I found BJU Science Gr 3 & 4 at a used sale for $5 each. And the 5th gr text for $5. DS is using their Life Science next year, so I thought, Why not get it for the girls, too. Then I got home and dd insisted that she was going to be in 5th grade next year, not 4th. So the 4th set wouldn't do, even though it was almost complete. So I needed the rest of the 5th set. Then I realized that I have God's Design for physical world & God's design for Chemistry. Oh yeah, we were going to do Chemistry next year. But dd wants to do bJu because it has a hamster on the front. So that's what we'll do. I also have the Apologia elementary books on the shelf. So I could school elementary science for many years without buying anything else.

Don't give him $60. Don't give him anything. He sounds like he wouldn't be happy unless it's paid in full. And I'm not a lawyerr, but I think giving him $ implies guilt. I agree with calling the police if he stops by again.

Speakingof odd things people do, I felt like i could take some "people of Walmart" quality pics at the beach yesterday. I get that not everyone has the same level of modesty as I do, but if you are a bit overweight, why do you want to wear a string bikini? I'm not talking about obese people. People who were 20-30 lbs overweight and would probably look good in something that hid their flaws a little. But no, they're prancing around practically naked so that everyone can see every roll and their pregnant-looking belly. (it made an impression on me particularly because there were so many people dressed like this!) Then I turned and saw a man my age with a big, hairy plumbers crack sitting at a picnic table. How can you not feel the breeze and know that you need to pull your pants up?

My kids made up this game where they pretend to beat up their baby sister. They love her and love talking about how big and tough she is, so the game always ends in her destroying them in some super-human way. But it starts with them pounding their fists and chanting, "Beat up, Baby ___". I've forbid them from playing this in public, though they still pretend that she's decimating them with her baby-brute strength. She's nicknamed "Destroyer of All Worlds" in part because they like to pretend she's tough and in part because she's a toddler. Yesterday they came up with this elaborate story about how she was captain of the iceberg and steered it into the Titanic.

Just refund her money. It's only $5. As a buyer, I would not feel it my responsibility to pay shipping back to you. Do you really want to send her $2.50 just so she can mail it back, you can resell it and spend another $2,50 to mail it someplace else? You'd then be out $7.50 + time and headache for a $5 book. Not worth it.

Over budget for meals. Touristy places cost more than they should. (ie- we went to VA last summer and decided to treat the kids to Dairy Queen while at Virginia Beach. It cost almost double what it does at home.) Activity costs you may be able to find online before you go.

Ok, I'll have to Ask Anna or something. So glad they'll send new parts! It's a dresser and two of the drawers have sides that are too short. (thus preventing it frome being put together properly.) And one of the drawer fronts has a chunk of wood missing where the dowel rod hole was cut too deeply. I don't want to return it because it's already put together! It's a bit of work to have to do again. ;) Plus getting it back to the store would be a hassle. I bought from Ikea instead of CL so that I wouldn't have to deal with moving an already assembled dresser.

If you buy something and get it mostly put together, then notice that a piece is broken, what's the proper resolution? I can't exactly return it. Should I take the broken parts to the store? Or is there some main Ikea number to call?

Being an introvert and homeschooling is hard because I am with my kids all.the.time. I love them. I want to be with them. But often it's too much. Like somone else said, I tend ot shut them out more than I should, which has created children who nag. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be a better mom if I wasn't also homeschooling. But that's not an option and not where God has led us, so this must be the best.

TOG. I first looked at it a few years ago when they sent you a folder full of stuff. I was instantly overwhelmed and didn't understand why they couldn't just give me a catalog so that i could quickly get the gist of it and decide if it was something to look at or pass by. I tossed that folder and moved on. A little while later they had the 3 week trial online. Even looking at that briefly, I passed it by without spending much time. Honestly, if not for the word of mouth on this forum, I probably would have never used TOG. But, it's just what we need. I love that I can tweak it to fit and that I can teach all my children the same period of history at once. I still think it's unneccessarily complicated. Some parts of it I would organize completely differently to make it more user friendly. But, overall, it's the best history for us.

Did anyone have these rebound into separate books? I don't really like the way they've divided it up. I kinda want to hack it apart an have it bound into one text book and one activity manual. Has anyone done this? Any reason why this would be a bad idea?

Just turn the phone off, if yoh think tomorrow will be too hard. Then you can't answer it!

