I really relaxed my expectations of what our day would look like. My schedule was more like a list of tasks that needed to be completed. Everything was done in short bursts. Nap time (while it lasted) was maximized. I utilized a lot of babywearing, particularly back carries, to focus on the older kids. I remember having friends ask how long lessons took at our house and my answer was forever! It wasn't the amount, it was the spacing out and having to drop everything whenever the little one needed me. When my older kids had screen time, I gave my little some one-on-one time. It was rough, but we lived through it and lessons kept getting done. I'm actually a little overwhelmed thinking about doing it all over again.

I went through a rough patch before my last pregnancy. Instead of trying to eliminate jealousy, I focused on cultivating gratitude. I got a fancy bound book and tried to write down five things I was grateful for every day. It got me in the habit of appreciating what I already had and also calmed down the comparisons. I also like looking back through my lists I kept that year. I don't journal regularly, but I can remember what was going on by what I was thankful for.

The intensive practice books have worked well for us as a review when the regular books are finished.

We did R&S for second and third grade spelling after trying several other programs. My son prefers it to All About Spelling and my presentation of the Spalding method. My son really wanted something semi-independent as well as brief. For this level, I like that R&S is not teacher intensive, the word lists are not long, and there are two pages of activities for each week. I'm looking forward to using it in fourth grade.

I'm excited about not being pregnant or having a newborn anymore. My guys missed the art and science I cut back on this year due to exhaustion.

Thank you for the feedback!

I'm trying to figure out language arts for my soon to be fourth grader. Browsing through Essentials in Writing, it looks like half the program focuses on grammar and the other half on writing. Should I continue with FLL 4 or would it be over-kill? We have really enjoyed FLL 1-3.

I worked in schools before I had kids and sat in on hundreds of IEP meetings. I learned about the line between what school districts will provide for special needs kids and what those kids would benefit from. My takeaway was that public school doesn't maximize anyone's education. It isn't designed to do so. It is all about meeting minimum requirements and teaching to the middle. Once I had my kids, I wanted something more for them. I wanted to differentiate instruction, build relationships between siblings, and let them have lots of unstructured free-time. I remembered hours of worksheets and being bored out of my seat in elementary school because I already knew how to read, do long division, or fill in the blank. I wanted my kids to be able to learn at their own pace. Homeschooling has been a good fit for our family. It has also been a tremendous amount of work. I didn't anticipated how much work it would be and I now feel a lot more like a work at home mom rather than a SAHM.

My kindergartener and third grader each had their own assignment notebook this year. They both enjoyed checking off lessons completed and counting down to special events. The third grader really benefitted from seeing the list rather than having me constantly remind him about what needs to get done.

I've taken three weeks off for my last two pregnancies. For my family, doing lessons makes the day more predictable and things run more smoothly. If it is more stressful for you to do lessons, don't! A couple of weeks makes no difference either way for your kindergartener, but it makes a huge difference in your recovery. I felt a lot better at five weeks than two weeks postpartum. It gets easier each week.

Can you celebrate early? We crammed in several fancy meals (using up gift cards), movies, and ballet/comedy club/plays in the end of many of my pregnancies because we knew it would be months until we could go out to those events as easily. If not, newborns are pretty portable and I'd go out to brunch or lunch. Dinner often coincides with cluster-feeding or fussy baby at my home.

Have you thought about henna?

It doesn't bother me if kids are included or excluded from weddings. On the other hand, I was pretty offended when my husband's grandmother threw a casual surprise 60th birthday party for my mother-in-law. I love my mother-in-law and wanted to share in the surprise. My husband's grandmother is a piece of work. Grandma specifically went out of her way to tell me that kids were not invited. My youngest was a nursling and all of my babysitters were also invited to the party. My husband went without me for a brief appearance which is what I think his grandmother wanted all along. The petty side of me has thought about instituting an age cap for my family's future parties. If there is a bounce house involved, it would be too dangerous for grandma to come after her hip replacement.

