$ 100 dollars a month is my weekly grocery bill for our family of 6. That is a lot of money to our family. As I said earlier, I think it is important that everyone in "our" family helps out and the child contributing half of his earned income to help pay bills or groceries would be a huge asset to our household. My family has always done this, it is how I was raised and how I am raising all of my children. My children are also the first to step up if a brother or sister needs something to offer to help pay for it. They do it because they want to do it, they feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in helping out a sibling or the rest of the family. In our extended family of grandparents, adult grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, ectera.... everyone also helps provide for our elderly by sending some money "home" if possible. It helps to make their "senior years" a little less stressful and hard with them living on a limited income. We help take care of our own here and help each other out, everyone feels a great sense of pride and duty to give back to our older generations for all they gave to us. It is just how we roll !

We live on a very strict budget, so no cable or satelite in our home. We have Netflix unlimited streaming only for $ 7.99 a month and I think it is an awesome BARGAIN !! What more could I want ? I have all the great tv shows I love as well as tons of movies and documentaries streamed right into our television set. Netflix streaming has Frasier, Dr. Who, Lie to Me, Thirtysomething, Jericho, The Office and so many other different shows and movies that my tv nights are very full ! That doesn't even touch how much I use Netflix for all our homeschooling documentaries and educational shows. Netflix has really benefited our homeschoolilng days ! Since we are on a very tight budget, we don't get any "date nights out" so Netflix creates our "date nights at home" for my husband and I when the children go to bed. I just pop up some popcorn in my air popper machine and we have a wonderful cozy night of movies at home for cheap ! If I want a dvd that isn't available on Netflix streaming, I hit the library (we have an awesome library with a great inner library loan) and I get the dvds I want FREE. Shhh....don't tell Netflix, but I would happily pay double the unlimited streaming only payment of $ 7.99 a month and not complain a bit. I feel I am getting a bargain compared to so many who get cable and satelite tv for so much more and still can't find "anything good to watch" on tv. We never have that problem in our house ! :lol: Because Netflix has so many awesome shows to watch on streaming, I was able to sell many of our tv dvd sets to Amazon trade in and I got enough money back to help offset some bills, groceries and give the kids a nice Christmas :001_smile: I really can't complain at all, Netflix has been good to our family and I really appreciate all that it offers. Disclaimer... ......No, I do not work for Netflix nor do I profit from any of their sales (but oh....how I wish I did ) :lol:

I vote yes, all my children pitch in to help out if need be. It is character building and it makes them feel important. My children all have great self esteem and a great sense of "purpose" in life. They are also extremely close in strong family bonds. I want all my children to grow up understanding that "we are a team" and we all work to keep the team going strong. We don't make a lot of money and I have six children, so when one of us gets an opportunity to make a little money, we all benefit from it. My oldest son (now 28) had a paper route when he was 11 and he gave home half of his money to help out with groceries and bills. At 15 he got a job as a dishwasher in a seafood restaurant and continued to give half his pay home until he moved out on his own. My daughter (now 23) did the same when she was 12 and babysat for neighbors or relatives. My now 13 year old son does surveys for money and he helps out too. Sam Levinson wrote a book called "Everything But Money" and he talks a lot in it about how he grew up in a large family of 11 kids who all helped out with money to keep the family strong. They all grew up to be very successful in life and he relates it all to his very close bond with his parents and siblings. My mother was raised in an "old italian" family and they always were expected to work and help out as soon as they were able to have any type of job. She worked at 10 years old carrying bags in her uncle's grocery store and gave half her check home each week. My father quit school at 14 to help out his family of 10 children when his father took ill and died. My father later grew up to become a very successful businessman and relates his early experiences in life with working and helping to care for his family as one of the reasons that "pushed him to the top of the ladder". Teamwork and family responsibility have been ingrained in all of us from an early age. My children are taught that there is no "entitlement program" here and that everyone helps out when and how they can. It has built very strong family ties between us all and we do everything together as a team. One for all and all for one and all that good stuff ! :001_smile:

We grow lots of Kale, it is wonderful in a green smoothie with or without swiss chard (also plentiful in our garden). It is a top superfood, so my kids devour it ! Satisfying Smoothie 1 bunch kale 1 bunch swiss chard 3 red peppers (seeded) 3 cups of water.

could it be a faded rose from days gone by ? ahh yes....... I remember it well :001_smile:

I have 6 children 4 boy and 2 girls. Most homeschooling families in my area that I know only have 2 or 3 children.

