:seeya: <-- That's me, waving my hand, saying, "Yes, I just bought MCT, too." :001_smile:

The Texas state tests are available, free, on-line. If you want to do standardized testing, like Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, you do not necessarily need to go through a homeschool group. If you (or someone you know) has a college degree, you (or they) can get certified to administer the test through Bob Jones. (Probably others, but that is the one I went through.) You said you are mainly interested to see how your children are doing. I would think it depends on your state - or which state test you would use. They are certainly not created equal! The Texas state tests are insanely easy. My 2nd grade son missed only 1 question on the 5th grade science test. I would like to think that means he is brilliant, but I think it is more a reflection on the test. I trust the results of the ITBS more than our state's test!

DH and I grew up in the same state and went to the same school - and we both remember nothing of our state history! In fact, it wasn't until last year, when we were driving through our home state that we realized Lewis and Clark went right through the area. :tongue_smilie: We are now in Texas, which has an exciting state history. I am not planning on doing anything "formal" for history. This year we visited The Alamo and read a few books on it, plus visited the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin. I think DS will learn - and remember - more state history by visiting different areas of the state and visiting museums.

The serial comma. Books and magazines tend to use it. Newspapers don't. I was a newspaper copy editor for several years and never, ever use the serial comma. They actually drive me nuts. I don't know what I am going to due when it comes time teach that to DS. :glare:

All the stores in this area now carry them year-round, so they are with the regular candy and not in the Christmas aisle.

I would love lots of windows so we could set up a nice bird feeding station and bird bath outside. A basket with bird id book, binoculars and nature journal supplies (watercolors, colored pencils, etc.) A big sturdy table for: microscope, lope, magnifying glass, telescope collector's display boxes magnets terrarium an aquarium, set up as a temporary home for lizards, bugs, etc. every id book you can imagine - clouds, butterflies, caterpillars, snakes, etc. camera jars of sea shells, acorns, rocks One thing that I do have that I love -- I bought a wire hanger w/suction cups at a teacher supply store years ago. I have it up on our kitchen window with bird flashcards. I rotate out what flashcards are up so we can focus on learning four different birds at a time.

My standard gift for outside teachers is a nice candy bar (or some sort of chocolate) with a Starbucks gift card.

DS normally makes developmental leaps around his birthday. The year we switched was a very large leap. :tongue_smilie: He needed harder work. And I was rethinking how we were doing "school." It just seemed like a good time to switch gears.I don't really know "how" we switched. Just looked through our books, tossed what was too young, added in some harder stuff and went from there. We are in a low-reg state so I didn't have to worry about recording. (I do record, for my own records. The year we switched was just 'short' on days.) I will admit it is a bit odd, but I do know several people that record from Jan-Dec - all the children have end of the year birthdays. We do many classes outside the home and I just record (again, for my own records) that DS took a class from Sept-Dec one year and Jan-May the next, or however the dates fall.

I run our school years from Jan-Dec. DS is a Christmas baby and we school year-round. It just made more sense to me to go by age, starting fresh in January, and not following the public school calendar. We did start homeschooling using the traditional school year but :tongue_smilie: It was so arbitrary when to start and where to end. I am so glad that we switched.

I have a (former) friend that sent her children to preschool at 18 months, which is the earliest many places around here will take them. She was a former preschool teacher and really felt that all children needed the social interaction and early education that preschool offered. We are former friends because I don't agree with her. We tried to retain our friendship, but she was extremely pushy and outspoken about my child "needing" preschool. (Which is interesting because he is very social and was reading before age 4 - her kids? :tongue_smilie:) She could never accept that I wouldn't put DS into preschool, then when we decided to homeschool - it just drove a major wedge between us. I can see possibly putting a child in preschool if Mom needed a break or if there wasn't other options for meeting families with young children. Otherwise, I don't get it.

I don't know about this week as everyone is shipping right now, but wanted to comment on my Amazon experience last week. I ordered a toy on Tuesday, at 5:15 p.m. It arrived Thursday morning. I was amazed.

I have had two gingerbread decorating parties. And survived. :tongue_smilie: 1.) Don't bother mopping your kitchen floor before the party. Save your energy for mopping the floor after! 2.) I bought little paper cups - the kind that might be set out at a wedding w/nuts or mints - at a party supply store, cheap. I filled with an assortment of candy, cereal, pretzels, etc. and set around on the table. That way all the kids had within their reach an assortment of decorations, no reaching over anyone else or complaining that they wanted something at the other end of the table. 3.) Most important - buy a cheap plastic table cloth for the table. When the party is done - just roll up all the mess! We always read a gingerbread boy picture book before decorating. If you can find a large paper gingerbread boy, you can play "pin the gumdrop on the gingerbread boy." Or pin the carrot on the snowman, for a general winter party idea.

I have used their math program since preK - will be starting 3rd grade math in January. Love their math - but not so much their LA. It was just too much busywork for DS. His reading level and interest level are so much higher than his fine motor skills. Probably good for some kids, just not mine.

