We love the USA one, and my son asked for the Europe one from Santa. No expansion packs here.

I plan the next week each weekend, and then go shopping. I also check the freezer to see what I need to use up before planning. Sadly, I don't pay much attention to the sales; need to try and work that in. But if I see stuff I use on sale, I will stock up to have on hand. Otherwise, I don't buy extra stuff. I look at the calendar and figure out which days I will have time to cook, and which nights which will be rushed due to kids activities. If any nights are too rushed, I see if I can precook some things or use a crockpot. I've often precooked and seasoned ground beef, and then frozen into portions to use for meals. Same with cut up chicken. I have all my weekly plans in a binder, so I can look over past weeks for ideas. This is the first year I've been faithful to it and I love it!

Okay, I would have laughed at myself when we moved down here a year ago, but I was mortified last week when we had a 'cold' spell and I wore my ski jacket to the park with the kids! How embarrassing! No snow boots though! :). I think the drastic temp change, and the wind, is what affects me more than the actual temp. It may have been 60, but the day or so before it was almost 90 and we were swimming at the beach.

It's 10pm and 73 degrees F.

My dd was going through a phase like this recently. Found dirty clothes stuffed behind her bed and in her closet, trash stuffed behind furniture. I mean, really? Anyway we put an end to that and I keep a closer eye on things now :). She is a keeper, loves to keep things, hates to throw things away. So we are working on that, making sure there is value to something we are keeping. Even if it's just a value in her own mind, that is fine. It's the process we need to take. And she has a treasure box. All those things that she doesn't want to part with have to fit in at. It's the same box she's had for several years so it requires going through it periodically to make room for new stuff and throwing old stuff away. She has a much harder time with this than her brothers, but I think it's important to learn or do. I wish I had kept less through the years and been better at discerning what to keep. In general, if the kids get stuff out, they are expected to put it away, clothes go in the hamper, beds get made each morning. So while a creation or a major imaginative play scenario might get some leeway, stuff typically gets puts away throughout the day or at least before bed. And bureau tops are not for collecting misc junk. They have some stuff they display, but most goes in the treasure box or trash.

I've read this with interest to see people's viewpoints. I think I've shared some of those views at one point or another. In fact, I was not even tempted to join CC after our open house; it just didn't wow me. But my kids (they were 4yo at the time) on the other hand? It was all they could talk about; they loved it. The history sentence that day was about the boston tea party; they then saw a boston tea party movie in the library (our intro to Liberty Kids), and acted out the tea party at the playground.... So I signed them up. We are now in our 5th year of CC; each year I am tempted to stop so we have more time to do school at home. The day away is hard. Howver, each year, I am reminded of how much the kids get out of it and that what I would do at home for that day would not have that same 'boom'/benefit. The books we read, the places we visit, museums, field trips etc are all enhanced by their memory work. Those pegs are little light bulbs. They see or read something and they remember hearing it before. It gets them excited to learn more, read more, listen more, explore more. The Latin, grammar and math come in handy regularly with our own schoolwork and makes what we do at home much easier. And we do not ever even try to match up what we learn at home with the CC schedule. It is purely a supplement for us. Their ability to memorize huge amounts of information floors me; memory masters for the past three years, and tackling new poems, or as they did recently, studying for a marine ecology competition, is just so much easier. They are around other kids who enjoy learning and the review games enhance the fun of learning and competition. I like the focus our group has on expecting the kids to learn the material. My active boys have learned to sit quietly and still for their tutors out of respect; I do not feel they are being squelched or deprived. (And they are the type to 'share' their knowledge on things in any other settings). The tutors are all on a tight schedule and if every child shared something they knew about the info or how they did it, we'd never get through our material. We came from a more more loose/fun/noisier CC where there were lots of discussions and disruptions/sharing. And there was no true expectation of memorizing for the young ones. I always imagined my kids would miss it because the new one (we had moved) was very much sit still and listen (with very gentle and sweet tutors). Well, they raved about how much better they liked the new one because they could learn so much better with less distractions. I think 'I' preferred the old one more because it seemed more fun and kid friendly, but that was me projecting my feelings on it. I've come to love the gentleness and respect at this cc. Their friendships grow each year; the first year is just meeting everyone and yes, some friendships start. I wouldn't call it overwhelming. But they really continue to grow with each year as they become more familiar with each other. We now stay for a couple hours afterwards while the kids play. And good friendships have formed. So while I know I'll debate dropping CC next year to get another day at home, I probably won't because I could never duplicate the lasting value of that time. I've seen how much they get out of those pegs. And the fact that giving presentations in front of the class is their favorite part? Another bonus! (I really have never enjoyed speaking in front of a crowd, no matter what the size). Anyway, that's been our experience in a nutshell.

