We live in MN where the mosquito is the state bird. :D This is what I use: http://www.badgerbalm.com/pc-21-2-anti-bug-balm.aspx I love, love, love it! The mosquitos will still fly around you, but they won't land/bite. My dh didn't believe it would work, but we had nothing else so he used it out fishing while standing in tall grass. He did not get a single bite (neither fish, nor mosquito :D). He was so convinced that he went out and bought 3 more sticks (we like the push-up stick version best) at our Gander Mountain because they had them marked 1/2 off. They last a long time. If you want to stay away from deet and other chemicals, I would give this a try.

Better World Books is a used book source that carries many textbooks in addition to other books (the web-site is http://www.betterworld.com). Proceeds go to help fund literacy programs around the world (different book purchases will fund different programs, but will say on the web-site). I have bought from them 3 or 4 times now and have been pleased with the service and book quality that I have received. Oh, they also ship for free! From what I have read, if you use the independent study guide for the Journey to Africa program it will count for 1/2 world geography credit, 1/2 world history credit and 1/2 science credit. I have the rest of the program and I hope the independent study guide does add more to the program otherwise I do think you would have to add to it if you use the 5-8 grade worksheets (which my dd will be using). I am planning on giving my ds the geography credit and maybe the history credit, but am not sure about the science credit. I will have to wait until it arrives to see what all is involved. I will probably add some extra reading (fiction or biographies most likely) and videos from Netflix just for a different type of exposure, so I think it should work out fine. I hope so anyway. :D

Well, cost was one factor. I purchased the TC lectures when they were on sale, so it was less expensive than Thinkwell. I also purchased the Campbell's Biology book through Better World Books for under $10. It is a beautiful copy that has the CD supplement that hasn't been used so I am hoping that means we have the on-line access without having to pay for the subscription. Also, my ds doesn't care for working on the computer, so the TC lectures seemed to be the better option for us. The book is titled Biology 6th edition. My plan is to use the TC lectures as the main program and read the chapters from the book as the lectures reference them. I think this will be a fairly intense course, but doable. The CD in the book has an on-line lab component (at least that is my understanding). If that doesn't work, I have searched some web-sites that have some labs for biology that we will add into the course. I am actually so excited about this course that I am thinking of starting it now for myself so I am more familiar with it. :001_smile:

We are going to start school again in July and work through August. During this time we are going to finish a couple things and start a few new ones. Finishing SL5 (both dc) continuing math (Life of Fred Algebra) starting IEW SWI-C finishing poetry unit (both dc) finishing AG start Spanish We are taking a break for Sept. because my dad is coming to visit during the first part of the month and then we will be going to Disney. Oct. will start our official 9th grade plans. Math ~ Life of Fred Beginning Algebra (finish this and continue into Advanced Algebra) Literature ~ Readings based off of the Teaching Co. lecture series titled Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition and using Teaching the Classics to discuss some of the works Now, I am not sure if I will separate out Lit. and English, but we will also be doing writing (this will be finishing SWI-C if it is not done and continuing to SWCC-C) and grammar review. Should Lit. & English be lumped together? Science~ Biology: Science of Life lecture series from Teaching Co. along with Campbell's Biology (this is the book recommended in the lecture series) Geography ~ Geo Deo's Journey Into Africa using the independent study guide for first half of the year and then more world geography (pulling together myself) to finish out the year (this builds nicely off the SL5 we are currently working on). Spanish ~ Probably Auralog program We are still deciding on some outside classes. If we do those it will be art and speech/debate. My big issues here are the drive (20 min. each way), the cost ($180 per class; dd will also be doing a class) and the time. My dh leans towards us not participating in this for the reasons mentioned, but the social interaction would be good so I am still on the fence about this. He also will be doing bowling through the local high school and on a league and he does Jui-Jitsu. I think that is it. Does that look ok? Thanks! ETA: I was also considering LL World Lit. 1 (and maybe 2) for this year because it would fit so nicely with the Africa/geography study. I wasn't sure though if it would be too much as Hewitt lists it for 11th-12th grade. Any thoughts? I would hold off on the Teaching Co. lectures until next year if we did the LL.

Oh, how fun! We did the land/sea package in Dec. 06. My dh and I are not big planners, but this is what I did. I checked out which parks had the extra magic hours and planned our days around that. For your dates here are the extra hours: 26th ~ Hollywood Studios extra evening hours 27th ~ Animal Kingdom extra morning hours and Magic Kingdom extra evening hours 28th~ Epcot extra morning hours 29th ~ Animal Kingdom extra evening hours 30th ~ Magic Kingdom extra morning hours On the 30th, you could go to Magic Kingdom for a few hours in the morning, but you need to make sure where you need to be for the cruise pick-up and be there on time. If that feels too stressful, I would have a quieter morning with a nice breakfast and not try to fit in a park before leaving. I can't say much about dining as we haven't eaten at many places. When we went in '06 we were not on the dining plan. I made 2 reservations (though we cancelled one) and we just flew by the seat of our pants the rest of the time. I am sure others with more dining experience will give you some good advice. The land/sea was fun, but quick. We are planning to do a Disney cruise again when our dd can do the teen activities. We would like to do a 7 day to experience more of what the ship has to offer and not feel like we have to get off just after getting on. Ok, it probably isn't that extreme, but it did go by quicker than I would have liked. I am sure you will have a great time and how fun for your dd that she will be having her birthday on the trip! :)

This may sound all zen or whatever, but trying to live the day in the moment is what makes my day complete. It doesn't matter if I accomplish nothing or a dozen things as long as I stay in the moment. I struggle with this because I am a look to the future type person. The "someday when I have money..." or "someday when I have time...", etc. When I get into this type of mindset, my attitude goes to pot. I really have to live in the now to have a good day. So whatever happens in my day is good as long as I embrace it while it is happening. Some of the things I really enjoy are: a cup of chai hugs from my dc hugs from my dh good conversation music a good movie a good book (though I am in a rut with this one) a soft breeze and a calm day

I hear ya! We live in a small house and when we moved in we had more boxes of books than the rest of our household stuff combined. I had to admit that we were just plain out of space. I did a major purge of books. We still have lots more than most people (not the ladies and gents here I am sure :)), but we purged hundreds of books in a short time. First, we kept all books that were given as gifts especially if they were personalized by the gift giver. Second, each child has a large bookshelf in their room and they could go through all the books and keep what they wanted on their shelves. Third, I kept my favorites. These are the books that I read and re-read because I just love them. Fourth, I kept 2 shelves of books that have been on my to read list for a while. Fifth, I kept reference books that are used or would be useful in our schooling and in everyday situations. The main criteria for purging was if I could get it from the library, it was gone. Also books my dc outgrew that were not gifts were purged (I bought lots of books used to have for unit studies, free reading, etc. so these were mostly what we got rid of). I sold hundreds of them at my mom's garage sales. We donated hundreds of them to Salvation Army and Goodwill. I sold a bunch to other homeschoolers and gave a bunch away. I still have 4 totes in our garage that need to be taken care of and 4 or 5 piles in the house. It was so hard to get started on this project. I would make piles to get rid of and then I would look at the piles and be like "oh, I like this book and we might need it again" or "maybe I should have dd try to read this again, she may like it this time" or whatever. Next thing I knew they were all back on the shelf. I do love books and I still buy way more than we really need. I realized that we just had too many and my dc like going to the library so I hardened my heart, boxed them up without looking twice and moved them out. Sorry for rambling. Do you think it would be good for your dc to help decide? I found that when I asked my dc, they had less attachment to some books than I did and that made it easier to get rid of some of them.

We will be there from the 14th-21st. We are also going to the MNSSHP. We are all looking forward to this trip! That is cool that you are going with your ds. We are planning to take each of our kids somewhere on their own for their graduation. I am pretty sure my ds will pick WDW. :D

You're welcome! I have been watching the TWSS videos again for a refresher before having ds work through the SWI C program. I would not subject my dc to watching them as I have become bored on a number of occasions during viewing. :) I love the program, but I am a give it to me straight without extra fluff type of person. Sometimes Mr. Pudewa goes off on tangents or tells little stories and it drives me crazy. I don't want to fast forward because I don't want to miss something of importance so I feel like I am stuck watching the video that never ends sometimes. :) Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Mr. Pudewa (most of the time :D), but I just want the bare bones information and to move on. He really does have some good things to say in the videos. Anyway, have fun with the program and enjoy the process!

The TWSS is for you to view and learn the process of the IEW method. I would not have your ds watch the TWSS videos. If you purchased your SWI from IEW you should have recieved lesson plans. If you didn't, you can download them for free from their web-site. You can use these to schedule the SWI program. The SWI lesson plans will reference the TWSS videos. You can watch the portions suggested of the TWSS videos as your child works through the SWI lessons so that you understand the concepts and can help your child when necessary. Hope that helps some.

Oh, duh, I just re-read your post and noticed you said "any park" for the counter service. Sorry about that. We should have a roll call to see who all will be going in Sept. We are going then, too. It seems like there are a few of us going this fall. :) I do have my book if you have any questions about ratings of other eateries. Otherwise, I am sure some others who have more experience will give ideas.

