:banghead: I totally feel your pain. I'm so sorry. My kids have been without a daddy for 6 months now and I cried myself to sleep last night. I'm in one of those "stay-behind-to-sell-the-house" situations also. Yet, the house isn't on the market yet, because it's not ready. I hope everything works out alright for you... :grouphug:

I live a couple of miles away from where the monster who kidnapped those teenagers (Shawn Hornbeck was one of them) was holding them and they suspect he kidnapped and killed another in our area. He specifically said that he was targeting rural areas because it was so much easier to kidnap someone. He also targeted teenage boys (one of them was on a bike and he hit the bike with his car to knock the kid on the ground) and said he cruised past a few bus stops looking for targets. This story was just too close for us. There's too many weirdos out there. I wouldn't let my kid walk home or wait at the bus stop alone. I know the neighbors think I'm overprotective, but, Geez, how many of these stories do I have to see?

I sat through several parent-teacher conferences where the teacher said the EXACT SAME THING about the 2 oldest kids. I told her to be careful what you wish for because our 3rd is a Lunatic on Wheels. :auto: She also said my son has a "deer in the headlights look". I told her to "stop scarin' him!" So glad we don't have to deal with that anymore... :tongue_smilie:

We get over half the books (especially all the read-alouds) at the library.

I keep a lesson plan, portfolio and attendance sheet with hours/location logged. Don't forget location is part of law in Land of Mo. School year begins July 1st, I think also... I agree that the laws are kinda strange in MO. They took me several readings to figure them out.

That's exactly what happened to me...bizarre heavy bleeding. I ended up having to go to the hospital and having surgery. It never happened again with any other pregnancies.

I'm not an expert...but you can see what curricula we're using in my signature... Next year, for the soon-to-be-5-year-old, I'm probably going to use Five in a Row, Singapore Early Bird and either 100 EZ or CLE Learning to Read. These picks are based on my daughter's crazy learning style and the fact that I have 4 kids. :tongue_smilie:

We're doing sonlight Core 1, so I can give you my review... Every one of the sonlight read-alouds is coming from the library... I bought the readers, but only because I have so many kids that the younger ones can just read them later. Half the history core books are coming from the library also... I bought the IGs on their own. We're doing CLE LA and math from singapore and horizons. This was the only way I could afford sonlight for two kids. It's really cut the cost down to a fraction of buying a core. The history is nice...it's ok for that age...but the read-alouds and readers are awesome. We're doing read-alouds from core 1 and readers 2 and 2 intermediate. My kids end up looking forward to the sonlight reading, as opposed to fleeing from the CLE workbooks. :willy_nilly: (Although CLE has a really good amount of material in it - it's a necessary evil) It's just reading books :hat:, but the kids really look forward to the sonlight reading. It's the highlight of their schoolday. I'll probably do this again next year.

BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started working out about 3 weeks after I had our first baby. I was very very athletic (ran several marathons) and 5 months later I ended up having very expensive surgery. I was so stupid. :banghead: I never gave my body a break. This time, I've been careful. I had our fourth baby 22 months ago and haven't worked out yet. :rofl: ha ha ha ha ha.... :D

Good for YOU!!! :cheers2: This is our 8th week of homeschooling and it is soooooooo much better than our public school experience. I couldn't believe how much stress left our household. My two older kids seem a lot happier, more relaxed and a lot less crabby. :auto: Once again, Good Luck to You!! :hat:

So my next question is... Could you use the 1st grade curriculum with a kindergartener (5/6 year-old)? This is Kid #3 out of 4...I've noticed the third and fourth kids seem to be more "advanced" compared to the oldest at the same age. :glare: I wouldn't want to meet either of them in a dark alley... :001_huh:

Thanks for the feedback and the link!

We're doing Core 1 with a 6 year-old and 7 year-old. It's a pretty good curriculum. The 6 year-old has trouble sitting through some of the reading, though (specifically the Usborne Peoples of the World). A Child's History of the World has been a big hit, though. They hated Greek News (it was way over their heads) but they like King Tut Lost and Found. The 7 year-old LOVED the Greek Myths for Children. Also, the read-alouds are awesome, specifically Mr. Popper's Penguins, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and we are starting Little Pear. The 6 year-old has been referencing Mr. Popper's Penguins for several weeks now. The 7 year-old is also doing the Core 2 intermed readers. She's doing fine with these too. She's able to read them alone and answer the questions from the IG. I looked at the Sonlight Core K and it looked really neat, too! Some of the read-alouds looked like stories my older kids would like to hear. I might buy the Sonlight Science K next year for the 4 year-old (then to be 5 year-old). I hope this review helps somewhere...

