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It's working for us without one. Was the edition you purchased orginally published with a cd? If it wasn't listed as coming without a cd and the edition you received came with it orginally, it would be worth contacting the person from whom you bought it and ask if they will send you the cd. It's possible they may have simply forgotten to include it. Here's what the SP website says about it: Q. I have the "3rd Edition" of Spelling Power. What is the difference between my book and the "10th Anniversary Edition? A. We have not changed the way that the Spelling Power program works. The only difference between the older "3rd Edition" and the newer "10th Anniversary Edition" of the Spelling Power program is that the 10th Anniversary Edition comes with a Spelling Power Teacher Resource CD-ROM that contains copies of the forms (pages 304-322) from the Spelling Power manual and the Discovery Activities (starting on page 269) formatted to print out and have a core set of Activity Task cards. We also include some handwriting practice sheets and crossword puzzles for the lower levels. You can easily "upgrade" your copy of Spelling Power by adding a copy of the Teacher Resource CD-ROM for only $4.95 (including 1st Class Postage). Just visit the CD-ROM order page. http://www.castlemoyle.com/faq1.htm

Started out because we were moving, so didn't know which school system she would be in for kindergarten, as we didn't know how long it would take our house to sell. I didn't want her in the very high poverty public school where we were previously living due to the rising drug and crime issues in the elementary school. Also, she was reading at a second grade level and didn't tolerate boredom gracefully. Now, three years later, because we are enjoying the freedom and possibilities.

Agreed. I am not comfortable, nor do I look good, in a straight cut skirt or one that is shorter than mid calf. I don't have to worry about modesty when I sit down or bend over, etc. :p Try imagining the looks *I* get when the folks making the assumptions find out that the stay at home mom who always wears skirts or dresses, has a long gray ponytail, stresses modest behavior and dress for her daughter, has not had television service for years because of the content, refuses to buy Bratz dolls or even remotely suggestive clothing for her 7 year old, is very active in her faith community and classically homeschools her child is actually a Neopagan! I'm afraid I rather mess up the stereotype for them :D.

I have to admit that my husband tried on a utilikilt (http://www.utilikilts.com/?page_id=30) a couple of weeks ago, and ....my goodness :D. If we could afford the $250 he would have one right now! He looks much better in it than in jeans, honestly. (btw, it has a modesty snap for things like climbing ladders, etc---a friend of ours has two and loves them)

I wear skirts and dresses pretty much exclusively (only exception really is when we go to the Y to work out under a really long tshirt). I wear them because they are comfortable and I look better in them (I've *seen* my rear end in pants---:eek:). My preference is for skirts that are at least mid calf if not a bit longer, and that are fairly full so that I can move around (at least an A-line). Our winters are pretty mild, but I will put a pair of leggings under one of my longest skirts for sitting out at the park all day with the homeschool group when it's going to be chilly. Not horribly fashionable, but my typical thing in colder weather is denim skirt/folded over cuff socks/tennis shoes. For dressier occasions, trouser socks (hence the really long skirts <g>) and loafers or low pumps. When it's warmer, I wear sandals.

Unfortunately comprehensive and nicely illustrated don't always go together. It also depends on whether you want this as a resource or read aloud vs. at a child's reading level. Mary Pope Osborne's "Favorite Norse Myths" and "Favorite Greek Myths" are nicely illustrated introductions aimed at children, but not comprehensive (you can look inside them at Amazon). The Norse one appears OOP, but should be available used. The Greek one shows up as in print. For the Greeks, my husband says D'Aulaire is a good introduction, he doesn't care for the Bulfinch or Edith Hamilton versions overall. He hasn't seen the D'Aulaire Norse myths (our focus is more on Hellenic, so we have more in-depth experience with those) For a much older child or as a read aloud on the Greeks, he says it's hard to beat Gustav Schwab for a complete collection, but it only has spot illustrations. (part of the Pantheon series listed below). It's the best one volume collection he knows (768 pages :)) For Norse myths, he recommends Kevin Crossley Holland as being comprehensive ("The Norse Myths", part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library--320 pp). The edition we have is illustrated, he says, but not profusely. You can "look inside" at it on Amazon. Here's his blog post on his favorite Hellenic kids' books which may give some ideas http://executivepagan.wordpress.com/2007/03/10/favorite-pagan-kids-books-part-1/ Most of the books we have focus more on individual myths, but they are beautifully illustrated.

