Well you probably already know I like Teaching Textbooks, too! It's raised her confidence, her standardized test scores (to pretty darn good ones) made her like math a lot more, and made math a lot more independent at our house. I don't care what anyone says negative about it, I love it!

I never started a group on it myself, but I was a member for 3 plus years of a stay-at-home mom's group on meetup.com for toddlers and preschoolers before I started homeschooling, which was very active and successful (it always had 40 or 50 members). And then when I started homeschooling (right around the time all the kids my son "knew" from that group started going off to preschool), I left that group and moved to a homeschool group on meetup.com, and I've been with that group for three years now. As I already knew the two organizers (they had also been in the same stay at home mom's group with me), I quickly became an assistant organizer of it, and as of the past year, the group was turned over to me and I've been running it. It's always had between 12-30+ families at a time. In both cases, with both groups, members were charged "dues" of $12.00 per year to offset the meetup site costs, and in both cases, that has worked out well. Members thought that was more than fair and worth the cost of what they got out of it. They were both active groups with lots of meetups, and the organizers put a lot of time into setting up a lot of fun activities and outings and field trips and get togethers. I think it's a great site with lots of conveniences...it's a big name site so people know to go there and look for the type of group they're looking for, it's got the message board feature, it's got the super convenient calendar and RSVP system and the ability to email reminders and notices and so on, plus you can do polls and group members can upload pics from all our events into photo albums, and all sorts of stuff. So for me, I'd say it's been a worthwhile experience. I love Meetup.

Congrats!! :) I like that name (and that show/character)! :D

Other. I probably spend the most money on taking my kids on all sorts of outings and field trips and/or on extra-curricular activities, camps, lessons and that kind of stuff. Curriculum and books and all that I tend to buy used and stick with what I choose and use the library heavily.

You can certainly refuse. Tell him you would prefer to try OT first, and/or that you would prefer to be referred to a therapist who does not insist on excluding you from the session as it is your policy to remain with your minor child for all medical and therapeutic treatments and that is at odds with this particular therapist's style. End of story. No biggie.

Unless I honestly couldn't afford it, I probably would. I wouldn't want to be that one neighbor who was like nah, I don't care. If I was looking to build a sense of community and ties with my neighbors and they were looking to include me as part of their community and hoped they could count on me along with everyone else to help one of their own, I would try to do it (I would try to ensure first that it was legitimate though). Then again, I also lost a grandfather to cancer, and I do try to help others where I can, and I guess I would hope that if someone in my family needed something for a life threatening illness and I felt that the situation was desperate enough that I was pounding the pavement asking neighbors, etc for help, I would hope that people would be kind enough to help if they could.

OP, another fun thing I would recommend, which I did when we did our FS project, was setting up a Flat Stanley blog. When you get a bunch of people from different states and countries, especially all from one online community like ours, all volunteering to host him for you, it would be fun to have a blog set up where people can send you digital pics of the things he's "seeing and doing" and you can post pics of his activities and information about the places he's visiting, and then all of us participating can go to the blog and see his different adventures and pictures of the different Stanleys you got and stuff like that. It's a fun way to expand the project. :) Just make sure people take pics of Stanley alone for you to post on the site and that if they take pics of him with their kids and family and such, they let you know whether they want those pics on the blog or just for you to have. Just an idea!

Ah, cool. Yeah, we had a lot of fun when we did ours. I wish I could remember where we found the template for ours...it was basically just a blank paper doll looking thing with no clothes or facial features or anything so that they could be added on individually. People would draw on his face, clothes (or would give him felt clothes, or paper cut out clothes, or use paints or markers or whatever they wanted...some of them would get pretty creative)! I recommend people put him on cardboard backing (or you do) as he holds up much better that way! :) ETA: Just something like this basically! http://www.mrsperkins.com/files/stanley.pdf

