I'm looking for a themed book that has generic assignments - I don't want specific paragraphs for outlining - I want to pick my own, but I really need more hand holding than the original program manual (I find it very visually confusing and overwhelming). The thing that is holding me back from IEW is that there is no easy manual for using your own assignments - I don't feel like they put together the writen materials all that well for the teacher not using SWI. I like the themed books, but again, I don't want a specific assignment. Do I just use a themed book and make my own assignments? WWYD? Beth

Flashmaster---takes less than 5 minutes a day to really get those math facts down. Not "fun" but it really gets the job done - hands off for mom and relatively painless. Beth

I have had years of not sleeping all that great. It got better and then we adopted little schnooky #4 and it's been a lot worse. Mostly stress for me I guess...I also have a sneeky suspicion that my thyroid may be at play since I only have 1/2 of a thyroid, but even the most sensative of tests say everything's normal...I hear you. I plan on getting another prescription for Ambien CR just to get me through. I wind up taking one if I haven't slept well for 4-5 days. It sometimes reboots the system and reminds my body what it's supposed to do. My sleepyness shows up in melencholy. Until I had a stretch of sleeping well, I thought I was mostly pessamistic. Turns out, I'm naturally an optimist until I don't get a lot of sleep. Funny how it can change your own personality. Beth

Ds is using Science 4. Right now, he's doing an usborne microscope book and a tops book on magnetism. Yes- they don't match up, but he doesn't seem to mind. He doesn't like the tops books...they get a little long for him doing the same thing. We do love the discover and do DVDS. Beth

These articles are just what I found with a quick search: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i2/stalactites.asp http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v9/i4/stalactites.asp Stalactites and stalagmites don't take that long to form. How do they know they took millions of years? The only way to really know is if there was someone documenting it. There are people documenting growth now. Let's say they notice how long they are growing currently...They use current rates of growth and go backwards to figure out how many years it may have taken to make the stalactites. You can't really use that as a measure to figure out old the thing is. You would have to have a closed system with everything remaining the same. With a cave and shifting rock layers (among other things - seasonal floods/droughts), you cannot assume that the rate of growth is the same. Radio- isometric dating and carbon dating have both been proven to have some serious problems with the results. That's a whole other discussion. Beth

I'm wondering this exact same thing. I can't do IEW...it doesn't mesh with me as a teacher. Beth

As a current Tog person now (former Core K and MFW person), I would suggest going with Core K. I love TOG and am sticking with it for the long haul, but sometimes newbies have a hard time not doing everything in TOG. It's just because you don't always know what is possible in a day without losing you or your child's sanity. Some people can do TOG from the start, I just don't think I was ready 4 years ago as a new homeschooler. I think having a sonlight core which showed me how to schedule a day really helped me with TOG. Core K was great and we had a good year with it. I would suggest sitting on it for a month or so and see where God is leading you. That always helps me to weed stuff out. Beth

The usborne ancient world book is used quite a bit.

My ds rides the bus and has all sorts of junk on his wheelchair. He's always had very nice bus drivers. I usually wait by the door because they have other kids they need to get off and some who get really antsy if they don't get home right away. If I can't be at the door looking out, I have one of the kids do it. It would be nice if they could honk or something - that's not out of the question. I've had them do it when I wasn't right there. My son's wheelchair is filthy...just from getting out of the school onto the bus today picked up all the gravel and salt from the sidewalk. I try to wipe that stuff off only because my carpets are already suffering. There is no way i would spend the time every day to get it really clean - too many pieces to remove and clean. I just don't have that kind of time. I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the wheelchairs I've seen around here are pretty dirty. I hear you - it's hard to be overwhelmed and then have someone be the proverbial "camel back breaker". Been there done that. I really feel your pain...it's easy to feel overwhelmed having a special kid. Beth

The only advice is to have them take a placement test. You may even find out that they could place into TT5. Beth

We're 1/2 way through Sonlight core 4 science - it has the physics with magnets and electricity with a bunch on microscopes. It is a year program though---They use a TOPS magnetism and TOPS electricity and an usborne book on the microscope. Beth

I usually buy all the TOG books. It's become a hobby to find used books. Right now, I'm collecting for year 4 (we're on year 3). So far, I've found over 30 books that we will be using through goodwill/used bookstores/paperbackswap. I figure if I don't find any others, I will wind up spending an additional $400 on books new (I usually buy used so maybe 2/3 to 1/2 of that total). I have 2 other children coming up that will use them all eventually and then I can resell. When I did do a program once that was heavily library dependent (MFW). I started it in early August to avoid any unforseen rush to get all the books from the library. I figured I was at least 2-4 weeks ahead of anyone else. Just a thought... Beth

$625 per month - 6 people 2 sons who eat more than their mom 1 son who is is almost eating more than me 1 tiny daughter who still packs it away 1 husband, 1 mom We live in the northern midwest.