It is just three of us and I only want to cook one meal on Christmas. We start with homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit for breakfast. I bake the cinnamon rolls the night before and hold them in the fridge to make in the morning. Lunch is a cheese tray, shrimp cocktail and easy appetizers. Generally I make a pizza dip -- block of cream cheese, small can of pizza sauce poured over. Top with sliced black olives or whatever strikes my fancy. Top with some mozzarella cheese and bake until warmed through. Serve with crackers.

I do a roast in the crockpot with tomatoes (of some sort - sauce, diced - whatever I have on hand), dry onion soup mix, sweet potatoes and carrots. It is very good.

I haven't used their "Daily Math Practice" workbook, but I have used and absolutely love their "Building Math Fluency" and "Daily Word Problem" books. I found a used, but unused, "Daily Math Practice" book super-cheap a few weeks ago so I bought it and plan on starting in January. It looks great! It has a mix of problems - word problems, horizontal and vertical math problems, etc. (We are 3rd grade, so I'm not sure about 1st grade level you linked.)

I never give homemade gifts to people that I don't know very well. We do give a gift basket to our librarians, but I always do store-bought - things like individual packages of tea, coffee and hot cocoa. We get homemade gifts from several friends and neighbors that we know well and we - selectively - eat them. As mentioned above -- I don't eat treats when I know that small children "helped." But -- honestly. Several years ago we had some very, very undesirable neighbors. The lady gave us homemade treats one year, even though we were not on a friendly basis. Ours went straight into the trash! Actually, I dumped the entire tray in the trash, then we went out for the evening. When we got home, our house smelled terribly of smoke. We couldn't figure out why... Then I remembered the tray of treats. Ugh. Sure enough - that was the source of the smoke smell. :tongue_smilie:

I don't have many more postings than 9 but also have a FIAR, volume 1, that I would be interested in selling. I am in the US. :D I have never bought/sold on-line before but am trying to clear off the bookshelves before we start again in January!

According to the National Geographic Bee regulations, they do not accept Oceania... Nor do they accept the Southern Ocean as an answer.

DH had an acoustic guitar as a child and tried lessons, but hated it. Flash forward 40 years. DS started asking for a guitar and lessons. But DS wanted an electric guitar! :tongue_smilie: (DH wanted him to get an acoustic guitar; I wanted violin!) We caved. In retrospect, probably a good move. The electric guitar is slimmer and more rounded than an acoustic guitar and easier for a younger child to hold. I don't know which one you are looking at - but DS (almost 8) has an Ibanez (3/4 or junior) with a Fender amp. I would recommend the Ibanez, based off DS's experience. No help with a book. We went with a music teacher. :D DS is already beyond what I can help him with.

DS is a Christmas baby so I am shopping for both. :tongue_smilie: 1.) He has asked for the game Khet for several years now. It is quite pricey. But is it worth it? I have read mixed reviews on-line. Can anyone here give me a review? 2.) We are using The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and DS loves it. He has an Usborne book - Latin for Beginners - that he carries around and reads on his own. I was wondering if anyone knew of any Greek books for younger children? Thanks in advance!

:iagree: My son and I actually survived a seizure, brought on by pregnancy induced HBP. I was 33 weeks along and in the hospital for observations when I had the seizure. One minute I was laying there feeling fine - no symptoms or anything. I woke up 24 hours later and didn't have a clue what had happened to me, nor did I know that my son had been born via c-section. It is a crazy catch-22. Be mindful of the warnings. They are serious. But relax! Don't let it stress you out. :grouphug:

Same here... My DS actually asked to go to school, so - stupid me - searched around for what looked like a wonderful preschool. DS was so excited about going at first, then started crying and clinging to me when I took him to school. I found out later that his teacher had been under investigation for abuse for several years, but they never had proof. Until she shook my DS, then wrote me a note telling me why she did. I don't know what in the world possessed her to actually write me a note, telling me about it! But I turned it over to the school. It was then that I found out that they had been watching her and she was under investigation. The note was the proof they needed to fire her. Three years later, I am still sick to my stomach about it. I wish I had realized that something was going on when my son suddenly didn't want to go to school. I'm not at all saying that anything happened to your child at school. But it is important to watch for signs that something isn't right. Maybe she is just tired or coming down with a cold. Or another student is bothering her. But do keep your eyes and ears open. I always assumed my chatterbox DS could and would share if anything bad happened at school. He never did.

We are actually reading Five Little Peppers and How They Grew right now, too. DS (almost 8) loves it. I can't stand it. :tongue_smilie: I used to be a copy editor in a former life and the punctuation is killing me! I do love the characters and story line, but cannot get past the writing style to enjoy it. I can't wait to finish the book to get back to Mary Poppins. (Have read and loved the first two, have the other two in line to read next.) DH is reading Eldest to DS - another one DS loves.

We have a small nature boys club. Sometimes we meet at a nature park, hiking trail or local creek to play and explore. I think for this age, something loosely organized is best. Moms plan the time and place, let the boys decide on "what" they will be doing. Give them room to explore and create on their own.