I'm a wheat berry salad failure. :glare: I couldn't get the wheat berries to soften up enough for our liking and one of my children didn't not properly digest them (not a wheat intolerant child). That said, we do love nutritionally dense salads! I too love red cabbage, feta cheese, olive oil based dressings, dried cranberries and peppers; so here are some more foods to experiment with in your salads if you haven't already (obviously not all together): jicama, apple slices, dried cherries (even better than cranberries), pine nuts, almonds (toasted or sliced), a touch of honey in your homemade dressing, parmesian cheese or better yet parmesian reggiano (more expensive). I'm currently experimenting with nutritionally dense smoothies, but maybe I'll try soaking those wheat berries one more time. :) Have you ever tried quinoa?

Focus on the work rather than the words. I downplay this type of arguing by simply stating, "Well, let's not worry about whose fault it is, let's just get it done." :)

Just another vote for REWARDS. It's very parent friendly and easy to add into your day. I used the Intermediate Level with my daughter once she achieved a reading level beyond 4th grade. She reads A LOT now, even for fun! :)

I am. However, I'm also planning for 2nd semester. It's common for me to teach some of the extras one semester and others the second semester, especially w/my older ones. :)

What ages? This varies greatly according to the ages and abilities of my children. :)

Thanks, ladies. It looks like there is no consensus. :lol: I love a lot of your creative ideas, but do not home school by a computer or by our kitchen, and I have an analog watch. It looks like my best bet is a dollar store--at least if it breaks it cost less, right? :001_huh:

Uh-oh. I've already tried this one. (sigh)

The dollar store, I love it! I have spent between $5 and $7 on more timers than you want to know. (sigh) Please, don't tell me the brand name on yours is "Taylor" as these are the ones that keep stopping on me and I *never* drop mine. They just stop working shortly after they are purchased.

I've gone through WAY too many timers. They all break within weeks. I need a more dependable timer for our daily drills. Any suggestions?

Thank you! I'm looking at these lesson plans right now. I had no idea CK had expanded their lesson plans this much. :) I am familiar with their poetry selections too.

I'm having a lot of fun with my current first grader. She finds such delight in finding patterns, finding rhyming words, and counting out syllables in poetry. I'm wondering if there is a gentle program for teaching poetry to her next year (2nd grade). Any recommendations?

Here's a placment test for the Horizons K Math books: http://www.sonlight.com/images/samples/horizons-math/1/pdf/1-readiness.pdf. It will give you a great idea of what is coverd in Horizons K. HTH.

Great question! I was unaware that one could freeze pumpkin and freezing it in 1/2 cup portion is an excellent idea. Thanks for posting. :)

Congrats to your daughter, Carol!

My guess is that you are speaking about the younger levels? I've not heard this about the Pre-algebra and beyond books.

How big of a crowd? Here are some ideas: ~spaghetti w/salad ~hoagies/sub sandwiches (make your own, also an option) ~pizza (a variety and best for smaller end of "large group")

You can do maps with history or you can just have a separate geography time. I've used Trail Guide to World Geography and we really enjoyed it. It only takes 15-20 minutes per day. For historical based geography, nothing was easier than the SOTW outline maps when we went through SOTW. I know you'll get more replies which is the best thing about this board, but those are my two cents worth of suggestions. :)

Here's a tip, try cleaning the entire downstairs floors in one day and then do nothing for a week. I have a tremendous amount of hard flooring on our main level. I can reasonably survive a full week if all the floors were THOROUGHLY cleaned one day out of the week. However, this means moving furniture, dusting well, and getting ALL the dog hair. Dog hair has a way of traveling from room to room. It also includes vacuuming those area rugs and lifting the corners of the area rugs to get beneath them. Plus, mopping. Quite frankly I rarely have the energy to do that much in a single day. So, instead I opt for the one-two room per day strategy. My children and I divide up the responsibilities. I am very floor picky, so I usually take the floors. Ooops. Forgot to mention tools. We don't use a larger mop, just a traditional deck style mop from any store. I am blessed to have a central vac system which I love. The head of the vacuum is equivalent to a traditional size vacuum, nothing special.

Ooops. I realized my own error in presentation and am removing my post. :blushing:

Thanks! My dd and I both really like the grammar approach of the program.

Ooops.

Michelle, I see you're using SfC instead. How's that going? I'm pretty sure I'm going to purchase it for my 12yo to begin next semester. Level A will be a lot of review for her, but she said she needs it. :)

I'm not sure why you call this a "Breakfast Board" but it generated an idea for me. Why not have a "nutrition center" on your board? You can have pieces of fruit, veggies, bread, etc. Let your dd teach the food groups while teaching the names of food, the colors of the foods, and perhaps even how to count the food.

At this age, I like to provide my children the tools necessary for exploring their world. For this reason I recommend gathering science kits: a good magnetic kit, an electricity kit, a simple chemistry kit, magnifying glasses, a sample of rocks and their names, an aquarium or bug collecting kit, etc. If you need some specific kit recommendations, let me know. :)

Thank you, ladies. You all seem to agree that the amount of copywork is the biggest drawback, but is also easily corrected. I'm leaning towards a cursive writing program for 2nd grade that is also rather lengthy in its copying requirements so I'll take it all into consideration. I noticed none of you are adding in a separate formal spelling program. Is this typical? Would you not recommend a separate program? My upcoming 2nd grader is the strongest writer I've had thus far, so I'm willing to have the bar set a little higher.