Well, I can tell you how I'm "trying" to prepare, but since my oldest is only going into 5th grade this fall, I can't tell you if it will work or not. :D I use a lot of Ambleside Online (although, as you can see from my siggy, I'm not 100% percent CM). I use AO mainly for literature because I feel they are very challenging, and the old fashioned language/phrasing etc. is what they will have to deal with for a lot of Omnibus reading. I combine Truthquest with AO (and Beautiful Feet because I had it...I don't really use the BF guide, just the books). If you look at the VP catalog for the younger grades, that can help with planning too. What we did: 1st grade: BF Early American and AO yr 1 2nd: AO yr 2 World Geography using Galloping the Globe (MAJORLY tweaked) Then my youngest got added in... 3rd/1st: SOTW 1 4th/2nd: SOTW 2 with SCM Middle Ages and AO yr 3 5th/3rd: TQ/ AO yr 4 6th/4th: TQ/AO yr 5 (use TQ to finish up AO yr 6 term 1 which is more modern 7th/5th: Start Omnibus w/ oldest. Youngest will now have 2 years until he is ready for Omnibus. Thoughts for him would include 2 more years of American History, or a year of world geography with a year of ??? In all reality, although I have this long term plan in mind, I do not think my oldest will be ready for Omnibus in 7th. So then I plan to start them together in Om. 1 when they are in 7th and 9th. My youngest will most likely be ready because he loves school, likes to be challenged, is an excellent reader etc....while my oldest is the opposite of him. ;) So he might end up using something else entirely.

We have gotten school desks at thrift stores, on freecycle and at garage sales. My kids also wanted a school room with desks, and they wanted me to have a desk up front. :001_smile: I was invisioning a nice comfy couch to cuddle on, but if that's what they want, I guess it IS their school room. :D

I just email them as an attachment to my kindle.

We decided to only do one "lit. guide" per semester for 5th grade next year.. The rest of the books we are going to discuss together (and cover things like lit. analysis using Teaching the Classics and Figuratively Speaking for ideas.), but not use a bunch of lit.guides/worksheets/fill in the blank/blah, blah...)

Let us know how you like it!! I've been looking at this all summer (already have my CW bought, however.) Is this the writing that is pulled out from Character Quality Language Arts? I'm also looking at that. One of the main things that has kept me from jumping at either of these is that I haven't really heard of anyone using them. But of course that doesn't mean they aren't great!:D

I agree! Places like Michaels or JoAnne's have stickers for literally every thing you can think of. If not, look online.

This is how I feel. I'm very excited, but for the first time ever, I'm very indecisive on some subjects. Typically I have everything purchased no later than May (sometimes Feb. or March!) and this year I still have to figure out grammar, math, and writing for my oldest. :glare:

:bigear: I'm looking for the same thing!

Is it Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmetic? http://www.rainbowresource.com/searchspring.php?q=strayer-upton+practical+arithmetic

We haven't condensed it into one year, but we have done one semester of an Apologia book and then a semester of another science topic. Last year we did Zoo 1 one semester and earth science the second semester. This past year we Apologia astronomy and then a semester of human anatomy. In the fall we will do Zoo 2 and then Elemental Physical science 2nd semester. And the following year I plan to do the second half of Elemental and Zoo 3.

I'm trying to decide if I want to spend the money on these maps or not and need some opinions. :D I'm using BF geog. this fall with my 3rd and 5th grader. At RR, the maps are $14.95 per set of 4 maps. (I'm guessing I would need two sets...) The reason I can't decide if I want to buy them is because even though they are really big and sturdy looking, I just bought Map Trek (the hardback book and cd) to go with our history this year to the tune of around $43. So we're talking about $70 JUST for maps for this fall!!! (Granted Map Trek should last us for years....) Typing this out makes me feel like I'm crazy even asking....then again, those BF maps DO look nice! :lol: So what would you do? Get them or just use some of the Map Trek maps.

