The only one I haven't seen mentioned is Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell. It may have saved my children's life :D

Also know that if you go with a machine like a Viking, you can trade up with that machine as you get more money. Tell us what kind of sewing you want to do and we can help you with what stitches you will need. Also, it you are going to be selling any clothes, you need an overlock machine or people won't buy them.

Go for either a Singer or a Brother. Both are easy and hold up pretty well.

I have the Nutrimill as well and love it.

I only have my 1st and 2nd graders answer the questions orally and tell me what they learned. I don't have time to write it down and frankly I have never had a child want to go back and read their narration so why bother? After they can write, they write down their narration and do just fine.

We live in Fuquay Varina, NC and moved here a little over a year ago. It's a very easy state to homeschool in and there are co-ops and support groups everywhere. I'm in a support group at Pleasent Grove Baptist Church in Fuquay Varina and a lot of the moms go to a big co-op here in town. We also have some members of our church that go to North Raleigh Christian Academy. The public schools in Cary, Holly Springs and Fuquay Varina all seem very nice and I do know teens in all of them (from our church). If you have any direct questions on any of them I can ask around for you. Just message me.

Hits: Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space (although we are only using the Earth part) Apologia Astronomy R&S Grammar multiple levels Abeka Phonics (it works for us and my kids are great readers because of it :D) Abeka Reading, Spelling and Writing (cursive) OK but not great: SOTW 2

I did mine for the 2nd week in a row. This is a record for me LOL I even added pictures! I might get the hang of this before too long. I'm enjoying reading all the blogs! http://rabbitinclass.blogspot.com/

These books were just coming out as my oldest daughter was going through that age group and she did enjoy reading them. We didn't JUST use them, but we used it with the outlining of the Kingfisher and all the required reading. It helped her put it all together.

My daughter sounds a lot like your yours. I would go over the lesson, do the oral exercises and then the writen and later....NOTHING! However, I noticed that just because she couldn't tell me what they were called, she could find them by asking questions as she did the work. She is going into book 6 now and while she still has to review the names of things from time to time, she understands how to write well and has wonderful grammar.

Oh I can't WAIT to try your Pumpkin Spice Latte! Sounds like you had a great week.

I can, but only because we are in R&S 5 :D However, my daughter seems to pick them out pretty well as long as she asked her helping questions. Like For the sentence "The doughnuts smelled delicious." She starts by asked what smelled delicious? The doughnuts. Then she says what did the doughnuts do? The smelled. And then she says the doughnuts smelled what? delicious.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers :D

I started one today :D Sounds like fun! http://rabbitinclass.blogspot.com/

We use Abeka phonics up through 2nd grade. However, we don't do FLL or another spelling program. We use Letters and Sounds, Abeka Spelling and the Language book. We use the complete program just because it flows together. The readers, spelling list, letters and sounds...they all go with what we just learned. So we learn the special sound for ea. I know our spelling list coming up has ea words. I know her l&s book will work with ea. I know her readers are going to focus on the special sound of ea. After 2nd grade they are strong enough to change out of it into Rod and Staff and be just fine. For us, the complete Phonics program of Abeka works :D

The 2nd time we go through it we put more into extra reading and harder activities. When they are young, I don't think they get much out of it, but when they are in the Logic stage they really enjoy creating and making Indian villages, sewing medieval dolls and Viking houses. They do a lot more writing as well and read more on the topics. So while we use SOTW, they really are doing so much more!

We have all girls so I can only speak as to what we will do with them and that is to encourage them to STAY HOME till they are married. We are also lucky that the college that they will go to is close enough that they can stay home then to.

Well in my daughters case her teeth have fused to the jaw bone, so her teeth HAVE to be pulled.

Going through the SAME thing here. My oldest just had 4 of her adult teeth removed and this winter my 2nd daughter has to have MOST of her baby teeth pulled because they are sinking into her gums and not allowing her adult teeth to come though. She will be 12 next month and has only lost 8 baby teeth:blink: 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.

Why not just do what the book says for 5th grade? If you think something like SOTW is too easy for him and you want something challenging then start with reading, outlining, writing... If you aren't looking for projects this is the way to go. Now for my 5th grader last year, we did read SOTW because I wanted the projects, but she also read the KFHE and outlined and read tons of the books for her age level. It was a great History program that was both easy to grasp, yet challenging.

We do 4 really long days and Fridays are light for fun stuff and then house cleaning.

We use Apologia and Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space (only using the Earth part). Most of the time we use Apologia alone.

No, you can't do that. Up to book 5 it moves at a nice slow building pace, after that it picks up. Book 5 (to me) seems to be the last of the easy ones.

For book 5 or higher I would say yes, unless you are an English whiz. The book isn't really for lesson plans, but you will need the answers for the student work.

We do, but only because I want my children to have a clear Creationist view of the subjects.