I went ahead and told DH to request the RS Spanish. Having no experience yet w/ RS, I didn't realize it focuses largely on the spoken component. For Latin, I want to get something that will be a good base for deeper grammatical and root word understanding. If RS is revamping their Latin right now anyhow, I'll wait and use it as a supplement to a more in-depth curriculum. I can teach Spanish easliy, esp. w/ an audio aide. Latin is new territory for me, so I'm thinking I'll need something that really holds my hand in teaching it. The kids and I will probably learn it together. :D

Oops, I just re-read the OP and realized you have Horizons 2. Sorry about that!

I'll confirm what the previous poster said: that Horizons 2 roughly = Saxon 3. Saxon 2 has multiplication, but only by certain numbers (1, 2, 5, 10, 100). Also, Saxon 2 introduces division towards the very end of the year, albeit by limited numbers also (by my quick skimming it only looks like 2's - but this is done w/ a good foundation of simple fractions beforehand). Horizons 2 leads through multiplication thoroughly, one number family after another. Skip counting in the 1st quarter or so is used to build up knowledge of multiples of any given number (up to 12). Then multiplication is introduced in lessons & on worksheets, and gets gradually harder as the year goes on. Division doesn't start in Horizons until level 3, however a solid base in mult. has been built in grade 2. If your dc is ready, you could go ahead and teach it in 2nd grade anyhow. My ds needed more time to solidify math facts before delving into multiplication/division, yet he likes his pages to appear hard. He likes large numbers and large problems. So, he prefers Horizons over Saxon. Both will lay a good foundation, while both also have their stronger and weaker areas. As for the basics - plain and simple math facts - they are both great math programs IMO. HTH! :)

I love it and so do my kiddos, all of them. My ds's like all the illustrations and my dd likes all the interesting historical info that's off to the sides on the pages. It's by Hastings/Thomas, published by NLP. I went ahead and got them all large-print KJV's though, and my ds7 suprised me at how much he's sat down w/ it.

I have to say that for me gardening is alot cheaper than buying produce, well, where I live anyhow. Even though I only get 3 months of outdoor gardening per year! I start everything from seed indoors from Jan. to March using only sunlight through the windows. I re-use containers from vinegar, milk, etc. and start seeds in those. I compost and add that to re-used soil, so there isn't any expense of specially branded bagged dirt. I built raised garden beds (they do better here than in-ground ones) from old broken furniture we were tossing, that we found at the dump, or scraps of wood from my dad and friends. No costs for materials. The only cost was some good soil for start-up, and we re-couped that and then some the 1st summer. My only cost this year will be seeds. I save $$ even if only half of what I plant grows (as tends to be the case, lol). I grew 2 8'x8' beds of sugar-snap-peas, and another with spinach, and the kids stopped by and munched on those all summer when they were hungry. This saved alot of $$ on snack foods. At 88 cents per pack, I also started some flowers from seed this year. We had a fully decorated front porch and 2 flower beds for super cheap. Any plants that go to seed, I harvest the seeds for next year's use. I don't worry so much about the rabbits as I do the moose. They can take out an entire garden in one sitting! I don't even bother with broccoli or lettuce thanks to those guys! :glare: Unfortuneatly I can't turn those into stew unless it's "moose season".

I can't really add to the many good suggestions already given. I can however say my 1st reaction was akin to AlaskaMom's - just use natural consequences rather than punishment. The natural consequence at my house (if he is truly just wetting because of laziness and not for any other reason - which should be ruled out) would be that he has to clean it all up himself. He'd be responsible for hopping in the tub and at least wiping himself down, cleaning the chair/floor, and doing that laundry completly on his own. No extra verbal admonishment would be needed, just the hassle of having to clean it all up might be enough, esp. if you require him to do it just as you would (with the carpet shampooer attachment hose and all for chairs/floors, etc.). I have experienced 1st hand with my own children how they can go from completely potty-trained children one day to wetting the next due to stress and abuse. Sometimes the only clue you get is the outward symptom - the wetting. Don't turn a blind eye - I know it's easy to say 'oh that's not going on here', but for your ds' sake, please check it out. It can come from outside the home too.