There's a lot of knowledge on this board, so hopefully you'll get some good ideas. What's wored for us is scrapping a boxed curriculum and just using what works fir each subject. For basic skills, we follow a curriculum. (grammar, phonics, math) but even in following a curriculum, you need to learn to be flexible and skip things. Not every problem in every lesson needs to be done. (this has meant doing half the problems, or none of thE problems. Or with one child, sometimes taking a few days on one lesson) for science and history, I've stocked the house with books and fun science kits and basically unschooled. (we're getting more structured with this for the upper grades) you always have that nagging feeling that this isn't such a great idea. But ds just took the Stanford test and scored really well in spite of (because or?) letting him have free reign. So I'm beginning to relax a little and trust myself more. You know your kid better than a curriculum. Try to find the best fit, but then use the curriculum as you see fit. It is your servant, not your master.

I think they're right. I bought 4-5 pencil sharpeners earlier in the year. The first few I returned, saying they didn't work properly(they didn't. why is it so hard to make a pencil sharpener that sharpens pencils to a nice point?) And they accepted the returns just fine. The last one i selected that I didn't want it anymore. (I didn't. It was carp. Worst of the bunch) and it wanted me to pay shipping. I canceled the return and redid it with the reason that the thing didn't work and was able to return it on their bill. (and the one we did keep worked well for about a month and now sharpens things off-center to a fine wooden point. Sigh)

Sigh. I really need to remember to ask this when buying used. It doesn't smell too badly, but I'm allergic. My throat/mouth already itches terribly and I can't breath out my nose. How do I get rid of this so that I can use these books. I seem to remember last time I put them in a bag of baking soda, but that seems like it would be really messy.

Are you buying or renting? Buying, go for the one you can see yourself in long term. Will your family fit well in the smaller or will you feel cramped? (layout, family size, ect will effect your answer) I'd go for cheaper and smaller IF it was also comfortable. Too small will leave you dreaming of extra rooms.

Sounds like there's nothing wrong with her curiosity. She may have just not been exposed to some things yet. (and I agree that if she were a hser, we'd all be up in arms. One things I've had to realize about my nieces: they are not my children and I don't have control. Even if I am the older sister who has always known best. ;) )

They have chip clips that are just like the pampered chef ones. I get a pack of those whenever I can find them. ;)

Yeah, start with 6. We started this year with 5 after ds had done 2, 3, 4 & had a year off. He was so frustrated and felt like he knew everything already. So I switched him midway into the 6th grade book. It was a much better fit. A lot of it is still repeats of previous years, but it gets much more into technical terms and depth. I don't know about skipping 6 to go i to 7, since we haven't done 7 yet. But for a child who doesn't need all the repetition, skippig 5 has been just fine.

Wow, this thread went downhill fast. I don't know how genuine the pic is. I don't doubt it happens, though i'm too ignorant to know of how much frequency. Modesty is about personal responsibility. Women, don't let it all hang out and be a temptation. Men, control yourself. Simple.

We spend About 20-30 minutes on English. We read the lesson together and do the Oral/Class practice and review section together. I then select what of the written exercises I want them to do. A lot of the written work is a repete of the oral and not necessary. This year I have one in 3, 4 & 6. It really does repeat each uear, so I'm not that concerned with mastery early on as long as they get the concepts. DS is in 6 this year and it's the first time he's really had to "study". (He writes the info on an index card and reads through it before we start for the day.) Next year we'll start WWS. We do English 4 days a week (skipping writing lessons) and will do WWS 4 days also, treating them as seperate subjects. When we did the R&S writing is was a bore and held us back in English. SWB's method to writing makes a lot of sense to me. I just wish I'd have found it sooner!

Our co-op charges an enrollment fee and a monthly fee. That aside, it is important that you start on time if you ever want to have it run on time. There will still be people who are late, but it does have a snowball effect when you wait for them. People will make an effort to be there if they know they'll miss out. But it's easy to think, "oh, I've got a few minutes. They don't really start until 9:15 anyway."

Ah, I misunderstood you, Imp. I thought you were saying that even if an agency doesn't tell the parents, with all the info out there, why wouldn't they know?

I wouldn't have known about RaD if not for this forum. Why would I? If it's not something I've heard of, how would I know to research it?

I fill a cart a week. But it is full. Occassionally, the cashier won't be able to get everything back into one cart.