Mostly positive-I think most people don't quite know what to say-so they say "oh, that's great!" and then change the subject. Which is fine with me. I think most non-homeschoolers just don't know a lot about it. My favorite response though, was one I got from a neighbor-a dad-"I couldn't spend all day with my kids." Now seriously, what was I supposed to say to that? And he followed it up with "You know, there's a great Catholic school up the road, St. Whats-his-face, a lot of people in the community really like it. You might want to check that one out." Yes. Because I just DIDN'T KNOW there were options other than the local public school. I had NEVER HEARD of the private school two miles from my house. That just cracked me up. Still does.

This really reminded me of something I had to tell dh recently-punishment does not have to equal being angry-and that a punishment is usually MORE effective when we're not angry, because then it tends to be more reasonable and in line with the infraction. This is why I don't tend to spank, and I try to take myself out of the equation when I feel the urge to spank-because most of the time, when I have spanked, it's more out of anger than a desire to teach. And that's just no good for me. (But this is just me and I'm not commenting on anyone else's practices.) Also, when my kids do something dangerous that frightens me, I tell them that, which tends to have a big effect on them. I also will say I'm sorry when I've done something wrong-I try to model and teach that everyone makes mistakes and that's okay, but we need to learn from them. I agree that attention and talking, talking, talking, are hugely important. And on the topic of modeling self-control and managing conflict-a GREAT book is "Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline" by Becky Bailey. It gives you really great ideas on how to handle certain situations and even exactly what to say. It made me realize that I can't ask my kids to control themselves ALL THE TIME unless I can do that. Same goes with listening and following directions and being patient, and etc. But of course, I maintain perfect self-control, all the time. Doesn't everyone?;)

Bartholomew and the Oobleck (and most everything by Dr. Seuss) Little One by Ann Rand The Giant Jam Sandwich Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Owen by Kevin Henkes anything by Mo Willems (Knuffle Bunny or Leonardo, the Terrible Monster especially) The Snowy Day How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World The Lois Lenski "small books" There are more, but of course I can't think of them.

While I do somewhat agree-I also think those corporations depend on the people that run them, and the American consumers that keep them going, as much as we depend on them. And when I see that the CEO of the company that supplies my electricity and gas (not the publicly-held utility, but the private company that supplies the publicly-held utility) made something like $30 million last year-it just makes me wonder. I know that the guy has a big job and has worked his way up to that job and I'm sure works very hard and is deserving of a big salary. But that kind of a salary just seems so ridiculously out of line with what the average person is making-I mean how much do you have to work in a year to justify $30 million? I read something in Time Magazine about how the recent economic growth since about 2000 has resulted in salary gains for 1% of the work force. And that those making an "average" salary have actually lost money since 2000 when you adjust for inflation. That also makes me wonder. But I don't think raising taxes alone is the answer-AND I'm an Obama supporter.

I'd have to say that my kids have really loved/repsonded to: LLATL-Blue Horizons Math R&S ABC preschool books We've used a couple of other things, but these have been stand out winners for us in terms of being easy for me and the kids to work through, and effective.

We're about halfway through the blue level (almost to the end of the CVC word section)-and we've really, really liked it. In doing the CVC words, it goes through all the letter sounds, and there are lots of opportunities for practice-using letter cards to blend CVC words, playing games with letter dice, using word cards to practice the words in the stories each week, and only introducing a few sight words at a time. And it also introduces basic grammar concepts like punctuation, capitalization, plural, and etc. I think it definitely gives a good grounding in phonics and reading, marrying the sounding-out process with other literature concepts like characterization and plot. And it also includes some hands-on stuff-cutting and pasting type stuff-that my kids tend to really like. We're going to add a little bit of ETC just for extra practice/reinforcement, but you don't really need it-for phonics and reading I think LLATL Blue is enough all by itself.

I know there aren't many who have used this program yet, so I guess this is kind of a hypothetical "do you think this might work?" question. I really love the looks of HIH, BUT I don't really want to attempt to jump through all four SOTW's in one year (I'd like to stick to the four year rotation, starting with ds in K/1 in the fall/winter sometime). AND I'm not interested in the Bible, science or basic skills stuff that comes with it. So my thinking was to follow SOTW in the four year rotation, and add in the HIH resources (as well as the cultural readers) as they fit, over the four years-kind of throw out their schedule. It makes sense to me that this would work-what do you all think?

About a half hour from downtown. Hi Jessica! (waving)

I have long hair that tends to be dry-so I use a LOT of conditioner. So I can't justify spending a fortune on a teeny bottle of salon stuff that I use up in a week. I try to get my shampoo and conditioner in the super big bottles from Target or BJ's Wholesale-for dry hair, I like Aussie Moist or the Herbal Essences moisture one (I just discovered this one and it's great!).

I'm sorry that you're having such a rough time. In time, I'm sure you'll grow to love your new place. And school isn't for too much longer, and then everyone will be home for the summer (with lots of friends, probably!). Maybe you can focus on doing stuff in the house and spending time with the two little ones to get you through til then? I wish you lots and lots of luck!

I actually posted something on the sale or swap board before I read that! I felt really bad when I realized... I mostly lurk too-I get lots of great information here-so I, too, am working on my 50 posts!

Thanks for posting that info Audrey! We also really like it, but are not looking for anything religious-so I guess after Red we may have to find something else...

We'll be starting with SOTW Vol 1 in the fallish and I was just curious if anyone had a list of readers they used along with SOTW to add more literature and give the kids more of a taste of the time period. I know that SOTW gives you recommendations of more books to use-do these include historical fiction? Would you also use the resources recommended in WTM for each year (so for year one the myths and fables of the various cultures/civilizations as you were studying them)? Are there any other reading lists around that coincide with SOTW? Thanks,

but we really like it. We're only using the Blue level (says first grade, but it's really more like K-I would agree that the levels run "low", so you should pick the grade one up from where your child is)-but it's got great phonics instruction, plus writing practice/copywork, plus introduction to punctuation and capitalization, plus introduction to characterization. Plus enough cut and paste to make it fun-and lots of phonics games, like Go Fish with word cards, and using letter dice to make words for points. I really like it because the lessons are short (my son is not a sitter), it's really well laid out and easy for me to use, and it does use "real" books-yesterday we read Caps for Sale as part of the lesson. Sometimes the "real" books feel a little extraneous, and there is some element of busy work-but we just do the main learning and then if we feel like doing the "extra" stuff we do it, otherwise we don't. I like it because it's very user-friendly and fun, and feels very complete to me. I can't speak to the upper grades-but thanks for asking the question because I was curious how the upper grades progress in terms of grammar, spelling, literature, and etc. I'm glad to hear that they include sentence diagramming-I did it intensively when I was in school, and it's a bit of a lost art;).

I smoked for 8 years before I got pregnant with my son. I tried to quit several times within that 8 years, but I was never able to do it until I got pregnant, and then I had no choice. I had to stop. And since my life changed so drastically after having my son-I quit work and stayed home with him, I was bfing and had no time alone-I never started smoking again. It's been 6 years since I quit-and now I can be around smokers and not have the desire to smoke. But it takes time. And even now, when I can barely remember what it was like when I used to smoke, I occasionally have what feels like a nicotine fit, where I really crave a cigarette (it's probably more stress than nic-fit though). I can understand that if your husband is struggling with other addictions, it can be hard to be around other smokers. But I also understand from your pov-the cost is outrageous, and it's so gross (I can see that now, 6 years later, when I can still smell it on the clothes I don't wear much from that time!). It may be that your husband needs to work on one thing at a time-is it better for him not to drink, or not to smoke? It's hard though. But I can tell you from experience-quitting smoking is really, really, really hard. I lost 30 pounds, and that was easier. If I hadn't had my son, I probably never would have quit. That's why I would never start again-because I know that if I did, I would never be able to quit. Good luck to you and your husband. I'll keep you guys in my thoughts.

I haven't decided what I want to do yet...I may just get more paper and do practice for the time being. But I also learned today about a great site, that will let you create your own handwriting practice pages with a variety of fonts (including both Z-B and HWT, among others). It also has all kinds of other things on the site-word searches and crosswords, literature stuff, math-loads of different things. It's ABCTeach (www.abcteach.com) and it's $35 to join for a year-but there's lots of free stuff on there too. So I might just do that... But thanks so much to all for the advice!

If there's something you'd recommend for this age/ability level, other than HWT or Zaner-Bloser, I'd love to hear about it! Thanks!

Currently we are using HWT-the K book Letter and Numbers for Me for ds, 5, and the prek book for dd, 3.5. They seem to like it-dd is almost done with the prek book, she's flying through it-she knows all her letters by sight, but doesn't know how to write all of them, so HWT is helping as an introduction to correct letter formation. Ds just started the K book, and he seems to like it as well-he can write all of his uppercase letters, and mostly they're correctly formed although rough (we haven't gotten into a lot of hw practice yet-I'm not a big stickler-y person for that kind of stuff, although as he's getting older I'm realizing that it's more important)-he doesn't know how to write all of the lowercase letters, but most of them. (We're also doing the LLATL Blue, which gives them a little bit of lowercase letter practice as well.) But here's the thing-HWT doesn't seem to have very much practice in the books. I have the teacher books and know that I could do all the hands-on things, but we don't really need to-I'd rather they practice actually writing the letters than using the stamp screen or the wooden letters. I'm getting ready to order dd the HWT k book because she'll be done with the prek one soon, and I want to teach her to write all her letters correctly, and continue that practice (as well as continuing the practice with ds). Would I be better off with the Zaner-Bloser k book? It looks like something my dd could move into-is there more practice in that one? Would it potentially last us all year? Or do I need to also order paper and just give her additional practice? Or should I just do that with HWT-get the paper and/or journals and give additional practice that way? Also, with Zaner-Bloser-do you need to get the teacher book? It's awfully expensive, but it had some nice teaching tips when I looked at the samples. But is it really necessary? You guys have already given me TONS of great advice in other areas! I really appreciate everyone's input! Thanks in advance!

