1: two 2: four (plus one due in Jan!) 3: super happy-I only wanted two because that seemed like a fine number. Once we had them...I discovered what a blessing they truly are. I'm not opposed to more after this one comes. 4: in the bad ways? Yes...sadly. But, I look at it as an opportunity to help them tackle those things early in their life before it becomes a habit that is even harder. 5: I'm the 3rd of 4.

I do. It's not ever something I schedule, I just look around the house this time of year and see that it needs some... improvement.

Ds10 was super into mythology last year and read a few mythology books. He also enjoyed watching Mythic Warriors. For his age the test wasn't crazy hard. He didn't get 100%, but he did well enough.

Grammar: we use First Language Lessons in 1-2nd grade, Plain and Not so Plain (a free online resource) for 3-4th, Analytical Grammar Jr for 5th, and Analytical Grammar for 6-8th. Spelling: Dictation Day by Day (it's free online). I don't see this recommended a ton on here which is why I jumped in this thread. My oldest really struggled with the traditional spelling route and dictation has done wonders for him. Writing: we enjoy Writing Stands (we use the old version). Math: we use Rod and Staff, which is working fine-it's not fancy and I never assign all of the problems, but my kids are doing fine with math.

Can you write a post on your Facebook with an update and make that one public? Maybe some of the people wanting to donate will find an update that way.

I got pregnant 6 months after being vaccinated. My obgyn recommended not trying for the first 3 months after getting the vaccine, but that was early on so I'm not sure if the recommendation has changed on that. When I was looking at it over a year ago I came to the conclusion that getting the vaccine didn't affect fertility (some of the people in the original trial got pregnant and had normal births) but that I probably didn't want to get the vaccine while I was pregnant (there were some miscarriages reported). Not sure if that has changed since then, though.

I teach 3 art classes one day a week out of my house (so it's all day of various friends in and out) and that's it for scheduled weekly things. We try to go to the library once a week and have friends over periodically (but not weekly). And church on Sundays.

I was coming to say just about the same thing. My oldest didn't retain with the list method, but once we switched to dictation it really started to click. He is nearly 11 now and I think an excellent speller. DS8 is still getting a lot of dictation words wrong, but I'm definitely seeing improvement. The ones he gets wrong are usually because he's sounding it out correctly and guesses wrong on letter combos ('ee' instead of 'ea' or 'ay' in 'they'). It does seem that they get a certain age and are fine-maybe just enough exposure to words.

We do our history and science together (1st, 4th, 6th here). This year we are doing medieval and 1st grade will do fine with it-I don't think they really get the timeline concept this early anyway, and once he understands linear history he won't have trouble understanding fitting things in. Next year my oldest with do his own science (but also still probably listen in with the younger science). Oldest does extra reading for history and periodic projects or papers for science and history. 4th grader does lapbooks (there's a free one to go along with SOTW online somewhere) and occasional coloring pages (because he likes them). 1st does occasional coloring pages. We have a timeline-not sure if that's similar to a book of centuries?

We've been using Berean Builders for several years now and really enjoy it. Next year my oldest will be in 7th and I planned on him doing In the Atomic Age. I also thought I would start the series over for the younger kids (kind of how I do SOTW-we just repeat and the younger kids come in when they're ready). Anyone get that far in Berean Builders? Do you assign Atomic Age rather than doing it as a read aloud? I'm just thinking ahead and seeing that I will definitely not have time to do 2 science read alouds. Even if you don't do Berean Builders-do you assign your science rather than doing it together at that age?

It is the best job I've ever had and also the most exhausting. When people ask me if I love homeschooling it depends on if I'm focusing on the hard or the rewarding at the moment. In the end, when my kids have grown and I look back on it I think I will see it as way more roses than thorns and tell people that I loved it.

We've been using Republic wireless for a few years and have been pretty happy until recently. Once we can find the time we're going to switch to Tello.

A small, pretty notebook with a gel-type pen and writing either neatly and tiny or writing in cursive-I use it for my Bible study time and it adds an extra level of enjoyment.