Here's a site that includes some tests for cultural literacy that might be fun http://www.readfaster.com/culturalliteracy.asp Note that they are not all totally correct. In the Mythology I test, for example, they say that Aphrodite was the Greek Goddess of erotic love and marriage, but Hera was actually the one of marriage. I am not 100% sure about Venus in Roman mythology (the two systems overlapped a great deal, but there were some differences that tend to be glossed over).

We went a couple of years ago and stayed in a hotel out in the suburbs between Boston and Plymouth, as we planned to go to both. I think it was a Residence Inn or some such, and I believe the town was Brockton. Nothing in Brockton that we particularly wanted to see, but it was about halfway between and we were able to get a suite with a separate bedroom and a kitchen for a reasonable rate. This was important at the end of a two week driving trip!:) We took the train into Boston (very convenient) and had no problems, but drove down to Plimoth Plantation. We were lucky enough to be there during homeschool days. http://www.plimoth.org We loved the Children's Museum of Boston, and it was one of the best children's museum I have seen. They have an entire traditional Japanese house inside that was moved over from Japan and put back together by traditional craftsmen (btw if anyone knows how to get a copy of the video of the project, please let me know, we've been looking for it for years). The whole thing is in a three story warehouse--it's huge! http://www.bostonkids.org Here's a list of the other museums in the area http://www.museumsofboston.org/ We had a somewhat limited time and chose to go to the science museum rather than fine arts based on the Star Wars exhibit that was there at the time (something my husband wanted to see and we were meeting someone there). I had wanted to take my daughter to see a real mummy, and both places were supposed to have one. Unfortunately, when we got to the science museum, they told us that the mummy had only been on loan and had gone back, which was disappointing since we didn't have time to go to the fine arts museum as well. I wish we had done the fine arts one instead, as we found the science museum nice but not really special. A place we wanted to go but did not have time was the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester. http://www.higgins.org I found places like http://www.bostonkids.net/ and http://travelwithkids.about.com/od/bostonwithkids/Boston_With_Kids.htm to be useful in finding out about things to do. Depending on your time frame and ability to travel (ie will you have a car), you might consider driving down to Cape Cod, etc.

What in particular do you like better about i-Science? We are using i-Science 3 as a review/fill in some gaps this semester but planned to start MPH 4 in the fall because I think I am going to like the Higher Order Thinking Skills book and the fact that they have tests available for MPH. I am one of the ones who prefer a mix of disciplines during the year. It seems to work better for my daughter (and more likely that I will follow through!;)).

I agree that the "i before e" one is the only one I have ever really used. My daughter is pretty much the same, so we aren't stressing the rules. We just finished the last of the Explode the Code books about a month ago and we have gone to Spelling Power for her. We both like it because you only work on the words you don't know how to spell. I guess I am a pretty visual learner, because I usually judge a word on whether it "looks right". The only drawback to this for me came because I have always read a lot of British authors, so British spelling crept into my schoolwork. It looked right :).

I *think* so, but I am not sure that they stress them. We have done all the books and I loved the program, but I and my daughter are both what is termed, I believe, "natural spellers", so we haven't really had a need to memorize the rules to do well. We have gone on from ETC 8 to Spelling Power, which does indeed include the rules as part of the daily exercises, but also only requires you to work on words you can't already spell. If you google "explode the code" and go to the first hit, you will be able to click on the various levels and see what they cover, which may help.

