The instructions say to change the given sentences to a complex sentence. (Original) Chester Carlson did not like copying documents by hand. He invented the photocopier. (Ds's Answer) Chester Carlson did not like copying documents by hand, so he invented the photocopier. (CLE Answer) Because Chester Carlson did not like copying documents by hand, he invented the photocopier. Is Ds's sentence complex? I looked it up in the handbook and it seems that the "so" in his answer is a subordinating conjunction meaning there would be an independent and dependent clause. I am also not sure about his comma. I don't remember learning any of this in school.

I have two that have finished RS through E. The first moved on to Singapore 5 and the second moved to CLE 5. Both have been doing Challenging Word Problems from SM since 2nd grade. I liked Singapore because it really stretched my oldest, but I thought he needed more repetition with the basics. I like CLE because it is all laid out for the home schooler and the tests and quizzes are scheduled and everything is constantly reviewed. It is not the most challenging math in the world, but I feel it balances out the "worksheet light" years we did with RS. As the year goes by, his stamina for pencil and paper math has grown. I do still make him do CWP and will continue until he is done with book 6. If we get to a topic (such as rate in book 6) I may go over it in the SM book 1st. CLE also forces him to memorize many items that my oldest still cannot remember, such as how many feet are in a mile. I think if I would have done CLE math any earlier than 5th, he would have despised it. I am grateful that I did RS first.

My 4th and final 1st grader, and I must say I am much less stressed about it than my 1st time around. Math: RS Level B (maybe some MEP or SM) English: FLL 1/2 Reading: just books. He is a great reader and I need a break from reading programs. Spelling: SWR - I've been away from this for a couple of years, but this will help cement his phonics. History: Sonlight Core 3 modified with WP AS1 with older brothers Writing: WWE 1 Science: no clue. I have failed miserably with science this year with my younger 2 two boys. I would like to maintain the theme of physical science with older brothers. Art: Artistic Pursuits Book K-3 Book 3 Music: hopefully some formal piano instruction I would also like to add in some of "The Core" ideas for geography and other memorizations. This kid has a good memory. He also is doing "English From the Roots Up" with his older brothers which we will continue into next year.

My youngest finished RS A back in Dec. so we have been doing MEP year 1. Some of it is really easy, but some of the problems are challenging and fun. My only frustration with it is they don't focus grouping 5's. For instance, today he did lesson 72 where they introduce 9 and have 9 tally sticks right in a row. DS immediately "has" to fix it and make it 5 and 4. I skip through some parts on the work sheets and do other parts orally, but he usually does about 2 lessons per day. I wanted to wait on B because the beginning of it repeats much of A but at a faster pace. I figure it will be a good review when we start back up in August. It also wouldn't hurt to play "Go to the Dump" and "Swim to 10" from time to time. This is my fourth time through RS and I am pretty comfortable adjusting other maths to the "Rightstart Way".

Thanks. Still clueless as to what to do. I think I'll call one of the other orthos and see what he says about the Herbst.

One of mine asked the lady at the Pancake House what the diameter of their pancakes were. He was serious, as he later explained he didn't want a huge one like he had got at a Cracker Barrel.

We have consulted with 5 orthodontists for oldest ds. The 5th one, which we met today, is the first to mention the Herbst appliance. Ds has an obvious overbite and receded jaw, but I am shocked that out of 5 orthodontists only 1 mentioned a need to address this. The rest want to use just braces and rubber-bands. Those of you who have experience with the Herbst, do you think it was worth it? I am also concerned because their quote is significantly higher than the other four orthos. Also, is it in bad taste to ask another orthodontist about this? Personality-wise I actually like one of the other offices better.

One of my pregnancies was like this. I didn't only spot, I gushed blood in the second trimester. Everything turned out OK, but it can be very worrisome. I would call your mid-wife just to keep her informed. Maybe she will want to check things out.

Last year my oldest did R&S 6 and this year had him do CLE 7. He took the placement test, which I don't think he passed, but I looked over what he got wrong and decided that it was more his lack of understanding their layout and a few things we had not covered yet. I also bought CLE's handbook which is referenced in each lesson so when we hit something he did not quite know, we could look it up. At first, it took him some time to get used to not doing so much English orally with Mom, but he enjoys the independence. I still look over what he has done and corrected each day so I know where he is at. I also ask him his spelling words every day to help show him that studying does make a difference. It was a positive change for us. I plan on continuing to CLE 8 next year.

We've driven up to the science museum in Ithaca. It is a smaller one, definitely low key, but my kids enjoyed it. I believe there is also a bird sanctuary near Cornell, but I haven't taken the kids there yet. If you don't mind an hour drive, the Corning Glass Museum is nice.

I do 1 year of Ancient history, then 1 year of Middle ages/ Renaissance , and then 2 years of American History. I think in the higher grades we will incorporate more world history along with American History.

Actually, I'm pretty sure there is copywork in the LA. I remember my 1st grader doing it last year and my 7th grader is doing it this year. I usually do dictation / narration with history.

