SOTW is definitely my favorite. Mostly open and go, lots of recommended books that I can reserve at my library ahead of time, great comprehension questions in the AG, maps and coloring pages, coordinates pages from the major history encyclopedias, fun, and quick to implement. It is everything I want and need for grammar stage.

For us they have been well worth the investment. We are in our 7th year of using this curriculum. I completed all the levels with my oldest two and am working my way through again with the younger set. The CDs became part of our morning routine years ago, and I love how they make it so very easy to complete. I know there are others who think they are overpriced, but for me 7+ years of near-constant use have made them very, very cost effective.

Roughly 7:30am breakfast, 12:30pm lunch, 7:00pm dinner with snacks at 10am and 4pm.

Leftovers -I purposely make enough food for at least 2 meals...that way hubby doesnt get all the leftovers Soup Chili Egg salad or chicken salad with gf crackers or veggies Quesadillas with chicken and cheese Hummus Salads - I have some great salad recipes using quinoa or barley (we are wheat free here)

I adore Plan to Eat. I have been using it for 2 years and have no paper recipes anymore. When I find a new recipe I want to try I can usually just add the link to Plan to Eat and, voila, it's available from my iPad or iPhone. It generates grocery lists based on which stores i want. I have a few friends who are Plan to Eat members, as well, and love that we can all share recipes. I highly, highly, highly recommend.

Praying right now!

You go, girl! Congratulations!

They go out and in and out and in and out and in and out and in and sleep in between. :-)

Six of the seven of us have been sick over the past week...fever, chills, aches, cough, sore throats, exhaustion, no appetite. The whole nine yards. It's been years since we've been this sick. Thankfully, my husband has thus far remained unscathed.

Thanks so much, Cat!

Neither do I, Chucki. I actually meant to thank you for breaking it down so simply for me, as I was struggling with understanding the reasoning behind the "it's rude" point of view. I am sitting here with the flu and clearly have too much time on my hands...not to mention feeling just a tad grumpy. Have a great Saturday!

One- I have always been under the impression that the socially acceptable response to an invitation is to follow the wishes of the host. If the invitation asks for "black tie" it would be socially unacceptable to show up in jeans because I would be more comfortable. If the invitation says "it's a surprise!" it would be socially unacceptable to tell the celebrant because I am so excited and can't keep a secret. In both of those examples I have placed myself and my wants/desires above that of the hosts. That is bad etiquette! Two- If someone is so upset by being told what to do with their money (like, save it), then they are more than welcome to bring a gift at a different time, when it will not make others feel awful. To go against the host's wishes puts others in a very awkward and uncomfortable position, as we have seen in this thread. I, personally, am never put out by people asking me politely to save my money for something more important. Three- See number Two. If people actually honored the polite wishes of the host, NO ONE would feel Scrooge-like. No child would feel sad. Four- This I just plain don't undstand. Maybe that is because I'm firmly in the "mean what you say" camp. I was taught to have "my yes be yes, and my no, no." Anything else is just dishonest. I guess I am just glad that we switched a few years back from compulsory birthday parties to a special day together as a family at Disneyland. It's far less stressful. :-)

Apparently we live in the same strange corner of the world! We've just always honored the wishes of the party-givers, assuming they had good reasons for making the choices they make.

I am in complete agreement with you on this. I find the responses in this thread baffling! I must live in a weird parallel universe since no-gift parties are normal and completely acceptable in my large circle of friends (both here and in CT when we lived there!!) When my kids get invited to one, they thoughtfully give the gift of their time in making a fun homemade card and maybe including a fun picture of my daughter or son with the celebrant. I guess I am glad that I live in a place where my family can invite people to a party, pay for all of the food and fun, and not offend anyone by requesting that they not go out and spend money on presents that we don't want or need :-)

We always request no gifts when we do birthday parties for the children. We simply say, "No gifts, please. The gift of your presence is all we desire." It has never been an issue. Every now and then someone will bring a gift, but usually not. The exciting part for my kids is having all their friends over with fun food and games. None of them has ever said that they missed getting gifts. Ever. I have never been offended at being invited to a "no gifts" party, either, and frankly don't even understand what kind of thinking could make someone be offended by it. Maybe it's because my children have always been so happy with their giftless parties. It's never been about the gifts in our family...always about the friends and fun.

Completely agree here. I'm on my fifth run through Kinder and my children have all been very well serviced by learning to read, forming letters and beginning to spell, and understanding number relationships in K. We also read A LOT. I do not worry at all about all those other things you listed. None of my kids have ever struggled with first grade, so I'm assuming we did OK.

It doesn't say "ONLY concern themselves with becoming good wives and mothers," it says "worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers." There's a big difference between the two. As a Christian wife and mother I would agree with that statement. Despite what the world thinks on that issue, my calling of wife and mother brings me, and nearly all of those believers that I know, great joy and fulfillment.

I am about to begin the FLL sequence for the fifth and final time and I really, really like it. The scripting was awkward for me at first, but I muscled through and now I love the "open-and-go-ness" of it. My oldest 2 only benefitted from FLL 1&2, and my third-born used through FLL3, since the others had not come out yet. My fourth-born is benefitting from all four volumes and, I have to say, the kid is a whiz at grammar. His definitions are solid. He is able to find prepositional phrases (including adjective phrases and adverb phrases), he diagrams really well, and his dictation and narration are great. No curriculum is for everyone, but this one is thorough, easy to implement, and efficient (we seldom spend more than 20 minutes/day on it...as little as 5-10 minutes/day at the younger levels.) HTH,

Well, my boys have a wide range of ages: 10th, 4th, and K, and I've got 2 girls, 9th and 7th thrown in there for good measure. Our read aloud time is fixed and everyone participates. What I do is read a wide variety of books/stories. I find that if I keep it varied in the areas of length and difficulty, everyone stays happier. My youngers are stretched and my olders enjoy the nostalgia of re-reading old favorites. So far this school year we have gone through many of the Collier Junior Classics and Grimm's Fairy Tales. We have also completed Anne of Green Gables (which was a huge hit with everyone, regardless of gender), Watership Down, Winnie-the-Pooh, White Company, the complete Perrault's Fairy Tales, and A Christmas Carol. No one is allowed to complain about book choice, and the youngers really do gain from the exemplary language and plot lines of the tougher books. I would definitely encourage you to keep them all together...it is such a precious time in our home!

We just got ours about an hour ago...so I am sure they are still arriving to mailboxes. Sorry. Waiting is hard!

Well, yes. I currently have a 10th, 9th, 7th, 4th, and K-er. Although I am still feeling this high school thing out a bit, and certainly do not feel like a pro, I am finding what works for us. My oldest 2 are taking math through Derek Owens and I have outsourced high-school level foreign language (Lukeion Latin and OSU German). This wasn't necessary, per se, but it sure lessens my load and makes my days more calm and less frantic. I think the key to teaching high school, at least for me, is to be organized, work hard, and acknowledge that outsourcing is sometimes the right, best choice.

I agree with all of this. Derek Owens math has been such a blessing for us. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

All five of mine have done great with Phonics Pathways. It's thorough, straightforward, and easy to teach with no frills.

Agree on all counts! We have done a 3 week road trip in the middle of the school year and would have happily made it longer if my husband could have gotten more time off from work.

:iagree: