This is what I plan to do this fall: Math: Singappore Science: Intermediate Physical Science by Exploration Education Language Arts: Spelling Power Michael Clay Thompson's LA Junior Great Books for Lit. IEW Social Studies: SOTW4 with AG Election unit State History unit Foreign Language: Madarin PE: Homeschool Gymnastics and Swimming, possibly taking table tennis Music: Piano Art: Atlier

Based on great reviews here I bought both fraction and percent/decimal books last week. I thought the books were OK but ds loves them. He's done Singapore 4B, 5A and CWP4 last school year so I am using this as a review during summer. He is already working half way through the fraction book and I caught him reading the percent/decimal book the other day. Although ds gets math easily, he dislikes doing any math, even math games. Primary Challenge Math and Life of Fred are the only two math programs that bring excitement to him. That says a lot about these programs.

I have ordered from them for the past 4 years and never had any problems with them. I just placed my order on Monday and today I received an email from them telling me that there is one item on backorder. They told me they will hold all my items for 5 days to see if they can get that one item, if not, they will ship the rest of the order to me first and ship the backordered item later with no additional cost.

Have you tried Bob's Red Mill? Supermarkets usually only carry their more common products but you can try there first. If you don't see it, go to : www.bobsredmill.com HTH

Thank you. We will be using this.

These are ds's favorite books from 5-7. He was happy to either read them or listen to them: The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury The Trumpet of the Swan Homer Price Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Cricket in Times Square

We use CWP books too. I highly recommend them.

For Singapore program, level 4 is where they get into more serious word problems. I have never used Saxon so I don't know its scopes and sequence, but if your child is strong in math she/he might fly through most of CWP 4 with the exception of where the bar diagram method is used. If you have a child who is average in math, you definately want to start at level 4. If you are not sure, it's best to do a placement test to determin the right level. HTH.

We did not like them and gave them away for someone using Miquon. We like MUS's blocks much better.

I highly recommend this one too! I recently watched: Victoria and Albert (story about Queen Victoria and her husband) Bertie and Elizabeth (story about Queen Elizabeth's parents) Both are very good.

Jim Weiss! We love his version of SOTW much better. He also narrate Come On, Seabiscuit! Even ds comments on how well he narrates.

Melissa, Thank you for your informative posts. That really helps in my decision making. Now I am off to check out Classic in the Classroom. Thanks again.

Thank you for your answer. That was exactly what I was looking for. I am thinking about using Suppose the Wolf were an Octupus book 2 for the literature and critical thinking aspect. You mentioned Lit. Guides from Moving Beyond the Page. Could you tell me what MBtP Lit. Guide offers that STWWAO does not? Also, I am wondering if STWWAO book 2 would be too easy for ds who reads at 7-8th grade level? Thanks!

I have read all the recent MCT treads and checked out the sample pages on their website. I am very likely to use it for my rising 4th grader this fall. However, I don't see it cover literature, comprehension or critical thinking skills, am I right? On RFWP website they have a series called "Suppose the Wolf were an Octupus" that teaches reading comprehension and critical thinking. I guess I would like to know if I need to get that or all five books from MCT's curriculum would be enough. Thank you in advance!!

Come On, Seabiscuit! by Ralph Moody It's about the famous American race horse Seabiscuit. The story is very inspiring.

Looking at the ages of your children, I think you will get good use out of the game set. It will be a lot easier to buy.

We did Sonlight 3+4 this year, there are only two readers IMHO you won't want to miss: By the Great Horn Spoon (great fun for the whole family!) The Sign of the Beaver For read-aloud: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (this one is so so so good!) Johnny Tremain Little Britches

We are finishing up our 3rd year of homeschooling. This year in third grade, I started writing ds's independent assignments on his student planner that include: memory work, spelling, handwriting practice, reading, and piano. Since he is an early riser, I found this system working very well for us. He usually finishes all his daily work listed above before I am ready to teach in the morning. My one-on-one time with him usually covers daily Bible reading, read-aloud, math instruction, foreign language instruction, science/history reading, discussion on various things, and weekly writing composition instruction. It takes about 2-3 hours a day to do the above. I am happy with the arrangement this year and plan to continue next year.

We use textbook, workbook, and CWP.

I was going to use it for next year but ds got curious and started listening to them (I got both vol.1 and vol.2). Within a couple of weeks he had memorized the whole thing. Some of the things probably went over his head but he did learn tons from them in a very short time. The text that comes with the CD is very well written, ds picked up those two books after listening to CDs and started reading portions that interested him. If you have used other CDs with your students (like Audio Memory Geography Songs) with success, this will be a good investment.

Thank you! My animal-loving son will love this for summer reading.

Ds did not sleep through the night until 6. I tried EVERYTHING! One day after he turned 6 he stopped coming to our room in the middle of night. I was so happy!! I thought his sleep problem was solved. It is only recently I found out that he still wakes up in the middle of the night sometimes, but he stays in bed until he falls asleep. What I am trying to say is some kids are light sleepers so you might be doing everything right but not get any results. I have two friends whose kids also did not "sleep through the night until 6". Both of them found out later that their kids still wake up at night, they are just mature enough to stay in bed. Sorry I am no help. I do hope you find something that works for you and your child.

If you have a Costco near you, Vitamix usually does their in-store promotion in summer and their price is much better than buying online.

I was going to suggest K9 too, but I see someone beat me to it.