If you had asked me two years ago, it would have been in the worst category. After giving Rod & Staff English one more chance this year, I'm in love. I'm using it to remediate 2 kids and on grade level with a 3rd. We do it together instead of me assigning it, and that makes all the difference. They are learning so incredibly much, that I just can't believe it. Other winners here are Teaching Textbooks, Story of the World and First Form Latin. TT has made my math-phobic 9th grader not mind Algebra at all. I'm surprised how much they're learning with FFL. We are on Week 8 and it's going smashingly well. Story of the World, I just keep coming back to. I tried to switch for this cycle, and my kids threw a fit. They missed Jim Weiss. So, we're going through it again and supplementing with different books.

It's not a curriculum, but my kids have learned a ton from Stack the States if you have an iPhone, iPod, or iPad. Another suggestion, though again not curriculum is 10 Days in the USA. All of my kids enjoy playing it. The 15 year old even asked to play it tonight. My dh enjoys it as well. It doesn't feel like an educational game.

I really like to use Story of the World cds for times like this. I print out the coloring pages. We listen to it, talk about it, and call it good. I agree that you should be doing a short phonics lesson with the K'er. 15 minutes should be more than enough. I haven't used RightStart Math, but if I'm remembering correctly it's teacher intensive. I would think about trying something like Math Mammoth for the remainder of the year. I like Math Mammoth, because I can print it, then we can take it anywhere with us. Don't feel discouraged. There have been many times I've envisioned school from the couch holding a newborn, and it just rarely works out like that for me. This time will be different though, LOL.

I have book 8 and a 9th grader, who's done other grammar programs faithfully. R&S was way too advanced for her, so I would hesitate to skip 7.

Ditto the above. There's no way I could do that much, but if you're able to, more power to you.

Indiana is regulated by the IHSAA. They have a no homeschoolers policy. In order to be eligible for sports you have to actually attend at least 3 classes on campus and then the rest can be dual credit enrollment at a local college. As far as just taking a few classes here and there, it depends on the school. The high school where my kids practice swimming, is very open to homeschoolers. The principal is very friendly and lets them come in and take whatever they like. IHSAA has reviewed allowing homeschoolers to participate, but as of last year they were still anti.

I'll start. My absolute favorite that is played every single day here is Teach Me Toddler. My 2 year old is on it in the car on my phone or Ipad daily. He knows all of his shapes and will point out octagons in real life. He has also learned all of his colors and points them out. We have used the older versions of the same app with similar results. My 5 year old and 5 year old like Teach Me Kindergarten and Teach Me 2nd Grade respectively. I have a few others we like really well, but these are #1 for now.

Cathy Duffy's book, 101 Top Picks, and the Well Trained Mind.

Mind Benders might be good. That way she can get some Logic in. Extra history or science reading would be good too.

You've gotten a lot of good suggestions so far. I don't really have suggestions, per se, but your posts struck a chord in me. I need to add some brief thoughts, as they came to me. First off, I'm not saying this to bash dh, but he's a very negative person. My self-esteem is in the toilet due to his constant negativity. This has led to depression. Now, no one can criticize me without me taking it personally. I beat myself up for not getting things done and for anyone else to comment on it, just feels horrible. For me, its not like I don't know that I'm not doing well. I know it all too well and want to change, or have more energy, but I can't. I beat myself up for laziness, etc. Even when my parents come and mention something one time, it feels like nagging, because I've said it to myself so many times. Secondly, my dh has realized what his negativity has done to me and tries to be more positive. However, to my ears it just comes off as fake. I know he doesn't really think what he's saying, he's just saying something positive because he knows he should. It's not his fault really, because he is trying. Its just not helpful really. Third, I guess I do have a suggestion. Learn her Love Language. Your "Words of Affirmation" may not be making her feel loved. She may have a different Love Language than you and her tank isn't being filled up. DH wanting to spend time with me does a whole lot more for me than him saying something positive. I think you're exerting a lot of effort to make her feel loved and are feeling rebuffed in those efforts. Don't give up trying, but try a different way to show her.

There's really different levels of commitment for swimming. For probably the first year, the practice and meet schedule is minimal. We did our own team's meets and that was about it for the first year. The suits were a problem, but once I discovered polyester suits that budget went way down. We were going through suits every 2 months or so, but poly has lasted over a year in most suits for us. The practices that first year are usually only about 1-1.5 hours. We have a lot of kids on our team who have been swimming for years and only swim in the one meet a year that we host, if that. You can really choose how involved you want to be in the sport. Many parents just look at it as fitness. I feel bad having my kids practice as much as they do and never have the reward of competing. We do only swim in meets on Fridays and Saturdays, no Sundays. The coaches have been fine with that. We love swimming. My kids swim 4 nights a week in the winter and 5 days a week in the summer. We are actually hoping our new coach will start Saturday practices. My kids are wanting to get to that next level. Swimming has given my kids a lot of character training. They've learned the value of hard work, setting and achieving goals, teamwork, and sportsmanship. For us its never been about where they place in a meet, its about improving their own times. Most of the time they're able to, and the other times we get to talk about it. We spend a lot of money on swimming, but its their only activity other than 4H. It's also a family activity, so it brings everyone together. My oldest can't wait for my 5 year old's first meet, so she can show him how to do everything and help him out. It's been great for that as well.