I will try to help though I am not the most knowledgeable on this topic. :) Ok, table service in MK with ratings from my Passporter book: The Crystal Palace (buffet) avg. 7 Liberty Tree Tavern avg. 6.5 The Plaza Restaurant avg. 7.5 Tony's Town Square avg. 8 As far as counter service, I am not sure which ones have large meals as we have only eaten at Main Street Bakery and Casey's Corner. Here are the average ratings (1-10 and I rounded these) from my book for the counter service places. I don't know if this will help, but maybe. Casey's Corner ~ 5 Columbia Harbour House ~ 6 Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe ~ 6 El Pirata Y el Perico ~ 6 Main Street Bakery ~ 6 Pecos Bill Cafe ~ 6 Pinocchio Village Haus ~ 6 Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station ~ 5 You can go to allears.net and look up the menus for these places and get some idea of what they offer (if you haven't already done this). Hope this helps a little. Have fun! :)

Well, we are using Core 5 5-day schedule. We do just the history, readers and read-a-louds. My dd didn't like the EHE when we first started, so now I sit and work through it with them (I have 2 dc). This has actually worked out better for us as we have had more discussion than before because I am there for them to ask questions or I toss something out from what we have read. When they were doing it on their own, it seemed they tried to work through it as quickly as possible just to get done. So if they had a rabbit trail type question, they wouldn't necessarily ask because that would take more time. I don't track the time it takes them to read the readers. So working through the history and read-a-louds takes us anywhere from 1-2 hours a day depending on how many questions are assigned in the EHE and how much discussion we get into. You can have your child do the EHE on their own (I think most people do it this way), but it works better for us to do it together. I hope this helps some. We have enjoyed this core and my dd has developed an interest in Africa (which we are going to continue studying) because of this core.

Thanks! That would be interesting. Would you celebrate both days? We had thought about renewing our vows for our 10th anniversary, but were lazy and didn't get around to planning anything. Maybe for our 15th or 20th. :D

Thank you for sharing your stories. Even though you didn't get much, it sounds like it was just right. :) I hear ya. I know pretty much both our families (immediate and extended) didn't think we would make it very long. We celebrated 11 years married this year and have been together for 16 years. I think we are doing ok. :) It is too bad that people have to be so silly about things like that rather than trying to be happy for someone and celebrating with them. Ok, I have to ask because I just can't figure it out; what is CH? And did you not get married technically? Too funny! :D This sounds like a dream I would have as most of mine are pretty bizarre. Oh, you are so right! Thank you for pointing this out. I appreciate this gift regularly. :D That is nice. I am glad you had a wedding to remember! Oh, I must have missed your post! I am sorry you didn't have a more supportive family. I am glad you are still going strong! :)

Oh, no, I was just joking about feeling left out. I'm not upset at all! :) I was reading both posts and it hit me that I couldn't post in either because I had no gifts to speak of. I did have fun reading what everyone received (good and not so good :D).

Well, I was hoping someone else would answer because I haven't eaten at either place. I pulled out my Passporter guide (2008 version) and Rose & Crown has an average rating of 7. Tutto Italia doesn't have a rating because of the opening date conflicting with the press time of the book. I am sorry that is not overly helpful for you. Did you look at the menus on allears.net? Doing that helped us eliminate some choices as our ds is quite picky.

It is nice to be able to look back on your wedding and know that you did the right thing. We are happy with our choice, too. :) I know a few people who spent lots of money on their wedding because they felt they "had to" and now when they look back they wish they would have done things differently.

LOL! That is the best wedding gift I could get! Thanks! :D

That is a neat story! How nice that you still have that dish. :)

We didn't get anything. Zip, zilch, nada. I am not complaining considering we didn't invite anyone to our wedding. :D So, is there anyone else who didn't get anything for their wedding and wants to join me in my little corner? Or do I get a gift for being the only one who received nothing? :D

Oh, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure how to get there from MK and I didn't feel like getting up and finding my WDW guide book to look it up. :001_smile:

I would leave a park for dinner and come back. With the transportation system it is not a big deal; you will just have to wait a bit for buses and figure in travel time. I haven't eaten at 1900 Park Fare so can't say yes or no to that. I have eaten at Crystal Palace and it was a nice buffet. Nothing real special, but decent. Also, just a reminder, that you have meals for the number of nights you stay not the number of days. I messed that up with our reservations and went over by 1 credit (I am still deciding what to do about it :)). I believe it goes by room. I know that for our family of 4, all our credits are pooled together. My mom and her dh are going with us, but I think their credits are separate because they are in their own room. So, if your sister is staying with you, then, yes, you will have access to any of her unused credits.

Are you planning to do all these subjects daily or various times a week? I think if you spread somethings out so they are not done daily, it looks fine. I know that when things get written down it can sometimes look like a lot to fit in, but depending on how it is scheduled over the course of the week it may not be too bad. And, as you said, you can always adjust things as you go along. :)

We have read The Golden Goblet, Hittite Warrior, God King and (I think) The Bronze Bow as read-a-louds. I know my dc really enjoyed The Golden Goblet and Hittite Warrior.