Church was a good opportunity to teach clothing groups. Clothing groups are kind of like food groups. :confused: maybe this is too far of a stretch. But we've been working on clothes have groups and each child can choose based on what category the day or situation calls for: ex: play/at home clothes casual clothes dressy/formal clothes My main goal is not what they wear to church but teaching them to consider what would work for each situation. Sometimes my 5 yearold gets himself dressed and says would this work for church then I won't have to pack play clothes for when we to straight to MIL and the playground after church. I've said, yes, to blue jeans and a color block t-shirt. The outfit he's choosing is on the bottom of the scale of what I think is reasonable for the rural church we attend. He has something nicer, but he's meeting my goal of considering what would work for the situation.:hurray:

:grouphug: This won't give you more hours in a day. But, I think this list might give you some "real story" science books. http://apps.simplycharlottemason.com/resources/search?grade_from=0&grade_to=2&subjects=Science I looked here and it just pulled up 18 pages of science books. Some are "Living Books" or real stories. Rainbow resource catalog also lists in their descriptions when science books are "Living Books" My favorites are the ones by James Herriot.

:iagree: - at ages 7,8,9 we've needed graph paper too. Another option: I would draw vertical lines making columns for ones, tens, hundreds, and so on right on the workbook sheet through the numbers already printed. As to who spends the effort organizing, obviously eventually our goal is to get our kids to organize for themselves. Because organinzing is its own skill to learn I sometimes do the organizing while a new skill is being learned. Another good example. I took dictation from my 7 yr old as he narrated a 5 sentence paragraph. After several of these it was his job. My kids still don't like rewriting their math problems on graph paper but they've figured out it takes less time to do it right the first time. The 7 year old still doesn't quite recognize when to go get the graph paper.

This house came complete with an outside clothesline and a shopping cart. Hurray! No more stooping. Plus the shopping cart was great for hosing off muddy shoes. If you buy line at wal-mart or the like, the plastic coated metal wire has lasted the longest.

I've made use of a prayer journal during some seasons of my life. I would write down a name of a new acquaintance and an idea of what to pray for from our casual conversations. Twice God has grown a real friendship. One is 9 years and still growing. It always amazes me that the friendship that grows is usually the most unexpected one. A prayer journal let me focused on others and my own family. Also just praying, "God show me how to love this person as they are and as how you will be changing them."

Here is a starting place, www.alz.org, I found possible symptoms here. The most important has already been said. Get an appropriate ( this sight lists what you should expect from an MD) evaluation. There are many things that can mimic alheizmer's There is medication that slows the downward spiral but not to reverse it. Pray for us as we make the next decision about how and where to do 24/7 care for MIL who lives in town.:grouphug:

I looked at www.rainbowresource.com samples. We've used U.S. version from earlybird through 4A now. I found I needed the textbook at 3a to have a few worked examples to look at and discuss and the Home Instructor's Guide at 4a to check answers because time wise it was taking me too long. We added challenging wordproblems at 3B. Because we worked singapore and miquon together 1a-3b, we didn't use the textbook or additional workbooks except for the above. There's many ways to get the job done.;)

I've noticed the planning time changes based on how well the curriculum fits. For example when math is a good fit the kids sail along with "x" number of pages a day. Other times we hit a bump like fractions, or backwards "6's". Then I have to plan out the pages and extra worksheets to copy. Right now planning time at the end of the week is 2-3 hours, more if I'm tired and the kids are needing things. The planning time really increased with K for the third child. I aim for mastery of phonetic concepts before moving on. Sometimes the plan for the week has to be "tweaked." I never know how many worksheets of letter "a" it will take to gain mastery. The upside is that the 2nd and 4th grader each have their own schedule to check off. I'm off the hook to make sure they are on task. I just offer my teacher time in appropriate amounts and let them sink or swim in getting themselves motivated.:thumbup:

