I did mention that before putting my kids' names on their backpacks. My husband was like, "So, no one can ever call them by name in public?" I decided it was not a valid fear.

Here's a thought. I memorized quite a few verses in my Awana days. 2 weeks after I had said it, I'd forgotten it. I was introduced to the practice of learning a whole chapter of the Bible each year. That continuous practice over a long stretch of time really works! With 15 min. a day, you could add scripture memory and drop Awana, freeing up a night. Maybe get a grandparent or nice old lady from church to offer them a prize for reciting the passage to them when you see them.

It's not all questions the kids hate, just the ones that go with SOTW. They can never remember all of the information asked for. Speech is only a half hour each way. I can't go back and watch the sessions because I have my other 2 kids with me. She is working with him on L sounds, which I hadn't noticed were a problem, with eye contact, passing the ball of conversation back and forth, and reading body language. Mostly social stuff that we also work on with his social skills therapy on Friday. I figured a different person and more time wouldn't hurt.

Yes! I would say it's essential, and possibly skip the textbook instead.

There are no particular books that come to mind, but the supplementary reading list in SOTW often have advanced picture book fiction. We've had some GREAT books from that list, and some that were too hard, even though they were picture books.

Yes to this, especially hiding the chocolate in my room. 😊 It was in there for several months. Then when I would escape to my room to get away from the kids, the chocolate was right there. I've had a few too many snack-ciddents with a full sized dark chocolate bars.😳

I like the idea of moving silent reading to right before bed, but we would have a revolt on our hands. 😉 They like to choose their own books in the afternoon and evening. For my daughter, sometimes Geronimo Stilton or Calvin and Hobbes. And for my son, silent reading time is a lifesaver. When he's getting too upset and about/starting to scream, sitting in his room and reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle or Little House on the Prairie saves all our sanity. If I just gave him free time, it would encourage more fits, and he would freak over starting school again after having a break.

So helpful!

Yes to getting my guy dressed in the morning. You would not believe how hard that was when he was 3. We've come a long way. He still struggles with leaving the house, but we're seeing progress there too. Thank you for reminding me how important mornings are. I really have to remember that. Other than our Tuesday classes, we don't normally do things in the morning. But it takes so long to get going in the morning, that we are not as productive. I've been working on that, but still... Often outside activities are at 1:00, and 30 minutes away, so there's not much afternoon time for science and history activities and read alouds.

You all are so nice! Really, I'm almost tearing up at the encouragement! Sorry I haven't responded- busyness of life, extended family trouble, etc. History We do have all the CDs for SOTW, and listen in the car. The kids HATE answering the questions. Does this mean I can skip it, so they will like history? Maybe just discuss as I drive? Also, they struggle with narration. (Of course) it never looks like the sample. I've assumed that we should keep doing it, to strengthen those skills. But they do some narration with Aesop's Fables in English, which is much easier. Because those stories are so short, however, I often hear the same story back almost word for word. Summarizing is challenging. Now that I have 2 doing history, one kid gets even numbers, one odd, for choosing the activity. I limit to the ones that I'm willing to do. I have the worst time not getting the whole booklist from each chapter. I try to get only 4 books. Both my older kids are strong readers, and can usually read in the car. We love books at our house, but I will try to be ok with returning books unread to the library. Latin I told my son he could quit Latin. My daughter is still doing it. She loves it. She's been asking to learn Spanish for 2 years, but I couldn't find a class that would fit in our schedule. She will speak all the Latin she has learned to us. But I will relax on how fast she goes through it, and let her choose the pace. ( Which might be faster.) Math This takes more time than anything else. Any ideas for speeding up kids/ streamlining? I don't really want to switch, because I feel like we're getting a solid math education. Singapore is teacher intensive. You teach the lesson, often with games or manipulatives, then go through the textbook with them, then they do the workbook on their own. Some days there is also mental math, 20 some questions that they are supposed to be able to finish in 3-5 minutes. We often skip the textbook or some games, and both kids are slower at mental math. When I have time I let my 1st grader do his work verbally, as that is much faster for him. I can't believe people fit in Singapore intensive practice supplements, and Singapore complex word problems as well as all this. Maybe instead of mental math, I could find a math game on the iPad. Spelling My 3rd grader is a great reader, but a poor speller. Last year we tried doing spelling 2 or 3 days a week, but that didn't work well. She really needs spelling every day, and a program like AAS. I'm hoping to get her spelling well enough to do some writing next year. I would like to keep my 1st grader moving through spelling, partly just for the handwriting practice, but with him I could cut back to 2 days a week. English Any recommendations for English that combines grades? The kids and I have loved ELTL. I like the classic literature selections, the poetry, the occasional picture study, the copywork. But with 2 kids doing it, I'm not sure if its still working. An English program that combines kids would be so much easier/save so much time. And I'm not sure that it's the right grammar approach for my daughter. A basic workbook with circle the correct answer might be more her style. We haven't been doing much with cursive yet, so she's not ready to do her copywork in cursive, but by Christmas she should. Science The science they are doing at their homeschool class is not Science in the Beginning. But they both enjoy it. I've really liked what we've done in SitB, and feel guilty for not doing more, since I've finally found science we all like. Thank you all for telling me it's okay if we don't get more science done, or do just a little bit. I plan to chill. Therapy I'm thinking about dropping pragmatic speech therapy. It's only 30 minutes a week, but an hour drive round trip. Not sure how much it's helping. I kinda want to hang in til Christmas since we've already hit our max out of pocket with insurance and it's practically free til next year.

