We did a lot of these together. I kinda think of them as logic puzzles.

My artsy ds 7 is very similar except for the copying part, he is very good at that. My concern is that his early reader 5yo brother has passed him in reading. I am going to start SWR with both of them next year and drop the BJU reading program. I want him to read for fun and I have been through it enough now to help him on my own. I have heard that writing in cursive helps this. I know it helped my oldest tremendously. I have also heard that music lessons, such as piano, help a child to get the left to right progression. I wish I could have my 7yo tested but I don't know where to go and I'm not sure an expensive "official" diagnosis would change anything.

My 7th grader is doing HO Middle Ages. To be honest he is sick of all the written summaries and is starting to despise history. He doesn't complain about the outlining though. I decided against HO for my 5th grader because he is not a strong reader or writer and it would have been too much. Instead he is doing SOTW 2 with his younger brothers but is also doing one written summary per chapter and outlining (1 level) the associated Kingfisher chapters. I add in reading as it comes up.

My SIL made me a rice bag, to heat in the microwave, several years ago. I use it all the time for headaches and to chuck in my sheets in the winter. It is about 5 in. wide but about 20 in. long. It was sewn so that their are 4 different sections of rice (like a quilt) and stays evenly distributed. She also made a removable cover so I can wash it when needed.

I just finished reading the economics book. It is a follow up to the biology one and focuses on word problems. For the economics part he talks somewhat about the cause of the Civil War (tariffs) and how Abe Lincoln proclaimed in his inaugural address that his purpose was not to interfere with slavery in the South. He discusses freedom vs. liberty, and why it sometimes makes economic sense to buy from other countries as opposed to making it yourself. He also argues why minimum wage is not our friend. Different types of government and its possible downfalls are also stated. I am glad I read it first so I can discuss these things with ds, and I am looking forward to my 12yo going through it.

Monday - eggs Tuesday - muffins (homemade) Wed. - cereal (I like Wed. morning) Thur. - pancakes (major pain but we love them) Fri - eggs Sat - waffles (homemade ) Sun - cereal cause we need to be out early for church. I set this up a few months ago and it has made my mornings much easier. It is flexible, if Mom wakes up late or with a headache it's cereal or frozen muffins, pancakes, or waffles (I always make extra). Breakfast is my favorite meal.

I'm not sure how you would skip them as they are woven right into the math for the most part. The books are written as a story so skipping parts would be somewhat confusing too.

I am very sorry for your loss.

I love North and South too, but he became a goober in the Robin Hood series.

I looked at SOTW 3 and 4 when my oldest was heading into 3rd grade. I decided to break away and do two years of American history with Winterpromise instead. I did buy the SOTW audios and AGs and do them on the side as we could, but it was definitely not our focus. I am actually at this point again with my 3rd ds who will be headed into 3rd grade next year. I own the IG for SL 3 and WP American history, but I am strongly considering continuing into SOTW 3 instead. I did like doing two years of Am. history but I only have 3 days per week to commit to history and SOTW really works well for that. I will also have a 6th grader who maturity level is better suited to SOTW than a more independent program. So I seem to feel my "peace" when I think I will just continue with SOTW and add in from the other two programs.

This is our first year with CLE LA, and my 7th grader is doing the 700 level. There is both spelling and copywork and I have him do it all. It does take him awhile. The spelling lists are usually categorized in some way. One week it was all Bible names. He also has had cooking terms, homonyms, and this week it is ie/ei words. He has been all the way through SWR so he knows the rules and phonograms but still cannot spell so I've decided he is going to have to just memorize them. I switched to CLE because it is independent and I have three younger boys I need to work with.

I am pretty sure we will use CPO next year for 8th and 6th grades. I also want to cover physics and chemistry and I need something that is doable only twice a week. I get overwhelmed if I try to mix and match programs. We are using CPO earth this year and I like it a lot better than science explorer which we used the year before. It is much more readable.

I got one for $10 from a local college. They were upgrading and a friend found out about it. I would call around - hey it never hurts to ask.

