I always just sent one into another room w/ the door closed to color the coloring page or draw a picture from the story.

Perhaps. But if you count up how many successful orders vs. unsuccessful the unhappy outcomes would be far less than 1 in 3. I myself have ordered from them at least 12 times. I only posted that because I have had a similar experience. Way back when, there was this new online company called Amazon and I placed an order with them. They screwed it up royally and I had the darndest time getting a human being to care about my issue. Three months later the issue was finally solved (and not at all to my satisfaction). So I refused to order from them again for over 2 years!! Needless to say, we all know that Amazon does a fine job. I order from them monthly now, with nary an issue since that first fateful order. I merely wanted to point out that sometimes it is OK to give a company the benefit of the doubt and try again.

I wouldn't write them off completely. It sounds as though you got someone having a bad day. My experience with them (including phone calls & back ordered items) has always been great. They do have a great reputation for a reason. Sorry you had an unusual experience.

Story of the World meets all of your criteria, I believe. The AG is great for additional reading recommendations and projects, as well as coloring pages and maps. We always did written narrations of the stories, but if you prefer you could create worksheets instead based on the narration questions - should be easy.

I make my own granola - enough to have for breakfast 8-10 times (all 7 of us.) It takes a while to make it, but lasts a nice long time. You can google granola recipes ad find one that includes all the things you like. Sometimes we make parfaits with yogurt and berries and sometimes we just eat w/ a splash of milk. Muffins are also a great healthy make-ahead meal. Allrecipes.com is a great place to find healthy recipes. Our favorites are Morning Glory Muffins (shredded apples, carrots, raisins, whole wheat flour), Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Muffins, and Apple Oat Bran Muffins. Hard-boiled eggs are quick and fast w/ a piece of toast and fruit.

Why not just do the ETC books w/o the online component? All of my dc used Phonics Pathways w/ ETC, but it sounds as though your guy just needs some solidifying. I would probably start with ETC book 3 or 4 and go until you feel satisfied that he's got it.

I've just folded in the next child with SOTW - we've never had any issues. We've done the SOTW circuit twice and, minus a few year 4 topics, have not felt the need to edit.

"desynthesized?" ...In the words that don't exist department. Maybe she should turn her attention to vocabulary? Seriously, though. One thing I LOVE about FLL (and I feel that I can say this with at least a bit of authority, having used it 4 times) is that the review is there for those who need it and very easily skipped for those who don't. I have had kids fly through the whole thing rapidly, retaining all the info, and I have had a child who needed the review. It is gentle. It is quick. It is thorough. It is cheap. I like it.

I only have 2 who like coffee...and they are 7 & 4. We drink decaf. about 90% of the time, so caffeine is a non-issue. We just love the taste. Hubby drinks it black and the boys and I drink w/ a splash of cream and 1/2 tsp. of raw sugar. I love the fact that we can have special time in the morning chatting and sipping our coffees. It's a lovely thing.

..............

My favorites: Mr. Lincoln Joseph's Coat Perfume Delight

<Regularly more than a day at a time> My hubby works up in San Francisco 3-4 days a week and is then home for 3-4 days. It is actually a much better set-up than his previous job which included 3-4 commuting hours per day (gotta love L.A. traffic!) We just really focus on school and outside activities while he is gone and then relax and enjoy lots of family time while he is home. I really appreciate my hubby's willingness to do this which allows me to stay home. L.A. is a very hard place to live on one income.

My degree is in music education with an emphasis in flute. I met my pianist husband in music school while he was getting advanced degrees/certificates in composition and conducting. Currently I don't play much (I just got braces!) but my husband and I love to play together and I am looking forward to some post-braces jams. My husband is still very active with his music. You can see/hear his handiwork here and here. I am pretty proud of him!

Well, for us, it was crucial that we appoint guardians who are just as devoted to the Christian faith as we are. Since that narrowed it down significantly (most of our family are not believers) we then went with the family that are the most secure financially. Since we have five children, it would be no small financial change to suddenly have them to care for.

The My Father's Dragon series has always been our first chapter book experience when they finish Phonics Pathways. I purposely do not read it aloud to my kids because they have gotten so much pleasure and enjoyment reading it for themselves.

I home school so that the nosy folks in the neighborhood will have something real to gossip about - it's a public service, really. Oh, and so that I can use all those beautiful and VERY modest denim jumpers in my closet.

$3.74 here in SoCal.

1. What do you spend on groceries and household each month? Round to the nearest $50. $900 1a. How many people does this feed? 7 1b. So what is your per person allocated budget? $128 2. How often do you eat out in a month? 3-4 times 3. How often do you shop? 1 co-op order, 1 Costco order, 2 grocery trips 4. What area of the country do you live in? SoCal 5. What is the cost of milk where you live? $6.09/gal for organic, $3.59 for regular 6. The cost of a decent pound of hamburger? about $4 a pound 7. The cost of a 5 lb. chicken? $3 when they are on sale 8. The cost of one lb. of apples? 99 cents to $3 depending on type and time of year 9. Any unusual expenses? I buy many things in bulk through my co-op (like 50 lbs. of oats at a time.)

I am using this with 7th and 8th graders this year. It is beautiful - we all love the inclusion of history/mythology. It is HARD, so I would encourage you to go nice and slow. We will complete LftNM I in 2 years. I have the kids do all the text and workbooks exercises, finishing a chapter every 2-3 weeks. We frequently have to go back and solidify the concepts, redoing some of the exercises. All in all, I am happy with it. I wish I knew more Latin so I didn't feel clueless a lot of the time (but that isn't the program's fault :-) Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

It is definitely not old fashioned at our church...we have people over most Sundays.

This is my first year doing TOG, so I am still working out the kinks, but this is what we do: My D-level students answer all of the accountability and thinking questions in writing. We also usually do the church history questions in writing. I schedule one long discussion time on Friday afternoons. It usually lasts an hour. I do not schedule discussion time for church history - I just read their answers and discuss in little snippets throughout the week.

Are you using the Singapore HIG? My last, most wiggly first grader liked math better when we added in some of the activities in the HIG...using manipulatives, counters, the white board, etc. Singapore is such a solid program, it is easy to add in some games and spice it up a bit. That would be my choice.

Me too :-)

Yes, I have heard this spoken from the pulpit in more than one church. We have mostly attended churches that practice expository preaching, so it is mentioned when it comes up in the Scriptures. That is one of the things that I love about expository preaching - you can't skip the parts you think the congregation doesn't want to hear.

Yes, there are occasional pictures, maps, etc. The lecturer is addressing you...there is no audience, per se. I think some courses have more visual aids than others. The Early Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages had a few, whereas the HS Early American History course had more.