Read the rest of the verse: Also, if you pay attention to the last half of chapter 2, think of it in the light of employer/employee relationships. Every bit of this scripture is admonishing us to willingly offer our lives as a sacrifice for Christ in the same way that he gave us the sacrifice of his death. If I were to speak to young wives trying to give them the same message Peter was trying to get across, I'd say something like this: "In order to be a witness to your husband and offer your life as a sacrifice for Christ, be the most awesome wife you can! When you think of the sacrifice Christ gave for us, the little annoyances and sacrifices of married life seem like nothing."

Maybe you could work out a trade with a local homeschooling family. If you lived in my neighborhood, I'd love to have a 6th or 7th grade girl come in for "mommy's helper". This would provide you with free child care and a loving environment for your daughter, while giving a potentially super-busy homeschool Mom (perhaps like me, with a newborn, PreK and young elemetary student) a second set of hands. You could assign your daughter a few independent assignments during the day and do the major part of her schooling from 4-8 pm or so.

Great idea! If I did it one week at a time, I'd have a nicely cleaned house by the time baby arrives.

I would use WinterPromise American Story 1.

My family was all supportive... I am a second generation homeschooler. My parents fought the unsupportive family battle back in the 80s.

Personally, I think IVF itself is a procedure which should come with counseling and screening. If a person who receives a kidney transplant needs to go through that kind of process, how much more an IVF patient? If this were an Angelina Jolie type person who could financially support scads of babies, I'd still raise an eyebrow over the wisdom of artificially bringing so many babies into the world, and wonder about the motivation behind growing a family that is already so full (6 kids, some of which have medical needs). (Not that there should have been any reduction done, that goes against my beliefs, but I believe IVF should be used responsibly, not for people who already have 6 children). It is one thing to accept children God sends "in the Natcheral Way" and a different concept completely to seek out children through medical technology. Since there are already so many children in the world who NEED homes and families, a mother with a true desire for a house full of children (particularly one who can fund IVF) should have no difficulty filling up her house with those in need.

I'm working on cutting back on hfcs. The first thing to go was the sodas (though dh will never give up his regular Coke/Dr. Pepper... it's just once a week or so here at the house). Then I have been *trying* to find hfcs free bread, which is VERY hard. I'm glad someone else has found that their label changed. I had a certain very expensive kind of bread (I'm not sure which one it was, it's more expensive than Brownberry) I was getting to avoid HFCS, now THERE it is on the label, plain as day. Made me feel like an idiot. So I am going to try my hand at baking bread/rolls. Anybody have a hamburger bun recipe? We've gone to Vitamin water, regular juice and Kool Aid sweetened at home for our Evil Drink Treat. I'm trying to cultivate a label-reading habit. Like I just checked our sweetened cereal, luckily it DOESN't have hfcs.

Emmy, you could limit their use to the time AFTER school work is done. This is what we had to do at our house for cartoons and video games. I think little boys just tend to find something to obsess over. Maybe a smarter approach even than this would be to have a short list of things they are allowed to do during school breaks (run laps? throw a ball back and forth outside? color a picture or play a board game?)

Yes, you have to call them. It's basically a "custom order". I'm not sure how it works, but have heard it bragged upon on the WP forum (by someone who has their curric bought by the government).

I'm another who wishes there were an EMPHATICALLY NO raspberries near my chocolate choice. Strawberries, fresh, maybe... Raspberries or raspberry syrup or cream, NO WAY.

MFW is My Father's World. It is religious. I haven't used it, and I know there are secular books used as well...

AW has mostly construction paper/paper towel tube constructions, or such like. So there's no copying or drawing there. We didn't do ALL the crafts by a long shot, but I liked having them included. We really enjoyed the read-alouds and the pictures in the Ency, also the Make Your Own Animal Notebook (it's full color, with five formula questions about one animal each week... no copying or drawing there). Our favorite resources were Animal Habitats (craft book) and the Animal Behaviors series of books (they come in the Older Learners package). If you can afford the "combined" package or can put together your own combination, make sure you get these resources. We had fits over the Draw Write Now book, because ds is a huge perfectionist. Even so, he cried and wanted the books after I sent them off to another Hser. So he's looking forward to the time they come back. That is one bit of copying you would do, unless you buy a DWN workbook. There's a little form page to make 36 copies for the year. The One Small Square books have wonderful illustrations and they give the program a "flow" or "unity", so they are important. Since you've been doing SL K your student can probably listen to the text with no problem. AS1 has more copying involved. Colonial America and 3D Interactive Maps are reproducible books. You can always take the whole shebang to Staples if you don't have a copier. As far as interest level, we do find AS1 more interesting because my ds is more into people and history than into animals. However, the crafts and readalouds were great fun. I am glad we saved AS1 until this year because I think much of it would have been wasted on a 6yo. He can get so much more out of it this year that it was well worth the wait. We enjoyed the AW program a lot, we just enjoy AS1 more. I will be doing AW with the (animal loving) K student in the fall, and I know 3rd grade ds will rejoin the program for parts and pieces because parts and pieces of it are so much fun and parts were a bit over his head as a 6yo.

Mine plays Blues Clues on the computer, plays Legos, Moon Sand or Playdough at the kitchen table next to ds, works on a few preschool workbooks sometimes or does preschool activities, listens to CD books and plays with our Imaginext toys.

