Ours has those too & my kids love them!! Ds has never been into listening to books but he'd wander around the house with those in his ears all the time if I'd let him. Alas, evil mommy has decreed they're only allowable for car trips. :lol:

I don't live anywhere near St. Charles so I'm not sure about parks there. If you decide you want to be inside though there is a gigantic mall: St. Louis Mills which is very close to St. Charles. There are a couple of play areas, go-karts, a skating rink, a big food court w/a carousel, etc. Farther in there's Grant's Farm which would be nice for a group meeting. You go on a fairly brief train ride in the beginning & then can walk around. Also, there's Suson Park, but that's in South St. Louis County. It's a park with a lake & all the various park basics, but they also have animals.

We are using Right Start as our main program & are supplementing with Singapore CWP & Primary Math Challenge.

But of course!

Well we're still finishing up last year. I'm guessing we'll begin the new year right after Labor Day. That way we should be able to complete the year's work before #$%!&* swim team season starts next year.

Thank you for sharing. I saw the headline earlier but got distracted & didn't click through--I'm so glad you posted it here!

Yep, that's what I"m thinking too. I also agree with the others who've said they prefer to hear the cons of a curriculum when trying to make decision about whether or not to buy. In general I've found that people who don't like a curriculum are very, very detailed in their descriptions of why they don't like it whereas people who do like a curriculum often tend to be heavier on the gush & lighter on the details. ;)

We love RightStart. I love that I can just pick up the book & go & my kids love the manipulatives, games & worksheets. I do supplement with Singapore's CWP b/c I don't think RS uses enough word problems. I've also added in about 10 min of drill per day with Flashmaster &/or flash cards since we don't do the games enough to really solidify the facts, but that's mommy error rather than a problem with the program. :) This summer I've begun using Primary Math Challenge as well. Dd loves it & it makes her think in ways she wouldn't otherwise.

My oldest is a rising 3rd grader so my experience is limited. However, we used FLL for 1st & 2nd. Next year we'll start CW-Aesop & I'll add in grammar through Latin & will use the oop Mother Tongue by Arnold & Kittredge as well. (Just in case, I do have a used copy of Rod & Staff for backup. :) )

No, but you can call RightStart & see if they have a gently used version of whatever it is you want. I just did this with Level D & received 20% off. Hth,

Probably The Incredibles. I've also really enjoyed Ratatouille, Cars, Monsters, Inc, & Toy Story.

Well, I wouldn't call this song my favorite, but St. Elmo's Fire came out my senior year of h.s. & a pack of us wandered around singing "For Just a Moment" sobbing about how everything was changing. :tongue_smilie: That song cracks me up now.

Hmmm, not sure. Maybe you need to stir it more frequently? Here's the recipe I use. It's super easy & involves much less oven time! Lazy Granola Mix 1/2 cup each of brown sugar, oil, and honey in a saucepan. Bring to a low boil. Add 1 tsp. cinnamon and 2 tsp. vanilla. Pour over 7 cups of oats in a large pan. Stir until coated. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Take out and stir. Put pan back in oven, turn off, and go to bed.

Well, it was user error. :rolleyes: I was making French bread & sprayed water on the bread in the oven & of course got some on the stone. The second I heard the crack I was :eek: eta: Plus I was way past the warranty date.

Pampered Chef Stoneware. Both of mine broke & I decided that I was not going to spend the money on new ones. I baked ONE batch of cookies on a metal sheet & ordered new stones.

There are lots of companies that don't use bismuth: Pure Luxe, Lumiere, Meow Cosmetics, and Silk Naturals are a few. I've used Pure Luxe & can say there's NO shine at all with it. I have samples of the others on the way since they all appear to be matte to semi-matte, but haven't used them yet so no guarantees. :) If you'd like more choices, Delphi Forums has a Mineral Makeup Mania forum where people talk about tons of different companies. HTH,

The only person I've ever heard use the term "hamburg" was from the Boston area.

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I can only see her turning to the right, but I swear I don't even possess a right brain!

I planned on picking it up at B & N today, but they didn't have it in so I ordered it, had it shipped to my house & was able to use my Educator's Discount card. Woohoo!!! Thank you again for all of the helpful comments. I love this board! :)

Wow! Thanks everyone! I had pretty much decided not to buy the book so I'm really glad I asked. I'll be ordering it in the next few days. :) Thank you for the info re: finding it used as well. I'll check out those places first.

I'm trying to decide if I should buy Deconstructing Penguins. I'd really really prefer to get it from the library, but, unfortunately, they don't have it. I do have Teaching the Classics, Well-Educated Mind & How to Read a Book so I'm wondering if Deconstructing Penguins will bring anything new to the table or if I should just spend a bit more time with the resources I already have. TIA!

Thanks :001_smile:

I'm guessing that Janice makes TOG great. I'm pretty sure that I'd never be able to teach that way no matter what curriculum I was using!

Ugh. Me too. My hair really isn't even that long AND I usually have it wadded up in a clip, but it still gets everywhere. Poor dh wanders around with long blond hairs all over his fleeces. I'm with you on being glad that there are others who deal with this too. I thought I was the only one!