I don't think I would necessarily do an additional geography course. You can use the geography that is included in the core, or you could just look up, on a map, each area that you cover in history. With core 2, I bought DK's First Atlas and scheduled it to go along with the Geography Songs that are scheduled with that core. But I only did this because SL's geography book really annoyed me.

I have come to the conclusion that FLL 1/2 is not a good fit for a gifted child. It has waaay too much repetition. Maybe it would work for them at the K level. I'm going to try it with my K'er starting in Jan(I will only loosely follow the script and not repeat definitions 15 times). It was a spectacular failure with my (then) 2nd grader last year. I know I'm not really answering your question, but if I were to do it again with a 2nd grader, I'd probably look into FLL 3 (which I haven't tried). I am going to buy MCT for my 3rd grader as soon as we get back from Christmas.

Usually, I do remember that kind of stuff. And I think it's a pretty amazing feat. But when the birth certificate lady walked into my room with baby #4, the conversation went something like this: lady: what's the baby's birth date? me: April 23rd? lady: I don't think so me: umm, August 22? lady: [looks at me] me: no, that's not right. It was yesterday. What was the date yesterday? lady: August 23rd. me: ok, that's the date then. lady: time of birth? me: umm... 4:24? lady: let me see her card. [all the important info was on a card on the bassinet] It was 4:34 me: oh, that's right lady: attending physician? me: uhh, it was the midwife... lady: Dr T. is written here me: yes, but it was her midwife...(couldn't remember her name) lady: Dr. T. me: ok Why was this lady even bothering to ask me anything? I'd just had a baby. Geesh. :lol:

:lol: So are we!! But this time (with my 3rd) I am totally going to try to finish it. We'll see if I still feel that way in a few months. We're at lesson 15. I've never made it past 65.

I think my goal is to share ideas with them for educating their kids. I get along well with dh's family. I don't think it would come across the wrong way to share ideas that they could have thought of on their own. I'm pretty sure all of us are going to be hearing some things we already knew, mixed in with (maybe) some new info. I'm hoping (but not necessarily expecting) that our presentations will be informal enough to lead into fun, interesting discussions. I'm pretty sure that most of dh's family (except MIL) think I'm half crazy to homeschool, and I think I want to show them a little of what I do. And that it really can be fun.

:lol: We're all trying not to roll our eyes at my in-laws. I think it could be a nice idea. Sort of. But really. I'm supposed to be on vacation. Thanks for the ideas. I wish I'd brought SOTW and my science experiment book along with me. Maybe I'll compile a list of resources that aren't homeschool-specific I do like the idea of just talking about how everyone teaches at home. I hadn't really considered that. That's why I come to these boards. :001_wub:

This year we are having Christmas at my in-laws house. They have decided that, instead of exchanging gifts between family members, they would like us to share our knowledge about specific topics that we have experience with. Every night for the next week or so, they want a couple of us to spend about 20 min talking about an assigned topic. So, as the token homeschooler in the family, my assigned topic is "preparing to educate at home". I've known about this for a month, but I'm totally at a loss for how to present such a broad topic. I seriously doubt that any of my sisters-in-law want to be preached to about the benefits of homeschooling, and why they should teach their children at home. I'm thinking about spending a few minutes talking about my reasons for homeschooling, then talking about some of the things that I've read about in The Read-Aloud Handbook and the Well-Educated Mind. WWYD? Any ideas or suggestions? I need some specific ideas, and I'm tired of asking dh, only to get a shrug and, "that sounds good." ;)

I would think that if he had completed 100 EZ, you can just turn him loose with reading and not worry about additional phonics. But that's just my opinion...

Hee Hee. I've been avoiding the boards b/c dh gets annoyed at seeing me looking at them far too often. But now he's watching the Las Vegas Bowl...

:lurk5: I'm curious to hear any experiences from people who have bought the program (and who don't work for the company... ;))

With #4, I started having B-H around 20 weeks. It caused me a lot of stress, and they started getting really uncomfortable around 7 months. I asked my midwife about it every time I went in, and every time she told me that it's normal to have a lot of B-H when you've already had a couple pregnancies, but to call if they became painful and regular. And I agree with pp on keeping hydrated. I really hated to drink water b/c I hated having to *go* all the time, but it really is important. Plus dehydration makes you even more tired.