Unfortunately it's a very common phenomenon at least in this part of NC. There are tons of folks who are homeschooling specifically as part of their desire to avoid ever interacting in any way with anyone who is different from them religiously. I know this because I have heard them say so explicitly when I have done things like attend one of the statewide NC Home Educators activities (which turned out to be basically a long Evangelical Christian worship service with a bit of homeschooling thrown in--I was naively expecting that they intended to represent *all* homeschoolers in NC--not so) and other activities. I have friends who have tried just mentioning our inclusive homeschool group with them while at other activities and been met with utter revulsion and "how could I allow my child to be with people like *that*?" (when I would say that the majority of the members of our group are Christian, many pretty conservative, so I'm not sure what "that" means). It shows up in the large number and size of groups that require you to sign a very specific statement of faith (and may still reject you even if you sign if they aren't satisfied about everything they know about you). I know of folks who are "passing" in some of these groups just in order to get access to some activities they can't find elsewhere, but they have said they are constantly walking a tightrope for fear the wrong person will find out and "out" them. They have some activities we would enjoy, and I have the rhino-hide, but I don't want my 7 year old to have to have one at this age. Now there are a lot of folks who may come across as exclusive unintentionally and when asked will actually thank you for bringing your concerns to their attention because it just didn't occur to them that anyone might have a problem with "x" activity. You can find these folks in pretty much all denominations and religions (or at least I would like to think you can). I will admit that I have to work particularly hard sometimes to take the same sort of attitude toward Christianity that I do to other world religions both because our community (both locally, with family and in homeschooling) is so saturated with the expectation that is the only way to be and because of my experiences with those (including my family) who are on that very exclusionary end, the ones who view anyone who is different as an active source of contamination.

I looked at Writing Tales, but we really don't need something else with grammar as we are very happy with our grammar program. Classical Writing looks like it might be a possibility, though the poetry book online looks to be about half Christian-specific content, so I am a bit concerned that the percentage of such content will be higher in the upper levels. What I can see from the online samples looks like they are not as heavy in Aesop and Homer on Christian-specific content as many others (though I wouldn't go so far as to say that it looks like it is non-existent, at least from my perspective:)). I realize that I can choose my own models and substitute, but I am really hoping that I can find one where that won't be an issue. For me, the point of picking a curriculum for this sort of thing is that I *don't* have to do that. I am also aware that I am likely swimming upstream as this type of instruction is primarily in favor among Catholic schools and the like.;)

I am looking for a good solid secular writing program, hopefully one that will carry us through for several years. This year we are doing Growing with Grammar 3, Wordly Wise 3000 level 3, have finished the last of the 8 Explode the Code books and working on Spelling Power (she is working in the mid-4th grade range), and have gone through the HWOT beginning cursive book. She reads very well and voraciously. Occasionally she will write a short story on her own, but we haven't done any really formal writing yet (reports, paragraphs, etc), just sentences in response to questions in other subjects. So far for next year, we are planning GWG 4, switching to Vocabulary Vine to do Latin and Greek roots for vocabulary and continuing Spelling Power, as well as looking at adding in a more formal start to literature study. The pieces to be able to write are all in place, so I want to find something that will be interesting and help guide her to more writing. We are fine with a textbook/workbook approach, as it helps keep us on track. Any suggestions?

Depends on what you need. Ancestry has the best census info I have found. If you know the state and county where your ancestors lived, you will want to google the usgenweb sites for those counties. They have material that volunteers have posted, often including some good transcriptions of source documents. Google "usgenweb" along with the county and state name. http://www.familysearch.org is the Mormon site and it has a free software genealogical tracking program callled Personal Ancestral File that you can download. It works very well and handles large amounts of data (I have over 6000 in mine right now) as well as area for notes on each person, customizable data fields, multimedia capability (add photos, etc), prints a variety of reports, etc. Great place to start.

The sensei at our aikido dojo and her kids (ages about 8 and 5) do TKD in addition to the aikido for a more cardio kind of workout, if that helps.

We used ETC, added in Bob books about ETC 2, as well as Dolch sight word cards and Dick and Jane books (through a happy coincidence, as Dick and Jane helped my daughter gain confidence). We added in other leveled readers and easy readers from the library as things progressed. Phonics Pathways and 100 EZ lessons were both total busts for us. ETC has been a great program and she loved it. She also played a bit with http://www.starfall.com. I think ETC is as much of a stand alone program as most others, but then my daughter picked up reading early and easily, so that may make a difference in my perception. We have now finished ETC all the way through level 8 and gone on to Spelling Power for spelling. We did an abbreviated form of FLL for grammar last year and now we are doing Growing with Grammar 3 for grammar. One thing that my daughter enjoyed that is easy to do---I made up silly little stories for her using pet and family names along with words she knew or could sound out, but with no illustrations (or let her illustrate them once she read them). This helped remove the visual cue of the pictures so that I knew she was really reading the words.

No, not kicking at all and I don't think punching either (again, I don't take the classes so I am not 100% sure there are none, but certainly not to the level of most of the other martial arts I have seen). That's part of what I really like about it. There is some sword work (with wooden practice swords), but they will be doing lots of rolls, falls, etc. Here's a youtube clip of Donovan Waite Shihan, who came to our dojo for a training seminar last fall and will be back this year. It will give you an idea of what it looks like. The ones in hakama (the black pants---I think I spelled that correctly :)) are the upper level students, the lower level ones are just in the gis (white uniforms). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61mDBo6mLio&NR=1

Japanese, defensive rather than offensive, works on using the opponent's energy against them and seeking to protect the opponent from injury as well as oneself. It grew out of Shinto. My 7.5 yo daughter and my husband take a family class once a week, then he takes another adult class once or twice a week. I don't know how common it is to find a kids' class. Our dojo is a small family one on the family's property, run by the couple. They have two children who train, so they have the limited kids' class once a week (their kids are a bit older and a bit younger than my daughter). Here's the link to the United States Aikido Federation, to which our dojo belongs. http://www.usaikifed.com/info.html It's not, at least at our dojo, one where folks progress quickly through belt levels, so if accumulating levels quickly is a goal, this won't be a good one to choose. Here's the testing schedule required http://www.usaikifed.com/testreq.htm. My husband is now 5th kyu, my daughter 10th kyu. As I understand it (may be wrong, and my husband is at aikido now, so I can't ask), the days requirement is days of training between testing, not cumulative--so it will be 80 more days of training before he tests again rather than 20 if you follow. In practice, my husband and daughter have been going since April or May and their first test was in December. Be careful in evaluating martial arts programs for kids. From what I have heard there is an unfortunate proliferation of "belt mills" (in various disciplines, I don't know that it is concentrated in any one form of martial art) where the primary purpose of the dojo seems to be to generate more money by constantly charging for frequent belt tests rather than an emphasis on proper training.

The Get Ready for the Code, Get Set for the Code and Go for the Code are all aimed at learning consonant sounds. ETC 1 starts with short vowel sounds and has a pretest in the beginning to make sure he knows all the consonant sounds. ETC 1 covers • Short a • Short a with final consonant sounds • Short i • Short u • Short e • Short o ETC 2 covers Initial blends (bl, cl, fl, gl, sk, sl, pl, cr, dr, gr, br, fr, pr, tr, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, tw) • Ending blends (mp, sk, st, fr, lt, nt, lf, lp, nd, nk) ETC 3 y as a vowel • Silent-e • Consonant digraphs (sh, th, wh, ch, -tch, -ng, -ck) • Vowel digraphs (ee, ea, ai, ay, oa, ow) ETC 4 • Compound words • Common word endings (-ful, -ing, -est, -ed, -ness) • Syllable types (open, closed, Cle, silent-e, digraph) • Syllabication with 2- and 3-syllable words (we pretty much skipped the syllable types as it didn't really help us, but it might be of use to your child, don't know) ETC 5 • Sounds of -ed • Words ending in -ey • Word families (all-alk, old-olt-oll, ild-ind) • 3-letter blends (thr-, shr-, scr-, str-, spr-, spl-) • qu words If he's not reading yet, you will probably find his level among these books (there are three more). We only used one of the half books, as I remember. They reinforce the material in the same number book, so they are good if you feel he needs extra practice. I found that combining these with the Dolch sight word cards was very helpful, and we introduced Bob books around ETC 2. There are also usually lots of leveled readers at the library, fiction and non-fiction, that will be more interesting than the Bob books. You may find that he works very quickly through some sections and spends more time on others. If he likes working on the computer, http://www.starfall.com was fun for my daughter.

