Around here we call it Us-Schooling.

This will be my third year going. I am also Catholic. There are a great number of speakers and topics that I purposefully avoid (more so last year than the year before) but I still have a full docket of excellent workshops to attend. There are many speakers who speak on classical and academic topics, I often have only a few open slots for the exhibit hall.

I used cardstock as a replacement on the HAS project we did that called for Bristol paper. I went to Michaels and there was Bristol paper there, but it looked about like carstock and it worked fine.

My Mac will find anything -- searches all the words inside. I wonder if there is a similar search program for Windows. Edit: You can download Google Desktop to get a better search. Article here. Edit again: Well nevermind. They discontined it last year! Thanks for that tip OhElizabeth. Off to clean up my desktop now.

My kids are really young so I don't have much advice other than this: my husband is National Guard. He has been in as both enlisted and as an officer. The officer's pay is much, much better. Go that route.

We have used Everest this year and have been very happy with it. I am an activity coordinator for them in my part of the state. All of my dealings with them have been good.

First I would suggest posting your question to the IEW Families Yahoo group. You have gotten some great responses here, but the help there would be fabulous too. The moderator there, Jill Pike, writes curriculum for IEW and has years of experience in using the program. If you are considering making another purchase you could also try the precursor to SWI-A which is PAL Writing. Level 2 of that program works on introducing dress-ups with sentence based writing projects. For example, my second grader just finished making an ABC animal book. Every page was a who/which clause sentence. Simultaneously you introduce the concepts of strong verbs, nouns, describing words, -ly adverbs, etc. The difference in my girl's sentences from beginning to end of the project is amazing. So, a small way to get your feet wet, be successful, and begin introducing the vocabulary of the program. Then Level 3 of the program (all in the same book) begins to introduce what is Units 5, 1, and 2 of SWI-A. They do keyword outlines, but the paragraphs are VERY basic. The DVD that comes with the program also has a number of good audio lectures on teaching those units in the elementary classroom (IEW is used in some schools) that have good pointers and ideas as well. If you don't want to splurge on something new, then the IEW Yahoo group has tons of very basic paragraphs in their files sections (a whole set based on the Magic School Bus episodes if she is a fan and others). Three sentences, easy words. Practicing on those as you hold her hand might help as well.

Here are our favorites with a mini-review of each one. I think we love Thanksgiving books more than any other holiday books. These bring us such joy.

The key is certainly to start with one. Having said that, I can totally see doing this again in January. I have so much to work on myself and right now, this is really working for me! Come on over! Just comment on any Boot Camp blog post with a link to your blog. I will pick your link up and add it to the list of participating bloggers.

I got you added to the list Amy. Please feel free to grab the graphic. Good luck with your boot camp. Ours are the same. Getting started in the morning is so hard.

In the mornings with a nice, runny egg or two on top. Or with butter and salt. If I am having fried fish I like them cheesy. :D Oatmeal is sweetened, not grits. Have never eaten cream of wheat.

:)

I wanted to put together a game for my kids to play to help them remember things about the election. Once I started, it kind of grew out of control. (I'm not the only one who does that, right?) :lol: Now some of the questions are a little tough for my kids, but I think older kids would have fun playing it. I posted it on my blog to share. Electoral College Election Game I do plan on playing it with mine, but adapting the rules to help them out. Knowing my two they will have it all learned by the time we finish playing. :D I put this together in a hurry, so if you see any errors, please speak up! I want to get them fixed. Pam

:bigear:

Erin - So glad you like the unit study! We may have to pull it out again this year. There were so many activities we didn't get to last year and others I bet they would like to do again. Thanks for linking it up. Pam

We are doing our own thing this year based on resources I pulled together. We are having a great time and learning a ton! You can see our lists and activities here.

We got the Kindle sample and started it as a read aloud last week. My DD has been asking for it every night and now we are at the end of the sample, so I guess we will have to buy! We are not doing any of the lessons with it as we are studying habitats with another program.

With my 5yo we do the writing on a small white board at the table with a fat marker. All I am really looking for at this point is good grip and that he learn to form the letter -- not for neatness. I want him to form it as he learns the sound to get more parts of the brain firing. As for the reading, we break it down into about 10-15 minute lessons. I just put a sticky note on the page to tell us where to stop and start. Sometimes I even skip around in the lesson if he wants to work with the farm or play a specific game that day. I just make sure before moving on we complete all parts of the lessons. With some lessons we have taken as long as a week (4 days for us) to finish. We do not do the agenda items as he does not like to cut and paste. Instead we focus on the games. I recently wrote a PAL review on the blog, talking more abut how I use it. You can read it here.

There are a number of these kinds of resources in the IEW Families Yahoo Group files.

I just watched it through tunnelbear and it worked great. Keep trying. It was so good. Can't wait to savor it again.

I have the teeny tiniest cheapest little MacBook. And I love it so much more than the quad core 24" screen Gateway it replaced. Most things you can get to run on a Mac, but you do have to pay for the Mac copies. I love, love, love it.

Thanks Kelly! I'm going to give it a try Monday.

Yes, season 3, which will not be on Amazon until after it airs in the US in January. But this Tunnel Bear thing makes it look like you ARE in the UK so you can stream from UK sites even if you are here in the US. That is what folks were doing during the Olympics. SO, if they put it on their website the next day then this should work. Right? Right?

Thank you! Looks like it's on iTV instead of the BBC. Question is, will they put it on iTV player after it airs. Does anyone out there know? I am off Diet Coke and wine for my diet tomorrow. I need some kind of fix.

What was that program people were using to stream the BBC during the Olympics? Could it be used to watch Downton Abbey tomorrow night? I'm not sure I can wait until January. :D