Thanks for the suggestions! Map Art Lab looks like something he would love, I just have to get over my fear of mess. :001_rolleyes: I gave him some tracing paper and a map of North America. He had a blast tracing it, so we'll keep doing that as well.

You do have 45 days to file, so if you are feeling patient and don't absolutely need your money back right now, you could give her a week.

Woah! It was terribly unprofessional of her to provide excuses from her personal life and blow you off. I'm usually a very patient and understanding person, but in this case I'd go ahead and file with paypal.

Librarians are humans, too. A lot of this frustration can be relieved by just speaking with management and advocating for quality materials. I will say, I had several negative experiences with patrons over the years that involved them demanding out of print or obscure titles that would be costly, take up valuable shelf real estate, or just never be used by anyone else. In those cases ILL is best.

Oh! As for lost materials, for the record system my library used, items remained the catalog that were lost and unpaid for because they were attached to a patron record. It sucks because it is misleading for catalog searchers.

Oh boy. Libraries typically weed throughout the year to remove dated, gross, damaged, or unused materials. It's a necessary evil, otherwise materials would be too yucky or in bad shape to use, plus they must make room for new stuff. I would ask to speak with the branch manager and kindly advocate for materials for your homeschool. I'm a former branch manager myself and was always happy to accommodate patron requests within reason.

Oh! I need to re-read The Core. It has been a long time and that must be where this idea first popped in my mind. Thanks!

My son is in love with geography and we've been having fun this week drawing maps of the continents by hand. I have a copy of Mapping the World with Art, which looks wonderful, but he is 7 1/2 and I think he won't be ready for it for another couple of years. I would love suggestions for geography books or resources that include drawing maps. Even blog posts or personal stories of how your children learned to draw maps would be helpful. Thanks!

It looks very much like D'Nealian, but I am not certain. If it is, there are worksheet makers online that you can use to make sheets for your kids for practice.

I just wanted to chime in that Spelling Workout didn't workout :tongue_smilie: for us either. I did try to go beyond just the workbook by having him practice the weekly list words. Even so, the workbook felt like busy work and we dropped it quickly in first grade. I'm not sure when to start is best, but my 2nd grader has been using Spelling Power since then and loves it. He's a bit young for it probably, but he spells well so it is a good fit for him.

Ah! I was confused and thought that it was an entire year for that price! I guess I'm not understanding then how the program works schedule-wise. Would you have one book be 12 weeks and then buy 3 books per year, and then there are 4 years that rotate for a total of 12 books? Clear as mud?

Brilliant! I have this and plan on having him use it every few days to keep them fresh in his mind: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Wrap-Ups-WU-K103-Wrap-Multiplication/dp/B0007P95JA/

What a massive undertaking! I struggle to plan out 9 weeks for one child. :lol: The price seems very reasonable to me, however, even though I also couldn't follow someone else's premade plan. I can definitely see this being useful for a lot of homeschoolers.

Strange! I would email her and ask.

I just tried and it worked for me too. Coupon code applied successfully. PRODUCT PRICE QUANTITY TOTAL × Botany in 8 Lessons (Digital Download) $14.95 1 $14.95 Cart Totals CART SUBTOTAL $14.95 COUPON: BOTBYB14 -$5.98 [Remove] ORDER TOTAL $8.97

Are you buying the digital version?

:lurk5:

Thank you so much for this! I got both Mapping and Elements. :hurray:

We started back today! And I am already rethinking some of my plans... :lol: But it was a good day. My 2nd grader was very enthusiastic about starting up again and that's all I could ask for. :hurray:

I have a question. If Fix-It is purchased through Amazon from IEW (rather than their website which charges shipping), will the student book still be downloadable? Or is it only available if you purchase directly from IEW's website? I'm hoping to take advantage of free prime shipping.

Mo Willems brings my children such joy! Not to pick on your example... I try to keep balance between great children's lit and twaddle in my home, but I still let my children enjoy some fluff. Mo is definitely the former, however.

wow, great lists pitterpatter!

We started with Standards for 1a/b and loved the HIG. I then switched to US for 2a/b and we've enjoyed it just fine. I can't remember now why we switched, but it has worked well for us.

Great ideas in this thread. My kids would love a treat for breakfast or lunch, and it would make the day more memorable.

I love the idea of a huge box of books, but like others I satisfy this desire by ordering from various places throughout the year. I could never make such a huge financial commitment to someone else's plan. I did side eye a bit when I saw RS4K in this "secular" set.