Jumpstart's been a huge hit here as well!

We do this same thing. I made my ds do all od the addition and subtraction problems in each lesson until I was certain he had his facts down. Now he only does 4-6/lesson, but does every multiplication problem. He also does everything on the tests. It has worked well and is a motivator for him.

This is me too so I will often use my own story as an example of negative socialization in ps schools. It was hard being painfully shy and overly sensitive in ps school growing up. My experiences in ps school did not help my situation. I didn't really start growing out of it until I was in the military and started moving every 2.5 yrs. Being married to an extrovert helps too. Thankfully, none of my dc seem to suffer from my extreme shyness but I still do get questions about what we're doing about socialization. Most (if not all) of the questions come from people who don't know us well. I usually struggle with an answer. Yes, my dc have friends and do participate in sports but not because I feel the need for them to be socialized. My struggle is more in the arena of not over-scheduling them. I do dislike that some people we come in contact with are apt to blame childish behavior on homeschooling instead of childhood. I feel like we'd be less scrutinized if I sent my dc to a b&m school.

I've heard this also and I do find that I'm more comfortable when I know the proper way of things in different situations...eating a formal dinner comes to mind. I took a formal class (set up through my Girl Scout leader) in either late elementary or jr. high. It seems like it wouldn't be too hard to set something up like that yourself at some point or find something offered in your community. I'm glad you brought this up because I'd like to teach my boys some formal lessons on manners too and am going to look at the resources listed.

I let my boys wear what they want if we're staying home. My oldest will change into pjs as soon as we get home from anywhere but my 4yo likes to get dressed before he leaves his room in the morning. I don't care what they're in when we're home. It doesn't seem to affect school.

I've run into this. I have a good friend who isn't against hsing but thinks I'm crazy for not taking advantage of our great school system. Of course, she doesn't really want to discuss my reasons. It's fine, just a place where we disagree.

I'd just explain to them that the materials cost $ and it is not possible to do the work wothout the materials. If you don't want to pay for them and they can't then the preschool at your house will no longer be a good fit. It is nice of you to hold a no cost preschool at your house but you shouldn't have to pay to do it unless you feel led to bless that family in that way.

Mine are 24 mo apart and I can't teach them together for much. It would be different if they're birth order were reversed, though. They are very cooperative so subjects like read alouds, art, Latin, and science can be done together but they have different stregths in the 3Rs and my oldest is much more mature (even accounting for the age difference) which leads us to separate curricula. I haven't done much with my 4yo because of my philosophy for preschool but I don't anticipate much changing due to personalities.

Mine is almost exactly what we did for ds last year. I plan on repeating it for my middle ds next year. It was literature rich using SL and focusing on the 3Rs. I added things that my ds was most interested in. For him that was a lot of math, geography, and more science reading. My middle guy loves to read so we'll probably do more of that than my first ds did. Here's our line-up: SL P4/5 w/ readers 1 or 2 SWR Horizons K w/Miquon Orange. (ds1 also made it through Horizons 1 and Singapore PM 1 but I'll play It by ear) AP preschool art book Maybe: Evan-Moor Beginning Geography SSL FLL 1

I try to proof my posts more closely now that I'm using my iPad but occasionally something crazy gets past me. I should add a disclaimer to my sig. :D

We also do the same as Spycar using the tb for instruction and the wb for independent work. We use CWP (old version) when we're finished with a level. We finished 2B in December and are working through CWP 2 until we start 3A on the 31st. We usually go through CWP in 3-4 wks but took 4 weeks off for Christmas.

Ds#1(Midwife in hospital): $16. I was in the military and they still deducted my sustenance pay for the two days I was in the hospital. They finally realized that the process cost more than the pay so they don't do it anymore. He was our cheapest dc. Ds#2(Midwife in hospital): <$100. We just had a $5 copay for office visits back then. Dh worked for a self-insured company. Ds#3 (OB in hospital...no CNM privelidges here): $5000 for me and about $300 for ds. Dh started working for a start-up and we chose a high deductible plan. We set aside money each month to go into an HSA to pay Dr. bills and it wasn't bad. Because we got pg so soon after the move, we had to make payments to the hospital for a few months as we were still filling our HSA. Ds#4 (Same as #3): I'm guessing about $5000 total. Unfortunately, this pg spans two calendar years so my deductible resets. The good thing is that since we've filled our HSA over the last two years, we'll be able to pay the hospital in full and they'll give us a hefty discount. Our high deductible plan was weird for me at first but with our HSA, I prefer it. We are a healthy family with maybe 1-3 sick visits/yr so we come out way ahead.

