I've searched all over the BJU site and can't find this information. Does anyone know how long each class is for viewing? There is Bible, Reading, English, Math, Science, Spelling, Handwriting, and Heritage Studies. Thanks!

What levels offer the computer grading option? I thought I read that not all levels offered that. That's one of the options that really appeals to me with this program. Thanks for your help. Ally

We are getting eaten alive by medical insurance costs! We are self-employed and started with Aetna 14 months ago. Our family premiums were about $600/month and we had a $6000 family deductible. In November they increased our rates by $200/month and we just received another letter today increasing our rates by another $200/month starting in January! We have a separate plan for our 8yr old because she has allergies(non-life threatening) and her being on the family plan bumped us into a higher rate category. Her deductible is $3000. We've spent close to $20,000 on medical bills and insurance this year! Ouch! I keep hearing advertisements for a program called Medi-share on the Christian radio station. It sounds good but I don't know of anyone that uses it. Anyone have ideas for saving money in this area?

Timberdoodle has been one of my favorite resources for at least the past 10 years. Great service from a great family!

I'm using SOTW 1 with Core 1 right now with my 2nd and 3rd graders. I like the way they complement each other and it hasn't been difficult to find the time to do both. so it doesn't need to be an either or situation.

I've been homeschooling for 17 yrs. I think in some ways it was easier not having so many choices. I used Sonlight my first year. The manual was just a paperback bound book less than 1/2" thick. After that I moved on to Greenleaf press which has always promoted history presented chronologically. We used all the Greenleaf guides through the middle ages. I have never used many textbooks with the exception of Saxon math. Abeka and BJU never appealed to me. I wish things were as simple now. I have enjoyed Rod and Staff grammar. I started using this after I read WTM. My oldest kids used Easy Grammar.

I remember someone sharing some neat ideas that they do each year on the first day of school. I've searched and can't seem to find it. There were some journal questions it seemed that the kids answered each year that were fun to go back and look at. Can anyone help me?

Anybody???

I have two 3rd graders and one 2nd grader this fall. I used WWE 1 last year successfully so I bought WWE 2 for this year. A little background, my two third graders are 8 and 10. They were adopted 3 years ago from Ethiopia. The older is a slower learner and I think still has some language issues related to learning English at almost 7. My 2nd grader loves to write creatively and spends hours writing her own stories and illustrating them. However, she is not an auditory learner and struggled last year with the narrations from WWE 1. I know she will struggle with the dictation in WWE 2. WWE 2 seems to be a huge jump and I am worried. We are planning on using Rod and Staff 2 for our grammar. Does anyone have suggestions for writing if indeed, WWE 2 proves to be too difficult? Thanks!

If you are supplementing your main math program with math mammoth, is it better to buy the light blue series or just the blue series?

Finally two people who think like I do. I find the gift exchanging nearly meaningless with people who can get whatever they'd want. My sister and I decided last year that we were done with stuff and more stuff and much prefer donations be made in our name. Who the heck cares about the tax donation either? My dear college son made a donation in honor of me for my birthday and mother's day. I was extremely touched and proud of him. I was really disturbed by most of the posts in response to the OP except for Tara and Sputterducks. After spending time in a 3rd world country and recognizing there are more than 147 million orphans in this world, I never looked at "gifts" and Christmas the same. I love buying gifts for those in my family that can't afford many things including my children and family members that live on a very tight budget but that's completely differently than the obligatory gift exchange most folks participate in.

I thought a couple of days ago I saw a thread that said Rainbow resource was offering free shipping on purchases of $50 or something lower than their normal $150. Did I dream this? I tried searching for the thread and couldn't find it. Tell me I'm not losing my mind!

We got rid of Direct tv and now with an antenna and digital broadcasting we get all the major networks, Fox, pbs and a few others for free. So while we are not tv free, we at least are not paying all that money each month! I like free TV.

I also found the flashcards necessary. They present the facts in a specific order and there are tabs to sort the cards for review. We are loving CLE math for both 1st and 2nd grade. I did find that I needed two sets of flashcards because the 2nd grade are sorted differently than the 1st grade.

