Thanks for link to the DIY instructions! :) I especially like the wheel & axle one. BTW, I received my order from artistsupplysource and it went well! The timer itself works great and I have no issues. The photogate I purchased was a little smaller than I was imagining though. The distance between the infrared "eyes" on the photogate from CPO looks to be about the width of the plug-in adapter, but the distance between the one I purchased is about an inch - very hard to drop something between those arms for certain tests. I one thing I noticed is they're connected with a C-shaped bracket and one screw - so I bought a larger C-shaped bracket at Lowes. I'm going to try to attach them to the larger bracket and hopefully they still work the same (and I can line them up correctly!) I'll take picture after I finish it.

Not So Humble Pie blog - she has a ton of other science edibles too!

Very overwhelmed by planning too! I'm avoiding my TOG planning by researching science.. Oooh, that's a good idea about the styrofoam, thanks! Sounds easier for sure. What about craft foam sheets too? They could be easily layered like the game board and the holes could be cut easily. I think I would need 6 sheets at 19" square. Another idea could be to use a chinese checkers board - at least to start with and could drill more holes as needed? Here's an Instructable to make a board that could be made any way you want. *CPO has all the instruction sheets at their site under CPO Products -> Equipment Instruction Sheets! They also sell both the game cards separately (about $12 each.) Found a site through Pinterest (through a link found here at WTM for the BFSU lessons group) to make your own Periodic Table cookies! So cute.

I'm a long time lurker but wanted to share my research to do this in a more affordable way - thanks for letting me share! I've read a few times on the boards this specific book, CPO Middle School Physical Sci - NOT Focus On..., had expensive experiments (investigations) and equipment. I loved the look of the program and didn't want to drop this yet :tongue_smilie: My dd wants to do physical science next year so I did a little digging to see if I could substitute any investigation too $$. I have read every CPO science posts/blogs several times over and love all the hints given to substitute the investigations in other CPO books. I have not done the course yet so I'm not sure how helpful this will be, but this has helped me figure out if it was worth substituting and doing this book. BTW, I found the TG book set on ebay. The student books and investigations can be found online on school websites (found links from other threads on the WTM boards) and several items and investigation sheets for students are found on CPO's site. The big ticket items: - Digital Timer & Photogates (infrared) and they measure 5 things: interval, frequency, period, stopwatch, and counter. They are used in approx. 8 investigations out of almost 50. I did find cheaper versions online, and for what they are going to be used for in this book my hubby and I concurred that it would be worth it to buy (and easier). It seems like they will fit the bill nicely so we bought this one, but I won't know for sure until we do the actual investigations: http://www.artistsupplysource.com/product.php?productid=61103 I just ordered everything last night, so I hope everything goes smoothly b/c I've never ordered from them before. They have great prices. If you look at the CPO's version and this one from Arbor Scientific, it looks exactly the same and $100 cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MY7LA4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A2PBFSTDRTP2C9 Search for photogates on amazon for other even cheaper versions. Before that, I did buy a IR Light Barrier circuit mini kit MK120 but unless I knew more about soldering and which timer to buy, this was not worth my time! :tongue_smilie: There are experiments listed at Teach Engineering that can possibly sub the concept for each investigation instead of buying the photogates. I LOVE that site - there's so much!! Pendulum, rollercoaster, friction, acceleration, i.e. - I did buy a lab (physics) stand for $15 and a spring (5 N/500 g) from the same artistsupplysource site along with most of the other little items for our labs since I knew those would be hard to find here. - Car & Ramp - haven't purchased yet. Thinking of getting a pinewood derby car (cheap!) and hopefully finding/making a 48" long ramp to work our car investigations. Not too worried about finding this though. - Rollercoaster - making this with our marble run or try to use pool noodle for marble run and hook photogates to them. Possibly could use TeachEngineering (link above) lesson or this rollercoaster builder from Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman on PBS. - I skipped buying the Atom Building Game and not sure of a substitute yet. There's a wood & cheaper plastic version. It's only used a few times though - I found this site but haven't used it yet - there are other links at the bottom of the page too! - Skipped the Periodic Table Tiles for now also - haven't researched it thoroughly yet. Tons of periodic table sites online though. If you have any other questions I might be able to help and if you have any help please share! Thanks!!

