Thank you all for your feedback. I think I am leaning towards Mystery of History, but I could go either way. OhElizabeth, I appreciate your concern that I would be doing too much in history (or overall). Ariana is advanced for her age, even if she is only 4, and has a 5th grade reading level. We read all the time, daily. She reads chapter books alone. It bother her not that there are no pictures. I do plan on "taking it easy" this year, and not having too much pressure. I realize she's starting ahead of the game, but she wants it, needs it. We did K with her last year, and she loved it. She is completely ready for first grade. We are starting the Little House books, have read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (I read aloud first time, she read it three more times before we had to return it to the library), The Secret Garden, Dr Doolittle, and more on that level. We definitely read a variety of books, and will continue to do so. I prefer to read the larger books aloud first, and then she can read them to herself (I enjoy them, too!). I will gogle the old boards. HappyGrace - Ariana is entering Year 1 ("first grade") this year. I agree TOG is thorough and doesn't need to be added to. I was more wondering if I should use a spine to replace the books TOG recommends. Janice, "Read, think, write" is good to remember. I will checkout those books you mentioned. You're right, self-education is very important. I look forward to studying TOG with her. Books on CD is a good idea. Thanks for all your advice :) After doing more reading on SOTH and MOH, I am leaning towards MOH. I guess my question should be, can MOH be used in addition to TOG's recommended books, or in the place of TOG's recommended books?

I am starting Year 1 in the fall with my LG and was curious about using Story of the World or Mystery of History to go along with TOG. Would this be overkill? We love to read, and I was thinking Ariana would really enjoy the format, but again, I don't want to be adding too much.

Gosh, when I first started typing up my reply (before my baby woke...) there wasn't all these posts. LOL I also want to recommend searching for "water birth" on YouTube or other unassisted births. There's one where a surrogate mom delivers the baby, and it's great! Seeing women birth so easily left a very positive feeling :) I see you expressed concerned about a prolapsed cord. You will be able to feel if the cord is in the way, and can push it aside, in some cases. I know for me, there were three cases where I would transfer (anything else, I know I could handle!). They were: hand coming out first, cord coming out first, and I forget the third LOL.

How did I relax about fears? I didn't have any fears. In the beginning of the pregnancy I was unsure what to do about breech births, but after educating myself, I wasn't fearful at all. I was actually looking forward to labor :) DH and I both educated ourselves. We read Emergency Childbirth by Gregory White, to know what to do in case there was an emergency. I had a great labor and delivery with my first, so I knew what to expect. Size wasn't a problem, As Ariana was 9 lbs, 7 oz, 14" head and her arm beside it. So baby getting stuck wasn't a concern. I guess the main thing is knowing when to transfer (such as with a transverse), but all in all there's usually nothing a woman body can't handle. I had great faith in the way God designed my body, so I wasn't at all concerned if I could do it. We also prayed daily for the delivery that all would go smoothly. I did alot of positive visualization on how things would go, and I think that helped, too. I would suggest you educate yourself on the questions that nag you, so you know what to do in any situation. Just know that "emergencies" happen alllll the time in a hospital, and no one bats an eye. Generally, the "emergency" situations would not have arisen if a woman was left alone to labor as God designed :)

Shop the perimeter of the store: dairy aisle, fresh natural/organic meat, produce (organic when possible). I rarely ever go down any of the aisles - there just isn't much there that I eat! Farmer's markets are great this time of year, too.

Pancakes! I just posted a pancake recipe on my blog (in sig) and you can use oatmeal in the place of flour (I often do half flour, half oatmeal).

Carlson's lemon-flavored. I get mine from vitacost.com http://www.vitacost.com/Carlson-The-Very-Finest-Fish-Oil

I had a midwife-assisted home birth with Ariana, and we had Ryan "unassisted" (I put that in quotes because DH was there, Ariana was there, and God was there ;) . I wasn't obsessive about wondering if it would be clean enough, but I did do picking up every night before bed just in case. I really don't think anyone is going to mind some live-in clutter! Especially with a good excuse like a baby!