I am pretty sure that we are going to be joining Classical Conversations for Foundations next year. My eldest will be in 4th grade, so I am considering Essentials as well. Essentials is tempting for the math games and IEW portions, to be sure. BUT, I'm scared of EEL. I'm hesitant to relinquish Rod & Staff when there have been so many mixed reviews for EEL. Some folks say it is great. Others say that the student doesn't learn to apply the information, there isn't enough practice, that they struggle in their middle-school years. Arg - which is it?? So please, tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly. Or the great! Would it be worth it to give EEL a try? Could I just keep up my own grammar at home? If I DID keep up my own grammar, would Essentials still be worth it? It is a hefty price tag, so I'd like to make the most of it, ya know? And then...I'm so tempted by MCT, LOL! But that is another story.... Thanks!

Not quite a stew, but a super-easy beef dish. Company Beef (For 14) 4-5 lbs Chopped Stew Beef 6 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup 5 Packets of Dry Onion Soup Mix 3 Cups of Red Wine Mix everything in a crockpot and cook on High for 5 hours. Serve over Cavatappi noodles or something like egg noodles.

My husband is Korean and his father used to wine and dine in the Korean business world all the time. One, no, don't go. Two, I agree with an above poster that sharing a pot is nothing to worry about with Koreans. Most of their meals are "family style" in that all the food is placed in the center of the table and everyone dives in with chopsticks. Koreans are very communal in their eating. BUT, I also agree with the above that Fondu might not be the best choice. Many Koreans are, indeed, lactose intolerant and all that cheese could be an issue. Steak is definitely a very safe choice, especially if the restaurant has a private room. But seafood would be another great choice. Also, I don't know about the traveling Koreans always wanting American food. The Korean community I'm involved in, including the visitors, adore their Asian food. It doesn't have to be Korean, per se, but they seem to love all sorts of Asian cuisine. I know that my Korean FIL would often take business meetings to Chinese and Japanese restaurants. This is a particularly good choice because those restaurants know all about Asian business meetings, always have special rooms set aside for those meetings, and might be more affordable. But steak and/or seafood is also a very safe choice. :001_smile: Thirdly, yes, a gift is very common upon a first meeting. And this is where the businessmen might really appreciate something American. Alcohol is a good choice, but things that are hard to get in Korea are also appreciated. For instance, some cousins that came to visit made a beeline to Yankee Candle Company because apparently the candles are outrageously expensive in Korea. (like $50-$100 each!) Hope that helps!

:iagree: I tried Singapore Earlybird K years ago and despised it. It turned me away from Singapore completely....until now. I was finally convinced to jump into the Singapore PM series (helpfully advised by folks here!) and I very, very much wish I had never left. I had to backtrack with my 3rd grader and started the year in 2A, but it is still so worth it. If only I could claim the years back! I'm now also using the Singapore Essentials K program with my younger girl and it is AWESOME. Simple, effective, brilliant. A night and day difference between Earlybird and Essentials. OP, I wish I could tell you that I don't like Singapore, but I just can't. I love it too much! Sorry! :001_smile:

I am so very sorry. :crying:

When we first moved into the house I lived in as a child, we slept on the living room floor next to a large fireplace. Imagine our surprise in the middle of that first night, when we discovered that bats lived in the chimney!!! :ohmy: We also had flying squirrels living in the attic of that house. We loved those! On summer nights, we would relax on our deck and watch the squirrels "fly" from the attic to the trees. Let's see, our cat accidentally got stuck inside the walls of that house. Don't worry, she ended up okay! But it sure was strange to hear her muffled meows as she traveled through the house.

Have you considered doing a combination of both? I ask because that is what I am considering for my upcoming 4th grader as well. It could potentially look something like this: MP Package: Latin Math Grammar Spelling Writing In-Depth Literature Study/Guides Recitation Sonlight (or, say, Tapestry of Grace): History Read-Alouds Readers Geography Science Bible So, the Christian Studies, Geography, Science, and Men of Rome would be dropped from the MP Package, but would keep everything else. Just a thought. With combining the two, I kind of like the idea of having EVERYTHING planned, but also getting a balance between MP's and Sonlight's very different styles. I wonder if it is a crazy idea, hmmm?

I did! We had a long-distance move that was completed when I was 37 weeks pregnant. I might be a weird one here, but I thought it was one of my easier moves. At first it felt overwhelming, like any move does, and I had to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be able to help out much with the manual labor. Due to some contractions I was having, I had doctor's orders to avoid heavy lifting/packing. My husband came to the rescue and ended up doing almost all of it...while I sat on the sofa, sipped tea, and tried not to feel guilty. BUT, I gotta say, being physically limited really freed me to focus on the paperwork and details and I think kept me from trying to "do it all". In the long run, that actually lowered my stress level. I couldn't help, so I didn't feel like it was another job that I had to do....does that make any sense? Anyway, I don't know your budget for this move, but here are some things that REALLY helped us in that move: 1) Have the husband do the packing!!! 2) Or, if you can afford it, hire a full-service moving company. They pack, load, ship, unload, unpack - the works. My husband's employer paid for this type of move for our most recent cross-country move (I wasn't pregnant that time!) and IT IS WORTH THE MONEY. 3) If a full-service move is out of the question, hire hourly loaders. We did this for our pregnancy move, which was on a tight budget. We drove our own rental truck, but hired help to load and unload at both destinations. Pretty affordable and SUPER helpful since I couldn't help my husband carry anything. I didn't lift a finger on moving day - woohoo! 4) Hire a one-day cleaning service. We were moving out of an apartment and I couldn't handle the move-out cleaning that had to be done. Cleaning services offer "Move Out" or "Move In" cleaning which, again, was a HUGE help. Didn't have to lift a finger!! 5) What others have mentioned - get a new OB right away. I scheduled an appointment before the actual move. We didn't have any problems with the switch - everyone we called was willing to take me as patient, even so late in the game. Finally, one unexpected perk of moving while pregnant - your nesting instinct takes over!!! I've never unpacked a place as fast as I did when I knew my baby was coming. Super-human mommy energy kicked in, I tell you! Five days and I was done! All this to say - it can be done!!!! I hope it goes well for you! :001_smile:

