Glad to see you're all plugging along and keeping up with the goodness you're giving yourselves. I've not been hanging out here at WTM as often as I used to . . . but for good reasons. I've been cooking tons more from scratch, have eliminated sugar and dairy from my diet and almost have wheat flour scratched from our diet. I've been running 3 x a week, doing old-school The Firm dvd exercise video's on the other days, taking a multi-vitamin and cooking good food . . . I'm happy to report that the Wii guy told me this morning I'm at 193 lbs . . . down from 213 in the summertime. My goal is to find 180 by Christmas. You gals super-inspired me with this exercise thread back in the summer-time. I kept thinking that if you all can make time for yourselves, then I could too. Thank you and let's keep up the great work! Warmly, Tricia

Tic Tac Toe . . . Sight Word Edition! Choose nine words currently under review, a handful of lego pieces and you've got instant Tic Tac Toe. My 5 year old loves this little game!

Thanks for the rules above.

I think this thread would make a lovely poll.

Yes, I let my oldest son use a multiplication table during Yr 3 Math . . . because the emphasis was on "doing math" and not on rote memorization. He doesn't need it anymore, except for 6 x 9, which he can never remember. I think the idea of having a multiplication chart hanging in a far, far away corner of the house is a great idea . . . thanks for the tip! T

Our kids attend Awana at a local church which we don't attend. I see our involvement in Awana as a bridge to other faith-based communities . . . because of Awana, I've made some near&dear friends that I probably wouldn't have met otherwise. My experience with Awana is that the volunteer policies are strict; the kids are the first priority and what they bring home in terms of bible understanding is top-notch. I highly recommend the Awana program!

Yes, I bought MPAH -- for Yr 3 and 5. I found it busy and not our style.

Completely agree with you . . . I'm going to dig out SWR, retest my oldest and see how it looks to me after being awakened by AAS.

I dropped Singapore Science like a hot potatoe, about three weeks in.

I think SWR and AAS are very similiar in philosophy. I understand more fully how SWR works now that I'm using AAS. In fact, I may be able to return to SWR with my oldest son while my younger son works through the first few books. My recommendation: AAS. It lays out spelling step by step, shows you which key cards to use, tells you what your child should have memorized etc etc. I can manage (even enjoy) spelling lessons now. SWR made my blood pressure rise, my head throb and surfaced all of my teacher insecurity. I felt like I was blindfolded when using SWR; the lights came on all the way with AAS and I highly recommend it. It does move slowly . . . but builds skills in a very organized way. HTH's, T

I mostly agree with you about the seasons of life . . . in a "Good Marriage" (the term used by Judith Wallerstein in her fabulous book titled the same), I get the sense that the seasons theory generally works to explain the dry moments, the disconnect etc in marriages that are basically functioning well. In our case, we had many unresolved undercurrents/dynamics that went deeper than the easy explanation of busy with kids and life. Wallerstein speaks to a healthy sexual relationship/play/falling forward as necessary to buoy us when life is otherwise unpredictable and exhausting. I sense from Aubrey's first post that there might be more that she's trying to process. Sadly, (as many of us know first hand) processing under the blanket of extreme exhaustion/effort of a whole family of littles makes everything seem a million times worse. Seems like you've married a wise man . . . " Baby, how 'bout you go take a nap while I make dinner" has only recently been added to my dh's coping tools when I'm melting, but it sure does make all the difference. Warmly, Tricia

This was exactly my experience with Singapore. ugh. I have learned the hard way (via $90 wasted on SS) that at our house, content subjects must be taught to all the kiddies at the same time. I'll watch this thread carefully.

I'm reading this thread and melting all over my keyboard. My boys have lego coming out the wazoooooooo. My next HUGE project is to find some sort of system that gives them creative license *and* allows for some sort of tidy-up so I can tuck them in at night without stepping on, over or around the current project. Whoever figures out a lego system . . . hat's off to you.

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm I can speak to cheap (and rigourous but certainly needs an involved teacher). We use this free math program . . . granted, I doubt myself now and again about my ability to teach this math program well. I read and get help from the MEP yahoo page and I probably would have given up on this program if I didn't have the support of the yahoo group. MEP teaches "thinking math" - and just as we finished up the week, I saw the beauty of the program. My almost 10 year old is finishing up YR 3 . . . we were working on double, triple, quadruple multipliers(?) with a single digit multipland(?). (I struggle with math terminology - 865 x 3 etc) The "thinking games" asked us to work backwards by giving us the answer and we had to figure out the multipland. In the process, we figured out how to do long division without applying the rote method steps . . .the lights went on for both of us about what long division really is. Working the question by partitioning and then working it by orderly long division steps really showed us what we were doing. My son could tell me before he worked the problem what the remainder would be. This might not be a big hoot for many of you, but because I'd never learned to do that as a kid, I was quite thrilled with ourselves. He says to me: "Mom, when we're working a math problem, we can think forward, backwards, estimation or partition." I think we're connecting the dots somewhere in the land of math. This math moment helped me see that we are really learning mathiness, not just the steps of "doing math" - I was very pleased, because I second-guess myself at every corner when it comes to all things math. Next week, I might be insecure about this math program . . . but mostly, I'm insecure about my ability to teach it. Good luck on your search to find a fit!

I have a Kumon workbook that does the boxes around the letters.

My ds#2 is 8 but he's doing the second half of MEP Yr 2 math. We're halfway finished with Book 1 AAS, and he's struggled with a few of the words. He's registered in third grade . . . but I would say academically he's somewhere in the middle of second and third for most subjects. A late bloomer, perhaps . . .

This is very inspirational for me . . .I know I'm soon coming to the end of my math abilities and I love the idea of history lectures online. Thank you for sharing how you manage to find expertise as a top-notch homeschool administrator! Warmly, Tricia

At the forefront of our reasons for homeschooling is building long-term, solid relationship with our children. If I knew of a private school that was doing a much better job of preparing their students academically, I would work harder to provide that academic environment by surrounding myself with people smarter than me. For ie, an old grad-school friend is a prof at a near-by university, a young man in our church is doing grad work in Math and another young lady just graduated with an undergrad degree in Latin. I would access this people and ask for help. Self-education is key, although so much hard work when balancing domestics, multiple children and carving out time for dh and self-care. I wouldn't underestimate how much your children are developing because of the secure, loving enviroment you're providing for them. Warmly, Tricia

Ha, me too! I only discovered quinoa a few weeks ago, and had never heard of sucanat until Cindy in C'ville posted the granola recipe. So much to learn, so many growing edges.

Hi Jean, one of my "tree-huggy" friends recently gave me a book to read about candida (yeast) . . . and how it affects our bodies when negative flora is overproducing. I'm only just educating myself about digestion and I'm sure there are many people here who can speak more authoritatively than I about diet and digestion. I've been "starving" my yeast critters now for 2 weeks by not eating anything involving sugar, wheat, dairy. Once my body is acclimatized to this new eating, I'm going to do a "cleanse" . . . my first one ever and then attempt to maintain this sugar/wheat/dairy way-of-life indefinitely. (I've lost 8 lbs to date but I'm much more motivated by the possibility of having more energy, less mental fogginess and fatigue). Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook: Everything You Need to Know About Prevention, Treatment & Diet Jeanne Marie Martin Healthy Life Kitchen Marilu Henner Maybe just some food for thought! Warmly, Tricia

Nova Scotia's provincial testing results make it really easy for me to combat negative homeschooling comments (which come few and far between for us). The grade 12 provincial math exam has a pass rate of less than 50%. Go figure.

DH bought me the cheapest, lowest end model at Zellers for Christmas last year. I think it was on sale for around $200 C. I didn't want to spend too much money on an appliance that I wasn't sure I'd use but come to find out, I use my KA 3 - 4 times a week. Pancakes, muffins, bread, pizza dough . . . it has made my kitchen life much easier. If you're at all "kitchen-y" then a KA is indispensable. I'm very pleased that I have one and would consider upgrading to a bigger, more powerful appliance in the next few years. HTH's, Tricia

Thank you for the link - our kiddies love A in O! I found 5 complete tape sets at our local used spot and they became an instant favorite.

WOW! Great blog, Jessica.

Beyond impressive, ladies! I enjoy the opportunity to observe the talents of your children -- these poems are lovely and to the mom's, I wish you all sorts of favour with publishers or magazines so that your children can have their words "out there" for a larger audience to enjoy.