I'm using LL&C7 right now with DS(8) and so far so good.... the only concern really was Tom Sawyer (racism, slightly scary scene with murder) and that wasn't a problem (discussed racism, and scene wasn't any scarier than Harry Potter). I've heard that there is also some drunkenness in All Creatures Great and Small, but we're not there yet. The writing workload is not heavy at all, and the reading is not bad. My observation has been that DS reads at about the same speed as books on CD are read, which works out to being able to finish the books rather faster than they are assigned to be read (and I can look up the length of the books-on-CD from our local library, and estimate from there!) We're planning to move on to LL&C8 next year, and there are two things I've heard about it that you should probably know.... One is that a lot of people find the first assignment (J.K. Chesterton essay) really dense and hard to wade through. I think it's supposed to be... but good to know ahead of time. Second, I know a few people of younger DCs are planning to skip To Kill A Mockingbird. Nothing else looks terribly heavy or anything... and since I think we'll be approaching that era in history I think we're going to read To Kill A Mockingbird anyway. I've not used Classical Writing, but since the LL writing assignments are only like 8 short pieces for the whole year (maybe a page or two each), I don't think it would be too much...

NEM here too... We're supplementing with Gelfand Algebra and a bunch of other things (not because NEM is lacking, just because we're geeks... LOL), but NEM is definitely our spine and it has been great.

I've been interspersing History of US with SOTW 3 (there is some that overlaps with SOTW 1 and 2, but not much), using the schedule posted here. There's another schedule on the same website for SOTW 4 and History of US but we've not gotten there yet.... It does slow us down quite a bit, but part of that is that we have a lot of other things we're adding in now too -- you could still get it done in maybe a year or a year-and-a-half depending on your scheduling...

We use Singapore for math and science (the early grades do have a young "look" but if you use them they aren't as simple as they appear at first glance.. and middle and upper grades don't look so young). For Literature I'm using Hewitt's Lightning Lit, which although from a Christian company does not appear to have any Christian content unless you do their semester on British Christian authors... We're using LL&C 7 (middle school) but I also have their Shakespeare Tragedies guide (high school) and haven't seen anything religious there... and the woman who edits the guides has specifically said they're not religious except for the one. History we're still doing Story of the World, but I thought Pandia Press' History Odyssey was secular... and it looks pretty good! And for American History, you could use History of US with the Oxford teaching guides for discussion questions, essay prompts and whatnot. I think I've heard there are tests too, but I've not looked into it myself. There's also Critical Thinking in US History - completely secular, but not a whole course unto itself... more like a supplement (but really great!) Hope this helps!

Jinx!!! LOL Hey, if I get bad rep for posting it, it was still worth it :p

.... out of character ;) And with kittens! LOL And this one has "adult content"... by which I mean when DS was watching it over my shoulder I had to turn around and say "and I NEVER want to hear you saying that!" ...after I stopped laughing.... ;)

Oh no! It should have let you check all three! Oh well, I'll mentally add that in ;) So it seems the pattern is not related to which tooth as much as it is to a) going to an endodontist and b) not having an apico-whatever-it-is that someone else posted about... So I should be good on both those counts!! Yay!

Fortunately I'll be seeing a "veteran" -- I've had new dentists before and not been impressed... hence some of my dental phobia! :eek:

But if I've not watched all year I don't start up just for the Super Bowl! I'll watch on Thanksgiving no matter who's playing, but I only watch the Super Bowl if I care about one of the teams. I do like watching baseball, and we get a "mini pack" of tickets to our local minor league team every summer (so like 10-12 games a year), I love watching hockey, and I'll watch swimming and diving if they're on... and I REALLY love watching synchronized swimming! :p For playing, I like bocce, croquet, putt-putt golf, bowling.... I'm not much for games that require a lot of running. The warranty on my knees has long since expired.... :rolleyes:

The endodontist I'm going to is supposed to be really good... so here's hoping she follows the pattern you've noticed :) This tooth has already had a really deep filling (just last week! LOL) and I didn't feel a thing, so I'm hopeful!!

That sounds like the apicoectomy that Sue in St Pete mentioned... I think I'm seeing a pattern here -- I'll have to call my friend with the horrible experience and see if that word rings a bell with her!

Thanks for the good thoughts! :)

Yes! Definitely a specialist... The only thing that makes me more nervous than dental work is dental work by someone I don't completely trust!!! :eek: I've not met my endodontist yet, but she comes highly recommended, used to be faculty at the dental school here and has a few decades of experience. Somehow I'm not thinking "cute"... LOL

So far it's sounding like the really awful ones involve abcesses and infections.... Mine's not infected or anything so here's hoping that's an optomistic sign! :)

Yay for no big deal! (But I'm glad I don't have to do anything else that day!) Is this the apico-something? Sounds like what one of the previous posters said was horrible..... I'll keep that in mind: apico = please knock me out first ;)

Oh dear -- that's some dedication to ones work! LOL I'm planning to plant DS in front of the TV for the rest of that day ;) Glad it wasn't too bad!! :)

Good idea! I think if I freak out when I'm there I'll ask for that (since they can do it quickly!) but if I'm freaking out before I'll go with a longer-acting sedative, like valium..... I've had the gas before and it does take the edge off...

And Kitten Half-time!! LOL I love the Puppy Bowl - it's too silly! :D

Some of it is workbooky, but it's really more like a lab/practical book... The way I did it was to read the chapter, do the activities and then the workbook as kind of a review-and-critical-thinking exercise. I wouldn't skip it myself. I did skip the teachers' guides for all of it -- there was an answer key included with the workbook and I didn't need any more than that.

Yikes!! That sounds awful, but I know I'm not allergic to codeine, so hopefully I can avoid that particular pitfall!! :)

Fast is good! The dentist I'm going to is an endodontist, former faculty at the dental school, and has been in practice for like 30 years... so I'm hoping that translates to "skilled" :) I'm going to keep repeating "no big deal" over and over for the next two weeks... LOL

Oooh I'm hoping for the "never felt a thing during the procedure" part!! Pain afterwards will make me grumpy but I can deal with it much better than pain during!! (yay drugs! LOL)

Fortunately this isn't abscessed.... I hope that means it won't be too bad!

Yeah, I hated having a crown put on another tooth (without a root canal...) but a big part of that was the temporary crown. THAT was awful, and it was a lot longer than the two weeks it was meant to be, between a lab delay, an error, and the stupid dentist (never liked him) going out of town.... My current dentist promises he'll make the crown turnaround as fast as possible. :)

Good to know -- Aching I can deal with, it's just The Drill that makes me hyperventilate!