I have a 3M brand that I bought at Wal Mart for $25 a few years ago. I can buy all the laminating pockets I need there, too. It only does up to 8 1/2 X 11, but I haven't had any problems with it!

Also stay for the Laser Show - it's super cheesy, but the kids will absolutely love it. Warning: since it is Labor Day weekend, the park will be extremely crowded. (At least that's what I recall on holiday weekends past.)

Elemental Science. I used it when mine were in 3rd and 1st and they loved it! Paige, the author, posts here on WTM and there is a Yahoo! Group as well.

Helen is very touristy - interesting and fun for someone who has never been. I don't live far from Helen so it's worn a little thin for me. If you decide to go to Helen, also plan on going up the road a little way to: * Anna Ruby Falls (which is just beyond Unicoi State Park) * Goats on the Roof - hard to explain; part gift shop, part fudge/ice cream/candy shop; and, yes, there are goats living on the roof Also, if you're planning on coming to the northeast corner of Georgia, in Mountain City (Rabun County) is the Foxfire Museum. It's a REALLY awesome place to go especially if you're studying pioneering. Here's a link to it.

Oh yes, the State Capitol - it has an exhibit of a two-headed calf which is well worth the price of admission... free! LOL.

Fernbank (either the Science museum - for the planetarium shows, but not much else - or for the Natural History Museum which is FABULOUS) World of Coke Stone Mountain Georgia Aquarium Atlanta Zoo Cyclorama Atlanta History Museum Atlanta Botanical Gardens CNN Center Center for Puppetry Arts High Museum of Art (there is a children's play room and you can get activity guides for the kids to use during the tour of the museum - warning though, my kids max out after about 2 hours at the museum) Other things to do: Take a ride up the elevator in the Westin Peachtree Hotel Watch the water show at Centennial Olympic Park Go to one of the children's symphonies by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Braves game Gwinnett Braves game INK Museum in Gainesville, Georgia You can get a CitiPass for Atlanta with many of these sites, granted, you have to use it within 7 days, I believe. I grew up in Atlanta and now live an hour or so away. There are many great state parks within an hour or so of Atlanta, too!

Since we are studying the Civil War right now, DH and I are planning on taking the kids to various museums and battle sites and even hoping to catch a reenactment or two. I'd also like to go to DC in the spring.

I KNEW there was a reason we did this - other than for the pure educational fun of it. (I show it to everyone who comes to my house, too!) :lol:

I do SOTW two days a week and have for years (we are on year 4 of SOTW). In all honesty, I just don't do everything in the activity book. I read the portion of the chapter we are on during breakfast and as I read they have their coloring sheets. After we eat, I ask the discussion questions, we do the map work, then we do an activity either then or at the end of our school day. I usually only do one history activity per week (actually, per weekend since I work 3 days a week and only have 4 days to school). I'll add that this year, I'm straying from SOTW4 for several weeks so we can study the American Civil War and WWII in depth.

:001_smile:

I've made a list (albeit, not an absolutely complete list) of Netflix movies that may correspond with SOTW. I've marked the ones that were available at the time that I began compiling the list - about 3 weeks ago - but since then, I do know of a couple that have dropped off of instant viewing. The link to the list is in my blog here.

I changed our Grammar/Writing from R&S to FLL and WWE three days before we started our school year and after I had already purchased all of the R&S materials for my two older kids.

I do the whole narration thing, but when it comes to the dictation part, I'm not looking for perfection. If my 4th grader gets it pretty much right, then I'm good. (Goodness knows, I can't take perfect dictation, but I get the main idea and I get it grammatically correct, so that's all I expect from my daughter.)

Hi, Monica! When we get up, I have the kids get dressed and make their beds. Then they meet me in the kitchen for breakfast. During breakfast I read either the History or Science lesson for the day. By the time they've finished eating, we can do the written part of the lesson. We do the experiment or hands-on activity after that. then we move into our school room for everything else. I rarely get complaints because we always start with the subjects they love. We end our school day with the other subject they enjoy: Spanish.

Writing: WWE4 Grammar: FLL4 Spelling: R&S4 Vocabulary Building: Wordly Wise 4 Reading: independent reading to go along with SOTW4 plus anything else she wants to read in her free time Logic: (I'll throw this one in) Logic Countdown

My oldest has used R&S for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. By third grade, we were doing a lot of the exercises orally, too, because she spent so much time doing the written work. She hated it and I hated it. However, doing it orally got to be a drag as well. This year, now that I have two doing Grammar work, I switched to FLL and WWE. Both together take a lot less time than just R&S and the kids look forward to it. I dread the day we might have to return to R&S.

I'm using this with my 3 school age children and so far, they love it. As far as the experiments, I did make a Physics box with all of the materials we need for the experiments and (not including the few things we had at home) I spent $35. I'll add that I've also done some of the other experiments in the recommended experiments book.

I teach year-round (because I work 3 days a week and have no other choice but to have school year-round to meet my state's requirements); however, I make a big deal of the first day of school : we look at our new books, I constantly remind them of their new grade level, then (this year) we went out for an after school ice cream. I think there are little, inexpensive ways you can make the first day fresh and exciting!

I work part-time (3 days a week) and homeschool 4 days a week. My DH and I have discussed my staying at home full time and he always asks me if I would go crazy if I didn't have my outlet through work. He's right. I personally think I would become extremely complacent and possibly lazy if I didn't have all of these plates on my table.

Our school is Gratia Plena Academia. I wanted to call it "Full of Grace Academy" but my husband said it made him think of Full of _____ (insert inappropriate word of choice). So, we went with the Latin translation. I wanted to have a school name for several reasons: 1) So my kids would have a school identity (other than the general "home school"). 2) Having a name makes filling out certain forms a bit easier (forms such as the Barnes & Noble Educator Discount form, Office Depot discount card form, etc. 3) I wanted a logo I could use to iron on bags, tshirts, etc, and I needed a name to go with the logo.

Gratia Plena Academia. It means Full of Grace Academy. When choosing the name, I wanted to call it the English version, but several people told me they thought of Full of [enter inappropriate word here] Academy. So, I went Latin with the version. :glare:

Mine is up!

My four year old has been doing school with her older siblings for 2 years now, including SOTW. She's not responsible for the information, but I print (and bind into a book) the activity sheets for her just like her brother and sister. She colors the coloring pages and occasionally chimes in with information she's learned. To me, it doesn't matter if the information may be too much for her level. I think it's great that she's exposed to it and she enjoys being one of the students!

I love Trofast, although I don't use them in our school room. Instead, we bought the pine ones and put them in our sons' closet for clothing storage. We also have a similar set up with the white ones in the girls' closet. Glad you found the deal and a good use, too!

I've only ridden bicycles and horses, so I seriously question riding English!