We have 6 bathtowels. The children each have one and dh and I have one plus two extra for guests or rotation. There are 6 in our family. My littles shower every other day. One of those days is after swim class so they use a different towel. I wash bathroom towels once a week. The teen/preteen shower a little more often because one works in a horse barn and the other plays hockey. I also have 6 hand towels that get changed daily and 6 wash clothes. That seems to be plenty and work for us. Jennie

We used HWT for all our children. For practice of the capitals I made copies of the grey block pages. I don't know if those pages are still in the TM. It has been revised a couple of times since I started 9 years ago. Jennie

I dealt with this to a more limited extent with my oldest when he was younger. He had 3 younger sisters who weren't old enough for school. He used to complain that they were "playing". We were persistent. Now everyone is school aged with an equal (somewhat) course load. I don't hear anymore complaining. He still has more work than the others, but he is older. I remember feeling the exact same way when I was young. I was the oldest also. Jennie

I have been this way since I became a mom 14 years ago. I find that if I eat a salad for lunch I am much less likely to be tired in the afternoon. I think this is along the lines of reducing carbs. Also, keeping up water intake is important to ward off afternoon sluggishness for me. Jennie

This may not be just at Target stores. I was talking with a clerk at Babies R Us a few months back about returns. She said everyone must have a receipt now. It is a new policy, but it was put in place because customers would walk into the store, pick up an item, and then bring it up to the CS desk and want to return it. I don't know why they couldn't just call that stealing, but anyway, according to this clerk, this is what has made that change in policy~a few dishonest people. Perhaps someone else knows more about that than I do. Jennie

My kids do this, too. One time I managed a 20 minute nap in between subjects.:001_smile: Jennie

I asked mine this morning. DS14: "It's okay." Shrug. Me: Why? DS14: "I don't know." Mom presses for more information. DS14: "Well, you don't have to waste time moving from class to class. The only down side is that I can't join the ps hockey team." The girls were much easier to get information from. DD12: "Yes, I like it because I don't have to get up early. I have never been to ps, so I don't know what goes on there. But I like it here. You get to finish earlier than if you were in ps. Also, I get to learn how I learn best." DD9: "You get to sit next to mommy. You can have a flexible schedule. I don't like that the older kids bug me." DD9: "I like snuggle time with mom." Jennie

No, there are no test, but you could certainly create your own from the vocabulary words and comprehension questions. IMHO, I think there comprehension questions (LL7 and LL8) are weak. They seem to focus only on the literal level. I have stopped asking the children the questions. Instead I have them write me a 1 paragraph summary for each day's assignment. I have had to tweak some of the material to suit my children's abilities. Sorry, I gave more info than you asked. Jennie

:grouphug: I am so sorry you are having this difficulty. :grouphug:

Soft foods and Motrin. The second day is usually the worst. I am on round two of braces with my crew. The first one is still in retainers. Best wishes, Jennie

Kathi, Their website does not really give you anything to look at. The only online place where you can find samples is the Yahoo Group (christianlightfamilies) . Members have scanned in pictures that they have taken of the Lightunits. CLE does have wonderful customer service if you wish to go that route. Best wishes, Jennie

I make my own bread. I have been doing it for the past 5 years. My mom bought me a wheat grinder for Christmas that year. It is not to say I never buy bread. I get in slumps, but bread has gotten so expensive. I also make my own taco shells, bagels and English muffins. We garden. This year my garden got flooded out. I also stock up a lot when items go on sale at the grocery store. For example, over the past 6 weeks tomato puree has been $0.69. I have a stock of about 20 cans. That should easily last me a year. Since I didn't can tomatoes this will help. I try to do this for as many items that I use. All I did was by 4 cans each week that I shopped.

I only used SM briefly about 5 years ago. The mastery style did not work well with my dd as we left topics for too long and she would have to go back and relearn it. Plus I had to add my own drill work. Like you, we went from SM to R&S (used it for 5 years), the children could do it somewhat independently, but the best move I made was last year when I went from R&S to CLE Math. CLE is designed to be done independently plus it is spiral which seems to be a benefit for my daughter. She is doing well. One of my twins has a huge struggle with copying the problems, so going to a workbook form was very beneficial. I am happy to see so much algebra and geometry sprinkled into the curriculum from a young age. Best wishes,

In my ideal homeschool it would be at least 1.5 hours (45 in the morning and 45 in the afternoon). However, 45 minutes is about all that we can manage of read aloud time. I have an additional dilemma as I have a voice disorder. I am good now, but when it is bad I really struggle. I have found that the read aloud is one of the most important parts of our school day even for the high schooler.

If she is a fairly confident sewer, she could try a pajama top. This would advance her skills some.

I am glad I am not alone. We loved the maps, coloring pages, additional reading lists, narration help, but I never got into the "hand-on" activities.

After trying MOH we have gone back to SOTW and are adding in time lines and outlining.

I was going to suggest the FIAR book lists. Best wishes,

My 12 yo is an avid Breyer Horse collector. Many hobby shops carry Breyer products. No, they have not gone out of business. I am not sure where you have been looking. Many sites carry them, but here is their website. http://www.breyerhorses.com/ Best wishes,

I take my breaks based on past experience. We take a week at Thanksgiving because I prepare Thanksgiving dinner and I need to focus on that not on school. I take 2 weeks at Christmas because I need to time to focus on home and holidays. Otherwise I feel too stressed out. I also take off in mid-February because I need a break. This year I have been taking off Monday holidays just so that I could catch-up on baking, housework, etc.

I forgot! We also use Tummy Tune-up sold by Beeyoutiful.

Homemade laundry detergent is a combination of gel and liquid. This is normal. It would be fine to use even if it never gelled. I make mine all straight into a 5 gallon bucket. It sounds fine.

I found that my son would get more problems wrong when he had more to do. I think it is just too much writing. If it were a workbook, it might not have been an issue. I did for my daughters what I did for him because it seemed to work, and they watch each other.

I chose to do the right thing because I am accountable to God. Unfortunately I also fail to do the right thing when I should as well.

Anything with pasta (ziti, spaghetti, etc). Also a hearty soup, salad and bread. My two favorites are chicken corn chowder and beef and barley soup.