Having relocated from California to Virginia, this is exactly what I think might be the thing...The ladies in CA still do park days and in VA, we always have co-ops for the very reason mentioned above. I think it's regional. Those winter months can get long without support.

I woke up this morning thinking about moms and exercise...I started wondering how many SAHMs who are also homeschooling really take the time to work out, and how it impacts your life and your homeschool. Please take my poll and let me know what you do. I use the term work out instead of just exercise because in this case I mean focused time in which you are not just playing with kids in the yard or something, but rather taking time to work to the point of raising your heart and respiration rates and / or breaking down muscle fibers for the purpose of building strength (i.e. weightlifting or resistance training of some sort). Be honest! Don't put down what you imagine you are doing or would like to do, but what you ACTUALLY do in a week. Then chime in and let us know how exercise or the lack of it affects your life and what you would change if you could. I'll chime in after a few replies...

My kids enjoyed the 39 Clues series. It's a mystery / adventure / spy kind of series. Easily obtained at a library.

My kids do CrossFit Kids at our gym every week. If you do not have a Cross Fit program near you, you can easily read up on it and learn about it. Cross Fit is defined as "functional movement across modal domains at high intensity." What this means is that there is some body weight movement, some weight-bearing movement, and some gymnastics. All of it is combined to be a whole-body workout and strengthen the individual for everyday life. Our kids love CFK and are thriving. It is so much fun. They haven't been at class for a while, so yesterday I wrote a workout for them that lasted 20 minutes. It consisted of jumprope, squats, burpees, kettle bell swings and a short sprint. I had been having focus and attitude issues all day with them, and finally I realized that they hadn't done a workout in four days and it was beautiful outside. At the end of it, they both had worked hard and were transformed in both their moods and attitudes. Even the littles can do CF in some form...I highly recommend checking it out. Most CrossFit boxes keep the kids' programs very affordable and you can usually try the first classes for free.

We are starting back to some routine this week. We all three looked through what we had to get done and just sort of shook our heads. It feels a bit overwhelming to all of us, so I am trying not to put too much pressure on the kids or myself. I took the week off from all outside commitments and am just focusing on getting the house back in order. ugh.

thanks...every. single. reply helped. I'll get through this weekend and see about starting in slowly again on Monday. I have been doing some things like cooking and just hanging out a lot with my kids. They are being so incredibly kind and understanding. My daughter gave me a balloon today that said, "You are my trecher" with a picture of a treasure chest on it...LOL...she has learned that ch can make three sounds...just not always when to use that "third sound" of ch. Every time I look at the balloon I laugh and cry at the same time. The kids are doing okay. "Nanny" has had Alzheimer's for most of their lives and lived three hours away, so they are not experiencing the deep loss that kids who have been really close to their grandparents would feel, but they do feel it--there has been a definite change in their sleeping patterns and some of their every day behaviors. It might be because of me. Anyway, thanks for your responses...and for those of you whose parents are suffering in the same way, my heart goes out to you, too. It is like "death by a thousand cuts" because there are so many stages of loss...

My mom passed away last week. She has been suffering from Alzheimer's and for the past several weeks has been declining rapidly, so it didn't come as a huge surprise, except that no matter how prepared you think you are, you never are... Naturally, tending to the needs of my mom and sister (her primary care giver along with her nursing home) has consumed my thoughts and emotions, and the past week has consumed all of my time as we have taken care of memorial service preparations and paperwork, etc. Now I find myself on the other side of it, and I'm supposed to get the kids back to school? I decided to take the remainder of this week, but I feel like we should really get started again next week. Inside, though I feel completely hollow and distant and I don't want to do anything. I just want to stay at home and maybe cook a bit or write. I just feel--lost. How do I start this train rolling again?

my no-good days are because there's a problem with me, not often the other way around. When I am parenting well, reading their cues, engaging in gentle, but firm discipline when they need it, my days are lovely with my kids. and FWIW...I went to public school. I'm filling the massive gaps left by the p.s. by homeschooling my kids and re-learning. No one can have a gap-free education. I am convinced of that. Most of what I have learned has been because I have wanted to learn it. With this in mind I consider it my job to equip my kids to learn how to become learners, not to teach them everything. It's a bit of a paradigm shift but is hugely liberating.

I know you were specifically looking for online, and I don't know if a ten-year-old can do the online Latin classes, but Compass classroom has a lovely Latin program that my son is enjoying immensely. I had not heard of it before, but my friend used it, and it is great! It is a video program for the younger grades through middle school and an actual online class for the olders. The teacher is very entertaining and the exercises, translations, and reading all make sense and keep the students engaged. I could not be more pleased. It is really how I would teach Latin if I were able.

