We used their 4th grade LA this year and I would say we have really enjoyed it! We are notebooking the Lit section and that is my ds' fave of all his subjects. He loves to read the stories and poems and we do little art projects and notebooking pages to go along with what he reads. The grammar is basically work-text style that speaks directly to the student. There are teachers guides that lead you through the daily discussion, if your student needs that. My ds can read the directions and understand by himself, usually. If it's something new that needs clarification, we discuss it and move on. I'm buying the K12 readers (gr. 1-8) next year to use w/ both DS(10) and my little ones soon. We're going to stick with the same basic pattern but I'm just buying the lit program independently from http://www.christianbook.com. I'm also buying the grammar worktext that we're using this year. You can find many of the K12 books new & used on amazon, too. HTH Some! :)

We used their 4th grade LA this year and I would say we have really enjoyed it! We are notebooking the Lit section and that is my ds' fave of all his subjects. He loves to read the stories and poems and we do little art projects and notebooking pages to go along with what he reads. The grammar is basically work-text style that speaks directly to the student. There are teachers guides that lead you through the daily discussion, if your student needs that. My ds can read the directions and understand by himself, usually. If it's something new that needs clarification, we discuss it and move on. I'm buying the K12 readers (gr. 1-8) next year to use w/ both DS(10) and my little ones soon. We're going to stick with the same basic pattern but I'm just buying the lit program independently from http://www.christianbook.com. I'm also buying the grammar worktext that we're using this year. You can find many of the K12 books new & used on amazon, too. HTH Some! :)

My ds (just turned 10) is loving Cambridge Latin. I stretch each lesson out to about 3-4 weeks worth of work so we're not going at the recommended speed but he is covering (and retaining!!) a ton! We use the student text, audio companion cd, the student workbook and we paid >$10 for the online subscription to their webisite which has a ton of extra practice exercises for them to learn the declensions & forms easily. Check out Cambridge's website and you will be able to get a good idea of the way it works. I tarted working on Cambridge a couple months before my ds and decided to use it with him because of how easily I was picking it up. HTH!

Like pulling teeth! :D

My oldest loves the "You wouldn't want to be..." books too! :D He also loves K12's lit and enrichment exercises and he thinks Cambridge's latin program is super fun too! He loves all the online exercises & practice. :) Oh, and Aha! Science! His newest love! :D

I have a little gift for you! :D http://www.myjobchart.com (you can thank me later! ;))

I just got the Adams' Synchronological Chart of Universal History Panels to put up in our playroom (the only place I could find a continuous 23' of wall space in our house! ;) It's not up yet but we're about to finish SOTW 2 and will go back to SOTW 1 and review all the way back through the end of SOTW 2 before moving onto 3, so I need to get the panels up ASAP! I am making a Timeline notebook from the History through the Ages CD and each week I plan to update our timeline notebooks to coincide with what we're reading in SOTW. We'll study the Adams' panels to see how everything overlaps and help us place our timeline figures at the right spot in our notebooks. I was planning on just printing out the timeline figures onto sticker paper and using the stickers (my ds hates writing/journaling but will enjoy placing the stickers, I think)... I just thought it would be good to review before moving on since we haven't really kept up with a timeline notebook yet. After we get caught up, and when we move on to SOTW 3, I plan to incorporate the timeline notebook into our weekly activities. :)

I agree with everyone else--cut out the dairy, wheat and SOY has always been really bad with my babies while breastfeeding. :glare: Cut out the offending foods and it should heal up. My middler had eczema BAD as a toddler, when he started eating solids, but I cleared it up with a bar of soap I got from a frontier co-op called Wise Ways Herbals Eczema soap. Literally the first time I used it, it cleared up and never came back, even after the soap bar was gone! Personally, for a newborn, I would wash with warm water only until the eczema is under control, and use the coconut oil (or some people use olive oil :confused:) to help heal the current eczema. Also, 5 weeks is prime time for Baby Acne and my babies always look AWEFUL during their second month. :) Hopefully its just hormones!

I don't really keep up with it but when I was devising our tentative year round schedule I counted 200 actual days of school.

