh makes it into a cream-style batch and we freeze it.

I would get that checked out. My bf is a nurse for a dermatologist and ANY change in a mole is particularly concerning...especially in a place where you have tanned over the years (like your back). The flaking and such is concerning to her (I read your post to her over the phone). I would get in with a dermatologist asap. If it turns out to be nothing, you are out a co-pay. If it were something, then better now than later. KWIM? Good luck!

Does your mother in law commonly fraternize with mine? They sound oh so similar. She once told me to stop homeschooling my then 4 year old because "you don't want him knowing too much before he goes to public school." UMMMMMM.... My now 9 year old is my G&T child and I am AMAZED at what he DOESN'T know and the laziness that has been instilled in him from his ps days. He cried today because I told him to write in a complete sentence. "But mom, my teacher at ps took whatever I handed in." Sure she did...she had 15 other kids that were behind or had no idea what to do, so she wasn't going to "bother" making sure one of the smart kids wrote in complete sentences. Oh, what a wake up call hs'ing has been to my 9 year old! I have to say, though, for us, the proof has been in the pudding. My 4 3/4 year old amazes her everyday and when she asks, "how did you know that?" He tells her, "I learned it in homeschool." :)

Keeping you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. Sounds like a good, fine mess. :(

My ds is trying to use Calvert's spelling CD right now AND spelling power. He likes the activities on the Calvert CD, but the words are not easy for him (being as he struggles a lot in spelling) and the timed tests make him CRY with frustration! What we do is use the Calvert as some fun type stuff and we study the words on our own. I want him to have exposure to the harder Calvert words so he can read them and such, but Spelling Power definitely makes up our core of learning to spell. If he was not a struggling speller, Calvert would be great!

Our drawers (the boys each have a drawer for their school books and notebooks...and I have a drawer for Techer's manuals, etc. It is a LIFESAVER and we love it). Our big calendar and American Flag.

Gosh, I am not sure. It does seem like she should know them already with going through the workbook and all. My son will be 5 in September and number recognition just clicked with him around 3 mos ago. The thing with the colors concerns me a bit more. I mean, she knows the color of grass, but she can't recognize green. Something seems a little off there. Have you consulted her doctor about this particularly? I am sorry I can't be of more help. I do hope you get some advice here that will be of more use. Best of luck to you.

I am a Christian. I didn't read his thread. And I am new here but I feel compelled to say this... I think of Jesus and what He encountered when He walked this earth as a man. How many spit in His face? How many scoffed at Him? And those who murdered Him, drove nails through His hands, beat Him - did He not love them? Did He not instantly forgive them? "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." My ex husband, my oldest son's dad is an athiest. And when my son cries and asks me why Daddy doesn't believe and if he is going to Hell for not believing, I tell him this, "Even though Daddy has given up on God, God will never give up on daddy." And I believe that, with all of my heart.

We don't do birthdays for the grownups. My birthday is Friday...I took out $25 extra in cash and I am splitting a cake with my son who will be 9 on Tuesday. :) It is not because we can't afford it...I just don't put a lot of stock in birthday hooplahs for adults...especially when it is not a milestone b-day. Next year, when I turn 30, I will expect some sort of hooplah. ;)

My son likes the Mouse and the Motorcycle, Ralph S. Mouse, and Runaway Ralph. He also enjoyed my husband's old Encyclopedia Brown books.

My advice would be to buy the Calvert 4th for your oldest DD. If she has a math program she already likes, then do that instead. It will save you $95 off the curriculum price. Then, I would get the 1st grade curriculum for your younger two. Usually, if you have two in the same grade, you can either buy 1 curriculum and print bunches of copies, or you can buy all the consumables from Calvert. Unfortunately, Calvert is pricey even for just the consumables. I would get 1 program and then duplicate. A lot of what they do can be done with both kids. There is a letter writing page and such, but you can make copies or make your own based on their example. Also, if you don't want the Calvert price...check e-bay. I personally would not sell the lesson manuals I bought from Calvert, but people on e-bay do (I even bought a 4th grade math there with the lesson manual and then resold the math with that lesson manual because I did NOT buy it from Calvert and therefore signed no agreement for that specific one). If you feel comfortable doing that and realize that you won't be able to take advantage of the online things, then that may be the way to go. A perfect, never used Calvert on e-bay usually sells for around $345. A "barely used" - especially now, this late in the planning for hs moms, will go for anywhere from $50-$125. Just a thought... http://cgi.ebay.com/Calvert-First-Grade-1st-Homeschool-Curriculum_W0QQitemZ290250023804QQihZ019QQcategoryZ2228QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/Calvert-Fourth-Grade-Homeschool-Curriculum-Books-4th_W0QQitemZ270260919287QQihZ017QQcategoryZ2228QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Just FYI, the 4th grade e-bay set is not complete. It does not mentiont the second lesson manual being included...I would ask the seller about that if you are interested because not having the other lesson manual kind of defeats the purpose! You will also want to see if it is 4th grade Academic (which it sounds like your daughter needs) or Scholastic. There is a difference. Best of luck to you!

