Our homeschool group has been doing this for a while. Every year it has been different. We have gone from a very laid back, casual event to a more organized occasion. Some of the things the children in our group do are: reciting poetry or scripture, skip counting or reciting math tables, reading a report they have written, displaying a big project and telling about it, singing a song, playing piano, displaying lapbooks and describing what they learned, narrating a slide show, reading pages from a book (especially our younger students just learning to read), making a display of art work, and/or anything else that they might have done that was interesting to them. We don't necessarily decorate tables, but just put work out for display for the guests to view. It is something we look forward to every year. HTH Emily

I just read Alabama Moon. I would not recommend it for an 8 year old. It was a great book, but there was a quite a bit of strong language. I would at least preview it before handing it over to your daughter. Though the cursing is appropriate (if there is such a thing) in context, it is something we try to avoid.

My ds sometimes felt overwhelmed when he would see the number of sentences in a lesson. I started copying the lesson page and cutting it apart. If a story had more than one paragraph, I would cut it apart also. We could then complete a whole lesson, but in small chunks. Once his fluency improved, I no longer had to do this. HTH

I can't imagine working in the school system again. I left to stay home with my daughter never even imagining that we would homeschool. I was already disillusioned with the school system though. Now that I have been homeschooling for so many years, I would not enjoy having so many restrictions on how/what I taught my students. I appreciate the freedom of choosing the curriculum that I like best and teaching to meet the individual needs of my children.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I will definitely be checking them out. Brenda, I did sign up for Groupon in Raleigh. I hope something good comes up. I live in the panhandle, about an hour from the coast. I'm used to the heat. I don't like it, but I"m used to it. :)

My husband has a conference in Raleigh this summer. The children and I are going to tag along. The last day of the conference will be in Kannapolis (tour for conference attendees). We hope to spend a day or two in the Smoky Mountains before heading home. What activities would you recommend for us? We are not campers and have almost no money. The only reason we can go on this trip is because his company will pay for the hotel in Raleigh and for the gas. It seems like everything I've looked into costs so much money. Help! :willy_nilly: Thanks for any advice you can give.

I am the coordinator for our small group. Yes, you have to count the box tops and make sure none are expired. There are specific instructions at their website. Basically, you submit them in groups of 50. I put mine in snack size baggies. They do not give you self addressed mailers. You will need to box up your submissions and pay for postage. It is a good way to earn money for your group. Even though we are a small group, we earn almost as much (or more) as the schools in our area.

Our co-op is part of our support group. We live in a very small community. One way we have tried to reach out to new homeschoolers is by making up information packets. We have given these packets to the local school board liaison and to our local librarians. The librarians have given several of the packets out. I don't know about the packets given to the school board. HTH

What grade level are you using. As far as I know there is no solutions manual for K-3, only a teacher's manual. For 5/4 and above, the instructions for each concept are in the student book. The solutions manual has answers and shows the method for finding the answer (for most problems), but does not give detailed explanations. HTH

We are using D'Nealian. I tried HWT last year because someone gave it to us. I didn't like it well enough to buy the next level. I used D'nealian with my dd and was happy with it, especially when transitioning to cursive.

I just bought some at Discount School Supply. These are just the hook side, great for workboxes where you tend to need more hook side than loop. Here is a set of hook and loop that I thought was pretty reasonable. Shipping for just these two things was about $5. HTH

The Florida Museum of Natural History is on the UF campus. I haven't been in a long time, but remember it being very nice. General admission is free. They do have a butterfly exhibit that has an admission fee. Also on the UF campus, we always enjoyed going out to Lake Alice. We would sometimes catch a glimpse of a gator or two there. It isn't very exciting, but free. You might check out this website for more information. HTH

Really, if you are already avoiding so many other things, it won't be much more to avoid milk. I know right now it doesn't feel that way though. Milk was the first allergy we discovered in my ds. Some of the others have proven to be much more difficult to deal with (wheat, soy, and egg, for example). If you are used to reading labels already, you just have to remember to look for one more thing. Milk substitutes like soy and rice milk really do work well for most recipes. My ds can't have soy milk anymore, but he liked it when he could have it. He likes his rice milk very well too. We haven't worried about calcium too much because his rice milk is fortified. We also try to make sure to include calcium rich veggies in his diet as much as possible. I hope this helps you a little. If you have any specific questions, I'll be glad to try to answer them, or point you in the right direction. Hang in there. It does get easier. :grouphug:

You can use iTunes for a regular mp3 player. I mostly download podcasts from iTunes for mine. Amazon has mp3 music too. Are you looking for a particular style of music? If you like Christian music, CBD has music downloads. If you like obscure, alternative music, Amie Street has cheap, sometimes free downloads. Amazon has some free music downloads as well. If you sign up for the mp3 newsletter, you will see what is free each week. HTH

The only place in Orlando that I know of that sells used curriculum (at least it did when I lived there) is Faithful Bookshop. I live near Tallahassee now, but don't know much about the consignment shops. Most of them that I've seen are small and hard to get in and out of (small parking lots off of a very busy road), so I don't bother with them. There are several Goodwill stores throughout Tallahassee, and most are in good locations. I've been told that the one on Appalachee Parkway is the best (the one with which I am most familar). I think some of the others have more clothes. I go there for books mostly. HTH

I'm in the panhandle, about an hour west of Tallahassee.

I have a friend who sells a lot on ebay, mostly toys from the 80's. She has done pretty well with the original cabbage patch dolls she has found to sell. Since you have original clothes, diapers, and certificates, I imagine you would get a good response. Good luck!

I grew up eating sweet potato pie. It is much better than pumpkin IMHO. My husband grew up eating pumpkin pie. He prefers it to sweet potato. Some people just don't know what's good. I still love him though.:001_smile:

Nevermind! I finally figured out that I had to actually log out and log in to get the coupon code. I was automatically logged in and that was keeping me from getting the discount.

If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier She also has another book, If I Were President. HTH

Women are allowed to be pastors, lay leaders, teachers, etc. There is even a woman who is a general superintendent now.

I ignore them also.

Thank you so much for posting the next 10 chapters. I am so glad we can continue working until our books arrive!

I had the same reaction. I thought the real book looked much more appealing.