Both of my kids were (are) like this. With my first I made the mistake of expecting too much (time and output) out of her because she could work at higher levels in most things. I'm not making that same mistake with my second. He's breezing through MM1 as a kindergartner, but we only work on it for 10-20 minutes a day. (We're skipping a lot of the repetition in learning addition math facts.). He's working through Explode the Code 4, but we only do one page a day. He's halfway through OPGTR. We do one lesson a day even though he's eager to get to the end and read those big huge words at the end. I'm just scared of overworking him like I did his sister. It really turned her off of school for a little while.

I can never remember this! I try to remember because the information would have been helpful at various times, but I just can't seem to do it! I know both of my kids have big feet for their ages (like I did as a child). I think M is somewhere around a three and j is .... a 13? Not sure.

I do not have a degree. I went to two different California State Universities for four years total. I changed my major a couple of times, and by my fourth year I was so ready to be done and move on with my life. So I quit. My bf and I got married (right after he got his BA), and a few years later we had kids. I worked with Pre-k and K aged kids with autism as an aide in home and in the classroom. I loved that job. I wouldn't have wanted to become a supervisor or the classroom teacher even if I did have a degree/certification. I enjoyed being the one to work with the kids directly and not have to worry about setting up their curriculum and behavior management programs. When I had kids I became a SAHM. I don't know what I'm going to do when they decide to go to school/graduate.

We started at four. However, at almost six and eight we are still reading lots of picture books together too.

I feel like I see way more posts about history than science here, but this is TWTM forum. I think we do both science and history equally, but very informally. Lots of reading, watching documentaries, discussions, and experiments. Dh especially loves to answer the kids' science and history questions. Why things are the way they are... Both science and history explain a lot of that. My plan is to get more formal about both in sixth grade. I could easily change my mind by then though. :-)

I am married, but I have a close family member who is happily unmarried, but living with her SO. I'm getting so tired of answering the "So have you convinced her to finally get married?" or comments like, "It's so sad that they're not married." Who cares? They're happy and they're kind to each other. It's none of my business. And please leave her alone!

I asked way too much of M, and now I know better. I just have j do copywork - one short to medium length sentence. He also does MM 1A and EtC 4, which both require a tiny bit of writing (like a word to go with the answer to a word problem). I let him skip the writing in EtC if he really doesn't feel like doing it.

I dropped my maiden name and kept my middle name. I never liked my last name much. Not because of family, just because of the sound of it with my first name. The last two letters of my first name are the same first to letters of last (maiden) name. I always thought it sounded weird and was hard to say. So I was happy to change my name to the simpler last name of Dh's family. I kept my middle name because I like it. However, had I been super attached to my last name, I would have been just as happy with Dh changing his last name to my last name or even making up a whole new last name. I wanted us to have the same last name, but I didn't care what it was.

This is a great thread. I'm working on finding age-appropriate, but higher level books for M (8). She LOVES Percy Jackson and also reads the Greek Myths as told by Percy book over and over! Riordan is currently her favorite author. She also likes the D'aulaires Greek Myths book. ETA: we liked Surviving the Applewhites, but it definitely wasn't a favorite. We read both as a read aloud, and by halfway through the second one we were just wanting to be done.

I haven't read most of the previous posts, but I will tell you what's worked for us for the last ten months or so. We get 30-60 minutes of math done, 30-60 minutes of LA done, a little Spanish, piano practice, and then we read. A ton. And we discuss a ton. And stare at maps. And watch videos. And do science experiments that we read about. We don't use a science or history curriculum (although SotW is a read aloud here). I feel like it frees up a lot of time, but my kids (and I!) are still learning a lot about the world. And enjoying some amazing books.

Just finished book #20 by Soleil Moon Frye. I liked hearing about her childhood. Not something I'd really recommend though, unless you were really into Punky Brewster. Mostly it's a parenting book, and definitely not one of the best I've read. It's called Happy Chaos: From Punky to Parenting and My Perfectly Imperfect Adventures In Between.

Yes, but it can take me a few minutes to get it right.

First (and hopefully last) time I've ever had to deal with lice. :thumbdown: :scared:

Yes. I started to first learn how to drive on a manual, but that didn't go so well. So my parents taught me on an automatic, I took my test on an automatic, and then they taught me stick. My first car was a stick, and my boyfriend (now Dh's) car was a stick too.

We do age, height, weight, favorite thing(s) to do, and desired future career. And they draw a picture of themselves.

Finished book #19 - Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll. I've been on the hold waitlist for it at our library forever and finally got it on Monday. Very happy to see that a movie is being made.

I've used it with both of my kids now (M is finished; j is more than halfway through), and I like it a lot. I didn't use the beginning lessons because I thought it was easier to teach the letters and their basic sounds myself through flashcards and play. We also used Starfall (which I know is not liked by some here...) and loved that too. Both of my kids read very well for their age. This is probably from a mix of genetics, OPGTR, and my amazing teaching. ;)

Love your plan! I wish I could be that creative with math. We're just doing boring old MM.... :) but it's working.

I don't have time to read all the replies, but: I had pre-diabetes with my first pregnancy, but controlled it with diet. My midwife told me to follow the 5-finger diet: every time I ate I needed to have 1. a whole grain, 2. a green vegetable, 3. some kind of protein, 4. a fruit or vegetable with a lot of Vitamin C, and 5. a glass of water. So even when I had a snack, I would just have tiny portions of each of those five things. I also had to walk fast for 30-60 minutes every day. I followed this religiously because I really really wanted a homebirth. I have never felt better in my whole life. It was seriously awesome.

I'm really enjoying The House of Spirits in Spanish! Still. :o Someday I'll actually finish it.

I'm still here! Book #18 - The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella Nice, fun and easy read. There's obviously no way I'm making it to 52. :001_rolleyes: I'll just keep chugging along though and hope that next year I'll do better.

I have no problem with big families. But I do think to myself (not out loud), I'm SO glad I don't have that many. Because honestly, for me, two is pushing it. And I like kids. And I LOVE my kids. I just couldn't handle having more than my two 24/7.

I put a tampon in before my shower in the morning and leave it in for a few hours. Then I wear pads the rest of the day. Then a tampon and pad overnight, so that I can sleep comfortably without worrying about leaks. I don't like the idea of wearing tampons 24 hours a day for four days.

j will be six in about a month. He loves playing board games (our whole family does), but the minute he realizes he's going to lose his behavior goes downhill. He either blames someone else or just gets in a general bad mood (using "bathroom" words, calling people names, saying the game is stupid, etc.). I would love to see some suggestions of things we could do to help him become a gracious loser. He is extremely competitive. Just sending him to his room until the end of the game is not changing anything.

YES