On a parenting forum I used to belong to, we had a candy exchange one time. It was really cool! People signed up and were matched with people from other countries, and we shipped out boxes of various candies to our "buddies." They would specify whether there was anything they can't or won't eat (for instance, I can't have nuts, or I hate dark chocolate or whatever, or I love peanut butter, that kind of thing). And then we had the exchange. It was so much fun trying different candy I can't get here... but what's more (and my main point here LOL) is that even candies that DID have the same names tasted TOTALLY different from our versions! So it might not matter that much if you send something she can "get" where she is- because it might not be the same thing anyway.

Thanks so much for all the replies! I feel a lot better! My husband and I just went over and worked out at the gym at the Y for the first time. It's got beautiful, modern equipment (much more so than the other place), it was great! It's half the price as I said, with all adult group fitness classes included, and now I'll also get discounts on programs I want to sign the kids up for (homeschool P.E. is one such program, and they've got an indoor youth soccer league starting next month that I was interested in signing both kids up for, etc). So this really will save me a good amount of money. I just sent my friend a text. It said: "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that dh and I have decided not to pay for another month at (old gym). We found out that we can join the Y for half the price! And we would get other member benefits too like discounts on kid's programs. I hope you understand. I feel a little bad because we signed up at this one together, but it seems incredibly hard for us to find days and times where we can get together there, so at this point I need to go with the one that's going to cost less. I will see you for (so and so's) birthday and the concert, hopefully! :) P.S. I don't know if you are able to switch your info to the Y but their gym is really nice! TTYL!" So, that's that! Thanks for helping me not feel (too) guilty about my decision :D

Anyway, thanks, you guys made me feel better! I'm off to the Y to join up, and I'll contact her later to let her know. (I'll have to think some on how to word that lol- I don't want it to sound accusatory or anything)!

No, she's comfortable with him. He's done tattoos and piercings for her (he's a tattoo artist/body piercer obviously lol), we get together at each other's houses, we've been friends for almost 5 years. So I don't think that has anything to do with it (and yeah I did tell her up front that he was thinking of joining, too, and she had mentioned that her own husband might at some point, too, although so far that hasn't happened).

Well, about that, we didn't agree that we'd sign up for a month together only, it's just that my husband and I decided to only pay for one month at a time. Joining the gym together was an indefinite thing. For all I know, her health insurance plan covers it for a year- I have no idea. But now that I'm due to renew my monthly membership I'm thinking, no, it's much cheaper at the Y, and has more benefits for me, and she never shows anyway at this other place, so paying more and continuing to go there just for her doesn't really make sense. Know what I mean?

About two months ago, I decided I wanted to join a gym for health and weight loss. I was initially thinking Curves. I called a girlfriend and asked her if she would join with me. She said she had been thinking of joining this other small gym because her health insurance would cover it, and since the fees and driving distance were comparable, I agreed to join that gym with her instead. It took us about a week to find a time we could go in to look at it, another 2 or 3 weeks to come up with a day and time we could all go for the one hour of free training (mainly due to her rescheduling), and finally, a month ago, we met up for the free hour and we all officially joined. She just signed forms for her health insurance, my husband (who decided to join too) and I paid cash for one month as they had a one month end of summer special. Over the past month, my husband and I have been going two times a week every week- and we're going at times that my girlfriend selected as the best for her (she's got two kids in school and she goes to school herself). And yet, she has only ever actually showed up to work out with us ONE time in the course of that entire month. Once or twice she texted me in advance to say "I can't come tomorrow because of this or that" but all the other times, she just didn't show up. And then a few days later she'd text me and go "sorry I didn't make it, this or that came up." I took to texting her in advance going "are you going to be there tomorrow?" and she wouldn't respond until once again it was days later and she was going "oh, sorry!" I was really glad my husband decided to join too because if not for him, I wouldn't have had a reliable gym partner. And I didn't want to go by myself. Well, our month that we paid for is now up. And we were GOING to go in today and pay for another month (and SUPPOSEDLY she's going to be meeting us tomorrow)... ...but dh and I talked this morning about not renewing that membership, and joining the Y instead. It would be HALF THE PRICE! AND it would get me discounts on the extra programs I sign my kids up for. We decided to just go there today and join (the Y) and give up on that other place. I admit to feeling a little guilt though. Based on how things have been going (her only showing up one time all month and it taking weeks prior to that to even get her in for the free hour), is it totally wrong of me to just drop the gym I joined with my friend? Or is it perfectly understandable since she's been very unreliable and I need to worry about my own finances etc? Okay go ahead- ease my guilt trip, or put me in my place lol.

Aw I'm so sorry. That's hard. :( I don't see how you are going to be able to avoid telling her though, now that you have brought the dog there to visit her and doing so made her happy- I would expect that she might ask you to continue bringing the dog there now?

:) I showed the picture to my husband and he was like "Welllll it probably looked more like a heart when you saw it in person...." :P

Ditto.

I was the same way as a kid. I'd walk with my nose buried in a book. I'd read all day if I could. I'd beg for "five more minutes" before lights out at bedtime. I'd bring books outside with me. I still did love to play so when I had friends to play with, I'd play with them. If we went on a family outing, I was happy to participate. But if nothing else special was going on, I just wanted to read. And I hated when people would interrupt my reading to talk to me. The question, "What are you reading?" annoyed me to no end for some reason LOL. I would just think "go away! I'm trying to read!" It sounds like she IS getting physical activity. And maybe if you guys were doing something special or going somewhere special she'd be happy to be invited to participate. But she'd rather read than sit around "chatting" or whatever, and I definitely understand THAT! :)

See, I don't really think you need a spelling program that young. And when you do, I still don't think you need a spelling "curriculum" per se. Your "spelling list" can come from words that you see her spelling wrong. Select a few of those each week (maybe 5 if she's younger, 10 if she's older) and have her review them each week. But let her review them in fun ways. Let her draw them on the sidewalk with chalk. Let her draw them in the dirt with a stick. Let her trace them with her finger in a tray of salt. Let her make them in fancy bubble letters and then color or decorate the letters. Let her draw pictures of maps or people or buildings and then label/"name them after" spelling words. Make a simple "windsock" out of a paper plate and crepe paper streamers and write the spelling words on the streamers. Trace the words on each other's backs and guess the words. Chant the letters of each word as you toss a ball or throw cushion back and forth. Stuff like that? I don't know. Maybe it's better than a spelling "curriculum" that isn't even working for you!

Yesterday, my little four (almost five) year old son and I were sitting in the house as he's been sick. I was reading a book, and he was watching Franklin. It was just before lunchtime, and Franklin was having a picnic, which inspired my son to ask if we could have a picnic, too. It was a gorgeous, mild day, so I said that sounded like a great idea. We made some sandwiches, took some sliced apples and some baked chips and a red plastic tablecloth and we went into our backyard and enjoyed our impromptu picnic together, just he and I. And then we looked up at the blue sky and I saw a cloud that looked to me like a huge heart right over our house. I pointed it out to him and said it must have come for our picnic because it knows how much I love him and how much I love having picnics with him. It was really a perfect touch :) Does it look like a heart to you or is it just me?? Anyway, thanks, Franklin, for the inspiration for a lovely afternoon. :D

Am I the only one who just wants to know what the object is?!

No. I do read with my 10 y/o daughter nearly every day at some point. Sometimes that ends up being at night before bed. But we don't specifically read "a bedtime story." With my 5 y/o I try to read to him frequently but it's not always every day because he doesn't always WANT to be read to and I'm not going to force it. Then there are times where in the middle of the day he'll randomly bring me a book, or a pile of books, and we'll sit and read them. But yeah we've never been big on the whole "bedtime story" thing over here. (In fact, when the girls were younger, we used to do "bedtime songs."

:iagree:

It has been interesting to read through this thread. I don't have a plan yet for high school. My daughter was pulled out of public school toward the end of third grade because I didn't like a lot of things about the system in general and about this district in particular. She's only in 5th grade now. I'm committed to homeschooling her through 8th, and I just don't know yet what I'm going to do about high school. If I feel that the high school can do a better job than I can overall (which at least in some areas I'm sure it can), and if she WANTS to go to high school, I would be open to it. But for now we're just doing our thing and not thinking that far ahead yet.

I moved to PA when my just-turned-ten-year-old was about 9 months old. We spent like 3 years living in The Poconos (northeast PA) and now we live in an area nobody ever heard of because it's about an hour away from anything anyone ever has (such as an hour from Reading, an hour from Hershey, an hour or a bit more from Harrisburg etc). I'm not familiar with the specific areas you mentioned. I just want to answer in regard to the question of whether it's difficult to homeschool in PA- PA does have some semi-strict homeschooling laws which, at first glance, might seem overwhelming or a lot of work. But really once you read the relevant sections of the law a couple of times to familiarize yourself with them, and break down what you have to do into small steps, and then go and actually do it once, you realize it really wasn't all that hard afterall and it gets easier every year. I want to link you to a FANTASTIC site that gave me SO much help when I first started homeschooling. It's absolutely invaluable for new homeschoolers in PA! :) http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/index.html

Well, you will be doing it! In a few more years! LOL :)

It wouldn't really bother me one way or the other. I think I would just tell him that the teacher probably suggested it to the class to help ensure that they don't lose their place in case there was anyone in the class that does have trouble with that, but that if he doesn't feel he has a problem keeping track of "his place," he doesn't have to use his finger at home. But that it is okay to do it at school if that's what this particular teacher wishes.

aw he's sweet, and he looks perfectly at home already! Good for you for rescuing him :)

I'm pulling things from "Growing, Growing Strong" for Health for early elementary (maybe K-2 or K-3). For my daughter for 4th grade we just used some of the American Girl Library books for Health (like "The Care & Keeping Of You, The Body Book For Girls" and "The Care & Keeping Of Your Emotions) but also had units on nutrition and so on for science that could also count as "health." This year for my daughter's 5th grade curriculum, we aren't doing any official "Health" although we do continue to have age appropriate discussions on a variety of related topics as they come up, and she read a book for kids about saying no to drugs and science will again include nutrition and so on and so forth.

