Anytime we have extra funds I like to use it for field trips. Memberships are great, but then I feel like I have to get my money's worth at that one venue. I like to spread it out and take advantage of homeschool days at lots of different places. :)

This is our second year using A Reason for Spelling, my dd loves it, spelling is her favorite subject by far. I find it to be very easy to use and it takes very little time and I've noticed her spelling drastically improving. There are some games and activities that are more classroom related so I either skip those or adapt it for us. For example, it may say to divide the class up into teams and whoever spells all their words right first is the winner. I will just have her spell the words and put a sticker on the game board or check it off - she knows no different and it works well. This is the only spelling program I've used so I can't give a comparison to another but that's just my two cents on it. :)

I've looked at that curriculum several times in the past and as I recall it had a lot of group work, seemed like it was written for classroom but could be used for homeschool. I also read a lot of reviews that it was not worth the $$. I have no personal experience with it though! It does look neat - good marketing! lol

We are currently using Artistic Pursuits K-3 (book one) and I bought all the supplies from Rainbow Resource last August before starting school. I was buying quite a bit from them so I qualified for free shipping. I'm using it with two kids and one set has been just fine. I did buy two of the ebony pencils but I can't remember if that was part of the package already. I would suggest buying an extra tablet of watercolor paper, we seem to be going through that quickly.

I read the sentence as the interior of the galaxy being choked, thus the verb?? I'm no expert! lol

IMO just plain swimming would be the main activity but you could always have some big beach balls for them to toss around. If you had floats you could also have some fun races.

Farmer Boy (all books by Laura Ingalls Wilder) Gooney Bird Greene Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Night of the Moonjellies (picture book but a favorite) Junie B. Jones (by no means classic literature but oh how we laughed with those!!) American Girl historical fiction, love them all!

Another vote here for the TM, I use it for every single lesson.

I personally am a leftie, a big help is to turn the paper about 45 degrees.

It's a great program, I'm sure you'll do well!! I am pretty sure men get more points but I can't recall how many more, maybe 2 more than a woman of the same weight? Good luck!!

I don't like the new one but I also don't like change all that well! lol

We've enjoyed the ETC books and they are really pretty cheap IMO. My kids love them.

:iagree:Neither have I.

My friend is a die-hard couponer and she too uses the trading card pages in a 3-ring binder, looks very organized! Great idea!

:iagree:That would be me!! lol

I always do 20% for any type of service like that.

My vote would be SOTW, we did that for 1st and loved it!

I used the workbook for level 1 and loved it. For level 2 (this year) I am using the instructor portion of a used workbook (a friend's). It really hasn't been bad, I just use notebook paper and I either write out the copywork or let dd copy from the page. Next year if I have the money I'll buy a workbook again, it was just one less thing to do! So easy to tear out the page and go.

We're just getting into multiplication and this is our 2nd grade year.

I know you are requesting books but just wanted to mention that March of the Penguins is a great documentary to include!

We tried Happy Phonics and it seemed like it would be fun but just didn't work for dd. We ended up doing OPGTR and ETC with very good results. Now with my ds we don't seem to be getting very far with OPGTR so we're trying Hooked on Phonics for a while. Happy Phonics didn't seem nearly as thorough as OPGTR, at least in my opinion.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is also a big hit at our house!

I'm a Tang user too! Never drink the stuff but it sure does clean well!!

We have Elizabeth, your dd will love her! I agree with the others about buying a brush, it was only around $9 I think. I would also buy the doll with accessories, not just the doll/book combo.