Nope. I've never associated the name "Liam" with "William." (They sound totally different to me, look totally different to me, etc).

I finished "Beware, Princess Elizabeth" and started "Doomed Queen Anne." (The YA Young Royals series by Carolyn Meyer). I'm also working my way through "Deconstructing Penguins." My daughter and I will finish "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" today and I'm looking forward to us picking out another book to start with her tomorrow. :)

lol Cute!

That is so awesome!

TT IS kind of expensive, but with some patience you can usually find it used. I know, even still, it's still kind of expensive- but it seems to hold its resale value very well so you can get most of your money back. 5th grade (this year) was the first year we were "supposed" to start using Saxon. But I took one look at it, and knew that I (I am not mathy) AND my daughter (who is also not what I'd call overly mathy) would HATE it. I thought my eyes were going to start bleeding just looking at the first lesson in Saxon 5/4 :D It seemed SO dull and overly technical and time consuming and boring. I knew I'd struggle to explain things to her and she'd struggle to understand them and we'd both hate "doing math." I just knew it. I promptly turned around and resold it. We went with TT5 instead. And it's been WONDERFUL. My daughter actually LIKES and LOOKS FORWARD to doing math. She actually GETS it- the computer and the animated buddies makes it fun, the friendly tutor who never loses patience or stumbles over how to explain a concept is easy for her to understand, she's not drowned in busywork but each week always reviews material previously covered in addition to learning new things, so it's constant review and not being inundated with all new material at once... it really, really seems to be working for us. And it is SO convenient for me, not having to sit down and "teach" the math- I can just keep an eye on things but don't have to cover it all myself which is great. It even keeps the grades for her and whatnot- we will definitely be sticking with TT over here, I couldn't even imagine going from TT to Saxon and not being miserable in the process, especially if either or both of you are not mathy to begin with. P.S. I know some people say TT is "behind" other math curricula but I don't even care. She GETS it (did I say that already?) She LIKES doing it (did I say THAT already? lol) and most important of all: because she is successful with it, she no longer has an "I'm bad at math, math is too hard" attitude which is HUGE...I know from personal experience that an attitude like that can follow you for the rest of your life). So personally I would say if there is any way at all you can continue to swing the cost of TT...I would say, do so!

Mine doesn't, but could you share the link to the one you found? :) I'm sure my daughter would enjoy checking it out, too!

The Indian in the Cupboard. I couldn't believe it when it mostly held my son's interest when he was either just about to turn 5 or a very new 5. My 10 year old daughter also really enjoyed it. And it's a series, so if they like the first one, there are a few more you can read. :)

I wanted to update again, especially because I just saw that Little Passports can now be purchased for 25 percent off, via homeschoolbuyersco-op! We got our first "country package" (Brazil) toward the end of January. Alexa (10) was excited to get mail and excited to open it up and see what was inside. It came with an adventure letter from Sam and Sophia and a photo of a monkey that they referenced in their letter. There was a Brazil sticker to put on the suitcase she'd received for the first month of our subscription. There was a Brazil passport "stamp" to put in her "passport." There was a map marker to put on the Brazil area of the map (she'd received the map in her first month's subscription as well). There was an activity sheet, part of which, again, had to be done using the map, and she enjoyed doing that. There was a souvenir which happened to be a chunk of amethyst, which had also been referenced in the "adventure letter," and she loved it because she's always been into things like rocks and fossils and gems and so on. Lastly, she got another "boarding pass" that provided a code to access another area on the online section. Again, only three new games/activities were unlocked and they didn't take a whole lot of time to do. In my last update I said I was disappointed by that- but I've changed my mind. The main idea isn't playing online. It's getting mail, seeing what's in it, doing the activity sheets, getting the souvenirs, decorating the travel suitcase and learning more on the map, and then following up in whatever way you want to in order to learn more about the country. Maybe you'd want to read books (we read a book about the rain forest for example) or practice a language or cook a recipe or do a craft or listen to the region's music or whatever! Besides, after getting packages for 23 countries or whatever it is, I imagine there eventually WILL be a decent amount to do online, too. You can read my review of it and see photographs of it here: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/174422.html

Well, to be fair, we're choosing BON JOVI, too. :lol:

He's so young! I don't think worksheets are imperative for a five year old and definitely aren't worth battling over. Can you go more hands on, active, playful, interest led for a while? Spend your time conversing, laughing, playing, exploring, doing meaningful things that are hands on, not abstract boring worksheets. Enjoy each other, bond, don't fight over how much math he did. He's barely more than a baby. Ask yourself, "when he's older and I look back on when he was five, am I more likely to wish I'd enforced more worksheets or wish we'd played more and had more fun?" This period is so fleeting. He has a whole lifetime ahead of him to learn in more abstract ways. Let him move and explore and create and imagine and experience and imitate you right now. Let him play. You might want to read "the power of play" by David Elkind and "Better Late Than Early" by the Moores just for some perspective even if you don't fully proscribe to their theories.

Her comments would have irked me too! I don't think you over reacted.

LOL...yeah. Those were the days. Me in my acid wash or two tone jeans, a Motley Crue or Bon Jovi teeshirt, my blue eyeshadow and big hair courtesy of my industrial sized bottle of Aqua Net, my two different colored pair of "slouch socks" (one of which had to match my shirt color and the other of which was probably black or white), calling my friend (via the phone attached to the wall with a cord of course) to see if she wanted to go to the roller rink where we'd beg the DJ to play "Jump" and we meant by Van Halen but he'd be a wise*** and play the Pointer Sisters instead and we'd all groan and we'd get our slurpees and buy garbage pail kid stickers out of the vending machines when we got tired of roller skating and we'd ogle the long haired boys in their tight jeans...Friday night videos on MTV.... I could go on and on. I wouldn't have changed it for the world haha.

Yes! My heels crack and look rough too (years of walking barefoot probably!) Pedicures help get them nice and smooth. In between pedicures I try to keep them lotioned, but I do need to keep going for the pedicures or they'd just be rough and cracked again within a few weeks. In the winter I ignore it and wear my socks all the time but in the summer when I walk around in sandals, the pedicures are a must. Plus it looks pretty and feels summery :)

I almost never get manicures. I do try to get pedicures regularly in the summer months though (maybe every 3 weeks).

LMAO! :lol:

I don't know but there's a game called "Allowance" you might want to check into?

When my daughter was in third grade, she liked: A to Z Mysteries The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids Magic Tree House Junie B. Jones Choose Your Own Adventure stories Captain Underpants and enjoyed the Little House books as read alouds.

My daughter was in public school in first grade. If I could go back- I'd have homeschooled her right from the very beginning until waiting til toward the end of third grade to pull her out and begin homeschooling! :) At least my son is going to enjoy the benefit of that conclusion- he is 5 and he IS being homeschooled right from the beginning (very informally right now for pre-K). I don't intend to rush him or his childhood or make his earliest school years (K and 1) overly academic.

Oh, man! That is SO funny (and a so NOT funny kind of way)! :lol:

I looked into this and was disappointed to find that my county isn't on the "list." However, I applied anyway for the heck of it to a neighboring county and now I'll just wait to see if they approve us, reject us, ignore us, or what. :)

:lol: There is that, too. ETA: Another idea is to let him dictate to you and you type it for him, then ask him to draw a picture to accompany it.

Well... he's the age of a second grader, right? And you've got him doing third grade work, and he's reached his limit? I think you should just stop. Instead of trying to go further, see if you can practice/review what you've already learned for the rest of the year in fun, creative ways that he will enjoy and that will help him not "forget" what he's learned so far. Give it a break. Do the rest next year, or over the summer if you really want it finished before next school year. For now forget stressing over writing assignment type things and read, talk, play word games, have fun, focus on other things, or other subjects, or follow his interests etc. But take that with a grain of salt, I'm a pretty relaxed homeschooler to begin with, who thinks there's something to be said for the "Better Late Than Early" approach. :)

Here, too!

MY hand hurts after handwriting a paragraph or two. I do think three paragraphs at once is a lot for a 7 year old. I don't think I'd ask a 7 y/o to write more than a paragraph. Or at the very least, break it up over a few day period, writing a paragraph a day or some such.

We don't, never have.