I'm saving up to get this next year from IEW Click here: Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization (Book & CDs) | Institute for Excellence in Writing It is pricey, but looks so wonderful I know my kids will love it !!

Wow you did great !! I love LL Bean clothing and you got some awesome deals !! I love thrift shopping and go every Saturday. Today I stopped by the GoodWill and found Math U See Gamma DVD, Teacher book, Student Book and Test book for really cheap ! I paid $ 1.97 for the MUS DVD and only 47 cents each for the Teacher Book, Student Book and Test book. They are all in Excellent condition and free of any handwriting or damage. I'm so psyched because I want to use it this year as a supplement for my 3rd graders and I didn't want to have to pay full price since we already do Math Mammoth and Saxon as primary maths. Getting it this cheap just makes it an easy win for our family !

My husband made me one of these to hold all our homeschool binders. We have 4 childen that are currently homeschooled and each have a binder ( in their own individual color) for each of our subjects. This shelf holds a lot of binders ! Click here: 3-Shelf Binder Storage Center at Lakeshore Learning I saw this one on Lakeshore.com and had my husband replicate it and make it at home himself for a fraction of the cost that it sold for on the website. It is very nice because it fits perfectly in the corner and is out of the way when not needed. If your husband is handy, perhaps he can make something similiar.

Have you read Outliers by chance ? It is a very good book by Malcom Gladwell and I highly recommend it ! I just finished it and he talks about the age of children starting school and how it is better for the child to be a bit older than starting them earlier. It gives them a much better advantage over the other students to let them be a bit older and more mature. It was quite an interesting read and I am now going to keep my son who is 8 years old in third grade this year instead of putting him in fourth grade like I had originally planned to do. He was a year ahead since I started him schooling early. . If I kept him in 4th grade he would graduate at only 17 and I decided that was too young for him after reading the book.

I am interested in using Singapore Math with my 1st grade son, can someone tell me where I begin and what I need to purchase to start him out ? Also, where do you buy Singapore Math products. I'm a totally newbie at this math program and I have no idea where to even begin. I currently use Math Mammoth, but would like to add in Singapore because I read on these boards how well everyone likes it and I would like to give it a go with my son. Please list the materials I would need to buy for a first grade student starting out with this math program. Any advice or help you can give me about this program would be so appreciated !

Substitute your German Shepard with a Bay Horse (that I rode and jumped totally bareback) and add in a bb gun and some muskrat traps and this was just like my childhood too. I had no supervision at all. Nobody ever knew where I was or what I was doing and nobody cared. I was all alone and learned to be very independent from a very young age. It was wonderful and it was awful. Alot of bad things happened to me because of no protection or supervision. Alot of wonderful things happened to me because I learned to trust myself and lean on only myself. My parents were very into their own lives and really should NEVER have had kids. They were totaly hands off and really parented with complete indifference to us. When we had problems or troubles or needed advice, we were told to figure it out for ourselves. They wanted nothing to do with helping us. We were always seen as burdens or obstacles in their path to their own happiness. My two brothers both ended up getting in trouble with the law repetively and doing time. I ended up pregnant and alone at 17 years old. When faced with a teenage pregnancy I decided then and there to be a different kind of parent to my child. I had a wonderful hippy neighbor who taught me about attachment parenting and breastfeeding and keeping your children close, secure and well loved. It is because of her that I am the mother I am to my own children today. As a parent I am very "hands on". My kids are my everything. I take the job of parenting incredibly serious (hence homeschooling) and I give them 100% of me every.single.day. I go to bed each night exhausted and touched out, but satisfied that my kids are filled up with love, attention and security. My oldest daughter is now 23, married and raising her first baby the same as I did her. Her child is thriving wonderfully !

I love: Community The Office In Plain Sight Lie to Me The Good Wife ( my newly found favorite) In Treatment Glades

No cable, satelite or cell phones here. We streamlined all our entertainment options to keep our outflow costs low. We have and pay: $ 7.99 a month netflix streaming only option $ 55.00 per month for landline phone ( no long distance) and DSL internet The only reason I keep the internet at all is because I do online surveys and sell on ebay to make money on the side and they pay these two bills and then some.

