You might find these sites helpful: http://www.squeakycleanreviews.com/index.cfm http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book_reviews_for_parents.aspx

Just another "hang in there, it'll get better." We're about 3/4 of the way through WWE1 and my son's ability to remember enough to answer the questions and give me a complete sentence has greatly improved since we started. But there are always those times when he forgets a complete sentence and a gentle reminder prods him to change his answer. We also still have a few frustrating moments where the passage is harder for him to comprehend and he really struggles with remembering anything. One that was particularly challenging for him was from A Christmas Carol. So I've decided to skip, at least for now, those passages that I think are really tough. We can always revisit them in the future. But I would rather keep the experience positive. And as a bonus, there have been a number of books he has requested we read based on the WWE passages that he found really interesting.

We finished OPGTR, and now we use a McGuffey Reader for formal out-loud reading practice for my 6 yo son. I often have him narrate to me after reading. And I also go through and just discuss some of the new vocabulary. Often there are poems, and we might discuss particular imagery in the poems, as well as the basic rhyming pattern. It's not too formal, but I do want him to keep reading out loud to me for awhile for practice in fluency. (I expect he'll read out loud to me for a least several more years in some way, shape or form.) He reads a lot of simple chapter books on his own for fun (Nate the Great, Magic Tree House), and I read a lot of picture & chapter books to him -- but I try to keep those times enjoyable & not as much focused on narration, vocabulary and the like.

I would strongly second "Why Students Don't Like School". (The title is really misleading. It addresses how people think, learn and remember.) After seeing it mentioned in this thread, I just went back and read it a second time, and I'm very glad I did.

For anyone thinking of going to Princeton to find a husband, you had better be aware of your "duty" when attending an elite university: http://m.guardiannew...-stay-home-moms

My 6 yo son is loving the game Ten Days in Europe that he received for Christmas. (It's fun for adults too.) And he's simultaneously learning his European countries. There are a number of "Ten Days" games for different regions of the world. You can find them all on Amazon.

You might enjoy this book (I found a copy at my library): http://www.amazon.com/Punished-Rewards-Trouble-Incentive-Praise/dp/0618001816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366046142&sr=8-1&keywords=punished+by+rewards

Oops! I did look before I posted, but clearly not well enough.

I just saw this on Facebook. (Please, don't turn this into a political discussion. I'm just sharing for anybody who might be interested). http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/

Last year my then 5 y.o. son was really into geography, especially his US map puzzle and driving his cars on our laminated world map. He very much enjoyed this workbook: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Maps-Geography-Grades/dp/0769685595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365125204&sr=8-1&keywords=complete+book+of+geography It has a lot of fun map work for elementary level students. This year he's not as interested in geography, but like others mentioned, we do a lot of map work with SOTW. In addition, he absolutely loves playing Ten Days in Europe, which is helping (both of us) learn the locations of the European countries. We'll probably soon invest in another 10 Days game.

Here are a couple of other lists people have posted here in the past: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/historical-movies-and-documentaries-to-supplement-the-story-of-the-world-volume-one/ and https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AumgWD14ZCPSdGNRQVVjeVotbjcwVlByV3pPS2xJRlE&output=html.

I sell on Ebay, but I haven't used this program, so I can only offer partial assistance. Ebay gives you the option of including the shipping cost in your listed price (i.e., free shipping) or adding the shipping charge separately. With the latter option, you can offer different shipping rates for the US and foreign countries. I assume this option is also available with the new global shipping program. So this way you could avoid over-charging your domestic customers. I wanted to raise one other concern that maybe others can address or you can research on Ebay. Over the years, I've stopped shipping to most foreign countries. In the past, the seller was responsible if the item did not arrive. In the US, you can track the package, even with first class mail. If you ship by first class international (the cheapest option), you have no way of tracking the item, and the shipping methods that offer tracking are too costly for my relatively low-priced items. If the buyer in a foreign country claimed he didn't receive the item, there wasn't much I could do about it. So I would want to know if Ebay's new program tracks the packages and, even if they do, who is responsible if the item does not arrive. Good luck!

Timberdoodle recently had a "damaged and dented" sale. They carry a number of books by the Critical Thinking Co., as well as some other interesting things for homeschoolers. I picked up 2 Building Critical Thinking Skills books for $9.99 each. And they weren't really damaged or dented. I'm not sure how often they do this particular sale, but they have frequent discounts throughout the year. If you sign up for their e-mails, you'll get notifications of the sales.

We loved OPGTR (well, I did, and my son didn't mind it, and it worked really well for us). We started AAS when my son was about the same age as your child, although we were only about 3/4 of the way through OPGTR when we started. We are now using AAS 2. For AAS 1, I bought almost everything and didn't really use the student packet. For AAS 2, I bought just the teacher's manual. (I plan on doing the same for AAS 3.) We have the tiles, but my son would rather write words on our white board than use the tiles. I think it depends on your child, at least as far as the tiles go. I think they have value if your child enjoys using them. I'm sure you'll get other opinions about the extras, but it really depends on how your child learns & what works for you. I think you'll enjoy AAS. And, FWIW, after we finished OPGTR, we moved into a McGuffey Reader. I absolutely love it. I chose the third reader. The second reader probably would have been fine, but the first reader looked way too simple for a child who completed OPGTR. I believe you can still view the McGuffey Readers for free through Google books.

