I am having a hard time finding a workbook to use for this level. I am finding that comparing grade level workbooks does not necessarily mean it is in in line with Saxon 76. Even Abeka Gr 5 looks harder than Saxon 76. So if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Thanks, that was a huge help. I had purchased it from Amazon and did not know there was an actual website for the program. I am even more excited now. The lesson plans remind me of KONOS!

I am hoping to use this for our HS Biology. I was wondering what exactly is in the study guide portion of the DVD's....Booklist? Workbook pages? Experiments? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This was my immediate reaction too. My dd is almost 12. We started having the conversations about modest dress when she could no longer wear a 6x. I was shocked at the transition. It does get more difficult as they get older. There is a website called Pure Fashion dd likes to go to. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link it, but it is easliy found in a google search. Just my $.02.

I've seen crayons put in muffin tins and melted in the oven. Makes big crayons for the littles. Wish I hadn't just gotten rid of my old muffin tins. :(

We would just pick which days during the week we had available. I didn't want to tell dd she couldn't do something with her friends because of schoolwork. It wasn't that we didn't complete the number of days, so we didn't have to worry about doing so many days in the summer. I schooled just math and reading the summer so that the skills would be retained and to play a little catch-up. It was a very relaxed sort of thing, maybe an hour in the morning.

I've thought about this too. Seeing my dd take her books to the bathroom didn't help either. I still check them out, but I don't take library books to bed with me.

Like you we just relax. We may go to the local grocery store for fresh fruit and such. I do know of people who have literally taken and prepared their own food when traveling, but it was mostly due to allergies. They used a rice cooker, toaster, microwave..... That's all I can remember. Most hotels have microwave access. The rice cooker evidently was used a lot too. We had a family over from out of town and I don't think they ate anything when they visited except apples. All their food was prepared in the hotel room. Hope you had a good time at Disney.

I don't do a lot of grading stuff. We move on even if things aren't perfect. We may review a bit if I see she isn't getting something.

Praying right now.

Well I don't know if you are in the minority, but I agree with you. I prefer to be addressed Mrs..... and I want my children to do the same. Here in the south Miss (insert first name) is very common. Unfortunately, it's just a gateway to being addressed by just your first name pretty quickly, so I'm always referring to myself as Mrs. when talking to young children, for example, "This is Mrs....is your mother available" when I call on the phone. Adults often tell my children to call them Miss First Name and I just let it go.

I don't mind helping out. Sometimes they will know it's me if I am doing somethin on a personal level -bringing food, watching kids, etc. But if there is a collective helping out I don't care if they know I'm involved or not.

Double pane windows help. We don't hear our neighbors outside music unless the windows are open. Maybe some of the fast growing evergreens in a hedge like Leyland Cypress??? There's a hardier one but I can't think of the name.

Try it and see how it works for you. I know I was surprised that my dd could be doing things while we read and still knew exactly what was being read.

By negativity, do you mean complaining? I handle complaining as a discipline issue.

What I have seen done on other boards is that you may state your opinion but you may not quote someone elses and comment/contradict them directly. I think discussions that stir the pot in a gently way is good for training the mind. Just my $0.02. I would also be willing to pm with you.

I use Burt's Bees sunscreen for my daily moisturizer. It's all natural without being all-white looking. Now that it's summer it goes on my arms as well.

This has happened when my son is logged on to his yahoo account. I just ignore it and let him know later who IM's him. I figure the IM'er will think the account has just been left logged on but no one is there. ????? does that make sense?

This time of year we make blueberry iced tea. The girls almost always bring doll. I haven't done it yet, but next time we will have chocolate dipping sauce for strawberries. I usually serve fruit as well as a sweet.

I get this quite often as well. Followed by, "but I could never do that". My dd is also told how lucky she is to be home schooled.

While you are waiting for testing results you could try a book called Why Johnny Can't Read. It's probably at your library and has a simple little program in it. While using this book I found my son in the 5th grade lacked basic phonics. I also started him in McGuffy readers. Not sure I would do that again, but it worked. But some sort of easy book that doesn't look babyish.

We use as many books on tape from the library as possible with the book to follow along. That way dd is still getting increased reading comprehension even if she can't do it on her own. It's also easier to get her to read assigned books instead of just the books she reads for enjoyment.

For the California Goldrush, we loved By the Great Horn Spoon. Our library had it on tape and it was great. Also, the American Girl books on Joesphina and Kirsten cover this time period.

Any game that requires 2 dice will cover some of the facts. We also played the card game War where you turn over 2 cards that would have to be added together to determine the winner of the round. You may want to remove some of the 10 point cards otherwise there is a lot of adding a number to 10. I'm sure you will get lots more suggestions.

St. Therese Academy.