What? I can't resell this either?? Well that's just great. Mine has just been sitting around in the file cabinet, and I was thinking of eBaying it. I wish there were bill boards that warned you of expensive software that you can't sell. (Maybe the Surgeon General could look into that.) I never seem to find out until it's too late. It's a good thing people around me can't read my mind when those Rosetta Stone commercials come on the radio. :cursing:

At first, I thought that spacing practice was probably the case. But, I was befuddled by the letter spacing in the picture. :001_huh: The letters are written with no regard to the lines between the boxes. I know. I know. I need to quit looking at this book and go find something more productive to do. :D I'm now going to take this book off the computer desk and put it on the bookshelf. :leaving: (DH just looked over my shoulder at what I was writing and thought maybe I needed to add a couple of more smilies.) OK. :):) (Now he says to please go do something else.)

We don't have TV anymore, do they still have those Cops shows? You would always see some half-dressed, obviously drunk man suddenly become very "respectful". Yes Sir, Yes Sir, No Sir, NO SIR not MY pot! Sir, Sir, Sir you're not going to take me to jail? PLEASE SIR!! :lol:

I've always wondered why Mrs. Last Name is used and Miss First Name is used? Why not Mrs. First Name? (Esp. for an old married lady like me. :)) I've also wondered what my mom's cousin Kitty thought of this? :D I remember when the leadership of my childhood church changed (new pastor from southern state). All women would now be addressed as Mrs. Last Name or Miss First Name, and men as Bro. First or Last Name. First names were no longer allowed, as this was not respectful. It may just be a cultural thing, but I guess our culture was not acceptable to them.

On the front cover of Susan Wise Bauer's book Writing With Ease Strong Fundamentals there is a picture of a student writing on graph paper. Graph paper is also on the back cover. Maybe it says somewhere and I just missed it. :001_huh: Why is this child using graph paper for what appears to be guided handwriting instruction? I'm not aware of this method, is it new?

What time do you start?

Understood Betsy I especially love Cousin Ann's test taking attitude! There have been many times I've thought to myself, "Now what would Cousin Ann do?" I had never really thought about my motives when giving others a helping hand, that part with the clothes for the little boy really struck a nerve. Thankfully, whenever DC and I do something to help others, it always runs through my mind. The first 2 chapters of that book were so wordy that I almost shelved it, I'm so glad that I kept reading on anyway.

We did this. It was so fun! I just took it down from DD's wall the other day. I will try and attach a picture for you. There was a brain, heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, and some bones and muscles. The pages were black and white. We traced around DD, colored, cut and pasted on the pictures. We got our templates from: Science Enrichment 1-2 (workbook) Frank Schaffer Publications ISBN 0-88012-913-1 You can get the workbook on eBay for cheap. :) (It also had a cute hinged skeleton craft.)

We used the Knowledge Box Central CD-ROM's from Rainbow Resources last year to create DD's lapbook. DD was in 1st grade and DS was in 5th grade. My son likes the notebooking method (we make our own notebook pages), but I wanted something a little less intensive for my 1st grader. It worked well for us. I bought the CD-ROM's only and printed the pages myself. (I'm cheap.) I printed off all the instructions and pages for the year and made an instruction notebook for myself. This was the first lapbook we've ever done (actually it was done in two separate lapbooks- one for each semester), but they turned out nice. DD is proud of them and shows them off to visitors in our home. I'm not at all a hands-on, crafty person and this was doable for even me. :) I will try to describe how we used it. There are a bunch of little lapbooks that go along with the reading. The little books are mostly blank inside to fill in as much information as you choose. (I drew in lines.) When we finished reading a section that had a lapbook, I would ask questions and discuss the reading with DD. Next, I would write out what I wanted DD to remember about the reading. (Usually one to three sentences.) I would have her read out loud what I wrote, then she would copy it onto the little lapbook (sometimes color the page too). I then would put it together and glue it in the correct spot. Most of the time there was one lapbook per reading. DD just worked along with DS on the book projects. For sure she didn't retain all the information (and there is A LOT), but she did seem to learn quite a bit. She had quite the discussion the other day with the neighbor girl about the meteor shower! :) I did find several mistakes in the instructions- but I was able to figure out what I needed to do. If you happen to buy that one let me know, and I'll be glad to tell you what I found if it would make it easier for you. ;)

Understood Betsy

I really don't do a lot of curriculum changing, but after 5 years of SL LA I am ditching it this year too. I thought the older version was OK, but I really dislike the new overhaul they've done with Ruth Beechick. I still have the older version that I could use with my second child, but I'm going to chuck it for everyone. I am going to try FLL and WWE for my 2nd grader and my 6th grader will use the online Write-at-Home program. (At over $400 a year I hope we like it!) :001_huh:

We've done Sonlight for many years, but I gave up on the comprehension questions long ago. We are still using Sonlight for history and readers, but following the way Susan Bauer does narrations and outlining in The Well-Trained Mind book. With my second child, I'm really adding a lot more memory work. Both of my children are auditory learners. There is no way I could not have used this curriculum with another learning style.

We have a small Bichon (8lbs.) that starts out in bed with us, but then I put her in her crate later. DH says she can sleep with us, but I'm so afraid that she will get mashed, or suffocated somehow. Could that actually happen? I know it can with a real baby- but a year old dog? I had a trainer tell me (at the park) that she is not my baby, and she doesn't want to be treated like one. I've never had a dog before, only kids, so I don't really know how else to treat her. But at $75 an hour, all I could do was smile and take his card. :)

It depends on where you live. ;) To get to average going rate where you live you might want to check Craigslist under their childcare section. Were I live it is around $75 per week (5- 8 hour days) with some giving a discount for the second child.