I'm trying to understand why the 10 is in the ONES column on page 88. I would have thought the 1 would go in the TENS column and the 0 in the ONES. It has been 30+ years since I've done elementary math so I am more than a little rusty. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks so much everyone. There are some really good ideas here. Before this year, we would usually do something in the morning (preschool, MOPS, playdate, story time, etc.) followed by lunch, book time and nap. Now he does have one homeschool class once a week during the day and something a couple of evenings. But I guess part of it is just the transition to evening activities and a shorter or no nap.

We just started 2.5 weeks ago with our only child, who is in kindergarten. While it hasn't been painless, we are finding our rhythm with the school work. The biggest issue we have found so far isn't with the the school part, but the home part. What do you do all day after finishing school? Today we were done at 10 am. Even with a little house work and some 'rest time' in his room, that is a long time to kill before dinner and our evening activity. He is incredibly bored and lonely which equals him being a pain in the neck. Most of his friends are at school now and the moms went to work or have new babies so playdates are hard to schedule during the day. Any tips or advice? Thanks.

Thanks so much for all of the advice (and gentle kick in the pants) in my last thread about the lawn. Here is a little update. A family member who was visiting took care of it last week. We also got an extension from the landlord to give us more time for the move itself. Today, I saw it needed mowed again. DH was at the new house so I decided enough was enough. I took an allergy pill, got a mask, hiking boots, bug spray and armed myself with fresh knowledge from a couple of youtube videos. I was feeling pumped, got the mower out and...nothing. I could not for the life of me get the stupid started. So I asked a neighbor to show me what to do. He insisted on doing the small front yard for me, which was in no way what I was asking for, but was very appreciated. DH came home as I was taking it to the back and showed me again how to start it. We agreed that I would do half and he would do half. (He didn't want me to over do it, since I spent the morning painting ceilings.) Well, it is all uneven and not too pretty. But I did it. I still can't start the mower myself. But oh well. At least I did something. It's progress. As for the new house, we bought a used riding mower that isn't great. But it should get us through the rest of the summer. We will start saving up for a better one for next year. And I've been reading up on fertilizer, etc. As I said before, since I care more, I guess it is up to me to do what I can and nag a little less.

These are some great ideas, thanks everyone. He said he will get to it Sunday. Our son is 5 so he can't mow yet. DH has been at the new house from 6:30 am to 8 or 8:30 pm every day except Sundays for the last 3 weeks trying to get it at least livable so we can move out of this place by the end of the month. We talked last night about trying to move the date back a week or two just to give us some breathing room. I'm going to call the property management company today to ask if that is an option. The lawn has always been a sore spot between us. He grew up very, very poor in an almost desert climate. His mom always talked those stupid rich people wasting time and money on fancy yards just to impress strangers. While he sort of get that a decent lawn is important now, I think there is still a part of him that just sees it as a waste and not a priority. I guess since it matters more to me, I'm just going to have to take care of it myself from now on. Once he gets a new job, I may be able to talk him into hiring someone. Although he shoots that down every time I bring it up. Thanks again.

Our lawn is really, really bad...like we got a letter from the city bad. DH can't deal with it right now, with all of our time and money going toward the renovations on our new house. I have never done it myself because I have horrible allergies and a bad ankle that makes walking on uneven ground difficult. But it looks like I am going to have to figure it out if it is ever going to get done. Hiring someone isn't an option at the moment. Any tips on making it doable for me? Oh yeah, it is also 115 degrees heat index and storming.

So this has all pretty much changed. Now we are doing: Alpha Phonics Happy Handwriting Math Lessons for a Living Education Some freebie calendar thing I found online Kumon mazes, etc Dr DooRiddles Bede's History of Me Random science and art projects Read lots of books

In your situation, I would sort of focus on the more practical aspects. I would interview realtors, look into storage facilities, learn about taxes in different areas and study traffic patterns at different times of day. Things like that.

Thanks so much everyone. I think he will love it.

I'm wanting to do some very simple unit studies over the summer with my 5 year old to get us in the groove to start more formal kinder work next fall. This week is our first week, and we are doing volcanoes which has been easy enough to find things. I asked what he wants to learn about next week and he said lawnmowers. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Does anyone have experience with this program? I think it is fairly new. It is by the same people who do Write On!. http://www.learn4yourlife.com/live-it-up-write-it-down.html Thanks.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll go with my gut and keep them separate for now. I'm leaning toward All About Reading with a handwriting program and maybe adding in a simple writing program. I'll start another thread to ask about that.

