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Money's no object...What's on your wish list?


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A live-in housekeeper and COOK!!!!! I already have loads of cool currics, I just need more TIME! And I'd also buy a few cool things like an awesome microscope...

 

I'm happy to spend my time and energy educating my kiddos, but would love to outsource the cooking and cleaning... especially the cooking!

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The thing I want is what I cannot have is TIME to pre-read and pick great curriculum/resources (I would not care how much it costs).

The more helpful answer is that I plan to travel a fair bit, including internationally (envisioning 4 shorter int'l trips per year and more domestic ones)

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All of the history and literature books listed in the VP catalog. All of the books printed by Yesterday's Classics. Books in the MP catalog in addition to the first two sources. A real foreign language class with a real, live person who is fluent in the language. I also agree with the housekeeper and cook idea. Maybe if I could get a cook/housekeeper who could teach the kids a language I want them to learn, that would kill two birds with one stone. Oh, I forgot we are discussing that money is no object. Sorry.

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RV and travel schooling. A Japanese language tutor and a trip to Japan. A massage therapist to come in once a week after our weekly trip to have sushi and practice our language skills. I'd buy ds a really snazzy office chair, he really needs a new one. I'd decorate the office and buy the supplies for us to build a TARDIS model. We keep our house and travel when the weather was good. I would also take ds to an Apple store and let him shop without restraint (bites nails at the thought). Poor kid is a Mac stuck in a PC budget family.

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Music lessons and instruments

private swimming lessons, membership to the pool

gym memberships for everyone

classes through the art institute, parks & rec, etc.

online classes in a few areas

foreign language tutor

more OT, more VT, more PT

housekeeper...weekly

takeout twice a week (would love to have a weekly chipotle night in the budget!)

love to pay my PhD friends to tutor my kids in things like Dutch art history, geomapping, etc. (and they are willing, just no $$/hr available)

ipads and macs for everyone, color printer with duplexing, publisher software

 

curricula:

rainbow science for oldest

all of Beast Academy

Right Start Math

TOG, delivered to my doorstep, all books for all levels delivered....and all SOTW picture books delivered....and I could really just pick and choose what we wanted to read/do

 

ugh...this is a dangerous path...I'm going to go make dinner.

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Buy a big enough house with a piece of land and build a "school house" out in the lot. (with a quiet study room/library, a classroom, a computer lab, bathroom and a snack/lunch area).

Maid and cook.

International trips paid for 2 a year: to Europe and home to visit family. (oh and 1st class or private jets plz. I want comfort when travelling with 4 kids, we did say money is no object, right???)

Memberships to all the local museums/aquariums and a chauffeur (and nice comfy conversion van) to drive us there (DH hates driving LOL).

 

Hey, a girl can dream right?

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Year-round swim team fees and money for gas to drive there.

Formal piano lessons and piano tuning.

Twice-three times weekly Spanish class with lots of conversation practice.

At least once-weekly housecleaning.

DD wants a new horse.

All the supplies for middle school-level science courses, including a fancy microscope and slides

 

Specific curricula:

MCT Town and Voyage

Mosdos (all levels)

WWS, all levels

all the bells and whistles to learn Spencerian script

CLE math grades 5-8

Hands on Equations

Patty Paper Geometry

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I like the housecleaning idea.

 

For me it would be summer music camps as many weeks of the summer as they wanted for two of my kids and wrestling camps for the other.

Maybe some online classes, a Spanish tutor to come into the home and talk to me kids, piano lessons for dd,

 

....and our yearly Ireland trip for fiddle competition done not on a budget (staying in a castle or something else ridiculously expensive and going for 3 weeks with a side trip to England and Scotland).

 

editing to add....a chauffeur to drive us to violin and fiddle lessons. I can only dream about the amount of reading and schooling I could do with dd if we got to ride the whole way rather than drive.

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A housekeeper. A cook. A part-time nanny to lend a hand and watch the little ones while I take the older ones to more activities. A room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on every wall. Some new computers with touch screens. Books, books, and more books. An indoor play gym for when the weather is bad.

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A maid, massage, more vacations. Maybe a personal chef? Seriously, it's not the high school that's the problem. Algebra I can teach, science is no biggee. It's what it does to me to plan things, research things, worry about things (are we making the right choices, will this work, blah blah), that's what I can't handle.

