As a former violin teacher, I highly recommend trying and having her teacher check the instrument she gets. Bad violins waste lots of time and money. Ever minute spent on retuning and messing with a bad violin is time taken from lessons. Overall, Strunal violins are my personal favorite for beginning student violins but really it comes down to the individual violin. Many companies allow a trial period. Here are 2 websites, SHAR and Southwest Strings .

I like Artistic Pursuits for their introduction to classical art and a practical project to match. We also have the Come Look with Me series..Other than these, I buy lots of materials and and some how to books (How Great Thou Art, Cook Books, Friendship Bracelet Books, Sewing Books...) to use as reference when dc need help. For Christmas, I bought a tool box for dd, and some special markers to decorate it. I filled it with art, and sewing things. We have 2 art boxes filled with paints, colored foam, googly eyes..., as well as sketch books, and paper. Art for them is to create whatever they want with the materials they have. I also allow them to "recycle". Once, dd's jeans were torn so badly, I couldn't repair them. She asked if she could recycle. She made a purse. Ds loves to take boxes and make cars, trains, and castles for his web kinz. At present, dd is making lots of friendship bracelets and drawing tons in her sketch book. I'm finding the advice an artist gave me to be true...the less I teach the better they do.

I just ordered DTTHR so I too am interested in what others have to say about it. I like the idea of using it with whatever book I'd like to use.

We're using FLL3 this year and it reviews well all they learned in FLL1 and 2 plus teaches diagramming. I think this would work great for them.

My brother got his Masters at Harvard and he's very supportive of our homeschooling and at present dc attending a foreign national school. Sometimes I get nervous around his Ivy League friends but many times without reason. At Christmas, he came all the way here to Slovakia so I could meet his Stanford grad girlfriend. We live in the blue-collar part of town in a tiny post-Soviet apartment! Believe me, I was sooo worked up over this visit but she turned out to be very sweet and down-to-earth. And yes I said stupid stuff but what can I say? God gave my brother the high IQ, not me. Also my other brother was together with him on whiz kid competitions during hs but he went to a state school and quit. Now, he's mainly self-taught and still just as bright as his brother. I'm proud of both of them. Both gifted but very different decisions in life. I've also seen the downside of a Harvard education. Lots of debt! My advice, be yourself and don't worry about it.

Wow! Dd is going to love this and it's an ebook! Yeah! I'm doing the no-overseas-postage-happy dance!

We did SL K & 1 Science but switched to Noeo Science. Dc loved the books; Usbourne books are wonderful. We just had problems with the way the IG jumped around and that the experiments didn't go with the subject being taught. SL has changed their Science so maybe some of these issues have been addressed.

I'd like a History of the Americas alternative to SL 3 and 4/WP American History. Something like SL Core 5 but about the Americas instead of just US history. As is I'm searching Brazilian websites for supplimental materials. SOTW for Latin American History would be wonderful! Also, IGs as ebooks. Shipping overseas is getting more and more expensive. Combine that with ever more restrictive weight limits on luggage.

Literally it says "God thunder the injustice and young fighting boys with game balls." I asked my language teacher who says that it contextually translated is a cry to God out of complete desperation "God fight the injustices for the brave young fighting boys (drafted) who can't handle this on their own." Very interesting.

As a violinist, I see a need for an all around music curriculum that includes appreciation and practical music skills such as teaching children to read music, sing...

I understand how passages as such strike a cord. We lived for a few years in Lithuania where dd was a brunette in a sea of blonds. Reminders of WW2 were all around us and on a street, we even witnessed a Rabbi being harrassed by a Lithuanian. After reading Twenty and Ten from SL Core K, dd, 5 at the time, started asking me if the Nazis were coming to get her. She thought they'd mistaken her for a Jew.

I found too many references to this problem and think that this is not the book for us. How about the American History stories? I absolutely love the samples. Very much in the style of CHOW. (Also found that this site has Czechoslovak Fairy Tales which would be great for us to read as we live in Slovakia!)

