My favorite use for fresh basil is tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil salad. You mix equal parts mozzarella and tomatoes, then drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with basil. I usually add salt and a little bit of vinegar, since I'm pregnant and craving vinegar.

No help, but I'm considering switching as well. My oldest has always struggled with math. MUS has worked the best so far, but when I purchased the fractions booklet from Math Mammoth she understood it a lot better than she has Epsilon. Now I just have to figure out where to place her.

CA has a great CC system. So great that I could do distance education (out of state) for cheaper than I could go to the local school (in state) for here. I took a year at a CC in CA and then moved. After considering colleges for quite some time, while moving about the country, I decided to look into distance ed at the same CC I went to. That way I wouldn't have to transfer credits, etc. I found out something really cool though. If you graduated from and spent 3 years in a CA high school, you get in state tuition regardless of your current resident status. Woo-hoo!

I've done AAS and OPGTTR and then filed them. It's so nice to be able to have my whole week's worth of needed teacher's guides in just one binder.

No one?

I used to sell things that I thought we wouldn't use, but after purchasing new copies of several items a few years later I hang on to things now. My oldest is the difficult one too, and her worst subject is math as well. Long story short, no you're not the only one!

Do you have 3 bedrooms? One for ds, one for dd, and one for you? If so, I would keep 2 yo in your bed (I understand how important that is!) and move ds' bed into your room as well. Then move your computer into his room. You can keep all his stuff in that room, but just move his bed out which makes room for the computer. Then you can work in the evening after you've gotten the kids to sleep and then work in the AM too, before the others get up.

Yea! DD will be so excited!

Has anyone compiled a list of items needed by week? If not, is anyone interested in dividing the labor of coming up with one? I can take one year, someone else can take another? I had Staples shave the binding off of my book today and am currently sticking it in page protectors in preparation for filing it tomorrow. I have had this book since my 5 year old was born, but I've never gotten around to using it. I am hoping that filing it will make it more likely to get done. I've got my now 3 year old to use it with and as soon as the baby is born I can start filing for him!

Peace Hill Press has an MP3 on teaching students to work independently. It has helped my perspective dramatically and has given me a clear plan to follow. My 12 yo dd listened to it with me and found it interesting as well.

I've been wanting to get these for our weekly cds I make. I'm glad to know they're on sale! Now if I can just get to Staples this week...

I've found the exact same thing. We carpooled to swimming this summer and I feel like we didn't get ANY school accomplished! We do as much as we possibly can in the car, as we're in it at least 1.5 hours per day on the way to and from swimming. I like to make up a cd or a playlist on my Ipod of what we're working on that week. So, we have each of their memory work from First Language Lessons, Skip Counting from Math U See, Latin vocabulary, the Story of the World chapter, any science songs pertinent to what we're studying, and then I'll throw in my 3 year olds favorite songs, like Twinkle, Twinkle, ABC, etc. I like to intersperse it a little with fun songs, so we get a break. A side benefit I've found is my 5 year old knows all the poetry from FLL 1-3, skip counting, states & capitols, parts of speech, and much more. What's more, she actually likes those kinds of songs!

This is so important! I firmly believe in not starting out doing every subject you plan to be doing. We always start off small, whether its the child's first day ever or if its just the first day of a new year. You can start doing just the basics: reading, handwriting, and math. You can do this with a Ker in about 30 minutes to start out with, spending 10 minutes on each subject. We do this for about a week or two, and then add another subject in or increase our time in one of the core subjects. Every week we increase until we're doing a full load. It's easier on the kids and on mom this way.

I've done it quite simply. I just filed it according to the week the first lesson was on. Then I when I'm switching out my binder for the week, I make sure I have the whole lesson. If its not there, I grab it from the previous week.

I would go ahead and do the whole year. Get a couple of file boxes with lids, and then pull out 6 weeks at a time. The more you have filed, the less "stuff" you'll have to have out at a time. I would keep the 6 weeks in a small file tote with a handle, so you can carry it around easily. I found it much easier to do school out of the house when we were living with the in-laws, so I would want something portable.

At 7, I would wait and see. My kids have all had the tools they needed to read long before they were comfortable reading. I found that once I had taught them what they needed to read, if I backed off it clicked eventually. It has taken from 0-2 years for each of mine to "click" after learning phonics. I was quite worried about my 8 year old who still wasn't happy reading, but one day he found a chapter book he wanted to read and was off! He read that series of 10 books voraciously (within a week) and we haven't look backed since. My oldest was 7 when she clicked. She went from reading being an incredible chore to reading a 900 page book literally overnight. My middle one clicked at the same time she was learning phonics and basically knew the rules before we got to them. My next one is learning phonics now, and I can see the light is about to go on. She can read pretty well, but its not automatic yet. I certainly would not hold a child back at this age for not reading. I would try giving her a little time off from reading, before I did anything else. What book of ETC is she in?

I have always been a "do the next thing" homeschooler, but I found there were some things I really wanted to do, that we never got around to. I also end up taking way too long of breaks after a baby is born or something happens to shift us out of our routine. This year, I'm hoping to bypass that. I don't really worry about when a book will be finished, as we just start the next book immediately. I also have found that my kids really have a tendency to lose books. The filing method will eliminate that. They might lose the weeks worth of work, but we won't lose the whole year and have to repurchase. We may after this year go back to "do the next thing," but for now my kids are really enjoying knowing exactly what they're expected to complete in a week.

Good idea!

I really like the Bible Study Guide for All Ages. We have the main book, but we only use the workbooks. I'll read the chapter and then we'll do the workbook page. They all love it! You can get workbooks for various ages that study the same chapter each week, so my 12 year old does a slightly more advanced page than the youngers. http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1279331736-1922165&subject=13&category=3600

My biggest suggestion is to try to do the read alouds for Sonlight as a family and whenever possible do them as an audiobook. That way if need be you can do them in the car! We do almost all of our read alouds in the car. The other suggestion I have is to really make sure Oak Meadow is going to work for you and your daughter. It might be an ideal curriculum, but if it causes you too much stress it won't be worth it for any of you. I don't really schedule my time with the kids, though I've tried to in the past. Workboxes worked fairly well for us, as I could put things in the boxes to insure I had free time when they got to a subject I knew they would need help with, or required me to do the lesson with them. You might find it helpful to write out exactly what everyone is doing and which of those subjects requires your involvement. You can estimate from there how long you'll need to be spending each day teaching and go from there to determine if there's enough hours in the school day. One last option is for whichever curriculum you go with for your 9 yo is to plan at least the semester in advance and file it by week. If you're going to go ahead with Oak Meadow, put whichever of the supplies in the file box and put a list in the previous week for what you'll need to add. I haven't done this in the past, but I know its going to help me get more of the arts & crafts type stuff done.

No, I've got the activity book. I'm wanting more of the narration pages, like this http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/sotw-i-workbook-pages----two-day-a-week-format/3018696 Thanks for trying though!

I've seen them for 1 & 2, but I haven't been able to find one for Modern Times yet.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5586945&CatId=2713 This is what I'm getting. I've got a Mono Laser and a color all-in-one inkjet. I really want to be able to copy things on the laser though. I get toner refills super cheap from tonerkits.com. Regardless of what printer you get, I encourage you to try them at least once. It can save you a ton of money on toner.

Look at these folders I found. I'm trying to figure out how I can duplicate these without having to buy them LOL. http://www.viking.com/Top-Tab-File-Folders/Esselte-Ltd-Doodle-and-Erase-File-Folder-55730.asp

I really enjoy rough planning to get an idea when we'll finish a book and need the next one. We school year round and everyone is at a different point in their books, so I need to know when they'll be finishing up. I usually plan in depth by the week, so I can print out what we need, gather supplies, etc. This year I am setting up the file box for all 36 weeks, since I know my tendency to take too long off after a baby comes. I want to have everything open and go, so we all know what we're doing. I also think it will give my oldest a little bit of independence she's craving but is not quite ready for. I've tried this year just letting her do the next page, but she always has an excuse why she can't. This way she can plan her week out and make sure she has everything she needs to complete her assignments before hand.