You might want to look at Katheryn Stout Design a Study, these are just books with lists of what needs to be studied for math (this one even has brief ways to teach it and is great), science, history, spelling, and writing (I think). They are very useful and can be found real cheap on ebay or Amazon used (I bought all of mine from $1 to $8 used)

We are doing this this year...just geography. I am adding in some cultural info but that is it. This is being done with a 2nd grader but can easily be made to fit another grade. I am using primarily Children Just like Me, an Atlas and this web site http://homeschoolcreations.com/Geography.html (scroll down to find links to the continents) Basically we spend 2 weeks on a country, the first week is on the geography and the second week the culture. For the geography week we mark a map with cities, rivers, mountains and anything else that might be important. Paint the flag, Study the topography and temperature plus any special animals. For the cultural week we learn to count in their language, read about a child from Children Just Like Me, talk about special customs or people or artist, and listen to a sample of their music. We are also making a geography terms notebook. An example is learning the term strait while learning about Spain, dd will draw a picture of the term and write a brief definition of it. I have used on the past the Trail Guide books, Around the World in 180 days, and Sonlight Core F. I have also heard great things about My Fathers World Exploring Countries and Cultures.

Thanks. Didn't think of HP...brain not working I guess. But I will do this.

Our dog broke her nail close to the paw. It was bloody at first but not now. We have been keeping her resting and she can walk without limping unless she gets too excited. Should I put something on it like an antibiotic cream? I know to sock the paw to keep her from licking it off. Or just let her lick at it (no cream added) and keep her resting?

Hubby and I do now. When I broke my leg about 2 yrs ago I slept on the sofa because it was just easier for me. After the broken leg, I realized the sofa was more comfortable since it has two cushions and my hip nestles in the gap they make and I can lean my back against the sofa back. Needles to say, hubby started to spread out in the bed during this time. Anytime we try my going back in the bed we realize the bed is not as big as it use to be. It works for us.

Just a note, Apologia is suppose to be adding a Chemistry book to the elementary series soon. Not sure when though.

We did art too using the HAS DVD. Dd said it was the most awesome subject ever. She took the class very seriously and made sure she did everything the teacher said to do. Best of all she did not rush it but took her time and it shows. Glad your art day was a success too.

I have never had a problem and any questions I have I send by email and get a response very quickly (usually in 24 weekday hours).

Living Books Curriculum has a guide for the Astronomy book that can be used for the older child. I am not sure if they have guides for the other Apologia Young Explorer's series.

Got ours yesterday. We start next week :hurray:

Did the traditional spelling curriculums for years and never felt it was worth the time. This year (meaning we just started this) I am making a spelling list based of my dd's misspelled words from her writing. If it is a word I think she should know and it is misspelled I write it on scratch paper...10 words gathered and we will then work with these words. Look at the phonics, similar words with same spelling, and any rules associated with the spelling.

This is the link to Amazon for the one we are using. I think they have Language Arts up to 6th grade. http://www.amazon.com/Language-Arts-Harcourt-Family-Learning/dp/1411404106/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357908210&sr=1-4&keywords=harcourt+language+arts+grade+2

I picked up a Language Arts workbook at Barnes and Nobles for under $10. It is from Harcourt Family Learning (purple workbook) and I am extremely impressed with the content. It covers Grammar, Punctuation, Vocabulary (grammar vocabulary like Homophone), writing (in grade 2 in covers sentence, paragraph, main idea, supporting ideas, order, personal narrative, poem writing, describing, friendly letter, how to, information paragraph, persuading paragraph, and a book report), plus research skills. They will give practice pages besides the page skills are introduced. Some things need extra explanations but easy to teach since they give definitions and examples.

We are listening to the Lightning thief right now and ds (who loves all things about mythology and read the books multiple times) will go off on temper tantrums about the movie. Not sure if I feel safe mentioning the new movie to him, but dd and I will go see it, even secretly if we have to.

SL readers are a good suggestion Ramona books B is for Betsy and the others in this series Ivy and Bean Geronimo Stilton (his stories, Thea's stories and the comic book type stories that are set in historical time frames) Diary of a Whimpy Kid (I know these are fluff but dd loved them and so did we) Little House books

They said it will ship in 7 to 10 days, so they may not even go out until today unless that is 7-10 business days which means another week before they might ship. We are getting VERY antsy to start. We live walking distance from Blick Art Supplies and I promised dd a day in town when we go to get the art supplies (lunch and the library, plus us walking and chatting there and back). Needless to say she is stalking the mailman.

Good recommendations so far. Another book that will make homeschooling seem very doable is Ruth Beechick's You Can Teach Your Child Successfully.

The books they recommend are great and can usually be found at Amazon used for very little. If you have books in your home library that is similar use them, as long as they contain the same topics then it will work (although the plant book ES recommends is wonderful). We did not use the lapbppk but the notebook, but you will need these books for the lapbook or books similar.. You could purchase just the books needed for the unit you are studying at the time to help spread the cost over the year.

For the grammar stage http://astore.amazon...ing=UTF8&node=1 this is for the classical units. http://www.elementalscience.com/bio_gram.html

Regarding ES, it is a wonderful science curriculum. Takes about 15 mins a day is easy. You have a lab once a week that is fun and used household things. The notebook is easy to do, just a sentence of 2 after the days reading which either you write (as your childs scribe) or they write *I would write down what my dd said and then she copied it in her notebook). Also you will have an ongoing project for the subject being covered. Easy. This is the science that will get done.

Yes, there is a list of books on the ES site. What ES are you interested in and I can post a link to the books.