betterworldbooks.com always has free shipping on their used books. They have a special clearance deal right now, 5 books for $15, free shipping. The selection is better at half.com, but unless you buy from one individual, you will get nailed on the shipping.

The only program I have loved so far for math is Bob Jones University Math. The materials are so inviting and colorful, the lessons so solid and easy to present, the concepts so well developed, and so much is offered for review if needed (teacher decides what to assign). I just could rave on for months about this program. A big plus in my book is that if I feel the need to supplement my instruction in later years, BJU offers a DVD or Streaming lesson program with teachers that is highly recommended.

Yes, yes, yes! We love it to bits. Both little boys really get into our music time. It's going to be pretty cheap to continue the program for the little guy too, since the workbook is only like $8 or so.

Absolutely not. The meat of the WinterPromise program is found in the other history texts (such as the Maestro series). It is only a spine in the sense that it loosely frames the program.

Depends on the cut of the clothing! My skinny skirts didn't fit anymore within a couple months of conception this time around. I do think I showed earlier with pg #3 than the others. I can still wear fat/plus size non-maternity though (had some hanging around from my fat days). My maternity is mostly *still* too big... I think something to do with the weight I lost after the second baby. Everything fits weird. I HATE the new clingy maternity stuff. I had to get a size larger just because the sleeves were cut so tight. What's up with tight sleeves? Plus everything has this major plunging neckline. Don't they realize that my cleavage climbs to my chin when I'm pg and/or nursing?

We have used and loved WinterPromise Animals and Their Worlds (which might be more theme and crafts than you're interested in using, less "sciency") and WP World Around Me science.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement! The Lord is already working. He used the staffing manager at dh's job to intercede with the CEO so that the pay cut will not be to a maximum of 10 hours, but a minimum of 10 hours, varying up to as many as 40 hours depending upon what projects dh needs to work on. (The staffing manager said, "He can't do that, you are in the middle of a bunch of projects and I have nobody else to oversee them.") So if the Lord provides 40 hours of projects, dh will have a 40 hour paycheck. He is also free of his contract, so he can openly seek another employer, which is a blessing.

Dh has been having more and more trepidation at work. His boss took away his India programming team (after engineering some terrible staff losses there), and this week he found out a major client is backing out of projected future work. So dh's hours have been cut to 10 hours per week until May, then his job is eliminated. He is worried because 10 hours is not the same as a lay-off thus he is not eligible for unemployment. On the bright side, he is freed up to job hunt vigorously and will still have insurance until May... hopefully we can afford at least one month of Cobra insurance so the birth will be covered. Just pray we will be guided in the right way to go and that the Lord will provide so that dh will not have more stress than he can tolerate.

I am going to do Animals and Their Worlds with my VERY young K student in the fall (he doesn't turn 5 until Sept. 25, cutoff here is July 15). My reasoning is that I want to make good use of the Alphabet Art program included, and that is only possible in the Alphabet beginning K year. I have already done AW with an advanced first grader, so I am aware there are parts that will go "over Andrew's head". I'm fine with that and will do "picture study" (in the Encyclopedia and One Small Square books to some extent) instead of long text reading/listening sessions. It's all about what we can take from the program and not whether he's ready for everything the program offers this year. I am going to have to get some of the new read aloud titles though! Henry Huggins? (and Ribsy the dog!) Way too fun to leave out. Your little guy will LOVE the animal crafts. I just threw away Joshua's alligator from first grade yesterday and he complained. I said, "You can make another one next year with your brother." ROFL.

I'm not the person you quoted, but personally, I would say, "Please don't jump on my couch." "Oh, no! Don't hit my dog, you will hurt him." In the situation described, if the drama of the boy fanning his mouth and gulping his water was disturbing, I would say, "Please stop eating loudly, you're making it hard for the rest of us to eat." This does not make statements about the boy or his family's rules, while still asserting my own request.

WinterPromise American Story 2 BJU Science 3 Older student portion of WinterPromise Animals and Their Worlds BJU Math 3 WinterPromise LA3 God Made Music 3 Usborne books for art Piano lessons YMCA for PE

You could call or email winterpromise and ask for samples. Maybe they would email you a PDF file. Last year with the website update, samples came available in waves. I presume their tech folks just operate in that fashion. I noticed there is a "high school" addition guide to put Hakim's Story of US with American Cultures. American Cultures is supposed to be enough for grades 5-8 though. YMMV. I would think you could buy the materials for American Cultures used, maybe piecemeal from half.com, maybe partly from prior users of the AS2 Middler's package. So maybe you could just buy the instructor guide for Amer Cultures from WP. (I did this for Amer Story 1 because I was buying it at the time we were already doing Animals and Their Worlds and had used up our hs budget for the year).

I'm just beginning the no-HFCS journey, and here are some of my recent finds: Jones Pure Cane soda (I told ds this is a super special treat, to be reserved for special occasions. Otherwise we have gone soda free except for dh who still insists on his Dr. Pepper. :glare:) Vitamin water Aunt Millies, Arnold 100% Natural, and Healthy Life breads (Healthy Life even has hamburger and hot dog buns!) I also discovered the Breyer's Natural ice cream mentioned by others.

