I agree with the PP that said they told their dh to pick two out of the three. It is so hard to do everything at once. I'm looking forward to my younger two getting a couple years older and then it should be a lot easier. I am the type of person that hates starting and stopping, especially when I am doing things that I don't want to do in the first place. So doing gross dishes and then stopping every minute to stop ds1 from putting something in his mouth, sticking his fingers in an outlet, dd2 from hitting ds1 or dd2 from pouring soup on her head. Its exhausting.

That is going to be what it is like here when I have a 18, 17, 15, 12 and 11 year old...Oh my. Busy, busy.

As my kids are getting older, and I guess I am getting this weird feeling of seeing things from the perspective of being the mother, I am wondering what my kids are going to remember. I honestly think that I blacked out my whole childhood. I don't have much to share at this time, but I will be back to share. I am just interested if others have anything they would like to say.

I would have never thought the Muslim faith would be going door to door.

I ordered them last night so I will update :)

I saw on the HSLDA site that Brigance tests work well for children with special needs, learning delays and the like. I am still in the process of getting a formal diagnosis for my dd6, and we are enrolled in a cover school that does not require testing,but... I would like to test anyway just for my records and to show some sort of progress even if she may not be on grade level. If you have used this test, I would be thankful for any info that you could share about it. I saw that it was almost a $100 to rent from HSLDA. Wow. Anywhere else that you can order it from? Do you need to have a bachelors degree, a teaching license, or any other requirement to administer the test?

Thank you! I looked on ebay but I'll go check out Amazon. When you look at the full kits with Math in Focus it makes Singapore math look cheap lol.

Is there something out there that is similar to Singapore math, but less pricey? Singapore is technically a type of math right? Any other curriculums out there that use the Singapore methods? I really want to try it, especially with dd6, but I cant seem to order it. I just keep thinking about spending $18 for a guide and $13 a piece for a textbook and workbook twice a year. I understand this is could equal the price of a full math curriculum per year, but I have older children who have used Abeka, Saxon etc. so I already have that curriculum on hand and would just have to buy a workbook. Can anyone recommend something similar or help me to finally order Singapore.

Hi! Has anyone seen the workbooks that go along with the "Meet the Math Facts" videos by PReschool Prep? About how many pages do they have?

Here is the link for the hard cover (3rd edition) I was referring to. You can find them at a very decent price on ebay. They stopped selling them to homeschoolers so the hard cover the homeschoolers usually refer to the 2nd or 1st editions. They match up exactly to the test and worksheets and solutions manual sold by CBD for homeschoolers which is also the 3rd edition. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saxon-Math-7-6-by-Saxon-Publishers-/231648487624?hash=item35ef5368c8:g:CIsAAOSwyQtVyBZF I found a 5/4 for $8 including shipping

I just wanted to leave you this verse- Jeremiah 10:2. I hope you see it! I posted something similar to this question on what would be considered a forum that was more "Christian" leaning and I still received all sorts of answers similar to what you did here. I think there is a way to cover and give knowledge about other belief systems without "studying it". Personally, I found the coloring pages of the pagan gods to be a bit too much for me in SOTW 1. That is silly I am sure for some. This year they are doing VP's New Testament Greek and Rome and I wish they would cover that part a little less and I would if I were teaching it, but they are doing the self paced this year. I wont ramble on, but I just wanted to encourage you that I am also trying to find a balance on how to give them knowledge of these things, but not going as far to study it or immerse them in it. I definitely agree with waiting until they are older.

Here I Stand is the best book on Martin Luther IMO. My 4th grader is reading it, but I know it would depend on the child. This girl read The Twelfth Imam at age 6.

There is a post not too far down below about this. I prefer the third edition and purchasing the hard cover text book instead of the homeschool edition especially if you will be using it for multiple kids.

We started Writing and Rhetoric Fable with my daughter when she was in third grade. Life happened, as always, and we put it aside. I pulled it back this year and started using it with my dd now that she is in fourth and my ds who is in third. I enjoy it, but I am wondering what people's opinions are who have stuck with it for several years. Have you seen improvement with their writing? Do you use it as a stand alone writing program? Next year I am thinking of having it alongside WWS. Would that be too much?

