We have both as well. I got Mighty Mind with my SL core, but then discovered they have a magnetic version. We bought the magnetic one and it is FAB-U-LOUS! You can lay the card inside the lid and the tiles stay where they are placed. My dd takes it to church to use quietly during service. We got pattern blocks with the next core, but so far she is choosing MM over pattern blocks.

:iagree:I, too, looked for used books for just Core P3/4 and was struggling. When I discussed it with dh, he told me just to order it! We will be using them with two children, and we will be able to sell them if we need to for a decent price. Another thing to remember that SL offers is the Love to Learn Guarantee. The OP (which I finally figured out is original poster) appears to be new to hsing. The Love to Learn guarantee alone may make it worth it at least until you see if you like SL. I have never used it, but it's always good to know it's there!

Thanks so much for the help! It turned out fine! Mine wasn't the best presentation, but not nearly the worst. Just somewhere in the middle and that is fine with me! Blessings!

Our local church is putting together a ceremony honoring the graduates and have asked me to put together a graduation tri-board and to decorate a table for him. I am not crafty in any way and need some ideas...FAST! It is to be displayed during tonight's service. If anyone has links, pictures, anything that will help....ideas, suggestions....I would appreciate it! Thanks! :bigear:

I read all of that as well. There are also issues with the HOPE and homeschoolers. This what I did, and if you can swing it, it is my suggestion. We found a local private Christian school that offers transcript services, somewhat of an "umbrella" school. The school gave us a list of their requirements for graduation, and I simply took all of the classes that ds had taken, created a transcript with course names and credits awarded and submitted it to them, then also submitted the required attendance forms. My ds was given an accredited transcript, the school was a parts of SACS and then there are no more concerns. You still have to have the ACT or SAT, but the transcript and dealing with all of the different issues that are set out specifically for hsers just disappear! Don't know where you are in GA, if you want to pm me, I will tell you the school we used and where it is. BTW, we didn't enroll until his senior year and it was $150, got a complete high school transcript.

Well, it is around $263 new, you would get a Love to Learn guarantee, which means that if you don't like it, you can send it back. You have six months (180 days) to use it and then if it doesn't work, return it. It does not have to be in new condition. I have never used this aspect of SL, just nice to know it's there. You also would get free shipping and 10% off of everything else you buy for the next year. Not knowing your budget, $180 is a decent price, but does that include shipping? The Teddy game is simply a bigger version of Memory. You could use any Memory type game to substitute. Do you intend to use this Core again? If you are using it with other children, of course that again makes it a good value. I am saving Cores for my tiny dd and maybe God will bless us with more, you never know. :p To address the math question, there is a Singapore Earlybird series that you could try, or Math-U-See. Everyday math is good as well. I count with my dd, let her choose plates/forks to set the table. She has to figure out how many she needs, etc. We also count....everything we see! We talk about colors and shapes as we drive down the road. It's constant. Hope some of this helps.

YAY! Congrats to all of you!:D

I am sure many others will help, but I wanted to specifically address the math question. Abeka K math seems pretty easy for a K student. My ds is four and is working through this book at her own pace. My question is, do you like Abeka? The WTM recommends them, along with others, for math curriculum at this level. If you like them but are concerned that it is too easy, just let your child (not sure which one your are referring to) work ahead or not do every problem on every page. Abeka gets harder pretty quickly, IMO, and nearly every program has review built into the beginning, so if you began the Abeka 1st grade book, the child will probably sail through the first part. When my ds was using Abeka, if it was material we had already covered, I let him do a few problems, then went on. Abeka does have a lot of built in review, and it is not necessary for all students. WTM has several recommendations for math. Abeka, Saxon, Singapore, Right Start, Calvert, Math-U-See. Personally, we are working on Abeka K, Singapore Earlybird, and I just ordered Math-U-See primer. I don't expect to do every problem in all three programs, but each teach things in a different way, and I want her exposed to all of them. I also want to see which she does best with. I love Abeka, my ds scored quite high (in the 30's) on the ACT with them, we used Abeka primarily throughout his schooling. Here are more recommendations: Spelling Workout First Language Lessons Writing with Ease/The Complete Writer 1st grade should learn Life Science: animals/human body/plants History: Ancients You can go to the Peace Hill Press website, and they have curriculum packages by grade level. Hope some of this helped and sorry if I was long-winded! :tongue_smilie:

