My DS7 LOVES Math Dice Jr. I am amazed that he asks to play it all the time. I carry it around in my purse. We went to the Lego Store this weekend, and after we went out to eat, he saw it in my purse. We had to find a table by a fountain just to play it :D And yes, I just ordered Sum Swamp off Amazon, too. *sigh* But he likes the games so much more than flash cards! I was looking at Money Bags, too. I will likely get that next payday, too.

yes! We homeschool in the kitchen and not only do I have the alphabet up along one wall, but I also have a number line going from the living room, all the way down the hall, to above the laundry room door. It's a Number Bug I got at Lakeshore Learning. The alphabet I got at the Dollar Store. I just taped it on the wall, as I know it won't be forever. I've got one last one learning letters and numbers, so in a year or two, hopefully I can take it down. But I don't mind how it looks. On the wall with the alphabet, I also have a giant atlas map tacked up above the couch.

Thanks! I will check it out. I'm going to have to wait for month end, but I'm trying to get all my ducks lined up ahead of time. Hopefully I won't run out of ink before that :D My Brother takes a TN-330 or the high yield TN-360. I can go to the Business Costco and get the TN-360 for about $48

My dd was in public school for 3rd grade and did not finish knowing multiple digit multiplication well at all. I didn't realize how bag it was until we hit a wall in Delta, with division. We had to get Gamma, go back, and master that concept. It was hard for her, but she did master it. I'm so glad she did! I agree that place value was the most difficult thing for her to keep track of. She elected to put zeros in every place to help her keep track. The blocks were what really helped her. She hadn't used the blocks before and felt she was too old for them. I insisted she not only build numbers with the blocks, but also build problems. When she was finally able to come up with an answer for a problem like 12x13 using only the blocks, I knew she was finally getting it. Then when she moved to 3-digit x 3-digit, etc, she had the concept down and used the zeros to help her keep her places straight. I also agree she may need a short break. No matter our age, sometimes our brain is just fried. It's like a sponge. It can handle only so much water at once. Anything more and it just floats away.

It's too early at Target. They have the BTS stuff out, but it's not in their regular spot where they highlight their sales. It's mostly still just regular price, although I did get a jump drive in the BTS section that was half the price of the one in their electronics. Target will have their usual sales. Before the end of July, I'm sure. I'm waiting for markers, colored pencils, glue sticks, colored notebook paper, printer paper, and all the usual things. I did get solid colored peechees (*cough* old person alert! *cough*) at Walmart for .15 each. I will be picking up more soon, too. The regular price for a ream of printer paper at Walmart is $3.22 and I've been trying to stock up. Between the Scholastic Dollar Days Sale and the CD of 80+ history books I got at the homeschool convention, I have a lot of printing to do! Hopefuly ink for my Brother laser printer will go on sale somewhere soon. Otherwise, I'm going to Costco!

:lurk5:

Has anyone used either of these? Any opinions on which would be most helpful? I'm trying to figure out which would be most helpful to us in history and geography in the upcoming school year.

IME, working in one company for a length of time shows the same thing. It shows commitment and it shows a potential job candidate is likely someone that can be relied on. It also shows that they have real work experience, which is worth far more that just showing up at a desk that you paid money to sit at for four years. I do plan on having my kids participate in the Running Start program when they are 16 or so. This way they should be able to earn a 2 year degree before they officially graduate our homeschool and they won't have to go into debt to do it. And while I will encourage them to attend college for a 4 year degree, I will certainly not be disappointed if they pursue other valid options. I don't want my kids to spend their lives trying just to "find" a job. They should know how and have motivation to make their own job, rather than just vying for what's out there.

:iagree: I don't have a college degree and neither does dh. Someone shouldn't have to "check my pedigree" in order to consider if I'm "certified intelligent" or not. And no one should have to go thousands of dollars into debt for a piece of paper, just to get anywhere. Too many college students never figure out what they want to do. They go to college and rack up the debt just because they are told that "college comes next". It's different if you have set goals in mind, such as an accountant, a doctor, or even an agricultural degree. Why accrue debt with no goals to work toward?

I agree using phonics is important, but I didn't use any program to teach my oldest son to read. We started out with Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, but found that book awful. So we just grabbed Bob books and other easy readers and just started sounding things out. At 7.5 I'd say he's on target for his age, which is good. But he's never been excited about reading. Only this summer has he shown any interest in participating in any summer reading program. My youngest will be 5 in September and he seems much more interested in reading. We'll see how he does when we actually start sounding words out in kindergarten.

It's never too early! It's definitely good to get all the ducks in a row ahead of time. Has he thought about maybe Westpoint or something along those lines? My sister was an Air Force Reserve who was called up to duty. Her pay was definitely better once she earned her degree. She is now a Seattle police officer, and while a degree isn't required, it definitely helps.

Of course I just purchased the 5A module at our local homeschool convention :glare: But 40% is a GREAT deal! If that happens, I will do my best to take advantage of that. I would LOVE to have all 3 modules of level 5. I'd get all level 6 modules, too, if I could afford it!

We haven't done this, but we haven't ruled it out in the future, either. My boys are happy to know that when they get older, if they want to participate in any sport the public school does, they are able to, even if we are homeschooling. My dd can, too, of course, but she's not as interested. When my dd was in public school, there was a homeschooled boy who always joined her class for PE. At this point, it isn't worth it to me. The primary and elementary school have a rotating schedule for all their extras. So PE could be Tuesday one week, Monday the next, etc. And after dd being in public school k-3rd, I'm tired of being beholden to someone else's schedule. We'll see what's available in the 6th-7th grade school, when we reach that point. At least their schedule would be more likely to be consistent from week to week.