Am I the only one who actually likes sharpening pencils? I do it while listening to history narration, or dictating spelling words and sentences, or giving the kids a hard stare to try to get them to actually do their math workbook. The kids badly want to sharpen their own pencils, but they take too long and make a mess. We have 2 little mason jars for pencils sitting on our school bookshelf, one for tall ones, one for short ones. The shortest pencils move to kids' backpacks. After reading reccomendations here, we have a Carl angel-5 pencil sharpener, and use Mirado and Ticonderoga pencils with Arrowhead eraser caps. We do use other pencils too. We are always getting free pencils at the library, festivals, homeschool conventions... Plus the old pencils my husband and I had, with fresh erasers added. I used to love mechanical pencils. Even had a hard time switching to using pen. But I've heard that playing with the leads, taking them apart, and constant clicking are a problem for kids, so we haven't used them yet.

I feel like we've got some great curriculum picks. I like what we are doing, but can't seem to get it all done. Maybe I could change curriculum to something more independent for the kids, or cut something out. Please, please give me some advice on what to cut or how to streamline. I know I can be blind to the obvious sometimes every day. :001_rolleyes: We have also had a ridiculous number of sick days this school year (3 stomach viruses!), and I am starting to stress about how behind we are. This is our plan, but we are not hitting it all. We start with hymns, a devotional, memory work, and prayer. AAS1 and 2 -every day Singapore Math 2a and 3a -every day ELTL1 and ELTL2 -4 days a week cursive for the 3rd grader with English Silent reading time most days SOTW3 -2 or 3 days week Song School Latin -2 or 3 days week Science in the Beginning -2 or 3 days week AAR and story time for the little guy My kids are separate for spelling, math, and English, together for the rest. We have occupational therapy, music and science homeschool classes on Tuesday. We have PE and pragmatic speech therapy on Wednesday. We have social skills therapy and piano lessons on Friday. Trying to fit in playdates, daily exercise, athletic skills, crafts, board games, and cleaning the house. My 3rd grader is sweet, nurturing, compliant, and very prone to distraction. She is often forgetful. She struggles with spelling, and is (just like her mama) very slooooow at math. She loves reading, English, science, craft stuff. I require almost no writing other than spelling and copywork. My 1st grader is interesting, curious, challenging, bright. He is on the autism spectrum and his perfectionism causes frequent meltdowns that disrupt the school day. Even the transition to getting dressed or leaving the house is a battle. He is incredibly stubborn, but if I can get him started, he loves to learn. He catches on quickly and remembers what he has learned. He loves reading, history, and English. He can help his sister with math and spelling, though he is doing his own lower level books. My preschooler is happy, energetic, loud, extroverted. He doesn't like to be alone, and craves attention. He will never be the little kid who sits quietly coloring and listening in on his older siblings' work. While I am teaching spelling, or dealing with his brother's meltdown, he will be overflowing the sink and bathtub, or eating an entire bag of chocolate chips!

So, the shoe that started this thread, I wouldn't quite say ugly. It's ugly in a quirky sort of way. The right person could pull it off. This shoe that Cecropia posted is TRULY UGLY. Yes, all-caps kind of UGLY.