Well, I have a 1998 edition of Oak Meadow 6 and it's basically a short lesson written to the student that they read (2-5 pages usually), and then it tells them a few things they are supposed to do that week and it's up to you guys how you break that down over the week. So for example in lesson 7 she had to read a couple of pages on soil and nutrients, fertilizers, bacteria and compost. Then there were several numbered assignments for that lesson. 1. Do you have a plant or vegetable garden? If the answer is yes, answer the following questions. If the answer is no, your exercise will take the form of an interview. Find a friend or neighbor that has a garden. Write down this person's name and relationship to you. If you can find neither a friend or neighbor who gardens, you may call a local nursery and interview a worker or manager there. Answer the following questions. a. What kinds of plants or vegetables do you grow? b. What are the uses of these plants or vegetables? Do you water them? How often? c. Do you use fertilizers? If so, what types are used? How often are they used? d. Do you compost your kitchen wastes? If so, what types of things do you put into your compost? 2. Take one of your cups that has seedlings in it and using a pair of scissors, cut the cup down one side so that you can look at the soil inside. Examine it closely. Identify as many different things in it as you can. Determine as best you can how much of each thing makes up the total composition of the soil. You can use either fractions or percentages. What things are also in the soil that you cannot see? 3. Carefully remove one of each type of seedling from each of the other seed pots. Draw a picture of each of them and label each of their different parts. 4. Go to a local garden center and find three different types of fertilizers. List each of them and for each, research and write down the following: a. recommended uses b. types of minerals in each c. how and how much should be applied d. price ...so how that is split up and applied over the week is up to you. And then there's a choice of projects to also complete for the lesson. And for that lesson the choices were: create compost, grow your own soil-less narcissus, invent your own soil-less plant environment, and seek soil squirmers. For each of those things, they gave you tips and/or instructions on how to go about each thing. That's about the extent of how it is 'laid out.' So sometimes it's having you get things from a grocery store, sometimes it's having you do hands on stuff, sometimes it's suggesting you go to a store (and sometimes we do so, other times we may decide to go online instead)...

We would be happy to host him in Pennsylvania. I will PM you. :)

Thanks, guys! Although that Leslie must have a board too... She keeps pulling ahead lol. Vote Brittany!! :D

Alexa: I can't get my work done because I can't think of another word that has a suffix. Me: Hm, well, try thinking of a word that ends in ful. Alexa: Waffle? --- After bringing down a load of laundry to her dad in the basement, and going up to get more, I reminded Alexa that we still had a bit more schoolwork to do. Here’s how the conversation went: Alexa: What’s more important? School or laundry? Me, jokingly: Yes. (meaning: both!) Alexa: Would you rather be educated or naked? Me: Huh? Alexa: Well, if we don’t have any clean clothes, we’ll have nothing to wear, and then we’ll have to walk around with no clothes on! Me: So are you trying to say that laundry is more important than school? Alexa: Yes! And she proceeded to go upstairs and get the rest of the laundry.

So how are you doing your Flat Stanley project? Just sending one out? When we did ours, we printed out a bunch of blank Flat Stanleys and sent them out all over the place, to whoever was willing to take them (we had a bunch of states and even a few diff countries!) and asked people to "dress them" in a way that depicted their climate or area or region or culture in some way, and take pics of them doing things in their area like fun field trips, and then send them back to us, so we ended up with a whole collection of differently 'dressed' Flat Stanleys and fun pics emailed to us while we waited to get them back (although fair warning, some people never sent them back). That was a lot more fun than just sending one out and waiting to get it back and so on. Just a thought! :)

Ignore or pursue as desired. :) With that said, my college-aged niece, Brittany, is DYING to win this "best bartender" contest. If you're so inclined, you can follow this link, and all you have to do is click on her name to vote for her. Takes two seconds, literally. She's neck and neck with someone else so it's real close and she's dying for more votes. Contest closes tomorrow from what I understand. If you're not so inclined, ignore this post. :D Thanks! http://www.facebook.com/questions/287320544661224/?qa_ref=pt (And yeah I know it's kinda cheating. I also know they're all getting friends to tell other friends to vote for them, so whatever lol. No biggie if you don't want to do it. I also know she's watching the page with her breath held probably hopping on one foot having a heart attack hoping she pull some more votes haha so again if you're so inclined she'd love some more votes thrown her way). Plus you can just take my word for it that she's cute, charming and makes good drinks haha. :cheers2: Carry on!

We would be willing to take one in Pennsylvania. :)

The tree crystals look really cool! We've never done those, I'd like to! We've done caterpillars, but never tadpoles, and we want to do those one of these days, too! My 11 y/o daughter painted a picture of bamboo today, I thought she did a really nice job with it!

It consists of either me reading to the kids, or sometimes my 11 y/o and I taking turns reading aloud to each other. We only stop to discuss if one of the kids has a question or comment. I don't ever ask them questions about it and disrupt the flow of the story.

Is he a reader? Maybe you can have him read some good books and articles on the benefits of homeschooling and the pitfalls of public school? Maybe he can read some stuff by John Taylor Gatto for example! Dumbing Us Down and Weapons of Mass Instruction, maybe? :P Some stuff by John Holt? If my spouse was going to dig in his heels and argue something that was that important to me, he darn sure better be prepared to hear me out with an open mind on why I thought my way was better for my children, and he darn sure better be prepared to show me why he thought his way was, with research to back it up just like I did. And I would REALLY resent that "Oh yeah then why can't they spell their name..." are you freakin KIDDING me? They haven't even STARTED K yet. How disrespectful and ridiculous is that? But you don't want this to be a fight. You want this to be about you expressing to him (nicely because you want his support) how much this means to you and how much it would mean for him to listen with an open mind on A) how much this means to you and B) how much research you have put into this and C) not to say hurtful things that imply you're not capable of teaching 5 year olds or haven't done things you should yet like teaching them things they haven't had to know yet. First of all they haven't even started K yet and second of all once upon a time first grade was time enough for all of us to learn to read and write and we turned out fine. They only reason they even push it in K now as because of all the stupid standardized testing! Anyway, I'm sorry. :grouphug: I hope this turns out the way you want it to!

I haven't used 8th yet. Using 6th now. While I like it, and my daughter likes it, I hesitate to say that YOU (as a mom on a classical education board speaking of a "very sciency son") would find the depth to be enough. You've used OM before, right? You know how it is, some people find it to be a bit "light" as it is because it's not real textbookish/workbookish, which doesn't really bother me, because I really like the curriculum as a whole and can appreciate its philosophy, integration, hands on stuff, the way it doesn't bore my kids and so on, especially with the English/Social studies. But if you're looking for real in depth science for a kid really into science I don't know that you'd find it to be enough. Some of the stuff they have us doing is stuff that some may consider to be for younger elementary kids, different plant experiments and stuff. Put a plant into a dark cabinet for five days and note what happens/record your observations. Put a plastic bag over a plant for a few hours and note what happens. Put celery in water with food coloring and note what happens. Grow different seedlings and periodically dig them up and sketch them, chart their growth, etc. Cut different vegetables and fruits in half, look inside them, draw what you see. Draw and label a picture depicting photosynthesis. Play rock music for this plant and classical music for that plant and see if one grows faster. Weigh a pound of spinach, place it in the oven on the lowest setting you can for two hours, let it cool then weigh it again. Record the new weight, describe the change in appearance, explain the reason for the changes and finally compute the weight of the water in the fresh spinach by subtracting the ending weight from the beginning weight. Etc. There are brief reading assignments for each lesson in the syllabus written to the student, sometimes they do writing assignments, sometimes they draw pictures, they get choices of projects and activities which can vary quite a bit in nature. For example, on the lesson on "Stems and Trasnportation" and "Leaves," at the end of the lesson for that lesson's project they could either choose to do: 1. Leaf art (gather leaves, compare intricate webbing vein systems, draw the leaves, notice the texture, paint the underside of the leaf and press it onto paper, make leaf rubbings and so on) 2. Make rainbow flowers (this involved getting white flowers such as carnations or daisies and splitting their stems into like four parts about halfway up and putting each piece of split stem into cups with food coloring and water attached to a stick with a piece of tape and setting in sunny spot so that the stem would transfer the colored water up each piece of split stem and turn the white flower rainbow colors) 3. Study stems of all sorts (Before going outside think about the different characteristics that you know stems have and write them down. Example: rough, smooth, coarse, prickly, hairy). Then go outside and look for stems with the characteristics you have listed and add any new ones you discover. Think about the benefits the different stem types have for the plant. Write one benefit next to each characteristic on your list. do any characteristics have similar benefits? 4. Study leaves. Take six stems of celery with their leaves still attached. Take three of the stems and cut off the leaves entirely. Par the celery stems so each pair has one piece of celery w/leaves and one w/o. Put each pair of stalks in a diff environment for about an hour. For example, one could go in the refrigerator, one in a glass of water, and one by the window. Which stalk in each set seems strongest and is less wilted? Are all of the stalks w/leaves less wilted or was it diff for each set? Can you draw any conclusions? ...Still other lessons might include a creative writing assignment or a drawing or more of a crafty type thing or interviewing somebody or researching something as one of their project choices, so they can vary a lot. Granted this is an older version of the curriculum and we're not ridiculously far into it because we're splitting our sixth grade year up into two years so not sure what else we may end up doing later on (we just finished lesson 9). I mean I know it eventually goes into animals and people and not just plants but for now we're just doing plant type stuff. Anyway, hopefully this gives you a better idea of what it is like.

