Zooloretto even works with non-readers (my 4 year old enjoys it), and Ticket to Ride is pretty simple as well. Probably depends on how many games you play! But you are right... I don't think the average 4 or 5 year old would like Settlers or San Juan. You know your own kids! Rivers, Roads and Rails is a younger children's game with sort of the "feel" of Carcassonne. Enchanted Garden also fun for non-readers.

I love Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. Zooloreto is also awesome for younger kids up to adults. You've Been Sentenced is a new one for us--build sentences, lots of fun. Mystery of the Abbey is another new fave--kind of like Clue, there's murder mystery in the Abbey (with some Latin as well!), but much more challenging and more complex gameplay. This would be great for teaching logical thought as well (there are 24 suspects, a variety of characteristics, and you have to ask good questions). The best games are never found at mainstream toystores. A great site to really search out some fun games: Boardgamegeek.com

OK, I found this online... and forwarded the one I received. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=170894,00.html

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) United States Department of the Treasury IRS-2008-66, May 27, 2008 The Internal Revenue Service has begun to transfer economic stimulus payments to millions of Americans, some of whom will see payments in their bank accounts as early as today. The IRS will issue payments of up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples) plus $300 for eligible children younger than 17, throughout the spring and summer. The first wave of payments will go to people who opted for direct deposit on their 2007 income tax returns. "If you think you may be eligible, even if you don’t normally file a tax return, please check it out. And, use direct deposit to get your payment faster.†Whether a taxpayer opted for direct deposit determines how soon the payment will arrive. The first cycle of economic stimulus payment will be e-mailed starting May 9. To access the form for your Economic Stimulus Payment, please use the following personalized link: (string of strange numbers here) irs.economic.stimulus.payment.php Document Reference: (0x7C.0xDB.0x11D1). The IRS will send notices to taxpayers who are eligible for an economic stimulus payment. By keeping people informed, the IRS hopes to reduce calls to customer service representatives who are still busy helping taxpayers complete tax returns. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) United States Department of the Treasury

Actually, that response is from Scholastic. As far as I know, there hasn't been a response from Subway yet. I think that Scholastic is pretty aware how much of its business comes from homeschoolers. We register as such to get into their sales, lots of homeschool groups use their flyers. In the past they have been very friendly toward homeschoolers, and I think that will continue. But Subway has NO idea how many homeschoolers there are. It's not like we register as such before we buy our sandwiches there. My guess is that the promotion department at Subway wrote the copy. I can't imagine that the "powers that be" at Subway had any input whatsoever--why would corporate honchos even look at the rules for a kids' contest? At best they would know the contest was occurring. Perhaps they did exclude homeschoolers based on the prizes (although most of the prizes are individual, there is only one "group" prize), but Scholastic has handled this type of prizing out for years, and they do give awards to homeschoolers. I received another email confirming this. Group prizes simply are designated to the homeschool group or school or local library, etc, of the winner's choice. It is also possible that the individual who wrote the copy thinks that homeschools are "unofficial" and didn't want to support them. Regardless, I think it is indeed important to respond. While some of you may live in states where homeschooling is well regarded, common and easy, others of us do not. Even here in California the recent court case threw a lot of people into a panic--could it happen to us? Probably not... but just reading how many folks here have less-than-supportive family members is a reminder that the public perception of homeschooling is far from positive across the board. I can tell you that if my Mom ever read a sign that said "no home schools" she'd be in a tizzy that I'm ruining their opportunities for life since clearly they aren't accepted as well as other schools. She's managed to keep her complaining to a minimum, but I know she thinks we're living some sort of bizarre alternative lifestyle. Many people have also posted (in the other related threads) that there are so many other opportunities for homeschoolers, so why worry about it? But that also isn't true everywhere. Local co-ops, homeschooling stores, and support groups are not a reality everywhere. Here in CA, and in many states, we do not have access to local school resources at all, though I know there are people here whose kids can be part of band or drama or whatever. It all depends on where you live. Even our local paper--the LA Times--asks that kids submit their school and classroom if they want their writing to appear on the "kids pages". Would the publish it without that info? Maybe--but I've never seen a submission from a homeschooler published. We're at a critical time in the development of homeschooling. It's becoming mainstream. In many places it already is. But many of us still face opposition from local authorities, or family, or the public. (Just Monday I was asked by a stranger, "Are you or your husband a certified teacher? Then how can you educate your children?") There is still a need for advocacy if all homeschoolers are going to find the support and acceptance that they deserve. Maybe a homeschooled child wouldn't win the contest. But everyone who enters will see those words just above the submit button: "No home schools".

