That sounds exciting!

When you ordered your book(s), was the background solid black or did it have little white spots/flecks all over? I just had a book arrive damaged, but I don't know if the white marks are part of what I need to include in the feedback.TIA

My oldest is doing 5A right now too and we have some of the same issues. For the first time I'm teaching her to do some of the textbook pages on notebook paper. She doesn't have any handwriting/dysgraphia issues and it's still been a big struggle! We do use a small white board sometimes, with ultra-fine tip markers. I like the idea of taking pictures of the work. We might try that and keep a notebook on the ipad.

Week 4. The first two weeks went quite well and now it's been harder to get everything done. We've had some appointments etc, but also DD just seems a lot more distracted. I keep wondering if I have her doing too much, but when I suggest cutting back even slightly she really doesn't want to. She gets frustrated when she thinks she's "behind" and seems stressed. I worry a little about Paris Geller tendencies....

My grandma swore by Gain powder detergent for smelly farm laundry.

Well, someone else got to them before me (big sale this weekend) so my choices were more limited. I got Challenge Math, Real World Algebra and the "10 Things...." book. That should keep me busy for a while!

There is a local used bookstore that has nearly all the Zaccaro books right now - all the challenge books, algebra and more. I was wondering if one of the books stands out as a favorite? (I will not buy them all, I will not buy them all, I will not buy them all........ )

We love USA Gold pencils.

The hard copy also released earlier in August.

We are 1.5 weeks in and doing pretty well. My 5th grader really likes the logic stage history and science because she loves research. We are working on time management and have had some afternoons go later than I would prefer. She has a science class at a local academy that is once a week that just started.

I can't deal with anything that looks like the materials used at my cousins' hokey little Christian school when we were growing up - Abeka and those Lifepacs or whatever they are called. Also if it takes too long to figure out what material/level my kid needs, I won't use it. (IEW) I haven't bought from Critical Thinking Company because I feel like their catalog preys on parents' insecurities. The offer huge packages of material that look like a full year's curriculum but marketed as supplements. And I was turned off of CM/AO for years after joining a yahoo group where all the moms seemed kind of miserable and constantly wringing their hands over whether or not something they were doing was "truly CM" style. I found the WTM boards and didn't look back. Now Bravewriter etc... is slowly getting me interested in it again.

We are one week into it, so I'm not sure I can give an accurate review at this point. I gave my daughter the choice of continuing with CAP W+R (that she liked) or Writers in Residence. She browsed through the sample and fell in love with it. I think it could be used secularly. We are Christian but I usually prefer secular material. I don't like Apoligia for science but this is fine with me. I haven't read through the other author profiles to see their content. It seems like it would be easy enough to find articles or interviews with other authors if you wanted to.

I really really like USA Gold, which are easy to find in Walmart and Target right now. You will need some good eraser caps if you use them, because the pencils last forever. I first bought USA Gold pencils three years ago and we are still on the same package!!! (We only use them for homeschool - the kids keep any junky novelty pencils in their rooms)

I ordered a pair of the Maped scissors for my 10 year old. Now I'm curious about them too! (though I've adapted to right handed cutting for over 30 years and even the thought of lefty cutting feels weird lol) I have a family member who irons with her left hand because her mom and older sister were both left handed and that's how they taught her.

Interesting. My two lefties have always seemed to do fine with Fiskars ambi scissors, but maybe I will get some lefty scissors to see if they like them better. I am also a lefty but I cut with my right hand. I'm pretty sure that came from not always having access to lefty/ambi scissors.

I've just started Primer 1 with my 8 year old and I'm really liking it! We are easing into the copywork, as it's an area of focus for him this year. I knew that I didn't want to do FLL/WWE with him and this has been a great introduction to language arts.

I bought some literature guides from a TPT store called The Book Umbrella. They are a little formulaic, but a good starting point for us for fifth grade this year. I'm looking at Jacob's Ladder from Prufrock Press as a future possibility.

You can use less detergent, but I wouldn't recommend no soap for the reasons already mentioned. I used to cut Finish tabs in half after reading on someone's blog that they did it as a way to save money. It worked fine though I eventually quit doing it because of the hassle. (It's kind of difficult to cut and you can't cut a bunch at once without a mess. Maybe I will start doing it again) Another thing that will help your dishwasher run better is, before starting it, to run the water in the kitchen sink until it is hot.

In my exposure to tween girl pen culture (haha) the favorites are Flair pens, which write very easily and come in fun colors. Frixion pens are nice too. You can get them on Amazon in a marker style, which would have a similar writing feel to Flairs or Sharpies.

We are about to start Logic Stage Biology. It came up repeatedly as a recommendation in a local hs group. I also had my DD look at the sample pages and she got SUPER excited about it. That influenced my decision more than anything.

I bought a used Usborne science dictionary recently and it came in a nice clear plastic cover that fits it perfectly. Does anyone know if these are available for other Usborne paperbacks? I also just bought the science encyclopedia (new) and would love to keep it protected.

I'm considering this too as my 10 year old is interested. I took lessons all through school so I can provide decent support for beginning levels. The current product vs the 2.0 edition confuses me a little. I think we might stick with the current edition as it is less money upfront.

For handwriting, how about buying an inexpensive pad of handwriting paper and writing some of the words from ETC for her to copy? I've been using them behind level for my 8 year old. He struggled when he first started reading and the "easy" work was confidence building and good review for him. I don't have him do much writing in the book at all (we used HWT for that). On the pages where it is just pictures and a line to write each word, I had him spell each word orally to me while I wrote them down. It provided a bit of a spelling test and he got to watch me model good handwriting.

I ordered a new box of printer paper and 6 Better Binders from Staples a few weeks ago when I had a coupon. I might need a couple more binders but I will wait until I know for sure and probably just get simple ones from Amazon. I splurged on Frixion highlighters for ME. We don't need too much - index cards, binder rings, maybe one package of notebook paper. I will probably also get a handful of folders and notebooks to keep on hand. I will grab some little cutesy stuff for the first day of school, but will pick those out in the store.

Frixion is nice. My 10 year old dd and most of her friends are crazy about the colored Flair pens.