I haven't bought anything fro CPO (Frey) but I did buy some clear boxes in place of the geoboxes for earth science. Those would have been nice to have. I am considering doing the physics next year, but I was very apprehensive about not owning the expensive photogate thing. But ds says if I bought him another light sensor ($20) for his NXT he could do the experiments that require the photogates. I figure that combines some engineering with physics. We do have to do some compromises on many of our labs. We are currently on a lab in Earth Science that requires the boys to check several weather conditions for 40 days. Instead, we counted back 40 days and used WeatherUnderground to look up the conditions at the same time each day. We will use that data to plot on the graphs (which really is the skill I'm after). I really wanted to do the cheeseball Bernoulli experiment, but dh and I walked all over Wegmans and could not find a container of cheeseballs anywhere. I thought maybe they don't make them anymore. We ended up using the blow dryer and a ping-pong ball.

Well it looks like we all are doing something similar with the assessments. I am doing this with a 5th and 7th grader and have been making the 7th grader do more problems than the 5th grader, but he did not do well on the last test. I think we will go over the assessments together then I will type up some questions based on them for the test (I was really trying to avoid this part). Brownie - Is that your real name? My stepmother's real name was Brownie and I always think of her when you post. I think I will call her today.

We are just starting section 6 of earth science and although I really like this science I feel like we lack in assessment. I have been assigning parts of the chapter assessment questions at the end of each chapter for a test but this kind of takes away review for my guys which, judging from the results, they could use. I really wish they offered just the test bank at a reasonable price, but this is not marketed for us small lot of homeschoolers. Has anyone just come up with their own tests or have found some?

I had Bill Clinton, obviously recorded, call me earlier to tell me who to vote for in NY. I haven't been answering the phone all week. Hate, Hate, Hate them!

I really appreciate the replies. I've decided to rethink my Officejet and get the $40 cartridge. The printer was acting real strange when connected to our old PC ( and it refuses to update), but I connected it to my Mac and it seems to be much better. I really wish I hadn't bought that Officejet in the first place. I have been doing draft prints in black to save the color and black cartridges only to find out they have an expiration date and may not work anyway. I feel much more at peace with this choice.

I am going to bump because I am still trying to decide plus it looks like a good deal. The same printer at Staples is $250.

I currently have two ink printers. The one is a wireless printer, copier , scanner the other "works" but needs a $40 ink cartridge which I am not willing to put into it. I think a laser printer would be really nice especially with so many ebooks and such becoming more popular. I am looking at this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/634688-REG/Brother_HL5370DW_HL_5370DW_Laser_Printer_with.html#Connectivity I like that it can be wireless and does duplex printing. I don't really think I need color. Does this look like a good deal?

I'm 5'11 but I didn't see that option so I put other.

DS is doing History Odyssey Middle Ages this year for 7th, after doing Ancients last year. I would like to do American History next but it sounds like I should wait till 9th so it can be part of the high school requirements. Should I wait till 9th and do 1 year American History (looking at Notgrass or Core 100) or should I just take 2 years to do American History but count it as 1 credit at the end of 9th? If I do wait till 9th, what should he do next year? Any voices of experience?

I forgot, if you do paint definitely sand and prime first. A staining trick I use quite often is doing different shades of stain. If I am using a real soft wood, like pine, and I want it to take on a cherry color, I will stain it in pine or oak first to get the heavy absorption and then go over it a second time with the cherry stain. I did my farmhouse table, with soft mystery wood, in a real dark walnut first but did it very lightly for a short time. This brought the grain out. Then I went over it in oak to warm it up. I always test first in an inconspicuous spot.

I just redid a small farmhouse table I bought when I was single. I sanded the top down (electric sander), but I painted the legs. For the top, I used an oil based stain and polyurethane. I sanded and painted the legs white using two coats of Sherwin Williams Pro-Classic Semi-Gloss. I also put on two coats of water-based polyurethane (oil-based will yellow over paint) over the paint to protect it from dings a little better. I have never done that before, but now that I see how much better it holds up, I would like to touch up my bookcases and polyurethane them. If you do use an electric sander be careful of swirl marks. You have to start with 60 grit and do several passes using a higher number each time. Also the Pro-Classic paint does not come in dark colors. I wanted to get it in a rich coffee-black but couldn't.

I have Writing Without Fear and two of the three newer lectures and I would say no. The same ideas are presented, and the sound quality is much better in the newer lectures.