I like the idea of teaching reading, spelling, handwriting, etc. separately so he can go at his own pace if one ends up being easier for him than the others. But a program that puts them together just seems so much more efficient and possibly cost effective as he gets older. Thoughts? If it matters, my son is 5 and starting K in the fall. He is also an only so there won't be anyone else using the materials later. Thanks!

We are considering buying a 100+ year old house. Anyone live in a place like this? What are the pros and cons? The electrical, plumbing, heat/air, roof, etc. have all been updated in the last 10 years. The windows are mostly original with the wavy glass and wood frames. I would love to keep them, but have concerns about energy efficiency and lead.

Change of plans from my first post. Math Lessons for a Living Education Level 1 Mac's Abacus Happy Handwriting All About Reading (probably) Raddish Lots of books

I was able to see a sample of the first 100 pages at the Cincinnati convention a couple of weeks ago. I ended up pre ordering level 1 for my soon to be kindergartner. We will be first time homeschoolers so I may not be the best judge. But I liked what I saw and the price was reasonable. I would love to hear from people who used the previous versions.

My son loves the program, but hates Ziggy. I don't know why.

I have a friend who teaches high school social studies. Not only do the students not get books, she as the teacher has only one book which was written in the 1990s. She also has to come up with all her own lessons, that meet standards, because there is no curriculum.

We cruised in and out of Rome a couple of years ago and loved it. The best thing we did was a couple of walking tours with a private guide. We did an ancient Rome tour and one of the Vatican museums. We stayed one night at the Hotel Abruzzi http://www.hotelabruzzi.it/ which was amazing and one at Amalia near the Vatican http://www.hotelamalia.com/ which was small but clean and convenient. This was 5 years ago though so take all that with a grain of salt.

We will look into the ones that make simple machines and the educational ones. I didn't know they were out there. I bet he will like that. Thanks. We don't care if he follows the directions or not, with the Legos anyway. He has been using the regular small Legos for a couple of years now. In fact, he went into the Lego store still in diapers. The guy who worked there told DH "Oh no, he's too little for those. His age stuff is over there," pointing to Duplo. They looked over and DS had built a car complete with driver's seat from the little ones. We think he is bored now because my husband took him to Toys R Us the other day, and he started crying because "There's nothing for me here!" So they went to a specialty toy shop and DS insisted on the snap circuits. DH tried to talk him into another marble race or Legos. DS said "I have plenty of marbles. I know how those work. I have plenty of Legos. I know how those work. I don't know how electricity works. I need to know how electricity works." After they did the first couple of projects he didn't want to follow the book anymore or the safety rules. While I don't think the snap circuits can really hurt him, I don't really like the idea of him getting used to the idea that he can just 'see what happens' when he touches random wires to things in real life.

Our son loves to build, but is getting bored with Lego, Zoob, etc. He prefers to build his own creations with parts that move instead of just making a building following the directions. He likes to make pulleys, use rubber bands to make parts snap into place, or chain reaction type machines. His favorite thing is making marble races out of Legos. We got him some snap circuits but again he doesn't want to follow the plans so I don't think he has the maturity for those yet. Any ideas on toys we get him that allow him to make moving parts safely?

We are in the same boat with a super social only who we will be homeschooling for K next year. I suggest talking to other homeschooling families. We've found out about some great programs that we wouldn't have known about other wise.

Agreed. It is naive to think that computers and electronics will always be there.

We're brand new and just in the planning stage for K5 next year, so take this with a huge grain of salt. I haven't really thought about history yet so I don't know what we will do about that topic. But we sort of felt similar about the whole evolution/creation thing. We want him to know the arguments for both and what his father and I believe as he grows. But, we are waiting to introduce the topic until later. There are plenty of other science topics to cover, and we purposely chose an evolution/creation neutral curriculum for next year. Maybe this is a cop out, but oh well.

We are brand new to homeschooling too. But my 4.5 year old son started asking to learn to write so we started Happy Handwriting. We have only done a few lessons so far, but we like it. It does use Bible verses as practice if that matters to you.