We did Flying Creatures, Swimming Creatures and Botany. They were interesting but we found adding a lot of other resources was needed to get what I considered a more complete/rounded science. They are a quick read and it is easy to do at least 2 in a year. I'd consider them a good jumping off place. The kids opted to switch to the higher Apologia Science this year (General Science) and they are enjoying that text. Some of the experiments are too simplistic but that is ok. We will still supplement but I don't feel as compelled to do as much as I did with the Fulbright texts.HTH!

Mine like breakfast burritos. I do them the easy/fast way. I use the Southwestern Eggbeaters and that saves me time in prep and cleanup. They also like pancakes occasionally. I buy the shake bottle and just add water. About once a week we have bacon. I make it in the micro on a special bacon stand in 4 min. I'm all about saving time when it comes to breakfast. ;)

We've only used A Beka for our math through grade 7 then we switch to another for higher math. According to what I've researched, A Beka is not a good in the higher math area. Others report there are gaps in Algebra and up. We have had great success with the math through 7 though. My kids like math a lot so that is part of it. Some people say it moves too quickly but we've found that since we do all the review and don't skip anything, it has not been a problem. I've found it to be generally about a grade or more ahead of the average grade level work and that is a nice thing if the children use standardized testing for the evaluation. I don't use any of the other A Beka products because we try to stay with secular material as much as possible. A Beka math has very little religious content and it doesn't affect the math portions at all. I have know several hs'ers that are just using the A Beka math as well.

Mine have taken the FLVS Keyboarding course. They have also taken computer courses at the local science museum: Cartoon Club Studio, Scratch, Web Creators, Robotics and they will be taking a Game Creation course next. They are part of a new technology program.

Chocolate always caused fussiness in mine.

We've used the History of Medicine one and it was fantastic! We also did the Chemistry one and it was really good too. I'd recommend the books.

We made cake balls-chocolate fudge cake and mixed in chopped up Ande's Mint candy, covered in light chocolate. Then decorated with a green chocolate swirl and shamrock sprinkles. They taste divine! We're doing a corned beef dinner too. We'll do a leprechaun box and have some fun with a bottle of green food color. St. Patrick's day is a fun day at our house!

Adding Powerglide Latin....UGH! Horrible experience!

We read aloud 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown several years ago when Barnes & Noble had the online University. This book was in the reading list for a course on Native American history. It is an excellent book! Maybe you could find a study guide to go along with it.

Normally I avoid nasal sprays (addicting) but in a severe case I will use it to clear the sinus and immediately use the Neti Pot. Once you do it a couple of times, the saline in the Neti will shrink the swollen passages and you can stop with the spray.

We start the day with our read-aloud (books on Audible) for about half an hour. It is a nice way to wake up, have coffee and listen to a good book. We like to watch Unitedsteaming videos to go along with our history and science. We have lots of geography and strategy games to play for taking breaks. We play quick memory games for Spanish. In the summer we do the Hogwarts Summer School. It is a lot of fun!

Tomorrow would be a great day to make Bakerella's Pie Pops!! http://www.bakerella.com/easy-as-pie/

Now that my youngest are in middle school our days have gotten longer. We start school at around 7:30 and break for brunch around 10. Then we start again about 11 and go to around 2 or 3 with a few breaks. We school year round. We have science classes at the science museum one day a week so that day is usually lighter and shorter.

Over the years... 100 Easy Lessons & Explode the Code-Worked great for us! Big Book of Diagramming-Started our love of diagramming! Time Travelers History studies-Fun! Worldly Wise-Excellent vocab building program. A Beka Math-Advanced and moves fast but it works for us. Life of Fred-this is a fun and entertaining math. We love it! Florida Virtual School (Middle and High School Courses)-used for Spanish, Latin, Cultures, and several other classes. All good! CHOW-Calvert School-The interactive CD really made this better. Civics-Calvert School-Dry but the info presented well. History Odyssey series-we use this in conjunction with living books and Unitedstreaming ed videos. Apologia Science (7th grade up)-used with Unitedstreaming. We like that it has a lot of experiments and covers a lot of science history as well. The Elements by McHenry-fun chemistry course. The children enjoyed the memory game. Pretty much anything by Critical Thinking Co. !!! Whatever Happened to Penny Candy (economics)-do the unit study with this. It is great! Sophie's World (Novel about the history of philosophy)-used as the spine for a full unit on philosophy. I'm sure there are more but these are the standouts. :)

dupl post

Classical Writing Homer-Still using it but the implementation is hard to get into until you learn to tweak it to your own purposes. Singapore Math-We like A Beka better. We relate to less color and short, concise directions. We want just old fashioned math and lots of drill. We like drill and it likes us ...the SAT tells us so. ;) Lightning Lit-It is ok but we're looking for something a more challenging for next year. All-American History-Finding it very dull zzzzzz. Homeschool Computer Programming-ok program but not at interesting as I would have hoped.

Oh brother...it is just the same stuff my sister would pull on my mom. The silent treatment. She always managed to make my mom the 'bad guy'. The ball is in your daughter's court. Don't cave under that immature manipulation. You have been very reasonable and she needs to approach this in a mature manner as well. The 'silent treatment/pouting baby' routine needs to stop. It doesn't solve anything.

We just keep going on with the next level or grade. We just finished this year's math last week and in another week we'll start the next grade and work through summer. Math is a never-ending subject in our house. ;)

I totally agree! My sister used our mom as a babysitter/primary parent to her children for years and whenever mom tried to live her own life my sis would meltdown, throw a tempter tantrum and tell her she wouldn't see the children anymore. My mom always caved to this narcissistic behavior/manipulation and spent the rest of her life being manipulated. What we're left with is a sibling that still doesn't know the meaning of self control and responsibility and nobody wants anything to do with her. Her children are estranged as well. Helping out a child is one thing but there is a fine line between that and enabling them to make bad or selfish decisions. I think the OP should stick to her plan of watching the child for a certain amount of time as long as there is a plan to find alternative care. The father sounds like he should be a primary consideration for this. OP-Good luck with your predicament. I completely understand where you are coming from.

Our pediatric dentist had a no parents in treatment area policy. When the children only had simple cleanings I was ok with it. But when it came to a small filling they wanted to administer the gas. I told them no and requested to come back to observe and they refused and tried to get me to sign a form that would allow the gas 'if needed'. I refused. I found another dentist who has a open door policy and also is against giving the gas to children.

Burned. The charred area would result in a 'burned' taste and that is unacceptable for an eating establishment. Burning on the edges to get a 'done center' means that the temp and cooking technique is not right IMO.

We tried using this a few years ago. It didn't work for us. Just our opinions-it was dull and a little too much busy work. It got consistent groans and moans when we had to do it.

Cake Balls - Easiest thing you'll ever make but ohhhh soooo tasty!!! Links: http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Cake-Balls http://www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/cake-pops/ http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/paulas-cake-balls

I'm a little surprised the father of your dd's friend is comfortable having them overnight in his house. Honestly, in our society, men need to protect themselves too and if I was that man, I would not put myself in any situation like that unless I had another responsible adult present. If my daughter came to me with this scenario, I would not allow it. Sometimes it just comes down to that nagging feeling of uncomfortableness. If you are feeling that, go with your gut and don't feel bad. ;)

We're making St. Patrick's Day theme cake balls. Some for us and some for dh's work. The flavors are going to be Irish cream and cream de menthe. Covered in white and light chocolate with green accents. Everybody LOVES cakeballs! For dinner I might make corned beef in the pressure cooker. Dh and I also plan to concoct some leprechaun hijinks to pull on the kids too. :)