I was going to say, "Oh, you poor thing," but you lost all sympathy when you posted the picture. :lol: I'm still more than 9.5 pounds over my ideal weight 10 months after delivering! :D (Just kidding. Sort of.) Wishing you a quick and speedy ninth month! :)

In the interest of charity, maybe they had to clarify because they were barraged by pro-Ken Ham e-mails? :D I looked up my state on the link above. Marv Munyon is one of the main speakers. Really? Really?!?!?! Sigh. This is why I don't attend our state conventions.

What an accomplishment! Yay for her! :thumbup:

It would be nice if the front few rows had people in "I <3 SWB" t-shirts. :D

{snerkle} {snort}{giggle} ROTFLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!! BTW, before the kerfluffle, weren't we talking about an awesome TWTM academically oriented homeschooling convention with actual workshops about teaching? I'd have to go search past threads, but I think even SWB popped in and suggested locations! Please tell me I wasn't dreaming! :D

We have a schoolroom. :)

No, I do not consider either Rod and Staff grade 7 or 8 grammar to be at high school credit level.

My boys use their desks for most of their schoolwork.

We had a wonderful time when my oldest was in first grade with Story of the World. We would do history 2-3X a week. We would read aloud one section of SOTW, do the review questions & narration, do a coloring page or map work, and then check-out and read a book or two from the suggested reading. We would do one of the extra activities every couple of weeks. The SOTW Activity Guide is extremely easy to use; much simpler than Sonlight in my opinion. I have been tempted by Sonlight several times in the past, but I take one look at everything they want you to do in the samples online and I feel faint. :)

Your boys are older than mine, so please take my advice with a grain of salt. I don't read to my older boys. {gasp} Just imagining myself having to do all of the reading makes me feel burnt out! :lol: I think the biggest thing I did that caused my boys to love to read is to institute a mandatory reading time every day. The 10 and 8 year old have to read silently for 60 minutes Monday through Friday. (This started in 1st grade for 15 min, 2nd grade for 30 min. and so on.) There are weeks that I pick the books and weeks I give them free pick (but I have veto power). I would strongly, strongly urge you to institute this. I think once they get bitten by the bug, they just get it. My boys read and read and read all the time even when it's not mandatory reading time. But, they still have mandatory reading time. :D Books the two are reading or recently read and have really enjoyed that don't involve dragons {grin}: The Name of this Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (series) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Solve-it-yourself mysteries by Hy Conrad The Boys Start the War by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (series) From Charlie's Point of View by Richard Schrimger HTH!

I did, too. I print out what I need each week. :)

Your boys play Retiarii versus Thracian. :lol:

{snort} {giggle} {gasp} LOVE it!!!!!

I always buy PHP items directly from PHP for this very reason. I'm sure I have cost more than the difference in bandwidth over the years. :D

Yes. I think it's going really well. He reads and summarizes the entire chapter on Mondays. Then, Tues-Thursday I have him read & outline or read & take notes from either the Kingfisher Encyclopedia or the Usborne Encyclopedia. Then, on Fridays, he writes a 1/2 page summary about any topic that came up during the week that he wanted to research more. He has to use a different resource than SOTW, Kingfisher, or Usborne for this summary. We bought a beautiful Timeline book from WinterPromise that he enters his timeline dates on. For mapping, I am using the Tapestry of Grace Year One Map Aids. The boys preferred them (and so do I!) to the SOTW maps. For next year, I'm going to splurge and get the Map Trek: Complete Collection. :-)

My son is like this. For toys, he's really enjoyed: Fischertechnik Mechanic & Static Kit Erector Motorized Racing Car & More For websites, he loves: http://www.discoverengineering.org/ For activities, he enjoyed last year: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/ In the future, he's looking forward to applying for: http://www.usna.edu/admissions/stem.html Hope this helps! :-) ETA: Oh, and the advice we've been given most and taken to heart is: "Concentrate on math, math, math! And writing." Hee-hee! :-)

We are doing this right now! If you buy the SOTW Activity Guide, it gives you the page numbers in the Usborne (and Kingfisher) Encyclopedia to read. We use SOTW as the spine, so yes, we skip around the Usborne and follow SOTW as written. We are 9 weeks away from the end of our year. It's worked really well for us. I plan on doing the same thing next year with SOTW II with a first, fourth, and sixth grader! :-)

Can I hijack for just a second? Please? :) I'd love to hear more about the Norfolk/Chesapeake/Virginia Beach area. We are setting up for a mid life adventure and seriously considering moving from WI. (We were looking at SC, but were frightened off.) And, I was born in VA! Fort Belvoir! (But, haven't lived there since I was 2.) :D

Oh my gosh! So cool! Congrats to your girls! :)

:bigear:

:iagree: Truly, I am shocked about how quickly and pervasively this has completely swept the homeschool community (and my Facebook news wall!!!) I'm a YEC and theologically conservative, but I <3 SWB! Her graciousness and public restraint are truly admirable. 1 Peter 3:8-17 :)

Congrats! :D

What a timely thread! It is currently 27-degrees and snowing and we are dreaming about moving South! Anyone want to hire an amazingly talented general contractor? :D

Well, you ladies know how to give a reality check! :D We are looking at the Charleston/Mt. Pleasant area. I'm somewhat familiar with Southern attitudes, living on the coast, big bugs and hot weather; my dad's entire family lives in the Morehead City, NC area (where I lived as a teenager). I don't remember being terribly frightened by hurricanes even though we had a few scares when I lived there. I have vague recollections about all of my friends going surfing then. I'm sure my feelings will be slightly different now as an adult now though, especially post Katrina. I think the jellyfish invasions freaked me out more. Yuck! How would you describe race relations? When I lived in NC, there were definite prejudices abounding. I don't know if this was because it was the South or because my town was really, really small. The N word was frequently heard. That was a real shock to this Northern girl. I guess our ideal town would be small-urban. Urban enough for non-prejudicial attitudes and good food, music, museums, libraries, and entertainment, but not too big that there are the huge urban problems. We live right next (8 blocks away) to Milwaukee -- population 605,000. This is too big. I think the job prospects are our biggest hurdle. Dh was a chef before becoming a journeyman carpenter working up to foreman before opening our own company, so he has a wide variety of interests and skills. He was looking at foreman / supervisor type positions with larger companies on the internet. Finally, stupid question, but how is the soil? I love to grow my own berries and veggies organically. We have a nice size garden that the entire family (except the baby, LOL!) enjoys working in. I've heard (from this board?) that the soil in FL, for example, is terrible for the home gardener. Can you garden in SC?

We just watched two episodes of Army Wives ... sorry it's out for you.