Just FYI, I got an e-mail today saying that the number is now 26 or over and the discount is down again. If you enroll now for the August run, it is $35 + a $5 fee. :)

Where did you sell your things last year? Maybe you could go back and sell there again?? I would definitely post for the sake of posting to get to 50 so you can list here. You can also browse the Want to Buy section because you don't have to have 50 posts in order to pm a member about something they are wanting to buy. :)

My son is younger (almost 5) and he does 2 pages of ETC a day. At that pace, 5 days a week, with actually skipping about a week, he made it through in 2 months. I would get the first book and see how quickly he moves through it and how much he can do at a time. My little one gets frustrated if I have him do too much reading/writing in one day, so we take it slower. Once you see his pace, then I would buy the rest of the books. My youngest *should* finish Book 4 by the end of his year. That is our goal. If he goes slower or faster, that is okay too.

Spelling Power - hands down. You set a timer, test for 5 minutes with as many words as you can fit during that time. Then, if they missed none, they are done for the day. If they missed words, they (on their own) write the word they missed, run through a few memorization exercises with it, and then use it in a sentence. It is all right there - it tells them which memory techniques to use and they check off as they go. One is like "write and check" so they write the word on their desk with their finger and then look at the word and see if they spelled it correctly. Just quick, easy stuff. At the most, this takes my 9 year old who is not a great speller and often misses 2-3 words a day, about 15 minutes! Can't beat that!

We use Calvert. I use it for my ds 9 and my ds 5 and we LOVE it. For all the bad reviews...just because it doesn't work for some doesn't mean it doesn't work for others. My experience is this...just because it comes in a box doesn't mean you can't think outside of that box. My youngest is doing K. I take the liberty to X out things he already knows, things we don't have time for, things I don't want to do, and so on. I don't "tweek" as in buying a ton of other curricula to go along with it. We have Spelling Power for my oldest son because he has a deficit there. We have Bible because we add in Bible (even though we did want a secular curriculum as well). We use ETC both in book form and online as enrichment for my youngest. Total Cost: $100 or so. I don't personally find Calvert boring and neither do my kids. And when we come to something that could be boring...we enrich it. We go online and watch experiments in Science. We check out books from the library. We talk about things without reading all of the detailed vocabulary at once, if that is a problem. It think it all depends on the personality of the teacher (I am so type A and Calvert fits me to a T) and the personalities of the kids. I am not afraid to tweek and play as needed because I know Calvert gives me the guide. I know I am not leaving holes in their learning. For me, trying to put together a curriculum was horrifying. It stressed me out, made me cry, I lost sleep, I researched for hours on end (and in the process, ignored my kids!). Calvert was a life saver for me. You could always order and evaluate. As long as you don't write in the books, you can return Calvert within 60 days for a refund (minus the $55 enrollment fee per child). Best of luck to you and I hope that your health continues to improve greatly!

No - but we take a full month off at Christmas from Thanksgiving through New Year and we take many week - 2 week long breaks in the summer. If my kids go 2-3 months straight without any schooling, they tend to have to start 3/4 of the way into the LAST year and work their way back to where they were when we stopped. This just works so much better for us.

Well, I don't follow a CM approach so I am not even all that clear on what twaddle is. If it means reading something fun because you enjoy it, then sure. As for "witchcraft" - hahaha. I am a Christian through and through and I don't find Harry Potter to conflict with my views. It is a fantasy book. I don't think there is really a wizard world, a school named Hogwarts, magical creatures, patronus spells, and the like. It is like any other fantasy book. It gives you a glimpse into an imagined world. And honestly, Harry's character is just the "good" against "evil" and whether we admit it or not, we are all fighting the evil in this world we are raising our children in. To me Lord Voldemort is no more than the man who beheaded another man on a Greyhound bus - he is just symbolic of the evil that already flourishes in this modern world.

