Hi, I know I don't post very often, but I wanted to tell you that my 21year old daughter has episodes like this occasionally during her monthly period. It happens only every so often, and when it happens it comes on very suddenly. One thing that stands out to me is the mention of possible warm water from a plastic bottle. (Don't know if it was plastic). Anyhow. She may have been reacting to the toxins from the plastic leeching into the water if it had been in the sunlight.

My own labels. Scotch tape is my friend.

We have used SL booklists for reading and history for most of the past 4 years. We started with C, went on to D and then E and are now on F. We (my dc and I) have learned so much! Next year, I plan to start B with my 7 year old and do 100 with my 12 and 14 year olds. When we were doing D one of my sons was 8. He did fine just listening in. He is 10 now and going back thru the D and E readers while he listens to me read F books. He will take a break from SL next year because he isn't ready for 100 (which is where I want to put my older ones). Even though I will be having my 7 year old do B, I don't necessarly think a second grader has to do much more than the basics. It will all be gravy to us.

I don't know how much you have to spend, but could you afford to buy the absolute essentials of Sonlight G to get you going for the school year and then pick up the rest as needed via Amazon? I know SL seems to indicate you can't save money by buying from other places, but my experience has been that you can order MOST of their titles (except SL exclusives) through Rainbow Resource for several dollars cheaper per book. It adds up substantially. Sometimes you can get an even better deal used on Amazon (but factor in the shipping!). I can afford to shop around as I have more time than money!:D

1972 is an old edition and not nearly as good as the present ones. I am not sure when the series was revised, but I can check.

I made a paper sleeve that I slipped over the first couple of chapters. I told my dc that part I had a problem with, but the rest of the book was fine as far as I was concerned. I didn't forbid them to look at it or anything, they just know where to start reading when and if they ever pull that book off the shelf.

Be sure to look up the Landmark book called The Story of Australia by A. Grove Day.

I have all my ducks lined up, so to speak, but I just can't hit the order buttons to order Sonlight W for my 12 and 13 year olds. It will cost me less than $300 from various sources added to what I already own, so cost isn't the issue. I just don't know if I can really swing SL! Can I do this? We have always read aloud A LOT. We love it. What is the Bible portion like? What about the LA? My dc seem to be dragging their feet about studying Ancient/Medieval world history. They want US history, but we read through all the D&E books already and are READY to do world history. Just trying to decide whether we ought to do a quick run through world history with something like just reading Story of the World and then move on to US history again or whether we ought to draw it out longer with SL W. I have younger children I need to spend more time with, too, and am not sure whether doing SL W more officially than we've done other cores will take up too much time. Thanks for any input.

:confused: I don't post here often, but I read frequently. I, too, was anxiously awaiting SL's new website. I assumed it was going to be REALLY different than before because they took their whole site down for a full day. (Who else does that??) I was shocked when I saw the "new" site. It looks the same as the old site. And I couldn't see samples of the things I was interested in! I thought maybe I was just totally confused. I have used SL lists for years (cores D and E and now F). Next year I was thinking about ordering the full B and G cores. I think I am holding on to my golden 2010 catalog with book descriptions and keep skipping their IG's!:tongue_smilie:

Which would you pick, if you had to pick all of either: Abeka or Rod and Staff? (For any grade 3-6) If you could pick and chose/mix match between the two, which publisher for which subject?

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I think I will go on to the 6th book....and if that doesn't work out, I will look at CLE.

He is almost 12 and just finishing up the 5th grade book. (Technically he ought to be in the 6th grade book based on his age and when he started school.) Now what do I do?:glare: I really want to stick with Rod and Staff math, but I am so discouraged. Why oh why did this child flunk this test????????? :confused: He is at least of average intelligence. No learning problems. He was struggling all through the book to get very good scores on the tests, so I should've seen this coming. He only does a half hearted job with any of his school work. Ever. I find it truly aggravating. I have now banned him from all computer and movie time. We don't have video games or t.v.

Ok, so I just asked 11yods to tell me about the book he just got reading. He started Moonshiner's Son yesterday and finished it today. He talked to me for 3 or 4 miles while I was driving, telling me about the story. He obviously comprehended it. Lol. Thank you, everyone, for the comments. It really helps to have a soundinf board and input from other moms.:)

They've always been home schooling. We've used Rod and Staff before, always for math, English and spelling. My 11 year old did all Rod and Staff last year for 4th. My 9 yo was slow to learn to read, so he just read books to me (easy readers ala HOD) last year. I've varied the stuff we've done for history and science.

Oh, man! I just got done posting a similar dilemma about my 9 and 11 year old sons!! Interest led reading vs making them put forth effort with a more traditional course of study. :bigear:

I have an 11yods and a 9yods. I read far too many curriculum reviews and am torn..... Go easy with your advice, I'm far too emotional about this right now. I bought all Rod and Staff for them. (6th and 4th) They aren't exactly schooling with a lot of enthusiasm with it. I tried a more CM/Ambleside/Robinson thing with them and LOVE the literature part....however.... I felt they were churning out really immature one sentence scribbles for supposed "narrations". For instance, after reading a chapter in Apologia Elementary Astronomy, my 11 year old sprawls out a one sentence, "I learned it takes almost a week to get to the moon." I'm not even sure if this is correct. Sigh. Excuse me....but had he been doing Rod and Staff 6th grade science, he sure would have had to generate more substance than that. I fear having him/them just read and then write narrations about it is going to leave me pulling my hair out with no ability to get more out of him/them than that. I read about Robinson Curriculum, and I think they probably don't need to *do* anything....just read great books and they'll end up smart.....and then I try it and think, NO, they'll learn more doing Rod and Staff. My 11 year old can scarf down a 120 page book in a day. My 9 year old,not so much. I notice they read fewer books on their own for pleasure when we do Rod and Staff (all subjects). But then when they read more books on their own, they churn out insipid work. I really enjoy reading to my dc. I really enjoy them reading to themselves. I really enjoy lit based history. I really don't want to mess this thing up. I really want them educated. I know *other* people can make their children do Rod and Staff (or Abeka or BJU) and mine aren't less capable. I also know *other* people can give their children great educations with Robinson, Sonlight, MFW, HOD, Ambleside, etc. I would sure hate to squash their "love of learning".....but NOBODY cared about *my* "love of learning"....we just went to school and did it. Dh doesn't want me catering to their belly aching, but leaves it up to me what to do with them.....He would be firmer, no doubt. My dc, they just want to get school done and out of the way so they can go on to other things. They don't want it to take all day. Any advice????

Trying to decide between MFW ECC or Sonlight 5.....or just getting the book I like from each and just reading them to my dc. I've never used a prepared literature curriculum before. I have Rod and Staff math, English, and spelling. (and maybe science). We are a conservative Christian family if that makes a difference.

Rod and Staff. I use this with my many because the instructional part of the lessons are right in the student books and my olders can work fairly independently. When I do need to help them, it's easy for me to make sense of what's in the student books to explain. The teacher's books----when I need them----are easily accessible. The books are (mostly) hardbound, reusable. Saves me many $$$$. Rod and Staff isn't as colorful as, say, Abeka. That has as times been a little downer for me. However, the benefits for a big family outweigh the lack of visual pazzazz. (I did post about Abeka lately, but the couple responses I got reassured me to stick with Rod and Staff!) I add in read alouds (like SOTW) and that seems to give my dc. I teach 6 as well.

I am torn for 4th and 6th grade. We've used Rod and Staff for years. I own all the books for all the subjects except for consumable workbooks. Next year would be minimal cost for me to go with 4th & 6th Rod and Staff for every subject. I actually like using Rod and Staff (well, I don't love their Social Studies, but it's ok). It is set up in a way that makes sense to me. The children don't complain (much). But I eye Abeka and think: how colorful! how interesting! how new (compared to Rod and Staff)! But I also think: how expensive!! Is it worth me switching to Abeka just for the colorful texts? Would I be gaining anything academically? Is Abeka more educational than Rod and Staff? Am I just suffering the greener grass syndrome?:confused: I can't believe I am even considering Abeka. I always steered away from it because: 1. It seems to have too many components 2. They revise so often, I think it's a marketing ploy to keep people buying their books.

I want to find text/worktext/worktext answer sets of BJU Heritage Studies (grades 3, 5, and 6) but I am soooooo confused on the editions. I am seeing a variety of different covers even for ones that say "2nd edition". Is a 2nd edition the same inside no matter what the cover looks like?????

Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule is an interesting one dealing with immediate post Civil War. Brady by Jean Fritz Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder

:iagree: That's us, too! I've collected the books over the years at greatly reduced prices anticipating the day when we'd make the plunge.

I have this same situation going at my house. SL "Sonia" placed my children into three cores: 3-4 and 1 and pk 4/5. I've studied the HOD and SL catalogs over and over to see if I could combine at least the older children easily into either HOD Preparing or SL 4. My olders have already gone through much of SL 3. I still can't decide!!!

I think I might be going to go with Sonlight for next year after oogling it forever. I've used their catalog for years. Anyhow, I've been picking up books at thrift stores and marking them off in my SL catalog and I have a pretty substantial pile of the books from each of the cores. Just yesterday I picked up what would've cost me $79 in the catalog for something under $8 by doing this. I got around a dozen books or so. YET....I still seem to have a long ways to go in getting all the books I need (cores k and 5) and I see that if you buy a whole core I haven't quite saved so much. I have long lamented that Sonlight is so expensive and it kind of aggravates me when they say how much $$$ they're able to donate to missions/charities from their sales. I could as well spend less in curriculum and give my tithe to whomever *I* chose.....but who am I? Most literature-based programs are pricey, I've noticed. :glare: My library has some of the titles I need, but not all. I might be able to ILL them....but isn't that sort of a pain? Any advice here? I noticed some I picked up used aren't ones I'd enjoy reading more than, say, once or twice so to spend $7/each on them new would seem excessive. :confused: Anyone with experience with Heart of Dakota? This would be the other lit-based curriculum I am interested in.

I am torn between using Serl's books or Rod & Staff English. I've used both over the years and liked them both for different reasons. I eventually settled with Rod & Staff because it seemed more educational/academic. I'm sitting on the fence about this because I *want* to use Rod & Staff, but my 10 and 11 yo boys are struggling with the 4th grade English book right now. I am thinking of switching them to ILL, but don't want to give up on Rod & Staff too hastily. I don't want school to be "too easy" for them, yet I don't think being "too hard" is a good thing either.