Ah, well, that could be it. It's currently packed and I can never remember which it is-- US v American. It's the DK book.

We used it to supplement SOTW 3 & 4, alongside the Children's Encyclopedia of US History. Dd enjoyed it. I love it, but then, I love Zinn and the original version of the book. I don't know how well it would work solo as an overview, simply because it does assume some base knowledge of the typical American narrative, but I think it would be more than adequate alongside something like the encyclopedia I mentioned above.

Biltmore is fantastic, but I'd imagine a bit of a drive? Cades Cove is one of my favorites, but I also have ancestors that lived there, so that makes it even more enjoyable. I haven't been to the Dixie Stampede in years but it's a lot of un. I haven't done Laurel Falls in years, either, but it's an enjoyable hike. Our favorite restaurant in the area is the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg. That's a must IMO!

http://www.washingtonsuitesgeorgetown.com/ - on Pennsylvania Avenue, there's a full kitchen in every suite, there's a Trader Joe's across the street, Metro within walking distance... ... now I'm wanting to go :)

The older they get, the harder it seems to be to plan out far into the future. I've taken to planning out a sequence for each subject, without trying to slot it into a particular school year. Some things take longer, some things take less time, and it's gotten difficult to predict already. I do have a note about about testing in high school for some subjects, but other than that sort-of restriction (APs only offered in May, but CLEP & SAT Subject Tests are offered more often), I'm less worried about making a subject fit into a specific school year. This makes the planning ahead a leettle easier.

LoF Advanced Algebra. Once she finished it, she didn't recognize standard algorithms at all. Ugh. :( Logic-stage history a la WTM. I don't know if we were implementing it wrong, if I missed something, or what, but it felt to both of us like a lot of busywork. :/

Black beans & rice: use the quick cook brown rice or frozen pre-cooked rice, mix a cup or two of diced tomatoes with two to four cups of black beans, season, and warm up. We like to have cornbread with ours as well. Sloppy joes are pretty quick... I make my own sauce adapted from a crock-pot recipe, but make it in the skillet more than half the time. Breakfast for dinner-- either the occasional starchy-sugary treat of pancakes/waffles/french toast, or bacon/sausage, eggs, and maybe oven-roasted potatoes. Pan-fried cube steak cooks pretty quick.

My mom is getting a Tom Petty box set. :) I have no idea what dh is doing for his mom or stepmom, if anything.

Honestly? Me. It works for us.

There's a Holiday Inn resort just off the main strip in Gatlinburg that is amazing. It's probably my favorite place to stay of all the hotels I've ever stayed at, or at the very least a tie w/ one in DC. It's gorgeous. Gatlinburg Holiday Inn - hopefully that link works.

The oldest is doing a week of GS day camp, a week of Girls Rock camp, and a week of Space Camp. She & her brother are doing a week of ice skating camp together. Ds will also be doing a week or two of a sports camp for his age group, and maybe tennis camp. I think I'll probably try to do swim lessons with him now that he's moved up into the 6+ grouping. Littlest dd is technically old enough to do miniday camp at the Y, but I think we'll leave that for another year, lol.

We were buying birthday presents today (at the bookstore), and ds (6) wanted to buy paperback copies of History: The Definitive Visual Guide for his friends. (We finally went with a paper airplane book + kit.)

I like the way you think.

Ouch, yeah, there's no way to do Marta? I don't know that I'd attempt it without Marta. I know some of the lots are on the other side of the Connector.

I'd be very interested in seeing the libraries which they are considering closing--I'm assuming the "non-regional" ones?? Well, I voted for Bob Ott, come to think of it, so maybe he'll listen to me. :tongue_smilie: I love how the BOC meetings are in the middle of a workday morning, making them difficult to attend. This one is on our LLL day, too, which I'm sort of obligated to attend. I would gladly consent to paying a higher property tax. I know that not all of Cobb would! But I do wish it were at least on the table.

Yep, mine are odd, but they would have been odd no matter what. Homeschooling just makes their oddness, weirdly, a little more socially acceptable. I can take the blame, since I know the truth: they were born this way!

According to my good friend who is Mormon, different wards have different rules in terms of adult women and coming inside, etc. The wards around here have an informal rule that over thirty is okay. Two of the young men in our area liked to frequent the same custard shop as my friends & I on our custard nights out. We never did find out their first names :tongue_smilie:, but they were delightful, committed boys.

I have the Purple level--if someone wants more details on it, LMK.

:iagree: Think of the content as the stuff that you use in order to practice the skills.

:iagree: I have one child who loves to write, who likes to memorize, and even makes up stories. I have another child who is very, very wiggly and bouncy. The former is male, the latter is female. Who knows what my other daughter will be like!

Yep, that looks about right. I always go to HEIR if I can't remember a specific detail. We don't report hours--to be honest, I've always wondered why that was in the law, as its only real purpose seems to be confusing people and/or scaring them. Basically, there's an attendance sheet, and you mark the days that your student(s) "attended," which in theory would be that 4 1/2 hour mark. Many school systems will send their *own* packet of forms to their homeschoolers, which may or may not ask for more than the law requires. For that reason, I use HEIR's forms and not the ones that the county sends me. :tongue_smilie:

Not swimmermom, but I bought them directly from Sadlier-Oxford. I don't know re: the tests, as I decided I'd rather attempt to create my own for that price. :tongue_smilie:

This is our sixth year. • My oldest did narration, copywork, and dictation, but I wish we had done far more. • I wish I had realized her spelling was vastly not-normal. I read a lot about how sometimes kids need more time to develop spelling skills, but I didn't realize that the huge discrepancy between her reading level and her spelling ability was a huge, huge red flag. Now that ds is learning both to read and spell, I can immediately see the difference. Ouch! • In general, I wish we had been more systematic at first. During dd's kindergarten year, ds was an infant; during first grade, ds was one; and during second grade, ds was a two year old toddler terror. I let that be too much of an excuse for not getting school done systematically. • I wish we had started getting up early, earlier. Dd gets up at 6:45 and starts schoolwork by 7. My alarm is set for 6:30. Breakfast is at 7:45; ds starts school at 8:15. We can get so much more done with this schedule than when we routinely slept until 8 or 8:30. I'm not saying it's true for everyone, but for us, it absolutely is.

I also would be willing to help, whether monetarily or through various actions. :)

We haven't used those two yet--they're on the schedule for next year. :) However, ds has used several of the Little Labs: color, time, physics, cars, and cranes so far (I think). I think they're an excellent value and generally they haven't been something where I think "I could have put that together," but rather more unique projects. :)