We all LOVED Kung Fu Panda! So much that *I* want to go see it again while it's still at the theatres! It was hysterical, and VERY sweet. The "hero" is very unassuming and finds the power within himself. His father is absolutely adorable ("You had the noodle dream! I've been waiting for this moment!" :D). Everyone learns a great deal about not judging a book by it's cover in this movie. Two thumbs WAY up. :) (and did I mention that it was hysterical? :lol: The 7 of us who saw it were quoting it days and days afterwards...)

:iagree: (well, not Wizard of Oz), but the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory completely freaked me out as a kid. Something about the kid who blows up like a blueberry or something. Eeeeew. lol DH talked me into watching the modern version when it came out. I adore the kid who plays Charlie, though, so he made the movie almost worth watching. Some time later, I watched the original with dh and - yep - it's STILL freaky! I had strange dreams for weeks. :lol:

We have an old set of encyclopedias that were dh's grandmother's. I think they're early 80s World Books. We love them - as someone else said, we use the internet if we need "very recent" information, otherwise we look it up in the good, old World Book. :) Definitely offer them up on Freecycle or Craig's List. You'll make someone's day! :D

We haven't so far, but I am considering it. Ideally, I would like to save the projects and experiments for the weekends. I am good at getting all the "stuff" together - and DH is SO much better at actually doing those projects with the kids. But, our evenings are so hectic, it's usually me doing the experiments with the kids and not really enjoying it (it just always works out better with 2 adults! LOL) This school year, also, the older kids (will be 5th and 3rd grade) will have a schedule of what they're expected to complete (pretty much on their own) each week. Whatever isn't done by Friday, they'll have "weekend homework" and will need to finish those things by Monday. :)

Yep! I actually am/was (before homeschooling began to take up all my "spare" time! lol) a cloth-diaper-making WAHM. :) I have my own pattern, but I've heard really good things about the following patterns: Mosaic Moon Very Baby hths! :)

We're using it this year for my ds (kindy). I'm adding Abeka Phonics and Math. We might make a few lapbooks, but we'll mainly keep everything in a notebook (with some lapbook elements, but in a 3-ring-binder). So far, we really love it. I have older children too (10 & 7), so we all take turns reading the stories with him. All 3 of my kids work on the art topics. FWIW, I pre-plan the books before we get to them. I have a folder for each book title. I print out anything relating to that book (maps, project pages, pictures, and even the book, if we own it!) and put it into the folder. (I do a search on the FIAR board and homeschool share for printables/ideas) Then I make a checklist with the topics I want to cover for each book (she has several options for each subject, so I pick out my favorite one or two options and type them up in my checklist). On my checklist, I also add a supplemental book title/topic list. So, a week or two before we "row" a certain book, I can just pull out my checklist and reserve books from the library on coordinating topics (a certain person, place, or animal for instance). I often get some of these books for my girls, so even though they're not doing FIAR, they can read some nonfiction books relating to some of the topics. We're also doing Galloping the Globe this year, so I found a list that puts the FIAR books into their countries - so we'll "row" those books while we're "galloping" that particular country with the older kids. :)

First, I am SO sorry about your chickens. :( I'd be heartbroken. :( This made me laugh because that's exactly how we wound up with our lab-mix dog almost 8 years ago. lol He's half lab, half shar-pei and an awesome dog. (even though I'm still not quite sure what possessed me to bring him home that day - we weren't even looking for a dog at the time. :glare: )

edited because it must not be exactly like TT7. :)

One of my favorite jumper-style dress patterns is the Anna pattern. You can find it at Sewzannes Here's a picture of the dress when it's made up ... (it's much cuter than the pattern pictures, imho). My dd's dress is a lightweight corduroy - but I made several in a heavier cord for winter with long sleeve shirts and tights. :) hths! Anna Dress #1 Anna Dress #2

Two of my very favorite books... I can't wait til my girls are old enough to read them. :001_smile: I read Hero first and remember being glad that I did, but now I can't remember exactly why! lol Looks like it's time to re-read these! :lol:

My ds is finishing up Pre-K and we just started BFIAR with him about 4-6 weeks ago. We're going to use both FIAR and BFIAR for kindy. Strangely enough, I'd looked at it when my girls were younger and I didn't "get" what exactly I was supposed to do. It looked like I would have to do a lot of the footwork and I wasn't up for that. lol This time, though, something clicked, and it's clear as a bell what I'm supposed to do and putting the lessons together has been SO easy. We are loving it so far. I enjoy the booklist tremendously. I've gathered up my lesson plans, etc, for the next couple of months and am really excited about this. :) We make notebooking pages - I read the story to ds the first time or two, then my girls take turns reading the rest of the week. My son, though, is one who will have you read his favorite book til the thing falls apart, so reading a story 5 times a week is nothing new to him, and actually the way he prefers it. :) (my girls would only want to hear a story once, so FIAR might not have been as successful with them...) Now, I don't know for sure - but I think Sonlight has you read just certain pages per day. My own kids would go batty if it were a "children's" book - they like reading from beginning to end if at all possible, and stopping on page 6 just wouldn't fly around here, lol. (and maybe Sonlight does have you read all of the Pre-K and K-aged books in one sitting - I consider Sonlight each year, but just can't ever really figure it out, so I haven't ever ordered it, lol) You have to supplement BFIAR or FIAR with math and phonics. We're using Abeka math and Abeka phonics for ds next year for kindy. :) hths a little bit! :)

IIRC it was around $3-$4.50 to have it done. I also spiral-bound the regular copy of SOTW so it stays open when I'm reading it. :) The only thing Staples can't spiral bound are hardback books. Anything else is fair game (and I've had many of the kids' workbooks and textbooks done like this!). :D I'm pretty sure Office Depot and Kinko's can do it as well, in case those might be more convenient. :)

I bought the regular version and divided it into two parts. The first part (with the teaching/lessons/ideas) I had spiral bound at Staples. The other section (student worksheets) I left loose so I could make copies for dd#2. It worked out better (for me) to not have all those worksheets spiral bound in with the teacher material. Now, I have a nice, compact spiral bound lesson book without the extra worksheets. :) hths!

I'm planning to do two full cycles for my oldest two. We're taking next year "off" more than likely (we are doing the Prairie Primer, and I think we're going to go ahead and spend that year studying American History). Then, we'll finish up SOTW 3 and 4 and begin again. After we finish that 1-2-3-4 cycle, we will spend a year or two studying government and civics and in-depth state history. At least, that's the current plan... :thumbup:

Hands down - the movie Seven (and it looks like I'm definitely not the only one! LOL!) DH and I were still dating and I liked "mind thrillers" and thought this would be a good one. DH had to pretty much haul me out of the theater when he realized I was sitting there crying and trying not to watch (and that was a movie you couldn't close your eyes to - the SOUNDS of that movie! :scared:). It's been.. what... 14 or 15 years? And I STILL have nightmares from that stupid movie and to this day, still, cannot watch a movie that's remotely "scary" because it'll bring Seven back up into my mind. {{shiver}}

We use Windex to clean our whiteboard. None of the markers I've found wipe off completely without a little Windex "help." I used to use the Expo whiteboard cleaner, but cannot stand the smell of it. Just one little squirt of the Windex cleans the entire board. hths! :001_smile:

This next year I plan to use the Homeschool Tracker. I've just downloaded the free version - not sure I'm ready to spend $49 just yet. :) I'll see how much I use it and decide from there... My girls will be in 5th and 3rd grade, so I'm hoping I can give them a printed-out schedule for their week (for the subjects they can do on their own) and have more time to spend with my K'er ds. :) (that's the plan anyway...) I'm using it now just for practice to get used to actually utilizing something like this. I'm not a record keeper by nature, so I need the practice! LOL

Thank you for the great food for thought!! :) It's fantastic to get other points of view. :) My dd is a math lover. Well, her favorite subject is science... she says she doesn't "love" Math, but she doesn't mind it and is very quick at learning new concepts. But, I'll definitely think on the "why" a little more. My only "why" at this point, is just that she will naturally (without any nudging from me) move through the Math 7 at a somewhat rapid pace (unless she really surprises me, which could happen). I took AP classes in jr high and high school and they didn't even present Pre-Algebra to me as an option. So, I've just assumed all these years that Pre-Algebra was a sort of "remedial" algebra. Obviously, I need to look into this more. :D My school years were spent just moving at the fastest pace possible, always moving to the "next thing" as quickly as possible. (not in a too-fast way - just in a ... why not? kind of way. lol) I'm thinking... maybe I'll slow her pace on Math 7 simply by finding a math book or program with a ton of story or real-life problems for her to work on in between TT lessons (instead of just moving to the next TT lesson). That should help reinforce the real-life math concepts even more. Oh - and we're already taking time off "regular Math" to work on those times tables. :glare: She gets math "concepts" exceedingly fast, but still has to stop and think on the times tables. lol So, we're working (along with her 2nd grade sister) to reinforce those times tables so they don't have to sit-and-think at each problem. lol

