I signed up last night and my username/password was in my inbox this morning! :lol: What a deal!! Cindy

Here are some simple ones Carl's Corner has some (check the links on the left) 62 page file of phonics flash cards (print 8 per page to make flash cards) Beginning & ending blend flash cards Lots of different LA flash cards

You can buy any of their items separately, including the instructor guides. That is what I have always done and so far, there have not been any delays in receiving my items. Cindy

We have many of the Usborne internet linked books with older publication dates and for the most part, they are identical to the newer books. As for the links, I have yet to come across any broken/defunct ones on the Usborne site. Both my dc enjoy them immensely (ds 16 and dd 7). Cindy

There are schedules for Rod & Staff & Apologia here but I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for. Cindy

I couldn't see it at first, either. If you go to your Dashboard, you will see an orange rectangle in the middle of the page that says "Purchase Reading Eggs." Look directly below that and to the right (just above "quick stats"). It will say Expires on: 2010-09-01 in small blue letters. Cindy

You can search by level at Book Adventure but it only goes up to 8th grade or so. Have you checked Ambleside Online, that is where we get most of our book suggestions from. This site has some literature suggestions along with links to activities & lesson plans. The link is for the "A" titles, but you can click the different letters at the top of the page. Cindy

It does have suggestions for additional activities, but nothing spectacular IMO. However, I just saw it on homeschool classifieds for $3ppd by searching "explode the code." So in case you decide you want to buy one, they have a few cheap copies. Cindy

Looks like they can contact you (mail, email, etc) and there is nothing you can do about it. This quote is taken directly from their site: Um, I'm not sure I like that part :glare: Cindy

Ambleside is one of my favorite resource sites. I like any of Jimmie's Squidoo lenses, but the poetry one is nicely done. Cindy

We use the guides horizontally instead of vertically for Sonlight and Winter Promise, too. We do all the reading for one week for one or more books in one day. Example, in core 6 week 1, the Usborne Encyclopedia has you reading pages 104-105 Monday, 106-107 Tuesday, 108-109 Wednesday and so on. We read all the scheduled pages for the week on Monday. Then we will do the same thing with a different book the same way Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. If that makes any sense! Cindy

:lol: at the posts My dd is 7 and calling her a "motor mouth" would be a mild understatement. She even talks in her sleep! She can carry on several conversations with different people at the same time without forgetting anything she has said. She can remember what she told someone YEARS ago: future politician maybe? :D Yesterday, she spent the morning explaining how dreams work, why snakes like heat, how to use your imagination to "project" yourself into a piece of art, why cats like chasing mice, how a vacuum works, the differences between male/female Orioles, why she likes Webkinz (and how she chose the name of o 50+ ones she already owns), why God created the universe (and how) and her favorite colors/foods/numbers/flowers. Oh yeah, this was within the first 30 minutes of the morning. After that, I turned off my non-emergency hearing before my mind exploded. Love it! Cindy

:blush: Me too :blushing: I love to :drool: over it! Another of my favorite resource books is Cathy Duffy's Top Picks. Cindy

Here is a site that combines VP with SOTW that may be helpful (or maybe not LOL). Cindy

Since I have been using WP for 3 years and just received SL core 6 last month, I cannot give a full comparison between the two. However, there are a couple differences (that I have seen thus far) that are worth noting: WP is hands-on. The book selections are very good, but we prefer hands-on so that makes all the difference to us. They schedule in all the activities including what supplies you will need, etc. SL has comprehension questions for every book, WP does not. WP has ideas for narration (& they also have "notebooking" pages) but they are generic and do not correlate with a specific reader. I think there was a couple threads on the Winter Promise forum about this. Let me see....... Yep! Here is one (scroll down to post 6 for a through comparison) and here is one BTW, I am currently using an older theme (Quest for the Middle Ages) so I could not give specific advice about the American History themes. If you join the WP forum, you can search the threads for more advice than you'll ever have time to read LOL! Cindy

I'm sorry if my post upset you :grouphug: I was not certain what the laws were but one family I know has their adopted children in PS and homeschools their bio-children. The mom told me she was required to send them all to PS when they completed the last adoption (about 5-6 years ago). Maybe each state is different, I'll have to ask her again, I haven't talked to her in awhile. Cindy