Back in the day, my husband got meningitis while he was an exchange student in Australia. His mom was worried sick, but could not afford a plane ticket. I think he was in the hospital 2 weeks, because they caught it late. He ended up fine, and understood that his family couldn't be there. If you can't be there, just call and message when you can. Contact other people there and encourage them to visit. Maybe send something in the mail. Don't feel guilty.

Following this. I'd love for the kids to be able to make useful things. Things that won't clutter up our home. I'd love more ideas for things that don't need throwing away, especially because there are tears over every drawing and craft that gets tossed. My daughter has used the Zippy loom for an easy form of crocheting. She wears the scarf she made, when the weather cools down. My 6 year old son just learned how to whittle, and I wouldn't mind little wooden things sitting around the house. Card making is also useful, and saves money over paying for birthday and Christmas cards. My nephews and niece go to a Charlotte Mason style school. The boys gave my daughter a knitted purse that she uses, and me a little fall banner made of yarn and felt. I should ask what else they do.

Following this. I'd love for the kids to be able to make useful things. Things that won't clutter up our home. I'd love more ideas for things that don't need throwing away, especially because there are tears over every drawing and craft that gets tossed. My daughter has used the Zippy loom for an easy form of crocheting. She wears the scarf she made, when the weather cools down. My 6 year old son just learned how to whittle, and I wouldn't mind little wooden things sitting around the house. Card making is also useful, and saves money over paying for birthday and Christmas cards. My nephews and niece go to a Charlotte Mason style school. The boys gave my daughter a knitted purse that she uses, and me a little fall banner made of yarn and felt. I should ask what else they do.

I have no right to give advice. My ASD kid is a 1st grader, not an 8th grader. I do agree that you should keep him in school for at least 3 months. But we also deal with school refusals, and pretty-much-everything-I-tell-him-to-do refusals. I have been on the verge of enrolling him in school several times. What has been a HUGE help is seeing a counselor. She works with a lot of kids with Aspergers, and is so insightful. She is working on social skills with my son every week, but also addresses behavior issues and my relationship with him. It's so comforting to know, whatever behavior we are dealing with, or the thing our kid is doing that we don't understand, that on Friday we can talk to Miss Valerie about it. Even if it didn't help, (which it does), it would do me so much good to talk about what's going on and get new ideas of looking at the situation. She helped me figure out that school refusals were in part about perfectionism and fear of failure, and she is helping both of us with skills to fight perfectionism. I would reccomend a good Autism/Aspergers therapist to everyone!

Yes. There's a preschool we drive by named "Kiddie Kollege". For real. I am inordinately pleased that all the misspelled signs drive my 6 year old crazy.

I think there actually is a "thing" about bare baby toes. My first could not stand shoes or socks, and would always get out of them. I was scolded, reminded, judged, etc maybe 20 times for having my baby out in public barefoot. This was all from older people in the Midwest. Not that I care.

Love this thread! My daughter and I were looking for the best deals on flights to Europe yesterday, and Rome was the cheapest. Then we went crazy looking at all the adorable apartments you can get on Airbnb. It'll probably be several years before we can save up the money, but a girl can dream, right?

From Australia. It's tons cheaper, and you can get heartworm preventative without a prescription. http://www.pets-megastore.com.au/

Y'all led me down a crazy Google trail. I now use only kosher salt, Himalayan salt, and sea salt. I really like the taste better, and it's fun to use "fancy" salts. Now I wonder if I'm getting enough. It sounds like the amount of iodine from vegetables is variable, and we eat very little seafood. Internet information is conflicting, on whether most Americans are getting enough iodine. My multivitamin has 75 mcg of iodine. My kids' multivitamin has 100 mcg. Maybe that's plenty with other dietary sources. Maybe not. I'm trying to decide if I want to start Spirulina again (which has 10% rda of iodine), eat some seaweed snacks, or take a kelp pill once a week. Kelp supplements have tons of iodine, but I don't want to overdo it. My kids might take Spirulina capsules, but not the kelp or nori snacks.

I don't know what's wrong with doing a light week, and then bumping out your school schedule into summer break a week. We like the Wild China series on Netflix, and plan to watch Wild Alaska. There's some printable maps they could color for geography. A world map puzzle could be fun. You could ask your 8 year old to read to her siblings. Or play some counting and math activities with the 5 year old. (Pay her with money or chocolate if necessary.) If you can work on reading for 20 min with the 5 year old, and get your 8 year old started with math, that should be good.