My boys use the McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading. It takes only 3 minutes per day, and I've seen significant improvement in their reading comprehension. Here's the book: http://www.bhibooks.net/catalog/item/4154960/4106148.htm and the answer key: http://www.bhibooks.net/catalog/item/4154960/4106161.htm You can find it discounted at Rainbow Resource, but you want this book. The selections in the newer editions have been watered down. HTH!

I second Rod & Staff grammar; it's a solid program that's very affordable. Good luck!

You'll need to find a mortgage company that does manual underwriting rather than one that relies solely on a credit score. Dave Ramsey recommends Churchill Mortgage, but we've never used them. Good luck!

Our last day of school is June 12th. We will take off 6 weeks for our summer break and start back up again on July 27th.

Yes, that's my understanding too.

According to the R&S English Handbook, titles of books, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, and long poems are italicized. Titles of shorter works such as article, short stories, songs, and chapters from books are usually enclosed in quotation marks. HTH!

Here is a link to a scope and sequence chart for R&S Grammar (scroll down until you see the page for Building Christian English Series): http://www.rodandstaff.info/scope/ I would also recommend that you start with R&S 5. I did a quick comparison of R&S grammar 5 & 6 back in March 2008. I'm copying part of my post here: In comparing R&S 5 & 6: -the lessons are longer in 6, and a smaller typeset is used -there are more oral drill exercises, written exercises, and review exercises for each lesson in 6 -there are 139 lessons in 6, but only 119 in 5 -there are 82 worksheets for 6, but only 68 worksheets for 5 -there are 11 chapter tests & a final for 6, but only 10 chapter tests in 5 -5 talks about verb tenses & principal parts; 6 talks about transitive verbs & action verbs that aren't transitive -5 talks about linking verbs with predicate nouns & adj; 6 talks about passive and active voice -5 talks about nom, obj, & poss pronouns; 6 expands on this and talks about relative pronouns & relative clauses -there's more diagramming in 6 including adjective clauses, adverbs of degree, and adverb clauses -more advanced concepts in 6 include prepositional phrases as adjectives and adverbs, subordinating conjunctions, and avoiding misplaced phrases and clauses HTH!

I finished Know What You Believe, and I've started The Deadliest Monster by Jeff Baldwin.

When my weight starts creeping up, I stop eating after 7:00 P.M. I've found that's the time when I do most of my emotional eating. Once I'm back to the weight I want, I can relax the time to 9:00 P.M., but I still need to exhibit self-control and common sense (which doesn't always happen, thus the weight gain...).

Me too! I live in Central TX near Waco... Take care, Beth

I'm almost there, but I have no plans to continue formal grammar past R&S Grammar 8. In high school I would like to focus more on writing and literature, as well as, spend more time in science and history. There's not enough time to get it all done, so something has to go. However, if I see grammar issues coming up in their writing, I can always pull out R&S grammar for a quick review, but honestly, after 6 years of R&S Grammar, I don't think they will need or want any more grammar instruction. HTH!

I use CW with Ominbus I too. My 7th grade is doing a modified reading schedule of 23 books in Omnibus I with weekly writing assignments (one essay and one paragraph) along with a lesson per week from CW Homer B (20 lessons) or Poetry for Beg B (12 lessons). Some weeks are better than others, but he's writing, and I can see his thought process maturing. My DH, 7th grade son, and I attend a Precept Sunday School class open to all ages. We sit next to a couple of homeschool graduates that are attending different local colleges. They are very successful and good writers, but they still talk about all of the writing that is required in college (term papers, essay tests, written pop quizzes, etc.). I think my son realizes that there really is a reason we are having him write so much; his attitude toward writing has definitely improved since the 1st of the school year. Of course, he may also realize that the assignments aren't going away anytime soon... HTH!

I usually scheduled 2 Apologia Elementary books in one school year. Last year, my oldest son did Zoology I & II without any problems. The year before that he did Astronomy and Botany in one year. He would have done Zoology III and Anatomy this year, but the Anatomy book won't come out until this summer. He really likes this series and plans to read the new Anatomy book during his summer break.

My middle son will be in 7th grade next year. Here's his schedule: R&S Artpac 7 R&S Grammar 7 R&S Spelling 7 R&S Math 7 NT Greek for Beginners Latin Alive! Book 2 Omnibus I with Streams of Civ II CW Diogenes Maxim & Intermediate Poetry Apologia Zoology II & III HTH!

I use Streams of Civilization Vol I & II from 5th to 8th grade. I wonder what SWB decide to recommend for history for the logic stage. Her book doesn't come out until 02/04/09 (according to Amazon.com), but that doesn't help us in the planning stages right now. I don't think I'll change the current progression for my older boys, but I might look at something new for my younger son.

I second the recommendation for CW Poetry for Beginners. My boys did Poetry for Beg A last year, and they are just about to complete, Poetry for Beg B this year. They have really enjoyed this program. It's their favorite by far from the CW series. They like to read their imitations to each other, to me, to their younger brother, to dad when he gets home...really to anyone that will listen. Since CW is so teacher intensive, I was going to skip the poetry books, but I'm so glad that I didn't. I've learned a lot from this series too. ETA: We started the poetry books in 5th & 6th grade. CW has 3 poetry books, and I plan to cover all 3 books in our homeschool.