My kids have videos that I approve of and no more than 1 per day. We don't have any TV other than channel 5 with rabbit ears that comes in blury. :) Prior to this - and my decision to homeschool, my kids attempted to LIVE in front of the TV and that just wasn't working for me (or them!).

I am reading Year 4 of the Harry Potter Series right now. Before that, I read the Lord of the Rings Series and my dh read a Stephen King novel. :) That said, I was an English major in college and I have read enough of the classics to last a lifetime. Honestly, I have no desire to read those now and it is mostly because I had to read so much in school. I didn't have time for "twaddle" which, in my opinion, just means books that are FUN to read. LOL And let me also say that if I was the kind to read a Harlequin novel, I would absolutely confess.

Just wanted to throw this out so you don't have the wrong idea of Calvert. We do Calvert with my oldest who is ADHD and it works perfectly. We buy the "box" but we don't stay in it...if that makes sense. LOL I am not limited to what Calvert says I must do. I didn't sign him up with ATS, so we are accountable to only ourselves. My ADHD son is very bright and has to be challenged, which Calvert does for him. BUT, I have sense enough to know when something is just too much for him. For instance, writing. He HATES to write. He doesn't spell all that well and it hinders him in what he will write because he feels he must always spell it correctly. Well, I pick up the pen or put him on the computer and let him have at it. I am not trying to teach him spelling doesn't matter - we address that with two different spelling programs, but I am teaching him that creativity flows without regard to spelling. Heck, I am a writer...that is what my EDITOR is for. ;) Only kidding. My point is, if you were to consider something like this, don't think of it as a box that you can't think outside of. We love that it is planned out and ready - and with a little tweaking and working, it works beautifully for us. :)

I would take it where she is THIS YEAR and just plan one year at a time. That way, if she does start to slow down in her curve, you can adjust without messing up 4 YEARS worth of planning. Sounds like she is one smart cookie, though. Move ahead as she is ready, slow down when she needs to, take a break if it is ever necessary - you know, the beauty of homeschooling lies in the joys of being completely able to completely enjoy the ebb and flow.

My youngest son will be 5 at the end of September. He can read CVC, CVCC, and even some CVCV words. He is bright, happy and learns quickly. Ask him if he likes being homeschooled. NO. Why? My mommy makes me read. ??? He CAN read. He doesn't like that he has to sound out all the words and it doesn't just come as memory like when adults and older children read. It frustrates him to no end. Oh, and while he can do all that cool stuff..Rhyming words make no sense to him. He "gets it" about 40% of the time with Rhyming words. Talk about baffling. Let me share an experience with you that taught me A LOT when we started this adventure. I decided to help ds read by using 100EL. I LOVED that book. It was easy, big writing, he caught on fast, great! He HATED that book. It was drudgery to him...torture even might be a better word. It keep on, pushed forward, decided I was the mom, I was the teacher and we were doing this great book. Finally, one day, I pulled out the book...just got it off the shelf and put it into the pile for today's work and he crumbled into a little pile on the floor sobbing "Please, not that book!" :( So I decided that I was the mommy and this was my baby and this was NOT working for him. We stopped. We sold the book recently...but prior to that, it lived on my shelf for a good two months! I realized it wasn't what worked for Me...it was what worked for him. My goal in homeschooling is to give my kids the best, and most fun and unique education possible. Drilling him with 100EL where he had to sound out and recall paragraphs of words he didn't have in his memory was just too much. As a matter of fact, even though he is smart and picks up way fast, I decided to totally back off a notch. I was doing calvert for my oldest and decided to look at it for my youngest. Wow - there was reading...there was comprehension - there was early writing - there was playing with chalk and playdough - making gingerbread men - doing tree rubbings - hopping and running games...wow! In my quest to make my child uber academic, I forgot about him being a child. Once we started Calvert, the ride has been so precious. Not every moment is without frustration...I mean, we are still struggling with rhyming words for goodness sakes!...but it is so much better and so much sweeter because I am listening to him...and in turn, he is listening to me. Best of luck as you make your decision. Listen to your heart and know that you can do this. It won't be easy, it won't be perfect the first time out of the gate, but, if you approach it with a heart that is willing to "bend" and willing to learn, you will enjoy the full extent of this journey!