the books are designed to be completed in approx. 28 weeks which allows 2 weeks per chapter, though if your child enjoys science you can *easily* stretch each book to last the whole school year. not only is the book full of neat experiments and projects as well as notebooking activities, but you can add in the lesson links included on the website and make little projects out of those as well. i think the books are perfect for 4th thru 8th grade. i would just require more detailed summarization from my older student, maybe a few reports throughout the year, etc.

my ds uses Tom's deodorant which you can find at walmart.

:iagree: i also just assign the reading from the first page of reading assignments. i really don't even look at the supplemental reading suggestions on the second page. if i were using my library as a primary resource i'd probably have to sub in some of those books from pg 2, which may be the case for you. we purchased all of our books though so it is easier on me. i only assign books from the UG level since that is where my ds is right now. i don't even look at the other levels yet because i know how i am, then i'd start tweaking lessons which is something i don't have time to do much of! some weeks i feel there is a lot of reading and i might spread those lessons over 2 weeks and do a few extra projects to space it all out. HTH!

my son is UG and we've are wrapping up our first unit of TOG soon. i am wondering when you read the teacher's notes and if you read any of them aloud to your students? i have been reading my notes throughout the week and using the geography notes as read alouds prior to his map work each week which we usually schedule for thursday or friday.

our lessons involve a LOT of reading as i'm sure most of yours do. we are using TOG with our upper-grammar level student. some weeks there is no assigned bible reading, then other weeks (like last week) it was overwhelming. part of joshua, all of judges, and part of 1 samuel. just too much bible for one week IMO (at least for that level) and we do all of our bible as read-aloud at that. i would love to have an audio bible for kids or bible stories on cd, even if it just covers the main stories that kids learn, to use in place of reading aloud. any suggestions?

for cleaning bathrooms w/out using paper towels... at target i am able to buy flushable, biodegradable sanitizing wipes relatively inexpensively. i like them because they are made without harsh chemicals so even the children can help me clean (i still make them wash their hands afterwards). i use these for wiping my toilet down on the outside and clean the inside w/ non-chlorine bleach. i also have a few scrubby sponges that i keep for scrubbing tubs, etc. i just toss those in a hot wash w/ non-chlorine bleach to sanitize afterwards.

i'm new to TOG, we are just now wrapping up our first unit, but here's how i organized ours: i put my individual unit (the "lesson plans" that are 60.00 each) in a 3 in D ring binder. i placed the sheets in individual page protectors. i purchased the optional tabbed dividers for yr 1 but instead of placing them in my notebook i put them in ds's notebook. on sunday when i plan lessons i put all of his copies, maps, worksheets, etc for that week in the appropriate tabbed section of his notebook. right now we are storing our books in the box they came in and i pull them out on sunday night as needed for the week and put last week's books away.

in addition to the printable notebook pages & flash cards when your book arrives it will contain a password allowing you access to a "members only" section of the apologia website that contains TONS of cool link, sorted by chapter, to assist your student in exploring any interests they may have further!

last year ours took a full 8 weeks. we didn't get our results until july.

if you are leaning towards the SL then you are right, you can always supplement w/ a lapbook or three! there are several great resources out there for ordering these. fwiw i believe TOG still offers a free download of their 3 week ancient egyptian lessons if you wanted to look over those to get a better feel for it. happy planning and choosing! i love curriculum shopping.

the main differences as i see them are: 1) TOG is more open-ended where as sonlight is a "check the box" type of curriculum. sonlight will tell you exactly which book to read, which project to complete, whereas TOG offers you mulitple choices for activities and such. You aren't expected to do them all but to choose just one or two. some people really like that, others don't. 2) with TOG all of your children will be studying the same historical time period, with sonlight they will all be doing different time periods. 3) TOG takes more prep time on your part i believe. i spend about 60-90 min a week planning our lessons because i enjoy reading over all of the teacher's notes to get a good grasp of what my child is covering that week. 4) TOG would over time work out to be more economical if you are schooling several children.

changes we have made: 1. eat poultry/beef/fish only 2-3x a week. 2. i learned to cook dry beans! 3. breakfast for supper. 4. canola instead of olive oil. 5. we rarely, almost never, buy juice. we drink water instead and i make tea at supper once or twice a week. 5. the kids get two snacks a day. one is fresh fruit, the other is popcorn, dry cereal, or something i got on sale B1G1 like graham crackers. 6. *I* pour the milk around here and put it away quickly before anyone can get their mitts on it! lol 7. i usually buy skippy natural PB but if something else is on sale B1G1 i will buy that instead :w00t: 8. i plan a week's worth of meals, post the list, and stick to it.

i am really picky about my hair products. i read the labels like i am shopping for groceries! i alternate redken all soft w/ either tressemme or dove a few times a week for my thick, wavy hair. i use dove leave-in spray conditioner and hair spray.

and it's not a bad program at all. will it grow on me? we've been using it for 7 weeks now. it just takes more time than i want to put into it. i am starting to miss our old BJU english curriculum. not sure what i thought was wrong with it before. anyone else who just doesn't like WA?