I agree that hanging on through next years sounds like a good idea. We used MUS through pre-algebra and switched to saxon for Algebra 1. So far so good...

my son has gone through WWE 1-3 and 1/2 of WWS. We loved WWE, and WWS caused us both anxiety. I have opted for something other than WWS that will allow him to be both academic and creative in his processes and he is an excellent writer, so yes, WWE definitely prepared him. I think the thing that works about it is the very incremental approach and the richness of the language that is chosen for the selections. They become good writers because they have been exposed to and analyzed a lot of good writing. My DD loves WWE as well, though I can't say if it prepared her because we are just in level 3 now.

I may conveniently forget about that stipulation. It depends on what decisions we make for high school. I've been taking it all year by year.

This. She said it perfectly, and I think I made it clear in my blog post that I am thankful for a state that makes such provision, therefore I will take full advantage of it. However, if it were required, I would be subject to the law of the state to whatever extent they required my compliance...as long as it did not violate conscience. I think that it becomes apparent to an individual when that line is being crossed, and you have to cross the bridge when you come to it. I would not necessarily violate conscience for me to have to test and submit scores to the state. It is more of a frustration and irrelevant step, red tape that we have to deal with seeing as we are not necessarily educating our children by their standards or curricula. Even so, it would still nag at me that the state has any say over it at all, therefore since VA provides a valid, legal exit point for those who educate based on issues of conscience, I'll take it. I have never flown under the radar. In our first few years of hs, we filed our NOIs and tested. It took me a good long while to decide to file RE, as I did not take the matter lightly at all. When I filed for RE, I filed all the paperwork they requested. I had previously filed RE for vaccinations, in conjunction with my NOI, so it should not have come as any kind of inconsistency when they looked at our records.

We do one lesson in two weeks' time. I also give him the tests somewhat open-book. I let him look back on the diagram structures and notes to check and make sure he has done them correctly. We are nearly done with season two, and it is just.so.much to remember. He fully knows the grammar, but sometimes, those sentences are so complex. I have him do the parsing, then the diagramming, then he can check the notes to gauge whether he did the diagram correctly, then I grade it. That has only been in the last few lessons though. Up until that point he did them all closed-book. I would, as others have suggested, just have him re-diagram the ones he missed, perhaps rewritten with a similar structure. Have him go over his mistakes and see what he missed, then re-do.

Mine is here. Only two weeks in because we started late this year...

I somehow missed the "not" BC for a while. sorry. I recommended Henry. We love the Great Brain series. They are my husband and son's favorite, and my son has read the whole series over and over...

Henry Huggins. You get to see Ramona sometimes in there and it makes you feel better. It's what we did.

If all of your paperwork is in order, I would be shocked if you were called in to testify. And if you are called in, no worries. It's not you who stands before the board...ykwim?

in my county they included this stipulation in the RE letter I received. I would have to look back to confirm, but I'm pretty sure that is the case. Don't get me started... :leaving:

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. On my blog I posted a three-part explanation of RE in VA and our thinking concerning it. We are in Northern VA. I contacted HSLDA and they gave me the detailed info and said if I followed it exactly I should not have problems. I am under the impression that next year when my son turns 14 he will have to confirm our RE decision in a letter or he can enter the mainstream NOI homeschoolers or attend school. We have been under RE for about 5 years now. We haven't had any problems obtaining or keeping it.

Tapestry of Grace

For some reason, ever since our kids were little and watched Clifford on PBS, we have loved hedgehogs. My son had a funny thing about Cleo's hedgehog squeak toy (I don't even remember why now). We love hedgehogs, pictures of them, thought about getting one as a pet...I was groping for a username so I decided on Hedgehog, but it was taken so I became "hedgehogs4."

Oh there are so many... AoPS (I wanted a genius, but he's just smart. I've got to be okay with that.) just about every spelling curriculum I've ever tried. WWS (sorry, SWB...I love EVERYTHING else. That just made us cry) Mapping the World by Heart (no...not gonna happen...just...no)

It took me forever to get started, but finally we did and it has been a great week! Better than any first week we've ever had, I think. Before we started I insisted on scrubbing the carpet and getting the basement really clean, and it feels soooo nice down there. It really helps the school days along. here's the link

My kids do CrossFit 3 x a week. They love it and they are actually building their fitness levels and learning a lifestyle of exercise and fitness. In the meantime they are very active on our trampoline, play set, etc.