I've been putting all of DS(3)'s ETC pages on page protectors and letting him use dry-erase markers with them. That was working fine until be started using primarily his left hand and was accidentally erasing his work as he completed it! We tried the dry-erase crayons and they work like a charm!!!!! He also loves that he can "color" his pages with them and have a better variety of colors than what we had available in dry-erase markers. The crayons are waxy, so they don't rub right off when be touches them but they still erase easily with an eraser or piece of folded felt. HTH Some! :)

Let the kids walk out. Learning experience. When their parents find out their child walked out they will either support the child and not come back, or not support the child and come back to you with the child, with an apology. Then you'll have the full support of the teens and parents. I think you'll have more humble teens as well. :)

:iagree: I didn't know what I was missing and was perfectly content with my two boys when my girl came along. :)

Ugh our dipes STUNK in a pail so I just use a Bummies XL wetbag (the yellow one) and hang it in the laundry room. Something about air circulation helps keep the funk down tremendously! ;) It also helps take an extra step out of the whole diapering process (cleaning the pail!) if you just use a hanging wetbag.

MORE Starfall!!! It's the paid version of starfall.com and is chock full of math for K-2 (really the math is even higher level than that, basic multiplication, division & fractions)... it's $35 for a year subscription. We bought it for our two littles for Christmas and they have played on it nearly EVERY day. WE LOVE it!!! :D Check it out! :)

:iagree: IF she means she only cooks breakfast for dinner! ;) That's the only time we have hot breakfast food (it's what we're having tonight!) :D For breakfast we have cereal & milk or fresh fruit and yogurt. :)

I picked Cambridge for my DS(10) because *I* was picking it up so easily with Cambridge. The online "Explore a story" portions are excellent for me and accompany the book and audio CD beautifully! It's an immersion program so you're learning a ton of vocabulary and translation from the very beginning. Grammar seems to be given to the student in small, manageable chunks. That said, the text is definitely written for an older student. I wouldn't do it with a 8 year old. My ds started right before he turned 10 and the content is perfect for his age group (and higher). I think the text is originally written for high school but it is fine for a jr. high student and there is enough to do with the program that I have no problem scheduling out one lesson into 3-4 weeks.

I reaaaally want a netbook. It has a "fullsize" keyboard. Necessary for me. I can't stand trying to type on the ipad. Drives me NUTS!!! :glare: (ok, it's probably not the ipad's fault, but I'm just saying... it doesn't help my mental state any! ;))

Thanks guys. I think I'm just going to stick to plan A and try to plan our art projects around what we're reading in Lit. :)

We are using Singapore Essentials and I'm printing out MEP Reception as we speak! :) We use Singapore/MEP for my 4th grader and love the combo! Miquon is another option we enjoy around here! HTH! :D

Oriental trading has some, too. Nothing spectacular, but definitely affordable. :)

worksheetworks.com is a great, free resource, too. :) HTH Some! I will say that MUS isn't very meaty. It's easy to fly through it once they master a concept and since it's really one concept per level, once they get it the rest is busy work. We've had much better success with curriculum "lasting" using Singapore for math. HTH!! :)

I think that's a super cute idea!! :)

Connects art and Lit? Like, read a poem, sketch and write? I have a 5th grader next year I'm looking for and would love something like this for him. Not necessarily looking for an "Artist Study" or anything like that, but more like note booking with Literature. Any ideas?

We started Cambridge with my DS(10) in January and he is loving it! It is mostly student led, although I do plan all his work. IDK if that is something you're wanting to do or not. It's basically Monday, "Read xyz with CD, write vocabulary for stage I", Tuesday, "Read xyz w/ CD, do xyz exercises online". Wednesday, "read xyz online, do vocabulary quiz online and workbook pg 24", etc etc. That may be too teacher intensive as it is NOT open and go, but it is fairly student led, if you just tell them what to do. I don't actually have to "TEACH" him Latin and he is learning and retaining a ton, if that is what you're looking for. :)

The oil spill would have an effect on the environment, or you could say the oil spill affects the environment. It just depends whether you're using it as a noun in the sentence, or as the verb of the sentence. In the situation where she's using them to help describe the oil spill she may very well use both of them.