Here's a link that lists the SL books in WTM 4 year cycle: http://homescool-ed.blogspot.com/2007/04/sonlight-books-arranged-by-well-trained.html

We school 4 days a week, year around. We take our breaks when we want. We have an old RV that we travel in. For the next 3 months we have camping trips planned (2 of them are a week long). We will still read on these trips, but take a break from other school work. Last year we went to the Grand Canyon, and we did lapbooks about it while there, instead of our regular work. We take a couple weeks off during Christmas time; to do crafts, bake, ect. My dh works at home so we take time off when we feel like it.

My mom is my closest friend and we talk 2-3 times a week for a couple of hours. I wish I had a peer friend that I could do this with, but my mom is the only one I trust enough to tell everything.

I think that that punishment is too harsh. It is very hard for littles to keep secerts. I wouldn't have even started the need for secerts, between close siblings (we don't do Santa, Tooth Fairy, ect..). However, just explain to her that from now on you know that you cannot trust her with secerts. She will have to wait till she is much older to participate in fun secerts and surprises.

I'm a lefty. Scissors are a very good idea to have. When your littles first start to write use loose leaf or note books with the spiral at the top. Once they are good at writing, you can move onto the regular stuff.

I do the Luzianne family size tea bags or Lipton thing also. However, I just place them in one of those glass gallon containers with the spicket at the bottom (you know the ones you see everwhere come summer time), with water. I then take it outside and set it in the sun. The sun does all the work, and I don't have to dirty more than one thing :D. I just check on it ever so often, and when it is as dark as I want it, I put it in the frig. I also make sure I leave enough room to put ice, when the time come. If you want to make it sweet, just add sugar to taste, when you bring it in from outside. You can do this with any tea bags you like. If they're the small ones, use about 7 or 10 bags.

You might want to try Phonics Pathways. Before moving onto words this is how they introduce blending: a v-a va e v-e ve i v-i vi etc.. The child says the vowel sound then the c-v sound, then tries to blend them together. This trains them to see the cv as one sound. The child does not move on till they can do this with ease. This is how the whole program is set up. We tried 100 Easy Lessons and even though it is a similar approach; PP is just a better lay out, making it easier for the child to see what is going on. The example I gave above is all that would be on one page, (not all the distracting parents text) all the v's with just one c at a time. Hope you find what works :).

I read Beatrix, Winnie the Pooh, Treasury of Mother Goose, A Child's Garden of Verses, and Dr. Dolittle to my girls when they were 6 and 4 years old.

You might want to check out a curriculum like Sonlight. It is an advanced program. You could have your 7 and 5 year old together for History and Science. We just finished K It was fine for my 7 year old (who is advanced also), however I'm going to wait till my dd5 turns 6 to start Core 1. I wish we would have started with P4/5 for our K and 1st grade program, it still would have been plenty for my oldest dd. Cores K, 1, 2 are Ancient and World History. Core 3 starts American History.You might want to look into Core K for your kids, it seems like it would be a perfect fit. You would not want to go with the K readers for your 7 year old, you can pick any level that he reads at, for those. Even though we love their readers; I do not recommend their Language Arts program. We use Rod & Staff instead. I hope you find what works for your family. Her's a link to SL K: http://www.sonlight.com/k.html (You don't have to buy it all together, look under subjects at the top of the page) These readers might be good for ds7: http://www.sonlight.com/readers-2-adv.html

We do a theme because we have one party for our 2 girls, since their birthdays are only a week apart. They take turns choosing the theme each year. This year we had a "Pet Shop" party. I had coloring pages for the kids when they arrived. While they colored I painted their faces like doggies or kitties (used a homemade face paint). Later we had a dog relay race. I devided them into teams. They crawled on their hands and knees to a paper plate with a doggy treat (animal cookie) on it, grabbed it with their mouth and crawled back. Which ever team finished first, won. We played this a few times. Then we played a version of hot potato and musical chairs put together. As the music played the kids passed a stuffed animal, when the music stopped whoever was holding it, was out. We also, alway have a pinata. The kids ate on vinyl table cloths that I taped to the floor (pets can't eat at the table ;)). I served the snacks in dog bowls that I got from the dollar store. Here are some sights with ideas for some of the themes you mentioned: Star Wars- http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/party_starwars.htm http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/star_wars.html Legos- http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/lego.html http://club.lego.com/en-us/BuildIt/FamilyDetails.aspx?id=39112

We always go to bed together, between 10-11 (I can't go to sleep very easily if he is not there). I wake up first at about 6, to have some alone time to read, journal, etc..(sometime the baby wakes up at this time also). My dh wakes up at 7 (he works at home); our girl call for him in the monitor (they are not allowed to call until thier clock says 7 ;)). He goes and gets them, then makes coffee. He comes and sits in the chair across from me, and we talk till about 8. The kids watch cartoons during this time; so we are not constantly interupted. This is really their only tv time. At 8 he heads into his office. We take our showers somewhere between 9-11 :blush:, switching off.

Do you have a theme? This will help alot in planning activities.

