Schleich Animals and Papo knights. I started buying them for my then 3 year old boy. He's 12 now and they're still played with on a nearly daily basis. Even my 14 year old will go up there sometimes :-) They use their wooden blocks and build huge cities that the animals and knights populate and have elaborate story lines. The boys and girls both play with them, so their not gender specific.

There's no access to sports allowed here, due to the high school sports association. It's disappointing for us, because my kids would love to swim for the high school team. There's much great exposure to college scouts if you're swimming on a high school team. I have one that absolutely would get a sports scholarship if he could swim for the school. On the other hand, other activities are allowed at the principal's discretion. He's great at allowing homeschoolers to come in for whichever classes they want. Many take advantage of choir, band, and art classes.

I agree on discussing the rules with the kids. If it were my kids, I would tell them before the grandparents got there, that the rules still apply. They're not allowed to have snacks unless they're approved by you. There's no reason the grandparents need to even hear that set of rules if the kids know it. The discipline is a whole 'nother issue that should be addressed by your dh with his parents. Victoria

In your situation, I would do the placement tests for Sequential Spelling. It has a different sequence than any spelling program I've seen, so it seems there are easy and hard words in each level. Here's the link for the pre-test, but they say most students should start with level one. http://avko.org/free/Rough%20Placement%20Test%20for%20SS.pdf You can also try the first lesson to get an idea for the program. http://avko.org/Samples/SSH/301.pdf

I agree that you probably don't need a new curriculum, just a supplement. Many have suggested Cuisenaire Rods, which I love. I also think she might benefit from a basic set of Base 10 Blocks. Math Mammoth is great for plugging in gaps in understanding.

Aleks.com too.

Most of the farm stores have big bulk bins of seed they sell by the pound. You could just buy a handful there. So, Tractor Supply, Rural King, or Orscheln.

That's why I buy the AG. I love those book lists!

There's The Complete Book of US History which is for grades 3-5. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-U-S-History/dp/1561896799/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346252215&sr=1-2'>http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-U-S-History/dp/1561896799/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346252215&sr=1-2 They also have World History, but its for 4-8 grade. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-U-S-History/dp/1561896799/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346252215&sr=1-2

One book that really helped me figure out how to deal with my difficult one, is Nurture by Nature. It talks about how to parent based on the kid's personality type. It also helped me realize why she reacted the way she did to certain things, so I could foresee a problem before it happened and help her deal with it before it became a huge deal. You might also want to think about starting a food diary for him and record when the tantrums are. You may be able to look back and find a trigger after a while. Also, Rescue Remedy is a homeopathic medication that I used to use whenever my "difficult" one and I would get into a battle. I would take a few drops, which calmed me way down and then I'd have her take a few drops and about 3 minutes later it was calm again. Amazing stuff...

This is exactly what I was going to say.

I love my laptop, but I have a desktop for the kids. My last 2 laptops have been destroyed by kids dropping them, so I would hesitate to get one for them. I have a strict no kids policy on my computer now.

All of the 10 Days games for geography. We play those for fun and even Daddy and the grandparents like them.

Cheap color laser printer This is the printer I use. I buy refill toner kits and can refill everything for about $40. It doesn't auto duplex, so I got another printer for just black and white and copying that's an all in one.

Thanks! What'd you get?

A cheaper/quicker option would be to get a wireless print server, if you have a wireless network. If you don't have a wireless network, you can set one up for less than $50 with a wireless print server built in. If you're interested, I can let you know what we used.

The prices look pretty good, but I haven't shopped around for these lately. I'm putting my link below, and if you sign up and purchase something I get a credit. However, feel free to just type in the url, zulily.com if you don't want me to get the credit. http://www.zulily.com/invite/Tengo6 That's a long way of saying, I'm sharing this, because I think its a good deal, not because I want the credit. :)

You should be able to write on pdfs with the kindle fire too. You just need the right (write LOL) app.

My kids do quite a bit through 4-H, especially my oldest with Junior Leaders. I really like that club. The kids run it, decide what community services to do, arrange, and organize them. I don't control it at all, just chauffeur her to where she needs to be. It's one of the reasons she loves 4H, being able to help others. The younger ones do some community service with our regular 4H club, but not nearly as much as the oldest.

I haven't read what everyone else wrote yet, so I'll just throw in a few quick thoughts. Since he enjoys science, I would do the narration and call that writing. If you want to practice handwriting, have him copy the narration. Then you can drop WWE for now. I wouldn't drop FLL, but would also pick and choose what to do. There's a lot of repetition in there. I'm terrible at read-alouds, but we've found that we love listening to audiobooks in the car when we're running errands. Most of our history read-alouds have been done this way. You could also try putting a cd in during your toddlers nap time. That would be something he could do quietly on his own. Then if you wanted to do a narration/drawing to go along with it you could call that writing as well. For geography I've given up studying it formally. We love, love, love the 10 Days in ______ series of games. My 6 year old knows where almost all the states are now. I also let her play Stack the States on my iPhone, so she's learned a lot of capitols and landmarks too. Don't be afraid to pare back down to the basics and then add things in slowly again. What you're doing now makes for a lot of work for a 6 year old and a mom of toddlers!

I haven't read what everyone else wrote yet, so I'll just throw in a few quick thoughts. Since he enjoys science, I would do the narration and call that writing. If you want to practice handwriting, have him copy the narration. Then you can drop WWE for now. I wouldn't drop FLL, but would also pick and choose what to do. There's a lot of repetition in there. I'm terrible at read-alouds, but we've found that we love listening to audiobooks in the car when we're running errands. Most of our history read-alouds have been done this way. You could also try putting a cd in during your toddlers nap time. That would be something he could do quietly on his own. Then if you wanted to do a narration/drawing to go along with it you could call that writing as well. For geography I've given up studying it formally. We love, love, love the 10 Days in ______ series of games. My 6 year old knows where almost all the states are now. I also let her play Stack the States on my iPhone, so she's learned a lot of capitols and landmarks too. Don't be afraid to pare back down to the basics and then add things in slowly again. What you're doing now makes for a lot of work for a 6 year old and a mom of toddlers!

http://shop.rocksolidinc.com/around-the-town-fun-with-cuisenaire-rods-p459.aspx

Are you nursing her to sleep? Most of mine have slept better if I don't nurse them to sleep. Also, feeding her right before bed may help. I know she won't eat much, but try her favorite thing other than breastmilk. Oh, do you have a fan or other noisemaker in your room? Maybe she won't stir when you go to bed. Good luck...

Are you sure its Dutch and not Pennsylvania Dutch, which is closer to German? I have looked into learning Dutch, as my grandmother was from Holland, but I haven't done so yet. I think Rosetta Stone offers Dutch.

I can't add anything about gymnastics, but have you considered a swim team? We are a one sport family and love our USA Swimming team. We had just started swimming on a team when we moved 11 hours away and missed it so much we found one here. You can check http://usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1577 to see if there's a club near you.