I think it would be fine if that's how the bed is designed to work. Regular mattresses can be pretty heavy, as well.

Ooh, glad to know this! I've used commonsensemedia.org but hadn't seen the other sites.

Our latex mattress (although not ikea) sits on a box spring and it's fine. On IKEA's website, it says the latex mattresses can sit on wood slats or a box spring. Sounds like you should be fine!

I'm excited to watch it! I do hope they are fair with the questioning, but that may be too much to ask. My kids and I watched the last one and I kept pausing the DVR and asking them what they thought. The 10yo and 8yo had the best comments - like "why didn't they answer the question?" and "Why did they say 'I' so many times?"

Horizons looks alright, but we're Singapore lovers here! Both of my sons did Earlybird and liked it. Now my DD5 is doing Singapore Essential Math and I think I like it better. Depending on your K'er, they may fly through it. One of my sons finished the books in Pre-K and my daughter has finished 70 pages in the last few weeks. My middle son insisted on 1 page a day, so it lasted the right time for him, lol.

Writing with Ease would be perfect if you're concerned with narration skills. I would just get the WWE text and use passages he likes.

Yep, I would start him on cursive. It should help the reversals and he might like it better - like you said, a fresh look at writing is a good idea.

I would keep trying since you said he's enjoying it and there are not tears, lol. I bet he'll catch on nicely as long as he's enjoying it. If there's a change in either one of those things, stop it and wait or try something else.

Our schedule generally runs from Sep - Aug, so we're finishing up here. Kind of. My older son loves finishing everything up neatly before starting the next year, but my younger son doesn't really do it that way, lol. And my 5yo DD started her new books last month because she didn't want to wait. So much for exact beginnings and ends to the year. The main thing that shows the "new year" is the divider in my planner that says so, lol.

I wondered that, too! My 10yo DS, who is normally very helpful and obedient, has been snapping back at me lately and asking "why do I have to?" Later he'll apologize and say he doesn't know why he did that. I'm not prepared... but at least I have several years until my daughter hits that stage, lol.

I'm really glad I saw this thread! I've always said I was going to make a timeline but my oldest is 10 now, so obviously it hasn't happened yet. Now's a good time since we're restarting the 4 year cycle. I've always wanted a wall timeline and thought I wouldn't use a book. I just might find a roll of paper and try it out. I'm glad you mentioned the bumpy walls - hadn't thought of that problem!

10yo DS never liked coloring that much, but enjoys drawing with a pencil a lot. He's decent at coloring maps now if he has to, lol. 8yo DS never liked to color in a normal way, but would fill in pictures entirely in pencil or red pen. He would sit for an hour and do it! He'll now bust out an entire picture from scratch, but still doesn't like coloring in someone else's picture. I think that was the issue with both of my boys - they wanted their own ideas. 5yo DD loves to color, not all the way in the lines, but she's getting a lot better. Kids are all so different!

I would take the advice to try it out at a hotel. I've slept on them and don't mind them. My dad LOVES his and says most of his back pain went away when he got it. He's had it for years and years. He bought one for my sister and her husband and they didn't like it so it's in their guest room.

I've been organizing my books and I have a few that I've never really used for my boys. It's tough because I've got a kindy-aged DD, so I feel like I should save it in case it would be good for her. Space is my issue, so I usually put it in a box that I go through each year. Sometimes a year makes a difference and it's easier to give away. If the books start to take up too much space, I have to make some harder decisions. Good luck!

I love them, too! We used them to save my voice - I just can't read out loud much. :-) Spryte - You can put them in your cart at Amazon and anytime you go to your cart it will tell you if the price has changed.

We've loved how Biblioplan adds in the biblical history. Just don't get bogged down into thinking you have to read every book they list!

She obviously remembered the story well! My 8yo son is that way, too. We're half way through SOTW2 and it took him until this year to really "get" the summary narration. He wanted to tell everything. I kept telling him that the things he wanted to say were very interesting, but he was supposed to tell enough of the story to get someone else interested in reading it - not to give all the details away. That helped him, I think. Now, the other day, he wanted to do a chapter all by himself and he came back and hour later with a page-and-a-half long narration! I just keep reminding him to give me 3 or 4 really good sentences. I had to guide him a lot at first, but he eventually got the hang of it. I really liked the chapter questions and example narrations in the SOTW activity book, because I didn't know what to expect from a narration in the beginning. Now, every once in a while, his narration ends up being almost exactly the same as the example.

We also have the Merriam Webster's Elementary Dictionary.