This year, we will school M, T, TH, and one weekend day -- all in the morning. Wednesdays are enrichment classes through are charter. Fridays are for music and field trips.

Yes. Thank you for these. :)

Ugh. We ordered Megawords through our charter for this year because I too had read that it wasn't teacher intensive. We were switching from Rod & Staff because I wanted something secular. I am not even sure that my older son needs spelling. He seems to be naturally evolving into it. What did you use in place of Megawords? Can anyone compare MW to Rod & Staff? I wanted him to be able to do something mostly independently, which he was doing with R&S.

Ditto. Mine go to preschool from 2 years on. No issues with homeschooling. To be honest, I cannot imagine homeschooling with a toddler underfoot. I can only homeschool my older because younger is at preschool. I know others can manage the toddlers around, but it's not for me.

Soft start on September 6th. Not even sure if we will do that. We might take a longer vacation and not start until the following week.

Effexor and Cymbalta are my two favorite antidepressants. Both work very well for me. Cymbalta had the added benefit of helping with my arthritis pain. Both make me sweat, and are difficult to wean off from -- I get brain zaps. If you decide to stop, make sure you go slowly and ask your doctor about taking a Prozac chaser to help with the process.

I went to the allergist the other day to have some testing done on my older son. We suspected that he got my genes, and inherited some allergies. We just added a dog to the family as well, so I would like to upgrade our vacuum to something with a HEPA filter. I need something that can do both carpet and hardwood floors because we are likely moving into a fifth wheel without carpet. Our current rental house is carpeted. Do I really need to spend the money on a Miele? Are Dysons as good as they say? What is the best vacuum for asthma and allergies?

UPDATE: Yesterday, was #ClearTheShelters here in San Diego, which inevitably made me think of our sweet Cody. When I inquired with the breeder as to how Cody was doing, she let me know that he was doing well, was as sweet as ever, but was still with her, waiting for his forever home. When we found out that he was still with her, my husband and I both commented to each other about how much we missed him, and that we wanted him back. So, I am happy to report that Cody returned to us yesterday (at our behest, and at a substantial discount from our last discussions with her), and is now in his forever home with us. We are all over the moon happy. Turns out, we just couldn't live without our sweet Cody. We will probably add a companion doggie friend for him in a few months, after he gets settled in, and has some ASL training under his belt. Thank you all for your support in this thread. :)

If a 20,000 lb., 44 foot toy hauler seems unstable, I would hate for anyone to see our 41 foot sailboat. :crying: It's not like this is their first rodeo; they have lived in small spaces for a good chunk of their lives already. Not casting aspersions at anyone else's life choices, but, in our experience, we much prefer having time together in a small living space vs. time away from our kids in order to finance a larger mortgage. And, that is just the reality in our HCOL area.

Yes. Campground down the street from us from September until January. We will see after that. :)

Usually about once every couple of years; they get t-storms out in the deserts, though. I remember that, a few years ago, my oldest DS' *indoor* swimming lesson was cancelled because there was one lightning strike in our area a few hours before. True story. :lol:

Yes! This is exactly what we are hoping to find. We belong to the Full Time Families Facebook Group, which has over 12,000 members. They have rallies and other social events throughout the year. We will also be joining Thousand Trails and other campground membership programs that cater to kids. Our friends from our charter did the same thing that we are considering -- bought a new rig and truck, stayed at Campland in SD for a few months until they finally launched full time. We went to visit them at Campland (literally, 5 minutes from where we already live), and my kids had a total blast that day. They had dodgeball, social events for kids, a skate park, pool, beach, concerts, dog park, etc. We had a great time. They launched in May, and the kids are having a blast playing with foreign [to us] creatures (like lightning bugs) and seeing foreign [to us] things like thunderstorms. I could pass on the bugs and storms, personally, but I won't begrudge my children a mind of their own re these discoveries. ;)

I understand and share your concern, but I think it is a bit presumptuous to assume that all children will feel as you have described. They will be with both of their parents, full-time, in a home that they get to take with them wherever they want to go. And they will have freedoms that they can only dream about here, living in a 1000 square foot apartment, with no backyard or area to play, in a congested, urban area of San Diego, with a father who is away from work for most of the day. Yes, there are drawbacks, as have been discussed. There are also enormous benefits. Like learning about nature, like being able to climb trees and ride bikes and just PLAY without expensive camps and scheduled playdates. And it isn't forever. It may not even be for two years. But, it's an adventure, and, we think, something worth exploring. YMMV.

Me, the other day, on a test drive: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1063560087057607&set=a.122192681194357.31592.100002108775692&type=3&theater Ha ha!

