We use lots of different programs. Not all of the children use the same ones, but everyone has at least two or three things going all the time. Right now, we are using Systematic Mathematics, CLE, LOF, Hands on Equations, Singapore Primary Mathematics, Japanese Math for Elementary Schools, Singapore Challenging Word Problems, Primary Challenge Math, Miquon, Singapore Earlybird, Essential Mathematics, and the Math Toolkit Manual from Global Resources. This is spread out over five children, ages 4-14. We are not math brains, but we do enjoy math and like lots of variety. Melinda

Our most recent funny is 6ds who wants to help milk the goats and squeeze their "gudders." Melinda

I store bacon grease in a jar in the refrigerator. I use it to season veggies, in mashed potatoes, stirred into grits, to grease the pan for eggs, omelets, or stir fry. Bacon grease never lasts long enough around here. Melinda

I've been thinking of getting this. What didn't you like about it? Melinda

We're going to see a NAET practitioner next week. Has anyone been through this treatment? What can we expect, and did it work for you? Melinda

The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Ours is kept in a plastic school box that snaps shut. We glued bubble wrap in the top and bottom to hold the Flashmaster in place. Melinda

My children, especially the boys, really like this one. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970859627/dealoz_us_movie-20/ref=nosim Melinda

Would you cook this meat? Dd started chicken baking before she went to bed. I went to check on it when the timer went off. Dd had forgotten to turn the oven on. The chicken, one cookie sheet of thighs and one of drumsticks, have been sitting in the oven for 70 minutes. When I discovered them, I immediately started the oven. Is this safe to cook or do I need to toss it? Melinda

My children love Five Little Peppers. Currently, we're listening to it on Librivox and only have four more chapters to go. Melinda

What "teacher elements" did you lack that might have helped? Melinda

Horn worms do eat from the tops down. It seems they stay small and just eat a little, and they suddenly have a growth spurt and eat a bunch. You know you have them, but it may take several days of them growing before you can find them. Yesterday, I paid out $5 for horn worms. Melinda

Tomato horn worms are VERY hard to spot. They have a fifty cent bounty on their heads around here. Melinda

This is what I have and I love it. Melinda http://www.sewvacdirect.com/janome4800.html

We make smoothies with fruit (usually blueberries), rice protein powder, kefir, goat milk, frozen spinach, and coconut oil. Melinda

Is this the right one? http://www.jimhodgesaudiobooks.com/yesterdaysclassic_american_history_stories.html Melinda

HOW are you moving 1800 cows from NY to TX? Melinda

Do not send the book back. I am going through this right now with an Amazon Marketplace seller. She sent me a completely different book than what I ordered. I notified her and she said send it back. I asked who was going to pay return shipping and she assured me that she would refund me for first class shipping. She has received the book and has refunded my original cost. She has not refunded me the return shipping. She says she can't refund any more than what I paid her through Amazon. I gave her until 8am today to make good on it. I'm about to file a claim with Amazon and leave negative feedback. Melinda

We have an Excalibur too. Love it and it gets lots of use. We've made beef jerky, fruit rollups, and dried lots of other things. We have dried tomatoes, figs, cherries, pineapple, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, plums, mushrooms, squash, all kinds of herbs (like stevia, basil, rosemary, mint, sage, oregano). I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of now. Blessings, Melinda

I forgot to mention that if you take one of the free classes, she gives a discount code. Blessings, Melinda

We love it! We have the whole shebang and are using it with 14dd, 11dd, 9ds, 6ds, 4dd, and 1.5dd/mama team. This is the way science was meant to be done. If you really need them to, they can do it independently, but you will be missing out on so much fun. Have you taken any of the free teleclasses? Blessings, Melinda

We tried Easy Grammar (or maybe it was Daily Grams) several years ago, but it didn't work real well. They teach you something, and then expect you to remember and apply it. She would never remember what she was taught. For example, they taught you to capitalize people's names in one lesson. In the next lesson they would tell you to capitalize whatever needed capitalizing. She couldn't remember that names needed to be capitalized. Money is no motivation for her. It's not that she won't learn, but somehow she can't. She tries hard. You have never met a more determined or hardworking person. I just wish I could figure something out to help her. It's really scary to me to think that in four to five years she should be done with school, but she is still working on upper elementary level work. Her skill level is terrible, but her knowledge levels are great. It's just so hard to get information in her brain in a way she can capture it. Melinda

We haven't tried Shurley, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the recommendation. Blessings, Melinda

Grammar is killing us. We study grammar over and over and over. She just doesn't get it/can't remember it. We've used several curriculums over the years, but it hasn't made any difference. I've been desperate to find something to help her, but she's fourteen now and I'm REALLy desperate to figure this out. Dd can do ending sentence punctuation and define noun. Occasionally she can remember what a verb or an article is. Her capitalization is terrible. She can't figure out the difference between common and proper nouns. In short, she's just terrible with grammar. Rod and Staff English was the only total bust for her. We have switched to workbook curriculums, but she still doesn't retain anything. Currently we are doing JAG, The Basic Cozy Grammar Course, The Basic Cozy Punctuation Course, and I'm making her listen in while I do Sentence Family with the others. Some things I've figured out. Workbooks work best so she doesn't have to do much copying and can just write the answers. She learns really well by listening to things over and over. She gets little or nothing out of a lesson if she does it on her own. Take science for instance. If she reads a chapter on her own, she will have learned little and can't answer questions at the end. She will retain slightly more having it read to her. But, she will still have totally forgotten it by the next day unless it is something super interesting to her. If you do the lesson with her, reading, discussing, answering the questions, she will get the most out of it. With most subjects, if you can add hands on or video, you will boost what she learns. This doesn't work with math, unless you sit with her and explain what she just saw. This is not just a grammar problem. Dd has to pound things over and over (like for years) to get them. Nothing schoolish comes easy for her. She reads well and has a very good memory. What can I do to help her? Melinda

My boys love Tuckets Travels. We used it as a read aloud when they were younger (5 and 7.5), but oldest ds (now 9) is reading it alone right now. This is a series of five books, but the link is for an all-in-one volume book. We have the all-in-one. http://www.amazon.com/Tuckets-Travels-Francis-Adventures-1847-1849/dp/0440419670/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244050461&sr=8-1 Melinda