Love the jcpenney stafford no iron ones. They've held up much better than the expensive ones dh buys,

I lived in Tucson for three years with dh before kids and loved it! I was from the east coast and had not really wanted to move, so loving it so much surprised me. Enjoyed the lovely year round warm weather and knowing what to wear each day. Thrilled with the extreme lack of bugs! Golfed regularly. Gorgeous views of the Catalina's. Affordable. But for some reason, I could never picture raising kids there. Perhaps I was too used to the east coast cities and all. Just seemed to be lacking something. Moved to dc, had three kids. Great for homeschooling, but pace of life and cost too much. Moved to Tampa for dHs job. Again, not overly thrilled at moving, but here a year and loving it. Super friendly people. Lots to do with the kids; different from the doc stuff but enriching all the same. We fit in better down here; more down to earth. Weather is so much better than I thought and bugs not as bad as I imagined. We are outside a lot. Only 5 miles from the beach. Active church.

What are you doing in the afternoons or evenings? They are prime book reading, snuggle on the couch times. For the fun stuff, on your schedule have one or two short slots that rotates by day; my kids enjoyed picking what they would do; that's when you can fit in a game or computer time. We did it by whose day it was. Do you have a schedule? We had a pretty detailed one at that age so we all knew when a subject was done and what was next. My triplets are third grade now, so we've changed things up a bit, but schedules are still our friends. If it's actually written on the schedule, we usually manage to fit it in. If it's only a great idea in my head waiting for an opportunity, it never happens. And this year we are doing 6 weeks on, 1 week off. So if necessary, there's some catchup time available, or time for the fun stuff. Though we tend to schedule our field trips and such then. I look back to what I worried about years ago and give a chuckle at myself. I imagine I will do the same when I look back at these current years. :)

He's not having any problems that I'm aware of. He does great in everything, school and sports, and does not complain of headaches or anything. His turn is sometimes noticeable, but not to anyone else. Everyone was floored when he got glasses for crossed eyes. All the doctors had told me the goal of surgery is to get his eyes close enough so hopefully they might work together; no talk of therapy to encourage that. And his eyes have been close enough for that to happen if it was going to. His turns were within the goal the surgeons shoot for anyway was what his ophthalmologist told me. And he had regained depth perception, but may have lost that. He was improving on some of the 3d tests in the office. I guess I'm just still just trying to figure out what more to do.

Is this something a doctor diagnoses? Or if you leak at all, you have it? Or is something literally hanging out of you? I seen my elderly mom suffer from severe leakage and other issues and hoping to avoid that fate. She had three big babies; I had triplets. I have to be careful when I cough or sneeze sometimes, but not always.

DS has strabismus, and had it since he was four. Almost 5 years ago. I researched vision therapy some at the time, but it seemed so controversial, and all our ophthalmologists were of course against it. I finally found a dr I liked that put him into bifocals instead of signing him up for surgery and he seemed to be improving.howver, we moved last year, found a surgery happy doc down here, and haven't been back since. Trying someone else in two weeks. His eye turn, with glasses, had gotten to 8-12, for those who know what that means and seemed to regain depth perception as well ( based on those little 3d tests). He had 20/20 vision; he was farsighted. He switched eyes apparently which prevented amblyopia. Hoping this is still the case since it's been a year now. Anyway, I'm looking into vision therapy again and wondered if anyone with strabismus has successfully done it, and the side effects, negatives of it. He was an early reader and loves to read, great student, loves sports, can play baseball, golf, basketball etc. was an early bike rider... So not the usually checklist of candidates for vision therapy. And I'm terrified of messing of what he has going. Either by causing double vision or who knows what. He seems to have compensated well for his strabismus. So please, any and all stories. I don't mind trying it, but not if I could mess him up. Sorry this is long. I've been googling for eons and not finding what I need. Thanks.

My third graders 2boys and 1girl) asked for Ugly Dolls, the Hobbit, Ugly Doll Guide, animal book, Ticket to Ride, Perplexus, a costume, football jersey, Memoir 44 game, an American Girl outfit for their doll, and baseball cards. It's become easier for me to ask them to write down something they need, something to read, something to wear and something to share, plus something they want. Santa only gives tons of gifts to little kids; they already have so much, they should be considerate of how much they ask for.. I'll probably add in an electric toothbrush each and one or two surprises, but that's about it. Not the stuff I would have thought of to buy, so glad I asked.

We are just fll3 so maybe this won't apply, but I periodically close their books and write the sentences (or make my own) on the white board for them to diagram and explain. They need to explain and walk us through all the steps, ask all the appropriate questions on how to find the verb, subject, pn/pa or do, adjectives, adverbs etc., give me definitions on demand, and diagram it without having the diagram laid out for them. They draw it. It's led to a better understanding because often they were just filling in the missing blanks I think.

I love my system, but it doesn't seem as popular! :) I do laundry every weekend. Dh and I have a laundry hamper/sorter (3 removable canvas bags on a wheeled rack). So one bag for whites/lights (hot wash), one for colored (cold wash), and one for dHs shirts. So there's 3 loads for us right there. Most stuff gets hung up in the closet. I wash and put away immediately. The three kids share a large hamper. They haul in the bag when I ask them, go through pockets, unroll the balled up socks etc. I throw it all together in the wash with a color catcher. It's at least two full loads, sometimes three. I wash it, dry it, and stuff in a laundry basket. When it's all done, I call them to haul it away and put their clothes away. They've been doing this since about age 5. Love it! Then I collect towels, sheets etc. everyone remakes their own bed. Most towels go right back on the racks after drying. I don't know, it just seems easy. I only have to worry about stuff once a week. And I do the laundry in between everything else over the weekend. (Usually just one day unless we are out a lot). It's not really much of a chore.

