I have been thinking about this alot lately. My dd is in Level D of RightStart. Level E is the farthest that Right Start goes. So I will need something else for when she starts Gr.5. I have been thinking about Teaching Textbooks. I read somewhere that they are planning on putting out TT for the lower grades so I am thinking that by the time we need it the Gr. 5 program will be out. If it works for us, we'll just stay with it. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

My youngest still runs around in her underwear. She is 5 now, so we will see if this continues in the summer. She has sensory issues. One of those issues is heat. It drives her to distraction if she gets too hot, so off come the clothes. It used to bother me alot but now I just let her go to it. I figured if she was cold enough she would put on warmer clothes. I was right. It is -20 degrees Celsius here and she is wearing a sleeveless summer dress, but she is clothed. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

When life gets too stressful around here, I do take off a day or two until I can get my feet back on the ground. I am not good to anybody when I am grumpy or out of sorts. I think it is okay for you to take a bit of time off until life is back to normal (whatever that is) or until you feel that you can handle it all. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

Usually the entire family takes the day off for the person's bday, but this year I had to revise it. This week we had two birthdays. If we all took off those days, there wouldn't be much work done, so I changed the rule to only the birthday person gets the day off. I didn't have any problem with carrying this out. We will see how it goes when everyone gets older. :) Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

Just finished watching CSI. It was a repeat but I had never seen it before. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

My dd, 8, is reading them now. I pre-read them to see if it would be too scary. There are a couple of scary parts but she is handling it fine. Crude language--I must be de-sensitized to this because I don't remember there being anything that stood out to me. You do need to read the books in order. I don't know if I will let my kids see the movie. Movies always have a tendency to be so much scarier and darker than the book. I might wait to get the DVD and watch it first, rather than see it at the theatre. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

We're in south west Saskatchewan. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

I am in my fourth year of hsing and I still have a serious problem with buying curriculum, books and supplemental things. I thought it would be over after my first year. Uh-uh. The problem is alive and well. I try waiting a month or so before I purchase but then I usually find more books in that month and end up adding it to my order. :D One thing about my addiction, though, when I need a book, I can just go down to the school room. I don't have to wait to order it from the library. That's the nice part of it. Julia mom of 3(8,7,5)

I don't have too much planned right now for next year as ds is having problems with reading. For right now, my focus is on the basics. Reading: OPGTR, Explode the Code Math: Rgiht Start Level C, living math books and activities Copywork from Aesop's Fables If ds can get his reading turned around, I may start him on FLL. I won't start him with with history or science until Gr. 3. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

We like doing the crafts but they weren't getting done. We were just having time to do the reading and narrations. We were having difficulty to get everything done. I felt like a task master, rushing us along so that we would have time to at least get to the extra reading. I felt that this defeated the purpose of buying the AG, so I came up with a radical plan. We do history (and other content subjects) in blocks. We now do history for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks at a time. Now we have time for everything and we can do it at a slower pace. We are able to relly enjoy the extras and the info has a better chance of sticking, imo. We are enjoying doing it this way. This works for us, but I know that it wouldn't work for everyone. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

My dh had hernia surgery two years ago. I think it depends on where the hernia is situated as to how long the hospital stay is. My husband had to stay in overnight. He was in a lot of pain for a few days. My husband is a cattle farmer. He was helping me do the chores after three days and was back on the tractor doing the chores by himself in a week's time. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

I can sympathize. We had a bad mouse problem when we lived in a house trailer. I was a mess. I couldn't sleep because you could hear them running about. During the day, I would see them in amongs the kids toys. :eek: It was awful. We moved three years ago to an older home. I thought, whew, the mouse infestation is over. Wrong. We have them here too. Mind you, it's not as bad as it was in the trailer. My dd told me yesterday that she saw a grey blob (we are assuming that is a mouse and not some other living creature) moving down the hallway. This is the second mouse that we have seen upstairs this year. I know there are more in the basement, but out of sight, out of mind. We have tried everything, Mouse traps, glue traps, humanitarian traps, cats, steel wool. You name it, we have tried it, but nothing works. I think they are making mice too smart these days. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

WE used RS4K pre-level 1 for Chemistry this year with my 8 yr. old. Some people think that the pre-level is too young for an 8 yr. old but we loved it! I will also be using Fizz, Bubble, Flash as a supplement. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

Here is mine: Musings of a Prairie Girl Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

We are in our 4th year of homeschooling our 3 kids (8,7,5.) We are grain and cattle farmers on the Canadian Prairies. I stumbled upon the WTM message boards before I had even known there was a book. That was exactly 5 years ago. I usually lurked on the old boards but I really like this new format so I will be posting more. I have finally resigned myself to admit that we are eclectic homeschoolers. I have tried so hard to do just the classical education thing but it just hasn't been working for us. So, for now, we do a mish mosh of classical, CM and Waldorf. What a mix. Finally, though, after three years, we have found our fit. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

This has been an issue with me lately. I started spelling with my oldest when she was in first grade. She had been reading since she was 4. In first grade, she was a very strong, expressive reader. I started with a spelling program, but I found that even though she was getting the words right when we tested, she wasn't getting them right when spelling irl. Her spelling was atrocious. I stopped doing a formal program because I thought it was a waste of time and money if it wasn't working. We haven't done a program in over a year. I have been thinking, though, that we will work on spelling through dictation. So I am thnking of starting dictation next week. Sorry for my ramblings, but I am feeling very frustrated with spelling right now cause I don't know if a formal program really works. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

I'm in the 'move on' camp. My dd didn't know her addition facts when we moved on to subtraction but as time went on, she became better with remembering her addition. We, too, did lots of review. I use movement with our review. I call out an equation and she jumps on the index card that has the right answer. I also use beanbags. I call out an equation and throw her the bean bag, when she catches it, she yells out the answer. This is just a fun twist on flash cards (I hate flash cards :) Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

These are my plans, so far, for dd for the fall. Math: finishing up RightStart Level D and moving on to Level E Language Arts: R&S Grammar 5, finishing up CW Aesop A and, hopefully moving on to Poetry, dictation and copywork History: finishing up SOTW 4, then will be starting all over again with Ancient Egypt uisng Truthquest Science: not sure what we are going to do for this. I should be doing Physics, but I don't like any of the curriculum offereings Spanish: Easy Spanish Literature: Ambleside Online suggestions Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

I do my own thing for my oldest two. This year now, as I get ready for my youngest, I have decided to go the curriculum-in-a-box road for K. I was just too tired and busy to think up something for as well. I chose Oak Meadow. It is not workbook based but discover based. It is a very gentle intro to learning. I really like it. (I never thought I would write those words in regards to a packaged curriculum :) ) I will not use OM for first, though. I will go back to making up my own. But it is a nice change. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

I am trying to read Tale of Two Cities, but I'm not sure if I am going to get it finished. It's hard going. I took a breather to pre--read Spiderwick Chronicles for dd. Now I am pre--reading Tuck Everlasting for dd, then I will go back to Dickens. Julia mom of 3 (8,7,5)

I'll just throw another one out here. It is not workbook based so it might not work with your family. We have always used the FIAR books for pre-school and K. I used as much or as little as I wanted to for each book. It was just a laidback way to introduce them to school and learning. There is also the online version of FIAR, Homeschool Share It is free. Julia