We put down slate tile in the living room, and kitchen the last time we had to replace the carpets. I do like that a lot. That might be an option with some area rugs that would could roll up for projects like someone posted above. Hardwood would be too expensive. Cork might be as well, but I need to look into it. Off to price cork, lol

Thank you! I didn't know tinker toys were collectible :). I do not donate to Goodwill. There is a local thrift shop that is tied to an autism charity that I donate to and I give away pretty much everything on craigslist or to friends. I guess since everything we own basically comes from thrift stores I think more about the people that are shopping there.

We are pulling up carpet in our old house, so I have a chance to pick what I want to put down. We have 5 kids, ages 9,8,6,2 and 1. It will be playroom/school room since this house is teeny tiny and there will literally be no where else to do school or to use for toy storage. I would prefer carpet. We are in a rental now with absolutely no carpets, it is all hardwood and tile. My feet are cold :). I know that carpet would probably not be ideal for science projects, art projects...

I have a lot of issues with Goodwill. The Goodwills at the city we just moved to are more like a discount store like Ross', TJ Maxx, Marshalls etc. as opposed to a Goodwill. They have mostly new merchandise and the items that were donated are marked up ridiculously. That said, they do have awesome Goodwill bookstores here (we live in a college town). I love those. I have also purchased several books from Goodwills on ebay. It bothers me a little because some of the books (if they are popular, have more value) they will mark up. The other books I am just paying basically 99 cents plus shipping. It does help me out with finding books because I don't have time to drive around and go to multiple thrift stores. I haven't seen toys on ebay from Goodwill. That seems a little bizarre to me. They should just sell those locally.

I almost posted this exact same question today! I have 5 ages 9,8,6,2 and 1. We currently have a Chrysler dodge town and country. When we go out of town we have a luggage rack and soft top. It is ok for now. I can see us needing a 12 passenger van soon...if we can afford it.

prayers for you. Will your dr put you on progesterone? I believe that's what a few of my friends had to do after early miscarriages.

Ok, so we are in the middle of deep cleaning and packing up our rental house. Add that on top of me not having a van and we have not gotten groceries yet. I have two lbs of ground beef in the freezer and rice. That is literally all except butter, broccoli....eggs...some cheese and a few half boxes of noodles :). Does anyone have and ideas of something I can throw together real quick for five hungry kiddos? I was thinking meatballs and rice (porcupine balls) but I don't want to wait to thaw the meat out. I may just do rice and butter though and meatballs and rice for dinner. Don't worry we will hit up Costco by tonight :lol:

Check out the Christian kids explore curriculum

I just wanted to say that I grew up in the south and my best friend was Catholic. I guess you could call me a Protestant, but I'd have to go look it up :). I believe in the Bible and prefer to just call myself a follower of Christ. She came and visited my church with me (southern Baptist) and I visited hers with her all the time growing up. It was never a big deal :). And now to comment on the actual post.. I agree with others that talking things out with them will probably not help. They will deny everything. If you simply cant tolerate it anymore, say what you need to say and move on. If you cant tolerate gatherings, then don't go. We are without any family at all on either side. We lived two houses down from my husbands mother for two years and she never came over to see her grandkids once. I feel bad for my kids, but it is what it is.

We love the Veritas Self Paced history. It saved my sanity as well. I just wasn't getting to history even though it was my favorite subject. I was busy doing the 3R's and chasing after the younger siblings. Veritas' history for 2nd-6th could actually be used for any of those years. For example, you could use 3rd grade with a 5th grader. It all depends on what year you want to study. You could order it and do it on your own. If you would rather have them all do it online and wanted them all studying the middle ages just have them all doing grade 4. There is a level 1 reader list and a level 2 reader list for each grade. The online program is expensive but worth it. It goes on sale for $100 off a couple times a year. Last year it was in March. My dd and ds share the comp and watch it together although each child is supposed to have their own. We don't have to report grades, so it doesn't really matter if I don't have separate grades for both. It takes no longer than around 30 minutes to do a lesson.

I feel like I may not have helped any. lol. Investigation 5 is on percents. It has a few sentences to read and then 24 questions. 1. A quarter is what fraction of a dollar? 2. A quarter is what percent of a dollar? 3. A dime is what fraction of a dollar? 4. A dime is what percent of a dollar? And on and on...