This happens to us too. Sometimes it is because he's tired or whatever, but other times, I think the concept needs time to simmer in his brain and really soak in. Then, suddenly, he understands. I start teaching assuming he is still struggling and he is suddenly flying through. LOL!

I think my kids would enjoy starting to learn Spanish, but I really don't have time to actually teach them. :blush: Are there any DVD based Spanish intro programs that I could just pop in for them? Something that other than random practicing, they wouldn't need to do much outside watching the videos? My kids are 7 (almost 8) and twin 5 year olds. (And 3 year olds who might watch sometimes.) I'm mostly looking for basic just exposure, maybe getting some vocab memorized and maybe simple sentence structure. When I took it, I had no problem learning the grammar and sentence structure, but struggled to memorize all the vocabulary. It would be nice if they could go ahead and start learning that. I'm not really looking for fluency, though that would be fine too. ;) Hopefully, it will be reasonable priced. I'm not really interested in spending several hundred dollars like Rosetta Stone. I definitely have a strong preference for DVD v. computer based. Thanks!

If I had to pay full price, rather than Amazon, I'd still think it was worth it. Glad you feel confident in buying it now. :hurray:

The reasons you stated is why we use WWE workbooks instead of me picking my own. I have the text too. We are still in WWE1 and I feel like I can probably do this on my own. So, we may start doing more writing across the curriculum even though I already own the books. BUT, I probably won't do that as we go higher up, like WWE2 (which I own and have looked at) because I'm not good at narrations myself. I need the hand holding that WWE 2 and above will provide. It's worth the money for me. In my mind, it's one of the cheaper parts of our curriculum and definitely big bang for the buck so to speak. :)

I liked hearing that video. I'd still like to know why there is a discrepancy between the two...which is "correct?" Which is "better?" Does it even matter?? KWIM?

MFW user (and lover!) and Singapore user. We just started 2A today. :) So, I love MFW, but are you using the HIG? They don't recommend it...not meaning they say you shouldn't use it, but rather they don't think it's needed and don't offer it. They do have their own guide. I wasn't an elementary ed teacher and not as qualified as you are, but without the HIG I would be lost. I would suggest getting that first before you bale. After that, if you still want to change, my second choice is Saxon or A Beka. Good Luck!

I have 2 sets of twins. Not exactly the same as trips, but more than one at a time. :) I'm only teaching one so far and they are in K...so...take my advice for what it is...from a novice at schooling twins. LOL! My daughter is much faster than her brother. Not only does she "get it" better, but she stays focused better too. I either have her wait and color a picture or do some worksheet I printed or I explain it twice. I feel like they get better instruction from me when I explain it separately anyway. When I do them together, it's easy for them slide by on the coat tails of the other if that makes sense. When I do them separately, they get my focused attention (sort of since I have 6 total including 3 year old twins and a 10 month old) and I'm able to really see what they know and understand. So, I just do what works at the moment...sometimes move on with only her and sometimes make her wait. It depends too on what exactly it is. When I do give her worksheets, I try to make it ones that aren't just busywork. Like, we are learning phonics, so I have Explode the Code workbooks for her. She doesn't feel like it's busywork. She loves it. :)

We are much lower than you, just about to start 2A, but my son did 1A and B very quickly. I often did many lessons in one day. If I knew he knew the info, I would let him just do some problems in the WB to show me he knew it. If he need a fast lesson, we might skip the HIG and just look at a couple of things in the text. I often had him only do a couple problems in the HIG and skip whole pages if it seemed redundant for him. I didn't look much at the HIG's schedule. We went at our own pace...my son's pace. Some units he breezed through very, very quickly. One topic, we took longer than intended. It worked well for us to just follow his lead rather than worrying about the schedule in the front. Personally, I didn't want to completely skip anything. I wanted to make sure he knew it. But, if he did, we didn't hang around. It worked well for us. :) Oh, and then I had him take the placement test (from the Singapore site) as an exit exam for 1B just to make sure he got it. He got 100% on it. So, clearly, he knew what he needed to.

Why do you think this is? I have the text because it gives the background info and tells you where you are headed, which I like. But, we use WWE workbook daily. I wonder why it is harder. I have not had to yet, but I would just modify where needed if it's too hard.

Exactly! I'm hoping to connect with one when we get to that level. We'll see though. We aren't part of anything right now. It's too much right now because of the ages of my children. I thought about a co-op this year, but I don't feel we need it for the academics and it will just hinder us in that way because we need that extra day to get it all done. I'd like it for the social aspect, but let's face it...I have 6 kids 7.5 years apart. They have each other. LOL!

Yes, getting up helps because your legs are moving. However, often it will start up again after you lay back down. As for the other things, I haven't noticed a caffeine connection, but maybe I should have. :glare: Preg definitely makes it a LOT worse for me and brought it on in the first place. I never had it till I was pregnant with my first and it wasn't till after my 3rd pregnancy that it stuck around. It was really, really horrible with my last pregnancy. Being tired is what brings it on now. The more tired I am, the worse it is. When I'm well rested, it doesn't usually plague me. Oh and hormones...it's worse near my period. I don't have any allergies, and I've never heard of that as a trigger, but others are saying that. So, I'd say it is probably a trigger too. A lock box! That is genus! I should have thought of that. I have twin 3 year olds, but one of them is...well...a hand full. Someone will say, "can you put this where he can't get it?" To which I'll answer, "you mean at the neighbor's house?" :tongue_smilie: I'm only half kidding. We have to keep many doors in our house locked. He has 3 older siblings and I've never had to toddler proof much until him. But, he's only 3 and he will grow up. At least the Restful Legs is homeopathic. He can't OD on it. Still, I don't want to risk it. But, the lock box would work for many things. The Restful Legs doesn't help as much as it used to even when I do take it. It's better than nothing though. I need to try it again. Thanks! I hope you find relief. Try the Restful Legs. It really has helped many, many people I've told about it. It's only around $5 at Wal-Mart. :)

I didn't say too much about it before except to link it. Mine gets like the poster you quoted when I'm pregnant, really bad every time I sit down. Though, I don't have the allergy thing going too. That's awful. But, I have it all the time, not just while I'm pregnant. It can get very severe some days...depending on sleep which I lack because I have 6 kids 7 and under. Often, I can't be touch as a result, like my husband can't lay his hand on my leg while we are watching TV or touch me when we are in bed going to sleep. It's really frustrating and has brought me to tears many times, especially when I want to be touched but can't. Sometimes I get it at night while nursing my 9 month old and that makes me cry because I'm SO miserable and I just want to comfort my baby, but I'm desperate to put him down. It's so sad. I struggle in the car a lot, on long trips especially at night, but it can be any time of day if I'm tired. The above remedy really helped in the past. Now, I usually just have to suffer through. But, I still take it sometimes. It's been a while. I should try it again. My biggest issue is I can't keep it in my night stand anymore because my 3 year old will eat it. Ugh! So, it's downstairs and I don't want to go get it. Too tired and miserable to get up, even though getting up helps. Strange. RLS is very strange and definitely like torture. It's really awful. :(

LOL about writing in the books! I feel the same way. But, I will say, I've broken out slightly and I numbered the days at the top of the Adv grid! I couldn't believe it. But, I like it. :D Of course, I did it VERY lightly and I can easily erase and you'd never know. I'll be doing ECC and 1st next year. :D Toward the end of that year, we may end up adding in K also...not if I can help it though. Ha, ha! I'm following in your footsteps! That's awesome! You still need highschool though! :D I like that I have everything from the years under me. I started with 1st edition and have upgraded to the new stuff. But, I bought an old 1st manual off ebay for $10 because I really loved the original 1st program. :blush: I'm trying to decide on selling Adv when I'm done with it. I don't know. I have 5 more kids....I'm not sure we'll need it again though. I'm only on week 6, so it's a bit early to worry about it now. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...but I probably won't sell...I'm too attached to my curriculum. :001_tt1:

I can't help but giggle a little. We like to camp...in a tent...we have 6 kids 7 and under. :lol: My kids are 7, twin 5 year olds, twin 3 year olds and a 9 month old...this was his first year camping, but we did it while I was pregnant with him last year. ;) I should post a picture of all the kids sleeping across the floor of the tent. It's a sight for sure. :w00t: We've gotten caught in the rain many, many times. This last time was the worst. It rained for about 14 hrs straight...with no warning and very low chance of rain. Actually, it wasn't just normal rain, it was storming, windy and down pouring the entire time...like we had a hard time seeing out the windows when driving. :001_huh: And, we were in a tent. :willy_nilly: Our pack and play got wet, because it started with no warning, and I no longer had anywhere to put my 7 month old down outside for the rest of the trip. I wore him the whole rest of the time except when we were sleeping. I found out after the fact, it pretty much only rained right where the park was. Just our luck! LOL!! We bring books and read a lot in the tent when it rains. We also pack everyone into the car and go out for a meal and a drive, even if it is a fairly long drive. It's worth it to us. We are going again in 2wks. The kids can't wait and we are looking forward to it also...and praying for no rain this time. Anyway, we really enjoy it, even when it rains. Not while it's actually raining, but it usually clears up pretty quickly and then we have more fun. I hope it stops for you soon! ETA - The first time we ever went camping, we had a 5 year old and twin 3 year olds. My babies stayed at home for that trip because it was supposed to rain and they already had mild colds. It rained! It was fun anyway and we have been going 2-3 times a year ever since. :D

We are not at that level of WWE yet, but I would have to work on that for several days before I'd be able to reproduce it. :lol:

I love that extra day! We get tons of nature. I use the day for catch up (or ahead) and also for play dates, my mom coming to visit, appts or whatever. Love that extra day!

I have it. It's awful. Very real. I had no clue what it was till I saw an ad for some medicine for it on TV, which I don't take. ;) Mine gets SO much worse when I'm pregnant. I really hate it. I have found a homeopathic remedy for it that works well for most people I tell about it. It used to work for me, but not so much anymore. :( Anyway, it's called Restful Legs. Hyland's makes it. You can get it at Wal-Mart or CVS or online and I'm sure other places too. Here is a link: http://www.restfullegs.com/

I like this idea. I might snag it. :D I have K, 1st and Adv for this year. So, not a ton of books yet. But, I keep them on their own MFW shelf. I'm using Adv and K this year...I do have the lit pack for K. I keep all those books in the original box they came in and take them out as needed. I don't put them on the shelf for everyone to thumb through. I want them to get ruined because I have several more kids to go through K. :)

I do this. My kids are still young with the oldest only being 7. And, I don't have much time to read since I have 6 who are all 7 and under, but I've definitely bought many things that I don't need just because I wanted them to read as a resource. I bought Saxon Math because it is so scripted and I wanted to see how they taught some topics...we use Singapore. LOL! I bought OPGTR for the same reason even though we use MFW for phonics. There have been others. I'm starting to look into writing programs.....we use WWE, but...I'm thinking I need to work ahead. ;)

I don't have any advice. But I'm a MFW user. We really love it. We are doing Adv and K this year...did 1st last year. But, I've never done CC or even really researched it. I thought I read a thread talking about people doing CC and doing other things too. So, maybe it would work. Hopefully someone who has experience can chime in. At least I'm giving you a bump. :D

I struggled to figure it out also. I use the HIG (not really a supplement for the student, but for the teacher to know exactly what/how to teach), text, WB, IP and CWP. I'm planning to use the IP and CWP a half level behind. But, we are just about to start 2A tomorrow and will really start incorporating that stuff with it. So, I'm not completely sure of how it's going to work yet. But, my plan is to teach the lesson and have my son do the WB. (We often do 2 or more lessons in one day.) Then, the next day have him do some IP and CWP. And alternate like that. I feel like it allows me to only have to actually teach every other day. Though, I am very aware that he may need help and even hand holding with the IP and CWP. So, we'll just see how it goes. It may end up taking too long like this, but I'm thinking it will work, especially since we school year round. Oh, I wanted to mention that I often don't have my son do all the problems of one type in the WB or the IP/CWP. (We did a little of it with 1B.) I'll have him do just the problems on the right side of the page or the even problems or whatever. I do that if he is grasping the concept. Obviously, I don't if he needs more practice. This helps cut down the actual work he is doing and allows more time for supplements. Hope that helps a little. :)

We are so small here, I sent mine out and got my letter back that they received it 3 days later...literally. I would give it more time though. :)

My mom teaches my children art once a week. As the years go on, we will change it up a bit. At some point she is going to teach typing and computer. She may tutor us in Latin, which she did with my sister and therefore is much more qualified that I am, but she won't be the main teacher. We will move forward each week even if she isn't here. Right now, if she doesn't come, we don't do art. I love my mom. She HS'd my sister in highschool (but not before). But, I feel that I need to be the one teaching the core skill subjects. Math and LA will always be all me (or hubby). I choose her to be completely responsible for something that is totally gravy. But, for things in the middle, like history and science, I lead, but she helps when she is here. When she is here, she will help with projects or do the read alouds. She will teach Bible when she's here. My mom is a little over an hour away. I know she would do more if she could be here more. She comes about once a week. I feel blessed to have her as involved as she is. So, that's how we handle it. :)

My son is AWESOME with addition. He really struggles with subtraction. He just finished his 1B workbook today. (Big cheer! :hurray:) Subtraction was really a struggle. I feel like I probably didn't spent enough time solidifying it at the lower numbers, like within 20. We hand to stop on subtraction within 100 for quite a while. So, I would suggest hanging out until you are sure she really fully gets it before moving on. I know c-rods are awesome, but we don't use them much. So, I can't help there, but I'd just keep on working at even if it's in very similar ways over and over until you are sure she has it down well. Good luck!

I truly can't imagine. My heart aches for this family and for Ben. Praying.