The microphone you bought is the same one I bought for my son last Christmas (in a different color). It works just as expected. I think yours came broken

I got my dd MunchPak last year. I chose the mini and it is plenty.

Child watches the video. Completes the “odds” I check the work. 80% or better means that he can move on to the next thing tomorrow. Less than 80% means he has to do the evens tomorrow. I make a judgement call about if he needs to rewatch the video, be retaught by me, or just try again. We use the checklists found on the website to keep track of what is next.

Years ago I took my < 3 month old to the pool in a mesh sling. I would sit on the side while my 2 and 4 year old kids swam around my legs. I was cautious about getting in however, because once I got out to sit back on the side, or even just stand in knee deep water, the baby didn’t like being in a wet sling.

I used Breaking the Barrier French last year and the iBook had no tests. I don’t know how anything can be printed.

It’s probably kids. My 10 year old will do this...after he sticks it on his eye and peers through it for awhile pretending it’s a monocle.

Replacing my son’s mattress pad really helped his stinky room.

I recently bought the academic planner from Order out of Chaos.

About 4 years ago we moved into a house with painted floors. They were scuffed up, but we had plans to strip them and refinish the wood floors underneath. We still have not done it, but we get compliments all the time about our floors. The scuffing adds charm-even the big drag mark where I tried to move the couch all by myself! I never would have made the bold step to paint my own floors, but I am glad somebody did!

I recommend doing two sentences each lesson. I have tried doing all 4, but it gets sooo tedious. You can skip the copy work to save time, but you may want to have your children write an occasional sentence that contains dialogue (or other punctuation) so you know they know the correct placement of commas and quotation marks.

Our new laptop doesn't have a DVD player, so I bought a small DVD player so that type of instruction could happen anywhere and not be distracting. You can get one for less than $20.

Thanks! That was fun!

I have bought used furniture many times and never had a problem.

I have tried to like Elemental science. I have started it twice with two different 5th graders. Up until 4th grade we loosely followed the WTM suggestions and also made up my own science. I thought this would just be a more organized way of doing it, but for us it was too formal. It doesn't sound like it would be a good fit for you, especially if the price is a stretch.

I read the book about three weeks ago. I think you will be fine. I don't remember anything like what you are worried about, and I think it would have registered with me because my 16 yo is also reading it.

We used DIVE for biology last year and did not have a great experience. We used the streaming videos and online tests and quizzes. The instructions say that all information the student needs is in the lectures and the reading is just there to support the lectures. However, we did not find that to be the case. I watched a few lectures with my son and then took the quiz myself. The quiz questions were sometimes very random. My son did not do well, but since we were using the online version and I couldn't see the tests or quizzes, I didn't know how to help him study. He watched the labs and did some of them on his own . Most could not be done in a household setting because specialty equipment was not available to us. He would have preferred less cool labs that he could do all on his own. It turned me off from all DIVE products.

My son was 6 when he was diagnosed as well. We didn't realize he was sick for several weeks. Good job on catching it so soon! I remember the first time we left the house after coming home from the hospital. It was like having a new baby! There are so many extra things to think about and bring along! You will get into a routine, though, and adjust to a new normal.

It looks like you have decided to go with IEW, and I just wanted to say that I think that is a good decision. I tried EIW last year for 3 of my children and was not really impressed. We only made it 1/3 of the way through before switching back to IEW or WWS.

I think it depends on the child. I stopped with my oldest after R&S 6. He really struggled with it and we needed the time for other subjects. I probably should have stopped sooner. My DD finished R&S 7 and we are continuing to study grammar with IEW's Fix It. She is good at it and I can see the knowledge of grammar being beneficial to her in her future plans.

I didn't do spelling with my good speller.

My older children were not assigned reading until 5th grade. I used the book list in TWTM. My younger children have the assignment of reading from our "book box" once or twice a week. I started that in 2nd grade, but they didn't do much more than look at the pictures at that point. The book box contains the literature and nonfiction selections from SOTW. I had more time to read aloud when all the children were younger, so I didn't need to assign it then. Now I don't have as much time, and it is a way to keep my younger children busy while I am helping the older ones.

It was what my mom said when I was a kid to get us all out to the car.

I tried using it along with RS G like you with my oldest. He was in 7th. I bought the first few modules used. They were the CD version. The program jumped from pre algebra work into algebra pretty quickly. I had to quit and use a pre algebra course. We never went back to videotext.

I had my kids write down 1 fact per section as they read, so they had 6-10 facts for each chapter. We shared our facts, and then I came up with a few discussion questions.

My oldest didn't learn to read fluently until almost 9. I didn't start him with spelling until about 10 years old. We quickly were able to go through the early AAS books. He is not the greatest speller, but he does ok. I tell you that story because I want you to know that it is ok to wait with spelling. The first spelling words in any spelling program are all very similar and should be very easy for a child to spell - that is if the child is developmentally ready. If your son is struggling with it in AAS, I think he will struggle with any program. It is ok to wait.