Hi everybody, just wanted to introduce myself and my family.  My name is Amber and I have 3 amazing little girls who are 9, 6, and 4.  My husband works in the oilfield in west Texas, so we don't get to see him much right now.  My oldest 2 were going to public school, but after many many problems and lots of prayer I decided to homeschool them.  ODD is gifted in pretty much all areas which keeps me on my toes.  MDD is also very smart and has a speech problem.  Although she's been doing well over the last couple of years that she's been in Speech Therapy so I'm confident that even though she's not receiving that service any more that she'll continue to improve.  YDD is in pre-school right now and loving it.  She has epilepsy, but is doing very well.  She's also a smarty pants.   ;)   Due to circumstances, I had to pull the older 2 out a couple of weeks earlier than I originally thought so I was very unprepared.  I think we're starting to get into our groove, though.  I decided to wait until after the holidays to buy curriculum.  Partly because of the expense and partly because I want to get to know them from a teacher's viewpoint so that hopefully when I do buy curriculum it'll be the right one for each of them.  Ummm......what else?  I babysit a todder on Mondays and my infant nephew 4-5 days a week.  I've been doing BSF (Bible study for those who don't know), but I'm currently having trouble finding childcare to watch the big ones Wednesday mornings.  Maybe there's another mom on here who would be willing to trade babysitting??  Oh and we live in the South Valley (not a bad neighborhood, though).  I guess that's it.  Anything else you want to know, just ask.  I'll warn you, I tend to babble.  I don't get out much! lol

Hope I did that right....

Sorry, just saw that I was supposed to use my first name and last initial as a screen name, but naturally I did it backwards.  Do I need to make a new profile then?

Hi Amber,

I just joined the group a couple of days ago and am returning to home schooling. I have a 10-year-old daughter who is suffering from Interstitial Cystitis, an extremely painful condition. I haven't purchased a curriculum, and I don't intend to do so. I will be starting where she left off in school and making sure she learns at least all of the things that she is expected to know for the state standards. Because my daughter has been classified as "exceptionally gifted", and our goal is to make sure she has the option of returning to school, I will be looking at the standards of 5th-7th grades. If you are interested in seeing the state standards, go to: http://ped.state.nm.us/ped/index.html

In addition, she is reading the ABQ Public library's recommended books for 5-7th grade. You can pick up a list of suggested books at your local library. I just looked online, and the lists aren't posted. I am speaking to someone at the main library and asking her about the possibility of them adding the lists to the web site. She will be doing reports on the books. We are also doing daily readings of short stories from college-level Norton Readers. I chose these books--because we have a couple around the house, and because they have questions after each story. The questions give us prompts to help with the discussions.

Good luck,
teej

Thank you for your reply!  I'm so sorry you and your daughter are dealing with that.  I didn't even think about the sate standards so I will definitely look into that.  I think it will certainly help to make sure I'm teaching them the right stuff and staying on track.  That's awesome that the library has those lists.  I didn't know about that either!  Just looking at all the differemt curriculum that's out there plus the free stuff, it's all so overwhelming.  On the plus side they both were able to bring home their math workbooks from the school so for now we're kind of sticking with that.  I found a lot of books at the Friends for the Public Library bag sale on Sunday that we're going to use.  It's been quite unusual adjusting to this new way of life/thinking.  I'm so excited to give my kids what they need the way they need it and at their pace.  

Sent you my phone number! Take care  :)