I highly recommend AAS for children struggling with language mechanics. Dd would have been bored as she's a natural speller but ds. He really needed this and he's doing very well. We've been moving quickly through Level One. This coming year he will be doing Levels 2 and possibly 3. It depends on where your ds is struggling. If he has the CVC, I'd think to do Levels 1 & 2 or 1 -3.

That is certainly not what I got from the samples. The whole craft thing is of concern to me. Hmm.

I appreciate your input. It's giving me lots to think about. Would you mind explaining a little more on how WP is watered down? What's AW?

Dd is auditory but ds is more visual, hands on. Ds isn't turned off by SL. Hmm, lots to think about.

What kind of things fascinated you?

So far our SL experience has been excellent. I'm just seeing and hearing that Cores 3 and 4 differ from previous cores.

I'm not sure what you mean. I've looked at both American Crossings and American Set I. American Set seems better. Is History of the USA like CHOW for SL1 & 2? Are there other books that are needed but not included in the WP packages?

Thanks so much! This year we will be doing SL Core 2 LW. Something caught my attention in another post and I began to look at various American History Curriculums. WP really does look like a better fit especially for ds. Your insights have been very helpful.

I'm considering switching to WP for American studies. We love SL but I'm not so keen on the Story of the USA books or Landmark. Anyone able to give me a good comparison and/or tell me why one over the other?

SL, Winter's Promise... have readers that are history based. Are there any reader packages out there that aren't history based? It just seems to be history overload to me. Anyone else feel this way? Any ideas?

Our children are in a bi-lingual Slovak school which isn't really bi-lingual until the older grades. The younger grades are taught in Slovak except for English class. So, dc are pretty much immersed. We have been here 18 months and dc have a good grounding in Slovak. We also spend time with Brazilian expats where dc are immersed in Portuguese. Can't say it has been easy but we have a peace that it is for good reason. For us, it has been a constant struggle to balance our children's emotional stability, academics, and their language acquisition. Our lives are very mobile and we need the freedom to take dc with us as we stay up late spending time with people (Slovak, Brazilian, American, Argentianian, Hungarian...whoever) without the hassle of keeping up with a school schedule. Dc need a real vacation during breaks not time doing afterschool. Dc need to spend time playing with other children instead of doing homework and afterschool work after a long day of immersion. Dc need to learn more portuguese without it being yet another stressful situation. Lordwilling, we will return to homeschooling this fall but will continue to have dc in the school's afterschool program so they can continue to learn Slovak by spending time with their friends. The afterschool program at the school is wonderful, so much more flexible and less stressful than class. IMHO, real immersion is spending more time with the people and less time in the books. Not that classes aren't important; dc needed the jump start that their Slovak school has provided. It's just a balancing act that we bath in much prayer. Come to think of it, our objective really isn't to learn a language; it's to connect with people. Language is just an instrument to connect. We want to learn Slovak bc we love the Slovak people and have so much to share with them. It means a lot to them and shows respect for them to learn their language as we live in their country. Our goal is not to just acquire a language (OR to homeschool) so dc can have an academic advantage, to be better than some other expat, or to somehow prove our love for the people or our work. Behind every langange is a person. From what I am hearing from you, you are seeking the best for your children. Whatever you decide to do, the immersion they have had this year will serve them in years to come. Whether they become fluent or not, this experience has given them some insight into people different than themselves. I'll also be praying for you! Welcome!

Still excited about Sonlight Cores. We've recently gotten excited about All About Spelling and Michael Clay Thompson LA.

Some of the characteristics of VSL apply to dd but she is a good speller. She's never been one to sound words out and we don't do a formal spelling program. She just naturally spells words by picturing and writing them. If she does spell something wrong, I write the correct spelling. She copies it and most of the time that's all she needs. Every 6 months, I test her with Spelling Power placement tests to make sure. I read so much about VSL being bad spellers but is that always true?