I did one last year and it was a lot of fun, but I was out of shape and my knee started hurting after the first mile. I skipped this years, but am hoping to go again next year.

Love them. My kids loved them too. We read the Ramona Series, Henry Huggins series, Mouse & the Motorcycle..... Interesting, well written, good topics, good characters. My favourite one is Socks!

It was probably a mosquito bite. I react to them in exactly the same way. Starts out small and then a huge red welt that is warm to the touch. I never used to react to any bites or stings, but now I do. I don't know if it just me getting older or the bugs getting nastier!!

I'll be using it with my 10 year old ds. I plan on us reading them out loud together, alternating pages. He's a good reader - very thorough, but his read-aloud skills are really lacking. He doesn't articulate well, rushes and misses punctuation.

I heard about "I Speak Latin" by Andrew Campbell on this board a while ago. I'm planning on using it with my 5th grader this year, but it can be used with younger ones too.

Maybe it's a rural thing then????

Oh yes, yum, yum, yum - except for Cheese Whiz. I also miss Kraft peanut butter, and Sussex gingerale (east coast!), and a host of other chocolate bars/candy - Smarties, wunderbar, mr.big,

That would be an East Coast thing, at least that's where I'm from and I say garAJes.

FYI they are not zip codes, they are postal codes! I love them and miss them!

Loved all of those, too!

Hmmm, good idea, but that would be an expensive endeavour! Thanks for the idea!

Oh, we loved the Artemis Fowl series too! And, The Cay. I didn't realize it was LeVar Burton though. I've not listened to the others - I'll take a look.

OMG, that's exactly what my oldest said, and a good friend of ours!!! I'll look for your recommendation at our library. Thanks

We've used MBtP and my son likes it ok. He's not big on writing though. I have the 10-12 books on World Wars 1 and 2, as well as the unit on Civil Rights. We may start with that, or we could go back to the 9-11 level on Colonization, Revolution, and Westward Expansion. So many choices...

My kids asked me to post this - I hope I don't offend anyone. We listen to tons of audiobooks and we first heard Jim Dale narrate the Peter and the Star Catcher series and we enjoyed him for the most part. None of like how he drags out words, but it's his accent and we love the books, so we listened. We've listened to The Sea of Trolls series (by Nancy Farmer) and loved the narrator, Gerard Doyle. He also narrated the Eragon series. We loved listening to Gregor the Overlander series (by Suzanne Collins) and loved Paul Boehmer's narrations. The Children of the Lamp series (by PB Kerr) is narrated by Ron Keith is good too. This past trip we decided to listen to the Harry Potter books 1-3 - all narrated by Jim Dale. Man, we nearly tossed those cds out the window. It got sooooo aggravating. So many of his voices are similar. I know that it must be difficult to narrate, but this guy just drives us crazy. Older ds is going to Europe for 3 weeks and wanted some HP books to listen to on the plane but they are all narrated by Jim Dale! I know there are many audiobooks not narrated by Jim Dale, but he seems to be everywhere. Ok, mini-vent over. Thanks for listening, and please share your favourite audio books (not narrated by Jim Dale, please) The kids are looking forward to the comments!

Thanks, That's the impression I got from the website. I don't enjoy History Pockets, and I don't think ds would either -he's not a crafty kind of boy. SOTW is fine, but we may just listen to it. I didn't enjoy CHOW. Hmmmm re-thinking History again....... maybe Sonlight D or MbTP.

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We crossed at the new crossing in Calais. We're home in MD now. Maybe next time? J

Has anyone used their Early Modern Level 1? I'm looking at it for my reluctant 5th grader. He doesn't like to write so I'm not sure if this will be a good fit for him. What about the topics? Are they engaging or dry? We did Pandia's Chemistry and he loved that, but the History looks a lot different. I know I can print off the Try Before You Buy lessons and see what happens. But, I was hoping to get feedback from someone who has used it throughout the year. Thanks,

Hi Starr, Thanks for the recommendation. It was beautiful. I can't wait to do it again and be able to stop and enjoy it! Jen

Sounds like it will be fine. Thanks for your recommendation!

Yup, partially route 2. We'd get off 95 at Augusta.

I got great advice on here for our last trip, so I was hoping the hive could help me again with a recommendation.... I'm driving from New Brunswick, Canada to St. Alban's, Vermont (north of Burlington). Google Maps gives me a route through the mountains, but I'd like to know what that drive is like - beautiful, I've heard, but will it be twisty-turny scary? If so, I may just stick to the highway and add an hour or so onto my drive. Thanks,

Fisher Paykel makes a brand specifically for Sears at a lower price than the EcoSmart or AquaSmart. It's called Elba. My 10+ year old top-loader Maytag(?) is still mostly working (agitator can't handle big loads anymore), but when it finally dies, I'll likely be getting one.

I'm just back from a 2 night camping trip with 5 kids (ages 10-16). I was very nervous about being 'out there' on my own, responsible for 5 kids (2 of whom are not mine). I could tell from the park website that there were very few people camping in the area, which kind of freaked me out. But, we had a great time. The people who were there were either young families or older couples - everyone was very friendly. I agree with the others to stay near the camp hosts' site if you are at all concerned. Just knowing someone is nearby will make you more comfortable. FYI my worse moment was when ds (13) wanted to light the propane lantern we had borrowed from his scout troop. I hate those things (thinking they'll blow up) and this one was making hissing noises, which ds wasn't sure was normal, so I made him turn it off and put it away. He was miffed! I explained that at scouts there are adults there who know what is normal with these lanterns and can help him if something goes wrong. I don't have that knowledge. He understood, but wasn't thrilled. He had to resort to an battery operated lamp - :rolleyes: