We are half way through the first BFSU book. If your child loves science and you teach science on a weekly basis, the book would last from one year to 1.5 years. (I am including a lot of the recommended supplemental reading books and we will still easily be done with the book in one year.) What to do after? Well, we are going to do Beautiful Feet History of Science. I don't see science as, say, math where it might be best to pick one curriculum and stay with it all the way through. BFSU certainly isn't like BJU or A Beka or a traditional science text that you simply buy the next grade level when finished with the current one. It may be something that you really need to see and experience before you can fully understand. But it is not a traditional book! I bought it based off of reviews here and knew, going in, that many have complained that it was difficult to set up. :tongue_smilie: I would agree that it is, but once I devoted the time to sit down and set up a schedule, I really began to see the beauty of the program and see how it really does "build a scientific foundation." The big difference between BFSU and something like REAL science is that all of the sciences are integrated with BFSU. You study all of the branches of science in such a manner that the lessons hinge together and your child sees how they are all connected - so a biology lesson today may lead to a physics lesson tomorrow, which leads to a chemistry lesson next week. You don't spend a semester on biology, then a semester on chemistry, which is how I understand REAL to be set up.

Turnips won't make it this time of year. In Texas, they are considered a fall/winter crop. Replant between the end of August to mid-October. Cucumbers take a lot of water or else they get awfully bitter. I am in N Texas and have a large veggie garden. I would say by the time you factor in supplemental watering, you don't save any money. I do it because I love home-grown organic produce. Vegetable gardens take a lot of water to produce well. I water about every other day in this heat, where my rose gardens only need watered once a week. You mentioned raised beds. What is your soil like? What did you fill the raised beds with? Most "landscapers mix" or compost blends are too light and the water runs straight through. You might want to have someone from the county extension office look at your soil.

I don't know what your time frame is (an hour later? a day later?) or how big/small your library is, but I find that during the summer reading program it can take our library a day or two to get things checked in - even things that I turned in together may not get checked back in at the same time. (Our library takes the books out of the return box and sorts them onto rolling carts - DVDs on one cart, VHS tapes on another, children's books on one, etc. Then they are checked in by cart.) Our library was closed 2 days for the 4th of July holiday and I know that they will now be back-logged for 3-4 days after. I have made it a point to never return items around the holiday. :tongue_smilie:

I bought an adjustable school table at Lakeshore Learning http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/home/home.jsp when my son was 18 months old. Homeschooling wasn't on our radar at the time. I just bought it because it looked like a good table for DS's wooden train set, play-dough, finger painting and the like. We are still using the table daily six year later. It is extremely sturdy (you can stand on it, though we don't) and the surface is perfectly smooth for writing or painting. It is easy to wash after dissecting something or painting.

When we had our will done a few years ago, we were told that we should never store our will in a safe deposit box. When the bank is notified that one or more persons of a safe deposit bank is dead, the bank is legally required to seal the box to protect its contents until -- the reading of the will. If the will is inside the box... it becomes a legal nightmare. I worked for a bank for many years and that was our policy, as well. Thankfully, I never had to deal with that with any customers. A personal safe at home is probably fine - but you have to make sure that someone else has a key or knows how to access the key. Think through the situation... You and your spouse are dead or in ICU. A family member or trusted friend comes into your house. They need to be able to find the documents. Where would be the most likely place someone would look? That's where they need to be, if they are in your home. Otherwise, you can give a copy to a trusted friend or relative. Our lawyer told us to give a copy to our son's guardian, as they will need it immediately. We are in a position that we need to redo our will, as our guardian, too, has become unacceptable. :tongue_smilie:

We saw the Tut exhibit a few months before DS turned 7. We had studied Egypt so DS was very familiar with what he would see. We did the audio tour, which DS enjoyed. DS is very bouncy but did a good job. He was ready to run by the time we got through the exhibit, but he was never out of hand during the exhibit. (I did buy tickets for late morning and stuffed him full of protein snacks before we went in. I think most kids are more likely to get out of hand when they are tired or hungry.) I hate to say... We were at the start of the exhibit at the same time as a local public high school class. DS knew more about Ancient Egypt than those children did (based off their insipid remarks) and he was way more interested - many of the boys hung back and didn't even go near the exhibits to look at or read about. What a waste.

My DS was born ~33 weeks. I was very ill and didn't even know he was born until the next day. I started pumping about 36 hours, post-delivery. DS developed an "oral aversion" (normal for preemies) and hated anything around his mouth. Feeding was awful for seven weeks. Everyone kept telling me to just give up trying to nurse - but I didn't see how going to bottle feeding would help, as he wouldn't even take a bottle! At my six week ob/gyn check-up, my doctor told me to give it to his due date. She said that the sucking instinct is the last thing to develop and it is normal for preemies to be unable to latch on to a bottle or bre*st until their due date. Literally, the day after our son's due date, DS turned his head and latched on to his daddy! Daddy quickly handed DS over to me and I attempted to nurse right there, standing up in the kitchen. DS took off, nursing like a champ. Those seven weeks were so frustrating for me! If someone had told me earlier that DS wouldn't nurse until his due date, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. But - being told that near his due date - it helped me hold on and keep trying. I was very grateful that I did, as DS was later diagnosed with bad food allergies. It was nice to be able to nurse then to buy $$$ formula. I second/third the recommendation to seek LLL. I wish I had. I did start attending their meetings when DS was several months old and loved the meetings and info. Re: Cow's milk. Preemies have a higher rate of food allergies. Common allergens, such as dairy, eggs and nuts should not be a large part of the nursing mom's diet. (Wish I had known that earlier. I lived on peanut butter when DS was in NICU.)

I had been told that I couldn't get pregnant, and I hadn't had a cycle for well over a year prior to conception. I had morning sickness from, literally, the third day after conception. I was sicker than a dog for several weeks before I went to the doctor. I remember telling her, "I think I am losing my mind. I swear I have morning sickness but I know I can't be pregnant." Sure enough, I was pregnant. But before the doctor tested me, I seriously thought I was having major mental issues, like my mind was just playing tricks on me. Never once did I actually think I was pregnant! Had I not had bad morning sickness, I don't know when I would have realized. But further into the pregnancy, DS was so active that I can't imagine not knowing!

Thanks for the reminder why I homeschool! I just gave my 7-year-old son the 5th grade science test that was posted on the TAKS website. He passed it. Even the math related questions. Obviously, I think my son is brilliant ;) but I'm more inclined to think that the test is rather elementary. :tongue_smilie: (If you have 3 teaspoons of sand in a jar and add a cup of water, how much sand will be left after the water has evaporated?) I'm very glad to know that my son didn't spend a whole year of school prepping for those questions!

I made my own planner this year and opted to put the pages in a 3 ring binder so I can add and delete easily. I am still tweaking it... Some things that I really like: A monthly list of books we read for school. (Before I just listed them on our daily pages, but I like being able to look back through only a few pages instead of looking through every single day) A monthly list of extracurricular activities. (Just because I am Type A and like lists) I have two pages for each and every week of the year. This was my main complaint with pre-made planners - they only have pages for a typical school year. We start our school year in January and school year round. I wanted to have a place to record field trip information or outside classes, even if we were not officially schooling that week. I list all of our curriculum used and ISBN numbers of workbooks, where applicable. An on-going calendar, six months to a page, where I record our official number of school days. I can see at a glance how many days we have schooled, when we took breaks and field trips. Duds: I wanted an on-going checklist of subjects, so I could record things like history, science, art and music and see at a glance that we were getting all the extra's covered. It ended up being too much busy work for me. I wanted to start a reading log for my son. Didn't work, as DS reads bits and pieces of books here and there. (He pulls science and history books off the shelves and reads a page of this and a page of that.) Will try again when he is older and, hopefully, actually sitting down and reading a book cover to cover. :tongue_smilie:

My DS was premature. He had numerous ear infections, with moderate hearing loss prior to tubes at 11 months. But all his hearing tests after the tubes showed no lingering hearing problems. We are in Texas and he went through their ECI program, mentioned above, for speech therapy at age 2. DS still wasn't talking after months of therapy. Nothing. Not even sounds. We finally pulled him out of speech after 6-8 months. A month before his 3rd birthday, DS started talking. Complete sentences. "Dad, may I please have..." DS hasn't shut up since. :tongue_smilie: He may just be a late talker or he may need speech. It is so hard to take a "wait and see" approach. We were told for several years that DS's eye issues were "nothing" when in reality he needed sugery. Trust your mommy instinct.

DS used to be allergic to dairy (outgrew around age 5) and needed some serious fattening up. (Still does. Super skinny.) I just used traditional "gelato" or egg-free ice cream recipes, but used coconut milk. I never had a problem with them not setting up or not tasting good. I found that the finished product didn't have a sharp coconut flavor unless I added coconut extract.

