They are out here...but not cheap yet.

Just went to the site, you can flip through the whole book (or most of it online).

We only have the PreLevel 1 Biology and Chemistry, but they don't have anything in them (that I see so far) that shows any distinction either way. It is simply straightforward: this is an atom, this is how atoms connect, this is what happens when they do for Chemistry; and classifications of plants, animals, etc into kingdom, phylum, and so on. There is a section of frog development and growth and one on butterfly growth; I have not noticed anything that would be objectionable to anyone. I know that is her goal, to stick with facts that everyone can agree on - no evolution or creation. If you want that, you have to add it yourself or find a different program. At this point, with my 5-6 year old I am fine with the completely secular science. We cover creation in Bible lessons.

Keep cleaning it and putting neosporin on it. The red streaks are bad, but if you keep cleaning it, they will probably go away. I had a friend in high school who got infected blisters during our dance recital (from new point shoes) they poured provide over the blisters and gave them time dry up, then put neosporin on them and the streaks went away after a day or so. They were halfway up her leg. Don't forget to give the wound some time to dry! If it stays moist and wet in a band-aid all the time, it is a perfect environment for more bacteria. Clean it well, let it air dry in a clean place, and then bandage it. I also think you are supposed to keep it below heart level.

Oops, double post...

Pick your battles, I had to learn this over the past year with my Kindergartner;)! He LOVED school. But some days he just did not want to do it. I would tell him he had to do one page from each workbook (math, phonics, reading comp) and we had to do hist or science out of What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know. He could pick the pages. We went a little out of order on those days, but we got it done and he was happy and I was less stressed. Other days, he would not like the page I picked for him to do, we made a deal - he did my page, then he could pick one...he accomplished more in one day and again, we were both happy. ;) Not doing our school work was not an option, sometimes I just gave him a little control over what he learned. If I was tired and he was in a mood, I would tell him he had to read a book, any book from his room or the library stack. Then he had to tell me about it. He loved cutting and taping! His work book had lots of cut and match activities. He always wanted to skip to those. Is there something that your son LOVES to do? Can you find more activities geared towards that? Some things I had to learn about boys and school: *He CAN bounce a ball, jump up and down, do somersaults, or dance AND hear what I read to him. He evens remembers it better when he is moving. *School on the floor is just as effective as school at a desk...some times more effective! *It's okay to skip pages and go out of order! This was so hard, I am a do it all and do it in order type of person! He got bored with basic addition and subtraction, so we skipped to the 2 digit pages, then went back for review later. We did not finish ANY of his workbooks or the one text we had. It is OKAY!!! I had to say that over and over. *School can happen in PJs, in swimsuits, or regular clothes and if we are not ready for school at 9 AM, 9 PM can be just as good for learning. *You don't have to follow the directions!! Some of the workbook pages had so much busy work, you can skip the busy work...(i.e. We stopped doing the spelling worksheets, he read through the words and spelled them out loud on Monday, later in the week he would spell the in magnets on the fridge, another day he would write them on the white board or paper.) I am sure there is more that I am forgetting. Mainly, I had to get over my idea of school and remember that I am homeschooling so I can give him the education that works best for him. If that means doing mental math rather than written math for a day - that is okay. Sorry it got so long! Sometimes I ramble :D

I learned about this in elementary and middle school, and more in depth in high school. We read the play I Never Saw Another Butterfly, we talked about doing the show in drama class. It is an amazing drama, I am sure YouTube has videos of the play. We also studied The Diary of Anne Frank, read the play, and watched. My Grandfather helped to liberate the concentration camps, he does not talk about it much, but he owns every book and movie every made/published about WWII. We knew from a young age what concentration camps were. We went to the opening of the museum for his division in TX about 10 years ago. There were pictures of some of the people they rescued, it was incredibly moving. It is the 12th Armored Division Museum in Abilene, TX. I am 32, and I do assume this is common knowledge. And it should be.