I switched my oldest this year from R&S to CLE LA for 7th grade and it has worked really well for us. I switched because of its independence and, I like the spelling and copywork included. His writing endurance his increased tremendously this year. We did R&S for 3rd through 6th grade, mostly oral, which was what we needed then. I am seriously considering using CLE LA for my upcoming 6th grader next year also. He has been doing the 5th grade CLE Math this year and although he doesn't like it, his skills are being sharpened. For these subjects, the tests and quizzes are very handy. CLE Reading did not work out so well for us. I liked the stories and the morals, but the workbooks just killed the love for my guys (my oldest started it in 6th grade). I like SWB's take on reading programs to just stick to books. My youngest is a great reader but not much into workbooks. He is doing the LTR program from CLE and it is really too easy for him, but we will finish it. I will probably just let him just read the 1st grade book since I have it.

I just ordered from them Friday and my order showed up today. Maybe something is backordered. You have to call to find out.

Right now my HST Plus is on my old (2002) PC. I wish I had it on my Macbook (no windows ability yet) so I could work on schedules without being stuck at the desktop. We don't print out the schedules. I tried that for about 2 weeks, but our PC doesn't want to play nice with either of my printers and it was a major pain to print them to a pdf and send them to my Mac to print. So I showed my guys how to see their schedule in the student agenda view. They look at it each day from the PC and mark items off when done. The problem is this PC has got to be near death and I want to replace it with another desktop. I would really like a 20" imac. We also have several other school programs that are PC based so windows capability is a must. I would ask at HST if the flash drive idea would work. I keep backing mine up on a flash drive and sincerely hope I can resurrect it if and when my PC goes.

I'm not much help, but I am still in the same situation. I am willing to do Parallels or such on my Mac, but I am having a hard time swallowing the $200 it would cost for both the Parallels and Windows software. DH just about had me talked into just getting another PC until I updated our free CA Security software that Road Runner (our internet provider) gave us. That started 2 days of computer headaches including no internet access which I never got back till I uninstalled the security software. It just seems that when my Macbook updates, everything still works. When my PC updates it is always a nightmare with something else. I am very tempted to try the free 15 day trial of Parallels and see if my XP OS from my old Dell will load on it just to see how I like it and if it will work. Some say it does and others say it doesn't. Windows is way overpriced, especially because I just need it to run a $50 homeschool software program. I start to price the new Windows 7 OS disks and I get more confused than ever.

That's good to know. I was hoping I wouldn't be buried.

I showed some of the investigations to my oldest who is a big NXT user and he thinks its possible. He actually owns 2 bricks and many sensors and can use one brick as a remote control for the other. He doesn't know it yet, but his summer project is going to be make it work.

He is doing LL7 along with History Odyssey Med. this year. He is a fast reader, but I may have to have him read some of the read-alouds on his own in Sonlight next year. I like to offer a variety of literature not just the history period we are studying. Anyone else doing/ have done this combo?

My 7yo (just turned 8) nephew went to public school this year for the first time and they actually had him put into 3rd grade. One of his classmates said he is one of the best students in the class. Also, this is a top ranked school.

I've been through all levels twice now, but I don't know which is used more. The front side is used to introduce the concept of multiplying and the back side is used more for the concept of carrying. The front side is also used for more mental concepts where the back simulates what would be done with pencil and paper. I really never thought of one versus the other. If I remember correctly, there are times when the child will be asked to do it both ways and determine which is easier.

Could you just do what they do in WWE1 and ask "Tell me one thing you remember from the reading?" You write that and then read the sample narrations from the AG to help give an idea for how narrations work in the future. My ds, who is almost 8, still has a hard time with it. On the other hand, his 5yo brother is great at it. So it depends on the kid too.

I have not read the other replies but I will share what we are doing this year. My oldest , 7th grade ds, is doing HO Middle Ages Lev. 2. I debated on using it with his 5th grade brother also. I ended up deciding to have him do SOTW 2 with his two younger brothers, and I'm very glad I did. We do history 3 days a week and 5th grade ds does narrations and I also have him do a 1 level outline from the coordinating Kingfisher pages. He is getting so much more out of SOTW 2 than his 2nd, and K brothers. I will say he is a young 5th grader and will not be 11 till August. He despises writing even though he can be good at it. My oldest "tolerates" HO and he is good at doing it on his own. There is a lot of summary writing which he doesn't like, but he needs it. I did substitute the Human Odyssey book for many readings. I don't know if they still offer the sample weeks for HO, but I used them before I decided.

I have had two dc go through RS A-E. The oldest went to Singapore but I felt that even though it was challenging, I wanted something different to really cement the basics. So when next ds finished RS E in fourth grade, he started with CLE math level 5. I tested him for it and he may have been able to skip some parts, but it has been a good, solid program for him. It did take him quite awhile to get used to all the problems and sometimes I will give him a break if I know he knows something. I also like that quizzes and tests are all included. I did not want them for the lower grades, but now is a good time to start them. I still and having him do Singapore CWP, at least 1 each day.

I downloaded Planbook and tried it, but I really like how Homeschool Tracker is made for home schoolers. It has many features that work for me. Maybe I will check out the Yahoo group, but I'm not sure I want to relearn a whole new software.