I'm just getting started in the candy making hobby. I made peppermint patties, too, using the recipe from LorAnn Oils. They call for using a chocolate coating (which naturally they sell ;) using the chocolate wafers. The ones they sell actually are pretty good. It's what I used on my patties, although they still suggested keeping them in the fridge. I didn't have any melting problems, tho. I think it has to do with whether or not the chocolate is tempered properly, etc. Check out these sites: https://www.lorannoils.com/c-7-gourmet-recipes.aspx http://www.baking911.com/chocolate/melt_temper.htm

The Squire and the Scroll is a great book with great lessons (there's also a study guide you can get to go with it). We loved the My Father's Dragon trilogy. It's not about knights, but does have dragons. We read through them 2-3 times when ds was about 7. Ds is now 10 (in a day & a half) and will still not part with the stories - not that I want him to. :) BTW, you might also be interested in checking out Dover's site. I think they have an activity pack (stickers, info filled coloring books, etc) about knights.

Tangrams and Pattern Blocks are both really good. File folder games are still a good option for this age.

Like the pp, I don't care for our tap water. We put a filter on our tap. I'm much more likely to drink the water now. I've never done this, but how about fun shaped/colored ice cubes? You could even make them with juice. Or maybe freezing raspberries or something in the ice cubes (although that could end up being a choking hazard). Ds prefers his water very cold. Perhaps your dd has a similar preference?

You've already been given several of our favorites (pattern blocks, counting bears, geo boards, unifix cubes...) I am a former preschool teacher and we used all of those things in our classroom. Other manips include tangrams (pattern blocks & tangrams also have activity books/cards that can be used with them). File Folder games are fabulous - a google search will give you tons of ideas. Puzzles are good. Another favorite were "Treasure Boxes". These are small containers of the same size (think ziplock) with various items that can be used for counting, sorting, patterning, etc. One box might have buttons (someone mentioned those already), another might contain colored paper clips, or linking shapes, pop beads, keys....pretty much anything you can think of can be a manipulative. Another thing I used with my son is called Funtastic Frogs. There are different colored plastic frogs that accompany a workbook for learning patterning and number relationships. This is a great stage! Have lots of fun!

Frito pie? Our church just finished a week of Kidz Camp. One of the lunches that was served was an individual size bag of Fritos with the top open, a couple of spoonfuls of chili on top of the Fritos and cheese on top of that. Makes for a fun, filling meal with few dishes!

Hopefully, she's feeling better by now - just wanted to add a couple of thoughts. One, I would suggest in the future asking your ped or a med info hotline for proper dosage rather than the good people here. Although we mean well, we are not medical professionals (most of us). Second, take note of her caffeine intake. I know that "everybody" says caffeine helps headaches, but let me share with you my own experience. Caffeine causes headaches. My mom for years would get migraines and controlled them using Excedrin (packed with caffeine). It got to the point where she would take Excedrin every night before going to bed or she would wake up with a migraine. Turns out it was the caffeine in the Excedrin which was causing the problem - a rebound effect of sorts. You might liken it to withdrawal symptoms. I'm the same way. I've never been a big caffeine user so it was pretty easy for me to pinpoint. Have a latte` and within two days have a migraine. Hmmm. I quit caffeine (and my stressful job) and have gone from having at least one migraine a month to having one every couple of years or so. Just some food for thought....

I haven't read your responses yet, so forgive me if these have already been suggested. There is a book that I read in college and plan to use with my ds next year. It's called Touch the Earth. It contains photos and excerpts from famous (and not so famous) native americans. So in essence, you get a picture of some events as seen thru native eyes. The excerpts are short - a page or two - and quite poetic in some instances. It offers a different perspective than is often seen. Other books you may be interested in are the If You Lived... series. They have several that are tribe specific.

We're in Washington. What we have is called "Alternative Learning Programs". By enrolling in this (and actually, the one we're enrolled in is very loosely an ALP), we have access to district funding and resources. We are required to school 180 days for 25 hrs per week (for my ds' grade level) and weekly check-ins are required as well as monthly reviews (which basically just say, "this is what we did this month in these subjects"). The funds can be used for field trips, workshops, curriculum purchases (as long as it's not "religious" - which doesn't mean we can't use those things, but we can't use district funding to purchase them - we're not really supposed to report use of those things either) For us, it's the best of both worlds. I get to choose what goes into ds' brain and have access to district funding and resources, free field trips, testing (which I like to do annually to make sure we're on track), student laptops...ds gets to have teachers other than "Mom" and have workshops (weekly classes) with other kids. We also have a resource room where materials are available to check out. There are also free consumables (like Singapore math). It's working great for us! And on top of that, I actually have a paying job in the office while ds is taking his classes. I know it's not for everyone, but for us it's been wonderful.

When we started with v1, I would read a chapter or two at a time and maybe do a map page or some other notebook work. When I got v1 on disc, I just handed it to ds for him to listen to at his leisure...which he did...multiple times. I decided that was the way to go for us, so over the next 2-3 years I purchased the other 3 volumes and gave them to him one at a time. He listens to them frequently, so I know he's getting his world history which frees us up to focus on different time periods as desired.

