Thanks for such great advices, I'm collecting my Five in a Row books and can't afford the Hardcover versions. I am on my way to turn my paperbacks into more durable books.

I think you can apply similar concepts to other daily activities and skip the meeting book. We're doing Saxon K and 1 and skipping the meeting book. I'm teaching patterning using other math manipulatives, during snack time while we're eating or if they get M & M's as treats. Do patterning with colors, shapes etc.

I too am kind of stuck in this arena. I've go Mudpies to Magnets and 501 Science Experiments in front of me, but am always putting it off as I never get around to gather the materials. I just purchased the 501 science experiment recently for $9.99 at Borders in the bargain section and it seems easy and simple yet fun and covers different aspects of science (eg. astronomy, biology, chem etc.) I've seen these "My first.... kit" and they seem to have good reviews although most says that you can probably come up with the materials from home and that they're not very durable. http://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Explorers-1st-Science-Kit/dp/B00008ZCDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1243665788&sr=8-1 I'd be very interested in finding better versions of this though or hear other ideas also.

http://www.alabacus.com/Downloads/Math%20Card%20Games%20Book%20Introduction.pdf gives you a list of cards you need in addition to the book (scroll to page 7).

Thanks Elizabeth, that makes sense to me now. I just watched the MUS video of them explaining their new updates and they even said that the material is still the same and are compatible with the old material. it is a good deal on the old material. now, I just have to remind myself to look for older edition options before I purchase the current ones:)

Ahhh, thank you for your idea of combining shipping with friends. I just got my huge rainbow catalog, hubby's wondering what kind of things they sell with such a thick catalog :) hee hee I'll be checking out winter promise also.

I would definitely leave feedback on their page as it'll also help future buyers. Just to give others ideas of how long it took for your item to arrive, and whether the condition was as described. I've had this problem recently also on ebay where I never received the item after 3 weeks and I filed with paypal and luckily got my money back. I think you should start a file with paypal as they take over 2 weeks to settle a claim. They'll tell you when you can start a claim (with my ebay purchase anyways), so you know when it's too early or too late. If you wait longer, it'll just take up more of your time in figuring out the next step, and if you wait too long, you may miss the opportunity to file a claim. I hope you'll be able to get your books soon.

wow, thank you, I would've never come up with dryer sheets, I'll definitely have to try that. Thanks.

I have wicker baskets near the stair case in our 2 story home. Things get placed in the "going up baskets" when I catch things that needs to go up, and opposite for coming down. I feel it has helped a lot in putting "little things" back where they belong and declutters the floor and countertops. Visually, it looks more easier to clean/vacuum when I'm ready to clean the surfaces. I put rolls of paper towels in every bathroom for instant emergency clean ups (i have 2 preK boys), and it's been much easier and quicker clean up than having to bring out mops etc. I hang dry all my laundry straight from the washer onto a long rod we had set up in our laundry room. The clothes goes straight from the laundry room to the closet rod. This eliminates folding clothes, and hanging the clothes makes them look less wrinkly. It's also much easier to sort clothing on hangers, you can even color code the hangers, and I don't have to pay electricity bill for the dryer. An added bonus is the humidifying effect for our first floor in the winter :)

there's also a yahoo forum that you can subscribe to, sorry don't have the exact name off the top of my head, you may want to search "landlord forum"

yellowing can be caused by UV exposure and dehydration (dry eye) due to excessive wind (eg. driving with the window rolled down, or skiing or boating etc.), causing the clear covering of your eye (conjunctiva) to thicken and loose its opacity and so the white of the eye will gradually appear yellow. sorry for the run-on sentence, it's 1am :)

do you ladies mind sharing what the technique is for ridding the smell out of musty books as I'm dying to use it for my pre-owned books. Thanks in advance :)

Elizabeth, can you clarify what do you mean by "publisher clearance items?" thanks in advance :)

Hello, I apologize if this has been discussed already, but does anyone have any pearls/suggestions on when is the best time to purchase brand new curriculum at a discounted price and which company or website offers discounts or coupons? I'm planning for preK through around Grade 1 for September and this will be my first formal year in homeschooling. I'm in need of purchasing and trying out curriculum for most subjects. I've searched homeschoolclassifieds, vegsource and this website of course, but sometimes I just can't find it there, so I end up having to fill gaps and purchase new. As summertime is coming up, my local homeschool consignment store was telling me that they'll be expecting a flood of books coming in. I'm just wondering if that's true with other homeschool vendors/curriculum companies. Do vendors have end of the year, overstock sales? or are their sales better late August before school year starts? Or are they better at homeschool fairs? I place an order for free shipping over $25 with christianbook.com last week. Are discounts similar to this easy to come by or is it rare? Is there a thread that discusses recent discounts? I'm a subscriber to lakeshorelearning and frequently get email coupons for up to 25% discount. Are there other sources that are similar? Thanks in advance.