My dd does not like to do formal writing either! She will do some in the ETC or DEL books, but not penmanship. I am not rushing her, but just wondering what FLL has to work with. We are on P4/5, but I plan to re-incorporate P3/4 as I found a schedule on here for 12 weeks. I do not follow them precisely, i.e. we are reading Uncle Wiggley in sequential order as a bedtime book, but I want to go back through P3/4. I have been asking her questions about the books and stories when we are done, but if I had some help on how to teach her the skills of narration that would be great. Is FLL right for this? Or can someone recommend something else? Thanks for any help!

I believe in most states (we have hs'ed in four states and two countries) he would actually not be formally in K until the following year because many public school systems have a cut off date around September. However, personally I would call him a K student. If you plan to play sports outside of hsing, usually they will have an age limit, and not just go by grades, especially this young. We went through that with my ds. My dd is four, as of this past March, and people always ask her where she goes to school and what grade she is in. She has the ready answer, "We do homeschool." I am teaching her to say, "I am homeschooled" and "I am in Kindergarten." We hs year round, but for others purposes, she will be in K until next summer. If I hs'ed on an August-June schedule, I would start her in K this fall, which would be technically a year early according to ps standards.

:iagree:With much of that! There is a book, it's older, I believe the title is Better Late than Early. Maybe she simply is not ready?? Hopefully you will get more sage advice than I can offer. :bigear:

I will just admit it, I hired a housekeeper! My ds just moved out a couple of weeks ago to go to college and he did quite a bit of daily mundane things such as empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, walk the dog, sweep the kitchen/dining room, foyer. He also mowed/weedeated/edged the lawn and swept the front porch/walkway and back patio. Before he left I talked with a few different cleaning services, but ended up hiring a lady that had moved here in December that could not find suitable employment. She comes every other week, and this is what she does. Downstairs: wipes/cleans all kitchen counters, cleans inside of microwave & toaster oven, wipes down sinks/faucets. She dusts everything vacuums/sweeps/mops all floors and cleans the downstairs 1/2 bath. She then vacuums my stairs, cleans the banister/railing and moves upstairs. Up there, she dusts everything again, vacuums all the bedrooms, the playroom/schoolroom, and cleans both full baths. She also takes out all the trash and cleans out the trash cans. For all of that, I pay her $60. My home is a little over 3000 square feet so I think I am getting a fabulous deal! In between, I have a canister of clorox wipes and another of windex wipes that I keep upstairs. All of my other cleaning supplies stay downstairs. I also have a swiffer that takes both wet and dry cloths. I constantly load the dishwasher after each meal so that there is not a pile of dishes. These things I did before ds moved to college. At the end of the evening, we have a 10-minute clean-up session for everyone to pick up a room that needs it. I have done this since my ds was about three. I would just set a timer, and get everything done that we could in 10 or 15 minutes. It made it more bearable. Laundry gets down whenever, but I try to do the bulk on Monday. I put a load in, do a subject or two, switch it over and load it again, do the same....repeat. Till all is done. Since our housekeeper has begin helping, I am much less stressed, have a lot more time to spend with the kids and I do not freak out if someone stops by. I wasn't certain if it would fit in our budget or not, but I wiggled and cut and made it work. It is well worth it! My babies will only be babies once. :)

Thanks for this! Great site!

Having never used FLL (but planning to try it) I cannot give an opinion. However, my ds used Abeka and it is an excellent program. It is not heavy on writing on the younger years, but it does have some writing. It delves deeper around 6th grade. You have to use Abeka's complete program, not just their langauge/grammar book for LA. If you are looking specifically for in-depth writing, you will not find that until 6th grade, when Abeka adds a supplemental creative writing book. We did nearly every assignment on every page (which is a lot of work, but ds needed it and I think it was best), and we used their complete program, spelling, vocab, grammar, reading comprehension, and writing. I used them exclusively throughout his school and all the way through high school. Ds did have sporadic struggles with spelling and grammar, so I used Apples spelling (1st book only) and Daily Grams here and there for a couple of years in early high school. After saying all of that, ds started college this month and is sailing through his first college level English class. He missed three classes out of the first 7, had a test, and scored an "A." For this test, he had some online self directed practice tests that he called me laughing about because they were so easy. I do plan to try FLL & WWE simply because I have heard so many good things about them, but if I do not like them after about 1/2 year, I will go back to Abeka with no hesitiation.

My sister teaches VPK in Florida and they, too, have just "upgraded" their standards to teach them what used to be taught in K. I was dumbfounded when she told me about it. I did ask her for a list of what is required and she is sending it to me. Part of what she told me corresponds with the material in, "What Youe Kindergartender Needs to Know." I am so thankful I can keep my babies at home!

Does WWE cover that? I have not used it, but it was my impression that WWE was mostly writing and FLL is about the structure and grammar. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Now, I am aware that writing contains all of that, but it was my understanding that it was actually taught it FLL and taught how to use in WWE....if that makes sense??!! (ellipsis mine)

Are there specific books you suggest from Cathy Duffy? My dd seems to learn better when she can hear things, such as listening to the audio CD from OPGTR and doing with manipulatives for math. It would be a great help to me to figure out her learning style before I waste a lot of $$ on curriculum.

For your friend...I concur. A card only should suffice. For your announcements, send them to whomever you like! I sent out quite a bit, some sent gifts and some did not. I simply wanted people that I considered to have been a part of this journey, or a part of our lives to know that our ds was graduating. I did not expect gifts from everyone and did not get gifts from everyone! I do like the guideline someone said about your holiday card list and then others that you feel you need to include. That is a great suggestion! :D

especially Sharon in MD. You say she wants to go to this college "next year." Does that mean this fall? This is the deal we made for our ds. This summer he is going to a small college where we are from in Florida. He is living with my MIL for the summer. In order for him to be able to stay there for fall and onward and get his own place with a roommate, he has to maintain a 3.0 GPA, keep his nose clean, and find a part-time job (only 10 hours of so a week). Otherwise, he comes back home and goes to the local college here and has to stay living at home. We let him take a light courseload this summer to get his feet wet. Fall is full time. So my question is can she go to a local college or community college for maybe one or two classes before you send her to this college that is away? Maybe if she can maintain a decent GPA not going full time, and still being under your watchful eye, then she will have somewhat earned the privilege of going to this college away. Just a thought...

Cannot imagine this loss. Prayers are with you! :grouphug:

I have done the same, as I am sure so have many others. Don't beat yourself up! One of the joys of hsing is to be able to move things around, focus where we need to focus and draw back where things are sufficient. I am sure you are doing a great job! :D

Help me! What tag, where?

A K or 1st grade student to understand? I wanted to start reading them with my daughter next year, and maybe skimming through the Great Science Adventure book that would correspond. I assume we would need to take at least two years to go through the 1st one because of it's depth and her age/level. I am wondering if there are parts we could touch on with her, maybe just not delve into it word for word the first year. Any ideas?

and have found that as you get into the older cores, say past K-2, the books become harder to get at the library unless you have a fabulous library system. Another factor that is more important is my TIME. When we chose SL, I started talking about shopping around, saving money, yada, yada. Dh said, "Is it worth your time? Do you really save THAT much?" Well, I found that I really would not. It's mush simpler to order the core and get a box, not to mention the forum access, 10% discount on future purchases for a year, Love to Learn guarantee, and free shipping! Now, you can find lots of cores used, just check here, the SL forums and Vegsource. We plan on using the cores we are buying with our next dd, so we really do save money anyway. Not to mention, like I read somewhere on the SL site, if you already own a book, then use the new one for a gift. We have done that as well. So, will you use the cores again? Can you look for used? The resell value is pretty good, so you will recoup money there as well. Just some things to think about. BTW, I have no experience with HOD, so I cannot offer my opinion there!

I am a Florida native and we started our hsing journey there. Have been there on and off over the past few years, and miss it dearly. You are blessed with that convention, it is one of the best nationwide. I would say in the top five and I have been to LOTS of them! The laws in Florida are pretty easy as well. Welcome to homeschooling, so glad you decided to come to the "other" side. It's beautiful here!