Given the situation you describe, I definitely would pull him out of this program.

We used Adventures last year, and we simply loved it. We had a wonderful year, and my girls (ages 5 & 7) learned SO much! They enjoyed the state sheets and did not find them to be boring. They liked coloring the birds & flowers and reading the fun facts on the back of each sheet. I read a book about each state while they colored (we liked the Ann Heinrich series). They also especially enjoyed the bird study and have retained a huge appreciation of birds as a result. You asked about the writing portion. Basically, MFW instructs you to do a short notebook page at the end of various units. If I remember correctly, this type of page is scheduled every 1 or 2 weeks. So for example, when finishing a study on George Washington, the children are supposed to narrate to you about George Washington. What I did was to lead this as a discussion with my girls and help them formulate a summary by writing their ideas on a white board. Once we had created a coherent summary, my 7 year old copied it for her notebook page, and I copied it for the 5 year old's page. Both girls then illustrated their pages. This worked very well for us. I personally like the grid format of MFW's teacher manuals, and I like the way they use elements of classical, CM and unit study styles. In Adventures, I enjoyed seeing the way MFW scheduled science topics which related to the names of Jesus and in some cases the history topic being studied. We all enjoyed Adventures and hated to see it end. In fact, my oldest daughter cried when she realized that we were about finished with it. We are enjoying ECC now. I hope that something in this is helpful. I have never used HOD, so I cannot comment on that. I hope that you will find God's peace as you make your decision. I understand feeling torn between two options!!! Lynne

I love it when activities are canceled and we get to stay home! We are getting a lot done, having fun and relaxing.

I am a former teacher and had never considered homeschooling until I taught at a public school. At that school, I saw violence, drug use and apathy toward learning. It was very eye opening! Fast forward a few years, and when our oldest was 4 years old, we moved to what is known as the best school district in our county. I did extensive research in order to find a school system that would work well for us. We really wanted public school to be a good fit for our children, because, frankly, I was NOT interested in homeschooling. So we sent eldest DD to all day kindergarten. This child had been reading for 1.5 years at that point, and all of a sudden, she was too tired (after school) to enjoy reading. She came home cranky and irritable. She would get "stomach aches" at school and need to be sent home. She was bored at school. Stress. The teacher was too busy to provide enrichment or challenging work for her. I saw that the activities I was doing with my 3 year old at home were more interesting and thought provoking than what they were doing with the 5 year olds at school. The kindergarteners were shown movies (many of them PG) on a daily basis during the late fall, winter and rainy spring days. All in all, it was a huge waste of time for DD and for our family. In the middle of her K year, I researched private schools. They were way too expensive for us. In desperation, I prayed to God that if He wanted me to homeschool, he would need to give me the desire. I started reading books about homeschooling, and God blessed me with such a passion for their education. I learned about all of the different approaches to home education and found that it was so much richer than what I'd been taught at the School of Education in college. We started afterschooling the spring of DD's K year and began homeschooling beginning with 1st grade. That was 3 years ago. I am now inspired by homeschooling and by helping my children learn. I am inspired when I see the free time that they now have, the friendships they are developing with each other and the quality of information they are learning. My husband and I have sacrificed a great deal financially in order to do this (in fact, finances are sometimes scary), but we are giving our children a rich childhood and are giving them the blessing of time together. Deciding to homeschool is the best decision we have ever made for our family.

Thank you for posting this. I've been looking for this book for awhile now (plan to use it starting this summer), and my husband thinks I am crazy for planning our curriculum so early. It looks like a great resource.

The Quaker Meeting in which I grew up definitely looks to the Bible AND the Holy Spirit for wisdom. In fact, one of the most devout Quakers in our church never brings her Bible to church. Her idea is that you should study it so well during the week that you know it by heart on Sunday morning. The minister bases his sermons on Biblical texts, and sometimes scripture is recited during the silent communion. The Quakers I know definitely believe that Christians go to heaven after death. The idea of hell is not emphasized, however. We are content to leave that in God's hands. Another interesting Quaker tradition is that meetings make decisions by seeking consensus, rather than by taking a vote. For example, they might discuss whether or not to pave the church parking lot for months and months, with everyone seeking the Spirit's leading, until members can agree on the best course of action. This drove my Methodist-reared mother insane! :001_smile: Willow mentioned Quakers' truth testimony. Friends are known for "letting their yes mean yes and their no mean no." They refuse to swear on the Bible in a court of law, for example, for they should always be speaking the truth. I use that quote with my own kids when discussing honesty. Lynne