I left Christianity because I slowly came to the realization that it purely and simply was not an accurate reflection of the spiritual reality that I had experienced all my life. I spent decades trying with every fiber of my being to be what I thought was what I was supposed to be or that was the only possible choice---a Christian. In the end I came to see that I could not reconcile my religious experiences and my beliefs about them with even the most liberal Christianity. There are a few core things that you have to believe and I just flat didn't believe them. Looking back, I realized that I had not fully believed them since I was at minimum 10 years old though I didn't know it at the time. There is a story in Judaism about converts being Jewish souls born in Gentile bodies and now "coming home". That is what it has been like for me. Perhaps I am a Hellenic soul that was born into a Christian body....who knows? I miss much about Christianity, particularly this year when we are studying the Middle Ages as well as around the holidays. I truly love the liturgy of high church, much of the music (especially Gregorian chant), the pageantry, etc. There is much to admire in Christianity and in what it has done historically as well as much to criticize, as in any other institution. Enjoying some of the trappings of a religion, however, is not a substitute for actually believing in its core tenets. It would also be infinitely easier for me to be able to pretend that I was still a Christian, at least enough to "pass". It would be easier to find a homeschool group, find curricula, participate in my community and in the homeschooling opportunities of the wider community, be part of my extended family, etc. It would also be easier if I could believe that religion didn't matter to me and they were all the same anyway. Unfortunately, however, that would mean living a lie and teaching my child to do so. That I am simply not willing to do. Convenience is also not a substitute for believing in the core tenet of a religion. So in the end, it is not and never was about what others do. It was about what I have experienced as spiritual reality and what I believe about that as well as about living a life of integrity and honesty, whether or not it is convenient.

I would rather cash it and put it in a cd or savings account than simply not cash it. If you put it into a cd that matures next spring, then you won't be able to spend it, either, but it will be earning interest and available when you would normally be receiving it. My husband's grandparents had seasonal income and I liked her strategy to keep funds flowing throughout the year. She would figure up the basic predicted expenses for each month then when they had income coming in, she would buy cds with staggered maturity dates, one maturing each month. That would make sure they had the basics covered each month and the money wouldn't be spent ahead of time. I would be concerned that a) the government would deduct that from my refund anyway in their accounting system regardless of whether I cashed it, so I would be out the money (or at minimum face a huge hassle to straighten it out) or b) that if I held on to it and wanted to cash it when I got my refund next year, the check may have expired (some do within months if they are not cashed, don't know about these).

In addition to many of the books above, my daughter, who is 7.5 and about the same level, has enjoyed the Happy Hollisters series, though it is harder to find (someone has some for sale on the sale/swap board, I believe). Our library doesn't have it. He might also like Terry Pratchett's juvenile comic fanstasy series, starts with "Wee Free Men", then "Hat Full of Sky" and "Wintersmith" (read these in order) about a 9 year old girl who becomes a witch in training in the first book and her encounters with the Nac Mac Feegles ---6 inch tall "Pict-sies" in kilts, covered in blue tattoos and having Scots accents--very good and very funny. He has another, "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", that is a stand-alone--this one is similar to "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH". We have done these as bedtime read-alouds primarily because my husband wants to read them with her and enjoy introducing her to Terry Pratchett :). Her current passion, however, is for comics---Asterix, TinTin, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Foxtrot, Far Side, etc. The Paddington series is also a lot of fun.

Roughly 3500-4000 of books between my husband and me (he tried to catalogue them at one point :)), then another 500+ of my daughter's books, at least at last count. We do periodically weed through and take load upon load to the local used bookstores. We are trying to be more selective in what we bring in, however, as we are trying to pare down our possessions a bit. As it is, we are definitely finding out about the R-value of books, as most of our walls are lined with bookshelves :).