I've finished Alphaphonics with #2 now. I just go straight to Dr.Suess early readers. They are made for sight-read learners not phonics, but I find them useful for all those sighte words they should know (what, was, am, there, ect). I waited on spelling until ds was reading comortably. I may have to amend that since ds#2 is trying to write letters and notes to various people and he's really trying to spell a lot of stuff - I don't want him to memorize the wrong spelling. Beth

I had this on a different post about costs since these were the two programs I was looking at. I didn't include the post since it got into a whole discussion very off track with TOG vs. MFW people squaring it off about who is better and the true cost of books between the two programs. There's a lot of people that are thrown off from the cost of TOG and I thought I would just compare (since these are the 2 programs I'm considering). Neither of these costs includes books. MFW cost K-12 (just for TM's not books - this is recommended TM's needed to complete the program and all literature and writing components) K - $105 1st - $150 Adventures - $100 ECC-Mod (5 yrs)$500 H.S. $540 (this includes TM, and literature/composition supplement and tests) 7th-8th Progony Press guides (4 guides) - $68 4 levels of writing strands - $80 TOTAL for MFW K-12 $1543 Tapestry of Grace: 4 years of TM's - $900 (this was before the whole digital/print version started up) Writing Aids - $50 Map Aids (4 years) - $100 Evaluations Rhetoric - $50 Total cost for K-12 TOG - $1100 I included the Evaluations for Rhetoric since they are included in MFW as high school tests. I also know that you need to add some sort of phonics program to TOG that MFW includes. Also, MFW includes math and all the books in the K and 1st program. I took the cost of the basic program. MFW also includes all science up to grade 7. TOG on the other hand includes literature and writing which MFW supplements with Writing Strands and Progony Press guides in 7th-8th grade. No flames - no alternate discussions. Just for you who like to compare real costs. Beth

The sister wendy's books seem to be what I'm looking for. I know it's an adult book, but I have the biographical information, I just want the pictures. Thanks! Beth

I'm looking for an anthology with short biographies of great artists and pictures they did for each century (19th century/20th century ect). Like a presidents book only with artists. Does such a thing exist? I want to have it for a reference at home to look up artists when we come across them in our history studies. I like looking at things in books not on a computer. Beth

I second Ambien. I take Ambien CR when I haven't slept for a few days all that well. It seems to remind my system to stay asleep. One night of it and I'm usually good to go. I have found that taking around 1500 mg of CHELATED calcium really helps. My body absorbs it better. Benadryl also works short term. i'm not a big drug person, but I had insomnia for around 3 years. Sleeping better now made me realize that I'm a generally positive person not pessimistic like I originally thought. Beth

For our 4th grade next year: History/Literature/Reading: TOG year 4 Spelling: Megawords 1/2 Writing: Writing Aids with Wordsmith Apprentice Math: Singapore 5b/6A LA: R&S 4 Science: Sonlight Science 5 Adding mindbenders...and some Bible study...Typing? I'd like to try and add some art and music appreciation that flows with TOG suggestions, we'll see how my soon to be 3 year old is doing with the noise levels... Beth

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Kay Arthur's Bible studies are very non-denominational (I think). I'm not really that current with what everyone believes/has problems with. We are going to a Lutheran Renewal church, have gone to a charismatic church and a baptist church and listen online to a non-denominational church - we're pretty all over the place. I thought it was a great study that just focused on the Bible. Beth

Ds just finished a Bible study for kids done by Kay Arthur. It's not really workbooky, but I love her Bible studies and ds did too (well maybe not love but he did get a lot out of it). BEth

A question about write source...looking on the website, it seems like it has topics that the student has to write about. Is this correct? I guess I'm looking for something that would guide my ds through a topic of my choosing. I'm guessing this is not the point of write source? Beth

I would vote for starting year 3. We started with year 3 after doing a year of ECC. I should edit that to say we did 3/4 of a year with ECC because the redundancy of the books we were using made me condense two weeks into one just so we could be done with the program and move on. I like TOG MUCH better. I have a 3rd grader who is doing a combination of UG and LG. It's been a good year and a lot easier for me. i don't get bored with the material like I did with ECC (ds didn't mind so much, I got bored). Beth