I also agree with Ellie too.

If I could only use one, I would use FLL3. However you already own both (and so do I) so I am assuming that your question is which one to use or how to use both. . . This is my experience: We do FLL3 daily and with schooling only 4 x's per week we had an extra 5 weeks to play with and that's where I've added MCT GI in. We're doing it at the end of the year as a review. I took out the drudgery of doing FLL3 by doing it daily (counter-intuitive, isn't it?). The lessons are very short so even when we don't feel like doing FLL, the lessons are finished quickly. Doing it daily makes it a "must do" and non-negotiable. It's just part of our day. There is plenty of review built into the book so that if the student doesn't entirely get it the first time around, it's going to be reviewed again in the future--this makes it dry but I'd rather have a lesson that is short and dry than long, interesting, and not as effective. Because these lessons are so short, we use them in between our more meaty subjects like math and history and science as a bit of breather. Based on my exposure to MCT GI (we've recently started it), I cannot see my children obtaining the same skill level with that as they did with FLL. I'm happy I bought it used and inexpensively but I'm not sure I would buy the next level for next year at full price unless it really blows me away these next few weeks. . .

And I have Fjord too! Small world. Now what I really need is a donkey! Eeyore is soooo cute.

One of the forums I follow, Chronicle of the Horse, has "original poster" labeled in red under the poster's name whenever s/he makes another comment further down the thread. I find this very helpful when trying to follow people's responses. Is that easy to do on this board? Here's an example (just scroll down a few responses and you should be able to identify the "original poster": http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?398754-Horse-who-plays-after-jumps Thanks in advance. Michelle

Thank you for posting this!!! At those prices I was able to get two copies of the books that would normally require photocopying--yay!!!!! If anyone got the Earth Central book, I'd love to hear what you think of it. I missed it the first time around and when I looked again (after deciding it would be good for us) it was already out-of-stock.

Here is the type of book that I'm looking for: http://www.amazon.com/School-Smart-Blank-Spelling-Books/dp/B003U6KYRA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364947073&sr=8-1&keywords=spelling+blank+book A couple reviews that I found didn't speak highly of the company that sells it. Also one review said that the books were not properly stapled and the lines were crooked. So I would rather not order these. Roaring Springs makes one. . .but I have only found places that sell them by the case (288 per case--yikes!!!!). Any other suggestions would be helpful. Tsavoie11--could you post the whole website--I'd love to see what you found. Thanks again!

Hmmmm. . .when my children go to the post office with me and there's a package, they definitely get excited. When they hear it's for homeschooling, their interest dies right there. I mean, how exciting is it to open a box of Singapore books or WWE (sorry SWB!)? So, for us, I do not feel bad about the younger child not getting the big box--they're just not interested! Then again, I don't hear any complaints when ski equipment, etc. is handed down either. However, I do feel bad for 5WolfCubs to be going through the curriculum for the 5th time!!!! Wow.

Thanks for your reply. The steno book does have the kind of lines that I want but I do not want the spiral binding on the top. I'm looking for the flat binding on the side (like a composition book, only the spelling book is much thinner, like the old blue exam books). Michelle

I'm looking for spelling books that are have horizontal writing lines (my books happen to have 22) and a vertical line down the center of each page. The books that I have are 48 pages and measure 6 1/16" x 8" and I really want to stick with this size. They have a soft cover, about the weight of a manilla folder. I love these books and use them A LOT (for kids' spelling, To Do list, kid's "money account" book, etc) but I have almost used up the packet given to me by my mom from her old school supplies. There is no company name or logo on these books. I found some similar to what I'm looking for on Amazon but they do not have great reviews. I'm hoping someone will have a link to a great school supply store. I'll probably have to buy a packet of 24 or 48 but that's fine with me. Thanks in advance!

I agree.

World Map, Europe, Asia, United States, Central America, South America, Canada, Asia, Africa (could not find Australia) Presidents Signers of the Declaration of Independence Signers of the Constitution All of these get rotated and get lots and lots of use from our family.

I have the wall hanging file folder system that the OP has chosen. I originally intended to use it as she plans to use it but found that it did not work as well it couldn't be hung in the kitchen where we do school. It is in the area where we keep our school books and supplies which is next to the kitchen but not immediately in the kitchen. . .it's so much easier when all of our material is where we do our work. Instead I use these: http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Decoflex-Black-Desktop-23013/dp/B0012VIJGS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363879445&sr=8-2&keywords=hanging+file+folder+organizer They are stored in our school supply area but are easily carried to the kitchen at the beginning of school and then go back. They fit really well on our bookcase too. I can also bring them into the living room to place their work in them when I sort things on the coffee table. I had two originally (I can't believe they are so expensive!!!) and just bought two more because all of our subjects are such a tight fit (each child will now have two). I now use the wall hanging file folders for paper and letter writing material, nature journal pages, holey math, etc. I use these paper key tags to label the slots so if something is empty I know ( and the kids know) what should be placed in it. These wall hangings are great for things like that. Everything is visible, organized, and accessible (it just wasn't accessible enough for me for school!).

If you are looking for a heavier duty laminator check out mybinding.com. Their descriptions include advantages and disadvantages to the different products like binders and laminators. These laminators are, of course, more expensive. . .but the reviews/descriptions might help to narrow things down for you.

We bought the World Book Encyclopedia set (2011) this year. We are using it A LOT, for both school and other random questions. I wish I had bought them last year when we first started homeschooling. Whenever someone has a question that I don't have an answer for off the top of my head (and know that I am absolutely right) we go look it up. Sometimes I look it up, sometimes I have my child do it (I could tell that if I always had them do it they might stop asking questions!). We use the encyclopedia for both spontaneous questions and for school questions. One example from yesterday was: Why is Hamilton on the ten dollar bill if he wasn't a president? I think the printed version would be more useful than the online version. I know that I could have answered this answer via wikipedia or online but I really like the idea of getting out a book to look up the information. We then learned about Alice Hamilton (pioneer of industrial medicine and the first female faculty member of Harvard--who knew???) because happened to be the next entry. My son, who is 9 will take a volume up to his room and read it on his own. I would definitely recommend World Book. Look on Ebay for recent sets. I bought mine for a great price and will continue to update with the year books from World Book. Also, check your library to see if they are updating their set. One more thing--I noticed in your signature that you have younger children. Look for Childcraft Encyclopedias as well--an older set is fine. You can find these inexpensively on Ebay. Get one with additional "add on" books. My daughter loves those and they are now my go-to when I need to occupy one child while I work with another. I LOVE the one on Holidays and Birthdays. I alternate who is responsible for keeping up with the holidays of the week. Who would have thought that a $30 investment would be great resource for quick lessons that require no prep? My son likes reading the Childcraft books but he will very quickly outgrown them. But for you. . .you will get many years out of these books. They are organized by topics, not alphabetically like a regular encyclopedia but they are very engaging for the younger set.

I like having the teacher's book and separate student pages for FLL3. We are almost done FLL3. I purchased the teacher's book and bought the PDF for the student pages. I do the lessons with both my children at the same time and found it helpful that they each had their own "workbook". And yes, I did print out all the pages, double sided. I keep them in a folder with two pockets one side for finished lessons and one side for the new lessons. In between there was space for three hole punched paper and that is where we kept our memorization work (there are so many lessons that there are two folders for each child for the year). I didn't discover until mid way through the year that the definitions were printed out at the end as well as lists of prepositions, etc. Now those are in with the memorization work (and they're helpful--when my children are having issues with any review we can refer back to them.). I'm not sure how I would have done this work WITHOUT the student pages. Granted, there wasn't always a lot of writing but it was helpful for the children to have the student pages without all the teacher's instruction on them. I didn't purchase the actual workbooks b/c I have a good laser printer and I heard that others didn't like how thick the student page books were. . .but if I didn't have the laser writer I would have gotten the workbooks and then took off the spine and made it into two booklets. We do skip some lessons (like the comprehension lessons) and the copywork. For WWE, I do not use the student pages but use composition books instead because I found the student pages not necessary.

This is probably not the answer you were hoping for. . . First I would critically look at what you have and I mean critically. Maybe you are drowning because there is just too much stuff. Then, separate out what you can use NOW. Organize that stuff. How much more room do you have to keep what might be used in the future so that it's out and not boxed away? Using only that remaining space as a guide, prioritize what to keep and then let the rest of the stuff go. Have faith that the universe will provide you with the things that you need in the future. I would only box up and store stuff if you have used it before and are planning to save it for another child and it can be stored in a dry place. Label the boxes either according to subject or level. And don't keep too many of those!!!!! I can still remember with a chuckle a blog post that I saw about organizing digital photos. The most important tool: the delete button. This can be applied to so many other situations in life. Oh, and one more things: stay off the used curriculum boards, etc. unless you have a specific list of items that you need! And instead of looking through the web for more articles, insights, etc. spend that time reading what you have. . .

After homeschooling for two years I am happy that I do not have a school room. I only have two children so that might make a difference. We do school at the kitchen table and each child has their own "project area" in the living room which is a desk or table with baskets of storage for their "stuff" underneath. They use this when they want to work by themselves either during school or after. For example, my dd likes to write in her skiing and riding journal there. I can also send my ds there when he complains that he cannot concentrate while I'm explaining something to my dd. We have a couple of bookshelves (OK, it's really 4 bookshelves) for my books and for the children's school stuff (and library books, encyclopedia, etc.). What would be really nice would be custom storage along a nearby wall that would make really efficient use of the space, rather than an actual room. I think I would feel claustrophobic in a room that was separated from the rest of the house. I like the feel of doing school in our HOUSE and not in a separate area. Besides that would be one more area to keep neat and clean. I also like being able to prep for lunch or snack while school is going on. . . That being said, I do love my kitchen. The kitchen area is simple with no overhead cabinets, just a few open shelves. I went for windows instead of cabinets. It's more like a kitchen/dining room because there's also room to have an overstuffed chair, a lounger, and a small desk without it being overcrowded with us and three dogs. There's also plenty of natural light. So FWIW I would spend my money on the living areas of the house and have smaller bedrooms, no school room and a reasonably sized play/rec room (very simply finished--don't spend too much money there) in a walkout basement (I really like natural light).

I'm doing level 3 right now with my two children (3rd and 4th grade). I already have FLL4 so I peeked in it for you. It is definitely a step up from 3 and now that I've looked at it--I'm going to hold off starting it until next year (we're almost done FLL3 and with a quarter still to go I was going to jump right into FLL4. Instead we'll do more work on letter writing, dictionary work, etc. Thank you for your questions--it was very timely and made me reconsider my original plan!). After the first few lessons FLL4 it starts with proofreading and the abbreviations, etc. It also requires more of the student (In FLL4 the student is not just required to identify the noun, but what kind of noun for example. In FLL3 the student was introduced to different nouns but wasn't required to go the next step when diagramming.) Also, it appears geared towards a more mature student (proofreading, starting to draw the diagram themselves, etc.). I'm glad that the diagrams were written for the children in FLL3. It was difficult enough for them to grasp the concept of diagramming without actually having to make the diagram too. One more thing--I have found that my children progress through grammar in very small increments. The concepts are rather abstract and take a long time to cement in their brain. I do understand why grammar is introduced to children in the early stages and going through the levels is very repetitive (for us as teachers!) but I am finding it is necessary for my children. Once I realized this I no longer am frustrated when my children blank out on a definition or identification of a word because they're not meant to get it perfectly the first time or second time through! I really, really like the layered, step-wise approach of FLL and I know now that we're meant to go through the lesson, understand it while we're doing it and moving on the next time even though there is not 100% retention. FWIW, if I had skipped FLL3 and went straight to FLL4 with my children I know I would have created some holes and overfaced them as well.

You might want to look at this planner. It looks very robust and can be used on your computer (and it's free!). It is all set for 2013--it can also be printed out too. http://blog.worldlabel.com/2012/2013-quarterly-executive-planner-pro-v3-pdf-special.html If you want to print out a similar one to this you can go to here without dates and then you can print out just the sheets you want (you can type in the dates or labels, etc. and then print out): http://blog.worldlabel.com/2009/pdfplannerpro-free-fillable-printable-planner-organizer-diary-and-more.html This is also a great, great website for label printing, etc (hint! hint! canning labels!). For my own homeschool planning I do prefer the sheets at Donna Young and I just tweek them a bit for myself. The planners that I listed above are great for household stuff and organizing appts, etc. I love the expense sheet that automatically adds up the items. I don't like being tethered to a computer so I don't use it but I'm sure other people would find it to be very helpful.

We have a wall map that came laminated. We found them at a bookstore. However, we use our placemats the most. I've had these for several years and we used them daily (at meal times!) and they have held up great. The back side has the outlines of the countries but are not labeled. You can write on them with a whiteboard marker and erase easily. We have not had a problem using them to find countries or major cities on them: http://www.painlesslearning.com/html/placemats/placemats_thumbnails.html Michelle

I have my children do the "narrations" at dinner when they tell their dad about what they learned in history that day. I put the word narration in quotations because they really don't know that they're doing a narration but I prompt them along when necessary to make the narration like what is recommended in WWE. We do our actual narration work with WWE (2 x's per week). During school time we do the map work and the comprehension questions and some outside reading. We typically do almost a chapter per day (however when a topic interests my children we may spend several days on it). I do not do written narrations with our read aloud either but we do occasionally do oral narrations.

