My son has been asking me for more word problems...he actually often takes the mental math from RightStart's warm-ups and turns them into word problems before doing the math. So...can anyone compare/contrast these two programs for me? Which do you prefer and why? as to level...ds will start RS C in about a month.

I plan on using RS geometric approach + Life of Fred Fractions and Decimals and Percents, and then sticking with just LoF from there on. Life of Fred also sold through Rainbow Resource :)

What a great idea!

I *don't* think Rosetta Stone will lead to bilingualism. We use it here to give my son confidence in his vocabulary. I have since found livemocha.com, which is a FREE website that teaches basically the same way as Rosetta Stone but is better because your speaking and writing are actually evaluated by native speakers of the language rather than a computer. They send you weekly progress reports, as well. I would say try livemocha and see if you like it. Also, if your kids play games on the computer, try playing in Spanish. Turn on the Spanish language option on their favorite dvds. This way, they already know the story-line; it's not as frustrating as watching something they haven't seen before. It would be worth your while to try to find some spanish-speaking kids; my son's spanish has improved IMMENSELY this way. If you can get an Au pair, do it! Read easy-readers in spanish, too. I'll let you know if I think of anything else!

I'm doing the same thing! Right now, I'm using the Life of Fred series for math (from fractions on up...I went to 3 different schools the year they taught fractions, and I have major holes), Classical Writing for composition (starting with Homer, as recommended by the authors), and Wheelock's for Latin. When I finish with Wheelock's, I'll be moving on to Lingua Latina and adding in Greek. I am planning on going through Traditional Logic I & II and Material Logic at some point. I'm teaching myself piano to stay at least a step ahead of my son's playing. I'm also reading The Story of Science series and The History of the Ancient World. I work on math when ds is doing his worksheet from RS; grammar/composition when he is doing GWG and copybook (both independent for him); and Wheelock's while we eat lunch. I practice the piano right after he does. I also work part time from home (I make yarn); I do this while ds does his content subject (except Tues. and Fri., which require my direct involvement) and during tv time at night. As a bonus, *almost* everything I am using is what I am planning to use with my ds later. I can get away with this because we have the same learning style. Does this help any?

We do copywork in multiple languages, as well. Ours are English, Spanish, and Latin. I'd much rather rotate through than have to teach him writing conventions 3 times! This is actually my biggest reason for not using the Writing with Ease workbook that I bought and now need to sell :glare:

Can I just butt-in to say how excited I was to recognize that word based on my knowledge of Spanish?? Whoopee!!! Maybe learning Latin won't be so difficult afterall!

I'm using Homer myself (I soooooo need to work on my writing!), and am using Harveys with it. My son, however, will more than likely be sticking with Growing with Grammar when he is ready for Homer. Why fix something that isn't broken?

:iagree: 100%. I have scoliosis too, and I have found that T-Tapping really, really helps...I can actually see a visible change in my waist curves...Instead of looking like |(, I look closer to )(. It stops the pain, too. I have noticed though, that when I get lax with my exercise routine, my back AND hip start to hurt and my curved side becomes even more pronounced. Exercise doesn't seem to reverse my twisted rib-cage, but my hope is that it will stop progression. I already can't wear underwire bras because of my twisted ribs. FWIW, I've also tried yoga, and that made me hurt MORE...but probably because I was following tapes at home rather than going to a well-informed yoga instructor. ETA: As for shirts to put under her brace, old navy might be a good place to check. They have some called "perfect fit" or something like that, which fit snugly without being uncomfortable. You can cut off the top and sleeves, if you wanted to, and maybe wear it inside out so the seams aren't against her skin.

LCC sounds like it would be a good fit for you!

We spend $86/person. We buy pretty much NO convenience foods; only branfrut bars, which my hubby eats as a snack between work and school. I sure wish there were coupons here!

There are all kinds of mexican foods that fit your criteria...avocados make a great substitute for cheese. I like to cook chicken (I usually poach it in chicken broth), then cut it up, throw it in a sauce, simmer to let the chicken turn tasty, and serve with corn tortillas, beans, and rice. My sauce consists of 5-6 roma tomatoes and/or boiled-just-til-they-change-color tomatillos, a pinch of cumin, a pinch of salt, 1/4 - 1/2 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp. tomato bullion, 1 spoon of sofrito, and sometimes a bit of serrano chile (up to half for us; I have a 5yo who doesn't *do* spicy...I'm working him up to it bit by bit :P). Amounts are estimated based on how much I'm making; but for my family of 3 with leftovers, this is what I use. Sofrito is made with a green bell pepper, salt, onion, garlic, and a bunch of cilantro. Chop it all up and put it through the blender or food processor. Freeze the rest; this is a seasoning that works with just about anything. I also make that kind of beef that shreds easily (brisket? I don't know for sure what it is called in English) and throw it in sauce, too. This is GREAT for making homemade taquitos. I could probably come up with a whole bunch of other stuff that meets your criteria if your guests like mexican; PM me if anything is unclear or if you want me to think of anything else!

Thanks! Truth be told, though, I haven't done much of anything since Christmas!!! I need to get started again :)

I'm Jen...we are bilingual (English-Spanish) homeschoolers, but we school mostly in English because my husband rarely remembers to speak Spanish to our son, and our son is resistant when he does. He does, however, speak Spanish to the kids in the neighborhood and other people with no problem. He didn't really start learning Spanish until this past year, when I started babysitting a neighbor's little girl. As for curriculum, right now we are using Rosetta Stone at a rate of about 1 lesson/week, mostly to give him confidence in his ability to speak Spanish. He also reads in Spanish daily, using a standard 1st grade lectura book for our state that we borrowed from the neighbors after her dd finished 1st grade. Where will we go from here? We will absolutely get into Mexican history. I will likely go 3/4:1/4 or 1/2:1/2 for writing assignments when he is older. Any books we come across in our studies that were originally written in Spanish, I would like to read in the original rather than in translation, ie: Don Quixote.

mama or momma, but never mamma

Our plans for next year (he will be registered as a first grader): We will be continuing with the next level of the stuff in my sig. When we finish Minimus Secundus, we will start Lively Latin at a slow pace. Literature will be as suggested in LCC2.

I'm going to assume that I have a computer or at least access to one... 1) Ocean (this is a free computer program which contains scripture from several religions) 2) Rightstart Math 3) Life of Fred Math 4) Classical Writing 5) a COMPLETE world history book, not sure which 6) The Story of Science 7) my iPAQ or a Kindle, stuffed with books

I recently bought the Plus version of Homeschool Tracker and after I watched a couple short training videos on the website, I went off on my own...I can't believe how fast and EASY it was to do my lesson planning. I have a few things that are used over multiple years and I was very impressed with the copy feature of the program, which (for those who don't know) lets you make consecutive lessons with a click of the mouse. I am so glad I bought it!

hmm...interesting discussion. My son is half Mexican (his daddy's dad is of Spanish descent and his abuelita is of native descent) and half whatever I am (Caucasian mutt), and we live in Mexico. He looks Caucasian, and people here consider him white. I don't know what people in the US think!

We're using Minimus and it is a big hit here...it's fun and light, for sure. My son *does* retain what he learns, and often starts conversations with me in Latin :)

I don't know how helpful this will be considering the age difference, but my 5yo is doing level 1 and it takes about 20 min. per day on narration and copywork days.

I have to agree about harping on your hubby for this...I'm the soda-drinker here (but I prefer Pepsi) and my husband is always making comments about it. It drives me up the wall and makes me LESS likely to stop drinking it!

We're going to switch to Classical Writing when we're done with WWE.

I think having a sort of script would be really, really helpful, especially for non-science moms who have science-oriented kids! Right now, I basically skim the lesson quickly and paraphrase it for DS, but it would be *so* much easier if I could read it directly to him. I do really like the recommended reading lists; my son learns a ton from reading the library books because they are written at his level. I so wish BFSU was! I agree that the format of the book makes it difficult to use, though there *are* several sequence-of-use posts on the yahoo group now. I would really love to have a version of BFSU written for the child rather than the parent and I wish I knew how to go about writing something like that using BFSU as the framework. Actually, I've thought several times about purchasing all the NOEO stuff and rearranging it to follow BFSU order. Something like that would be ideal for me. Too bad it would be so expensive! I really love how accessible Dr. Nebel makes himself; my kiddo has had questions that I couldn't answer and Dr. Nebel was very helpful! As far as completeness, I asked a scientist friend to take a look at BFSU and he though it was WONDERFUL, which is why I decided to stick with it instead of switching to NOEO or REAL Science. I think he does it because it sort of gives a person with a question confidence that he will know the answer. I happen to belong to another yahoo group that Dr. Nebel is part of where he regularly signs off as "Bernie," so I'm pretty sure that he's not trying to be conceited or stuffy, just garner confidence.

I like the overlay/map idea...would it be possible to do both a timeline and the maps? it might make for a more complete picture. I'll think on this some more and see if I can think of anything!