I had the sling surgery two years ago at age 45. Best thing I ever did! After 4 kids and hitting menopause, I had terrible stress incontinence. Practically had to wear a Depends if I played tennis which I play 3 times a week. It was an outpatient surgery paid for by my insurance. In at 3pm and home by 7:30. Recovery was easy and it worked wonderfully. I still cross my legs when I sneeze because of habit but I don't need to. My gyno did it and several tennis friends have also had the surgery. Definitely worth it!

My daughter was adopted at age 7 from Ethiopia with her sister who was 5 at time. She is now 9 and has the worst handwriting (printing). She writes very large and presses down way too hard. Her younger sister has very neat handwriting. She does not hurry so that's not the issue. In fact, she writes very slowly. In spite of a lot of practice and instruction, it still looks like a very young child's messy printing. I'm hesitant to try cursive since she's struggling so much with printing. She doesn't have poor fine motor skills in other areas and actually is quite a good artist! I'm totally stumped with how to remedy this. Any suggestions?

I'm 5'10' and I find most any jean that is a long will work for me. Levi's, Lee's, Old Navy, Gap, etc. They are all long, long long!

We just bought the Samsung a couple months ago from Lowes. Also purchased the extended warranty which is a necessity these days since all appliances break easily it seems. We love them so far but it's only been a short time. I do a lot of laundry with 5 kids still living at home.

I think you should visit during the week to get an idea of the traffic. I know that I'm the only one on the board who posted anything negative. When it's all you know, it doesn't seem that bad but after living in Nashville, I really would not want to move back. I miss so many of my friends there but it's not worth my shoulders being in knots and the time spent on the road. So definitely visit and not just on the weekend. My daughter still lives there and missed a bridal luncheon because of traffic.

We moved to Nashville from that area of Atlanta 5 yrs ago. While we had a great homeschool community, the traffic is unbearable! I was reminded it of it this past week when I took my younger kids back to the Atlanta zoo, Aquarium, etc. It's a fun place to visit, but for us, not such a great quality of life. We love Williamson county Nashville Tn. Incredible medical care, 4 seasons, much less traffic, tons of green space, homeschool enrichment programs,spectacular views! Cost of living is a bit more than Woodstock but so worth it!

For what it's worth, my 7 yr olds are doing WWE 1 this year. They would find that sentence extremely difficult at this age.

My period stopped when I was 43. In hindsight, I should have known it was coming as I had my last child at 34 in spite of trying to have more. I had two miscarriages when I was 39 and 40 and was told I had "old eggs". Because of my early age and other risk factors my doctor had me start bio-identical hormones. I've really not experienced the hot flashes to any degree of severe discomfort but i understand that I probably will when I decide to stop the hormones. I can't say that I miss my monthly :) but in spite of regular exercise and being a healthy weight, I do have a lot of achiness that shouldn't be there for my age.

I have a typical 1st grader and we are using Writing With Ease as well as First Language Lessons. The copywork and memory work including in these two sources has been very doable for her. I will say that she did turn 7 in August so she is an older 1st grader. She's also a girl and her fine motor coordination is pretty good. I think this amount is pretty good for first graders. I could probably include more for her because of her writing skills. Hope that helps.

I haven't cared for the ETC with my children that are ELL. My girls came home 2 yrs ago from Ethiopia at ages 5 and 6 1/2. While I had always loved the ETC with my other kids, I ended up doing a lot of explaining and rewording because the picture was unclear or they just didn't have the vocabulary to answer some of the questions. I would look into the MCP phonics or Phonics Tutor which is Alpha Phonics on computer. It teaches the sounds, uses dictation and is a really good program for reinforcing phonics. The kids can easily use this independently. Rainbow Resource sells it.

We bought our Bosch at Lowes. It was not their cheapest model but was around $500 if I remember correctly. I LOVE IT! It is extremely quiet and has this terrific 30 minute quick wash feature for light loads. Can't recommend it highly enough. Stay away from Fridgidaire. Ours lasted only 3 years and was loud from day one. HTH Ally