 

But yeah, save up some bucks for a couple outsourced classes a year. They're typically ~$700 plus books. And if you're serious that money is no object, then go ahead and plan 2 1/2 months of travel each summer for some kind of missions/service project. That's on top of the cruise I said I need. NEED. :D

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LOL. When I opened this thread, I thought, gosh, there's really nothing I need...wrong. ;)

 

I would love a real piano. We need to upgrade our keyboard desperately, regardless.

A housekeeper. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

I do love to cook, but a chef would be divine and maybe we'd get some healthier meals. :p

More books, because sure, um, I have the time to read them. He he.

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A fully, I mean FULLY, equipped lab for high school physics and chemistry, complete with a hood. Wow.

 

Travel abroad twice a year for at least two weeks at a time. That's in addition to domestic travel and my week with The Mouse :D

 

Daily foreign language instruction by a native speaker.

 

I'd probably need a big tub with jets and a regular massage. A third kid through high school---- :eek:

 

 

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Oooh, fun! :D Let's see...

 

-A complete leather-bound library that includes every classic in history

-A really nice globe in one of those big floor stands

-A stash of several hundred ink/drum cartridges for my printer

-While I'm at it, I'd upgrade my laser printer and get the version that's wireless, scans, and prints in color

-All the levels of AAS

-A really high-end Mac for me to use, an ipad for dd

-Private language lessons from a native speaker

-Every Catan game

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A fully, I mean FULLY, equipped lab for high school physics and chemistry, complete with a hood. Wow.

 

Travel abroad twice a year for at least two weeks at a time.

 

Daily foreign language instruction by a native speaker.

 

I'd probably need a big tub with jets and a regular massage. A third kid through high school---- :eek:

 

 

Agree 100% with all of this. :)

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Well, I'm here for the self-ed forum, so this is what I want for myself!

 

I want to re-do high school according to the Well-Trained Mind, using Classical Writing and Art of Problem Solving, with personal tutors and discussion groups.

 

I want to use summers for foreign language immersion school.

 

Then I want to go to St John's College for a new BA degree.

 

And since money is no object, I would not need to work to support myself!

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I would love a housekeeper like the rest of you all but, unfortunately, I am very particular on how I do things so probably wouldn't work out. A bit of OCD, I guess.

 

The next big thing on my list would have to be a large enough room to house our library and everything else for homeschooling so I don't have to go around the house gathering stuff like I do now. Would also buy every item we need for science in a kit, this would simplify my life much more. I would get a new computer with a huge monitor screen to put in the homeschool room, solely for use when we need to pull up videos that accompany lessons. At the moment, I pull them up on my small tablet and my 2 girls have to share the small screen. I have computers but never in the room I end up doing the lesson in, so I carry my tablet around the house for the videos.

 

As for curriculum, I would love Hands on English Linking blocks and Visualize World Geography.

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Full time private tutor for oldest dd. all the customization of homeschooling, while I get to be just Mom.

 

Really unlimited budget? Enough money for us to move back into the city, close to the several-thousand-acre nature park, botanic gardens, art galleries, and universities.

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I'd have multiple foreign language classes or tutors starting in 2nd or 3rd grade.

 

Quality music lessons. I can find cheap, but not particuliarly quality.

 

Indoor year round swim lessons. (again. REALLY expensive.)

 

Travel. We'd travel as a family out of state for at least 2 weeks and out of the country for a month every year. The most we can ever seem to manage is a 3-4 day weekend out of town once a year or so.

 

Mac computers. 4 types of them so there's enough for everyone to share comfortably. I have uttered more epithets over non working Microsoft cr@p or crashed computers over the years than I care to count. Almost always strategegicly happens right when we really need it. It's a major reason why I will NEVER have a completely online or computer based anything for home school. One crash and you're screwed for who knows how long. I've had that happen to various degrees 3-4 times over the 13 years I've been home schooling. A very financially painful and frustrating memory.

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If money were no object and we're talking just about schooling:

 

--we'd outsource the kids' music lesson. We diy-it right now and that's only going okay.

--I'd get come cleaning help. Not enough so the kids wouldn't have chores but enough that I had just a bit more energy left over

--I'd buy a lot more books. 3000 is not nearly enough when the local library is so crummy

--we'd road trip/travel a LOT more. we love it but can't swing the gas and hotels right now

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A maid and personal masseuse at least 3x a week

Family trips to Scotland, Europe, and Australia

A live-aboard-full-time yacht and sailboat

A private island

A farmhouse and 100 acres of land in central Texas and to be fully self-sustainable

Fully outsourced, online classes for both kids for the rest of high school

A 2nd car and membership to the HS orchestra that meets across town

Private lessons for violin and guitar, and electric fiddle and guitars to go with

TKD lessons for DS

Family memberships to the pools and rec center

Memberships to the zoo and science museum

Room for a truly organic garden with canning capabilities

A decked-out kitchen with restaurant style appliances

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#1 Fulltime cook

 

Also, housekeeper.

 

A pool and someone else to maintain it (had pool at last house but that was in another state where it rained a lot and I got tired of maintaining it - now I'm in the desert and really wish I had that pool for exercise and fun for all of us)

 

An unlimited gift card from Amazon.com

 

Money to travel many of places we study.

 

An iPad for the 16 year old (DH and I have one - his for work and mine was a Christmas gift from my 29 year old son, but just not able to put out money to get her one right now. She has a windows notebook but I'd like for her to be in the Apple system.

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Wow, these are so awesome! I love the fantasies of private instructors, cooks, pools,etc. A girl can dream...

 

Maybe I should clarify and ask for realistic wish list items -- like a pricey microscope, rock/gem collection, or science equipment? Or expensive museum memberships? Unique educational camps? Any ideas in the $300 - $500 range?

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Totally unlimited?

 

Hmmm....

 

A large farm house on the edge of a town. Not too far away from museums and such, but just far enough away from people. Lots of land with a huge garden, orchards, in-ground pool, library, and SPACE for all my animals (plus a few more).

 

A fully equipped science lab complete with a tutor to come in and teach each class.

 

All the IEW I could possibly use between now and 12th grade and someone to teach it.

 

Money to travel (with a guide to take care of everything but who does absolutely everything my way) at least twice a year. I don't have control issues or anything. :coolgleamA:

 

Daily language tutor.

 

Chef who will make all meals for DH and DS but who is also able to create delicious raw vegan food for me.

 

Mac Book Pro so DS could make all the cool movie stuff he wants.

 

Some wicked expensive camera that I'm not familiar with but that he is dying to have.

 

And, if I had to choose, I would give absolutely all the above up for a CHAUFFEUR. That is how much I hate driving.

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Oh, now we have a budget huh... :laugh:

$300-500 one time purchase in addition to my regular budget?

Hmm..I would buy the curriculum I need for the 6-8 grades. Probably set some aside to pay for online classes for DS9 (pre-alg in a couple years, etc.)

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In the $300-$500 range I would outfit as much of a physics or chem lab (proper, wet lab) as possible. Not very exciting for most...except for me.

 

Dd would probably vote for a really good telescope. We have a middlin' 6" reflector that needs readjustment.

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A telescope! Yes! That just may be the purchase! Great suggestion (now I need to research some options for that).

 

Another contender is a cool rock/gem collection.

 

And microscope with slides.

 

And some great arts/crafts (Waldorf felting, anyone?)

 

Keep the ideas coming...you guys are awesome!

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We have this rock and mineral collection (75 specimens total) http://www.hometrainingtools.com/rocks-minerals-premium-set---75-specimens/p/RM-ROCK75/ It's a very common set used for general earth science in middle school. Even some high schools have this set for their Science Olympiad team in studying for the Rocks and Minerals event. We've added to the set over the past two years but it was a good starting point in fifth grade (dd earned first place at the state Science Olympiad competition this year, second place last year).

 

This set (100 specimens) http://www.hometrainingtools.com/north-american-rock-collection-100-specimens/p/RM-NARK100/ has slightly larger specimens though all are rocks. I think minerals should be included if you just buy one set. You could add this very basic mineral set (15 specimens) http://www.hometrainingtools.com/mineral-study-kit/p/RM-MISTUDY/ but this one http://www.hometrainingtools.com/classroom-mineral-collection-50-specimens/p/RM-MINCLASS/ would be a much better choice (36 specimens).

 

This set is quite nice for minerals (57!), has basic rocks (12 of each of the three types), and adds in 12 common fossils http://www.hometrainingtools.com/advanced-earth-science-collection/p/RM-EARTSCI/

 

 

 

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A Mediterranean cruise. For me and dh, leaving the kids at home.

 

Oh, wait. You meant something homeschool related.

 

An addition to our house that would be lined with fully stocked bookshelves on just about every wall, leaving only enough wall-space for a couple of windows. A housekeeper and cook who could do science experiments with the kids. And I guess a fully stocked science lab would then be necessary for all those awesome science experiments.

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