I'm using Level D right now with dd. What do you want to know? It's a workbook.... Here's an example of the last assignment she did: It introduced a rule (the letter s can stand for the/s/, /z/, or /sh/ sounds) Then it has a story (I use that term loosely) where dd had to underline every word that contained an s, then copy them into the correct column, depending on what sound it makes (as in safe, rose or sure). I like it as something that she can do independently and review concepts she might not have learned in her phonics instruction. I don't consider it an essential part of our school day, though.

:lurk5:

I used to think that 30 was "old". Now I'm 31, have 4 kids, and my mom passed away 4 years ago. I'm still wondering when I will be all grown up. Sometimes, I talk to the teen-age girls at church, and I realize that they consider me to be old. :D It always sends shock-waves through me, b/c I don't feel much older than them. I figure that once I have teenage, or adult, children then I will feel like a grown-up.

dd hated WWE, too, so I dropped it. Looking back, I think it might have worked better if I hadn't been trying so hard to get her to give the "right" answer. You might try dropping the script and see if things improve for you when you interact a little more naturally with ds. Just a thought.

Does anyone have experience with buying shoes to wear with orthotics? I have fallen arches and I have to wear rigid plastic inserts in my shoes if I am to be on my feet for any length of time. So, for me that has always meant tennis shoes. If I am going out and want to look nice, I wear dressier shoes. But then the next day, I pay the consequences in my ankles, knees, and hips. I'm starting to worry that the inflamation in my joints is going to lead to long term problems if I don't shape up and start weraing good shoes more often. Any suggestions for cute shoes that are also supportive enough to hold orthotics?

Maybe ESPN 360 online? I've tried to use that argument with dh. Unfortunately, we only follow college football and our team is usually only broadcast on obscure satellite-only channels.

Oooh, I'd LOVE to!! But how to get dh on board? Maybe I'll broach the subject again after football season is over. . .

Thank you everyone for all the kind replies and advice. I find myself reading them over and over again this morning. I'm not sure I would have expected this to impact me so hard. It's good to read others' experiences and know that we're not alone. And I'm glad to know that it's okay for me to sit around being in shock right now. I'm going to go now and drop off some food that will be easy for the kids to snag out of the fridge and eat on their own.

Thank you, That was beautiful.

Oh, thanks for reminding me. I do have 2 other women that are part of the Relief Society presidency. I always forget that I can call on them when something is too stressful for me. I also have another woman who is the compassionate service leader and handles a lot of details on things like this for me--she's actually the one who first called me and has now gone over there to take bf's older boys while bf is at the hospital.

How do I handle this? I have no idea how to approach her, or what she needs. Her dd was 4yo and died overnight from complications of pneumonia. All our kids are close in age. I'm also the Relief Society president (the women's leader) at church. That means I'm in charge of handling preparations for things like funerals and comforting families. But I'm too close to this. I have no idea how to proceed, other than bringing her dinner. I'm sure there are people here who have gone through this. What does she need? ETA: My phone is ringing off the hook. Apparently, bf's dd is still on life support. But no brain activity. They think it may be spinal meningitis. I think they will make the decision on whether to take her off life support this afternoon...

my ds (6) is using ETC 1. His reading level is quite a bit beyond that--it really doesn't correlate with his reading lessons, so I just think of it as review and drill.

Eat your dinner. Eat your dinner. It doesn't matter what the green thing is, just eat some and see if you like it. It's ok to eat things that are red. "Try and you may like it. Try it and you may, I say." I only gave you a tablespoon of food, you shouldn't be full already. No, you can't have dessert, you only ate one bite of your dinner! Hey, get back here, you'll be hungry in 5 minutes if you don't eat more than one bite... Dinner time is a little stressful for me. :D

I just bought the set of RightStart math games for dd (just waiting on UPS to deliver it). I think I will add in a math game every day to do when we're wrapping up our schoolwork for the day. And I may incorporate the interactive online pages of MEP. CWP is Challenging Word Problems IP is Intensive Practice They're part of the US Edition of SM. But you can use them with either edition. I have cwp, and dd loves doing it, since it's different than the usual tb/wb