I used Saxon Phonics. Started it when son was in K, but could have started it when he was about age 4.5 ish as the first lessons are letter sounds. It was very easy to implement and very effective. I read the many great reviews on websites like amazon, cbd.com, homeschoolreviews, on this forum, etc. and I was sold. My son's a fabulous reader and speller because of it IMO.

ahha...thanks!

I want to alter a holiday and I also want to see where it says how many days I have available above minimum required days.

I've made my school calender with holidays, etc. Now how do I find it? If I go to TOOLS and click on School Year Calculator, a screen pops up as if I'm making a NEW one. If I go to MAINTENANCE tab and click on Years/Terms, a little box pops up that asks me the start and end date. When I open the program, it just says Days Available, Spent and Left. I want to view it and my holidays as I did WHEN I set it up (as I need to alter a date). How do I get to this?

Which grade level are you using? How are you using it? What do you and your child think? Here are a few links about ScienceFusion for those of you who are unfamiliar with it. http://www.hmheducation.com/sciencefusion-homeschool http://www.hmheducation.com/sciencefusion-homeschool/#1 http://www.hmheducation.com/sciencefusion-homeschool/#2 http://www.hmheducation.com/sciencefusion-homeschool/#3 http://www.hmheducation.com/sciencefusion-homeschool/#4

lots of great ideas! thanks, all of you!

[Editting my thread title here since this thing won't let me do so. Thread title :-) = Please help direct me to a good town to be the "hub" for a Smokey Mountain vacation.] We're planning a trip to the Smokey Mountains this fall. We'd like to find a good "hub" town in the middle of lots of attractions for families (don't mind a little driving from the hub once we are there). We want to do some Whitewater rafting (low levels of course), tubing, hiking, near restaurants, goofy golf, caves, waterfalls, etc. We're thinking Georgia, east TN, west NC, etc. Any ideas?

We're looking for a place to go this fall for vacation. Would love to find a clean, nice resort/lodge that is kid-friendly and within driving distance of fun attractions and with nature walks, etc. Jucuzzis, etc. would be nice also. Any suggestions?

My son loves Kikkerland wind-up toys. My son is 6 and his 8 year old (boy) cousin loves them also. Amazon has them for $ 8 to $10 ish each. No batteries required. Fairly durable also. Some of our favorites are: Kikkerland Oahaca Kikkerland Pintacuda Kikkerland Awika Kikkerland Cosmojetz Kikkerland Skidum Kikkerland Le Pinch I've posted the kikkerland websites of each of these. Once you click on the link, look to the right and click on WATCH VIDEO to see them in action. http://www.kikkerland.com/products/oahaca/ http://www.kikkerland.com/products/pintacuda-wind-up/ http://www.kikkerland.com/products/awika-wind_up/ http://www.kikkerland.com/products/cosmojetz-wind-up/ http://www.kikkerland.com/products/skidum-wind-up/ http://www.kikkerland.com/products/le-pinch-wind-up/ They're fun! And, I doubt he would have seen them.

If you speak Polish, can you PM me? I need help finding something in Poland and I can't navigate the websites I need unless I speak Polish. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

I saw the 15" but I assume it meant that the entire product itself was that deep so that some of those inches were the depth of the back apparatus. Maybe it does mean that the 15" is the seat depth only.

Oh Brett_Ashley, there's a crown in heaven for you for this! Thanks so much!!! That Evenflo Maestro is only 10 inches, so that extra 4 inches will be much improved.

I'm trying to buy a booster for my just turned 6 year old son. I bought the Evenflo Maestro Devon Booster. When I got it out of the box and sat my son in it (he's 43 lbs and about 46" and slender), the edge of it hits him at about mid-thigh. In other words, once he's scooted to the back (and sitting in it properly), from the middle of his thighs to his knees is just suspended with nothing under it. I'm now looking at the Graco Highback TurboBooster http://www.gracobaby.com/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1781044 and I can't tell that the seat depth is any better? I've enlarged the pic but can't tell. 1. Is this normal (that half the child's upper leg is supposed to have no support (looks uncomfortable to me)? 2. Any saint who's willing to go measure the depth of the seat from the back to the front edge for me (the Evenflo's depth is only 10 inches)? HELP!!! I don't want to come home with yet another and have this identical problem.

My 5 year old son drinks one daily. He loves them. Esp if his dad makes it. and he sees the spinach go in.

