[Question about those 'custom' college textbooks?]

There is probably a facebook group for buying/selling textbooks at that university. I'd check there first.

[Starting our new school year tomorrow...nervous!]

We just pushed out start date up from August to July 9th, so we have two more weeks of swimming lessons and reading The Boxcar Children before we get started. :)

 

Good luck with your first day!

[Best time/level to start Life of Fred?]

Thanks, all three responses are actually super helpful!

 

He's counting fine and can read and write his numbers, but hasn't quite figured out addition yet. We're halfway through Singapore Essential K and will probably start Math Mammoth (or Singapore :glare:) 1 in September/October.

 

Looks like LOF might make a good Christmas gift! :tongue_smilie:

[Best time/level to start Life of Fred?]

I think my boys will love LOF (oldest loves math and the both love reading and anything silly), and I was going to wait a year or two so that it wouldn't be over my younger son's head. But, I've read on here that people are rereading the books several times at different ages, so that missing things the first time through is okay. It's something I wouldn't have thought of, but it sounds like a great idea.

 

My questions: What is the earliest (in terms of math level) that you would start LOF? Would a child get anything out of it if they did it alongside first grade math?

 

Thank you!

[how do you skip grades homeschooling?]

We're in the same place with my 5 year old. I'm calling him a kindergartener this year, even though he'll be working on everything from 1st to 4th grade.

 

I think it would be easier to skip grades later or graduate early than to fight to prove that your 5 year old should be in 2nd grade. I know here there is a strict age limit.

 

Welcome!

[2012-2013 Choices...]

I'm going to post this here in an effort to stop myself from changing my mind again.

 

2012-2013

 

Max (5)

WWE 1

FLL 1

Spelling Workout A

HWOT 2

Logic Safari 2 & 3

Pre-history/Ancient History (SOTW & others)

Beast Academy 3A+

Math Mammoth Blue Series

+ fun math

 

Dom (4)

WWE 1

FLL 1

Spelling Workout A

HWOT 1

Lollipop Logic 2 & 3

Pre-history/Ancient History (SOTW & others)

Singapore Essential B, then MM 1A

 

This looks kind of ridiculous, but we won't start it all at once. We're starting the language arts and math in two weeks and will leave history until August or September.

[Creative writing? Do you ask your kids to do this?]

With my 4 and 5 year olds, we haven't done writing "assignments" yet, but I do encourage them to write whenever they want to. They write stories, letters to Grandpa, e-mails to dad at work, rules for games they make up, notes to each other, etc. It has only been for the last few months that they've been capable of writing like this, so I haven't started anything formal yet. We'll start WWE in a few weeks and add some more writing as we go.

[S/O--Busted---do you have a lock on your bedroom door?]

We have a lock, but rarely use it. If our kids have nightmares, they tend to sit in their beds and scream out to us, so we don't have to worry about them coming in.

[So have you ever bought to much for a specific subject??]

I have way too many Language Arts materials at the first grade level. I'm thinking now that they'll move through it too quickly for it all to be useful.

 

I think I also buy too much and too far ahead for math, but at least the boys are at different levels so if I don't use it for my older son, my younger son might still be able to use it.

[Kids Are Throwing My Planning Off!]

This is why I don't do too much planning. :D

 

I've moved our start date up a few times already and they're already sneaking into their school stuff. :tongue_smilie:

[How do you know what reading level your child is at?]

When a parent says that their child is reading at X grade reading level, I just take it to mean that the child is reading books that an X grader typically reads. They may have had testing done or not.

 

I find it awkward, but people seem to always ask me what grade reading level my kids are at. I don't know, but could probably guess. Instead, I just list a couple books they've read lately and let the person form their own conclusions.

[Things you can respond to if you wish:]

I feel like I'm missing out on the inside joke, but I like to post lol.

 

I don't use my crockpot often, but the one I have is very pretty.

I don't have a crockpot. I feel like buying a crockpot is a rite of passage for the mother of a large family, and I don't have enough children to qualify.

 

I put my shopping cart in the corral because I have several dents on my mini van that I know are from wayward carts.

I put my shopping cart in the corral because to make life easier for the sunburnt teenage boys who have to collect them.

 

I pefer the males in the house to sit down to pee, so they don't splash on the heating register. It smells yucky and reminds me of the old Fenway Park stench. Although I never check to see if they are standing or not.

I taught my boys to pee sitting down and Dh got mad. They're actually less messy than he is. :tongue_smilie:

I like the Duggars.

I do too. :)

 

I don't understand Joseph Smith and the seer stone, but I am nice to suited young men who kock on my door. I've learned that it's kind to offer lemonade.

I get them a drink and sit down with them for a few minutes, then send them off with juice boxes and snacks. They seem sooooo young to me now.

I think the story of Abraham and Issac is metaphorical.

