Anyone use this? I've only seen the small excepts in the samples, but it looks interesting as it also covers some books I was going to use with my kids next year anyway.

We take probiotic pill that is df. You just need to search for one that you like best as there are several out there. We also do elderberry daily as well as raw garlic raw apple cider vinegar and raw honey.

I’ve alqays been intrigued by this curriculum. Is it meant only for gifted? Would it work for a struggling student?

I am putting together my own American History curriculum for next year (kids will be 5th, 4th, 1st and pre-k). It is going to be literature based unit studies and very hands on. We are also going to be doing separate science studies, but not at the same time. So we will focus on history, then science, back to history. Anyway, when doing a rough year at a glance, it doesn't look like I'd be able to get as far into American history as I'd like. I'm conflicted in what to do/skip. My older boys have done early American history quite a bit so things like explorers, pilgrims, colonial America have Ben covered more than once with them and they know it, but my 1st grader doesn't. My older ones also want to do WW 1&2 and some more modern wars we haven't yet covered. I would also like to get to these and keep all the kids together. So I'm not sure if I skip all the beginning stuff and plan on doing it later with yds (as I have two younger ones who will need it as well), go over it quickly with all of them at the beginning of the year, or use our morning time to go over it briefly once a week (I originally was going to use this time to add in states and presidents to our other morning time activities of music, art, root words, Etc). I had thought of doing this over two years, but since ODS will be middle school the year after, I wanted to have him doing more independent work and beginning again with the ancients. Thoughts?

I'm looking for fun science books for DS10 to read which will teach as well as entertain. He love historical fiction so something along the same lines with stories about inventors, scientific discoveries, etc. Are there any?

I agree with the others. We started using this mid year this year after many years of failed grammar attempts. This has been a great program for my ODS who hates grammar as well as my other DS who does well with grammar. My two other sons saw what their older brother we doing and asked to do it as well! There is a ton of printing! I think there is enough in the program that you could pull it out over two years for a younger child who may not be ready for some of the more difficult concepts.

Our Plans: Math: BA 2 C and D and probably 3 A and B with a bit of MM added in if needed for extra practice. Phonics: AAR Level 3 and possibly beginning 4. He's working on level 2 right now so I'm not sure of pacing, but suspect he will finish it before the end of the year and even begin level 3. Handwriting: Continue working with Draw Write Now books and copywork Writing: I'm unsure here. This year we are using Here to Help Learning with his older siblings and he has been sitting in. I may have him start over and do this level again next year. Spelling: AAS finish up level 2 and level 3 Grammar: Beowulf's Grammar History & Science: We are doing History and Science together as a group through literature units I'm putting together. Bible: Classical Press's OT vol 2 Art: Home Art Studio Language: Rosetta Stone German- picking up where he leaves off from this year Other: Possibly co-op classes, 4H and he wants to do some sort of robotics classes, so I need to figure that out.

I'm thinking of using it for part of the year next year and wanted to hear opinions. We'd be using the Geology for all of my kids ranging from 5-11. I was planning on adding on higher level activities for my older children, but I haven't read the books before to know if the content is good and appropriate for a variety of age groups.

Whenever I've returned something I've used Kohls cash on, I've always received it back as store credit. The only time this doesn't happen is if the kohls cash s expired when I used it (which isn't really allowed anymore).

I think "good enough" really depends upon you and your child. What are you expectations and what is helping your DS best? For my children, I typically will teach the lesson, have them read the story aloud to me. Then the next day they will go off and read that same story to themselves, a sibling or even a stuffed animal. Typically they will end up reading past stories again for their own enjoyment (mine enjoy reading/being read to). The third day I will continue with the next lesson (assuming there are no major struggles with the prior lesson, but since I will have them able to decode the words correctly in the previous lesson before reading the stories, this isn't an issue). They will also read the most recent story aloud to me again. Usually by this time the fluency has greatly improved. Every so often I will also choose to have them read me a story from the past aloud as well and I can see their progress and if anything needs to be retaught. I do not expect perfect fluency, but rather my child can decode the words with ease. My goal isn't for them to read that particular story (or any story) perfectly in the book, but rather the decoding skills and seeing they are able to apply those skills to other pieces. Also I hope to see that words are becoming more of a sight word to them vs needing to decode it every time.

I was also going to suggest the eeme electronics box. Nice and small, keeps them busy and learning for a few hours and as I understand they build upon each other. From what we have received already, the kits all together could be stored in a small box.

