My 3rd grader is using Bigger and we LOVE it. I am stretching it just a bit since we only use the HOD schedule 4 days a week. On days where there's a lot of writing I'll help him out a bit.

IDK. Many kids hate it in the younger years. My friend's ds fought it clear into his teen years, then something clicked and he's now on a music scholarship and lives and breathes piano. Another friend's ds wanted drums. She allowed it, but he had to continue with piano. Now as an adult he plays awesome drums- and often- but he can also play piano. At age 11, I'd have him keep going.

My youngest and all my day care kids LOVE these books! I think it's funny you guys have receieved multiple copies of books. The only person that has every bought me or my kids books is my sister.

Goodnight Moon Love You Forever Peter Rabbit Winnie the Pooh

I love this mom's jewelry. She'd add baby for you after (s)he gets here. http://littlepaintedpolkadots.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=PersonalizedJewelry

This is 99 cents for the Kindle. :D Oops, that's the french edition.

Any vitamin aisle should have it. I prefer whey over soy, esp for a boy. Bless you all during this time! :grouphug:

I would just slow down on the guides. We're using all of HOD's Bigger Mon-Wed and every other Thurs. The Thursdays he doesn't do HOD he has outside activities and I have extra kids here, so we only do reading and math (and our devotion over breakfast). Fridays we do the 3Rs, field trips, games, and a state study (if we have time). It'll take us a bit longer than a school year to get through Bigger, and I'm ok with that. We may do the same when we get to Preparing, we'll see. CTC has quite a bit of independent work, so you could use that time to work with the younger ones.

:party:

I would contact Amazon, and make sure to set your password.

I have not been in either situation, but I think I agree with the above. They would be welcome in my home, but open affection or overnight stays together would not be allowed. If they broke those rules, then I'd ask them to leave. This would all be discussed ahead of time.

The fat is good fat. :D Our family uses Eco-dent tooth powder. No fluoride, no glycerin, lasts a long time. I buy it at Vitacost or Frontier if I can get in on a co-op. One bottles lasts the 4 of us about 2 months. I tried the lemon-lime with my youngest, but he prefers the mint or cinnamon. It only takes a tiny bit and gets teeth really clean.

I believe in a literal 6 day creation. No where else in Scripture does a day not mean a day. However, it isn't a salvation issue so as long as one believes GOD did the creating I'm ok with it.

We're using Bigger and love it! My 8 y/o begs for "fun school" aka the left side of HOD with science and storytime. :D We are taking it a bit slower this year (this is our third guide). He does reading, spelling, math and read aloud everyday, the rest gets done 3-4 days a week (3 if we have a field trip, 4 if we don't). On Fridays we are doing a state study and family time (board games, baking, the park, skating, etc).

My ds loves the readers from All About Spelling/Reading. You can see samples here: http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-reading/

We do a Jesse Tree every year, read an Advent story and light our wreath. ETA: We also go see the Nutcracker Ballet every year.

If you want a high back booster for side impact protection then I'd look at the Britax Parkway SG, Diono Monerey, or First Years' Compass. For an everyday high back I like the Cosco Pronto or the Graco Turbo (not as tall as the Pronto). For a backless, I'd let him pick. We have Evenflo, Harmony, and Graco and like them all. Here's how to know when he can safely use the seat belt: http://www.thecarseatlady.com/booster_seats/booster_seats_4.html

I haven't used it. We started with pudding, then applesauce. By age 6 he could take most small pills without an issue. It's only been about a year that he could do larger vitamins. Can you crush the pill and put it in a bit of something? Or start by practicing with vitamin C or something that will eventually dissolve. Best wishes!

I agree they may not be suited for Beyond. You could add to it for your 8 y/o using plans from Bigger for math, reading, spelling if your younger child is properly placed. However, a 5 y/o doing Beyond for K is pretty steep. And, even if they are able to handle Beyond, a 6 y/o doing Bigger would be tough. The amount of writing alone would be difficult for nearly all 6 y/o's. If you do keep them together in Beyond I'd start your 8 y/o in R&S English 2, one lesson a day, and use math and spelling/dictation at his level. When you say the reading is too easy are you using the ER set or have you started DITHoR? If he's doing the ER set I'd skip to where his level is, you don't have to start at the beginning of the set. If he's completely beyond them you can pick quality books for him to read and narrate at his reading level. There's plenty of lists available on the web and at HOD. If you want the added activities and structure of DITHoR you could move to it, just make sure to take it at his pace. hth. We're on our third year of HOD and LOVE it!

We haven't practiced much, but my ds loves Go Fish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UlqUyg8FI ETA: Listened to a few. I like the one posted above. This one too.

We read Baby Island this summer and loved it!

Bumping this for you. Truthquest has some, but IDK if they'd cover what you're using.

So sorry she got scraped up, but that is a priceless story. :D

I posted on the HOD board- The Sword in the Tree is a GREAT book. One of my ds's fave.

We use it mostly orally and on the white board. My graduate used it through level 8. We love it! BUT, I wouldn't want to do it as written, and we don't use the worksheets or tests.