This is Wonderful News !! I would be on cloud nine and bragging from the rooftops !! You son is doing Great !!! You should be so VERY proud of yourself too !! Good Work Momma !! :hurray::hurray::hurray::party:

My oldest daughter is 23 and had ovarian cancer at 19 years old where they removed her one tube and one ovary. After getting married last year, she began trying for a baby and was able to get pregnant successfully within only two months from their start of trying to concieve. She just gave birth to our first grandchild on July 2nd 2011 and she is hoping to get pregnant again next summer with number two. So yes, it is very possible to concieve with only one tube and even with only one ovary in tact. Best wishes to you !

I'd like to try them, can anyone recommend a good brand to get ? Also, what is best to buy them packed in for example oil, tomato sauce or water ?

Yes, full day of school here today. BBQ outside with kids after school at 5pm, if still raining, we will eat on the porch.

For our copywork we use those copybook notebooks that have the gravel like design on the front cover. I purchase one for each child in their corresponding color. My 13 year old son is red, my 10 year old daughter is pink, my 8 year old son is green and my 6 year old son is blue. Each of my children have a "color" that we buy most all of their school supplies in (pencils, pens, binders, pencil sharpeners, highlighter markers, notebooks, even cups and dishware) to keep everything organized and for me to quickly determine which item belongs to which child. They open their copybook, write the date in the upper right hand corner and then do their copywork and memory work for that day on the page. The next day they continue onto the next page again with date in right hand corner and copywork. They continue this until the book is full, then I file the book in their individual file box. This is how I was taught to do copywork from our nuns when I was in Catholic School as a child, so I do the same with my children. It is an easy way for them to also study their copywork (our copywork is also our memory work, so it kills to birds with one stone). It also gives me a nice way to review how far their penmanship has come by the end of the year.

Mom.......Mom......::::looks around:::::is that you ? The quote above was fed to me my whole life by my own mother. You know, cause as she used to tell us, she has a life too and her whole life ( those few hours a day afterschool that we saw her) couldn't be taken over by her children :confused: Now that I am grown, she does it to me about my children and how I give them way too much of my time and I have "no life" of my own. :glare: Thanks Mom....but I saw "YOUR WAY" and now I am trying things my way for awhile. :001_smile:

I am in the exact same boat as you. I also used to have the same idealistic ideology as the previous poster, only now I am older (much older) and very tired and my idealogies have gone a bit by the wayside and moved more into "survival mode". We sure could use a second income since we have been living and "just getting by" on only one for many, many years. I too have 6 kids and if the "right opportunity" fell into my lap, I would indeed jump on it ! I think you should definitely do it ! It sounds like a dream come true !!

I think it sounds Wonderful !! I am not a "must be at home to school purist", I think whatever works for each individual family is best. I say go for it !!

Does anyone know what the differences are between the older Stories of World Activity Guide from several years ago and the new revised version ? I purchased the older version (Ancients) Activity Guide a few years ago and I went to the peacehill press website to purchase a pdf of the student pages to download because I need to make a lot of copies ( I have 4 kids doing it this year) and they only have the "revised" version of the Stories of The World Activity Guide Student Pages. The student pages only are the "actual pages" and not the teaching portion of the text, so I need to be sure the older version that I want to use as my teaching text will coincide with the newer revised student pages I want to purchase on pdf. Does it matter If I use the revised version, will it go okay with my older Activity Guide manual or will it be too drastially different ? I tried to call and ask peacehill press but they are closed for the day, I was hoping to print these off tonight while I have some free time, that is why I am coming on here to see if anyone knows if there is much of a difference in the two versions. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me !

For my local district the scores for 11th grade PSSA testing were: *Reading 66 % State Average or Reading 67 % *Science 40 % State Average for Science 40 % *Math 54 % State Average for Math 60 % So our local district was below level or on level in accordance with our state average on all the testing, but our state average seems so very low, so I don't think that is a great encouragement either.

I felt the same way when I first looked and saw my local school district's test scores for Elementary 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. In 3rd grade the scores were in the mid 80's and 90's for both math and reading and again just a little less in 4th grade. By 5th grade the scores fell drastically to just the mid 60's range and continued to spiral downwards when I checked the junior high level. I then looked at our local high school scores and they were awful ! 11th grade Math was 54% down from 64% last year. 11th grade English was 66 % down from 70 % last year. Science was 40 % down from 50 % last year. You might want to re-check your local school for the higher grade levels to see if they students still did well on their standardized testing, I found in our school district that you could see the scores really dropped off after 4th grade. I printed them out to show my mother, she is always harping on me that she feels the kids should "go back to public school for high school so they can have prom and " a real graduation ceremony".