You never know what you are going to learn on this site--lol :) I HAD to stop what I was doing and go look this up! This sounds so much better than tampons! Who even knew these existed!! Oh, the Keeper site recommended using it for 10 years before replacement. What a great way to save money and be cleaner, etc. But, here is the question: Are they really comfortable?

I will start by noting that I am a Christian so non-Christian was not a consideration for us. But thinking about this in a more neutral fashion, I could see that you might be able to use many of the elementary items as a non-Christian. We ordered the history cards and several sets of history cds. While there is a Christian worldview, I would think it is MUCH less than other curriculums. The history info is history, art is art, etc. I don't know that I am offering much help :) Also, you could just take out the cards (5-8 maybe) in the history cards that were Bible related. You would simply add you own ideas/religion in in place of the Bible section, if you bought an entire age level during the younger years. High School level would be harder as the science and Omnibus ARE Biblical in nature. That is a hard one! :) I would say that younger years you could easily teach it, though.

I like the idea of a donation, if there is something the family is connected to. You could also donate to a zoo or museum if they have that special interest or to something like Focus on the Family. You might also send a gift to her like a wind chime or something to remind her of her son (if he planyed music) or plant a tree in his honor (something she could visit, water, and look at. It helps at times to have a visual reminder of the person you've lost. Sorry for the loss; hope this helps.

Look how good of a teacher you are!! I have a picture! Thanks!!

Can you mix TWTM with Classical Conversations to do a better job without going crazy? We are thinking about CC next year but I am overwhelmed by everything. DS7 will be in second grade and DS5 will be in K. Plus, I have a DS4. I need to keep school fun and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the need to have so many subjects that we are pushing to complete everything but not having fun... Thanks for imput! Leesa

Okay, so I am shall we say, technically challenged. This question is about my picture that should show up next to my name...there isn't one. I successfully downloaded one (after several tries) and it IS on my "homepage" but it is NOT next to anything else--my name in groups, my posts...what do I do please? Thanks!!

just know that while the Canterbury Tales are considered to be fine literature, having read and taught SOME of them to high school, public school students, they are pretty vulgar. I think you might only want to do a story or two from them for 8th graders. I am sure you have proofed it, but the book is a collection of stories that these "pilgrims" make up to pass the time on their trip to Canterbury...each one becomes more vulgar and rounchy (sp?) as the story progresses. Hope this helps... Leesa

we have the activity book and some of the activies are for younger childre: coloring pages, etc, but there are also a lot of great maps and the guide actually lists LOTS of things that my kids are too young to do. It might be great to take a look at a friend's copy or look at convention,etc before throwing out the idea of using it. We have the tests, too but in 2nd grade, my boys are too young for it. That's my two cents, hope it helps! :) Leesa

We just completed first grade with Story of the World, focused on Ancient history. We will be doing this 3 times for each child so I wanted to make this time really fun. We did the pages--coloring, maps and games. We also did the Evan-Moor history pockets (ancient). We made and did things at least once a week. We read books from the library on topics and we made a timeline from www.homeschoolinthewoods.com. We just printed them out and put them on the wall in order of dates. We will make several of these probably. We also color coded our according to godly and ungodly characters. :) For kindergarten, I really focused on READING and MATH. We did Math-u-See because I am math-phobic and it is so well explained. We used a phonics program (it wasn't so great so it will be left un-named) but I am using Memoria Press's First Start Reading now with Kindergarten for second son and we really like it. We read all the time, going to the library at least once a week. I would also recommend Memoria Press copybooks. My oldest loves these as you get to draw you own picture after you copy the work! :) Hope this helps!

I know that many of you have been homeschooling for some time. I searched the boards for "starting help" without much luck. I am learning lots but need to get to the point as nap time is almost over in my home! :) So, I need some advice: I have a 2nd grader & K next year and a preschooler. All boys. Needing help on getting a good start on Classical Ed. I have read and am doing TWTM as best I can. I still feel like we might not be doing enough. For 1st gr with oldest, we did SOTW with a timeline and notebook pages. We also did the Evan Moor pockets (so fun!!) for ancient history, Math-u-see- Alpha, First Lang Lessons, Apologia Astronomy, some American history facts, copybook 1, and the end of Sing Spell Read and Write. I think that is everything. We did some copywork, some memorization, and some dictation. Am I getting it right? What can I add for them next year that is a MUST?While I was a hs English teacher in the public school system for several years, I just don't know if I have this right...any help would be appreciated.

We have a treasury membership at Notebooking.com and LOVE the pages. Her children are only up to 10th grade, though, so I do think they would be designed for children 10th and under. There are some specific pages that I have seen that could be used for older children. Looking at Hold that thought, it does seem like the pages are geared more toward older children. Mine are still really young. I'm not much help in deciding, as I think both would be great! :) Good luck!

Thanks! this did help. I know there is no wrong way to do it or right way, exactly. I appreciate the input!

Hi, I'm new :) to this board, classical ed, and to homeschooling. Hoping for some help. I am teaching my k and have a first grader next year. We are doing the Ancient History book of Story of the World. My question is what do we do in the fourth grade when we start back at Ancient History again? Sounds silly, I guess, but I am thinking: Do we read it again and do the harder crafts, activities, etc and memorize different lists from the back of Kingfisher book? I'm a bit of a planner and just want to know what happens later. Help? Thanks, IL homeschooling Mom