It can cost as much or as little as you want. I know that is not helpful, really, but it is true. Last year (kindergarten) I spent less than $100. This year (1st grade) I have spent $500-600, but some of that curriculum is to be used over several years. The biggest chunk (Classical Conversations) will be used for years per child and so far we have 2 that will overlap by 3 years. That is $250 for nine years = $28 per year :) I also have What Your First Grader Needs to Know and text books for Singapore Math, Real Science 4 Kids, and Shurley English. When DD is ready for these books, I will just need to purchase new workbooks. (I could copy them and not have to purchase again, but they are only a few dollars each and my time is worth a lot more than that.) Some of that money has also gone to purchasing a few things I found on sale that I want to use in the next few years, or for PDF downloads that I can reprint for DD in a few years. Does your library have and inter-library loan program? Our library is not huge; it is pretty good, but not a huge city library. I can get almost anything from one of the other 8 or 10 libraries in the system. Google also have free books you can download, quite a few great reference books! The internet is also a wealth of information! You have to learn to judge what is good and what is inaccurate, but you can do a lot from online encyclopedias. If you are really needing to keep costs down, get What Your First Grader Needs to Know, a math curriculum, and some cheap workbooks from Walmart. You can use the science, history, and literature from the First Grade book; then find what your library has on each topic and read, read, read. Then find a cheap or free lapbook on the topic (or make your own up) and call that a unit. We did that with What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know last year and we found so many wonderful geography books that we spent 2 months on the continents and oceans! DS loved it all. We studied the globe, looked at maps, and he learned to read at the same time. Even a small library will have some great children's books that you did not know were there!:D

I have loaded SOTW vol 1 and all of the Classical Conversations CDs for this year onto my iPod, I plan to plug it in and play it on any car rides I can!

We moved home after living in MO for 7 years. We moved in with my parents (DH, DS, and myself with DD on the way). We adjusted our lifestyle a lot to fit into my parents lifestyle. Not all changes were good, but they were providing free living quarters while we tried to sell our house in MO and start 2 businesses. Unless you are completely against going to church, I would just start trying a different church each week until you find one you and DD like.

currclick.com has a lot of lapbooks you can buy, a few are free. I downloaded a template for lapbooks from the site. It just has some standard shapes and fun figures to get started with. There is a thread on SOTW that links to a blog where you can download a SOTW vol 1 Lapbook for free. It is amazing! Even if you are not using SOTW, download the lap book and look at it. She did one activity for each chapter, we are going to use it this year. It will be our first lapbook, so I am hoping to get lots of ideas for other lapbooks!

I loved Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevski. A recent favorite is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I can't pick just one...there are so many more I could list!

My dd is only 3, but we will not have Bratz dolls. We also won't buy her Barbies, but if someone else does, we wouldn't throw it away. She is really into my little ponies right now :)

WIC here gave my SIL a nice electric pump, you could also rent from the hospital for pretty cheap. I think medela has (or did have) a single electric that is supposed to be as good as the pump n style. You might look for one of those. Avent has one as well, I don't know how well it works, but I know it is cheaper.

I would hide him and delete comments.

From what I have read, and seen with my dancers learning this method, it is not a good method. It requires drawing the lattice and working out the answer. Past 3 digit numbers it is too tedious, and they need a calculator. They don't learn true multiplication skills. It is in the Everyday Math curriculum. I have only seen and heard negative things about it.

:lol:

How do you mummify a chicken?? Sounds like fun :)

Oh, my goodness!!!:lol: That is hilarious!

We start in 2 weeks, on August 1st! I think I am nearly ready...I have some lesson plans to finish entering....but I have all of my materials. We are starting early to accommodate our crazy performance schedule in Dec/Jan.

I need the background noise. I can't fold laundry or do dishes in silence. I have the tv or my iPod on most of the day. We turn everything off for school.

:iagree: I go to work at 3pm, half the time the kids come with me. We generally get dressed right before we leave. I don't want to wear dance clothes all day and I hate doing laundry, so I stay in my pjs until I get ready for work. Plus pjs are so comfortable! DS usually changes at least 10 times, and still spends most of the time wearing nothing but panties :)

We have always had used refrigerators. The first one came with the house we bought. It is still running in our rental home in MO. We got a free one from my mom's office when they moved. It is at least 15 years old, it does not run great, but we have had it for two years. Why does he not want to get a used one? Is he afraid it is a waste of money or is he concerned about it being sanitary? Bleach works wonders if it is the second reason!

:iagree:

I just wanted to update you all and share the amazing remedy I found! I mixed 1 cup of finely ground oatmeal and 3 tbsps of cornstarch with cold water until it was a paste. I spread it all over the hives and left it for 30 minutes, maybe an hour for some. The paste gave immediate relief from the itching! I took a cool shower to rinse it all off, took a benadryl and went to bed. This morning the worst of the hives was significantly smaller. I am doing the oatmeal again this morning!