for the affirmation that my kid's "normal." :001_smile: I am going to look into the curriculums that were mentioned, too - it could be that doing something more formal will help us out.

I agree with others that it really just depends on your child. I'm actually reading it to my K and 1st grader, and they really are following it and retaining a lot of the information. I highly recommend the activity guide, especially the books that are recommended. Reading many of the extra books has added so much to their understanding by reinforcing concepts from the book & adding new information. Many of them are picture books, which helps a lot, too. My K-er was drawing pictures on her own of "cat mummies" this week. I hope it works for you, we're really having fun! That said, you can always save the fun for another year if your child isn't ready yet! Sarah

My ds (1st) is having trouble with handwriting. He consistently writes several letters backwards. He's my oldest, so I'm not really sure where he should be at right now. We have not done a formal handwriting program - I've used ideas from WWOT, but it's becoming frustrating to both of us. He's especially having trouble with s, g, d, e, p, q, and k. Is this normal or should I be concerned? We do a good amount of writing - copywork, ETC, journaling every day. Also, does anyone have a writing practice program that they recommend, if I do decide to do something more formal? Thanks! Sarah

I don't know about places to stay, as I'm from the D.C. area. There are so many great things to do, but here are a few comments. Mt. Vernon. The new visitors center is great. My kids really enjoyed it and we learned a lot. There are several movies that are excellent in the visitors center, and the slave tour is also very informative and interesting. The Kennedy Center has a free concert every day. Check out their website to see what's going on. The cafeteria (not the restaurant) above the Kennedy Center has a great view, reasonably priced and very good food (MUCH better than the museums). You can walk around the top of the Center and see the whole city - especially cool at night. Check to see when it's open, though. Really all of the museums are interesting, but it just depends on what your family is interested in. The Holocaust museum is excellent but has some more adult content. There are a lot of great restaurants around the verizon center, like on 7th st. And Chinatown is near there also. Hope that helps! Sarah

We either give them to people we know or donate them to goodwill. Just as a side note, we have several people who have given clothes to us and I always appreciate it SO much. We're on a limited budget, so not having to buy an entire new wardrobe is wonderful. That way, I can focus on buying just a few special outfits. I guess I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to those of you who give clothes to your friends or family - as a recipient, I can't tell you the warm feeling it gives me to get a big bag of free clothes!! It makes my day, and sometimes even my week! Sarah

Wow, so many people have offered such great thoughts and ideas. I think that simply considering all of this is a great first step. Our family has struggled with the materialism of Christmas as well. While we are Christians, my concern has actually been more just about the consumerism and materialism of the holidays. After a little research, I was amazed at the amount of money we spend in the U.S. around Christmastime. While this may be helpful to our economy, if just a little of that money was spent on things like clean water projects throughout the world, we could eliminate thousands of deaths due to contaminated drinking water. I guess I really struggle with that in the face of me wanting to give gifts to my kids - well, let's face it, this is a year long struggle! We haven't really "figured out" how to handle all of this. I suppose we went kind of radical and didn't buy anything last Christmas (except for extended family, and we didn't impose any restrictions on them either. I felt that it would come off too goody-goody to tell everybody else what to do). We actually explained poverty to our kids and let them choose if they wanted gifts from us or if they wanted to send money to families in need and they chose to send money to others. I don't know what we'll do this year. Last year, it just seemed easier to find balance by making an extreme change. Sarah

I just finished my 1st week of schooling and I am also having a hard time fitting everything in! I actually still feel okay with my curriculum choices, but everything I planned is taking much longer than I expected! I know that I have really high standards for myself, so I'm trying to just hang on and let things even out. Actually, what I have found myself doing the most is reminding myself that the main goal right now is to establish in my children a love of learning and a desire to learn. I find myself just wanting to "get through" so I can check it off my list instead of relaxing and making sure we're enjoying the process. It's nice to know that I'm not alone - thanks for posting! Sarah

I have a Lodge Logic pan too. I bought it at Bed, Bath & Beyond and I've enjoyed it a lot. I've used it to cook all kinds of things. I even have a deep-dish pizza recipe from cooking light that's turned out FANTASTIC.

My son will be in 1st grade this year and so far I haven't purchased any curriculum for him. Honestly, he just hates workbooks so much that I felt it wouldn't be helpful. He's going to be doing ETC, starting book 3, which is hard enough to get him to do. Reading has not come easily for him, and I hesitate to push him with a spelling book while he's still working on reading fluently. Has anyone else just "made up" a spelling plan? Any ideas or suggestions for me? Here's my plan: I checked out some books from the library about spelling and based on that I'm planning to have him learn about 200 words for the year, about 150 frequently used words and then 50 more based on words HE uses a lot or that might be fun for him (Batman, for example!). I'm going to have a word wall that we put those words on and a little test at the end of each week. I'll come up with activities or games to help learn the words for the week. I'm actually considering letting him actually paint the words on the wall himself (!) to make it fun. I'm hoping to just incorporate spelling rules from the ETC book or patterns that we come across. Am I missing key elements for a spelling curriculum? Is there some place that I could see examples of spelling "rules" he should be learning this year? Is this a big mistake? Thanks! Sarah

Okay, I can see that the first thing I need to do is go out and buy the Ball preserving book! Thank you all for the GREAT ideas - I can't wait to get started. melissaL-I'm definitely going to try that ketchup/chutney - it looks yummy. Do you can it? If so, do you know for how long and at what pressure? closeacademy-thanks for all the information and ideas. I may have more questions as I go along, so I'll probably be in touch. :) I'll have to see if the library has those books. Last, does anyone have a specific website that's been helpful? I did try googling for recipes, but couldn't find very much! Thanks again, Sarah

Hi, I'm new to the boards - I'm seeing so much great information and advice, so I'm hoping to get a little help! I'm stepping up my canning & freezing plans this year as I try to feed my family more from the garden all year round. I have lots of tomatoes coming and I wondered if anyone has some good recipes for tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, etc. In the past, I've tried canning spaghetti sauce and it ends up too runny - what am I doing wrong? I'd appreciate any other recipes too if you've had great success with anything. For now, I'm planning to can green beans, diced tomatoes, and peaches. I'm so happy to be here! Sarah