They get up and play quietly if there is time. Dh calls them for breakfast at about 8 a.m. After that, they get dressed and brush teeth and make beds, then do whatever until 9 when we start school. I can't see me making them do work while I am goofing off. We are NOT morning people! (except for dh, but he is learning to live with the rest of us!)

He had two eye surgeries, when he was just learning to sit up and communicate. He was blind before the surgeries and so the anesthesia was a very minor concern for me. We were just worried about whether he would be able to see. I could not go back with him, but had to hand him off to a nurse. He was fine for the first surgery, the second time he cried. He had no problems coming out of the anesthesia the first time although it gave him horrible constipation. We had trouble for years afterward. This could have been avoided though if I had been aware that it might be a problem. I would have been giving him laxative type foods from right after the surgeries. After the second surgery, he had a harder time, he cried much more, but had no major problems. It was really surprisingly simple. How long will your little one be under? Ds was under for two hours both times.

SOTW: Modern History, along with Virginia history Science: Some sort of physics... undecided Literature: we do this all together, so we will probably do some classics like Jungle Books, Lord of the Rings, etc... Grammar: Don't know yet... We LOVE First Language Lessons: Level 3, not sure where to go from there, though. Spelling Workout E Writing Strands 4 Latin: I don't know. Maybe LC2, maybe something else. Those DVDs are about to drive me insane. :eek:

Ds has been pretty motivated; he would like to catch up with his brother who will be in fourth grade. First Grade: Saxon Math First Language Lessons Literature: We all read together, so classics, folk tales, adventure stories with the three of us taking turns reading aloud. Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Map Skills 3 (this is a special area of interest for him) Latin: What he learns along with his brother, no written work History: Story of the World; Ancients Science: Informal animal study, physics with his brother

First of all, we use NO soap on the boy's skin, ever. Soap, any soap = itchiness the next day. We also use hypoallergenic laundry soap. We have to be very careful about hot water and cold water, any extreme can trigger it. He can't wear polyester fleece or really anything but cotton to sleep in or he gets too hot and will have an outbreak. I have eczema on my hands pretty. Oranges and tomatoes are my main triggers and soap from washing my hands in the winter. I am always on the edge of broken skin.

Ds8 is reading Star Wars: Jedi Knights (?) or something like that, Farmer Boy and just finished Sign of the Beaver. He is on a quest to read all the Hank the Cowdog books. Ds5 is reading Sign of the Beaver, The Dangerous Book for Boys and more Star Wars stuff than I can name. He is reading I, Jack, too. That is the current obsession, that and sharks. We are reading Lord of the Rings together and we are getting ready to re-read Winnie the Pooh, because I think the two-year-old will like it.

That combo would be helpful... ds gets the memorization with NO problem... he just doesn't understand the grammar. I am wondering if I am just dealing with a lag in skills. He can't understand the Latin before he understands the English grammar.

At what point in LC did you switch? And does Latin for Children end up at about the same level as LC?

My oldest is eight, the younger is five. He doesn't really do Latin, just sort of tags along for the ride. They both did Prima Latina last year and enjoyed it very much. LC is a whole different animal though... Maybe we just started too early, though ds8 enjoyed it very much and breezed though it.

We are about seven lessons in to Latina Christiana and I am beginning to worry about how little translation ds is doing. We have the first conjugation and first declension, but he really isn't getting that the subject and verb have to agree. He will start memorizing the second declension next week. Do the other programs move this fast? Just memorize, don't worry about usage? Will the translation part come later? The DVD's are about to drive me berserk and yet I have to say that we need the extra help. I didn't take Latin and have NO clue about pronunciation. Are you all using something that you love? We don't hate it, but neither is it our best friend!

I like it!

The market in Va is pretty much dead with no sign of it looking up any time soon. Cooling a brick house in the summer in VA is going to be expensive, especially if it is new with mo large shade trees around. You can epect to have to run your AC from the beginning of May through the end of September, maybe longer. You can expect to heat from the beginning of November through the end of March.

I'm a pretty good technical writer. I can fix lots of things. I can build furniture and do big stuff like that. I am rotten at anything requiring fine motor skills.

I've got three boys, 8, 5 and 2. They are in 3rd and K. We do mostly WTM with a mix of whatever we feel like doing at the moment. The oldest is a bright kid. He is ahead in most subjects and is scary ahead in math and science. He writes like an eight year old, though. He also has some vision issues, had congenital cataracts, double lensectomies and has glaucoma. The five-year-old is also ahead, scary ahead in anything language based. He is reading The Hobbit. The two year old likes to ask questions about our current read aloud... "Where Bilbo go?" (We just finished chapter one of Fellowship of the Ring) "Bilbo work?...Noooo! Bilbo trip!" We have a dog who likes to run away.