Fifty Nifty United States was the song I learned for the states along with this President song. Could this be the President song you're looking for? It starts "These are the men who have served us as President, Chief Executive leading the way.." I searched for the lyrics I could remember and found them here, just scroll down: http://www.desotocountyschools.org/subsite/oes/teacher/998/6-fifth-grade-41155 HTH!

I just bought a large (full size) super soft blanket at Home Goods (TJ Maxx) for $22 on closeout. They still had many available in our store as of last week in lots of colors and sizes. We've washed it twice and it is still soft, but I'm not sure of long term. Here's the brand name: Berkshire Blanket - Anywhere throw (this name is on the tag). I think it's microfleece but with the longer threads. Here's a picture of it: http://www.berkshireblanket.com/throws.html It's the 2nd picture in the series with the pink/white/green/purple ones. HTH :001_smile:

:bigear:

I just found this book at my local teacher store. It's a bigger book than the normal planner size (12" x 11") but I love the look and it doesn't feel too large in hand. http://www.christianbook.com/professional-planner-for-teachers/9780739834015/pd/934010?item_code=WW&netp_id=464686&event=ESRCN&view=details#curr

I'm very thankful for your explanations in this thread. My dd did Abeka 3rd grade LA last school year and I'm thinking of switching to R&S for our 4th grade year. What level R&S would I use for our 4th grade year? Thanks for any help!

I'm more of a lurker, but I wanted to thank the OP for her question and all the wonderful responses. Perfect timing. We went through the same phase over this past year with my 6, now 7 yr. old DS. He lost his reading skills and we had to start over twice - I've shed many tears over it. Lately though something clicked and he's retaining. We had a similar sign-reading story too - that's when I knew something was different :001_smile: It'll come - keep up your hard work Stephenie!

I agree with going to an artist who will do their own art. To symbolize the my loved ones, I have a large piece on my lower right back that's a vine-like tree (not a tramp stamp). It has flowers of the months for each of my children, a little white rose for my miscarriage, and a lilac for my mom who passed away. The roots are intricate and the negative space spell YHWH. Have fun picking it out.

I will also be watching this thread, we're in Horizons 2 now. We'll probably be suppl. with Singapore through the summer and next year to round out the program. Another idea is the "Key to..." series. I was stuck teaching a certain fraction concept and I found the "Key to.." books that got great reviews: http://www.keypress.com/x6469.xml My dd did the sample online and it helped her see it in a different light. We haven't used these yet, but will possibly use these as a suppl. too. Krys

What wonderful information and details!! I'm so thankful to you all for the help! Thanks for explaining all that you use and where exactly to find it too. I'll grab my hubby tonight and look through it all to see what we can find :) - I'm so excited!

vettechmomof2 - Thank you for your help. I've read the same thing about the Learnables, but for different languages (not German). Thanks for the website suggestion! I look forward to checking it out. Susie in CA - Thanks for sharing your experiences - it's so nice to hear from someone who actually speaks the language! My husband was leaning heavily toward RS just because we thought it was our only option. I wasn't sure if it was a good choice for this language though. We have a RS kiosk in a mall close to us, so I'm hoping I can get a good look at it now (and hopefully get a good discount ;) I can look through the half-price books for german stories. Thanks so much to both of you! It gives me a good starting point for sure.

I've been scouring the search for suggestions on what to use for a German curriculum. I am thankful for any suggestions! My husband is semi-fluent, but will not be teaching the language. He will use his knowledge for daily conversations in German with the children. I've noticed mixed reviews for most of the curriculums I've read about. Has anyone used RS it for elementary ages and/or for German? What did/did you not like about it? What about Learnables for German? Any other suggestions? Thanks again for any help!