I don't know. I guess they are just trying to get the kids to read? I don't know all the details either, I just know that my SIL said my niece had to read it for school. And having just pulled my dd from the same school this past October, it doesn't surprise me at all.

Yeah...reason #1098 we choose to homeschool..lol.

I haven't read them yet either, but what basically boils down to a romance novel for my middle schooler? no thanks.

It was part of the assigned reading at our middle school this year :glare:

Oh, I feel your pain! DD came down with it last week (oh that poor child was SO sick!) The doc put us all on Tamiflu to keep us from getting it. Guess who got sick next :glare: I keep telling myself to think about how much WORSE it could have been if I hadn't been on the Tamiflu. (but seriously? worse? ugh!) Sending cyber-noodle soup your way...and hope recovery comes quick.

We love camping in our pop-up! For showers: a small mesh bag with essentials (shampoo, soap, scrubby) for EVERYONE that showers alone is a must have for us. It makes life so much easier. Those sponges with soap already in them are awesome for any dishes you need to clean. BUG repellant. Knives and potholders. Seems obvious until you need to cook something and have to tear into it, and pick up hot items..lol. A broom! Have fun. The first time will be a total learning experience. We chose to do our first trip to FL (from TN) I just wish we'd tried it out a bit closer to home first.

I'm probably a mean mom...my dd had the flu last week. With the exception of one day, she still had to do SOME work each day. I figured if she was laying in bed reading anyway, she might as well be reading her science :D I did let her off on her worst day though...she could do nothing but sleep. I have had the flu this week and I didn't get a day off :(

Ben & Jerry's uses liquid sugar, no corn syrup that I've seen...but i haven't checked ALL the flavors.

Mine WORKS in his flannel PJ bottoms and slippers!:lol: (he works from home) So some weeks, with the exception of when we go to church, all I see him in are PJ's. It's ok though..because there are some weeks when our entire household wears PJ's all day.

That sounds just like us! My dear sweet husband waited until around my 34th week to 'try' to put all 3 carseats into the back of our Cherokee. Um...didn't work. So the day I got released from bedrest (at 34 weeks mind you) we went van shopping. I went into labor AT THE DEALERSHIP!!:lol::lol: So the first place we got to take our new van was to the hospital to deliver twins. I do feel a great deal of guilt, but a good portion is directed towards my oldest dd. I kind of feel like she missed out on a LOT of mom time when she was little because of how much time taking care of the the twins took up. And she still gets a little hurt by how she basically gets ignored by people how will come up and gush over the twins, and only say something to her as an after thought..if at all.

All three are reading Pilgrim's Progress (the younger two are reading the Abeka reader version) DD12 is probably reading through her stack of fiction....she averages a book a day..lol. Her junk food reading is usually the Warrior series or something about dragons. I did see her reading Helen Keller last night too. She's also reading through an Arabian tale collection. DDs8 are reading Helen Keller, and the Doll House People.

The cost didn't really hit me much differently than just having 3 kids until we started homeschooling. Having to buy two of so much for school. And what I buy for the older dd may not still be around for the younger two, so I can pick up that extra book..lol. That said, they still share a great deal of stuff...and they don't like it!

We are using WS 3 right now and like it fine. My oldest dd has managed to use each and every assignment to plead her case for a dog..lol.

Our kids say Dad or Daddy. My little brother (who is 12) calls our dad Pa. Weird to me..lol. But my dad is old now, so I guess Pa is fitting :lol::lol:

We probably spend 30 minutes to an hour each day.

ah... We tend to schedule our days a bit like PS...since the kids are used to that. So we do a little of each subject every day. Anyway, this is what our history week looks like: M - read the chapter from STOW, older DD reads KHE and outlines T - read some books about the chapter topic, do the mapwork W - do a project from the AG or one I've found somewhere else. read more literature if I have it TH - Read, study facts for quiz F - Quiz Sometimes if I don't have much to do with a chapter, I'll do two chapters in a week and combine the Quiz.

Are you doing it all in one day? We space ours out over our 5 day week...spending a little time each day.

I've been through this from the child's perspective. My mother passed away 13 years ago. My step-dad (who was in all ways but biological my DAD) seemed to have kept EVERYTHING document wise. He passed away this past December and as I was going through HIS stuff, I was amazed at how much of my mom's 'paperwork' he still had. I would say: Keep any legal certificates such as birth, death, marriage, etc. If she's been gone for more than 5 years, and all medical bills and taxes involving her have been settled, then there is no need to keep any reciepts or statements. As far as pictures...it meant so much to me that a family photo of all of us was still on display at his house, even after he was in another relationship. It was reassuring to know that she was still an important part of his life. It was in a hallway, not really prominently displayed, but still there. And keeping a box for each child is a wonderful idea. Oh, and please keep ALL the photos and or videos of her, even if they are in a box in the back of a closet. I treasure each and every photo of my parents that I come across.

Thanks! I'll try to add that to the explanation and see if that helps.

Help :) We are going over missing numbers in addition and subtraction (43-N= 12 , N + 13=35, etc.) One of my dd's (4th grade) is having trouble grasping the concept of this. She's always been great at math, so I'm not sure where the trouble is. She will, using the above problem for an example, do this: 43-N = 12 12-43 = N Then of course she runs into trouble trying to subract 43 from 12 I cannot get her to understand the order in which it needs to go: 43-12 = N Any suggestions? She does ok with the addition side, but is struggling with the subtraction. The way they have it explained in Saxon is confusing to her for some reason. I'm thinking about giving her the full out algebraic formula for it and see if that helps, but I'm afraid I'll just confuse her further. 43 - N = 12 43 +12 = 12-12 + N 55=N :confused:

We use the 3rd edition as well. And yes, you do need all three books. :)

I believe there is only one true God, YHWH of the Bible. I believe that the Bible IS the Word of God, and that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. How did I get to the point of believing? It wasn't from my upbringing, nor did I actively search it out. God put circumstances in my life to draw me to Him, and to see His truth in scripture. I won't post a lot about how I came to know Him here, but I do write a great deal about it on my blog. Here's a link to a post about my journey: http://aprylsfaithjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/thoughts-for-thursday-salvation.html

Schedules make me happy :001_smile: Apparently they make my kids happy too, since they all requested their weekly schedules be broken down by assignment and printed out for them. They LOVE marking things off! lol So I don't schedule time slots for each subject, they just do them in whatever order they feel like that day...with the exception of Bible lessons...we always start the day with that. Our day goes: 8:30 - Breakfast 9:00 - Start the school day off with Bible. Then we do any history or science that needs to be done together. 12:30 - lunch break 1:00 - ? Just finishing up school work. By 3:00-4:00 most days we have some where to be, whether it's Girl Scouts, Raptors, etc.

The Prismacolors are so MUCH better than the Crayola. I 'paint' portraits with colored pencil, and you just cannot achieve the color or coverage with the cheapies. If you visit our blog you can see what the good ones can do :) Definitely worth the money. I also advise to invest in an electric pencil sharpener.

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps.htm This site allows you to print maps of various sizes. You tape the pages together.