Whew....it's too late to get into this so here's my two minute typo-filled quick response. Christianity and Evolution are two different belief systems/subjects linked by the Bible. The Bible is a major source of where we get our ideas on both subjects. I guess the idea becomes how can one accept/follow/believe the Biblical tradition of Christ (Christianity) and the same source's (Bible) teachings on evolution. The Bible doesn't address evolution per se, but it does address how things originated(broadly) -- how they got started (that God's ideas were spoken into existance ex nihilo (from nothing). Evolution is the study of how things evolve/change/alter over time. The Bible doesn't address this. Many (most?) Christians try to make a definitive/specific timeline of the universe from the Bible (and they do this by drawing conclusions from who begat who and whether this dude lived 900 years or 300, etc. and then they use this as a basis for the timeline of the universe). In my view, it's ridiculous (and I suspect ridiculous to the Creator who said, "Where were you (Job) when I set the foundations of the Earth?" (In other words, you people weren't even around here back then!). I have no trouble at all to holding to a firm belief in the fact that God created/started this whole ball of wax and that the loss of a fish's eyeballs if it lives for decades in a cave doesn't matter to a hill of beans in the grand scheme. The point of Genesis (early chapters) is that we get that God CREATED this whole amazing universe and for us to get the problem of sin (how it got started) and how he started a plan on how to save us from it. The FACT that HIS creation alters/changes over time is irrefutable and the fact that so many Christians refute it and try to scrunch all of time into a measly 5000 years is, to be frank, embarrassing to me.

A gift certificate/money for a person(s) to come and thoroughly clean my house from top to bottom. He asked and I said, "I want money to hire a housecleaner person come and clean this house from top to bottom." to which he responded, "I don't have $2000 dollars." But, he is giving me $100 for this!!!

Wouldn't THIS be an awesome solution? Hire some group to walk immediately behind you and do this as soon as you all prepare for her passing. You all step off to the side and they play this when she's like 30 feet away and approaching!!! (...a cheaper route is to just "tape" this off the youtube and play it). GUFFAW! (and be sure to throw down a red velvet carpet too)

Proper sidewalk ettiquette is to use it as if driving thus you are supposed to take the right side of the sidewalk and her take HER right. Are you veering to the left hand when you "choose a side" as you and she meet/pass? If so and if she's some type A / OCD-about-irrelevant-minutieu type, then maybe she's passively saying that she's going to stay correct (on HER right) to teach you to veer right and do it "correctly." How stttttrange.

:bigear::confused:

I use this stuff called M-30. Got it from Family Dollar. I haven't bought it in a while as it lasts so long, but it cures a multitude of evils. Found it on amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/M30-01001-Hand-Cleaner/dp/B000J5AJ5W I only use it for the more tenacious looking ones as it's innately goopy. It's not something to put a blob in the wash and let her rip. You have to APPLY it (smudge it into) the fabric (like a stain stick) and let it sit a few minutes then wash. I've never tried it on my delicates either, just on grass stains, marker, blood stains (:eek:), etc. It's worked quite a number of miracles.

I have a DVD-R that I made with my Sony Handycam of my son's music recital. I'd like to email a clip from it to relatives and post it to a website. Is this possible? How? I don't want to risk damaging/losing it (I've already finalized it).:confused:

I actually called King Arthur this week about exactly this. The lady who answered assured me that none of their products were from GMO. I was curious as I went to the website nonGMOproject.com and couldn't find them.

If you feel like you're drowning, then you're misusing it. It's quite benign actually. ;)

You sound exactly like me when I don't take my chlorpheniramine (aka "ChlorTrimeton" (about $2 for a box of 30 at walmart). My dad's a pharmacist and this is what he also recommended and I find it works best of all the others. The key to seasonal allergies is to stay AHEAD of it. Once it gets out of control, it's almost impossible to get back in control with a steroid (ask me how I know:)). From mid-Feb to late April I have to take ChlorTrimeton daily / prophylactically. I take one 4 mg tablet in the morning, another after lunch ish /mid-afternoon and a half at bedtime (sometimes a whole one at bedtime). The prescription strenght of chlorpheniramine for adults is 12 mg per tablet every 8 hours ish, so taking 4 mgs three times a day is fine (assuming you don't have any liver/kidney issues). On the rare occasion (like today) when I forget my Chlortabs (chlorpheniramine), and I get like you describe, i have to take a 10 mg prednisone AND a chlorapheniramine to get back on top of it. At walmart, they are in the allergy section and are called "Allergy Tablets" "Chlortabs" or the brand name is Chlor-Trimeton. Things I recommend: 1. get local honey (from your local area made from the pollens in your areas courtesy your local bees). 2. take Chlorpheniramine as described 3. stay ahead of them. 4. get/use a NetiPot(Walgreens/online) and use about once a week. 5. keep your nasal sinuses moist with nasal saline (i do this only at bedtime). 6. when they get out of control, you'll find that getting an icepack and laying over your nose/cheeks helps (i put a damp rag on my face between cold pack and skin)......again...this is only necessary when I've not stayed on top of them. 7. also, if they get out of control, it can't hurt to take a tylenol to calm the inflammatory response 8. good luck (PM me if you need more info)

Thanks for this. I called the organization through which we're sending and they said that the child could get books if they were unbound so that customs wouldn't deem it as something that could be resold. So, I'm going to get them, unbind them, hole punch and tie sections with a string so she can retie them as a whole once there. I went on amazon and cbd.com and I can't even tell what the titles mean. I could tell by the cover which was Charlotte's web.