My house was custom built in the early seventies, so not as old as everyone else's, but I know a ton of it's history. Originally, there was a post-war split level on a double lot. The owners had six kids and decided to build a custom home on the other part of their lot. My parents became the third owners of this house. When my oldest was a newborn, the original split-level went on the market and my husband and I bought it. It was by no means my dream home, but we bought it for the land. My parents knocked it down five years later and built a home that would work for their retirement and my family took over the custom home. The fascinating thing about our experience is how much thought went into the custom home. The family who built the home had something like six kids. As a growing family, I understand why they made the decisions they did and why my current home looks the way it does. When my son was a baby, I couldn't understand why every door upstairs had a hook and loop lock on the outside. When my son started walking, I figured it out! My old home had no closets by the front or back door. The new home has two large closets by the front door and a large closet by the garage door along with many cabinets. With many kids and slushy winters, this is a blessing. The original home did not have a ton of storage in the halls or bedrooms. They fixed that with the custom home. There is abundant closet space and some rooms have more than one closet. The original home had 1.5 baths and the new home has 3.5. The first house had few windows that were high up on the wall. It was hard for kids and cats to look out. That was changed in the next home. After living in the first house, I feel like I really "get" my curent home a lot more. My favorite thing about my home is how much love went into constructing it. We have the blueprints, all the original manuals, and a painfully detailed list the original owner made about how to maintain every system. His love is very apparent.

My husband does not need a lot of sleep and it seems to be a trait he passed on to our kids. Naps stopped here for good right around two. The little one will still fall asleep in the car and no matter how long she sleeps, it throws off bedtime by hours. I always thought "quiet time" was a good concept, but figured I was just too lazy to implement it. After talking to my mom and more parents, I realized that one essential difference between my family and theirs was the age when their kids stopped napping. I could teach a four year old to do quiet time. I'm not comfortable with leaving a 20 month old alone to do quiet time.

We do them daily. On some of the more challenging pages, my older will do only one column and do the other the next day. My younger son just did his first mental math in 1A today. I wrote the problems down on a whiteboard and he was about to explode with pride at finally doing mental math. In the past, I have swapped out math sprints when we got through all the mental math exercises.

I have a couple of wedding photos of my maternal grandparents who divorced when my mom was a child. I love seeing them young, happy, and so beautiful. The marriage didn't last, but they were still my grandparents.

We are a gaming family. My husband and I both enjoy playing games as do our sons. Screen-time is limited and only occurs after lessons are done. Games are carefully selected and previewed by my husband and on-line contact is practically nil. I much prefer my boys playing games to zoning out in front of the TV. Problem-solving, cooperative play, and aerobic activity (my big guy bounces the entire time he plays) are the perks of gaming over TV in our home.

My hair is waist length and I have no intentions of shortening it due to age. I think double braids are an attractive look and I often choose it while camping or for long car rides. In my opinion, "pigtails" are something my two year old wears--stumpy wisps sticking out over each ear. Two totally different looks and styles. As for women needing to cut their hair as they age, I think that is an entirely personal decision. However, I do not believe that shorter hair makes a woman look "younger." In fact, a clean around the ear pixie seems to be the standard mature haircut for the senior ladies around Chicagoland.

I've gotten through four Chicago winters by wearing a one size larger jacket. I'm now wearing it for the fifth season. The Columbia jacket I use is nice for maternity wear because I can separate it into a fleece, rain jacket, or wear it all together depending on the season.

I think clothing prices need to go up. I'm sick of super thin t-shirts that are see-through. Cotton prices have gone up, but I would prefer having the option to buy a heavy 100% cotton t-shirt rather than the high polyester blends being sold currently. I am not a shopper and prefer to buy a few pieces that last rather than many trendy items that fall apart after a few wears. The fast fashion machine was not built for me.

Yes. It takes a lot of hard work by both parties.

It is pretty basic, but my guy enjoys rolling a die to see how many times he needs to re-copy misspellings. I should probably worry about a future gambling problem.

My MIL lives five minutes away and she usually takes the kids on Saturday. She travels during the week, so hopefully, this will increase when she retires. My parents live next door and we see my Dad daily. I see my mom two or three days a week and she has my brother's family and us over for dinner on Sundays. We see my FIL two or three times a year, usually at a restaurant or family gathering. I really love my MIL and my husband gets along well with my family. I grew up 1200 miles away from all extended family and it is very, very important to me that my kids are close to their grandparents.

We have the activity guide and only use it for the coloring pages. I like the content of the lessons, but it is a very quick read and discussion.