What kind of show is it?

Usually the manual says it's good for x years from date of manufacture. I'd look it up. Most manuals are available online if you don't still have yours.

I wanted to just use the Instructor text. For DS7 level 1, I used it in conjunction with the SOTW comprehension questions. That works fine when your just looking for a factual narration. (I didn't pay any attention to the copywork and used FLL to inspire copywork selections.) Now, in WWE level 2, we needed to begin picking out the important points in the passage and summarizing. It was very hard for me to make up appropriate guided questions on my own. The WWE2 workbook lays all that out for me. So, I've official switched to the workbook. I do think if I didn't have so many little children that I'd prefer the Instructor's Guide. But the workbook gives me one less thing to think about.

Thanks you again! :)

Thank you thank you! Do you know if there is any documentation/law stating this that I can show DH?

In short, no. She's been to our house twice: once to check it out, and again to give us her "pitch" including suggested listing price and comps. We also had two other realtors come out and do the exact same thing. The only difference is, with this one, I called her back and said I'd like to use her to sell our house. She has not come back on site nor given any verbal support beyond her pitch meeting.

DH and I plan on listing our house for sale this spring. We interviewed realtors and chose one to help us sell. We have signed nothing. The house is not listed for sale in any capacity. I found out a friend is interested in our house. Would the realtor we have a verbal agreement with have any legal recourse against us if we sold this house without her? How would I find this out? We live in GA. Thanks!

My baby is 12 months (today!) And is eating about 30% solids. I opted to fast. Amid my stair-step children, I've been exempt for the past 8 years. I felt I was capable this year, so I decided to. That said, if I had ever felt woosy or terribly drained, I definitely would have eaten. As it is, I'm doing fine. :)

Thank you for your response! Lots for me to chew on. Looks like I need to go back and read TWTM (again!). And I'll look up those Thinking Tree books.

Before I even learned the terms "notebooking", "commonplace", or "bullet journal", I've always felt drawn to keeping a notebook, for whatever. It seems this desire has been passed down to my children. They love drawing and copying things into spiral notebooks and composition books. Up until now, this has just been something they do in their free time, an embodiment of their love of learning. Today, DS7 copied a diagram of the composition of the Earth and copied the paragraphs on the page pertaining to it. He did this on his own, separate from school work. He asked if he could count it as his copywork for today, and I said Absolutely! I would like to harness this method to use for our homeschool. I want to be able to hand my child a notebook, book, and a pencil and just GO. Simple, uncomplicated, no printing or researching to slow us down. Are there any websites or blogs that discuss HOW to notebook? I don't mind printing an occasional picture or diagram to be colored, but I don't want the main focus to be on printing pages. Also, resources on how to integrate LA would be great. Thank you!

I was just taking with DH about this. No advice, just commiseration. :/

I've used FreeTaxUSA for the past 8 years. We qualify for free federal filing and state filing is $12.95. Never any issues!

DH is an aerospace engineer. Many employers will pay for/refund you when earning a higher, work-related degree (the refund is by semester and is grade dependent). See if he can look up prospective employers to see what the general benefits available are. DH entered the engineering world with a BS, so I honestly don't know what the benefits are to entering with a higher degree. It probably depends on what specifically your DS wants to do, or if there's a particular company he's looking at that's more competitive. HTH!

I don't have any direct experience... but most kids can memorize a list of random letters... called the Alphabet! So, if you're so inclined, try to match the letters to a tune to sing together!

I was just thinking about this...planning way way ahead, I was looking at MP's Geography, which has profiles on every country by region. And I thought, how would I have looked these countries up? I didn't remember having country anthologies like that... Then it hit me - encyclopedias! When we get a bigger house, I need to remember I want some. ;)

I don't call it bullet journaling, but it's a similar concept. I have a cheap, spiral bound notebook that I write all my big picture planning in. I like to plan my school year during the summer (I do tweak when necessary). My notebook is a messy place. One set of pages is a detailed, year long lesson plan for science. The next page is short notes comparing writing curricula. Next is a weekly routine for history. It's basically my homeschool brain dump intermixed with specific schedules and lesson plans. I have the pages I want to refer to tabbed with a post it note. As for weekly planning, I have blank weekly schedule printouts that I use for DS7 and DD5. So our detailed weekly plans are NOT in my notebook. I have a 3-ring binder where I file those away as the year goes on. I do have pages in my notebook with titles like Books Read Aloud and Field Trips, but I'm really bad about going back and filling those in. Now I try to jot those down on the kids' weekly pages as we go. I'm all about the hybrid. ;)

My latest Handy Hubby Project: he dismantled a 26 year old, double-paned window, replaced the broken pane with a $12 cut pane from Lowes, reassembled said window, and reinstalled it. Also brought to you by Super Handy FIL Who Takes the Time to Help His Kids and Their Families. :)

Childrens Place has some that are 94% cotton. :/ Just basic colors though. Girls clothes are so dumb. http://m.childrensplace.com/product?url=us%2Fp%2Fgirls-clothing%2Fgirls-bottoms-girls-pants%2Fgirls-bottoms-girls-pants-active%2FGirls-Active--Foldover-Knit-Pants-1119059-01&locale=US_USD&campaignId=1&partner=tcp

DS7 also slowed down in MM when we got to regrouping. While she uses c-rods, I think you would benefit from watching the videos at http://www.educationunboxed.com - whenever we get stuck on something I check to see what methods are used on this site. Then I pull out a marker board and make up problems to do together. Hooray, no math book AND extra mommy time! I'll also pull out dice to help us pick numbers to use. Hope this helps!

I recently revamped our history for similar reasons. I don't have the time to sit nicely and do everything I WANT to do while also caring for the little littles. We're using SOTW 2 right now. I already had the text and the activity guide. I recently bought the audio book mp3. So now for each chapter, I have them listen to it while they color the coloring page. After 2 chapters have been listened to, we do a map day and do the maps for those 2 chapters. Occasionally we have a review day where we read through the review cards and flip through our history notebook (which contains the completed coloring pages and maps). To help facilitate this, we stopped doing the review questions and narrations. I just bought WWE2 to use instead. My ideal would be to use science and history for writing, but at this stage, that's not realistic. I also get books from the library, but to do schedule a time to read them. DS7 is a decent reader, so he will read the books and therefore gets more exposure to the topics. So now we do history 3 times a week, 20-30 minutes each time. Hope that helps!

My kids are the same, all nursed at night. At right about 18 months, we night wean. Like you, I kinda snap and feel the baby can understand verbal communication enough to know I'm not completely deserting him. So, I pick a 6 hour time span, say 11pm-5am, and that's when DH is on deck. No nursing in those hours. I say the "b00bies are sleeping". The first 2-3 nights can be rough, so we start on a weekend so DH can sleep in if need be. Once we get over that hump, I'll take over night waking again, but still no nursing. HTH! ETA, at this time, we take the crib down and put the crib mattress on the floor. Then we put a camping map and sleeping bag next to it so the parent can sooth the baby in his bed. We also use pacifiers.

Embarrassing, but mostly funny. I was Christmas shopping in a very crowded mall with DS7, who was 18 months old at the time... and still breastfeeding. I knew he was sleepy and wanted to nurse. I had one more purchase to make and thought I could squeeze it in. As I'm walking to the checkout counter, he flips out and screams BOOBIES! at the top of his lungs. Fellow patrons chuckled and one man cheekily asked, Hungry? Uh yeah.

Probably, maybe, something like... Individual work: Reading...? DD5 read at a 2nd grade level Spalding for spelling and Phonics reinforcement WWE1 and FLL1 (grammar lessons only) Math Mammoth 2 Daily Geography grade 1 As a family: SOTW3, mostly using the Audiobook Elemental Science, Chemistry for the Grammar Stage Some Catholic stuff Some art stuff Some music stuff. Maybe piano?

If you had offered that much to me for the distance specified, I would have been caught off guard as it's a LOT more than necessary. I would have agreed and wondered to myself if there were some other cost I wasn't considering for you to offer so much. Then, after having calculated a more fair amount, I would tell you that you offered too much and $1.50 a round trip would be more than enough. Especially since they're going to the same exact loction.

We save 10% pretax in a 403b and have since DH started his career. His employer contributes 2%, which will go up to 10% in about 1.5 years. This is independent of what we contribute. No pension. Our only debts are our mortgage and one car payment. We don't pay extra on our mortgage, but pay off our cars early when we can (which we did last year with our other car). Retirement is a priority concurrently with living within our means. Luckily we can do both. We emphasise retirement over college funds for the kids, though if we ever feel we can, we will. Right now we're saving for a larger house (10% plus whatever we can muster up).