This has been my experience as well. VBS has been around for YEARS. My mom attended it as a child back in the 50's. Depending on the amount of funds a church has, they will vary on what they offer. When we had a pastor who had in the past had a travelling puppet ministry, we had funny puppet shows (think Sesame Street type puppets) that taught a good moral lesson (example: Don't steal.) A lot of the ones around here have the fun blow up slides, bounce houses, play water games etc. All of the VBS's that I have been involved with are run by people who are dedicating their time (and sometimes donating quite a bit of money w/o asking for repayment) to give the neighborhood a fun, free activity for the summer to show God's love.

Sounds great! We 'have' to review math and AAS cards or they will forget everything. What I found works best for our family during the summer is waking up early (I'm not a morning person at all!) and any school work is done by 9 or 10 am. Period. If we oversleep, or I get busy with something else and school gets put off, I blame myself and figure we'll do it tomorrow. We have swim lessons at 10 am starting in a week or so, so I want any schoolwork done before the swimming. We also take off Fridays.

Five Little Peppers. I HATED that book. I hid that book in all kinds of places but they always managed to find it!:lol: Luckily I found it in audio book at the library so they got to finish it (but I didn't have to!)

My dwarf rabbit never chewed things but my guinea pigs did. They would chew on the wood furniture so you had to watch them constantly if they were out of their cages. My rabbit lived by himself in a cage just about the size you mentioned (when he was full grown he was the size of a guinea pig, maybe a tiny bit bigger.) We had guinea pigs too at the time and he got along very well with them. We let him out of the cage in the evenings to hop around, and when he needed to use the bathroom, he'd hop right into his cage, use it, and then hop out (he was litter trained w/ a small litter 'bowl' right in his cage). Honestly, I think they are both nice pets for a kid. :001_smile:

Well, I'd say NOT a rat, simply b/c everyone I've known that has had one say they bite. A lot. :tongue_smilie: Of course the people that had the rats really liked them anyway... We've had cats, guinea pigs and a rabbit. Our rabbit was a little Netherland Dwarf. He was very 'cuddly' and was also litter trained (had a tiny bowl in his cage, so it was easy to clean daily if you're worried about smell. He was completely indoors.) Our guinea pigs were also affectionate, but smellier. ;) And I love cats, so I think you'll probably like any of the above.

:iagree: We are just starting logic stage this fall, but I bought this based on a recommendation on here. I LOVE it!

When I was in ninth grade we took either World Geography or. Advanced World Geo. (college prep) instead of history.

You might need to wait until the back to school sales start...

When we started AAS, my ds did wonderful. Over the summer he seemed to forget absolutely everything and we had to spend quite awhile on review before moving on in the books again. Last year, we did a light review, once per week during the summer. Each week we went through the red, yellow and blue cards and would do about 10 or 15 green cards. When we started back up this year, we had zero problems. I think a lot of kids forget things over the summer, things that they did know well during the school year, which is why ps textbooks have so much review at the beginning. :001_smile:

If you aren't buying the study guide, I just bought Greek Myths from Veritas Press for $10.97. :D Here's a link if you're interested *(note: the price reads $19.99, but if you look directly under that it says special pricing, which is what you actually pay.) http://www.veritaspress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=490360

:iagree:This year I had a 7 and 9 year old. Some of their chores included taking the little hand broom and dustpan and sweeping up under and around the kitchen table after each meal, and putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher (this took a few months until they knew where everything went...but now, working together, they do this as quickly as I do.) I agree, if Dad is home, he can definitely help especially since you are recovering from surgery. I'm not sure what the situation is with why you have the extra kids coming over, but that might be part of the problem. If you need to watch them for extra income, maybe Dad could help out with either the teaching or the babysitting?

YES! Elmer's makes it (still looks the same as when I was in K). My mom bought my kids some last year when all of the back to school sales were going on. I think she just got it at Walmart or Target...possibly Staples.

I keep all of our books on cheap bookshelves (Target, Walmart etc.) The TM's I keep on the same shelves, but in sturdy magazine holders. I have one color of magazine holder per kid. It is easy to grab the magazine holder off the shelf each day over to where we are working, and everything is in one place. For storage, I have a cabinet from Menards, and also other bookshelves in another part of the house.

This. There have been styles (hair, clothing, etc.) that I just LOVE (big hair in the 80's is a perfect example). Then five or ten years later I can't STAND. This is why "I" would never get a tattoo. But I'm sure people that have actually gotten them usually don't feel like this.;)