Clear and organized websites only, please. I'm about to lose my mind on Amazon.com trying to figure out which edition to buy and can't seem to find the Student Express CD-ROMS for every edition on there, either. The Prentice Hall website is not very intuitive and my patience is wearing thin on finding a textbook, workbook and corresponding CD. Any other resources for obtaining these books would be appreciated! :) I'm looking for any of these: Science Explorer Earth Science, Life Science or Physical Science. Thank you in advance!

Didn't like Writing Strands. Dry and boring. For grammar we use "Growing with Grammar." I really like it. It's straightforward and I'd say fairly rigorous. For writing, this year I'm trying "Winning with Writing" for my 2nd grader. My 6th grader will be starting the classical writing program from Memoria Press, the one that goes through the 14 stages of the progymnasmata. I think they only have the first 2 stages available right now.

I second the "Growing with Grammar" recommendation. There's also "Soaring with Spelling" and "Winning with Writing." We use all three.

What's your experience with Sonlight Science curriculum? I don't need a lot of hand-holding with curriculum and am wondering if I'll find Sonlight to be preparation overkill (or overload). I'd love to hear your experiences with any Sonlight Science curriculum, particularly grades 3-4.

My youngest JUST turned 5 and he's 46" tall. I'm 5'10 and DH is 6'2". My oldest is tall, too. What does your ped say?

hancocks-paducah.com fatquartershop.com cabbagerosequilting.com quilthome.com fabric.com My favorite is Fat Quarter Shop. There's just something about the clarity of the graphics ... I feel as though I get a much better sense of what a fabric is going to look like when I shop that site.

Thanks for weighing in, ladies. I'm sure it's just harmless small talk on my friend's part. I realize homeschooling is strange to many people and I'm usually cool with the whole circus freak show aspect it takes on with many of my friends. It just gets old - especially with GOOD friends, you know? - and I wondered how others handled it. Thanks to this thread, I now have several wonderful ideas and approaches to take next time friends bring up homeschooling. Wish me luck!

I'd stay far away from Mystic Tan. My friend, a cosmetologist, is the guide at skincare.about.com and she did a review of Mystic Tan. She was quite orange. I think if you go to skincare.about.com and search for "Mystic Tan" you should find her review. It also smells horrible. I remember her telling me that, too.

Thanks, ladies! My friend isn't belligerent or condescending to my face. She just talks about my homeschooling like it's a temporary thing all the time and not something we'll be doing with all our children. She has referred to it as "a bubble," which bothers me a bit. It's just cluelessness on her part, I know, and nothing malicious. But it gets annoying having to be tactful when other people don't seem to return the favor.

Do you just avoid the topic of education altogether? I have several lovely friends who can't seem to get it through their heads that we're homeschooling for the long-term. They are constantly asking what my plans are for our youngest, who starts Kindergarten next year. And how will my oldest adjust to "new math" if he ever attends the local public school? And on and on. It's starting to drive me nuts. One friend in particular is super sweet and I love her to death. I really do. But she's not a deep thinker when it comes to her own kids' education. She just sends them off to the local PS and assumes the schools know what they're doing. That she questions MY choices when I stay quiet about hers is starting to put a wedge in things from my point of view. I'm just running out of diplomatic ways to deal with questions and "concerns" and really don't want to jeopardize friendships. These aren't mean, catty people. They're just sheep, KWIM? Any advice? Words of encouragement?

I'm only in my second year of homeschooling, but bless you for organizing something like this! I can't even begin to imagine the logistics. With my personality, though, I'd be breathing fire if I encountered what you're going through right now. Your patience so far is commendable!

Anything by Virginia Lee Burton. There's a great collection out there called "Mike Mulligan and More: Four Classic Stories by Virginia Lee Burton." Also: The Empty Pot by Demi Stone Soup Flat Stanley (the picture book version) The Velveteen Rabbit Other authors to consider: Charlotte Zolotow Ruth Krauss Judith Viorst All great children's picture book authors.

I have no idea if this would be remotely helpful, but here's a link to a website that has Zaner-Bloser worksheets for free. http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/galleries/basics.html

My son went to a Christian school that used only A Beka curriculum and I was impressed. When we decided to homeschool mid-year of second grade, I planned to finish up with the A Beka. We continued with the Letters and Sounds and Spelling books, but ended up switching to Growing with Grammar for the nuts and bolts. I liked the approach and presentation of the lessons better.

Love Rob Bell. His NOOMA videos are great, as well as his books. I think there is a real need for teachers like him to reach the younger and more skeptical, cynical audiences. I've been a Christian for almost 30 years and I always take away a new idea or perspective or bit of Bible info I didn't know before (or had totally forgotten or taken for granted). EDITED TO ADD: Sorry, I have no similar recommendations to pass your way. Just wanted to add my "Rob Bell Rocks" vote. :)

I was kidding ... and I was thinking in terms of subscriptions, too. The NRA magazine comes with a membership. That's all I meant by that.

Thank you! It's printing out right now!

Add me to the list!

The only magazines we subscribe to are National Review, Allure, Southern Accents and ... I think that's it. I suppose the NRA magazine doesn't count, huh?

My son loved it. Read it this summer between 2nd and 3rd grades. Probably would have read it sooner if his parents had been more on the ball. We didn't know about it. :D

:iagree:

No charge for holding books OR interlibrary loan here. Woot!

Thank you for the additional recommendations! We do pretty much everything as outlined by the WTM, so yes, he gets plenty of writing practice in with his narrations for history and science, in addition to short writing assignments in each lesson of Spelling Workout D. What I'm looking for right now is something more. Paragraphing, outlining, word choice, the different types of writing, etc. I'm probably not doing a great job of explaining myself, but I'll continue to look into the programs suggested here and see if any of them fit in with what's brewing in my head.

Are the DVDs essential to using IEW?

Thank you, everyone! I'm going to go look all those up now. But first I need to figure out what all the letters mean ... IEW-TWSS, etc. ;)