Yes, Colleen, your meal was "weird food" to many Americans. Soup and salad are courses that rarely enter the menu in many homes. Rolls, of course are commonplace but in many homes are always white. I think the boy made a valiant effort to eat the soup. The comical reaction may have been partly his way of trying to see the humor in the situation. He's hungry, there's only "weird food" to eat, so this was his way of coping. I would never dare to put any food on a guest's plate before asking if they would care for any. I try to *ask* the parents of children in my home what types of food appeal to them. It is part of being a kind hostess. It is not my job to educate my friends or their children about what is appropriate food. We have a family coming over on Saturday for a meal. Dh mentioned the son is autistic and the family has had great luck with going with "eliminating some kind of flour or something from his diet". Since I am pretty "up" on autism, I suspect he's on a gluten free diet. So I asked dh to get recommendations for the meal. The response was, "Oh, anything is okay so long as it doesn't contain flour", but dh said, I did find out they also don't eat beef or fish, so you better fix grilled chicken and veggies. This is just good manners on my part, IMO. I want the family to feel welcome in my home, so I will fix something they will eat. Yes, I might very well go out and buy something specifically for that meal. Even if it were just one child visiting. If the child you describe were visiting my home, I would have been beyond mortified that he did not find anything on the table he could eat. I would have offered peanut butter and jelly, or crackers, or even scrambled eggs. IMO that is part of being a good hostess- catering to the desires of my guests. It is my job to make the child's visit pleasant, not the child's job to make my hosting experience pleasant. Now, if my sons were at a meal where red lettuce was on the plate (I have personally never seen red lettuce period, except perhaps as a garnish in a mixed salad), they would have suddenly been "not hungry". One of them would have taken a few bites of the soup, and perhaps have liked it. The other would have remained not hungry but would have perhaps tried a roll. He won't touch soup, but at least he's only 4. No, I don't cater to them the way I do to guests, but I do try to have at least one thing on the table I know they will eat.

I chose combination. I originally planned to use all workbook style stuff like CLE. That is because it is what I was used to and what made me comfortable. When ds was 5.5, I realized that was not going to work. (because he was consistently crying over his first experiences with LightUnits). He would thrive best in a complete unschooling setting, most likely. However, I am too controlling and inhibited to manage that. So I have settled upon something I can love and he can tolerate (WinterPromise with BJU Math and science- well, actually, both WP and BJU science). He's a sciencey kid who is great at reading and enjoys stories, so this combo seems to fit us both in some ways.

Yes, but it's typically a chapter (or equivalent) each day for 4 days each week. If the book is not split into chapters, it will give specific page numbers.

I don't believe BJU math could ever be described as dull. It is colorful and fun, and this is the first time my ds has had a happy year in math. The only "tweaking" I have done is to let him do the front side of 3-digit subtraction with renaming and then flip to the back side of another chapter. This way we spend a longer period on the difficult topic, while not having such a heavy load each day for math.

It is a simple one page schedule, with no discussion questions, etc. The readers themselves are usually excellent (I own LA1 Animals, LA2 Animals, LA2 Amer Story 1, and most of LA1 Amer Story 1), but the WP company is based around CM methods, which rely on narration for comprehension.

I am excited about the new science programs. I'm also excited because based on the new "suggested sequence" pages, it looks like I get to do Adventures in the Sea and Sky before the Quest series. (although the jury is still sort of out on that until I get input from the Brooks at the retreat). I love the "Experience a WinterPromise theme" sample pages.

Both of my boys loved their exersaucers. The playpen, not so much. I wound up using it as a barricade in front of the TV/stereo area. I did a lot of closing doors (bathroom doors, office doors) and we did have a gate at the top of the stairs. Perhaps you need a craft table baby cannot reach? Or a coffee table? Just brainstorming here.

Truthquest History schedules SOTW chapters, and WinterPromise has a young children's theme called Hideaways in History which uses parts of all three SOTW volumes.

If you aren't putting the word bathroom after it, it would be perfectly acceptable to simply write Boys (as in: Boys, go in here) and Girls (as in: Girls, go in here). Ria is correct about the usage, though.

WinterPromise Adventures in the Sea and Sky would fit that bill. You might want to add the Younger Learner's Guide, depending on the 8yo's abilities.

WinterPromise uses MOH2 as the spine in their Quest for the Middle Ages program. There's no book basket or anything like that with WP. It's expensive though.

I can only describe those from Animals and Their Worlds (obviously not timeline related, LOL) and American Story 1. AW has a 5-question "narration" page for one animal per week. They are full color, and have the same four questions for every animal, then a grab bag "finish this sentence" at the bottom. The questions are like, "What habitat does the animal live? What does the animal eat? What is an enemy of the animal?" Amer Story 1 has mostly half pages of text with either a picture to color or a blank space for the child to draw an illustration. I believe AS2's notebooking pages are similar, but I have heard that the Quest for the Ancient World and Quest for the Middle Ages notebook pages are more interesting, and the Adventures in the Sea and Sky ones. Now the ones that look like the MOST fun to me are the newest release program, Hideaways in History. Here's a link to the sample pages from that notebook: http://www.winterpromise.com/pdfs/Sample_MYO_Hideaways_Book.pdf