I second the LeapFrog DVD suggestion. One thing my kids all liked was a huge set of magnetic letters which we used to play games. Spell "c-a-t" then remove the first letter and replace with "p" now what word to we have. I can't tell you how much fun they had playing those silly games. I think reading to your child gives them a great head start for K.

Two boys ages 12yo and 10yo and a daughter aged 5yo. Some of the ways I connect with them are to have time alone with each one. Sometimes it is just driving one to an activity, having them help me cook a meal, or taking one shopping for groceries with me. During that time we talk and often I'll ask them what's on their minds. As a family, we connect by having spur of the moment days off of school. On especially nice days we take off to the park or on really nasty days we'll play board games or read a book together. I think it is the waking up in the morning and being surprised by the day off that really makes the day. I try to do little special things for them like leaving a little note in their schoolwork or just a smile and a hug when they least expect it.

I have a 12yo and 10yo. They do judo, and taekwondo. They go to Sunday School and belong to church Youth Group. They also take music lessons...one on guitar and the other on drums. My oldest also wrestles on both a team and with a club. This involves weekend tournaments, not only for competition but is also a great place to socialize. He plays with his friends, goes out on the mat to wrestle them, then they go back to playing again. My boys are very advanced academically and always has been but giving them skills athletically has brought out the leader in them and other kids tend to gravitate to them. I do notice that they don't share much of their "learning" with friends but they have their sport or activities in common which gives them a common bond for friendship.

remember what the psychic told Claire before she got on the plane about her son being evil if raised by anyone other than her. Kind of makes you think, eh!

I am a curriculum junky. I love book sales and curriculum sales. My husband needs to add another room in the house for all my books and school things. I do usually end up using everything I buy though at least for one of my 3 kids.

They told me the number of children who wet the bed at night and that it decreases year by year without any intervention...not very helpful to my child who still does it at 10yo. The things that have been suggested to us over the years, though 4 is still young and I wouldn't worry about it at this point (Pull-Ups work well)... 1. Limit fluid intake 2 hours prior to bedtime as well as food intake. 2. Exercise 3. Drink more during the day and void every 2 hours during the day. 4. Make sure bladder is emptied every time they void. 5. Kegel exercises. 6. Send child to bed then wake right before they have fallen asleep to void again so they go twice before they fall asleep. My son is an extremely heavy sleeper and we have been setting an alarm and waking him every night at 2am to go. It has been working to keep him dry for the last month but he still is not independent in keeping dry or waking himself. The other suggestion was the alarm that goes off when he is voiding in his bed. We had limited success with this though it is what the MD said works best though it takes a very long time and for the first 2-3 months does not wake the child but wakes the parents who must then wake the child. Good Luck.

I love to clean up the kitchen and vacuum. I also love organizing because I feel like I accomplished something. I absolutely hate to do laundry. I have a mental block against it and always have.

The US government has a websight for each of the National Parks. Try a web search. We are driving there from NJ and camping. We will only stay there for two days. We are also visiting the Petrified Forest, Petroglyph National Park, and some of the other national parks nearby.

$20 per week each for boys 30 minute lessons (guitar and drums)...and $55 for 45 minutes a week and 3 times a month group lessons for Suzuki violin plus $20 for 1/2 hour of Celtic fiddle lessons. I live in NJ.

Your responses were all very helpful. Thank you Daisy for the positive rep, too! I am going to try and leave you one as well if I can figure it out.:001_smile:

There are so many quality story books for that age that it would be a shame for her to miss. I have been taking armloads of books out of our local library every 2-3 weeks since my dd (now almost 6yo) was a baby and we still find some gems now and then... We generally take out fiction, nonfiction, a biography, and a couple books in Spanish every trip. We love any of the books by the author of Stellaluna, Mercer Mayer's books, and many of the older classics like Make Way for Ducklings, Madeline books, Blueberries for Sal, etc... There are just way too many to list. My dd has been reading independently since she was 3 and loves longer stories as well as story books. She usually has a longer book going and reads the shorter ones in between plus we are always reading a book together. For chapter books...the original Winnie the Pooh books are great reads, Narnia books, Secret Garden, Little House books, Cam Jenson books, Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, Anne of Green Gables, The Wind in the Willows, etc... On one of the classical education websites we found a list of 1000 Great Books that you may find helpful.

We don't do anything special to avoid it besides the washing of hands and proper nutrition/exercise. I am always in people's homes since I do home healthcare and the kids are around a lot of other children at their respective activities. Maybe I should knock wood or something. The kids (3) each had strep once but that was it.

and every one of them was different. My oldest nursed until 12 months old and slept through the night starting at about 6 months. He was a preemie. He stayed in my bed until he was 4yo though I tried all the crying it out and such when he was little because everyone made me feel bad about having him in my bed though I loved it. Ds #2 nursed until 14 months and co-slept until 2yo when he demanded his own bed and that was that. I never tried to make him sleep in a crib and he only used it for naps. He was a bigger baby and slept through the night at 3 months. Dd (#3) was also a preemie. She slept through the night (5 hours for her was all I got for a "night") at about 4 months and still woke for early morning feedings around 4am until she stopped nursing at 16 months. She is 5 and still in my bed. LOL I have a big king-size bed and put a bed rail on my side of the bed so the kids didn't fall out. I never even owned a crib for the last one.

12yo ds- Drums, science, judo, and wrestling 10yo ds- Judo, Guitar, and building things or helping with home improvements 5yo dd- fiddle, violin, and reading anything she gets her hands on

just accelerating a regular math program or is it just the ease of using an online course and having someone else to back up the fact that your child is advanced? Just wondering because my dd qualified for CTY but the cost seems a bit prohibitive for me to use with a 5yo who is speeding through math curriculum.

I'm sorry. I haven't been on this board very long and keep seeing people saying they got one. Thanks!

my 6th grader to write 1-2 page reports with very limited topics so the report is very specific rather than a broad topic with little "real" information. My 4th grader is to write 3-4 paragraphs consisting of at least 4 sentences per paragraph. With him, I am working more on report writing with topic sentences in each paragraph then supporting information. Again, I give him very specific topics to write on or help the kids narrow their own topic choices.

which colleges are a part of, would make it easier or more cost effective for homeschoolers.

Not only that, the money it would cost hundreds of thousands of homeschooling parents. Who would provide them with the teacher's certificates? Would they all be accepted into colleges and universities by virtue of being homeschool parents or would they have to apply and fight for spots in a program? Would they be able to teach their children while going to school for the certificate or would they be unable to homeschool while in the process of following the law? If they have teacher's certificates and are homeschooling, would they then be able to deduct their homeschooling expenses from their tax returns, including the cost of education for their certificate?

then offer $100-200 over that. Sometimes we have to play "hardball" and walk out of the dealership but they always call in a few days and ask "which one do you want?"

I sold all mine on Ebay after I was finished with them.

We school 4 days a week and take days off whenever we need a break. Usually take a week around Christmas and a couple weeks in the summer depending on vacation plans. Sometimes we take work along with us on vacations. Some really nice spring days, I call it a spring break and we spend the day at a park or go to the zoo. On Fridays, we have no formal work planned but use it to catch up on missed work or for "fun" learning or trips. Some weeks we just use Fridays for catching up on housework or relaxation.

cooked in a pan then topped with hot sauce and vinegar on top (red wine or a good balsalmic).

I use Spelling Power with all three of my dc. They don't have to study words they already know and I only had to purchase one curriculum for all their years of spelling. Also, it works. They all spell well for their ages.

just follow her lead, don't "expect" anything and enjoy her early learning. My dd wanted to do school like her big brothers but even though she is 5yo, I don't expect anything on a given day. She'll ask to do what she wants and is pretty self-motivated so it has worked out really well and she has made it through more than I woud have expected her to do anyway. I started PM-1 with dd when she was 4yo until she told me it was "baby math" and we had to find something a bit less colorful. She is now 5 and working through Saxon 3 at lightning speed. She reads anything fluently and has since she was 3y10m so we just read books. I read with her, she reads to herself, and we read together. I haven't found a word that stumps her yet. We read fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, whatever... I haven't found the need for reading curriculum but she is doing Spelling Power and seems to be a natural at spelling (her brother who was also an early reader is a horrid speller so it doesn't necessarily come from her early and voracious reading). I haven't started a formal history or science program with her except to let her join her older brothers when she is interested but she has learned a ton from our readings. We generally hit the library every few weeks and take out piles of books. We haven't done formal grammar either. She loves to write and has enjoyed it even more now that she has found Word on the computer. I gently assist her in editing her works every once in awhile. Since your dd is learning so quickly and easily at such a young age I might suggest a beginning a foreign language (we do Rosetta Stone Spanish with the typing turned off because her little hands had trouble with tildas and accents) , and/or a musical instrument. I love that dd learns so easily because it allows us to go deeper into topics she finds interesting because the basics are already learned.