We school year-round and DS still has plenty of time to run, play, sleep late, swim, bike, etc. That's why we homeschool - so that DS can have free time to just be a kid! We love the flexibility of homeschooling. He stays up until 10 p.m., reading, then wakes on his own in the morning. DS sleeps in most mornings, no matter if we are doing formal school or not. We live in Texas, where it can be brutally hot in the summer. I would rather hit the books hard in the summer and take a month off in the spring and another month in the fall, when we can actually be outside and enjoy the weather. We take days and weeks off here and there, as needed and wanted. Our neighbors have a pool and they routinely heat it up in the winter, if the air temp is decent. The past few years we have swam at their place on Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. So, for us, swimming isn't a summer-time only activity. We do go to local water parks in the summer, but they generally don't open until 11 - we can still get a few hours of school in. One city water park (ie: super cheap) opens at 10 so we often go there for two hours, come home and eat lunch, then do school in the afternoon. We love our year-round schedule, but I know it isn't for everyone or for every family. But it is perfect for us.

I bought a set from 1985 - brand new condition - for $5 at a garage sale last year. Originally, he was asking $10 but he had marked everything half off late in the afternoon. They are seriously in brand new condition. The gold edging is beautiful. Every book "cracks" when you open them. No smoke smell or crumpled edges. Just beautiful. I know our library sells newer editions, though worn, at their used book sales for $20 or less. $100 seems steep to me.

I went to an Oral/Maxillofacial Doctor that specialized in TMJ.

I had surgery for TMJ 18 years ago. I had an MRI before. I was told at the time that I would need additional surgery down the line. Knock on wood and all that, so far I haven't had any additional problems. I woke up from the surgery and felt great. Well, I was sore. And horribly swollen and bruised. But my jaw felt great. No regrets.

Yes, it is red yucca - Hesperaloe parviflora. Awesome plant - great for attracting hummingbirds.

http://www.the-book-cover.com/ Good used book store http://www.creativeartsinaction.com/ Sells new and used homeschool books, plus offers classes. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HorizonHS/ Yahoo group for Denton and Tarrant county We just had our conference in Arlington last weekend but there is another (smaller) one coming up in Plano. http://www.nthen.org/

I posted re: their 'core curriculum' math book (Mathematical Reasoning) a month or so ago. Sadly, no one had any feedback. I have used their math books from preK on. We are currently half way through their 2nd grade book. I wonder how they compare to other programs, like MUS and Singapore. DS loves their math books and he scored more than 2 grades above on his ITBS last November. But I feel like I am the only person in the world using their math program! :tongue_smilie: I worry about getting another grade or two in and finding out we were on the wrong track. In addition to their Mathematical Reasoning books, we have used and enjoyed: Building Thinking Skills Can You Find Me? Visual Perceptual Mind Benders Dr. DooRiddles Duds at our house: Thinker Doodles (DS hates to draw. I thought this might entice him to draw. It didn't.) Complete the Picture Math Book (Same reason as above.) Language Smarts. (DS hates to write and this was just way too much of a workbook for him. I like it and will pull it out again later and re-try.)

We started using BFSU earlier this year. I was glad I bought it earlier than needed so I could read through it, freak out, then settle down and figure it out. I knew that there were schedules on the Yahoo group, but I wanted to figure out a schedule for myself first, then compare. (Our finished schedule is below.) For the individual lessons, I find that I do better if I read the lesson the night before and make notes. It only takes 10 or so minutes to get the lesson read and pull together the supplies. (Most of the supplies are household items and I made a list by lesson, at the time I was making the schedule. I also made a list of supplemental books I wanted to read and keep a week or two ahead, so I can get them from the library.) I think I am learning as much as my DS with this program, even though I have a college degree with a minor in a science field. :tongue_smilie: I have had so many "Aha!" moments. And DS loves the hands-on activities. He is learning an incredible amount - and asks daily if we can do more science. Page 39: A/B-1 Organizing things into categories Page 45: A-2 Solids, liquids, gases Page 127: B-2 Distinguishing living, natural non-living and human-made things Page 51: A-3 Air is a substance (Concurrent with C-1 and D-1) Page 249: C-1 Concepts of energy I: Making things go Page 309: D-1 Gravity I: The earth’s gravity Page 57: A-4 Matter I: Its particulate nature Page 261: C-2 Sound, vibration and energy Page 271: C-3 Concepts of Energy II: Kinetic and potential energy (Concurrent w/B-3) Page 145: B-3 Distinguishing between plants and animals Page 153: B-4 Life cycles (Concurrent with B-4A and B-4B) Page 161: B-4A Identification of living things Page 166: B-4B What is a species? Page 218: B-10 Plant science I: Basic plant structure Page 80: A-6 Matter II: Air pressure, vacuums and the earth’s atmosphere Page 98: A-8 Matter III: Evaporation and condensation Page 227: B-11 Plant science II: Seed germination and seedling growth Page 64: A-5 Distinguishing materials Page 105: A-9 Matter IV: Dissolving, solutions and crystallization Page 113: A-10 Rocks, minerals, crystals, dirt and soil Page 316: D-2 Day and night and the earth’s rotation (Concurrent with D-3 and D-3A) Page 321: D-3 Read and draw maps Page 327: D-3A North, south, east and west Page 72: A-5A Magnets and magnetic fields Page 334: D-4 Land forms and major biomes of the earth Page 176: B-5 Food chains and adaptations Page 184: B-6 How animals move I: The skeleton and muscle Page 190: B-7 How animals move II: Different body designs Page 198: B-8 How animals move III: Coordinating body movements Page 278: C-4 Concepts of Energy III: Distinguish between matter and energy Page 206: B-9 How animals move IV: Energy to run the body Page 364: D-8 Rocks and fossils Page 236: B-12 Plants, soil and water Page 340: D-5 Time and the earth’s turning Page 347: D-6 Seasonal changes and the earth’s orbit Page 284: C-5 Inertia Page 291: C-6 Friction Page 301: C-7 Push pushes back Page 355: D-7 Gravity II: Weightlessness in space Page 89: A-7 Air: a mixture of gases Page 376: D-9 Resources: Developing an overview

I agree. I have an only boy, also age 7. He attended preschool for a few months, otherwise has always been homeschooled. We live in the city - and in an area where homeschooling is extremely popular. (Thus nearly every business has classes offered for homeschoolers.) DS is very active :tongue_smilie: and fairly outgoing - he likes to be "out and about" or have friends over but he also likes to be home, playing by himself. I tend to follow his lead for socialization, as he is vocal (in a good way) about what he is interested in and what he isn't interested in. I have found that - for us - two scheduled activities is optimum. Any less and we both feel antsy. I can manage three, but any more and we feel too frazzled. Two still leaves us plenty of time for school work, field trips and impromptu park dates. It took me a year or so to find what works best for our family. DS is good friends with two public schooled neighbor kids, both basically 'only' children - one is a tag-along and the other has a new baby sister. They are both very outgoing. But they are like little puppy dogs wanting to constantly play. (Both mothers have said that about their own children, otherwise I wouldn't use that analogy, but it fits.) I love the neighbor kids - but they wear DS and I out by their constant, "Play, play, play. We want to play" attitude. I often feel that the mothers look at my DS and think, "Oh, that poor lonely homeschooled only child." But they don't see or realize that DS has a lot of quality socialization opportunities. Quality, not quantity. I look for something active (P.E. or dance), something artsy (art or music) and - because we have quality academic homeschool classes in our area - something educational (chess or science.) We have found several very good friends through those activities and the continued the friendships beyond the classes.

:iagree:I ordered mine from Peacehill Press late last Wednesday and received it Saturday morning. I was shocked at how quickly they shipped!

We had a similar incident with the six-year-old neighbor girl several months ago. I think she got the "college" issue either from her public school teacher or from her older brother, who will be going away to college in the fall, and she was just parroting back what she had heard.I was present when this girl said something to my child about college, but found out later that she had made similar comments several times in the past. :glare: That is the same thing I told DS.

I ordered mine Wednesday afternoon through PHP and it came in the mail today! :001_smile: It is a wonderful book, Susan. (I've been reading it most of the day.) Thank you for the new edition - and for the speedy delivery!

Thank you, Rose, for your post! I am a book addict and sometimes wonder how we are ever going to find the time to read all the books we own. (Meanwhile, I am about to hit our library's used book sale this weekend and get some more. :001_smile:) Your post inspired me to pull a new chapter book off the shelf today. Late afternoons are always so hard on me and I realized, after reading your post, that that would be the perfect time to lay on the couch and read to DS while he plays quietly nearby. We finished half of a chapter book today! Now if I can make this a habit.