I think our forerunners would be overjoyed and teary-eyed to see how far homeschooling has come. They would be ecstatic that we don't have to hide from authorities, that we have so much help and so many options. Yes, it takes from the 'radicalism' of it. But isn't it great that so many people are doing it that it's not all that 'radical' anymore? Yes, some people use ps curriculum. If we're doing something that we feel or know is far different than the majority of other homeschoolers out there, then fire up the 'vision' again! I think homeschooling with a classical education is really breaking through some of the pre-boxed 'mainstream' curriculum out there. Not any one method fits all though.

First let me confess I did not read all 8 pages here. The programs are offered by many of the school districts here but are mandated under the same law. Each public school student, given their state-mandated "free" public education, is alloted a certain very high dollar allowance to be spent on that child's education. Homeschoolers in AK are allowed to be refunded what ends up being about one-tenth of that for their yearly allotment. You are also allowed to just "go it alone" here, tell the state you're homeschooling and just do it w/o any outside funding. If you want the "free" (which I agree, isn't, but if the programs have a certain amount of funding available - why not participate? It's my tax dollars too) money, you have to use board-approved curriculum. The school boards review it not only for religious content but to make sure it's at least adequate to meet state standards. They deny reimbursement of anything religious - whether Christian, Jewish, Pagan, etc. They do however reimburse for some very limited texts that educate *about* religions but do not teach them as truth. Like SOTW for example, mentions many gods throughout, and it's covered. I agree w/ RebeccaC about separation of church & state, but it is what it is right now. This reimbursement program is done through the public school districts. So, it's not tied to any kind of rebates for private schools. For me it just means that my kids get to benefit a fraction from the taxes we pay for public schools. There are alot of very good points made, but like I said, I only skimmed pages 1 and 8. I guess it all boils down to whether you believe the federal government ought to be in charge of education. I personally, do not. But they are, and I wouldn't be able to homeschool w/o those funds. Since the gov't. on a national level took over education, the numbers prove that they have done nothing but screw the whole thing up. JMO.

You know things have gotten out of hand when you pass the gas station and hear yourself exclaim, "Ooh La La!" at $3.93 a gal.

but we're trying to keep the cold out and the heat in. Instead of that nice, clear, see-through stuff, this year I accidentally bought some really thick cloudy heavy plastic. It came in a roll, rather than pre-cut pieces, which was cheaper. It was of a heavier thickness, so I thought that would be good for holding more heat in. I dropped it off at home and went to run some errands. I got back home and DH has half the windows done, but now we can only see blurry images through them. So there's our 1st home improvement learning experience of the year. :D

:lol::lol::lol: This was so good that I hope you don't mind I copied it to email to some friends! Thanks for the laugh!

In recent years I've gotten increasingly irritated by Christmas at my house becoming all about the material junk. This is not what I want my kids learning and experiencing. My mom has always gone way too overboard - to the point that we (and my dad for their budget's sake) have asked her to cut back, but she never does. This year, my dad retired, so that changes things drastically. She "warned" me that she may only be able to get a few things per child (YAY! :D). It was never over the top when I was a kid. As for DH and I, we know we have to be very careful not to overspend because money is tighter this year. We don't go into debt, but I don't like to throw heaps of $$ at toys and junk. I've had a couple ideas but don't know how dh or the dc would react to some: a completely homemade Christmas (don't think the dc would like, but we may have to anyway), or maybe 1 really special/meaningful thing for each child. DH and I are forgoing gifts for eachother this year, it's just not necessary and I don't like to give or get something out of obligation anyhow.

With prices through the roof and dollar value through the floor, we've decided to put in a wood pellet stove. They are much cleaner-burning and far safer for the home and the environment than regular wood stoves, although we seriously considered that too. We will save over $1200 this winter by heating with this rather than #2 heating oil. Natural gas isn't available locally. Here, shops are backordered for all wood-burning related items - stoves, hearth pads, etc. There are people who plan to keep their homes around 55 to 60 degrees F and just pile on the sweaters and wool socks all winter. Is anyone else dealing with this?

I've got a 7yo and a 5yo I'd be using this with. DH can get this free from work, but only Rosetta Stone. I've narrowed it down to Latin (because I was planning on implementing it eventually anyhow) or Spanish (b/c we have a little experience with this language). What are these programs like? My kids didn't pick up a thing really from Muzzy spanish aside from numbers, colors, etc. Conversational parts of the videos and tapes were well, like a foriegn language (hardyhar) to them. Thoughts? Which of these languages is better from Rosetta? What are your experiences with them? Thanks in advance!

I have a friend IRL who uses all 3 of Abeka LA, Shurley English, and IEW with her 6th grade dd. They don't skip anything, and somehow they do all this. :confused: She says the programs "fill in the gaps for eachother". I looked through some of it one time and have to agree Abeka is lacking in building writing skills.

www.funbrain.com www.iknowthat.com www.crayola.com www.kinderart.com www.howstuffworks.com www.brainpop.com www.kidexplorers.net www.headsprout.com www.mathplayground.com www.dltk.com scholastic.com mywonderfulworld.org

I'll 2nd that. It's really the humane and natural way to go about things. Who ever decided that sending people with offending/predatory behaviour off to special homes/prisons together would be a good thing? I think in *some* settings, they end up getting reinforcement for that behaviour from their peers. Worse yet, some even learn of new negative behaviours in these settings. I don't have any alternative to offer though. It blows my mind that the perp. hasn't even been interviewed yet. Something I ran into with the situation I had to deal with was that the parent's were completely in denial that their children could be involved with "any such thing". They were uncooperative with all authorities from school to children's services. Only later did they disclose that their teen son had been in and out of juvi and in an out-of-state facility. He was previously being allowed to babysit his younger siblings who were passing this behaviour on to their peers. It is heartbreaking. Pray for complete restoration, for God to restore many times over what the enemy has taken. Trust me, it is far better a feeling to fret over being a "smother mother" (overprotective) than to find yourself wailing to God "how could I have let this happen?".

I 2nd the chocolate. Dh brought back some when he went during Oktoberfest one time - tell yours to ask about the filled ones. Crystal is dirt cheap over there, if you can find a way to get it back in 1 piece.

:grouphug: I feel ya. I can empathize more than I'd like to admit. Something that was an "aha!" moment for me was when someone said "just because you're in a crabby mood - no matter how valid or bad, doesn't mean the kids deserve to be treated poorly". Times like these call for getting quieter, turning your own volume down as the stress builds - the rest of the family usually follows suit. Pure lavendar oil on pulse-points has been clinically shown to lower blood pressure. However, this effect is temporary & only for relaxation, not sole BP treatment. Walking helps clear my head. Don't know if that would work for you. About the exercise equipment - I've found that even though I do own one major piece, it has served as a clothes rack more often than not. It's really about your own drive to stay disciplined. Walking or exercise videos work just fine, IMO. It's all about actually doing something though, lol. Is there anything you can clear off your plate and take a break from? I don't have any profound advice, but I do wish you the best.

