We loved legends and Leagues. We're doing it out of order, but we did the initial set, then North and we're getting ready to start West.

I am pleased to say that for the first time ever, we had more hits than misses. I think that I'm finally starting to get the hang of this thing :hurray: DS8: Hits: TT4 MUS Gamma Spelling U See AAR 4 EIW level 3 Misses: RS D - he liked the earlier levels but we hit a wall in D right around the time that check numbers came up. The last thing that my dyslexic son needed was more numbers, so we switched to MUS and were much happier AAS - we'd been doing it pretty hardcore, so we took a step back and switched to SUS and will go back once we're done We need a grammar program. I didn't like the look of FLL3 so I dropped it for workbooks, but he needs something else because his retention is awful. MCT, maybe? I really don't even know. DS5: Hits: Teach Your Monster to Read - How did I not know about this sooner? It's awesome and my little guy actually asks to do it. Reading Eggs and Math Seeds AAR1 MUS Primer - He loves this. Loves, loves, loves, loves it. Life of Fred Early Readers FLL1 - He loves the poems and the art studies and stories, not so sure about the whole grammar thing Misses: HWOT - Don't know why I tried it again because older DS detested it too, but hope springs eternal. RS A - My older son liked the program, but the little had to be difficult. Both: Hits: Life of Fred Meet the Masters Story of the Orchestra Getting to Know the Great Composers Sassafras Zoology - I can't stand reading it, but they love it so we're onto anatomy next year. Legends and Leagues North SOTW2 Unit studies that we decide on at the last minute and following rabbit trail so that nothing else gets done. We spent a whole month on opera a couple months back and I still have no idea how we even got there. :lol: Misses: None. Nope, that's right, none.

Spelling U See. No one else cared for it when it came out and I was skeptical, but my son loves it and his spelling has improved dramatically.

I feel you're pain. We're all in timeout here too, even the dog.

I'm a daily vigorous exerciser and have been for years and it has never helped me at all. There are still 2-3 weeks a month that I pretty much don't sleep at all. Audiobooks are helpful only because they give me something to listen to while I'm busy not sleeping. Melatonin was a bust and so were over the counter sleep aids. Even the prescriptions my doc has put me on (Ambien and a few others) did nothing but relax me. It's like the second I lay down I have no choice but to think about every single mistake that I have ever made in great detail so I definitely feel your pain. The only helpful observations I have to offer is that it definitely gets worse when my issues with depression get worse and that it's definitely tied to my monthly cycle because the only time I get any sleep is right after my period. You can always try the sleep journal thing. Write down what is going through your mind on nights when you don't sleep, note what time of the month it is, what kind of day you've had, caffeine consumption, what you've eaten and when, and how much exercise you've gotten and then look for patterns in the information and adjust your behavior. Doing that has helped me get a few extra nights of sleep per month though it definitely hasn't cured me.

We only had two but I always wanted three and our situation was a tiny bit different because we had to stop because my babies kept getting earlier each time and I spent my entire last pregnancy on bed rest in the hospital so we made a joint decision and he got a vasectomy. It was incredibly difficult at first. It still is sometimes because it seems like everyone in home schooling circles has four or more and there's a new baby every other week. There were times when I wouldn't go into the family room at our co-op because I couldn't stand to be around all the babies. I also had my last baby young (24) and I really didn't know what to do with myself because I'd sort of given up everything to be a mom and to home school. Here's the thing though, I've actually found that it's gotten easier to take as my baby got older. I stopped grieving what I'd lost and started celebrating all of the things that I could do that I couldn't do when we had a baby hanging around. We got out more, we took spontaneous trips to the beach, we got the puppy that we'd been talking about getting for years, we had so much more mobility than so many other young families and I was so much less stressed out and more fun than I was when they were babies. All families are different and I'm not knocking any of them, I'm just saying that I think this was really good for our family in particular. I don't know what the future will hold. Maybe someday we'll change our minds and want to adopt. My husband was pretty much desperate for a daughter and he still talks about it occasionally. The boys want another brother for some reason. :blink: The thing about being young is that adoption will be an option for us for many years to come and we don't really have to make a decision on it until we're good and ready. For the time being, I've settled into the family that I have and not the one that I had in my head and after years of angst and heartache, I finally figured out that it wasn't so bad. So I guess, feel what you need to feel and take things one adorable baby at a time. It's hard and some days it really sucks but the most important thing is coming to a conclusion that's right for everyone in the family and that everyone can live with. Maybe talk to your husband about some sort of long term birth control method (personal beliefs permitting) and give it a few years. In any case, I promise that it does get easier.

I struggle with depression so bad that it's almost crippling and I've always exercised regularly and I've pretty much always hated it. Some days it makes me feel a million times worse, but I do it anyway because at this point it's a habit. I always tell myself that if I just do five minutes, I can count it. So I pop in a dvd or get on the elliptical and do my five minutes and if I want to stop, I do. Usually it's so much trouble just to get there that I keep going. I also have easy days and hard days, so if I'm feeling particularly bad, I just tell myself that it's an easy day so it would be stupid to skip it and have to miss my day off later in the week. Then I get up and walk the dog (and the kids) do my yoga and I usually feel a bit better and can do some more. Not always though, and I hate it when people say that exercise is a magic cure for depression because it is SO not. What helped most of all was giving myself permission to feel bad when I want to. The world doesn't stop spinning and I can't stop the day from happening, but some days just making it through has to be enough.

