I would probably home church in your situation because the church situation you are describing would be hard on a weekly basis. Since you already seem familiar with the local churches I would probably(if not done at your school) attend a service for special days like Easter and Christmas. That is more because I enjoy the social element of group worship. If you are uncomfortable don't. Also good family discussion about what we don't agree with in a new church can be fascinating -- my children from a young age have spotted amazing things when sevices are discussed. They have been listening.

As someone who has visited several churches in the past few years you need to go a few times if the format (for lack of a better description) is different then you are used to. In the US we are Presbyterian and can quickly adjust to different churches. Usually it is a matter of which version of the bible and how modern the music is. A couple visits as long as we are comfortable with the sermons and we know if we want to start meeting members. In the UK it took several visits over a few years to understand that our village church was not really different from us in terms of core beliefs. Both reformed. Different articles but essentially the same. We always got lost in the paperwork and seriously could not follow the paperwork. It sounds a bit ridiculous but that was our problem. It took a new vicar who made sure we knew which book and page to make us comfortable regular attenders. Now that we get the system we can get through the stack that we are handed each week as well as most people. We love attending evensong on Sundays. We feel really fortunate to have such a wonderful church to worship in literally in our backyard. When you visit a new church I would simply be friendly. If approached ask about the programs you are interested in participating in.

There is definately plenty in the elements and carbon chemistry. We just did the units in order. Not alot of supplements which odd for us. We also did Christian Kids explore Physics the same year. We did some extra experiments without really coordinating. Just a separate experiment book for fun. We loved Ellen McHenry's courses. I wish we had done more!

We did pretty much all of her Lets Play and Find out about series when my dc's were little. I just added a few other library picture type books and we had great science. We enjoyed them. I own several of the older ones that I bought used. I do use them. I admit mainly for group situations where we need a presentation idea or to entertain little ones when needed. Great ideas and some things do require easy stuff that I have on hand. If you can get them from your library I would.

I enjoy this series too!

:grouphug: Wondering how she is doing? Also want to say that I really understand your situation because I am in a similar one. Any chance of dd staying with dh and just you visiting your family this trip? I go once a year by myself which is nice.

Sounds like we have the same ring! I no longer wear mine either. Just a plain gold band that I take off for household chores frequently but don't need to worry about losing except for the inconvenience factor.

Ds really likes beans. Black beans are his favorite. I keep cans on hand for emergencies. But they are really easy to crockpot. He loves them with rice and will happily eat them several times a week. He likes pasta too. We also but alot of cereal from Aldi. Cheerio type. Dh and Ds snack on it constantly. Much better for them then high fat salty stuff!

Considering Gods Creation by eagle wing publishing was a lot of fun. Hands on science crafts for lack of a better description. We combined it with Galloping the Globe and had fabulous workbooks to show the grandparents. Also liked Draw Write Now, LOF, Ellen McHenry......

I just added this to my list! Three weeks in and I am on the second page of my would like to read list! :) For Sherlock Holmes fans I recently read "The Ghost of Baker Street" by Val Andrews. It was a quick but really fun read. I loved the concept -- unfortunately I think it was the only one. It was about the Baker Street apartment being haunted by Sherlock after his death and the ghost finally finding a worthy tenent. Then the fun started!

I had no idea DCI Banks was a book series. I love the show so I am going to have to read the books. The last series was really good so happy watching. Thanks for the great new find!

Everyone here thinks he is beautiful! DS said WOW!

Not outdoorsy but both of mine loved making potholders. We have stacks of them! Klutz makes the nicest kits.

I have been told that they are more common with boys. Purely mom talk so no idea if true. Ds gets them frequently. He gets a tissue and keeps going. One of my brothers said he got them frequently when he was ds's age so I haven't worried. From this thread I might conclude that boys have some bad habits! LOL

I just finished "Merry Christmas Alex Cross". Pretty typical James Patterson book. I read it in one sitting this morning so good I guess. LOL

Since you like MP and plan to go back to it I would stick to MP. Especially if your son is currently willing to do the writing portion. Even if he doesn't "like" it-- I think you are ahead. My ds hates to write and I struggle with him over it daily. If you are getting it done I would not stop. I also think it will make it easier to add the latin into your program because it is sort of expected. MP was no where near as developed when I started home ed. I love the look of the programs and suspect we would have loved the full programs. We have used the Christian Studies, Prima Latina and up, and First start French. Loved all of it. We have also done a bunch of SL because the books were the best I could find and the study guide kept me organized. Usually used Shurley for LA. I have not seen the new LA programs but I never used the old ones except to use an occasional essay idea. There is no reason you can't integrate some or all the SL books into your routine. I would try one and see how it goes. The reading lists are great. If you are reading along with your child you will come up with plenty to discuss. Google things like locations and customs as you go. You will be fine without the study guide if your purpose is more the curl up together and enjoy a good book. If you have been happy with the MP track I would stick with it especially since everyone is comfortable.

:grouphug:

We have 4 kindle readers. The only time I ever had problems was when I had too many books downloaded at once. I had over 2000 books which created all sorts of gliches including being able to download easily. I now keep about 300 on each machine and no problems.

Another good site is sheppardsoftware which dd really likes. I am not sure how old your son is. I have recently been doing a bit of research for my kids. Evans moor has some workbooks which we have enjoyed when younger. Runkle is another curriculum. Bob Jones and abeka each have a cultural geography type course for ninth grade. There is also something called PAC geography also for high school. I hope this helps some.

I would talk to your doctor about this. I know one of the questions before receiving the vaccination is "are you currently ill?" Since you have bronchitis the answer is yes. But you also have the need to be protected during pregnancy -- doctors decision. IMO I hope you feel better soon! :grouphug:

My mom plants them in Michigan outside for the summer. They are lovely. Drys them out and they bloom for Christmas. I'm trying it on my own this year for the first time too! She says the secret is to dry them out and store in a cool dark place. I think the refrigerater sounds great.

Not painfull at all. We were all vaccinated same day by the same pharmacist. I was the only one who even felt it later and that because I sleep on my left arm where the shot was given. I simply could say I "felt it" no pain really.

When the kids were little I bought little stuff ahead all the time. Things seemed to change quickly at that age level. The workbook wouldn't be availiable the next year and I already had teacher's instructions etc. My friend who helped me get started had one bookshelf of things she had only been able to do with one of her kids because things became unavailiable. If it was under 10 and I was spending the money for a kit of some sort I bought extra workbooks. I order almost exclusively from Rainbow. This means free shipping if I order in $150 increments. I do all my shopping in the winter when we are in the states and tend to fill orders up with things that I know we will most likely use like later Henle books and MODG workbooks. Life of Fred was another one I bought ahead. This means I can buy one part of something and look it over and get more in the next shipment. I prefer to not have the hassle of returns but if I am really doubtful about something I will balance it with a keeper and spend more to keep free shipping if I return. By spreading out my purchases of safe curriculum my odds of getting everything I want goes up. Most of it I am happy with and have used.

dh and I both remember being afraid that glaciers were going to suddenly appear and scoop up Michigan again in elementary school. Both of us had nightmares at one point about it. Different school systems and did not meet til we were 14. Obviously the world cooling and ice age coming was taught to us in a most convincing manner. I see lots of data and it is very hard to convince me that much of it is accurate. From second ice age to warming in about 40 years is pretty dramatic.

We did General Science about 2 yrears ago. We really liked it but it did take daily work for us. We did a section every day or up to an experiment. They also completed the study guide as we went along. Instead of all at once. There is a student notebook that can go with the course that looks lovely. The notetaking requirements were the hardest part of the course for my kids and the notebook looks like it would help with that.