Great idea! We did Animals and Their Worlds for first grade and had a great year.

You could certainly do as Carmen suggests and do Amer Story 1, Amer Story 2, then SL 1+2, then Core 3+4. There will be a bit of overlap on a few stories I think (Pedro's Journal, Sign of the Beaver). Amer Story 1 *does* have mapping. There are 3D Interactive Maps to complete OFTEN, and we did a map of the 13 original colonies and one of Louis and Clark's journey of discovery. She's right about the discussion questions though. Use narration or spontaneous discussion instead.

In order to stay on track time-wise, I often will have ds work in two separate sections in BJU Math so that he has one "hard" page (3 digit subtraction with renaming) and one "easy" page (fractional parts). This way we finish both sections in the number of days allotted, but ds isn't having a really tough time with math one month and a really easy time the next. It's funny because I love a mastery style math program, but this makes it into a semi-spiral arrangement. LOL.

Oh, boy, your son sounds familiar. I have a seven year old boy as well. Everything is always, NOT FAIR! I love Emily's advice and I will also share a few ideas that have helped here. I have made a big effort to be on ds's side with things. For example, when your dd could be outside and play and it "wasn't fair" because your ds was sick, what could you have done to make it up to him? Could you have had a special board game or movie time with just you and ds? I realize this is hard and takes a lot of time and effort from mom, but lots of times I find my ds just needs someone to be on his side. To be his buddy, to appreciate him, to cater to him just a little. Here lately, dh has stepped in and made some adjustments to our house routines which have made a tremendous impact for the better. Our screen time is now extremely limited... one hour of video games to be played after 3pm and one educational cartoon at lunch, then no more till after 3pm. This has freed up our time and taken away some of my battles as teacher/mom. We now go downstairs for music/piano/prayer time right before school and that helps us get off on the right foot. I have also instituted specific recess times regardless of what we have accomplished so that ds has that to look forward to for toys, running outside or whatever. (9:45 for fifteen minutes, then 11 or 11:30 for 1.5 hours). Most of all, I am trying to appreciate ds just a bit more. His little brother is the cuddly lovey dovey one, his mama's little boyfriend, and I realize I need to give the 7yo positive affirming attention as well, even though he is more prickly. So I ruffle up his hair, kiss him lightly on the cheek, tickle him in the ribs and laugh at his jokes. It helps to make our home happier.

Kristina is right. For the American Story 1 and 2 programs, there is a Bible story book and devotional book, but they could easily be eliminated. WP even puts together "secular packages" for families who are using gov't funding or an umbrella school which requires secular. I am not sure about the older American history... Time Travelers may have Christianity written into it... does anyone know about Homeschool In the Woods' approach to history? I know they're a Christian company for sure. Hideaways is mostly secular, except for the Bible resource and the CLP science workbook. Animals and Their Worlds is secular except for the devotional and the one Answers in Genesis text, Animal Kingdom. I'm Ready to Learn is secular except for the Bible storybook, as is Journey in Imagination. Adventures in the Sea and Sky has a large number of creation-based texts, but they are noted as such in the catalog, I believe. Children Around the World has been described as deeply Christian, to the point it is difficult to do the theme secularly, but it does use several secular resources (Material World, Our World). Quest for the Ancient World and Middle Ages both have a Christian spine, Mystery of History. I have no idea about Quest for Royals and Revolution. World Around Me is secular, but Shoot & Sprout/Buzz & Bite and Rock Around the Earth have Christian resources scheduled.

ITA with Julianna that WP LA1 is nearer to 2nd grade level on some of the materials... ETC 6, Right into Reading 2 and the readers.

I really think you're looking at a difference in educational approaches. If you call WP and talk to Don or Karen, I am sure they can explain the difference better than I can. I found some of the topics you mention (sequence, cause/effect, comparison) taught through WRITING in LA5. Charlotte Mason was not so much into "direct instruction" of this type of concept, especially at a young age. If you're looking for a program that teaches these concepts overtly (rather than through simple reading/narration/discussion), you likely want to look elsewhere, but it wouldn't hurt to call or email Don or Karen at WP to find out their view.

If you want a "package" deal so you don't have to find/buy/borrow the books ourlosbanos uses, check out WinterPromise. We are loving their Amer Story 1 with my 2nd grader and will continue with Amer Story 2 for 3rd grade.

A few comprehension skills are covered in Wordly Wise, but not all of those skills you listed (IMHO those are a bit more advanced than most second graders, but maybe LLATL does it somehow? at a lower level?) WP is a Charlotte Mason-ish curriculum so they rely a lot on discussion and narration for comprehension.

I have never, ever considered doing ECC for longer than a day, but this thread is making me wonder... I may revisit this idea for the 4th/1st/18month old year.

The diagnostic test is cheap and easy. I recommend it.

You could order the WP program "ala carte", leaving out the activity books if you know you won't use them. This is to be the American Crossing 2 program, yes? So there's no way of knowing yet if you'd save the $70 price of the instructor guide or not. Although I know a lot of folks say that by getting their books piecemeal and used when possible they save more than the cost of the instructor guide would cover. I went that route for Amer Story 1 (spread out over months), but I lost track of how much it cost.