I think maybe I'm going to start the 9 year old in the middle of PLL and try to work for mastery. We have always use a lot of CM methods, but the transition from oral to writing has been very hard and frustrating. I think working under his level a bit would really help. My 11 year old is going to start at the beginning of ILL instead of the middle and as long as he is mastering things I will let him move at his own pace. Maybe I am just having trouble with feeling like I am behind with them. My New Year's resolution for school was to work for mastery as opposed to my self-inflicted timeline.:blink: At least these lessons aren't labeled with grades. Thanks ladies!

I was going to use the Queen's LA, but when an order mix up happened I just canceled it and now I am back to square one. I have Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate along with the teacher guides but I am having trouble trying to figure out where to place my kids. There is a lot of memory work and compsitions are just plain hard for my kids as writing is laborious at best. Oral narrations are wonderful but getting it on paper is a whole different animal. Are these books reallly 2nd and 3rd for PLL and 4-6th for ILL? If you are jumping into ILL without first doing PLL should you back the student up a bit? If so, how much? I just don't think my 9 year old is reading for jumping in the middle of ILL, but I have no idea how far back to go. I'd love to hear how these books are working out for you and if any have stuck with it through the whole thing.

I did too and I think high school and college is a good time for bible study to become more academic. I just rebelled against it in grade school. I went to Lutheran school 1st grade through college and there was just SO much memorization in lower grades that anything edifying and comforting was sucked out of it. I think narrowing it down and really steeping kiddo's in one topic at a time instead of swallowing a whole catechism each year would have been better. I now love Jesus, but back then I saw less of His mercy and more of hellfire and my own worminess. Practically gave me nightmares. Highschool is much better for hellfire lectures.;)

I love your optimism! And TX has great homeschooling laws. I'd like to have a house there to claim as my state. :)

:seeya: Waving back :001_smile: This is a great place, so what if Claritin D makes life bearable.

You have no idea how well I understand. Our farm is in Westbrook, MN and it takes an hour to get to the Wal Mart in Worthington, longer if the weather is bad. The internet was my salvation from insanity when I had three baby boys and a husband that was always gone for the military!

I live in Huntsville, AL. Great city, excellent shopping, good amenities, HORRIBLE allergies. 90% of people who live here are on some drug to cope and worst of the the Native Americans DID NOT settle here because when they tried they all got sick and many died. They called it the Valley of Death (no joke). I like it here, but I too am medicated just to survive!

Well, last night I gave him 1 tsp. of Natural Calm magnesium. He said he fell right asleep!! :party: I am going to continue for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I talked to the chiro about melatonin and she said that was fine in a very low dose. I have taken it on and off for years too. I was scared about the back thing so I am going to take him in again. I am trying to comfort myself with the fact his lymph nodes are rarely inflamed, no fever, and he is now getting regular supplementation. He I know this may seem weird, but I have used this homeopathic machine on myself for a couple years now and it has helped many people with cancer heal. Basically, it makes a homeopathic remedy from your own body. My mom died of cancer treatment (heart failure from Tamoxifin) so I have been a little obsessive about alternative treatment. I DO NOT sell them or anything, just so you know, but it has taken a fever down in my kids in minutes. My daughter, when she was an infant, had several high fevers and within minutes the fever would break and go away. Anyway, I have never regularily used it on my kids except when they appeared sick so I think I am going to try it on him for a few weeks on his back ( and see the doctor too) and see what happens. Thank you for all your insight. It is nice to know that I am not alone in this. I thought it very strange at first, but I remember being a little like him, so maybe it is a genetic thing. :)

We are so not exciting. We went to bed at 11 and I don't even think my kids know it is the new year. We don't have TV so there was no dropping ball to watch. My anniversary is on the 11th so we usually put off the festivities until then. :D I always worked tables on New Year's or babysat so it never was New Year's= Fun growing up.

What did you do for his anxiety? I don't think he is depressed, but he is the younger brother of an overachiever and I think it stresses him out. He is a classic middle child who is often trying to get the spotlight once in a while. I wouldn't want to use drugs if I could help it. I have had post partum ocd and depression that I finally was able to treat naturally. Maybe I should try some natural remedy? I used Bach florals with success after three pregnancies.

:iagree: We read Bible at mealtimes and before our read-alouds in the evening. I had all word-based curriculums in the church schools I went to as a child and for years the Word just meant work and something I had to get done before I went to play. For the same reason I try to do most memory work, Bible anyway, in song. I use www.thywordcreations.com to do this. It is easier to be a mean ol' hag when you are correcting generic lessons.:D

I know it has bugged me that he has any back pain. He has been to the doctor and chiropracter and told them about it, but they couldn't find anyting unusual except some bad posture and tight muscles. Maybe with magnesium and a little bedtime mind journey will help. Thanks!

