Dh & I are considering attending this conference, but after reading the thread about conferences I have a couple of questions. First, is this one really crowded? I want to be sure we'll be able to walk around easily, get seats for the keynotes, etc. Second, how's the food? :D I'm wondering if we should do the pre-paid on site lunches or just run out & get something. Also, are you allowed to bring in water bottles? Thanks!

We won't finish until the last week of June. Sigh. We'll take one week off & begin again in July. My plan is 6 weeks on, 1 week off, with larger amounts of time off for vacation, Christmas, etc. I would like to get half the school year in before the end of Dec. We always take a bunch of time off in the fall & then end up not being able to take time off in the spring and having to go until late May or June. Hence the plan to be more balanced wrt taking time off.

Thank you! That does help. I am in need of hand-holding at this point so it looks like this program won't work for us.

Thank you Stacey. It's so inexpensive that I wondered how much content there really could be. Ah well. I guess I'll be sticking with CW.

Thank you!!! I was starting to think that no one had ever used this program. :)

Thank you!

I haven't read the other replies, but we started out with A. I wish we hadn't. It's not that A was bad; it's just that we repeated everything we'd done in A when we began B & it would have worked just as well to begin B very slowly & include additional game time.

Has anyone used this? What did you think? Thanks,

I have no problem with there being typos. I realize that it's very hard to catch them all when proofing. I do have a problem with the missing page not being added after its absence was pointed out months ago. (And no, it's not just a typo in page numbering. There's a page in the answer key so I just re-typed it for dd to fill in.)

Well, there's an entire page missing in lesson 6. This has been pointed out more than once since at least September 2008 on her errata forum.

No, you're not the only one. I'm most frustrated by the fact that the author doesn't correct errors in the downloadable version when they're pointed out to her.

I'm not sure. I just purchased it a couple of days ago so haven't had a chance to compare the two. It has the first 10 outdoor challenges in full color printable format, several examples of others' notebook pages, about 10 blank notebooking pages, blank nature journal pages, & some record pages. I bought the book so that I could easily print the nature challenges--otherwise I just won't do this!!

I have this book & it does have vast quantities of useful info. Unfortunately, I've never managed to figure out a way to use it consistently. I just bought Barb's new nature study e-book to help me with that http://www.lulu.com/content/6059459 & I think it will help us get nature study done & will make it possible for me to make good use of the Comstock book.

Thanks~I think I agree :)

Thank you Julie! Hmmm, if the main draw is the worksheets I'll probably pass. I despised having to fill out worksheets while reading when I was kid. It made me read in a shallow way~basically just enough to fill out the sheet.

I am probably going to be doing Heart of Dakota with both of my children next year & am wondering about the necessity of purchasing DITHOR. I already have Teaching the Classics, Deconstructing Penguins, & How to Read a Book. In addition, we've been doing AmblesideOnline for the last 3 years & my children narrate very, very well. Do I really need something else for reading analysis? TIA,

I'd probably start out with 15 oz of the freshly milled flour plus some dough enhancer/high gluten flour. Unfortunately, it's kind of trial & error with a bread machine. When you're kneading by hand you can just add flour until the dough feels right. You don't change the amount of water b/c you're using the same amount of flour weight-wise; the volume is just different.

You'll need more flour. Freshly ground flour weighs less per cup than flour which has been sitting on a shelf. For bread flour I go with somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 oz/cup.

I did this over 10 years ago. I lost weight & I felt absolutely fabulous. For *my* body, this is probably the best method of eating. Why quit then? It was SUCH a pitb to combine the foods properly & I was sick of spending so much time dealing with food.

As someone who HATES HATES HATES to exercise & HATES HATES HATES to sweat & is married to someone who thinks that exercise is a glorious wonderful fabulous thing & that if I just did it this way, or that way, or more often, or... I would just love it, I understand where your dd is coming from. You are right; she does need to exercise & it does need to become a habit she'll carry with her throughout her life, but I gotta tell ya that I am totally immune to anything dh says on the issue when he starts extolling the wonders of fitness. Is there anything at all she does like to do? Could she start out with walking? Could you guys walk together & then add some jogging in a little bit at a time? Are there indoor swim teams available in your area? I'm truly not sure what to say that would be helpful. I just wanted you to know that there's at least one grown woman who really really really sympathizes with the position your dd is in. :)

Nope, I can't wear Target clothes either & it used to be so frustrating! I'd go in, see a bunch of really cute inexpensive clothes, get all excited, grab a huge pile & head for the dressing room. Everything would look dreadful every. single. time. No matter what the size or style it was awful. Shudder. Unfortunately, the clothes that fit me best come from J. Jill & Ann Taylor & I'm NOT paying for those until I'm content with my body size!

I am doing the full eating plan for 6-8 weeks in hopes that I can "re-program" my taste buds & my eating habits. I have a terrible, terrible, terrible sweet tooth & I need to gain some self-control in that area. I'm not planning on eating this way for the rest of my life partly b/c I wouldn't be able to afford it long term, but I am hoping to move to a healthier, lower calorie way of eating. One of the things I really like about this plan is that it's not a big deal to cook differently since my food doesn't require much prep. I make large batches of beans, steel cut oats & brown rice & then scoop out what I need for the day. Once my vegetables are cleaned for the week I'm done with that, the cooked vegs are in bags in the freezer, & fruit is easy. I've failed in the past b/c eating plans were just too complicated--too many choices. This one is a pitb as far as adjusting my expectations of food, but it's very, very simple as far as implementation.

Thanks! I have some avocados I'm going to use up & then I'll just eat the 1 T. of ground flaxseed per day. It's so healthy I hate to not do it.

Am I supposed to measure starches before or after cooking? Right now, I'm measuring after so I'm eating 1/2 cup cooked rice & 1/2 cup cooked steel cut oats per day, but if I can have more I'm good with that. :) Also, on the fats are you supposed to pick one? Iow, am I allowed 1 T. ground flaxseeds OR 2 oz avocado OR 1 oz nuts or am I allowed all 3 in a day? Thank you!

1.) How many kids do you have and what are their ages? 2 They are 8 & 6. 2.) What is your favorite food? My former answer would have been my homemade chocolate chip cookies. Now that I'm starting Eat to Live I don't know. Fresh fruit I guess. 3.) What is your favorite movie? Mmmm. Not sure. I'm not really a movie person. I guess BBC's Pride & Prejudice? 4.) Coke, Pepsi or neither? neither 5.) What is your favorite book? Persuasion 6.) What is your least favorite household job? Mopping floors 7.) What is your favorite season? Autumn 8.) What is your favorite sport? don't have one 9.) What is your favorite holiday? Christmas 10.) What is your least favorite store you have to shop in? I hardly ever go there, but Wal-mart drives me nuts. It's just so packed with stuff & people.