I'd been planning on using Winter Promise Quest for the Middle Ages this year with my middle students ages 9, 7, and 5 however, I've just decided to enroll them in the Classical Conversations Foundations. I've seen plans online lining up SOTW and TOG with CC but I'm not sure I want to go that route. I'd love to hear what the rest of you do. Joy! Lisa

My 10th grader is convinced GCC is the college for him. I hate that it's so far away (we're in CA) but I'm thankful for the good reports I continue to hear about GCC. He wants to major in Economics; I wonder how many times he'll change his major! Joy! Lisa

Praying for you BMW and your daughter as well. When I was 16 a 13 year old team mate of mine had an abortion; it was devastating to me and I felt responsible that I wasn't able to change her mind. I'm glad your daughter has you to walk through this with her! Praying- Lisa

I agree they should have pulled the books if they were illegal but it is an interesting point that Amazon has that electronic tether even after a purchase. Are any of you using your Kindle in your homeschool? My son was given one and uses it for fun but I hadn't thought about using it for his school books.

I've been wanting to enter nursing school as well...I'm going to look and see if there's a BA to ADN locally; sounds like a great option! I feel like I could do anything for 10 months as well. I wasn't the original poster but all of the comments were really helpful! Thanks! Lisa

Try not to worry that she'll miss something. I totally agree that she'll get everything she needs to know if you skip the rest of 1/2!

Do you really need a flat surface? Do you need to sand all the texture off a wall before using? My mind is swimming with the possibilities! Thanks for the great ideas, ladies! Joy! Lisa

Congrats on a successful first day back, Donna! I hope you'll have a wonderfully successful year academically and enjoy your children on the journey! Joy! Lisa

I used WWE for the first time this year with a first grader. He is my fifth student and I'm absolutely THRILLED with what this taught him! His narration skills developed so much over the year and if you purchase the workbook, it's entirely painless and effortless for mom! I've wanted to have narrations, dictation, and copywork as a cornerstone of our curriculum and WWE is finally making it easy for that to happen! I only wish I could use it for all of my older students! Joy! Lisa

I got a couple books that were not in the condition I would have hoped for but then learned about the criteria option! You can fill out a preference for the condition of the books you'd like to receive such as from a non-smoking home or no past library stickers. The owner of the book has to agree that their book meets your conditions before sending it. Since using this feature, I've had no problems! I just ordered half of the books my daughter needs for her world history class on PBS last night. I love it! Joy! Lisa

I'd love to hear more about Math Blaster!

I've never seen a blogger and writer of homeschool curriculum that answers more questions than Barb! Email her, I'm sure she'll give you a great answer! Joy! Lisa

I appreciate both of the responses telling me how your children are doing! I used level one but haven't moved to the other levels...you've encouraged me to keep going. Joy! Lisa

but I made this use them in the beginning of each lesson. As soon as I felt they understood the lesson being taught, I let them use a dry erase board for the rest of the lesson. I did feel they were helpful in getting across the point of the lesson. Initially I didn't have them on magnets and once I put them on, the magnets helped a lot with my boys desire to use them.

Thank you for taking the time to share this! I'll be sharing this with our church family! Joy! Lisa

Thanks for your thoughts!

I have six students this year and need a new system...any tips? I do write individual lesson planners for each of my kids in 3 grade up. They are theirs. .

My kids have gone through intensive classes twice (once with me, and once in a class setting) but I still haven't made it through TWSS. Thanks for the encouragement!

Thanks to all of you for posting your ideas. A friend just mentioned Workboxes to me and I'm trying to figure out how they would work in our home. These ideas are fabulous! Thanks!

How are your kids doing with their spelling outside of the spelling lessons? Are you seeing good carry over? Thanks for any tips or recommendations! I'm trying to decide if I should take the plunge...

I had no idea you could do flash cards on ipods! Thanks for the tip!

Our system: 1) Historical Fiction books are labeled with the Dewey number for that time period but also have a Historical Fiction label (purchased from Demco) so my kids can recognize immediately that it's a work of fiction. 2) All poetry books go in the Dewey number for poetry except for ones like Rhymes for Ancient Times which go in the right time period so they don't get missed. 3) All fiction books that are not historical are labeled with the first initial of the author and then also have reading level labels (also purchased from Demco) so my kids can easily choose books at the right level. Hope this helps! I love having an organized library! Everything is also on a database using Readerware that all computers in the house can search. I love it! Joy! Lisa

I love TATRAS which you can find at http://www.verticalphonics.com I've used this with preschoolers and they do very well! The author could not be more helpful in answering questions personally. There's a lot of helpful information on his website that compares various phonics methods that might be helpful to read as you make your decision. It sounds like you're off to a great start! Joy! Lisa

We're in the beginning lessons of First Language Lessons Volume 4 and just played a fun game in there that helped my boys. There was a funny story to read aloud and anytime a common noun was read they had to squat down and anytime a proper noun was read, they had to jump up tall like a capital letter. It was a lot of fun and they got lots of practice. We stopped to discuss certain nouns when there was confusion. Something fun like this that you make up with the type of words he's getting confused with might really help. Joy! Lisa

I have found this to be completely true in our family as well! I've had four babies born during the school year and it was always easier to just keep schooling then to have no schedule. Congrats on your newest blessing! Lisa