We love tracfone too!! I never use all my minutes, and they keep building up. I really like paying less than $9/year. Even at that, I consider it a luxury, not a necessity.

I would definitely not worry about it. We do a dual secular/Jewish curriculum and for history (1st grade) we're just doing each section followed by a brief narration/discussion + map work. We also usually have a historical fiction readaloud book going, and when we finish it I get another one that's wherever-ish we are at the time. Some weeks we just read the stories and I don't even worry about it.

Something that made a HUGE difference: DECLUTTER! And I don't mean take a few things to Good Will. Take vanloads. Get rid of any surfaces that are clutter magnets. I never thought of us as having that much "stuff" until I decluttered every single cupboard, closet, counter, file, box, etc. I got each of our wardrobes down to an 8-day supply of clothes + those extra things you need (like winter coats, etc.). Laundry (with 6 people) is a cinch now. One day/week I just keep the laundry machine busy, sort clothes as they come out of the drier (each person + downstairs other + upstairs other). As we have a chance we each put away a basket. Our motivation was putting our house on the market. We sure wish we'd done this much sooner. Keeping it clean is so much easier now.

Our house went on the market a week ago... we completely replaced the kitchen, redid all the carpets, repainted the whole house inside, took out one deck that was too much $ to fix up, fixed up the other deck, and cleaned up and minimally landscaped the yards. We hired a wonderful contractor and had him pick out everything. It was great not having to make a single decision, and he knew what would make a house show well. The walls are all off-white, the trim is all white, the carpets are beige, the new cabinets are maple, and he picked out a really nice faux granite laminate for the kitchen counters. We spent about $20K all told. It definitely didn't raise the "value" of the house by that much, but we're hoping it helps it sell much faster. It looks terrific. With 4 kids under 6 I just couldn't spend any time worrying about the details. :) We also decluttered a TON. Sold/got rid of some Good Will-quality furniture. Got rid of any extra surfaces that were just clutter magnets. I can't believe how many vanloads went to Good Will. I never thought we had much stuff, but I do now! I still want to do Level 4 decluttering. It has made it very easy to keep the house clean. In about 75 minutes I can get the house cleaned up and get all 4 kids out the door if a realtor calls. We do have someone coming 2x/month now to deep-clean the bathrooms and do all the floors. That definitely helps a lot. Instead of fixing blinds or buying new window treatments, we just tossed out the ones that looked bad. The ones needed for privacy were still in good condition. I bought one vase of fake flowers (my first ever!), and it's nice to have them sitting there since we don't have many plants because of so many young children. We got the entire house ready in about 8 weeks. We didn't do much of the work ourselves, though. Good luck!!

We're in Singapore 1A with DD who is 6 next month. We are drilling/reviewing mostly the addition and subtraction math facts right now. I'm making up LOTS of my own games with manipulatives. Each day this week we've been telling math fact stories with teddy bears or stuffed animals or ourselves :), like "5 bears were at the park and 2 of them got tired and went home. 5 - 2 = 3." Kind of taking the textbook and animating it. :) Today we spent on 8. We told stories and wrote down as many addition and subtraction ways to make 8 as we could think of. Tomorrow at breakfast I'll say, "As fast as you can tell me 4 different ways to make 8." It's been a lot of fun. We LOVE Singapore, and find that by adding out-of-the-textbook things like this it works really well.

The babies are a piece of cake! It's when they start toddling... :) :) :) My kids are almost 6, almost 4, almost 3, and 1-1/2, and it does get a little crazy sometimes. When it's TOO crazy I just pack them up and head out somewhere. :) We school year-round so if a day goes off-kilter, it's really no big deal. We also just learn 4 days per week. Secular studies for a 5-year-old really only take 45-60 minutes per day. It's really amazing how much they just soak up by being in a rich environment and from talking with you. Yes, it will be tricky and sometimes stressful, but what a precious thing to be their teacher. :)

You could fax a few car dealers and say the first person who can sell me this car at this price has a sale. It worked for a friend of mine. She had a new-to-her car in one hour!!!

My almost-4-year-old just scribbles too. Once he surprised me and wrote his name. :) I'll just let him start drawing when he's ready...

We love, love, love our Soyquick machine. We've had it for about 18 months with no problems. We do about 4 batches per week. We just do soy, but other friends have done nut milks and rice milks in the same machine with no problem. I figure our soy milk costs about $0.70 per gallon since we buy local organic soy beans in 25-pound bags. It's great!!

Here is what we're using for those subjects now and/or soon (DD turns 6 in June): Math - Singapore Math 1A (LOVE IT!!!!) Science - we've done 5 lessons so far from R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey (Pandia Press) and it's perfect for us; we've been using the free sample but plan to purchase it. We also enjoy activities from Handbook of Nature Study. History - we're on the 3rd chapter in Story of the World and it's working really well for us Phonics - Explode the Code 2 Language Arts - I just ordered First Language Lessons Haven't decided about spelling. Story of the World contains a nice amount of geography, so we're not doing a separate study.

I can sympathize! We've had various interruptions over the last two weeks, and now Passover begins in a couple of weeks so we are busy preparing.Then the holiday lasts 8 days. So... It's a little crazy! I love that we school year-round so that when this happens, we just do what we can and don't worry about it. We always get in at least the equivalent of a full school year, and usually more.

My 5-1/2-year-old reads one book of her choosing every day to her 2-year-old sister when I do some things 1-on-1 with the 3-year-old. Sometimes she reads to the 17-month-old too. :) Otherwise, it's just during our actual reading lesson.

We use baby wipes for the baseboards. It's my 3-year-old's favorite job!! :lol: He also cleans papa's exercise bike whenever he has the opportunity.

My daughter (5-1/2) bathes on her own. I bathe the 2-year-old (girl) and 3-year-old (boy) together, but will probably stop when DS turns 4 (that's when our oldest daughter started taking separate baths from our oldest son). Youngest boy (17 months) HATES baths, but sometimes sits in the tub with his beloved oldest sister for a few minutes. :)

I'm certain my husband and I would both choose the lakeside place, hands down. :)

If papa is at work, we have learning time. Plus we also take random days here and there. We also only do 4 days/week year-round. We love this schedule. I don't schedule weeks off at any particular time, just whenever we decide to go on vacation! :)

This is my everyday sandwich bread recipe. It slices perfectly. It has just the right amount of moisture and is just slightly chewy. We all love it. OATMEAL BREAD 2 c. raw oatmeal 4 cups boiling water 5 tsp salt 1 T yeast 1/4 cup sugar 6 T oil 4 c ww flour 4 c flour Combine oatmeal, boiling water, and salt. After it has cooled, add remaining ingredients. Let rise until doubled. Divide into four 1-1/2-pound loaf pans.Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

We're using the Life book, and doing one lesson each week, with some supplementary reading from the library if something really interests us. Some section we'll spend 2 weeks on, if there's a lot of fun stuff to explore.

I soak them overnight, then the next day I cook them until done (just water). Then I saute onion, garlic, and cumin and add the beans. Mash them. I usually do this in huge batches, then bag the re"fried" beans and put them in the freezer. We can have tacos, burritos, huevos ranceros 6-8x off a big batch of beans. CHEAP MEAL! Hmmm... better get to sleep before this makes me hungry. :)

Yurt-camping is great. We've stayed in many yurts all over the northwest and always felt very safe. You get heat, a locking door, electricity, an enclosed space, sleeping for 5, a table and chairs. Campground bathrooms are usually very clean, and the showers are surprisingly nice. There's a campfire pit and picnic table outside. We love it.

I'm giddy with happiness. There are others out there!!! Every moment of my life is about the kids and husband and house and I LOVE IT. I'm also pretty sure I'll be beaming when the test their own wings in the world out there. This life is rich and wonderful. I also really don't get it when friends say, "But don't you need a break from the kids? Or the husband? Don't you want a life of your own?" HUH? I do have a life of my own. Very much my own. :) I've definitely drifted from the friends who have an attitude more like this. What a life. :)

:hurray:

I guess if you want favour with banks, credit, and leverage, you won't mind lots of student loan debt either! The only thing we use a loan for is the house, and hopefully not even that for much longer. There are just so many more interesting things to use our money for than for debt service, and there are many alternatives for college education than going deep into debt. We may very well end up having to borrow $ for college, but I will do everything I can to ensure that that is at a minimum and I have a strong desire to protect them from starting off their life in debt. On the other hand, if they want a graduate degree, that will be up to them. :)

We didn't need to use any manipulatives, but we did buy some manipulatives for Saxon K before we went from there to Singapore K. We often borrow them to ad lib activities, but that's it.

So, bank the severance payment. Hope that DH gets a job in less than 4 months, then use that extra month (or more) of severance to take a trip. We have a large family too. Yes, traveling is expensive with our 6. So we don't much. Except that annual yurt camping trip. Grandparents come to us. It's just the reality. And I don't resent a single, tiny moment of it when I look at my 4 yummy children! We've been the recipient of a few windfalls... my husband, a couple of months before he got laid off (well, actually told that if he took the Passover holidays all off without pay he would no longer have a job... yes, this is legal if you're the only one who can perform your job function...) sold 2 website domain names. That saw us through nearly a year of un/underemployment (thank G-d!). Take the windfall as a really great safety net. Most recently, our car got "totaled" (a branch fell on it during a winter storm). The insurance paid us nearly what we paid for the car 3 years ago. All the damage was cosmetic only and we were able to fix it for $500, and leave a couple of dents on the roof that no one can even see. Where did the money go? Into the "next car" fund. So when this one dies we can pay for the next one IN CASH. It may not be thrilling, but nothing is less thrilling than a financial crisis. Especially in this climate where many families are having difficulty. Keep to the fundamentals of what is really important and what will allow all of you to live a good life. A trip to Sweden might be fun and even "educational," but most of the benefits - especially of a one- or two-week tourist vacation - would be fleeting. The benefits of teaching your children to be financially responsible and careful will not be fleeting.