We have McAfee and have never had any problems with it (make sure to scan EVERY link/download if you are not 100% certain it is safe). However, when we had Norton--totally different story! Anyway, if you go here you can obtain some AWESOME information on how to clean your computer and protect it in the future. They include instructions on how to install/run the programs mentioned above & more. I have everything on my pc they recommend and have not had any problems since installing them. Best of all, it's free. You can also join their forum and they will give you advice or walk you through fixing your problem. I can't say enough about how wonderful Major Geeks are! Cindy

You would think the airline would question her when she sent her young child unaccompanied on an overseas flight! No matter how violent or psychologically impaired he was, surely there had to be some help for him here SOMEWHERE :sad: Edited to say that according to this article, apparently Artem's biological mother had jut lost her parental rights due to alcoholism (which could mean he had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). The adoptive mother could have easily sought help for that. Also, neither Artem NOR her biological son were in school (don't adopted children have to attend school), he said they "played at home all day" and a "grandmother shouted at him." More at link. Cindy

My dd is 7and is just now starting to read. :blushing: She can read 3 letter words well, but struggles with blending (i.e. st-ar, cr-ab, etc). I am ashamed to say that I only recently really started trying to "teach" her since all other attempts resulted in frustration on BOTH our parts. We are using CLE Learning to Read, Hooked on Phonics (she likes the books) and ETC (all done alternate days since CLE moves so quickly). FWIW, she has Epilepsy which caused some minor delays. Strange thing is she has an AMAZING photographic memory (ahem, she gets it from me :D). She can recall stuff from 5-6 years ago but easily forgets a word she knew yesterday. OTOH, DS is 16 and he started reading at 5 pretty much on his own after learning the letter sounds. He was reading several grade levels ahead by age 7. Now he won't read unless I force him :glare:. Cindy

My dd LOVES color by number, mazes, etc. So I have quite a few sites saved. You might search Amazon for "Kumon" as they have some excellent books that would fit his interest, too. Color by number Mazes Varied (annoying ad pops up when you first visit the site, but it is definitely worth the wait) Coloring pages for any "TV" character you can think of HUGE database of coloring/activity pages (slow to load but there are hundreds, maybe thousands of pages here) 1,400+ categories of pages Create your own activity pages (this is dd's favorite, you can color online, make place mats/activity pages and add in math, etc) Connect the dots Connect the dots 2 Ivy's links to coloring/activity pages Winnie the Pooh mazes and dot to dot Another huge database of pages Mazes and coloring pages Variety of worksheets for PreK-5 (there are TONS of pages here, make sure to check the archives) ABCTeach mazes (some free, some require membership, but the free ones are very nice) ABCTeach dot to dot Mazes from easy to difficult Mazes, dot to dot, color by number, and more Color by number or letter Crayola color by number Color by number/letter links If he gets bored with those, let me know because I have quite a few more links (I'd post them but I gotta get breakfast before everyone dies of hunger LOL). Cindy

If you go here and click "sneak peeks' you can see inside the teacher manual. If you want to buy the teacher guide cheaply (or the student book without the hassle of a public school company), there are several available on Amazon for each level. Simply copy & paste the ISBN of the book you are interested in (i.e. 9780618248551 for the 6th grade teacher's manual, 978-0618248520 for the 6th grade student book). Cindy

I have purchased many items from HSBC (online subscriptions mostly), and it always takes a couple days longer that the "suggested" date on the site. With as many orders as they have to process (not just for MM but all the other offers that have ended in the last week), I can't even begin to imagine how they get it all done in a couple days! Cindy

We are using MOH with Winter Promise Quest for the Middle ages and I think it would be VERY easy to use on its own. However, if you like having it all planned out for you, on the MOH Yahoo group there are several schedules with literature/video suggestions listed for each week (also a schedule combining with Sonlight core 6). Once you join (free) you will find them under "files" on the left side of the home page. Cindy

I posted a reply but it seems to have vanished! Sunday School resources Christian Preschool Printables (for older kids too) Worksheets Teacher Help Bible Henny Penny Ebible teacher Audio Bible stories Kids 4 Truth Crossmap MSSS CWS I have more, but I gotta get dd to bed (I am procrastinating LOL) Cindy

We have extremely hard water and we run Lemi Shine with every load (a few teaspoons in each soap cup). You can buy it at any grocery store or Walmart/Target for a couple dollars. Dishwasher Magic is good to clean out your dishwasher, but Lemi Shine keeps them sparkling clean in every wash (that sounded like a commercial LOL). Also, if you are using liquid soap, you should switch to powdered. Powdered is the recommended hard water dish washing soap for hard water. Cindy