Adding more: The Zoo, of course and/or the Wild Animal Park if you don't mind a schlep Legoland is in Carlsbad The Birch Aquarium and La Jolla Cove Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach at sunset The SD Botanical Garden is in Encinitas The Mission San Diego de Alcala and Cabrillo Monument for history buffs Kate Sessions Park in Pacific Beach is a lovely spot for a picnic. You get a great view of SD. Another favorite in Pacific Beach is Fanuel Park, a playground right on Mission Bay Panning for gold in Julian -- also a schlep SD Junior Theatre puts on tons of plays/musicals for kids The New Children's Museum and Seaport Village downtown

We would love to hang out with you guys when you are here. Sacha is 6. We have a kid-proofed sailboat if you guys want to go sailing. Yes, in San Diego, it's perfectly possible to go sailing in December (El Nino permitting, of course). Feel free to PM me. Aside from the things recommended above, we like playing in the snow at Sea World and ice skating outdoors (which you can do in Coronado, at Horton Plaza, and soon in Liberty Station). There's something especially nasty about posting pics of playing in snow and ice skating in shorts and 70 degree weather in December. :p Re Balboa Park, check to see if you will be here during December Nights. It is crowded, but so much fun. Another idea is surf camp. The SD Surf School has amazing programs for both kids and adults. Sacha loved it this summer, and is going again over Thanksgiving break. They take 5 year olds.

Cool: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/minecraft-world-lets-you-explore-chemicals-close-and-personal-180957165/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&no-ist

Not for us. My son greatly preferred buddy reading with Progressive Phonics, which is free. Bonus!

I spoke with the folks at Tam AM, and this was the response: "Tal AM's policy is to sell to individuals only library books, CD's, CDR's, guided readers but not workbooks." I am fine with just getting the supplementary items. I am also ordering readers from the Nitzanim series (http://shop.seferisrael.com/books/nitzanim-series/nitzanim-level-1.html) and from the Sha'ah Shel Menuchah series (which they sell through Mekor Judaica online). For grammar, I am ordering Lashon HaTorah and Yesodot Halashon (also from Mekor Judaica). For Chumash, I am ordering Bright Beginnings (on Amazon) and L'Havin U'Lehaskil (from COJDS). We will probably also add the Chayeinu books for general Judaic topics (you can order them from Judaica World). I really have no idea how this is all going to work out, whether it is overkill, or whether I'm missing something, but that's where I am at the moment with my research. I have to be honest -- this is the area of homeschooling where I feel the least confident in my ability to teach, and I am pretty much the blind leading the blind giving out any recommendations to others. :) I did join Yael's Yahoo and FB groups for Orthodox Homeschooling (even though I am not frum), as I prefer to use more traditional resources. I want to at least attempt to give my boys the kind of chinuch in limudei chodesh that I never received.

We're breaking for Thanksgiving week, but we're planning to potty train my little during that week.Really not looking forward to that one.

I pay our babysitter via PayPal. I pay our housekeeper via Wells Fargo Sure Pay straight to her account. All bills and taxes are paid online. We have a small business and my husband just swipes the card on his phone or gets paid via PayPal.

Yes, the materials are Tal AM and Tal Sela, and, for the older kids, the NETA-CET program. You need to go through a training program for both, and they currently only sell their materials to schools. I'm trying to see what I can piece together via Ebay and Amazon resellers, but the stock of resale materials is quite limited. I did speak to a rabbi this morning at the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools, and surprisingly, he agreed to sell me their Chumash materials after I pleaded my case for why we are homeschooling vs. sending the kids to our local day schools. So, I am still figuring out where we will go after Shalom Ivrit, but I think some combination of dikduk and Chumash materials will be on the horizon. I will post some materials later; I have to pick up my little at present.

Interesting.

We are currently finishing up Shalom Uvrachah and the HWT Hebrew Script book with my DS6. My plan is to do Shalom Ivrit, with the Prayer Companion, and the Alef Bet Quest Script writing workbook next. After that, I am not sure where to go. So, I am listening in.

DS6 wants to be a scientist, and invent a teleportation device. Oh, and a wish machine.

