I would suggest Singapore Science. I don't have direct experience with that age level but I have used the earlybird version and I loved it. It covers a lot without being overwhelming and was not too have with the experiments. It is also relatively inexpensive. You can get it from Rainbow Resource where you can also view samples.

I have been allergic to Tide since I was a little girl and I don't actually have other skin type allergies. My daughters are also very sensitive to detergents. I don't know anything about biokleen but I have found that we can use Wisk or Era with no problems so I stick to those.

I just ordered from them and had no problems. I was already registered with them as a homeschooler however because of the book club. When I registered with the book club though, it took about a week for them to finally OK me to access the teacher stuff. I would imagine that if they go through a process and they have a lot of people trying to register because of Dollar Days, it would cause some congestion.

We liked the Singapore Earlybird science books. It is inexpensive, over the four little books it covers pretty much everything but it was not so overwhelming to me or them. There are some experiments thrown in there as well. It is available from Rainbow Resource if you want to check it out.

It took me a long time to find stuff that my daughter likes to read. She still hates fiction but loves non-fiction. I have a laundry basket of books that I get from the library, non-fiction, chapter books that are slightly easy for her etc and then I let them choose. For us, the girls go to bed at 8:00 PM with lights out at 9 PM. I have them read 30 minutes of something from the educational basket and then they can read Garfield or currently its Peanuts in our house. Most of the time it works but they still resist from time to time. My daughter did love the Magic Tree House books and they were not overwhelming chapter books for her. We read aloud some harder stuff which she loves and I am planning to gradually move her into more as the school year progresses.

I recently discovered Beauticontrol and they have skin care products to meet the needs of different ages as well as sensitive and acne prone skin. Here is a link to a site where it can be purchased. They do also have a 30 day money back guarantee. In addition, the consultant selling it is a soon to be homeschooling Mom as well. http://www.beautipage.com/ElizabethHulsman

I would say no. I have two children who love to participate in theatre etc and it becomes painfully obvious in a group of children which ones are there of their own free will. For some people, activities like this are just torture and if he has tried it before and still hated it, then I would not force the issue.

My father in law passed away 3 years ago and it was extremely difficult for me as he and I were very close. I do not remember so much any words that were said to me but I remember that others I loved and that loved him were there and offered comfort. Their presence is what I took comfort in - not so much the actual words.

I would skip through K and just do the parts that she needs. I do this with Horizons 1 and do not always make DD do every section if I am confident that she doesn't need it. However, for her, the parts she knows easily help give her confidence for the harder stuff. As other have said, there is some repetition in the beginning and those concepts are covered again. For the money, I have a recommendation. We got a DVD from our library called "Money and Making Change". My daughters both loved this and my youngest daughter, then 4, not only learned to count the money but she can tell you who is pictured on every coin. It is pictured here from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Learn-Money-Making-Change/dp/B000GI3KN0. It does everything with music with these cartoon coins leading the way.

I have found some nice dress deals at http://www.tinytotdressshop.com. Good luck!

I am constantly drooling over the Sonlight catalog but unfortunately, at this time, it is just not a good fit for my daughter. We found it to be far too much reading with not enough hands on stuff to balance it out. My 7 year old is a voracious reader but she really cannot tolerate reading fiction. She doesn't mind the read alouds but generally feels fiction is a waste of her time. She is a just the facts, non-fiction kind of girl.

After two children with very difficult pregnancies and two miscarriages, we are done having children. Sometimes I long for another but physically, it is just not possible. The thought of actually being pregnant again makes me want to cry (and not in a good way!)

Carbonated beverages of any kind do leech the calcium from your bones. I work in the medical imaging department of a large hospital and I have seen several cases of teenagers bordering on osteoporosis. Perhaps that might be a health reason to help your case. I understand the issues. My dh is also a large consumer of soda. I used to be but as I have gotten older, it just makes me feel bad if I drink too much carbonation. Couldn't drink it at all either time I was pregnant.

Rainbow resource has them. They are called Zaner Bloser ruled and they are only $.90 each. I have several of them on my wish list as well for next year.

My daughter has had these issues periodically and I use PlumSmart juice. She won't drink it straight but I mix a couple of ounces in with orange juice and she drinks it. This has helped with the periodic issues we have now. Her major problems have however gotten better by re-introducing some fat into her diet. She is also very small for her age although her height to weight ratio is appropriate.

My 5 year old was on SIngulair about a year ago for 2 months. She had turned into a completely different child. Her behavior bordered on manc and she had trouble sleeping which compounded the problems. We took her off of it and she returned to normal. She is already a very active child but while on the Singulair, I was at my wits end because I could not control her. Fortunately, her asthma is mild and is well controlled by her rescue inhaler when necessary.