I just my catalog today-and I think I might be falling in love... I thought we would be Sonlight all the way through, but now I think maybe WP would be better for us. I just wanted to ask-for those who use Winterpromise-what do you love about it? What do you not like? If you used it and switched, why? Has anyone here used it all the way through to high school? Is it challenging enough for that? Also, WP's language arts (for those who use it)-what are the strengths and weaknesses? We're currently using LLATL Blue and we like it-but we might be willing to switch for the integrated readers if we end up doing WP in the coming years. I'm planning on going over to the WP forums also (and homeschool reviews.com), but I wanted to ask a more "objective" audience. I'd really like to hear what people liked and didn't like about WP, both in general and with specific programs. My kids are 5 and 3, so we'd probably start with Animals Worlds-but I'd love to use AS 1 and 2, Children Around the World, and Adventures in the Sea and Sky in the coming years. Oh, and lastly, we tend to prefer more secular curricula-it looks to me like it would be easy to just not do the Bible stuff if we didn't choose to. Am I correct in this assessment? Thanks in advance for the info/advice,

I have a five y.o. son, currently doing K work (SL Core B, Horizons K math, LLATL Blue) and a 3.5 y.o. daughter doing R & S prek and some other assorted prek workbooks. My daughter refuses to be left out of "school work", and often wants to do school work even when my son doesn't. For next year, my plan is to do SL Core C, math, reading, SOTW with my son-but I can't really imagine doing another year of aimless workbooks with my daughter. We will finish SL Core B at the end of the summer, and I don't really want to turn around and re-do it again. DD will be 4 in July-I don't think she'll be ready for full-blown K work, but I'd like to do something that's a little more than just prek-ish stuff (maybe like adv. prek?)-since she's had almost a year of following along with some of ds's k stuff. I'm considering WP JOI/RTL or AW, or MFW K-leaning towards AW. So anyway-my questions. For those who use WP, what are your thoughts on JOI/RTL and AW (likes, dislikes, etc.)? I've heard a lot of good reviews of JOI/RTL, and some mixed ones for AW. I'd like something Ds will also be able to participate in and enjoy. I liked the idea of AW because it seems a little "older", but would it be too much for a 4 y.o., even if we do it in a relaxed fashion (dd loves animals and doing crafts, which is why I thought she would love it)? I'd also like something that I don't have to do too much prep work for, that we can just open the books and go, mostly. RTL strikes me as more prep work than AW. Also, am I insane for thinking I might be able to do both SL Core C and AW together in the same year? Is that trying to do too much? And what about MFW K? That one looks cool, but also like a bit of prep work. I'd love to hear from people what they liked and didn't like about it. Anyway, that's my, um, novella about next year. Thanks in advance!

is www.homeschoolsupercenter.com -I got my LLATL Blue set there for cheaper than Rainbow Resource, I think. And for some things (but not all) it can pay to look on Amazon as well-some things are much cheaper (they have SOTW cheap!) AND you can sometimes also get them "used-like new" from associated independent sellers for a lot less.

Thanks to everyone for their responses-it's definitely a big help. I think I'll probably keep it simple for next year with SOTW, maybe adding in those pieces of HO or HIH that appeal to me (since I can get most of both on Amazon piece by piece). But again, thanks for all the advice! I knew this was the right place to come with this question. Flo

Hi! I'm new here, and relatively new to homeschooling. My ds, 5, is doing kindergarten this year, and I want to move into some first grade work in the fall some time . I am definitely planning on using SOTW 1, and I have SL Core C (but I haven't really loved Core B). And then I started looking at History Odyssey, and WinterPromise's Hideaways in History and-GAH!-now my SOTW doesn't look like enough, alongside history pockets and building hideaways! So here's my question-for those who've used HO Ancients 1 and/or WP-did you like it? Is it worth it? My kids and I do like to do crafty things, which is what makes HO and WP sound so exciting to me. But is it just overkill, when SOTW by itself would probably be enough? Was the WP Hideaways as fun as it sounds? Was HO dry (it sorta looks dry), or interesting? (I wish I could buy it all and just use what I want-but, alas, that is not to be.) I know this has been discussed a lot here-I searched some prior threads about it-but I'd really like to hear from people who've used either of these, what they liked and didn't like about them. Thanks so much in advance, Flo mama to ds 11/07/02 and dd 7/02/04 currently using SL Core B, LLATL Blue and Horizons Math K