I'm a huge Oak Meadow fan in general. Last year for 4th grade (my first full year as a homeschooler), I used OM4 with my daughter and really liked it. This year I'm doing OM5 with her, and OMK with my son. I LOVE Oak Meadow. And my daughter LOVES OM5 science this year, in particular! I have an older, used version of the curriculum so I'm not sure how much has changed in the most recent version, but so far we've done: Lesson 1, The Environment- read about the environment, then she had to look around the room we were in and make a list of all the living things in her "room environment" and then had to list at least 10 non-living things. She had to look at a list and tell what was living and what was non-living. And then she had to create a mural picture of a forest, including both living and non-living things. It said "You can draw your mural, cut out construction paper shapes, use magazine pictures, or make it however you want" so she did a really cool multimedia mural. See this entry: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/136538.html Lesson 2, Ecology and Ecosystems- did the reading, looked at a list of things to determine which she could not live without in her environment. Did a series of exercises asking things like: Did you choose cows? List things that a cow needs in its environment in order to live. Did you choose grass? List things that grass needs in its environment in order to live. Did you choose water? Is there anything else that you and the cow and the grass all need? etc. She also had to add pictures to her forest mural to show human activities. http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/139352.html Lesson 3, Back To The Earth - read this section which included info on decomposing and how some things are biodegradable and some things aren't. We then gathered several things and buried them in our backyard for a few weeks (at which point they were to be dug back up and examined to see what changed and what didn't and so on). http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/141217.html Lesson 4, Composting- We read about composting and elected (instead of making a compost heap in our very tiny backyard) to do a simple, indoor worm bin. http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/143568.html Lesson 5, Energy In Ecosystems And Food Chains - We read this section and she answered a series of questions about food chains. Next week, for lesson 6, we'll be moving on to food webs. She'll answer some questions about food webs, and she'll make a list of eight different things that she eats and she'll draw a picture of the food web that she and all of those things are a part of. She'll also dig up the things we buried for our lesson on decomposing at that point. That's as far as we've gotten in our school year so far- but she's loving it. She told me science is her favorite subject. I like how hands on it is- not dry and textbookish- so far there haven't been any materials that were difficult to gather. Upcoming lessons pertain to "Population Ecology," "The Balance of Nature," "Protecting Animals," "Wildlife Conservation," "Species and their Families," various biomes, "Water Pollution," "The Water Cycle," other types of pollution, natural resources, organic gardening, recycling etc. There are a bunch of lessons on various biomes which will include a "Four Week Biome Observation Project" in which she'll have to pick a study area several acres in size which we will visit for at least an hour a week for four weeks, recording various information. She'll be making (or buying) a birdfeeder, starting a small pile of scraps from bushes and branches to later examine to see whether any small animals have "moved in," drawing more pictures, doing some writing assignments (just a paragraph or two usually). She'll be measuring the amount of water she uses in a day for the chapter on water pollution and conservation. There's a chapter on Food and Hunger and it has her keep a record for a week of everything she eats to check whether she has a balanced diet. It also suggests going without meat for one or two days if you aren't already a vegetarian and asks her to list what she ate and how she felt without meat. She will be starting an organic garden of her own in the spring (and learning about companion planting, too). Okay I definitely rambled enough, I'm sure you get the picture lol. Suffice it to say we really enjoy Oak Meadow- for science and everything else!

cool :) I think the boxes and some games (and of course some yummy treats) are all that's really needed, aside from what you already mentioned. And maybe a CD of halloween themed music. Here's one more link for some spooky halloween drinks: http://www.squidoo.com/halloween-spooky-party-drinks and I'm sure you could google halloween treats/snacks, too if so inclined!

Wow, a lot of mixed reviews here! I've never read it... but it's actually on our school reading list for this year (5th grade, Oak Meadow). We're due to start reading it next, in fact, in like three weeks (right now we're reading "The Witch Of Blackbird Pond" and we've got to finish that first). Whenever there is an "assigned" book through the OM curriculum, my daughter and I always read it together, taking turns reading it aloud. I hope we are in the "like it" camp and don't find it too boring! :D

They sound delicious (except for the nuts- I can't stand nuts in my brownies!) :)