That may help too if constipation is the problem. He says he has 1 bm in the morning. That is normal right? I have some Natural Calm (magnesium) I will give to him a couple of nights in a row and see if that helps.

Oh, I also have the Family Grain Mill for non electric use. Plus the neighbor kids always have a great time cranking away when they come over.

I have the Whisper Mill (now is the Wonder Mill) and I have loved it and used it for 10 years now. My favorite bread site that also sells them is: http://www.breadtopia.com/store/wondermill-grain-mill.html I have lugged this thing through 12 military moves and wouldn't be without it. :001_smile:

My son has been up all night, or close to it, for months now with the problem going back years. He must get a little sleep, but everytime I get up to use the loo he is awake enough to talk to me. I have cut out all sugar, am forcing him to drink green drinks and take his vits and am making him get plenty of exercise during the day. I have no idea why this child cannot sleep and it is driving me crazy. He also complains of back pain which I had been attributing to growing pains, but maybe it could be something else? I was a high-strung, light sleeper most of my life, but nothing like this. Any ideas? :bigear:

:iagree:Yep, I attended 9 Lutheran schools as a kid. I can vouch for that.

OK, I am now thoroughly confused. I learned both ways in the 8 or so different schools I attended during grade school. Maybe there is just no truly correct way. :001_huh:

I don't know if you like carrots, but I juice them and use the pulp for carrot cake. My one peeve about juicers is the pulp waste, but if you like to make muffins it is a great way to stuff fiber and vitamins into kiddos without them knowing. My fav appliance is my vitamix which I use to pulverize everything to drink. I think I have juiced or obliterated every veggie known to man. Oh, greens and a green apple are great together too.

I just thought I would second the plug for natural sources. Plants have a way of taking "bad" minerals and making them usable. Dates and green tea would be far better sources than water thats been tinkered with. That said, I pay huge $$$ to take the flouride out of our water and then add in only that which is spit out. I have had heard that inorganic, or non plant sourced flouride calcifies the pineal gland (as do things like Paxil and Zoloft) because they have flouride components. That accounts much for the dopey feeling they can cause. Natural floride is easier for the body to flush out excess. I was on Paxil fo post partum and hated every minute--hence my obsessive research on flouride. I would try to get the flouride that has been filtered through a plant or the spit out kind. We had well water all my years growing up and I did not get a cavity until I was 32. I'm glad to see people having an open dialog. So many go through life without even asking questions like this.:001_smile:

We just started that book today. My kids (11, 9, 7, 4) all really enjoyed The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Carry on Mr. Bowditch, so I think this should be good as well. My four year old really liked TWoBP which really surprised me. I have to comment on one miracle solution for my figity boys. Thinking Putty. I bought the stuff through Timberdoodle and it has been worth its weight in gold. They just sit there kneading the stuff the whole time I read. Peaceful. Quiet. Listening. Wonderful!!!

:party:LOVE FIAR!! We LOVE FIAR here. I have used all four volumes and own most of the books. I have the best warm and fuzzy memories of the years we did FIAR exclusively. First, I would get the teachers guide and find whatever books I could from the library. If we ROWed them and loved them I would buy them on amazon. I used file folders to contain all their written work from the lesson week. Somtimes it was elaborate with lots of decorations and other times it was just a folder stuffed with bits of scrap paper.:smilielol5: I used www.enchantedlearning.com to glean specific maps, pictures, and learning activities if I felt the need to add to the lessons. To be perfectly honest, my kids did great with the weeks we just did it all orally. You do not have to do it any particular way. I added bible memory, copywork and dictation, and math. My kids all really loved the books and we re-ROWed many over again. I should mention that it can appear deceptively simple and light on academics. I found it to be otherwise because the kiddos had a very real hanger on which to hang historic events. The stories are brought up often as we read Sonlight titles.

We just made some huge changes so we are going to continue with those. We added Sonlight 3+4 which we are all really liking. My kids need to get to Type It everyday! My four year old really needs something of her own, so I want to do FIAR, but I think it will pan out to me just reading the books. I own nearly all of them, so I have my "FIAR basket" that she grabs choices from. I did lapbooks with the older boys, but I just don't know how to fit it all in. We are starting Epsilon, Zeta and Pre-Algebra MUS after Christmas too. They finished LOF and I need them to get some more practice before moving on to Algebra. I am also going to be done by lunch everyday!! :lol: Well, I am going to try anyway. We read most of our Sonlight stuff at our evening devotion time, so my goal is to have the three r's and the more mundane reading done by lunch.

Those are good ideas. I was only planning on having them keep the copy work long enough for me to see, so I'd only need one thing for each kid. I think I will try the page protector idea. I have those already, but I will have to go to Staples and see if there are thin enough markers. Any reviews on gel boards? Are these the same things as magnet boards?