Things we're doing again now, that we haven't implemented strictly since the late 90's when we were newlyweds here... Stock up on dried beans, esp. when on sale. Great in many dishes. Stop eating out - no longer an option. Currently we allow 1x per month. Cancel cable and any non-educational magazines. Walk wherever you can, ride a bike, or group all trips into one efficient run. Shop the sales ads. Sales typically run a 12-wk cycle, so if you start stocking up on the really great deals, within about 12 weeks, you'll have a good variety of things stocked up on to use together. Plan the menu at least a week out, per sales ads. Shop in your own cabinets 1st to use up what you have! Share a membership to Costco/Sam's - saves on fees. Bake everything you can from scratch, see if there's a food co-op in your area to buy grains/produce wholesale from farmers. Set up a hand-me-down system w/ friends so somebody get's your smallest child's clothes and your largest one gets hand-me-downs from them - free for everyone. I do this 2x/yr. w/ a group a friends locally - sort of our own little swap meet. Sell things you aren't using or don't need. Too busy? Get out the "$20 or more" items and sell 1 per week - that's my plan for now. Good luck everyone, we're all in this together. :grouphug:

and if the boy was 12 when the abuse happened, he could be prosecuted. However, if it happened before then, he's considered by the system to be "s#xually reactive" rather than a perpetrator. The thinking behind it is that since he's still within the age range to be considered a child, that he's reacting to something inappropriate that was introduced to him. At least those are the laws and methods where I live. He needs to be under the close watch of a good counselor. He needs to admit to having a problem and know what his triggers are and know when to ask for help dealing with it (and be willing to). It's not fair that the other children around him and their families may have no knowledge of this. The school system can implement (or maybe someone could force them to?) a certain policy (up here it's called a Section 504 plan, or something similar) that will require them to a) acknowledge that the school has recieved in full disclosure all the details and risks of having this student present, b) form a plan to absolutely ensure his and all the other children's safety and personal boundaries and c), if the school needs to get an additional staff member assigned just to provide extra supervision for him (like check the bathroom before he goes in to make sure no other students are in there, & stand outside not allowing anyone else in until he's done, etc.) then implementing this type of plan would allow that school the funds they might need to do so. Just keep instilling good values and boundary rules into your daughter and be there to love on her so much that hopefully she won't feel like she 'needs' it from anyone else. HTH!

When my older son was in 1st, I ordered both of VP's lit. guides - the complete 1st grade lit. set. Thinking ahead, I also ordered all of 2nd grade, which sits unused on the shelf. :glare:

I'm completely inspired here! I think I'll give that Knifty Knitters thing a shot, and if I can figure it out (maybe w/ the help of some local friends who knit, too) I'm going to get some alpaca yarn from a local gal who raises them and sells it. She made baby booties from it and they were softer than cashmere! *sigh* Can you imagine a whole sweater or throw made or such a thing? A couple things not mentioned yet are candles, which I will probably do some of for gifts. I want to mix in essential oils for fragrance. Another thing that I have made with those oils is homemade bath salts. I've also made boxed sets of homemade cards (stamping/scrapbooking style) and given them as gifts.

Parrothead, it sounds like your dh works in some kind of law enforcement? Mine too. Is there any way to convey to him the eeriness you felt about it and your concern that her comment should be taken very seriously? I read the newer post about the dad already being charged. If the kids are going to stay w/ mom, is there any way your dh could influence any type of regular social worker check-ins, or mandatory phychologist visits for all of them (mom and kids)? It sounds like a very scary situation. I'm hoping, for the kids' sake, that it was her weird and twisted way of letting someone outside her home in on what kind of abuse was going on. As for hostile comments about homeschooling... I've only ever gotten one that stuck out from your run of the mill "Wow, I could never do that! How do you do it?". My neighbor kids told me that when they told their dad/stepdad that we were "still doing homeschool and can't play yet", he said to them "What the h*!! is homeschool?". But those kids and their parents/step-parents are another legal/psych case. Literally. To the point that I've had to seriously consider whether to call children's services or not. It seems to me the really hostile stuff does come from people who do not like their own children and cannot imagine it any other way for anyone else. JMO though.

That gave me the heebie-jeebies! I've never bre*stfed past 18 months, and while I don't pass judgement on anyone who makes choices about it that differ from mine based on the child's actual needs, this is over the top. The girls' obsession with it is disturbing. The drawings, the squishing of (feeling) the bre*st while "nursing", all of it. I think 7 - 8 is far too old. Blech.