My kid's not advanced and we just finished Apples. I think some things went over his head a bit, but it teaches basic addition and skip counting, days of the week, and shapes. I think that he got all of that just fine. My older son was really advanced and he always ate Fred up too.

Math U See Alpha Life of Fred Apples-Dogs AAR 1 Universal Handwriting Draw Write Now Spelling U See Listen and Write With his brother: SOTW 1 - We're starting our second cycle, which is just insane Sassafras Science Botany Meet the Great Composers Meet the Masters Legends and Leagues West and East with Geopuzzles

I did almost 2 months on hospital bed rest as well as another month at home. I would say no to the baby gifts - a well meaning aunt brought me a very nice baby blanket and I completely lost it. The thing I wanted most of all was company, being in the hospital - which was over two hours from my home - was desperately isolating. I had bad days and good days, but there were times when the stress would get to me so badly I couldn't even read or watch tv - so CDs or audiobooks were really good. My sister also bought me some really beautiful hospital gowns so that I wouldn't have to wear the hospital's. I liked having kids visit me most days - all company was good company - but like I said, some days it was really hard to do anything. I would suggest asking her if she minds ahead of time and not stretching the visit out if it seems like she's tired or uncomfortable. I'd like to second something other than hospital food, I was lucky enough to be somewhere with pretty good food but it was nice to have some variety once in while. My best tip is just to be patient and let her vent if she needs to. It's a frustrating situation and I know I spent way too much time putting on a show for my doctor's, my husband, my older son, my mom, and just about everyone else. But I had one friend who would come once a week and tell me to just let her have it. I think that was the best gift of all :)

We have it and I use it with my 4.5 and almost 8 year olds. They use it every day during their free time and they both love it. The book selection is awesome (there are new books added pretty much every week) and the videos that go with are fun and educational. We love it!

Yeah, that looks promising

Reading fluency, first and foremost. I want him to be able to read his books on his own without me sitting there to keep him on task. We've got a good grasp on addition and subtraction and a good foundation in multiplication, so we'll start working on division and he's been begging to do more in depth geometry so we'll do that. We'll continue on with science (probably astronomy and geology) and history (Middle Ages and going through the American girls books again) and continue to appreciate beautiful art, music, and poetry. Most of all I would like him to learn that everything doesn't have to be so hard and if he would just relax life would be a lot simple. But I'm starting to think that might be a pipe dream :) He is my son after all.

If you find out let me know, because seriously my 4.5 year old son is the exact same way.

We love RS A here, I have a busy guy and he loves the manipulatives and games that come with it. It also has poems and rhymes, which he can't get enough of.

We liked Elemental Science's Physics for the grammar stage, especially all the hands on stuff.

We love, love, love the Little Travelers videos (free on Amazon Prime or Youtube). Two little girls go and live in different countries and get completely immersed in the culture. It is such a fun way to learn about things and my boys would watch them all day if they could.

Postcards from Buster-Prime Little Travelers-Prime and You Tube Travel with Kids-Prime and You Tube Those are my kids favorites anyway :)

So we live in a separate city from DH during the week (only about 2 hours away). We are fortunate enough to have family over there and he stays with them during the week and comes home on weekends. Like you, we became suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed and had no desire whatsoever to move. Both our families are here, we both grew up here, there is great home school support here and we had recently bought the house of our dreams for a steal. We had every reason to stay and none to go, so we decided to send him over during the week. At first, we were all nervous about how it would work out but the truth is we're a former military family and we are very much used to getting along without him. Seeing him on weekends is still preferable to not seeing him at all. We always thought that if he liked the job we would sell the house and move. Well, he hates the job (bad/sloppy environment) and is applying like crazy to places where we live but right now we're in a holding pattern. The biggest surprise about the whole thing is that it is actually working fine, for this particular season anyway. He's always worked long hours, and we often didn't see him as often as we would like anyway. I've been managing the household by myself for about 85 percent of the 10 years we've been married, and I can tell you there are worse things. Like no job, no job was definitely worse. It's not for everyone, but for right now it works for us.

My four year old loves Little House, he also really liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (though he wasn't crazy about the rest of Dahl), Dido Twite is good for every age, and Henry Huggins along with Ramona

I was never having kids, and if I did I certainly wasn't going to home school them like my mom home schooled me. I learned before age 22 to never say never.

We also loved Creativity Express it was a great intro to art concepts and artists, but my kids can never get enough art so we enjoy HAS and Meet the Masters too :)

...easy on you, the parent? Reading Eggs ...a crowd-pleaser, where you and the kids are all thrilled? RS Math, SOTW ...fun for your kids? Home Art Studio and Creativity Express ...not time intensive, short and to the point? AAS/AAR ...a good way to take up an entire afternoon? History documentaries (we're nerdy that way) ...a great reminder of why you wanted to homeschool in the first place? any time my kids show off how much they know and people are impressed, my 4 year old recently schooled my MIL on the Trojan War for example ...free? Library, local home school program through the public school system

Okay, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who doesn't make breakfast or lunch. That is actually a real load off my mind.

So we use EIW and like it and while it could be complete on its own, I find its grammar portion in particular to not be quite as rigorous as I would like and I do supplement with FLL. Also, we were able to finish in well under a year, so you could just save the stuff for when you're done if you want.