I don't do anything. I joined a gym for the year in 2013. I enjoyed it well enough, but it's a 15-minute drive from my house, and the childcare is closed from like 1-5 PM! I hoped it would give me more energy, but it didn't. (Weight is not an issue for me.) So I canceled my membership. But now I'm having minor back pain from time to time, and I know not working out is the reason. I think I need some DVDs. Beachbody (etc.) fans, which ones do you like best?

I'm using the K-2 version for DS. I don't love the layout, but I think the content is really good.

We alternate books between Singapore and Miquon, and it's going well. If all that's wrong with Horizons is that it's a bit easy, feel free to just go through at whatever speed works best. You're not limited to the book with the "correct" grade number on it.

I don't watch regularly, no. I've seen Big Bang Theory a few times with DH. But the internet is so much more interesting! I wouldn't bother having a TV if DH didn't really want to have one. I also don't go to the movies. DS watches some pre-recorded things or DVDs like the Backyardigans and Magic School Bus between 4 PM and dinner most nights. I avoid letting him see live TV. He's watching a movie right now.

Can sitting and looking at the words while you read aloud to him count (for you) as reading instruction? He might find that nice and non-threatening.

If you go with Latin, Rose Williams has some helpful resources: http://roserwilliams.com/index.html

Last Christmas, DS was 5 and he got a bike. Earlier gifts that lasted well were the wooden train set, Magnatiles, and a remote control car. For his birthday the last few years, we've enrolled him in Mommy & Daddy's Book of the Month Club. I buy a dozen books, but only give him one on his birthday. Then I give him another on that same day of each month for the rest of the year.

Some options to think about: Pretend you've moved to a state with an August cutoff (like mine). Declare this grade 6B, a transitional year between 6 and 7. If your state requires you to declare a grade, call it 6. Do 7th grade but give her until Sept. 1. to finish the work, moving more slowly and with extra scaffolding.

FamilyCrossings.com has a free edition.

Toddlers love to hear the same book over and over. A lot of toddler books are annoying. Therefore, I got as many as possible from the library so that we had to return them. (We've always gone once a week.) I take out as many as I can carry in a tote bag. If a book was good enough to renew more than once, I bought it. We kept a lot of our own books in DS's room or the bathroom (potty training actually was what helped him get used to sitting still to hear a story). Library books stay in the living room, often in a pile on the hearth. When we're done with library books, they go back in the bag.

Lindy, would you consider having your kids do a 1- to 2-month unit study instead? You could pick an educational topic and have them work together to research it online and create a big project.

If you want to feel better, look up some elementary teacher blogs and look at all the paperwork! :scared: *That's* a lot of stuff (so much that some make a little side money selling the printables so people don't have to make it all from scratch). If it helps, think of books/curricula as things you're renting. When you're done with them, you can resell or donate. I've been happy to find local options--you may, too, depending on where you are.

I'm sick, DH's car is in the shop, and the Halloween costume is not finished. I have rescheduled the art stuff because I have no reason to believe we'll get to it this week. We did not get to religious education today, and those library books are going back tomorrow night. Blah. On the up side, yesterday's field trip coordinated nicely with our science topic! We are also doing fine with reading, math, history and Spanish.

I think I'd phrase it, "I picked a charter instead of homeschooling, and it's not what I wanted." That's okay. Make a new plan! In your shoes, I'd plan to launch on our own as of January 1st, and get my plans and materials in place between now and then. New plans for independent homeschooling might include a hands-on math curriculum (like Miquon) a fairly ironclad naptime/quiet time schedule that keeps your littles out from underfoot so you can dedicate an uninterrupted 30-45 minutes a day to math instruction a plan for other subjects (which could be as simple as adopting most of the choices laid out in The Well-Trained Mind). What you've been doing does sound miserable, and I think you'll find this forum is a great place to get some ideas for an education that suits you and your children better. :) Welcome.

There is a Six Flags amusement park near D.C., which could add some excitement to that as a destination, along with the Smithsonian, etc.

Pinterest for activities and printables (I've repinned some on my first grade board), and also Googling for "blackline map ________________" (name of the place) for maps. You can find free timeline pictures if you want a wall timeline. For books, I go into my library's online catalog and search for whatever I want (like Ancient Egypt) and then sort to see only children's books, and reserve them.

Yahoo! Groups are used around here.

We make a chain to count down, and cut off one link each day. Each link has a special thought, song or activity for the day. Among them, we see if we can fulfill all the instructions in Matthew 25:35-36: I was hungry, and you gave me food (easy, since my church leaves the donation barrels out every weekend). I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink (donate to water-related charity or give water bottles to local homeless ministry). I was a stranger, and ye took me in (hospitality or helping homeless people). Naked, and ye clothed me (coats for the children drive, and I try to crochet a couple of scarves and/or hats as well). I was sick, and ye visited me (typically just if a friend or neighbor is sick, as DS is still young enough to spread germs a lot & is not necessarily welcome at a hospital or nursing home). I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (We can't practically visit, but we have bought hats made by women prisoners and donated them to the coat drive. This year I might contribute to the prison's dog-training program instead.) We also have a nativity scene that's about the same size as our little tabletop tree, so we put them out together.

I think it'd be easy to make what you want in Excel. You could make a worksheet for each subject, number your days in one column, put in the dates in the second column (so easily changed), and then the work in the next column. If you need to skip a day of, say, history, go to that tab, click that date and tell it to Delete and Shift cells up. This is assuming you'd want to be able to reschedule each subject separately. If your days tend to be all or nothing, you could just as well put every subject on one tab.

We *can* (and I do) count summer work, but it's optional. But I can't work all summer and then take all of October off.

To clarify, I don't have to count 180 days. I have to keep an accurate record of days of instruction, which must take place "regularly" from September through May. I've decided to count Kennedy and Animal Kingdom.

Okay, I live in a state that requires me to count school days (but has no minimum, and, anyway, we have plenty of days). Normally, we have a field trip every Tuesday, but we also have at least phonics and math before we leave. I count it as a school day. I had planned to count all of last week as a fall break, but now I think I want to count the day at Kennedy Space Center as a school day. My question is... where's the line? Do I count the day we went to Animal Kingdom as well? I mean, we saw wild animals, but IDK if DS actually learned anything new. And then what about Epcot? I'm leaning toward no, though we did go into Spaceship Earth (where he recognized the Egyptian king!)... but a lot of it was aimless wandering around the countries and being hot and mopey. If I were to count that, I might just as well count the Magic Kingdom, where we rode the Carousel of Progress, etc. If I were teaching in public/private school, my decision would be based on whether we met any of the objectives in the required course of study, but that doesn't apply here. What have you done?

I read one (easy) book and did nothing else. We went to Disney World, and I was so tired at the end of every day that I just went to bed.

In my new house, there would be floor-to-ceiling bookcases and plenty of room for instruments. I would probably spring for Visualize World Geography now, and some more Spanish resources.

Oh, if you can get The Upside Down Show, that's rather good.