OHHH, thank you! I have not been checking the ads, so I would have missed this.

This is what I did a few years back and we finally have worked through the stack ;)

We go through a crazy amount of filler paper each year. I just wondered if anyone has seen any crazy good sales for it. Our King Soopers has 150 sheets for $0.75. I was hoping to beat that ;) Thanks!

Does anyone know if the answers to the 2nd edition will line up with the 3rd edition? I know there might be some discrepancies, but I wondered if overall the editions were not that different.

Oh, that would be wonderful! I will look into it. Thank you!

I wondered if anyone had any suggestions for me on where I can locate a reasonable teachers guide for the book. I have the 2nd edition book and I wanted us to work through it as a supplement this year. Thanks for any advice!

I clipped this free shipping on over $35 from my homeschool magazine. The code is 496722HE. Hope that helps!

A really great site for recurring orders is Grove Collaborative, but it specializes in natural product lines. I have been highly pleased with the site and their customer service. But the downside is you might not be able to order all your typical home brands.

We have used Stanford for the last 7 years. For us, the Lexile scores have been right on the mark. The only issue I initially had was that you need to be approved as an administrator to be able to use Stanford, which I am not sure if that is still the case. I went through the process to get approved through the BJU testing site and just renew it every year. Back when I was deciding which test to chose I remember digging up that Stanford was more rigorous than Iowa. But of course at this point, I have no legitimate links to back that up ;)

We have to complete standardized testing every other year in our state. My ds (entering 10th) had one low score listed as Criticial Analysis on his Stanford test. What suggestions does anyone have for high school materials that might help strengthen his ability in this area? TIA!

I will have to check this one out. Thank you!

The HP is approved for testing. I read a review article on all the options from a tech website and they were the top two recommended. So, once I looked at the price point it really surprised me. I know all the TI options are the standard, but that doesn't seal the deal for me. Thank you Lanny for all the info and links!

Would an average person notice a huge difference between these two calculators? My ds is in 9th and we are starting Algebra II and have not used a calculator with math thus far. I want to invest in whichever calculator would be best through high school and all testing. We can cross the college bridge when it comes ;) Thanks for any input!

I am thrilled to see Echo on the list. I had been reading many of the books that Amazon put out as the books of the year, and Echo was immediately my favorite. It is such a lovely book!

I have been checking out a bunch of middle grade or YA books to pre read to decide if I want to use them as read alouds with my kids. The two that really stood out to me this year, that I have never heard anyone mention, are "Echo" by Pam Munoz Ryan and "Listen to the Moon" by Michael Morpurgo. I love finding new gems, so I thought I would share these.

I listened this week and enjoyed it. Susan's honesty about her own children and homeschooling somehow makes me feel better. Just knowing that someone who produced the WTM had issues with her own homeschool journey gives me confidence, if that makes any sense ;) I have also never put any thought into how it really might seem for the final child on the homeschooling journey, so that is some food for thought for me. I have also heard Susan mentioned multiple times about the Horatio Hornblower series, so I put the first one on hold at the library.

We loved Sleeper and the Spindle. The artwork is just exquisite. The kids actually got tired of me saying it ;) I thought it was an excellent twist on what the kids expected the story to be.

My mom is 63 and got her annual mammo this year. They called her back because they saw a lump. She was actually considering not going back for followup exams because they have called her back so many times over the years for what turns out as fibrous breast tissue. My dad said just go and it eventually was biopsied and found to be a tiny lump. None of the doctors or my mom could feel the lump. She ended up having a lumpectomy and a small round of radiation. She declined taking the routine tamoxifen for the next 5 years. So, in my moms case the mammo saved her life. A few months later I had pain and thought I felt something (I am so hypersensitive now because of my mom), since I am nursing my gyno suggested an ultrasound which was inconclusive so my gyno had me do a double breast MRI. My gyno says that breast MRI are often a way better option than a mammo, but insurance will never allow that to become the standard. I was nervous about the MRI and yes it is more to "deal" with, but I think I am going to state that is the form of monitoring I would like to take for myself in the future. With the inconsistency in results from mammos and the exposure to radiation on your chest I would prefer to go another route. And this with my mom's life having been saved with a mammo.

My ds is loving Memoria Press Traditional Logic I. I am starting to write out our plans for Traditional Logic II. On the Memoria Press website I know they recommend studying the Peter Kreeft book" Handbook of Christian Apologetics" alongside if you are inclined. I have the book and am just wondering if anyone has a schedule or knows of a schedule anywhere online linking the two together. At this point, I am all about not reinventing the wheel ;) Thanks for any help!

I have read there are a lot of great interactive online components to the Miller Levine text, which I think is cool. Why do you favor the Campbell text? I think I am probably the least familiar with Campbell. Thanks for the microscope suggestion I will take a look at them!

We haven't finished up our Science Shepherd Life science books for this year. I am not sure why I am not more heavily considering the Biology. I guess because I think it might be dry and I feel Biology should be more colorful and "full of life". I do not necessarily think there needs to be a crazy amount of jazzed up pages, just a balance. I also got the feeling that the labs were not as strong. Can you speak to either of these ideas I got in my head? ;)

If we go the BJU route, I was trying to figure what books we would need. Do I still need to get all the BJU materials (teacher edition, lab manual, tests)? Or do I just buy the BJU student text, and then all the Dive materials? And did your kids do an actual lab write up? And also, did you feel the BJU seemed like a classroom text or where you happy with your kids just doing their reading and then watching the Dive? My thoughts are I would like my son to do his reading and watch the Dive and then we would have a discussion and then we would do the labs together. Thanks!

When you use the Miller Levine Biology with Dive how do the labs work. Is there a lab manual? Do you just follow the Dive labs and no labs specifically from the Miller Levine? If you have time I would love to see your syllabus if you wouldn't mind.

Thanks for the responses everyone! It is great to hear different perspectives and new ideas to research. Keep them coming I am all ears ;)

I know there are an abundance of threads on Biology and I have read them all. I feel like I still need my hand held ;) Maybe it would be easiest to help me if I give you some background info and what I have been pondering. -I want us to actually do the labs at home -I would like it to be rigorous and able to educate us to possibly be able to test for it -We are YE Christians, but I would like my children to understand all sides of issues -I am on the fence but I might not mind picking say the Miller/Levine or Campbell text and then balancing evolution with material on our viewpoints -I want to be able to gather all of the material and have it all planned and laid out for me (besides what I may supplement) -At this point I am feeling like I do not want an online class -Dive Science may be a consideration Oh, and if you have any suggestions for a nice yet economical microscope they would be much appreciated too :) Thanks for any and all help!