Switching at 4/5 should be fairly easy and it's what I would do because I also prefer Italic. I don't think it really matters as long as you are doing something for handwriting. But I think it's easier to read, especially the cursive.

If you already have SOTW, you might try using the audio books and the Activity Guide. My kids don't love it when I read the books aloud but they beg for the audio book and AG. And we try to get the suggested extra reading at the library. Then you wouldn't have to switch curriculums.

I'll continue with Singapore no matter what. I like having 2 math programs, 1 mastery and 1 spiral, so that they get used to different ways of doing math. We do math throughout the year so it's easy to fit 2 programs into our schedule. But since Singapore is fairly teacher intensive and I supplement with the Right Start games and abacus and LoF, I'd like to make the 2nd program less so.

We've been using Singapore and Saxon for 1st and 2nd grade. I'm not unhappy with them but at some point I want to do a DVD math program. My aunt uses Teaching Textbooks and loves it so that's the first one I looked at. I do have a question that I can't find the answer to on their website. If I use the program for multiple kids, do I have to buy the workbook and answer book for each child each year or is there a way I can just buy a workbook if I already have the answer book for that year? And I know Art Reed does DVDs for Saxon but he doesn't start them until middle school and I'm not sure I want to wait that long. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I was busy traveling during the holiday and just got back on the forum and found this. You just made my day! How to Train Your Dragon to make the kids happy and The Doctor to make me happy!

A good friend of ours is a dentist...it's not an easy field. Not only does it mean lots of expensive schooling but afterwards you have to find someone to work under or buy a practice or start your own, the last two require business sense which a lot of dentists don't have. DH worked as a short sale real estate negotiator for a few years and worked with a lot of dentists and doctors who went bankrupt because they didn't know how to manage a business! DH and I think that engineering of any kind is going to keep needing people so we are trying to make sure that we are providing an education that makes that possible, I guess that is steering, but I don't really care whether they do it or not. It's not a career but we would steer them away from getting a general liberal arts degree or a degree just for the sake of getting a degree, we think it's a waste of money.

Some of the ones I already have I got from WWE but I knew there had to be more I was forgetting. These are all great ones and are going on my wish list!

Not necessarily looking for classics, more for amazing audiobooks. A good classic doesn't always make a good audiobook. The local library does have Overdrive, I just need to get around to looking into it. Audible is convenient because we have Kindles already. I'm just being lazy about seeing what I need to do to use Overdrive and if I need to get an app, etc.

I wish I could do that!!!

Right now, not nearly enough. We're currently living with my parents and they live on a busy road and there's no fence so they can't be outside without complete supervision. There is no sidewalk so we can't walk anywhere, either. I take them to a playground when it's nice outside and fits in our schedule but that's only about once a week. To make up for it we found a gym with active childcare that we go to every day so they are at least physically exerting themselves but it's not the same as being in the fresh air every day.

FIL is taking us to Chicago tomorrow to visit his family so... School with DS7 & DD6 Pack Switch car seats and boosters from one van to the other Have our part of the house (we live with my parents) clean so my mom doesn't clean it while I'm gone Have Friday dinner with my parents early Pick FIL up at airport 1 1/2 away after dinner (why couldn't he fly into the large airport 20 min away? :cursing:)

No crushes here yet. Recently the kids have been teasing each other that one of them likes one of their friends and they make it into a game but I don't really consider it a real crush.

This!!!!!!

Duolingo is a great app she could use. Have you looked to see if your library has anything?

I've been feeling guilty because I haven't read out loud to my kids as much as I would like and I feel like they are missing out on stories that I want them to know and love. Then I remembered that I have Audible credits that I can use. Anyone have any good suggestions? I already got Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan read by Jim Dale. And we have the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings and all the Harry Potter books. I especially love really great readers, like the guy who place James Herriot in the tv show does an amazing job reading aloud the books and David Suchet reading Agatha Christie books. Anyone have any favorite readers?

Cycle Savvy by Toni Weschler is not really sex ed but it is a great book for girls about how and why their body does what it does.

How gross!!!!

I just don't get it. How calloused do you have to be to do this?

This doesn't seem much like a real thank you, it seems more like a chance to vent and the thank you is just the intro. I'd find some snappy come back, not rude, but more along the lines of the things Dumbledore said. For instance, when I was pregnant with #3 & #4 I can't tell you how many times people, usually older men, told me with a sly grin "You do know how those things happen don't you?" wink wink. I got so tired of it I started to respond with a completely straight face "Oh yeah, we figured it out...but we really like it so we don't have any plans on giving it up."

I'm not the only one??? This drives me nuts! There's hope that if I keep on them they'll finally get it? Oh, I hope so!

I'd take the potatoes and then if it comes up nicely explain that everyone else asked for potatoes.

We have Netflix and Amazon Prime so I forget what is on which one. I think we do more on Amazon though, Mr Rogers, Little Pim, Wild Kratts, and Signing Time. But Magic School Bus is on Netflix and some of the Wild Kratts are. We haven't watched many documentaries yet but I like that on Amazon if something isn't available on Prime then there's a good chance you can rent it without waiting for the Netflix DVDs and then have to worry about returning them.

Depends on the gift. I get photo calendars for the grandparents. It's cheesy but it's the only gift they all talk about how much they love it so I keep coming back to it after trying something else more expensive that they don't seem to care about. A lot of things for nieces and nephews I do with Amazon Prime because they are all on the other side of the country and it saves me the cost and effort of shipping it myself. The rest of our gifts are usually knit by me or bought on Etsy. I used to buy locally in WA but we moved to KY this year and I haven't found local stuff yet. I wouldn't consider myself a normal holiday shopper though.

If you like cables you should check out the videos for cabling without a cable needle. It makes cables so much easier!

Oh, I like this thread! I just finished a Spiderman hat for DS3. Now I need to start the Before and After Scarf, sorry my computer is being stupid tonight and won't link anything, for my mom's birthday. I already made her one but I have two balls of Claudia Handpainted Silk Lace left over from another project so I'm going to make her two of the scarves to wear together like the pattern suggests. Since the Claudia is handpainted and each skein is unique the scarves will both be grey but not quite the same shade.