Kristi, Love your SOAP devotional! What a fantastic and simple system to share with others.

Marty, I think your list is not unusual when it comes to blogging options...those don't seem unique to homeschool blogger, in my limited experience anyway. I use blogger because...well,..I guess because I liked the look of the template options at first glance. Also, I wasn't sure I wanted to be considered an exclusively homeschool blog--not that it matters really. If you are looking for a specific feature in your blog then your research is well worth it, otherwise, I'd just pick one and give it a try. Go through some of the blogs here on the boards and see what you like...that's what i did when I was first looking. I still look at people's blogs for new ideas! Have fun getting started!

We did this! We bought it for Christmas as a family gift. Went through the charade of wrapping it in brown paper to smuggle it into the house...and then opened it mid-June, just 2 days after its arrival!!!! :lol::lol: Shameful, I know, but we have loved every minute of it... It would have made a fantastic Christmas gift but I don't think the kids will be fooled if we stuff it back in the box mid-December. Bummer.

Wow! Have a wonderful weekend! Sleep, relax, do nothing, and then later on, do some more nothing. :D

Haven't participated but once before...last year sometime...but am re-committing myself to this! My report is up, though my blog itself is still a work in progress. Want to learn how to show books we use, art we study, and need to take pics during our school time to show the girls' work. Thanks for checking it out. All of yours look great and it's fun to see what you're all doing!!

Wow! Thanks for sharing! I have been wanting to try this but was rather afraid to do so as I have NO idea how to write or read html code. The explanation on this site is fantastic!! So now I have to figure out what to put in my 3rd column but that's for tomorrow...too tired tonight after debate-watch and blog-edit. :001_smile: Thanks!

No, but it is one of our tropical fish in the pic. :001_smile:

I went forward with level E after reading some negative posts here, and I'm not sorry that I did. I agree that sometimes have to just try things for yourself, especially with math. I also think that is a teacher-intensive program but I am okay with that as I plan around it in other subject areas. Also, it allows me to be completely plugged in to how the program works and confident in my ability to explain a strategy, review, remediate, etc. Trust your guy and know that it has a fairly high resale value should you find it doesn't work. ;)

We enjoyed RS E and have always appreciated the variety of activities in each level. Mine is packed away right now but I'm not remembering quite as much drawing board work in that level as in others. I'm not sure why people don't like it so much so I can't respond to that but I will tell you what I know... I posted last week about BJU math which is what we use now and Oh Elizabeth shared some insights about RS that I have only JUST been realizing as we move into this other curriculum. What my dd 10 did not get with RS math is enough repetitive practice. The worksheets were easy & boring for us too but worth it. Now, she knows the answers to any problem but is not fluent enough to make longer problems seem easy and quick. SO, I highly recommend that you keep up with the additional practice sheets and games! Do not let up on these and I think you'll enjoy level E as much as the others. SInce last week's thread (which I don't know how to link here for you) I have been working on additional practice/speed drills and I'm finding that she DOES know her facts but we really should have done this more to make it all easier for her now that BJU has many problems per lesson and it shouldn't take her so long. ANyway, we like RS and are not sorry we stuck with it through the end. Wishing you the best,

My fault! Didn't remember that it was on this board...:blushing: Link is below.

On a small lake in Maine where we spend a heavenly week or two every summer. My dh's family has a camp there within sight of this big tree. We take a small boat out to this point nearly every day to look for the eagle that we so rarely see. He NEVER takes off so most of pics are of him sitting there regally, but this year I got lucky and my camera was actually ON and ready! :D

Hope it's okay to post this within an hour of midnight! Out for co-op in the AM and will look forward to seeing all your blogs when I get home! Have a wonderful Wednesday,

Not familiar with Xanga but I do know that Blogger lets you do invite-only. We sent an email to my parents and they were able to view her blog and comment. We tested things out today but didn't want to go to far in case there were suggestions/insights from anyone here. I went into the settings with her and used the "permissions" area to make this happen. Not sure yet how to monitor traffic or views yet. Pretty soon my 10yo will be ahead of me if I don't speed up! I don't even know how to get a 3rd far-left column on my own blog for goodness sake! :001_huh:

My 10yo dd is not much into writing, but she DOES seem to like making little family one-page newspapers, including jokes and the latest goings-on at home. Just silly kid stuff but I love that she enjoys the layout, the planning, the font choices, and obviously, the WRITING which she would otherwise tell you she dislikes. We print and post on the fridge. So a blog would be a fun thing for her I thought. We just set one up today and I *think* I have it protected properly so it's invite-only, moderated comments, etc. Any other suggestions or things I haven't thought of yet? Also, if you have a child with a blog that is public, would you be willing to link it to me so I can share with her? She wants some ideas for things to put in the sidebars...reading lists, etc. I'm still learning myself so I'm not a wealth of information yet. Thanks!

I'm not sure how to stop posts on your wall of other people's conversation, other than to delete them as they appear... BUT I do know that you can elect to have things not get posted by using the privacy setting tab under "Settings" and then it's buried in there...

"For Sale" and "Want to Buy"

Oh fun! Found the WTM group and am joining...many of you make it easy to identify you by using the exact same pics!

I don't cook much (dh loves to cook) so I'm not surprised that I'm having numerous disasters as I go tonight. I made a bread today (honey white) and butternut squash soup. It will be done any minute--late dinner tonight b/c of a messy "pureeing" experience. My kitchen still tells the tale... looks like I'll be cleaning after the dc go to bed! tastes good though...mmmm

I got dragged in some months ago by alumni friends from my Up with People year in the 80s, plus some high school friends and now I'm hooked! Your flair should appear under "boxes" by default and you can "manage your flair" with a button just below the flair corkboard. This lets you move it around on the board. If I find out how to move it to your main page, I'll let you know. There are settings for what you allow on your wall and you can even be sure not to get emailed when such things happen...a good choice in my opinion. When adding applications, you must allow it do display the app. or it won't. I'm having fun with it...not sure if I can find you on there without your last name, but if you PM me, I'll invite you so you can see mine. Been thinking about setting up a WTM group on there if there isn't one already.:tongue_smilie:

Thanks for sharing!

Well, my dd isn't exactly a speed-demon, but she does have MUCH more than 1 hour of work. ;) We tackle several subjects but not all of them every day. Here's what's happening today, approximately... Bible study & reading: 20 min Memory work box: 10 min or less Piano practice: 15 min Handwriting: 10-15 or so Math: 45 min. Writing: 30 or so Reading: 60 min (spread out over 2 chunks of time) Grammar: 20 min Vocab/spelling: 30 min (today she had new words to look up) History (TOG, reading today) 20 min Latin vocab review 10 min or less We take 1 big outdoor break mid-morning, a lunch break, and we have a daily goal of being done well before the neighborhood kids get off the bus. No question that grade 5 is a longer day than we've done other years. Other subjects that come up on other days include Science, Latin, & Logic so that trades out for some of the vocab/spelling and handwriting. Hope that helps. My dd makes things take longer than necessary sometimes, but on an average-paced day, we start at 9ish and are done by 3ish (and we have a preschooler who requires transport twice a day so car time is involved too, thus the late start).

I use CM albums and they now even have pages that are like top-loaders, but are a side loading style so the top isn't open. Brand new this month actually and in a true 12x12 size, and you can use any papers in there, not just CM. They aren't as heavy as a full album page, which is nice as well. Just got mine and they are great...you can now decorate both sides of your decorative papers and slide it in instead of having to choose which side you like better, which would drive me crazy. :tongue_smilie: I happen to know this because I *am* the lady down the street who sells the stuff. :001_huh: Even so, I tend to be of a mindset of "if you're doing what you love with your photos, then I love it too!" as I love to see how people make creative pages with all kinds of stuff, not just CM. Anyway, I love CM albums for the sturdiness and uniformity on my shelf, though I do have an eye for Close to my Heart products...pretty stuff!

Doesn't meet all your requirements, but Noeo does have books that go along with it that are great. I would recommend Chem II for 5th grade, though I haven't used it myself. We've only done Physics I and loved it.

Kelli, I feel for you with the lying on your blog issue...mine isn't really "public" yet because it's new, for one, but also for the exact reason you cite. I'm just not interested in stirring up the pot with family by posting my opinion in cyber space. So for now, I'm essentially anonymous unless someone finds me by accident! I did a quick little political entry recently and found myself self-censoring EVEN though I know nobody will probably even SEE it!?! Why oh why do I care??! :)