This has been in my family for generations. It also works with fresh berries. My recipe card is blotched with berry and peach juice. Cover bottom of 9X13 pan with fruit (sliced, peeled fresh peaches or berries). Mix together: 3/4 cup sugar 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 cup milk 3 Tbsp butter (soft, not melted) 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup flour and pour over fruit. Mix 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp corn starch and sprinkle over top. Last, pour 2/3 cup boiling water over all. DO NOT STIR. Bake 45 mins at 375*.

Ah. Relief. A fellow TOGger who loses things. Is there a secret handshake? More importantly, did you find your Loom CD?

That 39th birthday Crue concert was a few years ago! But I'm totally bummed (see? an 80's girl through and through) that I missed Rick Springfield. I absolutely adored him. Remember his song "Bruce" about how people confused him and Bruce Springsteen??

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! MURDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see my screenname) :D

Ecclesiastes 9:10 and Colossians 3:23-24.

Maybe so ... but ... we're still younger than the band!! :lol: DH took me to see Motley for my 39th bday. They are lookin' really rough, people; REALLY rough. Apparently mass quantities of cocaine aren't good for the skin.

I had to hide the Motley Crue concert DVD after Moose wanted me to write "Mayhem" on his belly with eyeliner and let him play drums along with it. :D

How is it that I can remember the lyrics to just about every 80's song that comes on the satellite 80's channel - but I have no idea where I put the birthday cards we just bought that need to be in the mail today? Hmm?

Hugely!! The 80's were my highschool and college years. Lots of good memories, and some not-so-good - but a song can bring all of it right back. I think 80's music was (for the most part) very light and fluffy and happy - to me it feels so bright and UP. When grunge picked up steam it all felt so dark and almost evil - and don't get me started on today's music. :::grabbing my walker and realigning my dentures::: Anyway. 80's for our generation is like the 50's for my parents' generation. Fun, carefree, and positive.

You could be describing my daughter. No labels, although I know she would have been diagnosed with Sensory Integration disorder (I was a PT, before having children). It can be so painful watching her struggle socially and physically. Taking her out of public school brought about changes in her, for the good, that have taken my breath away. She's enjoying golf! Amazing! Sounds like individual sports, rather than teams, are where the quirky ones shine. (Christian content ahead) It was humbling to me when I read a book by Jean Fleming that encouraged me to repent of not completely accepting my quirky child - because I was praying that God would change my child, help her, so it would be easier for her - not praying for His help so that *I* could be the parent He needs me to be. She is who she is, because He created her that way, and gave her to us as part of this family for His purposes.

for the warm welcome! I appreciate the smiles!

I've been lurking for a while, thoroughly enjoying the wit and wisdom, so I went ahead and registered the other day. I've posted a few responses on threads on the K-8 board, but thought it would be polite to greet everyone and introduce myself. I'm Jill (Rabbit is an old nickname from the hubs which has stuck), and we are heading into our second year of homeschooling. My daughter went to public school from K-2, and my son went for K. My husband and I were very powerfully convicted to begin homeschooling during the final months of that last year in public school, so we heeded the call and here we are. We're Christians who consider this to be the window of opportunity to educate our kids purposefully and intentionally, weaving our faith throughout our learning. I look forward to hanging out here - with my whopping one year of experience I don't know how much I can contribute but I hope to be a source of help and encouragement as you've already been to me. :)

Heading into Middle Ages ourselves - two that look to be very enjoyable are The Squire and the Scroll (Bishop) and Knight's Handbook (Taplin).

We wrapped up Ancients, using SOTW (and TOG) this past year. My ds was 6 as we were doing SOTW1. Something that became clear to me over the year (which was our first year of homeschooling) is that my ds needs to speak and do in order to cement what he hears. If I read aloud without stopping, his eyes glaze over within minutes and he has no recollection. If I read aloud with numerous pauses for "now what just happened?" or "who did that?" or "what's going on here?" etc - draw him into a dialogue - it appears to sink in better. You might try pausing your audio frequently to ask questions (don't get too abstract - just the facts, ma'am), have him illustrate what happened in his very own 'journal of history stories', or act it out. Use the SOTW activity guide or books from the library for ideas on how to do something to solidify the hearing of the story. I'm only heading into my second year of homeschool, but the biggest lesson I learned last year was to step back and breathe. Consider this a whole year of learning how your children learn - because some things will suit and some won't - and you just have to realize that not "getting" the first chapter of SOTW at age 6 won't warp him for life. :)

Yes. DS (then 6) and I did levels 1 and 2 in one year. We skipped some, and frequently did 2-3 lessons at a time. We're going to do FLL3 this school year, and I think what will slow us down is that I will expect him to do more of the writing and of course, the diagramming. FLL 1-2 is great for the auditory learner who can go with the flow of a spiral curriculum - suited DS to a tee - not so much DD, who does much better with the pace and structure of R&S.

Briefly: Yes, they do. In the ie/ei lesson, it was the old "i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh." SWO lessons all follow the same pattern. First page: a short reading including some of the list words. Second page: a "Pep Talk" which presents the week's spelling rule, and a written exercise in which the student "sorts" the list words according to the rule. Third page: more written exercises using the list words, such as synonym/antonym matching, matching list words to a definition, completing sentences with list words, alphabetizing or rhyming, etc. Fourth page: a simple writing assignment (e.g. "Pretend that you are an animal photographer. Write a letter telling a friend about one of the pictures you've taken. Use as many List Words as you can."), a proofreading exercise, a reminder to take the Final Test, and a brief list of "All Star Words" which are more difficult words that model the week's rule (not included in any of the exercises or test). Every sixth lesson is called "Instant Replay" and consists of review exercises and a review test.

And may I respond to my own self by saying, I'll be bummed when we have to stop saying "meese" and "skabetti." Maybe I'll just ix-nay that last ist-lay. ;)

(Hello, everyone! This is my first post. Finally, a question I can answer with confidence! :D) We finished D last year. The lessons do progress in difficulty but not perfectly linearly, if that makes sense! Level D, lesson 1 list: banner, hundred, fame, later, seven, hammer, twelve, barrel, dollar, letters, silent, wild, until, swift, bottles, pineapple, film, gallon, traffic, eleven. Level D Lesson 34 list: difficult, tender, lengthy, sturdy, expensive, repaired, enormous, journey, weary, tense, cautious, sorrow, vague, ancient, courage, drowsy, disbelief, current, descend, rapidly. Between first and last, though, were some lists that were easy for dd and some that were a struggle. Lesson 20 was ie/ei words - we spent 2 weeks there. Random sampling of words from lists toward the end of level D: expensive, enormous, vague, outstanding, disinterested, precaution, impractical, lesson 29 is all plural possessives like airlines', men's, members'...Lesson 35 (the last list) is frequently confused homonyms like peace/piece, their/there, sense/scents, whose/who's. We'll be starting Level E in two weeks. Lesson One list: quiet, aches, shake, knocked, jacket, quarter, quickly, knowing, quarrel, speaker, questions, kneeling, earthquake, mechanic, orchestra, knothole, inquire, sequence, require, character. Later lessons include words like afterward, friendliness, profitable, likelihood, occupying, authorities. The last two lessons are irregular plurals (moose, calves, spaghetti, sheriffs) and words that follow no rules (yolk, separate, weird, recommend, forfeit).