It all boils down to *why* you homeschool. We homeschool primarily for reasons based on our faith. Therefore, I do not wan my children exposed to a lot of things in the public school system. Therefore, I would not consider public school, even if my children claimed to be bored. Because frankly, sitting in classroom all day at public school is boring in itself. I'd try to find more "fun" things to do at home. If you are homeschooling because YOU enjoy it and for no other reasons, then you may want to consider allowing your daughter to remain in public school if she likes it.

Currently I don't require anything of my 4 year old except for her to help clean up toys. As for my 6 (almost 7) year old, I started requiring more of her right about the time she turned 5. At first, I started basing her allowance on what chores she completed. That turned out to be too much of a hassle. Now, she gets $5 per week ($4 to do what she wants with, .50 cents into savings, and .50 cents into giving to Jesus) and it is NOT based on chore completion. It is to teach her to handle money, to save for what she wants, and to avoid the "pleeeeaaase can I have it's" at the store. As for chores....I began to tell her that she is a part of this family and this family works together to get things done. She lives here, she helps. I do not have a specific chore list written down for her. She knows that she is to feed/water the dogs each day and she's the main one to let them in/out and check to make sure they are not dirty. She knows to bring her dirty laundry hamper to the laundry room when it is nearing the top. She knows to vacuum whenever I ask her. She knows to clean up her toys. I also expect her help whenever I ask on various other things. And she is VERY good about helping without complaining. I'll ask her to clear the table, bring me her sister's laundry hamper, etc. For other, more "major" chores, I'm willing to pay her (in addition to her allowance that's not tied to chores).....things like wiping the base boards, etc.

I would not eat it.

Awesome news!!!!! We dropped MUS mid year here too....my DD6 just wasn't grasping it the way they taught it. She prefers a spiral curriculum and working on different things along the way.

bumping :D

And for those who want to avoid hormone filled milk/meat and pesticide filled fruit/veggies? Umm, yeah, my child would quickly be out of there....or else suddenly have some allergies. I see good intentions (I think), but you can't control what parents feed their children.

DD will be in second grade and I NEED some sort of organized schedule for next year. What we are doing is just not working. It feels chaotic and like we're just doing whatever whenever and hoping we get it all finished. That being said, do you do every subject every day? Or just the 3 R's daily? I'm thinking that we don't need to do things like science and history daily. What do you guys do?

We are STILL working on potty training my 4 year old. She turned four at the beginning of March. She refuses to poop in the potty....has never, ever done it. She'll go in her pull up or underwear. She's pretty good about peeing in the potty, but she still has accidents with that too. I am FED UP. She won't even attempt to try to poop in the potty. Instead of running to the potty when she feels the need to go, she will run into the closet. So I KNOW that she knows the feeling of when she has to go.

It's a fraud....I read something the other day describing the whole thing. I can't remember where I read it. The stores allow coupon transactions that they wouldn't normally allow in order to get publicity.

My DD is having her 7th birthday party on Saturday. I got her one of the make your own book kits from Michaels. It comes with ALL sorts of things in it, including an actual blank book. I think she's really going to like it. Last year for Christmas I gave her a box FILLED with craft supplies....glue, tape, pipe cleaners, paper, magnets, wooden sticks, sticky jewels, pieces of felt, string, elastic, straws, paper, plates, pom poms, pieces of ribbon, googly eyes, buttons, empty toilet paper rolls, etc. She pulls that out often.

I'm listening in as well....I'm thinking of using them with my upcoming 2nd grader.

I want a structured science curriculum for next year when DD will be in 2nd grade. I've looked at Real science 4 kids and it looks pretty neat....something that DD would like. But which would I begin with? Is there any sort of order? Or do I just pick one of the three? Also, I notice that there are only 10 chapters per book. Do you do a chapter per week? So I'll go through all 3 books for 2nd grade? At $75 per bundle??? Sounds kind of expensive for one year of science. I'm not purchasing yet....I'm going to wait until I can look at it in person at the FPEA convention next month. Thanks for any help! ETA....DD is not a good reader AT ALL. She's actually in auditory and visual therapy for it. Would this be an okay curriculum for her? I see that there's quite a bit of writing. I guess I would have to really help her with a lot of the writing, right?

Oh, I forgot to add that for egg hunts we use plastic eggs. The Friday before Easter I have DH go to the bank and get a roll of quarters. I put one or two quarters in each egg. In a couple of them I put a dollar bill. Again, I don't really do candy or trinkets.

I really think that during those early teenage years, boys and girls tend to remain pretty separate in their friend groups. During the next few years, I think you'll find that it's easier for your daughter to talk with boys.

I've thrown mine away before. :confused:

I probably spend too much on Easter baskets, but I just don't do cheap toys that will be discarded and thrown away. We've went through that for several years and I decided I'd rather spend a little more than deal with junk. And I also don't do a lot of candy since I don't like us to eat a lot of junk. I think I'm finished with my kids baskets since I started early this year. Each of my girls are getting: a medium sized chocolate bunny a duck shaped egg with Reese cups in it iTunes gift card $5 Target gift card a few American Girl sized outfits I got on Etsy.com a few Chuggington trains each (my kids are crazy about these) an Angelina Ballerina book a My Little Pony Crayola Twister crayons a card game (DD6 is getting Slamwich...not sure for DD4 yet) a DVD (Scooby Doo for DD6, Minnie Mouse for DD4) a few Playmobil figures (Ghost Pirates for DD6, unsure for DD4) The only thing I'd like to pick up is a small stuffed animal for each of their baskets.

It does sound like sort of a sad moment to visit a church for the first time. But that's what Easter is about. I want my children to know what Jesus did for them. They hear us say that he died for us, he rose again, etc. But I want them to know that Jesus didn't have it easy....he suffered. For us. For them. And sometimes it takes seeing images like that for them to realize what he did. I haven't shown my 6 (almost 7) year old anything from that movie, but this may be the year that I do. She's very mature about things like that.

My kids LOVE to play with our water table. Even my almost 7 year old loves it....and I can see her loving it for years to come. That's the main thing they want to do when they go outside. I also have a bin out there with several bug cages, nets, balls, and shovels. We have a small, metal swing set that gets played with quite a bit. We also have a sandbox that really doesn't get used too much. I honestly thought about putting some bags of gardening soil in the back corner and letting the kids to go town with shovels, buckets, etc.

I love Whole Foods!! I have to drive about 40 minutes to get to ours....I wish they'd build it closer!

I don't wash my clothes after every single wear unless I've been sweating in them. So during the summer down here in FL, I wash my shirts after every wear because if you just step outside you begin to drip sweat. Pants and shorts I wear a few times longer. For my kids, I usually DO wash their clothes after each wear. They usually manage to get dirty, spill something, etc. Their jammies they wear for two nights.

When we were looking around at houses last year, I couldn't decide whether we wanted an HOA or now. DH didn't, but I sort of did. DH lets the grass grow high. :glare: With an HOA, I knew he'd have to keep it cut. :tongue_smilie:

I'm very interested to see some block scheduling as well. I need a better schedule next year for DD who will be in second grade.

Me! I'd use it!

I'm trying to get a feel for what I should/could/might be doing with my upcoming second grader in the fall. She's not reading well at all, so that does hinder our choices somewhat. But I'm curious as to what others are doing with the second graders. If you could list your subjects and curriculum, I'd be very grateful!

No, tips are not necessary. I'd feel awkward if I was tipped during a shoot.