I agree with Shari, I find myself sitting for hours at night searching and stressing for the best price on curriculum, only in the end to find myself saving a few dollars. It's how much you perceive your time is worth in searching or waiting for the right price.

Sagira, is the book written for parents to guide the student? I'm wondering if there's a lot of reading and preparation involved. We've been doing Abeka Science, Social studies, and Health. So far it's been nice as the kids each get their own readers which has nice pictures that we discuss and then later we explore outdoors. at our stage right now, I'd like to find more "hands-on" mini experiment ideas like "sink or float etc", but not with too much preparation or abstract explanations for the kids.

Sorry, if I'm being redundant as we've just started this program. Can anyone tell me how much of the card game book is useful for level A and early level B? We've being playing the typical children's games (eg. war, concentration, old maid, number bingo etc.), and ones recommended in the manual. I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend another $50+ shipping on the card games book and cards if I'll be only using a few of the games for now. I've been slowly collecting manupulatives through sales at our local education stores (Lakeshore Learning regularly emails out coupons if you sign up on to be on their list) and homeschool consignment stores. They carry some of the manipulatives. I found geoboards for a couple of dollars at consignment homeschool stores. I've also seen craigslist ads of local homeschool network swap meets.

Thank you ladies, I will definitely look into your suggestions. While I was at the bookstore today, I saw a book by Scott Houston, and found out that he has a set of free printable songs on his website. They are those popular kids songs, eg. Twinkle twinkle, row row row your boat etc. I'm so happy that I can just print them out and I'll put some finger numbering underneath it and see if my ds will like it. http://www.scotthouston.com/kidsbook

My ds are 4 and 5 and they're very interested in playing my electronic keyboard. I've taken out my ancient piano books from my early piano lessons (eg. Leila fletcher, John Thompson) but they seem to find it too difficult. With so much writing on each page, they're having trouble focusing on the notes of the staff. They're more interested in playing the tunes they like (eg. Happy Birthday, Mary had a little lamb etc.). I thought about putting together my own music sheet for them to follow, but it's been very time consuming for each song. Also, I don't know if I should go with finger numbering the notes first, or teach them letter and note correspondence first, or both. I'd appreciate comments of what program you've tried and seem to work and not work for preschoolers. I'm also looking for any hands-on manipulative type of music theory learning. For example, where the treble cleff goes on the staff line, bass cleff etc. and any games that are available.

my kids love the kumon workbooks, especially tracing and mazes, so I've decided to laminate the pages and the kids use dry erase. I've been able to purchase the laminating sheets at ten cents/page, so it works out to $4 (40 pages) extra, but that'll save me from buying each maze book at least 2 times. They're around $8 each.

I purchased similar kid-friendly abacus learning books (Chinese version) from a bookstore in Chinatown. I was happy to have gotten 2 books for $9 total (book 1 and 2). I don't read Chinese, but was able to understand it as the pictures were very kid friendly and clear. They don't have an activity book, but I'm using it in conjunction with Singapore Math, as it looks like their written exercises are similar. They covered addition and subtraction and place value. You may want to look into this alternate route as I thought the pricing on these books were so much more when sold on the internet. I was shocked to see such a variation in pricing from bookstore to bookstore (From $3 to $15) and they all go through the same introduction,addition and subtraction sequencing.

another thing I noted was it's less expensive to go with the US version than standard 1 book version. I compared them from samples of different websites and the 2 versions look similar. Just wondering if it'll be that big of a deal between the 2 versions to make it worthwhile to pay more for the standard version.

from what read on their website, you only need to purchase the textbook, I don't know why they don't also recommend the workbook, it says it's not required, but they said on their site that the workbooks would need readers. Perhaps, its to meet the california standards? Read answer 5 in this link. http://www.singaporemath.com/FAQ_Kindergarten_Math_s/14.htm

sorry if I'm off topic, just wondering if anyone lives in the Seattle area and knows when or if there'll be a convention coming up as I'm new to homeschool and am too trying to plan and shop. TIA

oooo, I'll have to check that out, thank you :)