I'm a Perfect Paula... DD7 is Perfect Paula DS6 is Wiggly Willy DD4 is Social Sue DD1 is probably Social Sue also You have got to be kidding me...all in one house too...:glare: We should have our own reality show.

I'm doing Core 1 and I have 4 kids from ages 1-7. Core 1 is asking a lot of the 6 year-old. The 7 year-old is reading the Core 2 intermediate readers, though. The history material is beyond the comprehension of the 4 and sometimes 6 year-old. We just did Usborne Peoples of the World and I think the 6 year-old glanced at the pics as he was swordfighting with the living room curtains. :D Oh, the fiction Read-Alouds are awesome, though.

Does anyone use the Oak Meadow kindergarten curriculum? I appreciate any reviews/opinions. Thanks so much!

I've been doing an awful lot of that lately. :crying: The neighbors probably think I lost my mind.

Unfortunately, my kids could run off and join Cirque du Soleil RIGHT NOW. They even broke out into routine in the pediatrician's office and scared the doctor. He said they were the most limber children he's ever seen. The 7 year old just finished up last year (after doing backflips, etc - she is incredible too) and said she had enough. Now, she wants to try swimming competitively. OK. What are ya' gonna do. So, sadly, I let her stop. I figured she can always swing back into it in a couple of years if she gets interested in it again. The 6 year-old boy is also a gymnast and he just wants to flop around the gym with a bunch of guys. So, he'll continue this year. The 4 year-old is continuing also. It's sad to see them quit something they are so good at, but I would make sure there is a "replacement" for that activity. I'm all for the kids trying new stuff. It's an awesome experience for them. My daughter made so many friends through gymnastics. Now, we'll have swimming friends, I guess. :D

Our 7 year-old is answering written questions from the sonlight readers IG after each chapter. I figure it's just one more way to get her to practice writing sentences...

We also have a leopard gecko. A great pet. Costs us about $150 to get going, though...with the cage, lights, etc.

I am just such a big fan of the Touch. I use mine constantly... Heck, the kids use it constantly too.

We read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as part of our sonlight read-alouds. :thumbup:

There are several preschool apps that the 4 year-old loves to use while the older kids work. The math facts apps are great. There are some art appreciation apps (but are not free).

I get online with mine all day and check my emails without turning on the computer. The scheduling app is a lifesaver. And the contacts... And the safari... And the music... And all the preschool games we downloaded...

One of my kids scores in the 99th percentile on national standardized testing. I also have no idea what reading level she's really at (adult reading level - LOL). She just started 2nd grade this year and she's 7. To tell you the truth, I'm using the same curricula that I use with the 1st grader. We're doing Sonlight Core 1, she's reading the Sonlight Readers 2 int and adv, she's in CLE LA 200, we're doing Singapore Math... We're working on BJU Spelling, lots of lapbooks, HWOT cursive, some creative writing (she writes a ton of songs), and she plays violin and piano. She flies through stuff really fast. I explain something to her once and she understands it instantly. I just didn't want to start too high with curricula because I noticed that there were gaps in her knowledge. Even though she could expertly read passages from an adult novel, she didn't know what a vowel was. I also noticed (this might be your case also), that my daughter HATES hands-on activities. I thought this was fascinating... I realized that although she is amazing academically, she's still only 7. She can read anything I hand to her, but she prefers Commander Toad and stories about talking animals. :D She also cries when she gets frustrated. The more difficult reading material also had a lot of content that was too mature for her. Our school district didn't have much for her, either. Her teacher told me that she was the only student in 20 years that she's seen that could pass the creativity portion of the gifted student testing. That's another reason we're homeschooling right now. She can really stretch out her legs and finish a reading curriculum in 7 weeks (like she did over the summer - to show me how I wasted 50 bucks - LOL!). :D She's playing her violin right now...and probably consulting with the President about the State of the Union, right after she runs out and disarms a nuclear warhead which was found near the police station. :auto: My son...on the other hand... :biggrinjester: