I don't know, but don't buy the version they sell at Target! I bought my dc this for Christmas and it doesn't work. It hates Vista, and is messing up on XP. :glare:

We aren't a military family, but my dh travels a great deal for his job. He's gone as much as every other week, although there are months that he doesn't go out as much. We've lived this for over 8 years, so we have kind of gotten used to it. I've found though, that the girls still occassionally have a hard week. We just try to reassure them, let them call whenever they need to, etc. Dh also tries to get them a magnet from everywhere he's been, and they look forward to that. Routine helps. We try to stick to the same routine whether he's home or not, and that seems to lesson the turmoil. :grouphug:

Ours are up on our blog: http://hcahomeschool.blogspot.com/search/label/classroom We just changed rooms. The new room is MUCH more comfy. The pics aren't very good though...I need to take some more once I get things cleaned up a bit. Kiind of got trashed during our break :glare:

My twins have always shared a room. And unless we move, they will continue to share until the oldest moves out ;) They wouldn't have it any other way though. They still sleep in the same bed. They have a bunk bed, but choose to sleep in the same bunk. My oldest has never had to share, and I think that she'd be miserable if she had to now!

My twins were premies that got chunky around 6 months of age. They thinned out at about 18 months :)

If it's wierd, then my dd's are wierd too..lol! My 12 year old dd still has her baby doll from two...makes things for her, and makes sure she's laying in her doll bed when not played with. My 8yr old has the most ratty looking cat that goes EVERYWHERE with her, and asked for gifts for her on her 'list'..lol. I think kids grow up too fast anyway...it's sweet when they want to hang on to childhood a little longer. (btw, I have a dear friend who's in her 30's and married, who last I heard STILL slept with her teddy bear! )

All three of mine killed Santa this year :001_huh: They cornered me and DRILLED me with he's not real is he? questions. So they all three found out the truth this year at 12 and 8. My oldest said she kind of knew already. Good luck. I think it's ok for him to still believe...but it probably won't last much longer.

I just lucked up on some Abeka Health books at the used bookstore this past week. They look pretty good for a health curriculum. You can purchase them for each grade level on their website. :001_smile:

I think what I see with my girls, is that they LOVE to build with Legos. However, they are not into building cars, warriors, space stations, etc. They are more into houses with furniture, or building things for their littlest Pet Shop critters, etc. Yes, they use regular old legos...but ones that aren't geared toward building machines or battles of some sort are getting hard to come by. Some more domestic type things would be really cool. And pink isn't what they want..lol.

Nope. That's one of the very reasons we PULLED my 12yo DD from PS this year. All that socializing was going the wrong way fast.

Yeah, my girls LOVE legos, and they think the girl ones are lame. They would love to see more house building sets with cool furniture pieces, and lots of mini figures. But no weird figures, just regular old mini-figs..lol. I did go on to the LEGO website and you can order just the figures. The girls are going to be thrilled! :)

We are using two sides of the Saxon coin right now. I have 3rd graders doing the scripted saxon 3, and we often find it too easy and have completely dropped the meeting and coin cup. We often skip lessons and just take the test...and go on. I supplement with worksheets and online math games. BUT My 6th grader is using Saxon 7/6 and it seems to be a great fit. She's self-teaching, and learning quite well it seems. The whole format is different from the earlier grades. We are really looking forward to switching to the new format next year with my younger two :) I struggle with math myself, and it's a must for us to have something very thorough and in a simple format for me to help them with it.

East TN is great too if you like NC. We've lived here most of our lives...moved away and came back! You get four honest to goodness seasons, no hurricanes, and it's on the way to just about anywhere in the Eastern US! lol. The suburban areas around Knoxville are nice, and VERY inexpensive compared to many other areas around the country. :)

I've noticed the flicker when I put them in any of our lamps. And it DOES trigger migraines for me. I use them in overhead lights without any trouble though. :001_huh:

How long and for what grades have you homeschooled? For about 5 weeks! I have two 3rd graders, and a 6th grader. Did you know from the start you would homeschool or did some event point you down this road? When my oldest was a baby, I seriously thought about homeschooling...but let the world talk me out of it :glare: Last year I began revisiting the idea, and dd's first few weeks in Middle School decided it for us. The elementary schools kind of went down hill too. Lack of education AND the negative social impact were huge factors, along with wanting a more Christian education for them. Were you homeschooled? No. Does anyone in your extended family homeschool? A distant cousin of dh...otherwise no. What method and materials did you use your first year of homeschooling? Just starting out and flying by the seat of our pants. We are a life long learning family, so this just seems to fall in to our lives pretty easily. We are using Saxon Math, and utilizing the internet and library for everything else. What method and materials are you currently using? See above What books, ideas, etc. have helped shape your homeschool? The Bible, What your child needs to know when, and reading several forums. What has been the most challenging aspect for you? Losing my ME time. :001_huh: What aspect has come naturally for you? Incorporating learning into everything we do. What are your favorite homeschool memories thus far? Watching my kids concoct a feeding experiment for the chipmunks in our backyard. What is the best advice you've been given? Take it one day at a time and PRAY What advice do you give others just starting this journey? Pray, pray, and pray some more. And don't wait...start from the beginning!

My dd is another that's allergic to everything that grows. She has coughing fits and occasional wheezing, but generally it's not horrible. Seems to be getting better as she gets older. She was on Singulair seasonally for about 4 years. I knew it changed her moods before the study about it came out. She went from a happy go lucky child to a weepy moody child when she was on it. Once I heard about the negative emotional effects from the study, I pulled her off it. We stick to her inhaler and zyrtec to manage it now. I would definitely have a talk with his doc if you have any concerns.

Save it. Add some salt and pepper, toss in some carrots, celery and onions and egg noodles....then you have chicken noodle soup :001_smile:

We did have male rats...wish I had known then that the females weren't smelly..lol.

We had pets rats for a while. What I could never heard while researching them was how much they smelled. Don't know if it was just our rats or what but they STUNK! A musky odor that I couldn't stand. They were very sweet pets though. (And make sure you have a good escape proof home for them....they are SMART. Nothing like having house guests that aren't rat savvy see an escapee crawl across the floor early one morning!:lol:)

Thanks for the replies. No she isn't on any teams. She's SO unathletic it's not even funny. We've tried them all. We are sitting in on a co-op Karate class tomorrow so that may be another outlet soon. What's funny is this morning (after posting that before the day even started) she told me that she's starting to really like it. This is after saying she felt locked away last night. :001_huh: Tracey, I'm glad to hear from someone that's been through it recently. I WISH we had neighborhood kids...but we jokingly call our neighborhood the old folks home. We are one of the youngest families here.

Hi! We have begun to homeschool our 3 girls this year for various reasons, but one being our unhappiness with the PS system. The kids seem to be adjusting fairly well, and aren't having any trouble with the actual work. My oldest however, was a very social girl, and really, really misses "being with my friends all day" Any suggestions on helping her through the adjustment? (She's also right in the middle of puberty, so the moods are all over the place :glare:) Right now we go to church twice a week, and she's involved in a volunteer raptor rescue program twice a week (this is at her former school, and she gets to see a couple of friends there) She also still has contact with some of her friends from school. (but not all, as some of them were NOT what I wanted her around)