God was not punishing Sarah by waiting till she was in her 90's to give her Isaac. He waited because he had an AMAZING plan for her life. We are never told that Esther had children, yet look at how God used her life. The Lord closed Hannah's womb, and not Peninnah's; even though Hannah was clearly the one who sought after and loved God, and Peninnah was a bitter irritating woman. Again He had a plan. Elizabeth was barren till she had John, and she was Mary's mentor (a very Godly woman). Deborah a judge over Israel was married, but we are never told she had children. She had a very important and time consuming job, with not much time to be a mother. God has a different plan for all of us.

Breakfast: whole grain/whole wheat toast -w/cream cheese or peanut butter & fruit spread or cereal w/ bannana in it We are not big morning people ;). A plate with the following for Lunch: cheese stick or nuts of some kind dried cranberries or rasins a fruit and/or carrot sticks whole grain crackers and corn chips We keep it really simple, I never make sandwhiches or things like that, unless it's for a special picnic lunch or something. For Dinner I have fun :D. I never really know what I am going to make untill that day. I just make sure the ingredients I have on hand are healthy: veggies meats (buy on sale) pastas (whole wheat) rice (brown) organic boxed both stocks canned crushed tomatoes garlic olive oil canned green chillis flour (to thicken things) dried herbs You'd be surprised at how many things you can make with these ingredients. I hope you find what works for your family.

:thumbup:good job MOM!

I haven't read all the replies, but maybe you could include her in some of your fun activities, (like take her to Bible study). She is at an age where she wants to grow up, yet still needs to be with her "mommy" :). She wants to be your friend. Even though you haven't done anything wrong, she probably still needs an apology for making her "feel" this way. Let her know you will be more vigilant about how she feels, and how much responsibility you give her. She also needs to know how her telling you that you haven't a been a "good mom" lately was very hurtful, and she needs to be more careful with the words she uses even if she feels a certain way. Words are a very hard wound to heal :grouphug:.

To your question about the Readers being part of the Core. You can buy everything separately like this: History, and Geography http://www.sonlight.com/history-geography-1.html Read-Alouds http://www.sonlight.com/read-alouds-1.html Bible http://www.sonlight.com/bible-1.htm Readers http://www.sonlight.com/1R5G.html or You can purchase it all together, like this: http://www.sonlight.com/core-1.html If you purchase it all together, they let you choose Readers between levels 1 and 2 Intermediate. If you want something different than these, you need to buy separately. History, Geography, Read-Alouds, and Bible are all scheduled in the Core 1 Instructors Guide. Readers are not scheduled in the Core 1 IG; they come with their own schedule. If you go with the LA program the Reads are schduled in that IG; there is no need to then purchase the Readers schedule. http://www.sonlight.com/la-1.html You can also buy used on the SL forum, this forum, and many other places online (saves a load of money). Just use your catalog as a guide so you don't miss anything that is needed. I understand if this seems a little overwhelming though :D.

We just finished SL Core K/Science K (we're waiting till dd5 turns 6 to start SL1, we still love SL). DD5 read the K readers and now dd7 is onto the Intermediate 2 readers. You can choose whichever level of readers fits your child, with any Core. My girls LOVE the readers, and so do I. However, I do not suggest the Language Arts program; it jumps around (no real sequence), with very little to no instruction. Some of the games are fun in the LA, but that is all we like about it. The Core/Sci. is all read-alouds. If he love being read to SL is for you.

:iagree::iagree:

I love SL. We just finished Core K/Science K (I'm going to wait till dd 5 turns 6 to start SL1 ). I don't know about the new changes. However, whatever you do don't go with SL LA the way it is, right now. I find that it jumps from subject with hardly any review. Plus, the LA seems to not be very age appropriate, or clear (ex: In week 3 of LA 2 they want the child to write a compound sentence, with little to no explanation of what one is or how to go about forming one. They just say write a compound sentence, using the copy work above as an example). We did enjoy some of tha activities and games they have.

:iagree:

Maybe it's the rocker chick in me. But, how can you not like Adam! Even if he's not your cuppa tea, his range is absolutely AMAZING.

I went for 2 weeks when I was 17. I would have (and still would ;)), killed for an opportunity like what your dd wants to do. The kibbutz idea is awesome. I visited a few (I still keep in contact with one of them), and love the sense of family community. She will be safe in this environment. I know as a mom it is probably a scary idea for you to send your dd so far away. I'd encourage you, to encourage her in this passion, and have a great adventure.

We school year around, Mon. through Thur. However, we take many breaks, for week long camping trips in our RV. This last year we went to the Grand Canyon, we took this oppotunity to do lapbooks about the GC. For this year we already have written into our calender, camping trips for the next 4 months, (beinging in April). My dh works at home so we can easily do things like this. Sometimes we'll take a little school work with us, on these trips. This summer for Science, we are participating in a 4H gardening co-op. We'll have our own garden; we're required to journal about its progress and do some experiments along the way. So we won't have a Science "curriculum", for summer. We got all th materials yesterday to begin or sprouts. The girls are so excited :).

I've had both. Go with, GAS GAS GAS!