In Seattle (within the city limits) there aren't a lot of homeschoolers. But the percentage of kids for a city of this size is very low, so it's no surprise that fewer kids = fewer homeschoolers. We have an active homeschool group of 100+ familes. If you live in the suburbs, you'll find more kids and more homeschooling families, and co-ops. I don't know of any co-ops in the city. Houses in the city are costly. Older two-bedroom houses, maybe 1200 square feet, for $500,000+ are not uncommon, though costs depend on neighborhoods. Newer townhouses go for $350,000+ and many have 3 bedrooms. I don't know the housing situation for the suburbs, or for surrounding cities. Typical summers are 70's with some days in the 80's and some in the 60's. It can rain anytime but not as often in July-September. Winters are cool and rainy, with a little snow most years. We are far enough north that summer days are long, and so are winter nights. It's rarely hot for a long enough stretch that you'd need an air conditioner for your home, but some newer houses might have them. Gas is around $4.35 for the cheapest grade, diesel is $4.99, and organic milk is $5-6.50 a gallon. Music lessons -- depending on traditional or Suzuki and the demand for the particular teacher, many people I know pay $30-75 for a half hour lesson. Commutes can be long. From downtown Seattle to in-city neighborhoods on the express bus at rush hour, can easily take 45 minutes. Driving from Seattle to suburban work sites can take a lot longer. There are a lot of great recreation opportunities. The city has indoor pools that have lessons and public swim sessions year round. There are sports leagues for soccer, baseball, etc. We have a lot of parks, some with trails, and the city is located on Puget Sound so loads of beaches too. Kind of cold to swim in the Sound though! There are loads of places to run here. Most of the city has sidewalks and many major streets have bike lanes. Plenty of folks bicycle to work. "Real" hiking will involve a drive, perhaps an hour + from most parts of the city.

Quick! Look out the window right this minute! The sun is shining! Never mind that it's 54 degrees and awfully windy -- the sun is shining! Tomorrow -- back to the yuck. But I checked the weather forecast and it looks to be improving toward the end of the week. :001_smile:

That's what I'm wondering too!

A couple of questions: When you originally emailed PHP with your pre-order request, did they make any response at that time? How long ago did you contact them to pre-order? Just wondering if they are doing "first come, first served" with the pre-orders... and if they responded to pre-orders and I didn't get a response, then maybe they never got my original email...

I am just wondering if anyone has been contacted by Peace Hill Press regarding payment information for Writing With Ease pre-orders. In early April I emailed PHP to be added to the pre-order list. I haven't heard anything from them regarding payment. So I'm now wondering if I was supposed to give my phone number, or if they'll be emailing me, or ??? Can you tell I'm desperate to get started with my rising 2nd grader? She is a strong reader and "old" for her grade (September birthday, turning 8 at the beginning of 2nd grade), but is still struggling mightily with first grade writing skills. :001_unsure:

I'm not sure which Eggleston book you're looking for -- there are three that I know of -- but they are published by Lost Classics. http://www.lostclassicsbooks.com/ I think you can buy them directly from Lost Classics.

My just-finishing-4th-grader is halfway through Spelling Wisdom A; she'll do the second half in 5th grade. She does two lessons a week. The first day she copies the lesson, and the second day she writes it from dictation. She enjoys it, and prefers it to learning words from a spelling list. She has also remarked that she finds the passages interesting. As for the math comment from another poster: there have been two passages (out of 78) that are excerpts from an early 1900's mathematics puzzle book. We both found it interesting to try to solve the problem presented -- successfully once, and we're still stumped by the second. So it has not been my experience that the child is expected to do daily arithmetic work as part of the spelling lesson. I hadn't heard of Simply Spelling until I read your post.

Do you have a teacher store anywhere nearby? The ones here carry Singapore Math.

Our neighbor teens do this. I guess it is just too hard for them to carry their groceries home. The store is maybe 100 steps from their house. :rolleyes:

I think "Light a Penny Candle" is my favorite. It was the first one I read. About 15 years ago when I was riding the bus home from work, I noticed the gal across the aisle from me was reading "Light a Penny Candle". The title intrigued me, I requested it from the library, and ended up reading most everything else Maeve Binchy wrote. I prefer her earlier books to her later ones. I just couldn't get into her most recent book... can't remember the title... and ended up taking it back to the library unfinished.

City dweller here. :) I use a hiking daypack (with padded hip belt & sternum strap) for library trips and for some grocery and thrift store trips. It's the most comfortable way to carry a heavy load for a couple of miles. Also good for bus trips. For shorter grocery trips to the nearby store, I have some reusable bags that are made out of some kind of polyester type fabric. They are the size of large paper grocery bags. All the grocery stores here sell them for 99 cents. I have seen some bike panniers that are grocery-bag size. I thought about using them for library trips, so we could do family bike rides to the library, but I'm not convicted to spend the money on them right now.

We were fortunate to be able borrow a flute for my dd first from a friend and then from a relative. Hopefully the relative will not request the flute back before dd is ready to move up to an open-hole model. Otherwise, we would have rented in the beginning.

Not a dental expert here, but this is a red flag to me: Also the fact that she says half of your fillings need to be replaced... around here fillings go for $200+ apiece. I would get a second opinion. Or maybe someone on these boards who is a dentist could confirm what she told you about the discoloration indicating decay.

My dc like the Mindbenders books.

The three recipes I use most frequently: * Oatmeal bread -- I bake it every week. * Lentil stew, using either hulled barley (I do not like pearl barley) or brown rice. I add the rice/barley when I start cooking the lentils, instead of adding them later as the recipe instructs. * Chocolate pudding.

I read it to my dc when they were 6 & 9. I had a fair bit of trouble following it, as I think did my 9yo, but my 6yo seemed to be able to understand the whole thing and kept asking me to read another chapter. Recently we watched "Muppet Treasure Island" (Tim Curry!) and she spent the whole time telling me what parts were different from the book. My older dd, now 10, started re-reading the book after watching the aforementioned movie. She got about halfway through. I may pick up the Classic Starts version so I can figure out the plot more clearly. :001_huh:

The brown rice (substitute for barley) option for this stew is great too! I've been in a cooking rut lately. I'll get this cookbook out today for some inspiration.

We use one book per year, but it's not our only science. We are just finishing up MFW ECC (including its science component), and we're somewhere over halfway through Zoology 1. I'm going to pick up the pace on Zoo 1 to finish it by mid-summer, if not before. Next year we'll do MFW CTG and Zoo 2. We'll probably get started on Zoo 2 this summer, work on it occasionally from Sept-May, and finish it up around July. At least that's the plan. If my dc develop a strong interest, we may cover it much more quickly.

My dc are finishing up Prima Latina. About a month ago I added "Getting Started in Latin" -- we are on lesson 7 I think. My older dd likes it because it has clear explanations, and because it has Latin sentences that aren't prayers. :) Right now we are only doing GSIL occasionally, due to working on Prima. I am going to have my dc continue with it over the summer, and pick up Latina Christiana I in the fall.

:iagree: My dd agrees that the Phantom Stallion and Black Stallion series are good. Since your dd likes mysteries, check your library for books by Helen Fuller Orton. These are older (1940's-ish) but both of my dds like them. They're high interest and most are a 4th or 5th grade reading level. I have had to get some via interlibrary loan since our library is one that discards like crazy... but that's another thread!

I store flax seeds in the freezer. I grind a small amount, say 1/4 cup, and refrigerate to use within a week or so.

Younger dd asked at age 4 to have her ears pierced, so I let her. Older dd (age 7) then had hers pierced later the same day.

:iagree:

My dd is using Calculadder worksheets. I have the CD, and print out the worksheets. This is the only drill she hasn't complained about (and I've tried lots of different things); she likes moving up through the levels and surprisingly doesn't seem to mind the timed aspect.

I want to order Queen Homeschool's Pictures in Cursive for one of my dc. I've never ordered from them before. Does anyone know if they ship orders out right away, or do they have shipping slowdowns during the convention season?