The cards I do individually with the kids at another time during the day. That takes a minute or so to run through ( took longer in the beginning because we hadn't reviewed them regularly before). The other stuff I do with the kids together and takes maybe 10-15 minutes on average. My kids are quick writers and spellers though. It's been a reliable system that has worked well for us and is pretty consistent time wise and work wise each day.

For those doing 2, 3 and 4 lessons a week, is that with doing everything? Review, lesson, dictating words and sentences, and writing station? How does that work? We do a lesson a week at level 4. Day 1 is review phonograms, review, new lesson and dictate words. Day 2 is review sound cards and dictate 6 of the sentences. Day 3 is review key cards and dictate remaining 6 sentences. Day 4 is writing station.

My kids love awanas, among many other activities, and it's also on a Sunday night. However, dh and I use the time for a date night and grab a bite to eat or go for a walk. Anything like that a possibility? To use the time to benefit you as well? My kids get a standard dinner of Mac and cheese and green beans every Sunday, so it's also a night I'm not stressing over a meal.

So today, one of my children was done with all his weekly schoolwork and got to watch the entire Friday night movie ( our tradition/perk). One got to watch the final 1/3. And one missed the entire movie and still had another 1/2 hr of work. They all have the same amount of weekly work, but different attitudes and drives. I didn't yell, say I told you so or anything. Just quietly and patiently helped them with their schoolwork. Curious to see how next week goes. :).

It looks fine. I'm not sure what 2-3 pages of your math is like because each curriculum has different numbers of problems on pages and difficultiy levels etc. I have three 8yo kids and it's interesting to see them work .. Some days I might have one done at noon, one at 2, and the other still working that evening. I think the amount and type of work I give is challenging, but I try to make it so they can be done by lunchtime with steady work. Some choose to work steadily and some goof off or dawdle. One thing I'm careful not to do this year is to un-reward them by giving them more work for finishing steadily and quickly. When they are done, they are done.

I would just say thank you! I would love that! She might feel like she's taking advantage by the things you do, or that she would need to discontinue at a point due to the lopsidedness, and it will probably help her feel things are a little more even. Youve helped her a lot and haven't accepted money. She's wanting to give you a thank you gift and you should respond similarly. My opinion. I don't think I'd be offended. I could also use a day at a salon for a new look or even just a cut. And some new clothes. I'm just no good at it myself and never get around to it.

Thanks for all the ideas. Off to search...

My dad died as a result of recurring cdiff. I've read great things about the transplant and I'd go for it. Can your kids supply samples to the dr? Maybe under the ruse of testing and not telling them what it's for (if that's legal). Just so you wouldn't freak them out if you are worried about that. I would have done it for my dad. (He had it under control when he moved here, but the toil it took on him before that did him in). It was super weird the first time I read about it, but when you see someone suffer so much and know how hard it is to get rid of, it kind of takes that out of the equation. Ps Florastor is what helped him get the cdiff under control each time. (Once he let me help) Not sure if you're taking a probiotic. A bland diet also helped.

My kids read them for enjoyment. They tend to like history. They started them in first, went through a complete craze with them in second grade, and still enjoy them this year too.

I just finished it. I enjoyed it. Sorry if the writing is choppy, these are just quick thoughts. Main take aways- rigor counts. Kids are generally more capable than the govt believes. Had good story of inner city DC teacher, whose kids, despite their poverty, regularly met or exceeded the requirements. Gave grades based on results, not effort. Curriculum in other countries is more rigorous than US, typical comments of exchange students. Another- kids tend to know whether people believe in them. Good stories of sweet experienced teacher who felt oh so bad for the poor children in her impoverished school. Of course they couldn't learn, she said, and her class regularly failed. Similar circumstance in another country and the teacher refused to consider the poverty and diverse backgrounds of the children, thinking he might expect less of them and give them undeserved grades out of pity, or excuse them for not doing well. (It was school policy to treat all the same and not distinctions on diversity/poverty etc. Students did well. Another-sports are only big in US schools. Other excelling countries have club or town sports. Schools would not hire a teacher who could double as a coach, only requirement would be teacher quality. School focus is on academics. Kids take pride in the academics. Test results are published to the class, everyone knows everyone's grade. Grades go from top to bottom. Students are used to not doing well or even failing a teacher test, egos don't matter. Other top countries had zilch technology. Quite unlike the iPads, smart boards etc here. And main one seemed to be teacher quality. Best countries had strict requirements (think like Ivy League) for getting into the teacher colleges. It is a well respected and hard to obtain profession. The people I knew who became teachers were not anywhere near the top of their class, and liked to party a lot; they were just nice people who liked kids. My own experience only! I know it's not true of all.