Here are my plans for now: R&S Artpac 8 R&S Grammar 8 R&S Spelling 8 NT Greek for Beginners Latin Alive! Book 2 Omnibus II with Streams of Civ II CW Diogenes Maxim & Intermediate Poetry Modern Algebra Structure & Method Book 1 by Dolciani RS4K Chemistry Level II & MODG Natural History using Fabre's Book of Insects Logic ?? --maybe Traditional Logic I I'm still trying to decide if I want to do Logic in 8th or 9th grade. I think he could do it next year, but in 9th grade I'm dropping grammar & spelling, so there would be more time. However, he loves logic and wants to do it. He's already read The Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective. Right now, he's doing The Art of Argument because again, he wanted a logic course this year.

I started my older sons in 4th & 5th grade with CW Aesop B. Up to that point, they had only done a few books from the Imitation in Writing series. I decided to work through the CW series with both boys at the same time. I used the CW grade level suggestions based on the grade of my middle son who was in 4th grade at the time. So far this has worked very well for us. My middle son was not overwhelmed with CW, but the program still challenged my older son who was in 5th grade at the time. HTH!

I'll preface this by saying that I'm a huge R&S fan, and we use many of their subjects in our homeschool. When I first started homeschooling my older boys in 2003, they started out in Saxon Math. My oldest son did fine with Saxon, but math is his thing, and I think he would do well with any program. My middle son does well in math, but he excels more in language arts. He did Saxon Math K & 1 in Kindergarten, Saxon Math 2 in 1st grade, and Saxon Math 3 in 2nd grade. He did well on the lessons and tests, but his work was always slow. Our homeschool support group offers annual Stanford Testing, so I started testing both of my sons when they were in 2nd & 3rd grade in May 2005. It was through the standarized testing that I noticed Saxon Math was not working for my middle son. The math section went too quickly for him, especially the oral portion. He panicked and freaked out when he couldn't keep up (this happened only in math, not during the other sections). It was at that point that I knew Saxon Math was not going to work for our homeschool. The math concepts were taught, but a solid foundation was not being built, and my son floundered when trying to recall information on a timed basis. His standarized test scores reflected this reality; they were dismal to say the least. In 3rd grade, I moved my son in R&S Math 3 with the speed drills and blacklines (yes, he repeated math 3). He did a lot of work that year and worked very hard on mental math. Instant recall for all math facts was our priority. He took the Stanford Test again in 3rd grade, and his scores almost doubled in math. He has now done R&S Math 3, 4, & 5, and he's 1/2 way through 6 this year. Last year in 5th grade, he tested very, very well on the Stanford test, but his highest scores were in math. Personally, I think both of my older boys score well in grammar and math because of the solid foundation they have built with the R&S texts. There are many on this board who do well in Saxon, as well as other math programs, but R&S Math works the best for our homeschool. My oldest son works a year ahead, and my middle son works on grade level. My 3rd son did R&S Math 1 last year, and this year, he's doing R&S Math 2 in 1st grade; like his older brother, his strength is math. I do have a calendar time with him because it's not done in R&S Math, but that is the only thing I supplement the program with. He hasn't done any standardized testing, but I'm confident that he will do well too. There may be some concepts (like graphs or statistics) that don't get covered by R&S the same year they are on standarized tests, but my goal is make sure that my boys are very well grounded in math. In my experience, the timing difference of when concepts are taught has not made a huge difference in their testing scores. Even though we do annual standarized testing, I don't teach to the test. HTH!

I started the CW program with Aesop B when my boys were in 4th & 5th grade. Then we did Homer A and Poetry for Beginners A. It was probably 1/2 way through the 2nd year (with Homer A) that I started feeling comfortable with the program and understanding the big picture. Actually, now that I think about it, I started understanding more as I began to read through the Homer Core book for the 2nd time in preparation for Homer B. I'm going to be such a better teacher with the CW program for my 3rd son... I also found that I really need to prepare more on the weekends for our CW assignments. The weeks that are the most difficult are the ones where I'm reading through the Instructor's Guide and the Core book as I'm trying to teach the lesson. For me, this is easier said than done though.

CW Homer gets overwhelming at times; therefore, I plan 1/2 of Homer, then do Poetry for Beg, and then finish up the the last 1/2 of Homer. We did Homer A with Poetry for Beg A last year. This year we are doing Homer B with Poetry for Beg B. The CW poetry program gives us enough break to make it through Homer. I agree with Angelina that Diogenes looks less intense. I can't wait! Even though Homer can be tough at times, I wouldn't us any other program to teach writing. My youngest son will go through the same CW sequence. I've seen so much improvement in the writing skills of my older boys with CW that I know it's worth it in the end. HTH!

I finished the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and I'm starting Know What you Believe: Connecting Faith & Truth by Paul E. Little.

I drive a T&C minivan too, but we attend a Baptist Church. My husband drives a Chevy Suburban. Our church has a mix of cars because we not only have a lot of families that attend (thus the minivans & SUVs), but we also have a large college ministry (800+ students that drive sedans & trucks). As my boys are getting older and out of the car seat phase, I'm hoping to purchase a used Volvo wagon this time next year; I'm really tired of driving a minivan.

This topic is mostly from the old board format, but I know way too much about shaving and those involved in it...the discussion that is.

Here are a couple sites recommended by our local chess club: http://www.kidchess.com/ http://www.chesskids.com/ HTH!