It's been a joy to find some manly poems for my sons. Song of the Train by David McCord Clickety-Clack, Wheels on the track, This is the way They begin the attack; Click-ety clack, Click-ety clack, Click-ety - clack-ety, Click-ety Clack ( 2 more stanza) The White Ships by David McCord Out from the beach the ships I see On cloudy sails move sleepily, And though the sind be fair and strong I watch them steal like ants along, Following free, or wheeling now To dip the sun a golden prow. But when I ride upon the train And turn to find the ships again, I catch them far against the sky, With crowded canvas hurrying by, To all intent as fast as we Are thundering beside the sea. We've also enjoyed period poems. TOGy2 encompassed the Middle Ages. The Miller of the Dee by Charles Mackay is wonderful conversation between a discontent king and a contented miller complete with "thine's and thee's." My daughter, age 9, chose a long poem by Alfred Tennyson titled, Lady Claire. It's almost a ballad as a newly engaged heiress suddenly discovers she is "beggar born" and lays her case before her betrothed to see if there be "any faith in man." I think my husband learned portions of The Charge of the Light Brigade. Are there any poems similar to this one?

Earlier this week one of my dc asked to have a plastic disposable sandwhich meat container. "I'm going to science this." He proceeded to test it's floating ability. Then all three were on the wood floor pumping air with a mattress air-pump trying to make the meat container slide across the floor. It worked once we got rid of some leftover water that was making it stick to the floor. "Mommy, let's science this." Is so sweet to my ears.

DH calls out, "You've got to come see this!" I walk with him to the living room, peep around the corner, and see all 3 dc on the sofa, which is covered in books spilling over to the floor.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: What moments stick in your mind as the best of your homeschooling journey?

Hi Katty, just a few off the top of my head ideas: daily grams published by the publiher that does easy grammar memory work box: search the boards for how this is set up with sections for daily, biweekly, weekly, then monthly review (I put anything in here that is missed in math, grammar, plus vocabulary) 4x week multiplication drill, free downloadable worksheet generators, online free flashcard drills I'm just brainstorming here. I would ask myself how does my child input into long term memory? What route/ senses/learning style does he use to retain in other areas of life outside of school? I have one DC that learns best by habit building. Talking about the desired goal doesn't work. It took 18 months to get a morning routine of self-care down. Finally, I find myself asking wisdom of my children's creator many times. Right now I'm asking him how best to grow reading fluency/comprehension?

I agree. I can spend hours reading this board and a curriculum catalog from cover to cover. Writing semi-annual goals and looking at them before I make purchases helps. When I notice my stomach in knots, I know its time to set the catlog/ internet aside and remember to stop and just enjoy my precious children.

Some of us may want to discuss the non-monetary part of the Stimulus...how about the part where everyone's medical records are openly placed in a database and required eugenics testing (future) is tossed into it? I read large parts of the (HR1 version) of the stimulus bill that the house approved and that the senate will be voting on. What I read mostly were the parts dealing with a new agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that will use federal money to set up Electronic Health Records (EHR's) for every individual. This is not a bad idea to streamline medical records in a digital format that can be easily transferred between healthcare providers. The big problem is that in order to keep getting federal funding for this mandated program, healthcare providers will have to regularly prove they are a "meaningful user" that can "decrease costs" by using the "best practices" recommended by a cost/benefit research group within the DHHS. This is a huge change from the way healthcare is reimbursed now. Currently healthcare providers can get reimbursed for care that is safe and has been proven to be effective. This will mean that healthcare must now also be cost-effective. I just wrote my senators. If cost-effective is going to be the new mandate for federal spending, let it start with the senator's own household budget, and not with my children's healthcare options and his grandchildren's See this article for details. http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/012465.html I GET VERY NERVOUS WHEN WE'RE TOLD SIGN HERE QUICK. That is when I sit back and read the fine print twice, then send it to a lawyer friend for anything I missed. I would really like to see any other links that review what this possible new agency within the DHHS will be doing and also how much money and authority they will have.