I'm sitting in my dining room surrounded by the paintings I purchased in Charleston 20 years ago. I too LOVE Charleston--and South Carolina in general. I didn't live in Charleston, though. I lived north of Pawley's Island in Surfside Beach (south of Myrtle Beach). I even survived Hurricane Hugo! I'd love to get back there someday. The people there really were the nicest of any place I've lived. Glad you had a good trip! Jacklyn

Bananagrams and Apples to Apples. Bananagrams is great because it is so portable. We recently got together with several other homeschoolers, and there were six kids at a time playing. My son also likes playing solo. Every time he uses up all the letters, we take a picture of him posing with his anagram! Our whole family can play Apples to Apples--with dc from ages 13 to 7. We often make up our own rules, and we are almost always laughing like crazy at some point during this game. Jacklyn

when we have this problem around here, we reach for the A&D ointment--the original "greasy" kind--not the white kind. It has a brown and yellow label. Put it on at night, and it will be better in the morning. One day my son walked around Sea World in a wet bathing suit all day. He was RAW by the end of the day. The A&D always takes care of it. Just make sure it is NOT the white kind (zinc oxide or something?). I was also going to recommend powder as a preventative. Here in FL, we keep a big bottle of baby powder in the car. It's great for getting the sand off when you're leaving the beach--it dries out your clammy skin so the sand can fall off. So I think it would work fine for sweaty thighs too! Good luck! Jacklyn

is sometimes simpler is better. I, too, was frustrated at SL's choppiness. But the first year I tried SOTW I, I added in too many extra books and did too many activities. I found the "flow" of SOTW got lost in all my big intentions. My DC love SOTW, and I have used all four of the SOTW books. Here is how I do it now: I have my breakfast before I wake the children. Then, while they are eating, I sit at the table and read to them--first from whatever we are using for Bible time (usually a missionary story), then I read from a book related to the general time-frame of history we are studying (usually fiction, but sometimes non-fiction. Right now it's "Abraham Lincoln: A Photobiography"). BTW, I used to do our read-aloud book in the evening, but now I'm too tired at night! Next, I read from SOTW--just one section of the chapter (usually there's two). Because we are in book 4, and there are no coloring pages, my little one colors the map page while I read. The others fill out their outlines. Afterwards, they complete the map assignment. The following day, before I start reading the next section, I ask the questions in the Activity Guide. All my "morning" books, reproducible pages, and file folders holding the children's completed work are kept in a basket near the kitchen table. The other things we keep handy are pencils, colored pencils, and the globe. That's it. That's all we do for history. I do preview the Activity Guide for simple projects and activities, but I shy away from the longer ones that would hold us up. My children LOVE history, and they remember a lot of what I have read. And, at the age of your dc, I would focus more on enjoyment and exposure than anything else. HTH, Jacklyn

I used the TM once, but it wasn't really necessary. I think this is a well-laid out program, and my children all seemed to enjoy it. Jacklyn

my kids love Maps, Charts, and Graphs by Modern Curriculum Press. I buy a new one every year for their different grade levels. They are inexpensive, but they are in color, and the answers are in the back so no TE needed. My dc take the IOWA test every year, and I have found these books to be a big help. They fill an area that often gets overlooked in my eclectic homeschooling curriculum. Oh, and BTW, it's not all geography--it includes bar graphs and line graphs and circle charts in a wide range of topics. HTH, Jacklyn

during 2nd grade, and I really liked the Reading book by Houghton Mifflin. It had a good variety of stories--fiction, non-fiction, poems, biographies, etc. And the stories were real books like Thundercake, Officer Buckle and Gloria, etc. We didn't use Calvert again, but I saved those reading books for my other two children to use as well. HTH, Jacklyn

were those towels with the hood. Someone sewed a couple for my twins, and I must have kept them for 10 years! They were made out of the smaller, less expensive towels, and the hood was made with either a washcloth or small hand towel. My mom has made some of these for my kids now that they are older (using bigger towels, of course), and she has their names monogrammed on the hood. They are the ONLY towels my kids use. Instead of a towel rack in the bathroom, we use a rack with hooks--very easy to hang the towels. LOVE those hooded towels! Jacklyn

I recently saw it, and it was terrific. I wish I would have taken my 8th grade boys, because I think they would have liked it too, but I went on the last night it was being performed. Jacklyn

First of all, I would love to hear from those of you who have used Omnibus I. Is this a strong enough program to count as a high school World History credit? Secondly, I notice one of the optional books is Spielvogel's Western Civ. In your opinion, is it necessary? Finally, I've read some reviews about Spielvogel's World History: The Human Odyssey. I'm wondering if this could be used as a stand-alone World History program and where to get a study guide or teacher's guide for it. What is the difference between this book and the Western Civ book? Thanks for any help you can give! Jacklyn

I keep coming back to the Notgrass World History because it seems to meet most of the requirements we are looking for. I find the tests and discussion questions a bit shallow though. Did any of you do the Nations Project with your children? I kind of like the idea used in Sonlight 300 better--writing a summary for each decade. Again, I appreciate the encouragement for Notgrass. Now if I can just convince the co-op to spend the $. Jacklyn

so that makes using something like TOG difficult. Using an incremental approach would mean that the older students wouldn't get to finish the cycle. So I am looking for something that can be done in one year and accomodate any level of high school. Thanks for your input! Any others? I'm also looking at Sonlight Core 300 if anyone has experience with it. Jacklyn

that would be good for a co-op. Ideally, it would be Christian-based and not terribly expensive. I'm looking at Notgrass, so I would love to hear some reviews--good or bad. But I will consider others. Some in our co-op have mentioned Streams of Civilization. Any input on that one? Thanks so much! Jacklyn

I'm not sure if this has already been posted or not, but Disney is offering a great deal for military members and their families. The servicemember gets 5 free days to any Disney theme park and 5 free days at any Disney water park, Wide World of Sports, or Disney Quest (this if for DisneyWorld in Kissimmee). You can also purchase five additional tickets for $99 each. For an extra $25, you can add on the water park option, and for another $25 you can add on the park hopper option. The servicemember doesn't have to purchase this--dependents can get the tickets with their own ID. And Disney is also offering a free day on your birthday, so that is potentially a total of 11 days at Disney. That is what all of our kids are getting for their birthday this year--a day at the Disney park of their choosing with either Mom or Dad. Grandma's present is a little spending $ for a souvenir. Yesterday I went with my 7 year old son for his birthday. We had a great day together. He got to wear a birthday pin, and he got to do some special things like "steer" the boat for the Amazon River Cruise. I don't have a link, but you can google Disney's Salute to Veterans and find the details. I think Guard and Reserve members who meet certain conditions are also eligible. My husband retired 12 years ago, but it is nice that his service has not been forgotten and he still gets some perks now and then. Jacklyn

two things my family really liked were BOTH the 3-D movies. My dc ranged in age from 12 to 5 when we were there. The movies were about the moon and the space station--don't know if they have changed them by now or not. Anyway, they were excellent. We highly recommend them. Jackie