I do love the look of RC history but we are already almost to where that program ends and with no projected date available for when the next levels are going to be finished, I do not want to invest the $$$$ in a program that will not be there in 6 months when I need more. Thanks for the suggestion.

She does know how to type and can use the computer. She has been allowed to do some journal entries on the computer and her sentences are always perfect with the exception of some spelling issues.

When I had to supplement, we had the best luck with the Playtex nursers (with the collapsible disposable bags). That seemed to be the bottle they would take. I also introduced the sippy cup and that would also work sometimes. I would definitely have someone else other than Mom try to give the bottle.

Just thought I would mention that my husband is very lactose intolerant but he can drink raw cows milk (non-pasteurized and non-homogenized) milk with no problems at all. Unfortunately, you can't usually purchase this but we pay for a share in a local organic farmers cow herd and get our raw milk there.

Hi. My name is Jenni and I have 5 and 7 year old daughters that we have always homeschooled (except for the first half of this year that we spent with K12 Virtual Academy but we just withdrew this week). I have been hammering out my curriculum suggestions and I thought some fresh eyes might help me address any gaps. Sorry, this post got a little longer than I planned. My oldest daughter, "Sweet-Pea", is my big conundrum. She is a very advanced reader that only likes to read non-fiction but her writing skills are right about on target for her age. She struggles with the fine motor aspects of pencil development but when asked to compose sentences etc, she can do so in complete sentences and everything but the physical act of writing, which she finds very frustrating because her mind works faster than her hand. The two subjects that she cannot do without are history and science. My younger daughter, "Boo-Boo" is a young 5 that also reads well for her age and is also about on target age-wise for writing. Her favorite subject is math. She is currently about 3/4 of the way through Horizons K 1st workbook. She does have a short attention span. She participates with her sister and really absorbs a lot but lots of book work is not her thing. She also loves grammar, when we do it all together on the white board. Both girls are hands on and the oldest particularly really is a "just the facts" kind of person. When we get on a topic she enjoys, she can read about it FOREVER until she feels like she is done but she can't seem to soak up enough knowledge. This is what I have planned: Together we will do: SOTW with activity books (finish level 1 and move on at daughter's pace) along with timelines for each ( I think they will really like that part), REAL science for kids Earth and Space, Horizons Math (level 1/2 and Level K/1) and read alouds (using many different lists (SL, AO, etc). With Sweet pea, I will do: Growing with Grammar, the later books of Explode the Code to help with some spelling issues), Writing with Ease level 1, reading poetry and various genres to expose to more than non-fiction in addition to religion/catechism/Bible study. With Boo-Boo, I will do: Growing with Grammar, Expode the Code (although she reads, it is from memory, not phonetically, so she needs to be able to make some connections, Peak with Books, copywork for HW practice, reading practice and religion etc. Am I missing anything? The part that I have been struggling with the most is history since it is among Sweet-Pea's favorites. I have looked at pretty much every program out there. We want to teach history chronologically but it is complicated by the fact that we are Catholic and I would really prefer not to constantly have to change things and/or edit a strong Protestant and even worse an anti-Catholic bent. Any suggestions, recommendations, comments would be welcomed. Thanks, Jenni

The Bible section of the IG is really only a small portion. I personally found it helpful because it was all laid out in the IG for me and in the later cores, it coordinates what they are reading with the history etc. That was too much to wrap my mind around on my own. I also did not use the Bible portion but just ignored those two lines. There are some great suggestions here. We did what everyone else has suggested and bought the IG from Sonlight (although used would have certainly been fine) and then put the rest together. The only snag with the library was that the book was not always available exactly when I wanted to I tried to purchase as much as I could used.

I have a daughter, now 7, who is an advanced reader but no an advanced writer. Whatever program you do choose, I would advise fitting it to her writing skills and supplement the reading if you need to. My daughter still gets extremely frustrated with writing but her reading sails along. I have also found that if some of the reading is easier for her, it helps to boost her confidence with the writing part. Having said all of that, we did use SL K and it was pretty successful. I do not have any experience with their LA program though from what I have seen, it is a little dry. I personally would use nothing but SL but the reading is just overwhelming for my daughter (she does not like reading fiction at all - non-fiction only) with not enough hands on action mixed in there. Good luck with your choice.

My sister and I have often discussed what we could do in our homeschools if we actually had the money that the state would give the public schools for our kids to be there. WOW!

We spent the week with Mommy deciding to drop out of Ohio Virtual Academy, our K12 virtual school. We are actually taking a week or so to "de-school" and get back in our old traditional homeschooling routine.