So, thank you all for the feedback in this thread. It gave my DH and I a lot to chew on the past few days. We are meeting with our CPA on Friday to go over everything, but I think that we are going to take the plunge! We have been looking at trucks, which has been a hilarious process in San Diego. They look at you like you have three heads if you ask to see an enormous dually truck. :) It looks like we are either going to Boise (can visit my Dad) or to Texas (can watch USC beat up Alabama in our season opener) to buy the truck/trailer. We currently have a couple of dealerships that are competing against each other. The current plan is to go pick it up and bring it back to CA around Labor Day. We have a reservation at an RV park near us from September through January, and will play it by ear after that. I am both excited and nervous!!

Books 1 and 2, and the combo set, in pdf form, are on sale: http://www.livelylatin.com/livelylatin-store/?mc_cid=5e47d5837a&mc_eid=586003e751 They also have online classes, in case you are interested in outsourcing.

I would check out iTalki for French. https://www.italki.com/home

We love listening to the Story of US by Hakim on audio. We get ours free from the library. They are also available on Audible.

I average 9 hours/night. I seem to get sleepier with age.

She definitely sounds like my oldest. He is fine in any environment. I think the larger issue is that we aren't talking about going to one place for an extended period, or even a couple of months We are looking at something like this (hitting National and State Parks, and areas of cultural/historical interest, while trying to keep the weather around 70 degrees, low humidity, not buggy): December So Cal Arizona January Arizona South Texas February Southeast March Mid Atlantic April Mid Atlantic May Northeast June Eastern Canada July Maine August Great Lakes September Upper Midwest October Midwest November Middle Texas December South Texas January So Cal February Arizona March Nevada April New Mexico May Utah June Rockies July PNW Western Canada August PNW September Colorado October Utah November Central CA December So Cal

I agree that I have no idea what my oldest is going to be like academically. As they say, past performance is no prediction of future returns. His trajectory could indeed slow down. But, I am mindful of where he is now, and where he may be, if he continues on this trajectory, in a few years. That was my only point in mentioning it as a potential relevant issue. As an aside, I hope I didn't give the impression that we are racing through curricula. I switched him from Singapore to Beast, and supplement BA with additional problem solving curricula, specifically to slow him down. And BA has done a really good job of challenging him. He is not a math prodigy/fiend; his true loves (at this age) are programming, science, robotics, and gaming. His father is an engineer, so he gets a lot of nurturing in that area from my DH. Most of his ECs are with different groups of kids, but they are the same kids that he has been doing these ECs with for several years (the same soccer and preschool friends since age 2, the same homeschool charter and Jewish summer camp friends since age 5, etc). These are the people that he is loathe to leave behind.

I am inclined to agree with you. We have seen other families go on these types of trips with their older kids (usually sailing trips for 1 year+), and it has seldom ended well. I have seen it work on a few occasions, but the kids were really really on-board with the idea.

Just a couple of things: The youngest is solidly day and night trained already. But, regardless, we wouldn't leave until he is 4 (August 2017) because the kids are already registered for school/ECs/speech therapy for the little next year. I didn't mean to imply that my oldest has skipped grades. I am just referring to the level that he is working at in his various subjects. He is definitely a silly, sweet, academically asynchronous 7.5 year old boy. I only mentioned his acceleration because it is likely that he will hit more rigorous classes earlier than a kid working at grade level. For example, he is heading towards AOPS pre-alegebra in 4th grade. So, while we could just sorta blow off academics for a year or two, I don't think oldest would be very happy with doing so. In terms of trips, we are already going sailing up the coast and over to Catalina for 2.5 weeks at the end of August. This is a normal type trip for us. Both kids are very independent personalities and make friends easily. They are not shy in the least, jump right in to new activities with others, and introduce themselves to random strangers wherever we go. My youngest was standing naked on the balcony the other day, and saw a car filled with kids outside our balcony. He yells from the balcony, "Hi, I'm Ronen. I'm a big boy. Do you want to come in my house and play with my toys!" It was adorable. It's just that oldest is now old enough to want something more than just hello-goodbye friends.

I think that my DH is the explorer and wanderlust, and potentially my younger as well, though it is too soon to tell. My oldest and I crave more stability than them (not sure that is saying much, though), but we are both open to new experiences. I mean, I left for a month-long trip to the then USSR when I was 15 and for the Army when I was 17. I've spent many years living and working overseas, so, I think part of my more lukewarm feeling about long-term travel today is that I have already BTDT. I've lost a lot of that wanderlust over the years, and am much more introverted than I was in my youth, especially after having children. But, this is good advice, and I appreciate it, Nan.

So, it looks like "go in a year" is tied with "go in four years," with a sizable chunk who think we shouldn't go at all. Parenting is so hard.