I use Delicious to both save threads and recommendations on websites. It allows one to "tag" the information by subject/discipline for easy access later. No post it notes and available from any computer that's online.

My daughter fought doing OPG when she saw the book ... she didn't like having to work through the scripting. If I write the selections out for her on the white board (or on paper, etc.) she doesn't balk at it. You *can* certainly use just the book, M-girl has found it helpful if I write out the student portion elsewhere.

Congrats! He's a cutie, and so awake ...

No idea ... i have some blooms on mine, we'll see if we get any fruit. My MIL seems to think they'll bear fruit. I'm hopeful.

Miraculously! I hadn't had time to plant this spring, but had cleared out the box. Two weekends ago, my MIL was here and commented on how many tomato plant we had. We have some lovely tomatoes and a couple sunflowers as volunteers from the bad tomatoes I dropped in last year. We'll see how they grow [grin]

This is a lovely book and did I not own it already, I would try to win it from you!

My cousin used Covenant Home this past year after years of Sonlight. She said this was by far their best year of school (she has 5 kiddos from 13 down to 2). Unfortunately, that's all I know about the program [smile]

I have some under "Thanksgiving" on my del.ic.ious site, but I think these two would be interactive for your guys: Scholastic The First Thanksgiving You are the Historian The First Thanksgiving These are, clearly, Mayflower/Pilgrim/Wamponoag resources. HTH!

My friends were not thrilled with the Millennium (I stayed at my in-laws). Their air conditioning didn't work right and they almost ran out of toilet paper! They plan on staying at the Hilton/Hyatt next year if they travel up. I'll probably still stay with my in-laws. [grin] Hopefully, the hours-long check in waits will really be fixed for next year; they didn't seem remotely prepared for a convention checking in. The restaurant in the Millennium for dinner was great, though.

Can you PM me too? That sounds fascinating!

Did the chicken work out for you? Flank steak is a favorite here and grills beautifully. This would be a lovely Father's Day meal, but is a bit of work (you may need 2, depending on how much your girls eat). Pinwheel Flank Steak Mango Salsa

You could try supplementing with some of the ideas from Letter of the Week. I used parts of this with my now 4 year old reader. Plus, it's free!

The more Classical Ed books I read, the more impressed I am with WTM, and I fell in love with it first. However, I don't think that means I should stop learning about this form of education. The way SWB & JW have explained Sayers and made a framework makes *sense* to me and, clearly, produces clear and excellent thinkers. When I first started studying homeschooling, I read WTM and was sold, so I continued reading about Classical Education (and am still reading: I have Poetic Knowledge, Norms & Nobility, and a couple of books from Canon Press on my list to read). What I have learned is that I'm gleaning my philosophy from lots of people and that, as SWB said in Cincinnati, we're all neo-classical and that's as it should be. You might be interested in Wisdom & Eloquence whose authors are definitely not in the "Ages and Stages" camp rather they look at the Trivium and Quadrivium and attempt to put it in a framework of core disciplines to be studied 12-K (figure out where you want to end up and plan backwards.) They are really not impressed with Sayers and I actually think they're a bit harsh when discussing the Lost Tools of Learning. However, the book has helped me as I develop my framework for our schooling and there is a lot of great information in the book. Ch 4 (I think) is entirely about developing a day school atmosphere, so not as applicable to homeschoolers. One of my favorite Classical Ed books is a little pamphlet from Dr. Perrin at Classical Academic Press called An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents. This little pamphlet does its best (and I think it succeeds nicely) to bridge the gap between the "Ages & Stages" folks and the "The Trivium is a set of Disciplines" folks. His talk on the history of CCE is also excellent in content (although he isn't the most engaging speaker ever). After my reading these things, I think my biggest concern is utilizing teaching methods that are clasically accurate (maybe without the caning, though, [laughing]) copywork, dictation, narration, rote memorization, recitation, socratic questioning, etc. Really engaging the learner and helping them to think. The scope & sequence can be built and be pretty straightforward (even without ever having coursework in Latin, rhetoric, logic, etc.), the instruction of that scope & sequence I think is where the nitty-gritty is.

:iagree::iagree:Jesus Storybook Bible is amazing. I'm not a huge fan of the illustrations, but the stories are wonderfully written & explained just for children. Wonderful.

I've never been much of a morning person, nor do I much care for my name ("Dawn", how boring, how [blah], can sound like a boy's name) When I was single and working at CompuServe many, many moons ago (yikes! Almost 15!), I decided to go by "dusk" as a lame attempt at some privacy (and I've always used the lower case "d" online) ... some screen-friends suggested I indicate whether I was male/female, so ladydusk I became, and am, all over the internets.

I never cover it. Never even thought about trying it ...

I have this one (Hamilton Beach) and I take food to church often enough that I really like the clip on lid. I like the temperature probe too, it has kept roasts from overcooking when I was gone for the day.

All the girls in that age range I know love the Redwall books.

I don't know about the falling off the bone, but I always cook mine with Nigella Lawson's directions from "How to Eat" (love that book!) with some changes from Barefoot Contessa & Cooks Illustrated for good measure [grin] Preheat oven to 425. Stick 1/2 a lemon in the chicken cavity. Cover with olive oil, salt, pepper. Put on shallow roasting pan (a high sided pan will steam the chicken rather than roast it), thighs up. Put in oven, half-way through turn over so breast side is up. Bake 15 minutes per pound plus 10 minutes. (e.g. 5 pd chicken would cook 1 hr 25 min) This is soooo good, my kids *love* baked chicken.

I've never done the Whitney book as a Bible study, it is a very challenging book! I've been reading off and on for a couple of years now, it would make a great study and be easy to discuss. I'm in a women's Bible Study and we're using a Bible survey written by former OPC pastor Francis Breisch, Jr. We finished the OT survey (The Kingdom of God) and now are doing the NT survey (The Ministry of Christ). They are really written for Jr High-early High School, but we find the books to be a great spine and good discussion starters. Our group takes turns teaching and will often pull in other commentary and ideas to discuss, but the book can easily stand on its own as written too (and some of us do that too when life has gotten hairy [grin]) I plan on using these with my middlers when the time comes, but they've truly been great for adults!

My in-laws eat hummus on whole wheat (which gives a complete protein). A favorite here is quesadillas.

I would concur with Mrs. F's opinions (although we've never towed or tried to tow anything) I, too, have the 8 passenger Sienna (family of 5) and it is great! We can (and often do) put all three car seats in the middle row, and the back is then huge. (You lose the well when folding down the back seats, though). We got ABS on ours (but not AWD) and get some snow, I had no problems, I think the ABS only kicked in once this winter (when my husband was driving .. ha!) We have 2 big retriever dogs and they travel beautifully with the kids (but we don't crate them). I'm trying very hard to stop saying indiscriminately "I love ..." but I do love my Sienna.

Peace Hill Press was selling (and SWB was recommending) Sharon Hamilton's Essential Literary Terms: A Brief Norton Guide with Exercises at the Cincinnati conference.

Books, certainly. I love my Ergo baby carrier, but it is pricey. I had big babies, so those little front packs were practically useless. The Bumkins brand bibs are sanity savers .... one bib is all a mom needs: it can be rinsed in the sink or washed in the machine, some have sleeves (I see the ad says the sleeved ones are for 12 months and up, but I'm sure I used it younger than that). One sleeveless and one sleeved and she'll be set! (plus they have some cute ones ... )

My almost 2 year old's enunciation isn't great, but she tries ... during the Lord's prayer the other night "as it ..." came out more like "ah sh*t" .... She's never heard such a phrase. I finished calmly, then collapsed in a fit of laughter when we were done.