Heeey! We do that! It even has soda in its title - "Pepsi Pot Roast". AND, the recipe requires cream of mushroom soup! It is kind of awesome, actually.

Well, this is making me feel better. At least I'm not alone. My poor girl looks like an ape with shirt sleeves hanging to her knees and her feet dragging in the pants. Back to the good ol' standby of leggings and dresses.....

I've never vented on the boards, but now I'm in the mood!!! WHY, oh WHY, do clothing sizes at Target go from Size 7/8 to 10/12???? WHY???? What about the 9-year-old girls??? Why not go to Size 9/10, then 11/12???? My poor girl - 7/8 is too small, but 10/12 - good grief..... Do 9-year-olds not count???? Okay. That is all. I just had to get that out of my system. :leaving:

I can't tell you how much better these posts make me feel! I thought we were the only ones! EVERY night our two girls enter into a rough-housing Battle Royale while brushing teeth. I thought we were the only ones that had to separate them in this! And then, of course, they're upset over who went "first" last time. :cursing:

:bigear: Anyone? :)

Thank you. Specifically, could I use VP Scholars without IEW? I'm using R&S and WWE and would like to implement them instead. Is that possible? :bigear: Anyone else?

Does anyone use these? I'm very interested in them for literature/history and would love some reviews. How many history lessons each week? Do they incorporate mapwork and activities? And as for the writing - would I be able to tweak the writing assignments to match what I am doing via WWE and Rod & Staff? Or would I be dependent on IEW? If I tweaked the writing assignments, would I be losing a meaty bulk of the program? Thanks for any input!

Or are you thinking of "Sophie's Choice"? Not from Greek Mythology, but certainly a choice between two evils. I've heard it referenced often.

My personal favorite: Whenever my MIL is happy about something, she always responds with, "Oh! I am so exciting!!!"

Hello, I'm a newbie poster, but you have been in my prayers. I have three friends that are also on a regimen of chemotherapy at the moment. Each has a different type of cancer, but similar chemo cycles to yours. Every single one, regardless of what they are actually taking, states that the 2nd-5th days post-chemo are the toughest - the third day being the worst. I'm sorry to state that, but perhaps the knowledge might help you to know when you will need the most assistance (i.e. with the child care). Also, my friends report fatigue that increases with each round of chemo, though they feel much more functional after that first week post-chemo. I don't know how much this helps, but those are things all three have reported. I will keep praying for you!!! :grouphug:

Thank you to the more experienced R&S users that have posted! I was wondering how the higher-level writing was broken down and you have helped to answer. And thank you to those that thought to ask that! It sounds like I could use R&S all the way through and then maybe add a touch of IEW in high school. Or is high school too late to start IEW? Is there a beginner high-school level? Or would we just jump into the middle? I like this! I find it interesting that I haven't yet heard any negative reviews on utilizing R&S's writing. The grammar is so popular, why don't more use the writing? I think I might now. I like WWE, but I like streamlining more. If I can do that while retaining the quality of education, well then.... :tongue_smilie:

This is my daughter. After all the writing involved with spelling, Latin, grammar, history, and soon-to-be literature, the girl is burnt out. She will do the work faithfully, but claims to loathe it. Thank you for the responses so far! I am so happy to hear these success stories because I'd rather invest solid time on a single solid program than burn the candle at both ends, ya know?

Hmmm - this is all very encouraging! We use WWE in addition to R&S right now, but, as others have mentioned, I want to streamline a bit more. We use narration in our history and literature. Perhaps if we added dictation there, we could drop WWE. But it is almost like an additional writing program is a security blanket. I like WWE. I don't know why I'm nervous at the idea of dropping it. I do remember reading what TWTM said about R&S being complete....why am I nervous? Anyway, hearing others' success is very encouraging. I'd love to hear more. :tongue_smilie: But please post if you disagree as well! I'd like to hear why.

We are currently using R&S 3 for grammar and we love it. I notice toward the end of the book that the lessons mention paragraphs, topic sentences, etc. I know in the later books they discuss outlining and such. Usually I see folks here using separate writing programs, but has anyone simply used Rod & Staff? Would it be a complete writing program? Thank you for any thoughts!

So I'm curious then. Is Math in Focus considered a branch off of one of the updated, newer Singapore programs?

Hello! I also had that problem when I first downloaded my DE edition. For some reason, my Loom was unavailable even though I could access everything else. We discovered that it was a problem with my web browser. I was opening my DE via Google Chrome. I have no idea why, but via Chrome would cut off the Loom. SO, I started opening my DE via Mozilla Firefox and all was in working order. I don't know if this is your situation or if what I've mentioned above will be your solution, but I hope it helps. :)

That sounds AWFUL!!! Pregnant too - ug!!! So I'm wondering if this worked for you, Carina! What did you think? :001_smile: