If anyone is still looking for a set, shopGoodwill has a 1909 set here, 11 volumes: http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Book-Journey-Through-Bookland--11-Volumes-18463973.html It's definitely a good deal if you can pick up from that Goodwill (Indianapolis), but it could still be worthwhile for some even with shipping/handling costs.

Agree with poikar, Mardel and Christianbook are good places to shop for new. Mardel seems to run coupons quite regularly: http://www.retailmenot.com/view/mardel.com Christianbook usually runs coupons for free shipping, I remember a Hive member suggesting you can call in for shipping codes too: http://www.retailmenot.com/view/christianbook.com If part of the curriculum is non-consumable, and there haven't been recent edition updates, I suggest looking for just those books on used websites like homeschool classifieds, WTM classifieds, eBay and the Facebook/VarageSale group "Homeschool Swap USA/Canada" and buying the consumable workbooks at Mardel, ChristianBook or Rainbow.

For younger students: Our science club teacher showed pictures from the book "The Incredible Machine" - white blood cell engulfing a microbe, components of blood. She recommended the book as an overall good resource. http://www.amazon.com/The-Incredible-machine-Robert-Poole/dp/0870446193 She also had a bag of Giant Microbes (stuffed toys in the shape of microbes). The kids were fascinated by Ebola and Black Death (although they have a tendency to start tossing them at each other, a child's version of biological warfare). Pen, the example you gave of how quickly microbes multiply is great. She used that as an example of how we should rest when we start to feel down, so our bodies focus on fighting the microbes and containing them earlier.

Yes, thank you so much! It makes so much sense, and I look forward to trying this on Monday. :)

DS isn't actually dyslexic/dysgraphic (AFAIK) but this is our first introduction to grammar and I agree that lessons 6 and 7 are difficult. To be precise, the instruction is very clear and the verbal drills are great. But the copywork/marking exercise at the end seem, I don't know, a notch harder. DS continually gets tripped up by nouns that aren't obvious, e.g. 'cave-dways' (an imaginary animal from the context of the passage), 'unseating' (context is a knight's being unsaddled at a tournament). When he misidentifies those as nouns, he will subsequently label the adjectives incorrectly and the number of errors cascade so he's getting discouraged. 8FillTheHeart, I would love if you added that option in another revision, but I know you are busy and this doesn't detract from the fact this is a wonderful curriculum :coolgleamA: . So I don't know, perhaps I should find a page of simpler paragraphs to label as an optional exercise for those lessons? Anyone have suggestions on how I do that? I would write up my own if I could but frankly, I'm learning along with DS and my only advantage over him is that I hold the teacher's manual. :blushing:

Agree with Kirsten - the RS Yahoo group is active and you will be able to find more FS listings there than on general sites. You can also try calling in and asking if they have gently used copies (the ones they show at conventions), they have a 10% discount. I found that the best deal for their worksheets, which are consumable.

I know your request isn't specifically for vintage books, but older books do tend to lend themselves better to narration so these threads might be useful: Science http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/398721-vintage-science-books-how-useful-your-favorites/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/473692-science-books-from-the-1950s-60s-70s-and-80s/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/467518-science-through-stories/ History http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/298509-calling-the-vintage-folk/

DS is a Bushy fan too! When I told him how cool it was I could email the author of the curriculum with questions, he asked me to check if there was a book of Bushy stories. Perhaps we should form a Bushy fan fiction club. :laugh: On the flip side, we did Lesson 4 Day 2 today, where we looked at a picture (of a forest), took 5 characters + 5 action verbs and created a story from them. Oy, that was hard - mostly because DS wanted to use far-out characters like talking books and jumping fish, which required all sorts of contortions to make them fit the setting. Then, when I wrote down the convoluted storyline and told him it was his copywork, things fell apart. But nothing wrong with 8's curriculum - just a lesson to me to remind him to stay on topic when writing. And to warn him beforehand if he's generating his own copywork, so he doesn't go overboard! :willy_nilly:

