But I WILL admit I was crushed when Birdi asked "When do I start REAL school mom?? When do I get to meet my new teacher?" He sister said "You're IN school.. we homeschool now. Mom is your teacher." She looked crushed. I felt like I was stealing from her. Ugh. The kids wanted to be up early to watch the bus come and go (everyone but Birdi (DD6, who is still sound asleep). They didn't say much, I'm sure they have mixed feelings. I can tell you I felt relief as it pulled away. Watching the same kind of crap out at the bus stop (it's literally across from our driveway).. Kids in clusters. One just standing alone off to the side . I don't want that for my kids. But now the fear is setting in. Can the stuff we've been doing really be enough? It seems like there should be more. Red marks, grades, a longer day. Should I 'classroom up' a little more for Birdi's sake? I don't know what to do. I can tell the curriculum I bought her is WAY beneath her, but I'm still running through it with her just to take it slow. Maybe that's the wrong idea. Thoughts?

Switched one kiddo from LoF to TT Switched both kiddos to a Flashkids workbook for advanced readers (From PLL and ILL) Switched one kiddo from PLL to another Flashkids workbook in LA We were following MFW recs for LA, but just didn't love it. I like Writing strands, so we're keeping that for the older. But those Flashkids books were actually kinda nice, and super inexpensive.

I haven't made it to 'after lunch' really.. I don't care for starting on independent things, because I just feel like the day needs to start together. But then to do science and other 'together' things (art, etc) I'd rather do that in the afternoon. So maybe it just needs to go: together, apart, together. I have been writing lesson plans, but after reading these posts, I do think I need to just structure the day and try to stick (loosely) to it. I'll work on a 'plan' this weekend for laying out the together, apart, together approach, and report back. :tongue_smilie:

Hmmmm.. I never considered dumping 1st, simply because I want to try to make it work. I do love the proverbs, and the little bible (she will be SO STOKED to do that). The math is remedial for her, so I think I might feel a little better finding a separate math.. I keep forgetting about the animals book. I should have pulled that out today when I was doing lat/longitude with the bigger girls. :glare: Note to self: plan.. Got it. Lol. Some really, REALLY great suggestions here. Thank you guys. I hope to see more ideas in action. The post it plan is awesomesauce. I will for sure check out Managers of Their Homes. Maybe that will help.

Fantastic idea..

I have 3rd and 6th graders in ECC, and 1st grader doing MFW 1st grade (<---which is feeling like a total waste):glare:. First few days, I just did it all in order. Everyone doing the same thing at the same time. First grader practiced writing while big girls practiced cursive, then some together stuff, and then just CHAOS. I can't even tell you where it fell apart. It just did. I feel like I'm jumping from kid to kid to kid, and that gets me totally frazzled. I tried to remind myself that part of the feeling comes from me handling ALL of them, where really, they are each only working on one thing (while I have 3 going. Clear as mud?). So then I tried to adjust so we do things like geography, science, bible.. any together things, first off. Then divide and conquer. I still feel like a hive of angry bees. Would I be better off to really clock what we're doing? It seems like I am blazing through stuff to make sure we get to the next, and we're done so quickly and.. ZOMG whatwasIthinking?? I need a nap. But seriously, does a timeline for the day help? Do you try to coordinate your day so that everyone is schooling at the same time? Should I split the kids up (so my little gets me in the afternoon, the bigs in the morning?). Or do I just need to get used to the chaos? Being 8 months pregnant isn't helping FYI. One thing I can say I have done, is labeled lesson plans "day 1, day 2, etc.." It helps not lose our place. If anyone could point me to some threads where you are sharing schedules for combined ages, I would super appreciate that. All commiseration welcome.;)

I use the refillable insert in my machine. That's what I would do. It's a total PITA, but like pp said, I think the actual Kcups are really wasteful anyways.

Oh geez... I just realized I have a 3rd and 6th grader.. I said 5th grader.. Awesome, considering I just bought TT for 5th grade.. head. Desk.

Because PLL and ILL are bot going to do it for us. At. All. Ugh. O have a third and fifth grader, and this is our first year homeschooling. We are using MFW ECC, with LoF and TT for math. We lie writing strands for the fifth grader, but just uGh on those books. Any recommendations?

Look for another 2:15.. maybe you started to write something and realized you were on the wrong date? I hate it when I do that kind of stuff..

I was insanely jealous of a friend who takes her kids to Disney EVERY YEAR. She's expecting her fourth baby, and her kiddos all wear name brand clothes.. The big kids go to a private Christian school. The mama is an RN and her DH is a police officer. I felt guilty for not going to college and getting a better job. They stopped paying their mortgage last year. They have to be out by this fall. You NEVER know what's going on in someones bank account.

Yeah, I'm going to have to reign it in too.. I think I'm needing school to start as badly as the kids right now. I suck at not having a routine. Just have to get DD through camp, and then we're buckling down..

I don't know if this will help at all.. but I'm a member of a Presbyterian church (my dad is the pastor), and during new member's class he explains it like this: Take a time line.. There's the past, present and future. As everything happens, you can only fill it in after the fact. As humans, we can only truly see time in a linear fashion. God sees differently. We can make choices that would alter possible outcomes, but in the end, God already knows what those choices and outcomes are. Not because He deems them so, (though He works with everything), but because He is God. Omniscient. To him, those choices have already been made, He has already seen it all. Some see that as us being predestined (and having no choice) but truly, it's just that He already knows what will happen, often by our OWN choices.. which preserves our will.. Clear as mud? ETA: I'm not sure about the double vs single thing.. this is just what we learned in class. Lol. Probably wasn't much help, was I?

I went ahead and ordered from Amazon. I'm burned out on shopping around for this year... :P Thanks again!

So one for each then.. Thanks!