my grocery bill used to easily run over 150.00/wk before i got it under control i did grocery game for a while and it works but was too time consuming for me. now i shop the sales ad from my local grocery store (publix) and plan meals around items i can buy there. if i need something i can't find on sale at publix i buy it at super walmart. we eat really healthy meals here and i keep it at 100.00/wk (not including toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc) i sit down w/ my calculator and sales ad when i'm planning my menu (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks all planned for the week) and just tweak and tweak until i get it where i want it. i spend around 80.00 initially and have 20.00 left over for bananas, milk, eggs, etc. if i run out during the week. to give you an idea, here's our menu for the week coming up (tues thru mon): breakfasts (all served w/ milk): T: bagel w/ peanut butter & honey, banana or apple W: cold cereal T: grits w/ cheese, salt & pepper F: bagel w/ peanut butter & honey, banana or apple S: cold cereal S: grits w/ cheese, salt & pepper M: bagel w/ peanut butter & honey, banana or apple lunches (all served w/ ice water w/ lemon wedge or unsweet tea): T: stir-fry veggies & toasted cashews over ramen noodles (drained) W: hummus w/ crackers & veggie sticks T: spinich dip w/ crackers F: fettuccini alfredo w/ spinich S: hash browns, eggs, fruit S: birds eye VOILA! meal kits M: corn chips w/ bean dip, veggie sticks suppers (all served w/ milk): T: black & white baked beans, corn on the cob, marinated rapini W: penne w/ meat sauce T: bowtie pasta w/ marinated zucchini, red onions & black beans F: date night S: meatless "meatballs," roma tomatoes w/ crispy breadcrumb topping S: spiced shrimp, couscous salad M: pancakes w/ fresh blackberries, syrup, butter HTH!

if you are doing science 5x a week then i think you could easily cover two books a year. i think the books recommend taking two weeks per lesson and doing science 3x per week so if you are doing it more often you will finish up sooner. we love apologia science. we are just wrapping up the zoology I and it has been so much fun! upper elementary can easily read the lessons independently but i find that i enjoy reading them together when possible because i am learning right along w/ him things that i never knew.

agreeing w/ the PP, i browse the gap & old navy stores or website and have found a few great pieces that i love. i have two great pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, a pair of capris, and a week's worth of tops. i paid about $200.00 for my "wardrobe." i'd rather have a few great pieces that i love than a closet full of junk i hate. the great thing about gap is that you can shop your pre-pregnancy size. i have: one pr khakis, one pr denim jeans, one pr khaki capris, one pr denim shorts. they all match all the tops i bought. and i bought them all in the same color scheme, so they all work with the same few prs of shoes.

we used slipcovers for a few years when we first got married and could not afford new furniture, and i hated them.

my ds came out of his room today saying that the DIVE cd told him not to use the trick. i know dive isn't published by saxon but it is odd none the less. the theory was put forth to me that the "tricks" prepare students for timed standardized testing in which they will need to come up with answers quickly. not sure i'm buying that one since as i said before i *never* learned these tricks and i *always* scored highly in math and finished every problem w/ time to spare. thanks for encouraging me to do what is working for us!

do you require your children to master the "stortcuts" that saxon teaches regarding long division? my ds detests learning these tricks and never uses them anyway so i have gotten to the point where i just don't require it. i'm not sure i understand the advantage anyway. i never learned these shortcuts but excel in mathematics. example: yesterday his book had him dividing the tens digit (of a 2 digit divisor) into the hundreds digit (of a 3 digit dividend) then writing the answer above the tens digit in the dividend and going from there. problem is that only works on certain problems (i.e. the ones in that particular lesson). so today the book says that if that shortcut doesn't work, try this one: round both the divisor and dividend to the nearest ten and divide, then use that answer as as starting point. my ds said he'd rather just do the problem and be done that sit there guessing which shortcut he should try and getting all confused, and i must say i agree w/ him. thoughts?

i have left them in the van, doors locked, van in sight at all times while i walk to the library drop box which is on the outside of the building or the movie drop box at blockbuster. never if i have to go INSIDE a building though.

does your son like bionicles? they are found next to the legos in stores like walmart and target.

i am 27. people tend to think i am much younger than my actual age however. people think i am babysitting all the time if they see my out with just one or two of my boys. the other day i was standing less than two feet away from my boys and a woman came over to stand beside them. she asked my oldest "where's your mother?" and he said "right there!" she apologized profusely and insisted she thought i was one of the teens from the swim teen (this was at the gym). now that i am finally starting to show a bit w/ no. 4 you should see some of the looks i get :confused:

we tried it at the beginning of this school year and quit three or four lessons into it. i didn't mind the author's tone, my ds thought it hilarious at times! but am i the only one who found the lessons somewhat confusing? my son would get stuck and i'd have to read the directions several times to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. we went back to BJU english and are not incorporating writing aids as well. i much prefer either of these programs to writing strands. just my two cents:)

once my ds had a firm grasp on multiplication and simple division facts i introduced long division. i used a blank index card. on the top half i worked a long division problem. on the bottom half i wrote these four steps: divide. multiply. subtract. bring down. my ds kept this in his notebook and put it out daily on the table next to his book until he got the hang of it. worked like a charm. now he has the steps memorized so if he's got a reallllly long division problem and gets confused, i'll hear him talking to himself "now where was i? divide...multiply...subtract..."