I got the software from Stampin' Up. It is super easy to use. You can get a free trial, which is how I started. Then I found a ton of super cute free sets and added them to the design folder. Now my girls love getting on the computer and scrapping. We've done 4H projects in there as well, with great results. Although we haven't done it yet, I think it would be great for notebooking as too.

I'm schooling 9th, 7th, 5th, 2nd, and K right now with a toddler and baby on the way. I have found high school to be much easier than I expected. I am still combining whenever possible though, so that makes a difference. They''re all on the same rotation for history. I have to sit with each of them while they do math, and then we do our together subjects. I have the 3 oldest doing Latin together. Then I have the 4 youngest doing science together. We still use SOTW for the 7th grader down, and we do that in the car. I have to be available for my 9th grader if she has questions on anything, but for the most part she's independent. In a nutshell, yes its doable and enjoyable.

We like Teach Me Kindergarten too. If you don't want it to teach other subjects, you can take them off. My ds is learning quite a bit playing it.

I have used both a found R&S to be more thorough. My daughter made it through GWG with very little retention. I have finally found the trick to using R&S in our family though. I make a photocopy of the page and let her write directly on the page. So, instead of copying every noun, she can just underline them. Then the only writing involved is diagramming and actual writing exercises. You could probably do something similar with a transparency and dry erase marker, but I like making a copy.

I second the Griffin. I have a Lifeproof, an Otterbox, and the Griffin Survivor. I like the Survivor the best. It does make it bulkier, but I don't mind that too much. I like the protection and not having to worry about my phone.

My kids have been enjoying using Quizlet. They should have the Latin Alive lessons on there for her to learn.

I've used a lot of diaper bags over the years, but now I won't use anything other than Ju-Ju-Be. They are really well thought out bags and well worth the price for me. We have used ours everyday for 2+ years and it looks brand new. I plan on continuing to use it once the new baby is here as well. I've used several of their models, and for our needs the BFF fits perfectly.

I covered what we're doing this year for 2nd grade on my blog. http://wearepreparing.blogspot.com/2012/11/miss-purples-2nd-grade-plans.html

I tried to pm you Lisa, but it said you couldn't get new PMs? Victoria

Thanks swimmermom3! That's really helpful. On another note, I have 5 USA Swimmers at the moment. I feel like we spend our life at the pool. Are yours USA swimmers?

I just loaded it on my iPad today. I like it so far. I liked being able to add multiple lessons at once. For example, we do First Form Latin with the same basic pattern each week, Lecture and Workbook page 1 on Monday, Worksheet 2 on Tuesday, etc. So, on the app I could plan Lecture and Workbook 1 for 34 Mondays in a row. Then I did Worksheet 2 every Tuesday for 34 weeks. When we're on a roll, we do school 5 days a week regardless of holidays, so I didn't worry about scheduling breaks in. I'm optimistic that this will work well, even though I love pencil and paper!

I have struggled with getting my oldest self-motivated. She is finally, mostly, there. What started the change in her was the new co-op we started going to for biology. She knows the schedule and knows when a test is coming up and does not want to fail in front of her peers. That got her going on science. Then she realized that having a scheduled test really helped motivate her, as she wants to perform well and have a measurable quantity. So, I started making sure her curriculum included tests. I have also started recording even daily grades for her, and that has motivated her as well. She sees her friends in public schools getting GPAs and wanted one as well. So, I guess she needs that number to work for. She's very goal-oriented though, so that may make a difference.

I have my 9th grader working through A Rulebook for Arguments a la WTM. However, she saw on the back of the book that they offer a workbook and really wants to get it. Has anyone used the workbook?

We have a Great Pyrenees, well actually 7 GPs at the moment until the puppies are sold. We haven't had a moments trouble with her wandering. I've heard that most Great Pyrenees won't wander if they know the boundaries of their property. So, if you walk with them around the perimeter a few times, they'll learn what's their responsibility to protect. We have free range chickens, guineas, and geese, and she doesn't bother them at all except for when she's just had puppies and they come too close. In fact, she has a relationship with the guineas and knows their different calls. When they sound the alarm, she comes running. She enjoys attention and is right in the middle of things if we are petting the puppies or standing still. She stays up by the house for the most part but is always alert for danger anywhere in the area. I'm very, very happy with her as a farm dog. FWIW, we have a pond right behind the house and none of the dogs have ever gone in it. The GPs have a double coat that actually insulates them from the heat in the summer. It's really bad to trim a GP, as it inhibits their natural cooling ability. I usually comb her fur out in the spring when she's shedding. It lasts about a week, and then she's done. It's a lot of fur in that one week though!