Agreed.

 

I started watching Dance Moms again, even while I promised I would stop.

I prefer Dance Moms Miami. :tongue_smilie: I've been showing the boys Lucas' dance routines to try to get them interested, but it's hard when 99% of the show is inappropriate. :glare:

 

I think 99.99% of perfectly healthy teens brew their own tea whether we witness it or not, even if bedroom and bathroom doors are removed, and even if the shower curtain is replaced with sliding glass.

I'd say 90-95%. Some of my closest friends say they did not, but have admitted to much worse, so I believe them. 99.99% seems like it would be accurate for teen boys though.

 

I still have unschooling tendencies.

I wouldn't mind unschooling, but my kids would go crazy. My 5 year old broke into our school room yesterday and did the first few lessons of his new math curriculum in his head because he couldn't wait to start. :lol: He didn't write the answers in so I wouldn't catch him, but he confessed at bedtime.

[Re-introduce yourself, no matter how long or short you've been here]

My name is Mélie and I currently live in Texas with my British (soccer-loving :glare:) husband and our two dorky little boys. :D

 

We started homeschooling in January 2012 and will start our first full year in two weeks. We aren't religious and decided to homeschool for academic reasons. Also, we are a bilingual family and hope to do some of our studies in French in a few years.

 

I'm new here, but about to start with some WTM methods and materials, so I'll be around a fair bit! :)

[Do your kids play disturbing made up games?]

My children also play orphans, but sometimes they take it a step farther pretend to be the only people left on the planet. If I come in the room, I have to be a ghost because no other people exist. :glare:

 

They also come up with some interesting super powers, including flamethrower farts. :lol:

[Comic books for little boys?]

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

 

I went ahead and ordered a couple Calvin and Hobbes, Tiny Titans and Amulet books. They're pretty excited!

[It's 950am, what have you accomplished today so far?]

It's 12:40 here and so far I've unpacked Dh's suitcase and done his laundry, fed the boys and read to them, took them to swimming lessons, took them shoe shopping, took them to the park, went grocery shopping and made lunch. It's been a long morning.

[Comic books for little boys?]

Wait, how old are they? The age you gave and the age in your sig are different.

Sorry, they're 4.5 and 5.5.

 

Thanks for all the recommendations! Calvin and Hobbes and Tiny Titans look like they'll be perfect, and I'll take a closer look at the rest!

[Comic books for little boys?]

In preparation for Beast Academy, I had my parents ship my old Tintin and Astérix comics to show the boys. We've been reading them for a few weeks now and they're hooked, but they can't read French and want some comic books in English. I've been looking online and checked at a couple stores and most of the comic books don't even seem to be written for children. I'm thinking of ordering the English versions of Tintin and Astérix, but I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations first.

 

I saw Calvin and Hobbes mentioned in another thread and it looks fun, so I think I will order a few of those. But, the boys are really into superheroes and the only superhero comic books I find seem to be for teens and adults.

 

Do you have any recommendations for superhero or other comic books? The boys are both reading well and aren't too sensitive, so anything appropriate for a 7-9 year old would be fine.

 

Thank you!

[Random things...]

There is an unofficial board rule that if one uses a recipe to make something one has to post said recipe. Even if it isn't edible. :D:lol:

 

We used the instructions here, but there are lots of recipes online! :)

[How much do you remember from what you learned in high school and college?]

I studied engineering and English in university. Of course I remember the English (and have learned 10x as much since then), but I never worked as an engineer and I don't think I remember enough to do so. I do remember a lot of physics and math.

 

From high school, I remember a lot from the one world history course I took, but I don't remember anything from my two years of Spanish.

[Random things...]

This morning, we made home-made sunscreen that smelled like mangoes, but I was too afraid to test it out today. I think tomorrow I'll give it a try on my arms. Hmm.

[Do the next thing]

I have a general idea of what I want us to accomplish this year in history, but science will be completely interest-led and math and English will be "do the next thing". :)

[What time of day do you take a shower?]

Sometime in the morning when the boys are really focused on lego or a good book. :)

[Getting the itch to start the school year!]

I'm feeling exactly the same way! We were going to wait until late August to start our new stuff, but I realized how little we have planned after July 6th, so we're going to go ahead and start on the 9th or 10th. We're going to go 5 days a week, but I'm going to keep our days pretty light at first to see how it goes. :)

[How can someone so smart be so dumb?!]

When did my kid move in with you? :tongue_smilie:

 

A few weeks ago, I took my 5yo along with me to the pharmacy. When we pulled into the parking lot, he finally decided to tell me that he'd forgotten his shoes on our front lawn. :001_huh: He didn't remember exactly why he'd laid his shoes on the lawn in the first place. He did make sure to explain his predicament to every stranger who gave us odd looks while I was carrying him around and he was reading out my shopping list.