I'm seeing this kind of thing a lot lately and it is maddening to me. I've never been to medical school, but I feel like I have to be an expert in order to advocate for myself to the actual experts. My family has just been to several Drs/ER/etc (it's been a crazy couple weeks for our usually healthy family, but we're good now!) and I'm noticing that in general younger Drs are more likely to be overly professional, which comes across to me as uncompassionate. Also, our very rural area has 2/3 of very good drs-they are thorough: they really want to find the cause, they care about us, they are knowledgeable. But, in the more urban area next to us where our hospital is located, Drs seem much more likely to require you to advocate. I think it's a mix of age, rural/urban, selling into the corporate hospital system that sees patients as a number rather than an individual.

6th grade for my easily distracted son is about 6-7 hrs (5 if he works diligently). Our daily list is: Reading, grammar (but we will only do this daily for 10 wks), spelling, writing (2 days of writing strands and 2 days of working on a report of some kind-science/history/book rpt), math, logic, science/history (we alternate and I don't require much outside of listening to me read/discuss), Greek/Latin (we alternate), piano practice, geography. We also as a family do Bible time, composer study, and art sketching. It sounds like a lot, but some of these are passive listening and some only take 5 min (like art sketching). Our Fridays are different. School only takes 3-4 hours and a lot of it is done as a family.

We're a twice a week bathing family until they reach around age 8 and then we increase it to 3x. My oldest is only 10 right now, so not sure when we'll go to daily. They all still hate to bathe (well, except the toddler), so I don't want to fight them if I don't have to.

Something else you could try (I mentioned this recently in a previous thread): typing improved my own spelling tremendously in high school. I type words in the air to remember how to spell them now. I haven't noticed a difference with ds10 (the only one to go through a typing program but already a decent speller) but others in that thread said there really is something to the muscle memory with typing.

We use dictation day by day (oldest is 10) and it has worked really well. Several years ago we started out using the traditional spelling approach of memorizing the words, but it would not stick. Dictation day by day really does stick. We have not purchased a hard copy-I just printed it from online. Eta how we use it: we do the dictation. I correct misspellings and have them fix it. They write a cursive sentence using as many of the missed words as they can. I have the 10 year old type the sentences. I give them the new words for tomorrow to copy. On day 5 I take the review words and make silly sentences using as many review words as I can.

I love these! Here's some of mine: Me: how did Adam and Eve sin? 3yo very serious: they ate the fruit of the spirit Dh: have you ever tried counting sheep? 5 yo: I did once when I was three. I got to 1 and then stopped because I was tired. 5 yo: I don't want to eat this egg skin (it was the crust on a quiche)

Easy coop ideas 3rd-5th? I know that age range can sometimes be challenging, but I would strongly encourage you to keep them in a bedroom and not put them in a coop.

I agree with @Scarlett: from a biblical perspective forgiveness is the healing of a relationship that only happens when the offender apologizes. If that doesn't happen we aren't to allow our pain to turn into hatred, though. The way we do that looks like a lot of prayer and then a lot more prayer when we think we've let it go and then a lot more prayer again. However, I don't think our society thinks of the word forgiveness necessarily in terms of relationship healing. It's more letting it go and choosing to not hate. It's kind of like our society uses "forgiveness" whether the person apologizes or not, but to me those are two totally different scenarios and I can't use the same word for both things.

Husband agrees: kingsnake. It is pretty!

For logic we're going to start with Blast off with Logic before moving on to Fallacy Detective. They are more workbook style if that's what you're looking for.

And you might be surprised as she gets older. I was a terrible speller (memorized it for the test and instantly forgot), but I took typing in 10th grade and suddenly I could remember words. It must have something to do with muscle memory-when trying to remember how to spell a word I pretend to type it. So, who know?! Maybe she'll find her own unusual way to remember how to spell ;). I taught my kids typing earlier in hopes it would help them too, but I haven't noticed any change with them.

We use dictation day by day. It's free (an old curriculum). I was finding that my oldest was not retaining words from his spelling lists, but he seems to retain them from the dictation. Each day I dictate his new sentences, he fixes any mistakes he makes and rewrites the words missed, and I have him write his new words for the next day. On Fridays there are review words-I make a silly sentence using as many as I can. Fridays are their favorite day.