I grew up in the Quaker Church and have several family members who are still Friends. My home church is programmed -- it employs a minister. We now live in an area of the U.S. where there are no Friends meetings, and so we recently joined another denomination. But I still consider myself a Quaker at heart. I really miss the Quakers' emphasis on silence and listening for the voice of God. So many other denominations are filled with noise . . . I also really appreciate the Quakers' view of sacraments. I think that disagreements over communion and baptism can cause division in churches and divert one's attention from the Holy Spirit. Although I personally find the sacraments meaningful and participate in them in my current church, I would not miss them if I were able to attend a Quaker meeting. I find the Quaker silence to be more meaningful than traditional communion (which always seems to be accompanied by music -- ack!). I also love Quakers' emphasis on the light of God within everyone. I have always admired Quakers for their historical roles in ending slavery and in seeking equal rights for women. I appreciate that women have been called as Quaker ministers for many years. It is my understanding that in recent times, certain branches of the Quaker Church seem to rely on the Bible less and less. I've read reports of some Quaker meetings that have, for example, crossed out the name of God in their hymnals so that they don't offend people. That really bothers me, and I don't think that this is what George Fox intended when he founded the Quakers. My home church is a member of one of the more conservative branches of the Quaker Church, and my beliefs reflect that. I hope that is helpful in some way! Lynne

That was beautiful! Inspiring . . . Lynne

We love Right Start math!

My 8 year old had considered asking Santa to bring Grandma back. She really misses her! Hugs to you on this bittersweet Christmas.

I really look forward to the Christmas letters! I love hearing about everyone's year. What bothers me is when we just receive a signed Christmas card year after year with no pictures, note or letter. That is a lot less personal than someone who takes the time to compose a thoughtful letter to go with their cards. That said, we get very few letters that I would categorize as "over the top" in their bragging. Almost all of the letters we receive are just newsy, informative and kind. Lynne

I have had a part-time portrait photography business for a few years now. I shoot with a Canon 30D and 50D, and my favorite lens is the 50mm 1.4. I also love my 85mm 1.8 lens. I love learning new things about photography, and I enjoy doing photoshoots for others, but sometimes I find it difficult to balance everything with homeschooling. Lynne

This is the first Lego advent calendar we have had. My girls decided that this minifigure was NOT Santa Claus, since he was dressed in a yellow suit instead of a red suit. Because the figure was in a day different from the shower, they haven't put two and two together. :001_smile:

Purdue University offers such degrees. In fact, my husband has his forestry degree from there. He manages conservation areas and helps landowners plan timber sales. He love his job. The pay is not outstanding, but his job satisfaction is off the charts. We both loved our time at Purdue, and I highly recommend looking into it!

This would REALLY aggravate me, and I do NOT think that you are overreacting! Good luck -- you've received several good suggestions here.

My absolute favorite baked ziti recipe is the one online at Cook's Illustrated. They recommend using diced mozzarella instead of shredded. This recipe is heavenly! I usually triple it and freeze several pans of it for later use.

I actually e-mailed them last week about my trial Prime membership. I wanted to make sure that they didn't automatically renew the membership and charge my credit card. They sent me a helpful e-mail back and confirmed that it would not be automatically renewed. It's very frustrating that they got rid of buttons that would allow us to see this information for ourselves. I spent several minutes looking before I e-mailed them. Lynne

We used Adventures last year with my 7 & 5 year old, and we LOVED it! The year was organized, meaningful, varied and fun, and my children retained a lot of the information. They REALLY enjoyed the bird study and the state study. My older child enjoyed highlighting her favorite facts on each state sheet, and the kids enjoyed coloring the flowers. We also loved the literature and movies suggested in the book basket. I now have a 3rd grader, and I think that Adventures would be just fine for her this year, had we not already done it. It would be very simple to beef up the activities with the literature in the book basket, if desired.

Thanks so much for posting this!

My daughters and I have all had allergy testing. It really hurts, and I would not want to go through that multiple times. So I would definitely prefer to do the testing at an allergist's office. They are prepared to read the results and advise regarding treatment. I can't imagine that a ped could treat with shots or drops, and I can't imagine that an allergist would not want to do and read the tests themselves. So going to the ped first may be setting yourself up for multiple rounds of tests. Good luck with everything.

We love RightStart math, as well!

You might check the toy clearance aisles at local discount stores right now. I recently stumbled upon a sale that allowed me purchase new toys for garage sale prices. I could not believe that they were clearancing toys for 50-85% off, but they wanted to make room for the newer stuff. I am basically done with Christmas shopping for my children, and I stocked up on birthday gifts, as well!

How sad! I would be so upset, too. In fact, your mom reminds me of one of my aunts. Hugs to you.

Wow . . . that is unbelievable.

We store ours in a Longaberger basket that has wooden dividers. It may be called the Pantry basket. It's an older one, though, so I'm doubt that it is still available.