(hanging my head in shame because I accidentally cross-posted this on the curriculum board) :blush: Ok... I've got about 1/4 of them in the freezer, made some blueberry corn bread (just mixed them into the recipe). When that comes out of the oven I have some biscuit-type shortcake to go in for blueberry shortcake w/ whipped cream. I found a recipe for lemon-blue berry pancakes online... Lemon Blueberry Pancakes INGREDIENTS: 1 egg 1 cup flour 3/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon baking powder [1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, or use frozen thawed blueberries PREPARATION: Beat egg until frothy; beat in remaining ingredients except blueberries, beating just until smooth. Gently stir in blueberries. Grease a heated griddle. For each pancake, pour about 3 tablespoons of batter from a large spoon or from pitcher onto the hot griddle. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other side until golden brown. Please keep those ideas coming! I still have a HUGE bowl of blueberries here!

Ok... I've got about 1/4 of them in the freezer, made some blueberry corn bread (just mixed them into the recipe). When that comes out of the oven I have some biscuit-type shortcake to go in for blueberry shortcake w/ whipped cream. I found a recipe for lemon-blue berry pancakes online... Lemon Blueberry Pancakes INGREDIENTS: 1 egg 1 cup flour 3/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon baking powder [1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, or use frozen thawed blueberries PREPARATION: Beat egg until frothy; beat in remaining ingredients except blueberries, beating just until smooth. Gently stir in blueberries. Grease a heated griddle. For each pancake, pour about 3 tablespoons of batter from a large spoon or from pitcher onto the hot griddle. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other side until golden brown. Please keep those ideas coming! I still have a HUGE bowl of blueberries here! Duh, wrong board!!!

Well, used to go to the park a lot (then it was closed for lead contamination... ugh...). There are lots of other parks, but we could walk to that one, and was not so isolated that I worried about being safe. When ds is on his own (meaning other ds was in preschool), we'd go to the cafe at Border's a lot. Occasionally a large Starbucks, or even the local deli. I like schooling out and about, too! I even bought a new backback/notebook thing for us to use next year. It's kind of like a backback, but is a three ring binder inside. I take pages we are using, and books in another bag (or small books in it).

We have 10 pounds of beautiful blueberries... now what? Last year we got 6 pounds or so, and my family ate them all raw before I even got to make anything, so I upped the ante. It was such a gorgeous day for picking, too... clear, blue skies, and only 70 degrees!!! Sorry about that... wrong board. We were... um... studying... agriculture. And social implications of child labor. We did do some Latin while we picked!

I actually ended up using pages from Enchanted Learning most of the time when we did GTG (which we're repeating next year, now that younger ds is in K). Many of the pages were very similar, or I found that the pages from Enchanted Learning of flags, maps, etc. actually looked better than the ones in the book. In fact, I'm was sure GTG copied some of the pages from EL... I think it's still $20 a year... you can use it for free, but they pages aren't as "printable". http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html

Lol! I was about to ask if we could come stay with you--maybe for a few months? There have to be enough bedrooms in there, right?

Praying for you here... please check back after all is clear.

Yeah! That was so much fun! It so makes me want to work on the space program... guess we'll have lots of cool new data from Mars to look at next year when we do Earth & Space in science.

Same room, different view... we've got both up now. Sound is the same, but about 10 seconds off from each other! Gotta love technology...

