We are OPC and went from once a month to weekly about 3 years ago. I love it!

I have a few online friends who it's worked amazingly well for. Not for me, unfortunately. I have given it more than enough time and energy to have seen the results they promise and I haven't. What it has helped with is upping my energy some (which any exercise program will do) and has made my thighs and bottom firmer (though not thinner). So yeah, it has helped a bit, but I'm really disappointed in it. I have worked hard to make sure I'm doing the moves "just right" and I feel the burn where it's supposed to be etc, but I cannot lose weight with it apart from dieting/calorie restriction.

I agree with Ellie. We've used R&S from 1st grade and my oldest is starting 7th this year. We're going to stick with it through 8th. I have read a post or two on the board that recommended that R&S 7 can be skipped, because 7 and 8 are similar and some do think R&S is about a year "behind" other math programs. Since my oldest 2 are not math gifted or want to pursue careers where they will need a lot of upper level math under their belts in high school, I'm OK if it's not at the same pace as other programs. After all, that is one of the many perks of homeschooling! I love that R&S is so strongly mastery based and *errs* on the side of going somewhat slowly. I have seen both my girls really retain what they've learned in R&S so I don't see a need to switch over. I just feel it's such a strong program in that regard. And I tend to think that the extra time spent in 7th/8th on concepts will be a boost to going into algebra in 9th and possibly skipping pre-alg. I'm hoping R&S has their 9th and 10th math programs done by then so I can decide if we'll keep using them or switch over after 8th. HTH

I second this one - it's wonderful! The cellar tour was great and we spent a good 2 hours there alone. Peju is fun - very pretty grounds as well. I think you can book ahead for a private tasting. Chateau Montelena has a beautiful Asian style garden and pond. :) Didn't taste the wine there. LOL This place is an experience. Expensive, but impressive and very unique! The terrace views are of the entire Napa valley and just stunning. Fun to taste the wines along the self guided tour. I love Napa! If you're interested in good places to eat, Mustards Grill and Rutherfords are yummy and casual (though expensive, as everything in Napa is LOL). Have a great time! :)

Ours is Arbor Creek School based on Psalm 1 -- He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (v.3) I wanted something nature/CMish and that encompased our vision in homeschooling. It fits us and I love it. :)

I used, loved and reviewed this program here - http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/3177.php It is a thorough phonics program, without question. HTH!! Getting ready to start my 5yo on it in the fall. :)

Ditto this too (and have had the invite in front of me happen too).

I agree 100% with the OP.

Yes - we're using it for our history and science bios (Terms 2 and 3 of AO5 and Term 1 of AO6). Our co-op follows the AO recommendations for artists and composers also.

We have a small backyard in suburbia...and we have ticks! ACK! :willy_nilly:First spring/summer with a dog so we've had to start him on the Frontline stuff, however I found another one today inside near him so I want to fog the house and spray the yard. I prefer natural remedies that work great but will accept all suggestions in my desperate state! LOL Thank you!

51 I could see myself teaching in a private Christian school, possibly be a doula, crochet things for charity and to sell, learn a fun new skill of some kind, read a lot more etc. If I am a grandma by then, I'd love to be as much help as I can in that regard and if my kids homeschool, to help with it if they want my help. :) Would love to travel with my husband to Europe! We'll see...

Our best friends have been at an RCUS for the past few years and their daughter had to go through 3 years of catechism class and then confirmation. I don't know which catechism though.

I agree. Overall, I really liked last night's episode, but there were a few comments I wish they would have refrained from making, as I will either have to watch and fast forward through them when I let my kids see it, or wait until they are old enough to understand and process it. I really did not like the man who portrayed Washington. His smirk seemed almost devious looking - not at all like the man I picture when I think of him. I thought it humorous (in a sad way) that the British were "appalled" at how the patriots picked off the officers, yet didn't seem to think it barbaric at all to keep 12,000 rebels on their ships in such unthinkable hellish conditions.

Oh my. Now I will have to pour out and sift any future humongous bags of rice or beans before I cook them.... YIKES!!!:svengo:

Our Border's doesn't doesn't give a separate homeschooler card. I was able to just sign up for the teacher/educator card and it's worked well. I think I did show them my HSLDA card when I signed up and they accepted it.

Thank you, Jennifer! I have been considering Ambleside for our history next year (year 4 on our first run through - I've used SOTW with Biblioplan up till now). I have the WTM and ATTA as resources and will probably follow AO for books to read, use the WTM for how to carry out the process and use ATTA to help find supplementary books and family read alouds. I think it'll be a good year in our history cycle to try that approach out. Roughly how much planning/prep time does this take you? It sounds like most of it is done before you start your year which is how I'd like to do it too.

Very helpful - thanks for sharing! Do you add in mapping, narrating or a timeline? I would love to hear how you implement those if so.:)

Ditto above. MFW is somewhat classical but also follows a unit study approach intertwined. You'll fiind a lot of hands-on suggestions in MFW (cooking something based on the region/time period of study, a related craft etc) that Biblioplan does not have. MFW is also strongly mission-focused. Both are lists/schedules for what to read and when, but if I can recall correctly, I think MFW has more notes in their TM. Biblioplan is now coming out with what they call a Parent Companion for each level (not all are completed yet) and it serves as a resource to "tie in" everything that was read during the week. I'm using BP for the second year right now and just bought the PC so I can't give a thorough review of it right yet. Ultimately it depends on which books you want to use. I actually chose to go with SOTW over MFW and found BP the next year in.

Those actually look like a better option for the next cycle instead of an overview since it's a 5day a week/2-3 hour a day committment. I will definately keep it in mind for then! :) Thanks!

Really only because they don't have the study/intructors guide with just the history, but I just went back and poked around more and it appears you can purchase it separately (though I didn't find the link for it yet). I need the reading schedule for the books but if I can get that, then it is a good option actually. The ALT7 page only shows a few of the books and not Hillyer's book (which I didn't realize was included either until I poked around and also didn't know it was a good fit for her age but it appears it is). So basically, ignore what I said because it looks like a good option now. LOL:tongue_smilie:

I have a year off of our history cycle for my oldest - we'll start the next 4/5 year round the following year. I have several options I'm mulling over right now, one of which is doing just a light, one year world history overview of sorts before jumping into a deeper study. We tend to follow a Charlotte Mason/classical approach to how we do history, so we really enjoy history as a story instead of a list of facts/data. So I thought I'd check in with all the smart mommies here and ask if you know of a good, one year world history resource for middle school? I really want simple and INDEPENDENT... I checked Sonlight and it's a no go for us so that's nixed already. hehe Any ideas?

WOW! It does sound like they are following the way ALS is set up!! YEAY! Funny - we use R&S math 1 for K too....so this is actually really similar to how we do K but without all the other stuff (I usually just add in library books)... The program sounds fantastic!

Seen it and am thrilled to see that they are using some of the old Horizons readers for it, though a tad disappointed they aren't implementing the full program they go with (American Language Series). It looks like they wrote their own, which I haven't seen yet, but since they found the readers, I am wondering if it is similar. I would love to look it over more closely.

We use Evan Moore for our co-op's geography. http://www.evan-moor.com/Series.aspx?CurriculumID=7&ClassID=158&SeriesID=128 I don't really care for the "center" approach, but it's completely tweakable.

Certainly - but what I was addressing is the feeling that we need to have a "biblical reason NOT to celebrate Halloween" and the general feeling I got from that post that participating in something cultural is almost necessary. We give our kids reasons for why we say no, however, a "biblical reason" is also simply because mom said no ("Children obey your parents in the Lord")...