Let me just throw another thought into the mix... Spelling is not something I put effort toward until recently. My priorities were reading and math (among others); spelling just always got pushed to the back burner. I felt bad about it, but just couldn't fit everything into a day. This year, ds (now 4th grade) asked to do spelling and actually brought me his own word lists! (Glad I was sitting down!) :lol: I decided to invest in Phonetic Zoo (IEW) and it's been working great for us so far. (I'm sure my son's attitude and age have something to do with it as well). There are a couple of things I like about this program. One, it incorporates visual, auditory and kinetic elements which only increases (IMO) the ability to retain the lessons. And two, it's designed to be independent. Ds and I study the tip/rule and spelling words together at first, then he uses headphones to listen to the words, writing them down as they're given. The next track voices the words again, with the correct spelling which ds also writes. Then he goes back and checks his original spelling against the correct spellings and circles the ones he spelled correctly, so he grades his own work learning on his own what he still needs to work on. He and I both love that I'm not standing over his shoulder telling him which words are incorrect. Each lesson only takes about 10 minutes.

What are they interested in? When my ds was about 3 or 4, he was crazy about Thomas the Tank Engine. Any time he wanted a new train, we'd look in the stores and online to see which store had the best price. It was an eye-opener for him to realize the same item may have 3 different prices depending on who was selling. We talked about commercials and advertisements and how they were meant to entice you to buy certain items, or from certain stores. Just real life stuff. The kid's a pretty good shopper now, and likes to find a good deal. He thinks about his purchases. Not sure if that's what you're looking for or not, but... I think it's Steck-Vaughn that has Economics workbooks, but I'm not sure how young they go.

Check out Rainbow Resource. They've got tons of plant kits as well as books. I just ordered some kits for ds who is developing an interest in botany. I know you said you're after secular, but check out the Apologia free notebook pages. You might find some things there you like. Also look at Notebooking Nook and Notebooking Pages (if you want that sort of thing). Both can be found on Currclick.

:bigear:

I'm glad to hear the responses on this thread. I just started using PBS and am expecting my first "purchase" soon. I'm hoping to use it more for the audio books than for readers. I typically find a lot of the books I need at Goodwill for under $1, but audio books are expensive. Here's hoping!

IMHO, this is not a catalog to just browse thru (and I like browsing thru catalogs). I do much better looking online or hitting their catalog when I know what I'm looking for (or at least what kind of thing). The catalog is 2-3" thick and about 1000 pages +/-. I like the pic's on the website and being able to scroll. Way easier for me!

...little late in the conversation, but here's another one for you to check out: http://www.bigbrainz.com/

Big Brainz has a multiplication drill online game called Timez Attack. It does drill up to x12. It's set up like a computer game where your character "battles" ogre-type creatures by solving multiplication problems. Don't know what your girls will think of it, but it was a hit my ds and his friends. :D

We had a good time with Funtasic Frogs at around the age of your dc. Good for working out problems, counting, patterning.... Amazon has a couple of different wkbks.

No prob! Now if only I could remember to use them... :lol:

:bigear:

See if these'll help you out at all... http://www.bible-history.com/links.php?cat=21&sub=114&cat_name=World+History&subcat_name=General+Resources http://myloc.gov/pages/default.aspx http://www.neok12.com/ http://www.history.com/

Brimwood Press has a timeline scroll that I always thought was pretty cool, although I've never prioritized getting it (pretty penny!) http://www.brimwoodpress.com/scrolltime.html Here's the link if you wanna take a look.

Still working out the kinks, but here's what we currently have planned: Math: Kumon, Singapore 4A/4B, Math Olympiad Club Science: ALP (Alternative Learning Program) Class - Foss Science (Physics of Sound, Water, Electricity & Magnetism) History: heading into American History via Explorers, Pirates, Native Americans, Colonies using various sources like Time Travelers, 3D Maps, History Pockets, Brown Paper School, American Kids in History.... Geography: continuing Cantering the Country (plus other sources) The Arts: continuing piano lessons, ALP Art classes, maybe Digital Photography at the ALP Health/PE: swimming (and whatever else we can fit in), Health, Nutrition & PE LA: English from the Roots Up ALP class, NaNoWriMo through the ALP ( http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ ), IEW US History theme writing, Poetry Rosetta Stone Spanish Bible: Awana, "Who is God and Can I Really Know Him?" (Apologia) We also have a scheduled "class time" I'm calling "Independent Study" where ds can spend time learning whatever is interesting to him at the time. And, of course, we'll be doing lots of read-alouds and quiet reading. Busy, busy! Still working on simplifying things. We'll see how it goes! :tongue_smilie:

We're about to head into American History as well. I've got Brown Paper School books, IEW US History, and just discovered History Through the Ages from Homeschool in the Woods (Time Travelers). We also will be using (we're beginning with Explorers) American History 3D Maps (or something like that) and a few History Pockets thrown in. We'll be using these things to put together a notebook/lapbook as we go along. Reader's Guide to American History is our "Timeline" to keep us on track. It divides US history into eras and lists famous people & events as well as reading lists for each era. Oops! Just noticed the ages of your dc. You might actually do well just using the Time Travelers with related readers thrown in. If you go to their website you can look at sample lessons. I haven't used it yet, but it looks pretty cool. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/