Thank you all for your explanations! 8FillTheHeart - big thank you too for this curriculum, since I'm learning along with my DS.:) Rose, that's a great explanation for spotting adjectives and adverbs, thank you! It's plenty deep enough for this 3rd grader's mom, who is *ahem* some multiple of years older (but sadly not proportionately wiser). :tongue_smilie:

*Embarrassed*.. may I get some help with one of the lessons? I'm grammar incompetent - I can usually string sentences together, but never learned the basics like parts of speech. Today in TC's Lesson 4, Day 1, there was an exercise to find the nouns and action verbs in the copywork. There was a sentence similar to this: "The cat's wide eyes sparkled in the dark." The answer identified 'eyes' as a noun, but not cat. Going off the "person, place, thing or idea" definition, why wouldn't it be?

Hi jowa78, and welcome! There is a similar question on this older thread, I hope it can be of some help: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/262283-any-chineseenglish-dual-lingual-homeschooling-families-here/ How easy is it for you to access Chinese materials? Depending on that, we could discuss materials for the different subjects.

I keep the following in a magazine holder on the desk in front (arranged from most frequently used since you wanted the top 3 but honestly, she really rotates through a bunch of different activities and it would be hard to pick just 3). 1) Costco workbook it's this one from School Zone, and I read the instruction out for her, then she tries to do it. We cover a few pages a day: https://www.schoolzone.com/workbooks/big-preschool-workbook 2) Paper and drawing supplies - Clean/Unused printer paper and scratch paper. Cups of pencils, coloring pencils, markers, crayons and rulers. 3) Scissor skill exercises - mine is an ebook from Scholastic Dollar Days. http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/little-kids-cut-mkt-8269 4) File folder games in sheet protectors (so the game + pieces stay in one same transparent pocket). http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2010/07/watermelon-picnic-file-folder-game.html http://crisscrossapplesauce.typepad.com/files/strawberry-abc-file-folder-game.pdf 5) Book/Document holder so she can prop up her favorite picture books and look at pictures/draw from it, while sitting beside us. If she leaves the table and goes off by herself, she usually settles down with picture books or plays with Playmobil figures (house, people and accessories).

Here's a page which mentions the 'kinds' (vs species) and discusses the 7/7 pairs of clean animals: http://creation.com/how-did-all-the-animals-fit-on-noahs-ark

The missing groups for my profile (Bible Believing Christians, Dark Side) are back today. Thank you for looking at the problem!

Another one here who has some social groups missing - "Chinese Homeschoolers" and "RLTL and LLTL" present, "Bible Believing Christians" and "The Dark Side" are gone.

Welcome, just_jill09! This thread has some CA Hive members checking in, some of the groups mentioned are in South Bay (you may want to Search the thread since it can be long). http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/2765-okay-california-girls-where-are-you-and-boys-too/ There are many resources and groups in South Bay. The Yahoo group BAHFT (Bay Area Homeschool Field Trips) has activities, which could be a springboard to meeting other groups. I'm familiar with a couple of Christian homeschooling groups on Yahoo (BASIC, Pathfinders) and I can PM you if you want more info. I hope others can give more info for the groups/resources you are looking for too.

Welcome, Stefanie! I don't know that your experience would necessarily be considered a failure - there are so many factors that it takes time to "find what works". Even if you just found things you dislike, that is good info while you plan your next year! If you have some specific goals/concerns for the early years, you may find the PreK and K board, and the K-8 board helpful. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/forum/34-prek-and-k/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/forum/3-k-8-curriculum-board/ Best wishes for your homeschooling journey!

