http://welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249465 Here's an old thread with a similar question. :) I hope you and your friends have a great retreat! What a fun idea! Heather

Forgive me if I missed seeing this, but the Theodosia Throckmarton books feature a self-taught (unschooled?) main character. There is occasional mention of "oh dear, we really ought to hire a governess" but that never seems to work out. lol. Excellent books. Heather

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=463_470 The link above has a bunch of speakers for $1 per session. I downloaded some sessions by the Clarksons, Sue Patrick, Andrew Pudewa, Diana Waring, and many more. Also a while back I just googled "free homeschool mp3" and found some free stuff.

My husband just ordered one of these, too. I'm planning to use it as an e-reader, and to surf the net. If you want to, you could pm me in a week or two and I'll let you know how it would be for blogging, etc. Heather

If your yogurt is too thin/runny, you can strain it through cheesecloth or a coffee filter until it is the desired consistency. They whey can be used in baking. Don't strain it too long, or you'll end up with "cheese". :) Heather

This chicken-mushroom casserole. Hope it's good! http://mobile.eatingwell.com/recipes/chicken_wild_rice_casserole.html

I was just searching for the same thing! Anyone?? Heather

We printed these off 16 to a page and made our own memory type game. Lots of fun! Heather

I forgot to say that although only two can "play" at the same time, it is pretty easy to swap players in and out. So, even in our living room, where only one person "fits" my kids still go every other turn on the different games.

Yes, as far as I can tell, 2 is the max. Maybe newer games will allow more? (Though I can only imagine how much room it will want you to have...)

In my experience, yes, it does. Especially if they run between the player and the sensor. Although, occasionally it has even tried to add someone sitting on the couch behind the player as an additional person. My 3 and 6 year olds love it, but it also frustrates them. Especially the 3 year old - if he doesn't get his hand out far enough, it "disappears". He wants me to "do it for him", but then the sensors readjust for me... Sometimes it takes a bit of finessing to get him actually PLAYING the games. Also, the way our living room is arranged, it won't let two players play at once. We have plenty of room side to side, but can only get back about 6 feet, and that is not enough for 2 players. I think 8-10 ft is optimal. Overall, I love the IDEA of the Kinect, but in our situation perhaps a Wii would have been better (?- Not really sure, I've never played Wii). It is super fun, though! Heather

:lol::lol::lol: This has me laughing out loud! Yes, I have caught myself repeating DD's memory work many times... OP, I was just listening to some SWB lectures (it was either the Writing in the Elementary Years one, or the Joy of Classical Education, both excellent!) and SWB specifically says not to expect the child to be able to apply their spelling and grammar rules to other work in the early grades. Just keep working on the rules and definitions, and then when it "clicks" the child will have all the pieces already "filed"... I was very reassured to hear that (since my DD can easily recite the definition of a noun, but not pick one out of a sentence!) Heather

Ah, yes... We have had "Chree" "Chrain" and "Chrick"... Obviously our local dialect does not clearly enunciate the "tr" sound... I just work on reminding DD that there are very few English words that begin "Chr" where the CH does not make the hard /k/ sound... Heather

I found the gray block paper to really help dd5 understand where to start her letters, as well as helping them be a more consistent size. We didn't use it for long but it did make a difference, IMO.

Yes, I think this would work fine. In fact, that's basically what the one-day-per-week MDO program that my son goes to is planning to do. The teacher is interested in implementing HWT methodology, but the program couldn't afford a workbook for every child. You may want to design your own "grey block" paper, and two-line paper in a word processing program, especially if you are doing the pre-K or K level. Heather

We're "Reich Family" (real creative, huh?). Thanks to whoever posted about this... I think it will be fun.

We're super excited, too. I love the idea of meeting with other families for projects...

Hi! I'm new here, a lurker mostly. I happened to stumble upon this thread, and it caught my eye, as I had been considering doing something like this. I've actually been following the thread since the beginning, and have (gasp!) read every post! Anyway, I've been hard at work on my filing since the beginning of July, and it's still not done! I guess that's not entirely accurate, as lots of what I am doing is planning, more than actually filing. I'm using HST+, which I think I will like, once I get the hang of it. Right now, the thorn in my side is History. We're using SOTW 1, with the activity guide, timeline, and a review lapbook. Between setting it all up in HST+ and then printing, printing, printing, I'm ready to be done! Tell me I'll be glad not to be scrambling for lapbook elements every Sunday night... Lots of our curric is not really "file-able" so I'm using the Progress Chart idea mentioned earlier in the thread. I'm also filing stuff for my little guy to do, such as "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready" which I've owned for a while but haven't used. I set up weekly files (numbered 1-36) and then a file for each month for date specific stuff. I've also added a few files at the back for blank notebooking paper, lined paper, etc. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and say thanks to all who have contributed their great ideas to this thread. Oh, here is one idea that I think hasn't been mentioned yet... I printed/cut out all our timeline figures and then put them in a library pocket on each file. Keeps them from getting lost at the bottom of the pile! :) Heather

Here!

All About Spelling. :)

I like the 3/8th size for binding smaller projects, or things that are 1 sheet per week (schedules, etc). The 5/8 are nice for binding larger reports or projects. Hope this helps!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hannah_hs_helps/ This yahoo group has a pdf and excel version of the Year 1 extra books list for SOTW. I tried uploading the list directly, but it was too large of a file. Hope this helps! Heather

Oh, you definitely could print them at home. I just find that my printer is a total ink hog, and would likely cost me more than $.10/pg. Maybe not though... I guess I should figure that out. And you totally could just print the Student pages... my computer isn't in our homeschool room, so reading online wouldn't work well for us, I don't think. Heather

Well, I did it! The only downside I can see is the cost... The AG download was $27.95, and it cost $30 to get one copy printed. Plus I bought a nice big binder for it (about $10, because I'm a sucker for the clear slide in coverpage). So total cost was about 67.95, which is considerably more than the $34.95 to just buy the darn thing. :) Then I made an extra set of coloring sheets for my little guy, which came to about $5. However, I think I will like the convenience of the 3-hole punch, and being able to add each weeks section to my "master binder" as needed. Also, being able to run more copies of the student pages later at my convenience will also be handy. I'll give it a try for this year, and decide on the best plan for years 2-4. Heather

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/history-and-geography.html This is where I found them. It looks like several of the Language Arts products are available as downloads, too. :)