Oh, I can't wait! My ds keeps asking to start LOF Fractions but he's at least 18 months from being ready for it. I hope the early books come out soon!

I started using two math programs (Singapore and Horizons) because my very math ds was tearing through Singapore PM a little fast for my taste and Horizons added in some consistent review for him. It did slow him down a bit but now I see that he's getting the benefit of two different styles of math instruction. I do use SM as my main teaching program, though. I later added Miquon to fill my ds's need for math exploration (and fell in love with it). Now, I'll be using all three in some capacity with my other dc whether they're math or not. We'll just adjust the pace as needed. FTR, I'm very comfortable teaching math. I tutor high school and college level math so it is my favorite subject to teach my dc.

2nd Grader: Math: Singapore 3B/4A, Miquon Yellow/Purple, Horizons finish 3 and into 4, Zaccaro's PCM LA: SWR, FLL2, WWE2, SL Readers Int/Adv History/Geo/Lit: Finish Core 1, Start Core 2 + Geo supps Art: ICDAT, AP K-3 Book 1 Logic: Continue CTA: K-3 Science: Noeo Physics 1 Latin: Prima Latina Bible: Vos? and SL Kindergartner: Math: Horizons K and Miquon Orange, Singapore PM1 and Miquon Red when finished LA: SWR, CF, DEL, SL Readers 2, FLL1? Literature/Science/Bible: SL P4/5 Plus tagging along with brother in art, science and Latin when he wants Ummm... I think that's all I have planned.

Miquon doesn't add much time and we don't do it everyday. It is very helpful and my ds's favorite of the three programs we use. He calls it fun math.

Sounds like a GREAT reason to me. As my ds isn't old enough to make French toast unsupervised yet (counting the days...), my reason is so that I don't have to haul 3 dc and my pg body out at 7:20 to get one child to school. Oh...I'm miserable just thinking about it! We're usually still asleep at that time in the winter when it isn't light enough to wake us up. By the time ds would have been able to walk himself to school, I use your reason. :D

:grouphug: I can imagine how hard it is for you to be so far away. I've been pg 6 times in the last 8 yrs and am due with my 4th ds in March but have had two m/c. Early pg is pretty stressful for me because I get so worried. With both your history and dd's, it is understandable to be a nervous Nellie. Praying that your dd gets through this trimester and you can all relax to enjoy the next 6 months. I do agree with the others that loss of breast tenderness that late wouldn't raise any flags for me.

I let my ds do worksheets how he wants if it doesn't matter to learning the material. This mostly comes up in Horizons math. The expectation is that the sheet gets done and as long as he isn't dawdling, he has freedom to control that part of school. I'll even let him skip pages as long as they are completed the next day (as he's completing part of tomorrow's assignment instead). This hasn't been an issue as he always asks politely and then completes the required work the next day. Now, if he had refused to do the skipped pages with a good attitude the next day, our arrangement would change. Now, I would never let him do that with another program...Horizons spiral nature and the fact we use it as review makes that possible.

If it's an uncomplicated pg, I'd say go. I've travelled on an airplane during all my pgs. Twice at 35+ weeks and no problems. My midwives/ob were all very supportive although I did make my ob nervous last time since I was coming back right at the 36 wk mark. She did give me her blessing as long as I took a copy of my medical records with me. 16 wks should be a great time to travel.

We're using SSL for my 1st grader and it is a great intro. It's helped us learn some vocab and pronunciation. Ds says Latin is his favorite subject ATM. We're going to follow up with Prima Latina and then onto CL1.

We're using both of these and they're great. My ds really likes I Can Do All Things from HGTA. I'm not artsy either so having curricula really helps art to happen in our house.

We're just starting PM3 so I'm interested in the answers you get about the bar diagrams. As far as showing work...I'm a huge stickler on this. I make my ds show all of his work. Mainly, this is because I tutor high school and college math students and they are so sloppy about showing their work which leads them to get the wrong answer often. I get so weary of beating them over the head with, "if you'd shown your work properly, you wouldn't have made x mistake." Therefore, I see it as teaching my ds good habits young so that they will be solid by the time he gets to Algebra. When my ds complains, I tell him we can give Miss Hannah a call (his former babysitter and my former student who is off at college) to discuss how important it is.

Obviously, I don't ;). We just add Sonlight readers once we get to List I which is when SWR directs you to start adding in reading assignments.

I have mine and ds's memorized. Life's just easier that way. However, I'll be tested when C-Monster gets his in June (Kindy right of passage in our house). I wonder just how many library card numbers I can memorize...