Seymour Simon has some good books about the ocean. I especially like his "How to Be an Ocean Scientist in Your Own Home/ISBN 0-397-32292-5", it has experiments that make me want to find jugs of ocean water just to do them. Would field trips to aquariums and tidepools be an option? We drove to a tidepool/natural reserve a few times during the year and it was fascinating to see the different life forms each trip. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has some online resources: Top level - http://www.education.noaa.gov/ Frequently Requested Resources (broken down by elementary, middle and high): http://www.education.noaa.gov/Special_Topics/Frequently_Requested_Resources.php Teachers at Sea, blogs by educators who spend 1-3 weeks working with researchers at sea :http://teacheratsea.wordpress.com/ Windows To The Universe, a site by National Earth Science Teachers Association, has some interesting worksheets with additional links. Some are free for preview (left column), others are members only ($20/year). http://www.windows2universe.org/php/teacher_resources/activity.php#7

We used it for Chinese characters last year. Using the computer, I would enter the character on the front side, the PinYin (phonetic pronunciation) and an audio recording of me pronouncing it on the back/answer side. Then I would save the deck, and copy it onto my tablet. DS would review that deck every school day, it took about 5-10 minutes. Because the answer side had the audio file as well as PinYin, he could check if he had recognized the character by himself and select the appropriate option (Answered Correctly/Review Later).

Bumping this thread because I've been wondering the same or a related question. . I know technology has definitely moved on. Searching for MP3 CD players brings back brands I don't recognize, and my new laptop doesn't come with CD drive so it's an additional barrier to making/backing up the existing CDs. However, many of my audio books aren't offered as downloads, and it's hard to resist the prices for CDs at library discard/garage sales. So I guess I could: i) Keep the same - buy a cheap MP3 CD player (reliable would be great, but I haven't found one with good reviews) ii) Work out a digitizing solution for the CDs - use an old laptop or buy a CD/DVD reader. Has anyone done either recently? I may have to just bite the bullet and be prepared for the time/expense for switching over.

I'm looking at the StartWrite discount - at $20 it seems like a good price compared to the usual $50. Does anyone know of a better deal? teeniebeenie6 - sorry to hear about your experience. Perhaps worth writing to them about, since you bought it so close to the deal change?

FYI - Refurbished Kindles on Amazon's Deal of the Day today.. Kindle paperwhite, deal of the day today, $85. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=pe_837390_121091160_dotd_h_t Also, a Kindle Fire ongoing deal - $89 for 16GB, 7", previous generation http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00AFKC6KC/ref=gbrc_tit_r-1_1762_1e9af5b4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_s=right-new-1&pf_rd_r=127DJX39HH0TR0450DQF&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1725241762 At 2pm, Kindle Fire 16GB, 8.9", previous generation. Price TBA At 6pm, Kindle eReader, 6". Price TBA.

I'll be checking out some Geography guides from Classroom Complete Press, they have one book per continent. http://www.currclick.com/browse.php?keywords=Geography&filters=0_0_0_0_0_0_30625&manufacturers_id=468&x=26&y=17&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=&sdate_from=&sdate_to=&stime_from=&stime_to= The previews remind me of Evan-Moor workbooks. I also like the blackline maps at the end and am thinking of using them with blobbing practice (the first map in each book shows the continent's location relative to key latitude and longtitude lines).

Hi everyone, I noticed there are a few Kindle offers today on Amazon Today's deal - $60 Off a Certified Refurbished Kindle Fire HD 8.9†(Previous Generation) http://smile.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=pe_837390_120212810_dotd_h_t Lightning deals (all linked off Goldbox page above) 1) Certified Refurbished Kindle e-Reader - $45 (ongoing, supposedly 2 h more) 2) Certified Refurbished Kindle Fire HD 7†WiFi - 8GB (Current Generation) (starting at 10am) 3) Certified Refurbished Kindle Fire HD 7†WiFi - 16GB (Previous Generation) (Starting at 2pm) 4) Certified Refurbished Kindle Fire HD 7†WiFi - 32GB (Previous Generation) (starting at 6pm)

Enjoy! We were just there last month - it was cooler than average, so you may want to check the forecast. But I'm sure you will all enjoy yourselves! :)