I purchased the Green Package through World Book. The Ecology series is geared toward younger kids and the Living Green series is for older ones. The Ecology series books (about 32 pages each with two-page chapters) are set up like this: an overview chapter, where in the world chapter, then several chapters about animals that live there, people that live there, what can go wrong, etc. Then there is a story--in the City one for example, the story is about the first city of the Incas, followed by a true/false page and then a glossary and index. This book shows photos of Central Park, Shanghai, Cyprus, etc. so it does give examples of cities around the world. The Living Green series (each book about 62 pages) is at a higher level but still has wonderful pictures. These books include a glossary, additional resources page and an index. The information is more dense. The Oceans, Islands and Polar Regions book has 2 page chapters on topics like: What is the Ocean? What are the Polar Regions? What are Islands? with chapters that detail each region more (for Islands there are 2 page chapters on Plants, Animals, Invasive Species, Pollution and Climate Change. For the price (I think it ended up being $1.50 per book with free shipping) it is a good resource to have and will probably make your Around the World study run smoothly (depending on the content you are . We did the Trail Guide World Geography series this year and I would have like to have had these books earlier because then my children would have been easily able to do additional reading if I didn't have a book from the library. If you have specific questions about the series, just let me know. If you are creating this study on your own then you can tailor it to the info in these books. If it is a purchased curriculum you might want to make sure that this series covers the specific material in the study.

First, I'll throw out a resource for you. Find the book Project Based Learning: Mentoring Self Directed Learning. http://www.amazon.com/Project-Based-Homeschooling-Mentoring-Self-Directed-Learners/dp/1475239068/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362490139&sr=1-1&keywords=project+based+learning+homeschooling It's a really quick, easy read and it will help you to guide him in exploring this new interest. I can understand your excitement at this new found interest! Good for him (and great for you)! You can also explore the author's website: http://project-based-homeschooling.com/camp-creek-blog/what-children-want-vs-what-children-need for free. I haven't spent a lot of time on that website so I don't know how the information is presented and how accessible her premise is on the site but it might be worthwhile. The book itself helped me look at learning in a different way and gave me the tools to help me guide my children's learning on specific topics (and how to just to stand back and let them do it their way). I can't say it was a book that changed the way we homeschooled dramatically. It was more a reminder to me of how to stand back at times and let the learning occur on their terms. I think it's great that you're willing to give him lots of time to explore this new interest! Before running out and getting a bunch of books, are you close to the ocean? Are you along the rocky New England Coast, the barrier islands of the South East, the Gulf Coast or the West Coast? That will determine what kind of books you want to present and where you can focus. Maybe all you'll be able to do is to go to an aquarium. If you can connect the materials with a physical environment and experience then it will have more meaning for your son. He can then come back home and do more in depth work to answer questions that arose following his experience. Can your son swim? Does he like to be physically challenged? Maybe he could do some boogie boarding while he's there so he can also feel the power and the exhilaration that the ocean can offer. We're on the East Coast so two books that I would highly recommend would be Tideland Treasure by Todd Bllantine and The Seaside Naturalist: A Guide to Nature Study at the Seashore by Deborah A. Coulombe. There are other field guides that I would recommend but I don't want to overwhelm you with resources that might not be useful to you. If you're close to the ocean your son (and you) can read those guides (or ones like them) prior to making a little trip and then he can be the teacher when he's there--pointing out different things. If you can make multiple trips easily it might be best for him to just experience all the things the area has to offer and then on a subsequent trips make it more into a lesson that he's teaching. How about each of you making a nature journal of those trips? Your son can also look at the history of marine exploration. Who came up with the idea of a submarine? How long did it take to make a design that worked? Did you know that the Piccards were scientists and between 1932 and 1960 they traveled both into the stratosphere and plunged into the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench in the floor of the Pacific? There are so many different ways this kind of learning can go. . . but I think to really foster his interest this might have to go beyond just excellent books and include field trips and physical explorations as well. Good luck!

I would wholeheartedly recommend Art Lab for Kids by Susan Schwake. It will have everything they want and more (print making anyone?????). It's very easy to follow and set up. Just check out the list of materials that she calls for at the beginning of the book. You might not have everything at home. http://www.amazon.com/Art-Lab-Kids-Adventures-Printmaking/dp/1592537650/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362169669&sr=8-1&keywords=art+lab+for+kids

I'll play devil's advocate here. How much this might increase your property taxes (especially with the extra bathroom)? Do you need this extra space to be completely finished or is it for just extra play space for the kids? One of my friends has her mother-in-law and mom visit for a couple weeks at a time at least twice per year so the fact that her basement is finished with a bedroom, living room and bathroom is ideal. But if you need it for a couple of nights per year or just as a kids' playroom it might not be worth it even if you can get it done for half the price you're being quoted. Besides, if it's a kids' playroom you do not want nice finishes, etc. because kids are notoriously rough on space. If you're planning to use it for a TV room think carefully as to whether you will prefer that space or the one you have in the main part of the house. I would be hesitant about putting a big, expensive TV where the kids play--anything can happen. If it's just for a playroom maybe you could just do minimal finishing that you could do yourself easily and inexpensively over time without raising the taxes. As for heating--we use a Rennai heater that works great for heating up the area quickly. It was inexpensive to buy and have put in. It runs on propane--no duct work necessary.