We're still fairly new to geocaching, and I've decided that we've got to have success for it to be fun. To increase the chances that we'll find a cache, we only look for the bigger caches, and we focus on "easy" finds. Sometimes we'll do a slightly harder one that involves a hike, but that's just because I want the kids to get some exercise. ;)

You might want to check out My Father's World.

To reduce reversals in writing, I also teach cursive. For reading, I have my ds make a "bed" with his hands. (Put fists together, thumbs up, so one hand is making a "b" and the other a "d." Turn them so the thumbs look like bed posts. At first, I traced the letters on his fingers and traced an "e" in between, saying the sounds as I traced. He rarely confuses them anymore, but if he does, I remind him to "make a bed," and that really helps him figure it out.

My son, quoting the Gettysburg address today: "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in literature, and dedicated..."

Family: Forty Acres & Maybe a Mule Ds: all history books; partner reading My Father's Dragon Dd(14): The Red Badge of Courage Dd(11): in between books; not sure what's next

We're 45 minutes-an hour from church, co-op, etc., so once we leave the house we're gone for the day. We do schoolwork almost anywhere--the library, the church, parking lots, the garage for oil changes, the coffee shop, the doctor/dentist office. The list goes on and on. I prefer to school at home, but when we leave the house, I carefully pack what each kid needs to do their schoolwork while we're out. (Except for oldest dd. She does a great job packing her work and getting it done.)

We usually have one read aloud for everybody that I read very faithfully almost every day. Then we all read a lot to ds(8). He cannot read well enough to read chapter books to himself yet. My oldest dd(14) is reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to him, just because she wanted to share it with him. (Melt my heart!) Dd(11) usually reads a history book to him for about 20 minutes a day, and I read anything else that needs to be read, or I listen to him read for another 30 minutes. I try to keep a read aloud for each of the other girls going, too, but I read those here and there. It usually takes several months to work through their books. I would like to read more to them, esp. dd(11), but right now ds must have his books read to him, while the girls are capable of reading their books on their own.

We loved My Father's World when combining students.

Bumping this for you. We participate in a co-op, so going at a slower pace is not anything I had ever considered. I also have not had a Rhetoric work through Yr. 2, so I can't speak to that work load. I do know that having my 9th grader do part Dialectic work and part Rhetoric work was a smashing success. If you don't split Yr.2, you may want to consider splitting levels to ease them into Rhetoric-level work. Dialectic work is still worthy of a high school credit.

I would try Right Start.

Gosh, no words of wisdom here, but that stinks! I've always had great experiences with IEW, and I'm sad to hear that you've had such a hard time. I have taught IEW classes and used IEW with my own children for 4 years now, and I have ordered a significant number of materials without any incident whatsoever. Here are a couple of pages from their site that name specific people and their positions. I think I would be inclined to contact someone higher up the chain, but I probably wouldn't go all the way to the top yet. (That may just be my non-confrontational personality talking, though.) http://iew.com/intro-iew/history-mission-people/support-team http://iew.com/intro-iew/history-mission-people/leadership-team I hope this is satisfactorily resolved very soon.

What is BA?

I'm so, so sorry. Praying for you all.

It's emphasizing that the dress-ups must come in the middle-not the beginning-of the sentence. "Sentence openers" appear at the beginning. Ex: He (-ly) quickly ran to the well. If "quickly" came at the beginning, it would be a #3 opener: (#3) Quickly, he ran to the well. Does that make sense?

What do you have??? We're looking for the perfect humidifier!

I think that sounds about right. I charge $33/month for a writing class that meets 1 1/2 hours every week. Location does matter, though, so maybe someone from TX will chime in.

I also would buy socks to keep there--and I would make sure they were very thin. My fil also wants to keep the heat at 80, and sometimes I feel sick from it, so I would try to make the kids comfy if I could. I would keep them there, because I would never remember to have a "sock inspection" before we left the house! I also agree that it's not a hill to die on.

Isolation & cost of gas is the greatest issue here, too. We drive 45 minutes to an hour in one direction at least 4 days a week. Fortunately, there is an active homeschooling community in that direction. I suck it up & plan to stay out all day long. We joined a church in that direction, and my kids have awesome friends over there. Unfortunately, we do not know folks right around us very well at all, but the effort & expense has been worth it.

This brought tears to my eyes. My dd(14) is a freshman, and we've chosen the route of going, going, going in spite of the gas, and I teach classes to help pay for the extras. It's 45 minutes-1 hour for everything we do, including church, co-op, dance, etc. When we leave home, we're gone all day long because we have to combine everything in the days that we're out. It has been SO HARD sometimes, but we believe we have made the right decision. Thank you for this encouragement.

This is exactly what we do, too. I do usually finish the section of the lesson we're on, and then we pick up with the next section during the next lesson. My 5th-grade dd is in Level E, which we combine with Singapore Math. I usually only spend about 10 minutes on the actual teaching part of the lesson, and then I turn her loose to do the worksheet(s) independently.

Well, that was helpful! I thought it ended at 9:00, lol!

Dh is watching it. Both men got 30 minutes to establish their position. I think they will go back & forth after this part finishes. Of course, that doesn't leave much time for true debate.

Dd14: Great Expectations & The Book Thief (again)

We use RS Math & Singapore Primary Math together. We probably don't move as fast as we would if we were only using one program, but I feel like my kids are getting an awesome foundation. My dd11 (5th grade) is in RSE and Primary Math 4B now, and we'll move completely to Primary Math once she finishes RSE. I think she'll quickly "catch up" with the Primary Math at that point. Ds7 (2nd grade) is in RSC and Primary 1B(almost finished), and I think the same thing about him. Oldest dd has dyscalculia, and RS helped her to finally move forward after being "stuck" for a long, long time. We didn't discover it until she was in 5th grade, and she hated doing math so far below her grade level, but by golly, she started to finally grasp mathematical concepts!

We don't let our 14yo dd watch yet, but I'm thinking about it. We would definitely skip the one episode everyone else has mentioned. There are a few curse words here and there, but the bigger language issues I have are the sexual terms, often used to insult other characters or to make a dirty joke. I really wish it wasn't in there, because I know that she would love the show.