I am wondering whether is a way, as a homeschooler, that we can access these materials? Does anyone know the magic handshake that would make this possible?

For those looking to improve Hebrew comprehension, these look like an excellent resource: https://www.hebrewpodcasts.com/

We are using MCT Island level, and my son and I really enjoy it.

1.3 million in the city of San Diego. The metro area is probably closer to 2 million.

That sounds horribly Kafkaesque. Just, no.

Please let us know when it's released.

I use Ativan for anxiety. It's like the Goldilocks of Benzos for me -- lasts longer than Xanax, but is more powerful for me vs. Klonopin. You might give it a try.

This is exactly Ronen. We had Sacha's 6th birthday party at this place: http://urbanjunglefunpark.com/ Ronen went on everything except the rock wall (and not for lack of desire -- they had a weight minimum). He was 18 months at the time. I constantly have other parents trying to stop him from doing things on the playground; I have to assure them that, no really, he can do it.

This is exactly what is happening. He makes these long sentences, which he repeats verbatim, but they are unintelligible. I can only understand him when he uses obvious words in context, or puts a few short words together. But the long sentences? Forget about it. He does have an upper lip tie (which the ped said that he would likely bust from being such a daredevil), so I am hoping that the speech pathologist will check to make sure there isn't anything anatomical going on. Re vision, Sacha had amblyopia and astigmatism, and I have myopia, so it's definitely on my radar. I haven't yet seen anything to indicate Ronen is having issues (I had a gut feeling that something was happening with Sacha). Ronen's been able to kick balls accurately while running since he was about 14-15 months -- stuff like that. I signed him up for soccer starting next week, and I think I will buy him a mini trampoline for Hanukkah.

I think that you are right that I have been unintentionally grieving on some level. We were just emerging from the toddler stage with Sacha when I found out that I was pregnant with Ronen -- two weeks before my husband was scheduled for his vasectomy. I had been in the hospital, and the stress/meds threw off my cycle. But, even back then, it was clear that Ronen was a stubborn soul -- he clearly really wanted to be born! I had terrible ppd with Sacha (I have bipolar), so we prepared ourselves for the worst again. My husband took a year off from work so that he could help me, and we moved to Mexico so that we could afford to have household help. What we weren't expecting, after a 31 hour labor and a vaginal birth with Sacha, was that Ronen's labor would end in a c-section after 36 hours of labor and him going into distress. Thinking that I had a proven pelvis, I was completely unprepared for a section, and the Mexican hospital wanted to discharge me after only 24 hours (and with only some ibuprofen for pain relief). Though we tried to prepare ourselves, we found ourselves still completely blindsided by the l&d. While those circumstances don't really have to do with Ronen per se, I think that, as some of you astutely pointed out, there is some element of unfinished grieving that is an undercurrent to my sense of overwhelm. I have felt better today. You all have given me a new perspective on the matter -- something for which I am truly grateful. I picked him up from preschool today to find him putting magnetic gears on a whiteboard. His teacher told me that he was the only kid who was able to line them up in such a way that they all turned when you cranked on them. So, I promise not to write his noggin off too quickly. After school, we went to the park. He wanted to go on the big kid swing, as some other kids were doing (to date, I have still had him in the baby swing) Suffice to say, he had a total blast, and was flipping upside down gleefully until he looked like he was about to pass out. If he makes it to 18, it will be a miracle. ;) I will look into additional ways to try to wear him out. I was already planning to add soccer in the spring, but I will also look into a rock gym or tumbling class. We have watched Signing Times videos, which he likes, and he has picked up some basic signs. He actually has a lot of words, and is putting words together; it's more that his articulation is poor.

I've been wanting an audio version of HO or the OUP series, but no dice. Great Courses would be my only suggestion.

There is so much wisdom here. Thank you all so much for the support. We're schooling this morning, so I am short on time at present to respond, but just wanted to thank you all for sharing your experiences. :001_wub:

This looks interesting. Has anyone read it? http://www.audible.com/pd/History/Periodic-Tales-Audiobook/B00WGSDWTK#publisher-summary