I'm expecting dd#1 (she's near the end of 4th grade) to go through the TT Math 7 at a fairly rapid pace. I see a lot of mention of Pre-Algebra here (I'm reading through a lot of past math threads, lol). I didn't take Pre-Algebra when I was in school, and planned to send dd straight to Algebra I when she finishes TT7. Now, I'm wondering.... :001_unsure:

Where I live, if they closed schools and businesses every time there was a tornado watch or warning, no one would get anything done or go anywhere between the months of Feb and October. :D The last "big one" we were involved in (1999, iirc), dh and I were driving home from the mall, listening to the info on the radio. We got home with about 10 minutes before it hit. My parents were trying to outrun it ( :confused: ) and left their house, then saw it, and tried to get into our house (which was all locked up because we were hiding out in a closet!). They literally hung onto the gate of our front door while an F-5 went by. :willy_nilly: We were so surprised to hear them banging on the door when things quieted down! (my parents lived right up the street from us, and the houses directly behind them were *gone* and their house was a tragic mess - so it was probably a good thing they were hanging on our front door 6 houses away instead of hiding out in their own house) Just 3 weeks ago, we stood outside watching a tornado form directly over our house. It formed the funnel, but didn't get any strength til it was several miles from our house (and even then was only an F1).

My 10yo dd finished Saxon 5/4 and took the TT placement test and we ordered Math 7 for her. We just received it this week and I think it's going to be just right. :)

I'm a huge, HUGE poodle fan. But, not a Shih Tzu fan. I've known only three, but they were all very snippy dogs. The ones I knew were much more suited to "one-owner-only" type families and didn't like new people at all. I read what you posted about the purebreds having genetic disease and just wanted to post an FYI. We're currently on our 5th poodle. Excepting one poodle who was prone to ear infections (which he outgrew after his first birthday), we've had zero with any health issues. Just wanted to post that in case you might be considering a pure-blood poodle. :001_smile: Our current poodle (who is awesome) actually showed up on our front porch right before Christmas last year. :D He was lost, and had been for some time. We posted flyers everywhere, notified the pound, and put an ad in the paper. Still, no one called for him. He's such a wonderful little dog, I'm amazed every day that no one was out there looking for him. :confused: He's ours now, though! LOL

We finished Apologia's Astronomy a couple of months ago and took a month "off" while the girls finished up their notebooks and added a few things. We're visiting NASA in FL next month as a nice cherry-on-top. :) We've started Apologia Zoology I. We actually have 2 pair of sparrows and a pair of robins nesting RIGHT outside of our breakfast nook window. So, we're learning a lot and taking lots of pictures! LOL After we finish Zoology I, we are probably going to do REAL Science Chemistry Level One to get us through til next Spring. Then, we'll start Apologia's Zoology II or Botany. :D

I haven't seen GWG before, but my dd's don't do a ton of writing with R&S. We do a lot of it orally, sometimes they'll diagram sentences on the whiteboard instead of a piece of paper (for some reason, that's always more fun! LOL). I look over the instructions. If something says they should copy the entire sentence, but I don't think it's neccessary, I just tell dd to just write the answer instead of the whole sentence. My dds just write the full sentences usually when they are making major corrections to a sentence itself, or writing a paragraph about something. Other than that, they just write their answer. :001_smile:

I really love the sweet little illustrations. :001_smile: I also like that the curriculum is non consummable, so I can buy one set of books and it will work for all 3 of my kiddos. I like all the review. If I feel my kid has "gotten it", then we skip that review. But, it's nice to have it there for the topics that seem to be giving that child a bit of trouble. :) We do a lot of the work orally. The explanations are very thorough and my kids (who really don't enjoy grammar - they'd rather be doing science, history or math) never have to ask me for more explanation. My 2nd grader can do most of the work on her own, which is super nice. And the price is fantastic, especially since one book set will be passed down through all my kids, then on to someone else after us! :D lol