Hm..do some sort of "love others" thing by volunteering somewhere together? (or "love the earth" thing by doing a cleaning up outdoors project together)? Start a tradition where you go on a special outing together...maybe you can make it something revolving around chocolate...here we could go to Hershey in PA and they have all sorts of chocolate activities...chocolate tasting, make your own candy bar, but maybe you have a fondue place or something. Or it could just be dinner or a movie or some such. Or a fun overnight somewhere? Or tickets to a show or something. No idea how much you want to spend. Or play board games with them, or rent movies if they prefer that kind of tradition and do popcorn (and chocolate), have a pizza party, whatever. Or do they like puzzles? Get some big jigsaw puzzle, maybe Valentine's Day related somehow, and start doing it together?

It's not that I look for extra projects, it's that I looked for a curriculum to begin with that included cool projects instead of all textbookish stuff. Between Oak Meadow and SOTW we often have some sort of fun project or activity to do and they're usually simple enough that I don't feel overwhelmed by them. With Oak Meadow there's a lot of integration...so like whatever we learn about for social studies, the reading material will be based on that for English, the writing assignment will be based on that (there's usually a choice of interesting/creative assignments to choose from), and there will often be some sort of project or activity to do, like she recently had to write a poem based on Persian-inspired themes of friendship, beauty or heroics, and then we did a paper-marbling project and she used one of her sheets of marbled paper to mount her poem on to make a nice frame/border for it. Or you'll read a short lesson about ancient India and then it'll have you read the Ramayana for literature and it'll give you Indian recipes you can cook and it'll suggest listening to Indian music online and finding out what instruments are in the piece and drawing pictures of them. Or last year we made lanterns out of tin cans (hammered with nails to make designs on them if I remember right and we used a bent hanger to make a handle for it), and made our own candles and stuff like that when we were reading more about American history. So I like that it's more hands-on and interesting, but also all laid out for me with instructions so I don't have to think of that kind of stuff on my own.

No idea. I don't do workbooks and tests and such in preschool. I like letting kids be kids in early childhood and having very carefree, playbased, experience-based, and conversational learning in those early years. It's a shame they put so much pressure on three and four year olds academically. They're little more than babies for crying out loud. They've got their whole lives ahead of them for that.

I'm with Chris. What is the purpose of this test...? (Meaning why is your preschooler being tested and why do you think s/he needs to be "prepped" for it with workbooks at age 3 or 4)?

I would start with the mom, and give her a chance to make it right. I would never tolerate my child bullying another child. A lot of moms wouldn't. Maybe she won't either. But don't wait. Send her a letter (I would want it in writing, in detail) right away, and see what happens. But since it could go the other way, too ("Not my princess!"), if she had an attitude or blew you off or didn't resolve the situation, then I'd start going over her head.

:iagree: Here in PA they tell us we have to meet X number of hours OR days; I basically submit an "attendance statement" with my portfolio each year saying as homeschoolers, we believe life and learning are inextricable, but that we do also use a 36 week curriculum (Oak Meadow) on top of other educational and life learning pursuits, and as such we more than meet the minimum requirements. It's never been questioned and they've never asked us to "prove" each hour of "attendance" or instruction, though we do also have to submit other things here (samples of work, evaluator's letter, log of reading materials, standardized test results in certain grades etc).