I so love this stuff! http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=4226934&ch=4226736&src=news

Have lived: Limestone, Maine (born there); Grand Forks, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Omaha, Nebraska; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Oslo, Norway (actually lived in a small town called Vollen south of Drammen); Steinalben, Germany (small village near Pirmasens); Aurora, Colorado (graduated from high school here); Baltimore, Maryland (college); and Upland, Pomona, Ontario, Tustin and Chatsworth in California (seminary and beyond). We've been in this house for 6 years--longer than anywhere I have ever lived! Would like to live: Norway (again!), England, Ireland, Vermont, or coastal New England

I did a summer study on pre-history using Usborne, Magic Tree House books and some dinosaur sticker books and activity books. I can email you my schedule if you are interested.

Well, it's interesting around here, to say the least. Ds is one of those kids that (to paraphrase the book King Dork, which I'm listening to on CD) he's "so smart people sometimes think he's developmentally disabled". Usually other kids, in point of fact. We've considered programs like the Davidson Young Scholars, but for now we don't want to put so much emphasis on his "giftedness". We've also considered going out to GDC in Denver, even had the phone assessment, but it's just so expensive--$2500 or so plus travel! EPGY has been an awesome curriculum resource, though, particularly since it is self-paced. One aside--even though a standard bell curve would indicated that PG kids are that rare, most studies show that they occur with much more frequently than the models would indicated. There's some info on this on the GDC site. So, regardless of what the curve would predict, I'd guess there are far more than 20 PG kids here in Los Angeles alone... Thanks for your support. I talked to dh about it, since he's the primary teacher, and after looking at the scope and sequence for both, he really thinks ds is ready for Latin Prep. I think they are both a bit tired of spinning their wheels. Now, if I could just find a really good chemistry curriculum, ds would be over the moon. We have conversations like this: Ds: "Mom, is xyz element a member of the lanthanide group?" Me: "I have no idea." Him: Pause. "You're just saying that because you want me to look it up for myself." Me: "No, honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about." Him: "Ha ha, mom, you are soooo funny." He goes in search of a book.

Snap Circuits, Quadrilla....

OK, having fun at this site! I'll show you mine as soon as we can agree on a motto.... http://www.makeyourcoatofarms.com/#

Those drawings are great! Looks like you are doing a wonderful job with DWC!

Lol! I think I'm one of the few here who use EPGY... It's basically an online learning program for gifted or accelerated students, run by Stanford University. We started out in K using a Miquon/Singapore blend, but I soon discovered that my son was much more of a "math head" than I would have imagined. We switched to EPGY early this year (we had already done some testing for other reasons, so we had the "official" scores needed), and it has been great. If you have a child who is accelerated in math, I can't recommend it highly enough. They also have classes in English, physics, computer science and music, but we haven't tried anything else yet. It is expensive, but they have easy and generous financial aid available. http://epgy.stanford.edu/

I'm also a fast reader... and I usually audiate. Certainly if I'm reading fiction for pleasure I hear all the voices in the book. I picked "sometimes" because if I'm skimming an article or book for particular content, I don't audiate. I realized that as I skimmed the article you posted! I do indeed sometimes read whole sections at once, so I don't "hear" the words. But fiction, poetry, or even a well-turned essay--those I want to "hear"!

Welcome! Glad you are here! I think you mean "secular" -- which means non-Religious. "Non-secular" would mean religious. For first grade I would check out SOTW I (Story of the World) if you want to do the classical history rotation. It isn't religious, and I think charter schools around here have paid for it. I really liked R.E.A.L. Life science this year... very easy to implement, also secular. Do you have a good library near you for supplementary books? That is a great resource.

Lol! Now I'm really torn! He does know all the parts of speech, direct objects, can tell you 1st/2nd/3rd person, etc. But I know he's young! I asked ds to chime in, and we looked at samples of both--from the second half. He says he thinks he'd prefer to do Latin Prep. I explained that it will be much harder, that most of the kids taking it are much older than him, and that the memorization will be more challenging and require more work. He gave me the "come on, Mom" look, and insisted he's up for it. Since ds wants to go for it, I think we'll try Latin Prep after Secundus is done (it may overlap a week or two into 2nd grade, which we start in August). If it's just way too hard, we'll quit and try Lively Latin... at least I'll have a "fall-back".