My girls ALL love the pegs. They are great!

I don't know, but would like to. I've been eye-balling it for a long time too because I trust that the Bluedorns know their stuff.

Here's a review I wrote on the Human Body DVD: http://quiverfullfamily.com/2010/03/12/dvd-review-and-contest-rock-‘n-learn-–-human-body/

We just use a wet rag too - way better than the mitt and friction.

I was looking at Anne Dunagan's The Mission-Minded Child and it is a great resource too. Short biographies, poems for copywork or memorization, quotes - very inspiring.

Well, I might not have been as clear as I could have been. When I said that I am self-teaching with FFL, I meant that *I* am using FFL for MYSELF :). Hope that helps! I had two years of Latin in high school but it wasn't using a grammar-first program like First Form, so my understanding of Latin's big picture was never great, though I could translate. FFL is much better in my opinion than what I had in high school (Cambridge). Now I am really GETTING the grammar. My oldest is using Prima Latina and is around 1/2 way done.

We have a couple of their topical DVDs and they are very easy for children to do on their own. My oldest (8) adores them. We don't have the proper art curric though.

This varies incredibly from family to family. You can ask, "What do YOU spend to homeschool?" and get some better answers that way. I think we are spending around $1000/year for our oldest, but it will work out to less for our second daughter because we have more on the shelf to pull from for her :). We live rurally so our library is tiny, we have to buy everything for the most part. That being said, I do buy used whenever possible. We also like to buy a lot of books to read together and individually. That bumps the price up quite a bit. I think textbooks are cheaper generally, but I can't get into them for content subjects, I much prefer to teach those from a spine and living books.

We do it based on when we do subjects. So I would do the number things right before getting down to math. Writing and phonemes review before phonics/reading. Bible before devotions. Then you might want to just do a general period for other things like months, poems etc.

We actually have Steams of Civ. Vol 1! It is pretty neat :). I just downloaded TWGHFTW and hope to look at it soon! It really sounds groovy! I like Ann Dunagan's work in other realms, so this is exciting to learn about! I too am surprised I hadn't heard of it before.

We use MUS :). It is mastery and manipulative based.

Oooh, thanks for that link Hunter! You are so good at hunting things down!

While I agree that SL is great for an open-and-go missions focus, I just wanted to remind that missions really start in the heart of parents who want to see God's Word spread. It then passes on down to little ones, more through the home-culture than through anything else! Supporting missionary efforts where you can receive letters from the field is a great idea. We support GFA (Gospel for Asia) and love the news and uupdates we receive that we can share with our children. They also have a book called, hmm, Even Donkeys Speak? or When Donkeys Speak for children, and it is a very exciting read aloud!

Hi Kerry, I use the DVD on the first day of the new lesson, and sometimes I even watch it twice if I need/want to ;). The DVDs do MOST of the teaching in the TM, but I still read through to see if I have missed anything - more detail IS given in the TM re: derivatives, grammar etc.

I love First Form too - if you get the DVDs it makes it SO SO easy. I'm self-teaching with it ;).

Which volume are you thinking of using? Volume 1 is ancients up to Christ so I think a Catholic could easily use it - not so much with future volumes that deal with the reformation etc. Yes, you can use it alone, or you can add supplements to it - it is flexible but easily stands alone.

We do AAS - short, lots of review, R&S - mostly oral which makes it short, and WTM writing - also short - narration, brief written summaries.

Thanks! We love the Bluedorns and own many of their titles, but didn't have this one!

20 minutes together, maybe an extra 10 for coloring if he is a details kind of guy :).

Yep, I would definitely combine :).

Well, don't spend $140. Just get the first level materials and see if it works. I have ONLY used AAS, but it works so well with my DD that I am using it for DH too. Like Merry said, there is a good return policy!

Educational Fontware sells Cursive First in their BIG package of fonts.

Just go through your cards quickly over a few weeks then dig into level 3.

We are HSing in the living room right now - no tables involved! AND we have no wall space - only book shelf, so NOPE, no wall alphabets here!

Thanks. The lesson plans tempt me for memory work too. I suck at that...still.