As far as hotels, as noted above, you can reach a lot of places by metro, so you don't necessarily have to stay in the heart of DC, which can be pretty expensive. We used to live in Crystal City in Arlington, which is right across the Potomac. There are a bunch of nice hotels in Crystal City with very easy access to a metro station (many of which are the kind where you can get breakfast ). The metro ride into DC is about 10-15 minutes depending on your destination. There are also a ton of places to eat within walking distance. And if you need a cab to get to one of your destinations, there are always tons at the Crystal City hotels. When we went to a wedding in DC a few years back, we chose to stay in Crystal City and it worked out great.

FWIW, the oven method tends to leave brown marks on the eggs. I don't know if that matters to you. And the method I use to "hard cook" the eggs is a little different. I put them in cold water, bring it to a boil, and then turn off the heat & leave the pot covered for 15 minutes. I don't think this method helps them peel better, but it keeps them from jostling around & cracking, which I've had problems with the other way.

I would second adding a writing program - we also used WWE. One of the bonuses of WWE is that we read passages from greatgood children's literature. Several times the passages interested my son enough that he wanted us to choose that book for our read-aloud. I also agree that some sort of spelling program is desirable. We use AAS, and it's working well for us. You child might enjoy the magnetic tiles that come with the program. If you have a child that doesn't like to do as much writing, you can do a lot more of the lessons with the tiles. On the math front, my son also loves LOF. We've been fortunate enough to be able to borrow it from a friend, as it is pretty expensive. We've jumped around with our math program, starting with nothing formal the first half of K (my son loved math), going through MEP 1 (at the end of which my son told me he hated math), taking a break for some LOF & living books, and we are now using Singapore 2A along with LOF & living books. For a list of living math books, check out www.livingmath.net, which appears to be currently unavailable. There have been a number of threads on here with recommendations for living math books as well. For history, we also use SOTW 1, and as my son likes to color & do map work, the activity guide has been enough for him. However, he likes playing with different kinds of flash cards, and if we had a set for SOTW, he probably would play with them & learn from them, so if your child is like this, the cards might be useful. I agree with others that drilling flash cards (for any subject) might not be the best way to go. Best of luck! Kathleen

I agree with this statement. But as a former practicing attorney (and wife of an attorney), I think I kind of understand what the title is getting at, but it is difficult for me to articulate well. As a homeschooler, I feel like my world is completely different from the "world" I lived in as an attorney (and, in my opinion, better). But in the "attorney world" I was always around people with a good bit of money who were concerned about their childrens' education - which almost always meant expensive private school. Many worked long hours and spent little time with their children (other than the annual expensive vacation). I'm not trying to bash attorneys, and I'm not trying to say it's like this for all of them. I think the title is just addressing the fact that the advantages of homeshooling are so numerous that even doctors and lawyers are choosing to alter their very different lifestyles to enjoy those advantages. I hope that sheds some light without offending. Kathleen

Somebody on here recently posted this video of Helen Keller: http://www.openculture.com/2009/08/helen_keller_captured_on_video.html It might be a nice supplement to your lesson.

Last year I was right about where you are this year. We were focusing on math, reading, and printing, as well as reading fun books and Bible stories and throwing in whatever fun stuff we wanted to do. My son, who was 5 then, was pretty far along in OPGTR. In the late winter/early spring, I introduced FLL and AAS, one at a time (I'm not sure which I started first). With AAS, it definitely won't throw you off, as the levels of AAS don't correspond to grade levels. For FLL, there are 100 lessons per "grade". So you can work that however you want. I liked that he slowly had time to get used to the new subjects, before we started WWE and SOTW in the fall.

MEP covers pounds and pence. You might want to consider just printing out the relevant MEP lessons to supplement Singapore.

We read this version as well. (We got it from the library. And there is an Oxenbury version of Alice Through the Looking Glass too.) My 6 yo son really enjoyed the illustrations. They aren't "beautiful", but colorful and fun.

My son loved this geography workbook last year: http://www.amazon.co...ok of geography He actually would frequently ask to do it on his own -- it wasn't part of our regular curriculum. It says grades 3-6, but a lot of the early map work is fun & doable for youngers. (My son was 5 when he did it.)

For those of you looking for a Papal unit study, you might enjoy this: http://showerofroses...unit-study.html I haven't looked at it carefully yet, so I have no idea to what extent non-Catholics might also enjoy it.

Thank you for the replies. I wasn't so concerned about the one I signed -- I figured that different groups have a variety of different provisions in their statements. I was just curious about the types of things one might find problematic. I thought it interesting that a Statement of Faith might actually reference a specific number of books in the bible. But I guess if a group is trying to weed out certain denominations, such provisions might make sense.