My whole family eats a plant based diet, and we've had no issues with our teeth.:D

I love AAS, but I only use it for my son who really needs it (my oldest). My 2nd grader spells well naturally, so I'm using HOD spelling with her. I plan on continuing this pattern: for any children who really need it, I'll do AAS. For my natural spellers, I'll use HOD. AAS is great, but it is so much more time consuming than HOD spelling (and R&S, which is the only other spelling program I've tried). I do limit my spelling sessions with my son to 15 minutes, so that helps!

It really takes on the texture of chicken (depending on how long you bake it), and you don't have to use any oil if you don't want to! We use almost no oil at all for cooking at our house! :001_smile:

Thanks for your tips!

Thanks everybody! It seems like most of you have really gotten good use out of them. I'm going to get an ultrasound on Tuesday, then go out to dinner with my husband, so I think I'll be able to run into Target and pick up a couple then! Thanks so much! :001_smile:

I didn't have time to read the other replies, so this may have already been mentioned... I really LOVE T-Tapp. I do the Basic Workout Plus, and it only takes me 15 minutes to get a good workout. I just do not have the time to exercise for 30 to 60 minutes each day, but 15 minutes can usually be fit in before the children are up. Sometimes I exercise during nap time. Sometimes it's when they are awake, but that means that I'll have to stop a few times during the workout. I figure that's better than not doing it at all, though! Sometimes my children do it with me! I love that T-Tapp doesn't require any equipment other than a DVD player and good shoes. I love that it is strength, stretching, and cardio all in one, with no jumping, which would aggravate my bad knee. This is the first workout I've been able to do consistently since I had more than one child! :D (I've been doing this for about 2 years, btw.) Hope that helps!

That's great! Congrats! I'm due pretty close to when you are. (My babies are always 5-11 days late, so I'm imagining this will be an October baby!) :grouphug:

Have you considered All About Spelling? I like Rod & Staff English for Grammar.

Wow! What a great idea! I think the art of storytelling has been largely lost in our time. With all the entertainment choices there are, I think most of us don't do this. The times I have, though, the children really love it ... especially when I make up a silly tale of some sort. Thank you for the reminder!:001_smile:

Thank your for this tip! I think that might work for me, too! :001_smile:

Thanks!!!! :001_smile:

Is this the one you have? http://www.target.com/p/Be-Maternity-BeBand-Assorted-Colors/-/A-13742281#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink

Good work! I'm really itching to do some major de-cluttering here~!:D

This confirms that I need to get one somewhere like Target where I can try it on. I hope I can find one that works! Thanks for the heads up!

Ahhhh ... I didn't think of Target! I'll check them out next time I go. I'm pretty sure I remember my maternity pants sagging too, so maybe this will help that! That sounds good, as I'm certainly not going for the bare belly popping out look! I hadn't thought about it for nursing. That sounds like it would really help! Well, I'm sold! :D Thanks everybody! :001_smile:

I'm expecting #5 and haven't really bought many new maternity clothes since my first pregnancy 11 years ago!:tongue_smilie: I've heard of Belly Bands, and I'm wondering if any of you have found them useful. Are they basically designed to make it so you can wear your regular pants longer? Is there a brand you prefer? Is there anything that works better? Any other pregnancy clothing innovations I should know about. I think I'm out of touch! (For instance, my younger sister was amazed that all my maternity pants are designed to go over my belly!) Here's a link to one I just found: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Be-Mine-Maternity-Belly/dp/B000OSAH8I TIA! :001_smile:

I like to bake my tofu. The texture gets nice and firm! I usually drain and squeeze it a little, then cut it up into cubes. Then toss it with some sort of flavoring. (I usually use tamari.) Bake it at 300 degrees on a sprayed cookie sheet until it's firm and lightly browned. Here's a recipe that's not quite what I do, but is similar: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2639

Good idea!!!:D

Stephanie, I think your post was very clear ... especially the part I quoted above. I always find it a little hard to explain exactly how HOD works, and I really like your description!:001_smile: I also am using Bigger with a 4th & 2nd grader this year, but I think their skills and comprehension are just too varied for this to work well. My 4th grader will finish Bigger soon, and after doing Bigger 1/2 speed for a while with my 2nd grader, we're taking a break from it to do something that will work better for her. I'm planning on returning to Bigger in about a year and do the 2nd half of it with her for the end of her 3rd grade year.

Ya know ... I think Preparing may be a more interesting program than Bigger, but HOD is just set up differently than other unit studies. Each HOD guide is SO linked to a certain skill level, that it would be hard to get a lot out of the guide if you water it down for your younger. Sometimes I wish it were different, because it means that when a child's writing skills are lower than their reading/comprehension skills, that it sometimes not the perfect scenario. Extensions can help with that, though. (Actually my dream curriculum is a very conservative version of Sonlight, but that just doesn't exist! -- sorry, that's a little off topic!:D) I guess I just want you to know that you've really got to approach placement in HOD in a different way. I can tell you that Bigger focusses more on the people in American history, so that it feels different (at least to me) than other studies of American history. I've found HOD to be very helpful when I've called, so I'm imagining that they'll call back soon and give you some good advice!:001_smile:

Well ... I would guess that, no, you're not crazy!:001_smile: As far as whether or not that's the best program for your children, I'm not sure. I guess it depends to some extent on what your goals are. If you're looking to have your 2nd grader listen in on the History, Poetry, and Bible readings, that could work. But if you're planning on having your 2nd grader do the program as written, I think that's likely not going to work. I think most 2nd graders wouldn't be able to do the written and independent work that's involved in Preparing. I think that even Bigger (at full speed) can be a bit too much writing for some 2nd graders. Bigger could be an option for you, though. Maybe your 4th grader could do it with Extensions and your 2nd grader could do it as written? So, I guess my big question for you is: what are your goals for Preparing? If you choose to do Preparing next year, and plan on continuing with HOD, I think it would get more and more impossible to keep them together. I hope that helps! :001_smile: ***Edited to add: I haven't started Preparing yet, but I own it and have looked through it extensively and will be starting it with my oldest soon!

I'm starting my 10 year old at the beginning. We'll still use MUS, but I think it will be good for him to get fun review of even very easy concepts.

You mention in your original post that you are very careful about your read-aloud material. We are also, and Sonlight did not work for us for that reason (even though I love their model of education). Anyway, since I'm about to do LHFHG for the first time soon, would you be willing to share which books you are concerned about and why?

I'm beginning to think the most important thing is to not jump around to different math curricula ... not that I've followed that advice! :tongue_smilie: I've used all of the following with my oldest: 1. Ruth Beechick's 3Rs Math Ideas 2. Miquon Math 3. Developmental Math 4. Ray's Arithmetic 5. Horizons 6. RightStart 7. Teaching Textbooks 8. MathUSee MUS is working for us now, and I keep having to resist the urge to move to something else! My son really struggled with math, and I guess I thought the problem was always the curriculum. I think he really just needed time... (I am adding in Life of Fred Elementary soon, just for some fun review of concepts ... but we're not leaving MUS, so I think I don't count that as jumping around!)

Your post makes me look forward to my HOD future! We've used LHTH, Beyond, and Bigger. I must say that I enjoyed them all. Sure, there were a few things I might have changed (or did change) in LHTH and Beyond, but overall we liked them. Soon we'll be using LHFHG and Preparing, both for the first time. I'm really looking forward to them! My 5 year old (and 2 year old)nwill actually love the Rhymes in Motion in LHFHG (and I kinda like them too!;) ). Anyway, all that to say ... if we've enjoyed the younger guides, I bet we're going to love the older guides all the more! :001_smile: