For DD7, reading is coming first and spelling is following, albeit slowly. She reads much better than she spells.

Would you be willing to let me know which artists/paintings are included?

Wow, thanks for all of the suggestions!! I just went on Amazon and ordered 4 different packs of the Dover cards for $1.50 each....plus it was included in the 4 for 3 promotion. The total was only $4.50, so if I hate them, it's not a big loss. The Usborne artist cards sound great but there's no photos of them anywhere on the internet. I'd love to know which artists are included. If the Dovers do not work out, I may order the Usborne one. I think I'll find simple biographies and explanations of each included piece and print them out so that I can read them to my kids as they work on their artwork. I also saw coloring books of famous paintings....does anyone have any of these? Are they useful?

I go on Pinterest to get great ideas for homeschooling. And most of it looks like SO much fun. But honestly, if I tried to incorporate very much "fun" stuff, it would cost a fortune. I love the idea of creating continent boxes....but purchasing everything for each continent seems like it would cost SO much money. And making fossils for dinosaur studies.....having to purchase the Crayola Model Magic and the plastic dinosaurs. Then excavating dinosaurs looks fun but the excavation kits with the tools are so costly. Does all the fun stuff have to be so expensive? I mean, I already spend enough on curriculum and basic supplies (folders, bins, glue, crayons, colored pencils, paper, bookshelves, erasers, etc). And then there is the ink! All these cute, neat printables are in color. We currently just use black ink. I'd love to be able to print out all the planets in full color, as well as cute worksheets, photos of dolphins for our dolphin study.....but I'd go through a ton of colored ink. And when I go to do a unit study, I can never seem to coordinate getting all the materials for it. We are currently studying space. It's difficult to coordinate getting the library books, ordering books for it from paperbackswap, getting all the craft materials, making sure everything is on hand and ready to go, printing off anything that needs to be printed, etc. I just do not seem to be that organized. Ugh, I just feel like we are not doing many fun things and my kids are at the ages where we SHOULD be having fun. Fun is expensive......and makes you have to be really organized. :confused:

Last year DD was in first grade. Her handwriting was very large and very sloppy....we didn't focus on writing a lot. She was only reading basic CVC words. Math was two digit addition and subtraction, begging time, etc. Her favorite subject was science. This year, for second grade and over the summer, she has made LOTS of improvements.

Yes, thanks! It was the Charlotte Mason ones I was thinking of. And I'll definitely check out the pinterest ones too.

:iagree: My Cubbie (she's 4) learns the verses each week and *could* say them to the teacher if needed, but they usually just say the verse as a class and sign off each child's book. Our church is pretty lax with the Cubbies. Hopefully yours is too.

Our Cubbies do not have to recite any verses to get a vest...it's something that's just purchased at the beginning of the year. If your church won't give him one, I'd go online and purchase one myself for him.

I have a 4 year old Cubbie and a 2nd grade Sparkie. My 2nd grader began in Cubbies and has worked her way up and completed the book each year. I looked at this year's book and was surprised at how long and difficult most of the verses are! I'm hoping that we'll be able to pull off finishing it up. She's set to get her big prize this year....the Sparkie plaque.

We're currently doing that too. I just went to the library and checked out every dolphin book they had....which was only like 4. I downloaded a unit study as well. The kids can't wait to get started on it! We got the following books: Adventures of Riley: Dolphins in Danger Is A Dolphin A Fish? Questions and Answers About Dolphins Wild About Dolphins And then we got an easy reader book for DD to read to me: Diving Dolphin. I also hope to find Flipper or something in Netflix.

I want to start having my kids try to recreate their own versions of famous paintings. I thought that one time someone posted some packets of famous paintings that can be purchased....it seems like it was a fairly newly released item. Does anyone remember these? If not, where are some other ones that I can get? Preferably not in a book.

Honestly, I cannot stand parties like those. I was invited to one this month....and then one about 6 months ago. So no, not very often. But then again, I do not have a wide circle of people that I associate with either....I'm quite the introvert. I never go to those parties because I'm actually interested in anything....I only go because I feel bad for the person who invited me. Then I end up buying a little something just to help them out. So it's really a waste for me.

I've been wondering this too. I mean, I don't think I've ever used the words minuend, product, addend, etc.

I feel like I'm doing what God has called me to do. All through high school and early college, I struggled with exactly *what* I was supposed to be when I "grew up." Nothing ever settled with me, "called" to me, or seemed to fit right....until I had kids and began raising/homeschooling them. It just all seems to fit now.

Yesterday at Wal-Mart, there were Halloween decor and Christmas trees on the same aisle. :confused:

Let me say up front that I am *not* a cook. I despise cooking, being in the kitchen, I'm not good at coming up with meal plans, and I have never frozen a meal for future use in the 11 year that I've been married. Yes, I'm pathetic. I just DO NOT enjoy anything to do with cooking. That being said....I want to get better at it. I want to start by preparing some meals to use in the future, especially after baby is born. I went to the Plan To Eat website and I'm currently using their free trial. It looks pretty good and it might just help me out. I've saved some meals to the planner on there and wanted to ask a few questions about it. For one....here comes a stupid question....how do I go about freezing and thawing the meals? For instance, I have stuffed manacotti shells as one of the meals. After making it, do I let it cool before putting it in the freezer container? And what sort of container should I use? Are the Ziploc freezer bags sufficient or will everything get freezer burn? Should I use a different container? How long can I freeze things for? And then, when it comes time to eat them, how do I thaw them? Put them in the fridge? On the counter? For how long? I also have chili, lasagna soup, potato soup, shepherds pie, and slow cooker BBQ pork (for sandwiches) in my online planner. Can soup be frozen and saved? And the BBQ pork....wouldn't it be sort of dry when I thaw it out? And veggies....if I fix frozen or canned veggies, can I freeze them again to use for later? There are veggies in the shepherds pie. And I thought of seasoning some green beans so all I would have to do is reheat them. Do things that were previously frozen freeze well again? Seriously....I'm pathetic, I know. I do have other things that I'm good at LOL. :lol:

I'm teaching 2, but since you specified K-12 only, I voted only 1 since DD4 is in preschool. Next year it will be two. Eventually, in 5 years, it will be 3.

Oh my gosh, your poor friend....she must be out of her mind with worry. I can't believe a judge would just dismiss his medical condition like that. That's just plain crazy!!

Honestly, I really have no idea. Each of our kids get 3 gifts (just like baby Jesus did), plus something from Santa that he leaves on the fireplace, and then a stocking filled with smaller things. Then DH and I buy for each other, our parents, our siblings, my grandparents, and a few cousins. Then I try to get a little something for the girls homeschool group teacher, Sunday School teacher, and AWANA teacher. There's some gifts I'd like to cut out....the ones who I feel like I'm just buying them something for the sake of buying something.

DD7 had dyslexia and when she began "reading" (I use that term loosely because she's still not reading fluently), it was when I had stopped doing history, science, map skills, etc. I really ramped up the reading/writing/spelling portion and kept on with the same math and Bible. Now she's actually begun reading sentences and can read Level 1 books without sounding out every single word.

I thought that service dogs always wore vests?

The Cinderella brand dresses are great....and not too costly. I found some great ones for DD at TJMaxx a few months ago. I believe that Burlington Coat Factory may carry the brand too.

LOL, yes, I grabbed the TP while I was out today!

As for a dog, poodles are non-shedding, very intelligent, and pretty easy to train. Any puppy is going to chew though...you'll just have to be diligent in making sure it chews things that are okay.

I really dislike frozen meals....but you are right, I should probably have something super simple sometimes. Good idea about the Amazon thing, I'll look into that. And yes, DH is really good about stopping by the store on the way home. But sometimes he's clueless and doesn't know exactly what to get LOL. He calls me about a million times from the store.