OMg! Every time I come back to this thread, it's gained about 10 pages! Yikes! Should I dare add to it, if I've only read the first few pages? I am trying to figure out how to file in a way that would work for us. I am thinking of filing by subject in 3 ring notebooks. Because I like having everything ready, and in chronological order, but with the flexibility of easily skipping around a little. This year, for my ds who was in 1st grade, I had a 3 ring binder filled with worksheets from Scholastic books. This wasn't the only work he did, obviously, but I found it very easy to pick out what I wanted when everything was all together like that. I had a big workbook in there and 2 Scholastic books. So I could keep things in order, yet choose whichever was most appropriate for the day. We are using MUS for math, and each level already has it's own binder. It helps keep us on the current lesson, while enabling me to go back to any previous page we missed if we need some review that day. But what does everyone do for all the "little" things? Such as, if I have a bunch of odds and ends that I've downloaded from CurrClick, would it be a good idea to print out all of that, too, and have it filed and categorized? I'm thinking yes, as we'd be more likely to use it if it were already downloaded, filed and accessed quickly and easily. Now I'm just trying to decide if each grade should have their own binder for each subject. And where do I keep them all?

:lurk5:

Yes, I noticed that in the newer versions of the alphabet and number DVDs. It seems to be only in the newer versions, suddenly Lily is Tad's twin. I prefer the older versions because they really emphasis the sound of each letter, in Letter Factory. In The Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park they name each letter and cover rhyming, but they don't really cover the sound of each letter. Of course, when my 4 year old wrote an "n" on the whiteboard the other day, he said, "Look, Mom! I made an 'nnn'!" Noting the sound, rather than the name of the letter. LOL

Daphne was about 4 when we transitioned her out. She wasn't sleeping with us all night, every night, but would often wind up in our bed. We told her it's fine if she came in our room, but she would be sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor. I know you've tried it, but that's all I've got. I'd consider setting up that sleeping bag and if she comes to your room, she has to sleep there. No choice. It's at least a little better than having to walk her back to her bedroom.

I loved the speech teachers at the public school that worked with my DS. However, when it came time to start kindergarden and I knew he would need additional assistance, it was not productive at all. That was our only meeting for more than speech therapy. We knew we'd likely homeschool, but the IEP meeting really set it in stone for us. That clip was hilarious, sad, and all too true!

We dont' have them in Washington state. Dh and I lived a few months in Charlotte, NC, before we had children. One evening we were outside just after dark and were surprised to see blinking lights in the yard. Upon investigation, we both saw fireflies for the first time! They were so awesome. I wish I could share that with my kids at some point.

There are a lot of good books out there from this publisher. Here are some teaching guides to go with them. You might also look at www.currclick.com. There is a lot of good stuff there, too.

Well, this is part of the email they sent me. It doesn't specify that I can't tweak it. I'm still debating. I agree, I like my own schedule. As of today, here’s what we plan to cover in the 10 lessons of Book F: 1. Adventure Story 2. Tall Tales 3. Mystery/Conflict 4. Historical Fiction 5. Poetry/Poetic Devices 6. Formal Persuasive Letter 7. Personal Narrative/5-paragraph Model 8. Summary 9. Book Report/Response to Literature 10. Expository Writing/Report Book F targets grades 5-6 and reluctant 7th graders. The test period will formally begin August 15, with the first lesson starting August 22. The goal is to complete a lesson every two weeks working four days a week. Most moms tell me they spend 30-60 minutes per day. We'll take a 1-week break at Thanksgiving and a 3-week break at Christmas. In addition to the holiday breaks, I will tack on an additional 4 weeks of unscheduled time. These extra weeks will allow flexibility for illness, family emergencies, and other unforeseen circumstances. If none of these “emergencies†materialize and you remain on track the whole time, you’ll be finished with testing somewhere around February 1, but to allow for the unexpected, we’ll “officially†finish around March 1. Participants will need to join our private online forum, where I post the lessons for test families to download for free. The lessons are a little raw, not “pretty†like the final books will be, but they work just fine. Every two weeks, I’ll upload one lesson at a time. You simply print out each lesson’s pages and worksheets. In exchange, we ask you to provide regular, honest feedback about your experience with the lessons.

I'm hoping to do something like this, too. File each subject in a 3-ring binder, but not by week. Simply in order we would use it. I did a little of that this year, but I had no idea there was a whole system for that. I will be working on doing every subject this year. Because papers that were in a binder got done. Papers that were in file folders did not!

Bump! No one would do it if they had the choice?

If we were going to be in a culture where my child's name meant or sounded like something awful, I would definitely want to know. And yes, we would likely call them by their middle name or something. I worked with a very nice lady who had immigrated from Vietnam. Her first name was Bich, pronounced just like you think it is. Of course she couldn't go around having people call her that, so she went by her middle name, Loan, pronounce Loh-ahn. I think she even added an "n", so spelled it Loann for culture-adaption purposes.

I get a pack of 50 of them at Costco for about $6. That is the best price I can find! But, I have to go to the Business Costco for them. They don't have them at the regular Costco. I love my laminator!!