I think it will depend upon your kids. If they enjoy strategy games and logic, then there wouldn't be any issue using the regular version of Catan. With my older three (currently 10, 8 and 6) we have been playing the regular version since they were about 4. They were able to play on their own and strategize without issue, but they also enjoy that. My current 4 yo struggles with Jr, but his logic/strategy skills aren't the same as my older ones. Our kids have also watched us play Catan for years, so they've had an understanding of it before playing themselves. I think Jr. would be too simple for your older ones, but it is a good introduction for younger ones to gain an understanding of the regular game as well as beginning strategy. Some fun games to do as a family may be Forbidden Island or Pandemic since they are group strategy games and you all work together. Since you are working together then you can help with stratgey and discuss moves. We also like Caracassone, Ticket to Ride (which also has a Jr version- we've never played this one), Tsuro

We have used crafty classrooms ABC curriculum. It's quick and easy. Then I add in books from the library as I want and any games we have that are fun. We do also read Alphatales each week with the corresponding letter.

I'm also one who has noticed in the past few months that there are no packing slips anymore. And for some reason whenever I order off of one of my devices, it always makes it a gift...now thinking about it, even those don't have any slip in them. So this may be an issue for a lot this season.

This is what we also do for our family of six. It is tight as we have a lot of gear, but it works much better than just thrown somewhere and I've found things get lost less.

I grew up putting my shoes outside my bedroom door and then getting some treats and toys filled the next morning. With our kids I switched to doing our stockings that day. We usually put in there some treats, school supplies and a small toy. Things I’d typically put into their stockings anyway. We also read about st nikolas each year and since mine are still young they like watching the veggie tales.

The first two we bought were the smaller and so much if the space is used just by the required system. And as a pp mentioned not everything can be saved on the sd card. We have issues with those kindles all the time. The next two were the larger and we have t had issues with space filling up on those.

The same has happened to me. I was also told that to be registered with them I had to have 30 students at least? Umm...I’m a homeschooler....I stopped buying from them for this reason. I wrote a nice email explaining the information they were asking for was more than my state required of me. I’ve boight from them in the past without issue and didn’t feel I needed to supply them with this information to buy a workbook. I received the same response as above and then was told I also needed the 30 Kids. Yeah...if there’s something I really want I buy used or from amazon.

I have my next fix on the way. I was going to wait until after baby and losing the weight, but I can't find anything I want to wear for newborn pictures next month. Living rurally makes it harder too so I asked DH if I could try it out to see if there's at least one thing to use. I don't intend on keeping it all, but we will see. I did remember I had a gift card from last Christmas to use on stitch fix, so I can use that this time hopefully!

Oh I didn't even see the part about thinking about MFW Adventures. If you have a 2nd or 3rd grader, this is a great program and appropriate for the age group. We used this with a 2nd grader and a K and they enjoyed it. The only downfall in our opinion is that we would have liked more hands on things included (Pinterest helped out with this). I do believe that the sale right now is the best they offer and as the year goes on (after January 1) the discount gets less.

We are using sea and sky this year and are enjoying it. My DS loves the Captians log. We have really like the Winterpromise exclusives. The chosen materials that they've included are really nice too. Customer service has been great with them too. My da is enjoying the activities suggested. A few things we/I am finding as cons. It is pricey- even buying the digital (which I like since I can easily reuse it if they change things and print more than one activity book). Once buying the Winterpromise exclusives, any extra books and supplies, it adds up! For us, it seems like a lot of work. It may be because I am doing four separate curriculum at the moment (it wasn't the original plan) and my DS is on the younger end (3rd grader). The TM has mistakes. There are pages not correctly recorded. Since the topic is noted it's not a huge deal, but not as convenient. Also there are things that aren't necessarily noted or written conveniently. For example the timeline figures for each week are in a different area than the weekly instruction sheet. The organization bothers me which could just be me, but for the price I had hoped for more. Again with organization, the exclusive don't always make sense. In the captains log, the pages are not in the order they are assigned. I think the only reason this really bothers me is because it is their exclusive which they made and are assigning and it could have made it easier. Again might just be me. One con I've also found is that the read aloud books don't always directly align with what we are learning. We covered Vikings and it was some time later we read a Viking read aloud. Overall, some of that is nit picking and my preferences or specific to the program we are using. The major reason we won't be using it again next year doesn't have anything to do with quality or content, but because I wanted the living books. So with American Story, they rewrote it this past year and took out the living books and replaced it with their exclusives only. With buying digital to make it more cost effective, I can't resell anything and the overall cost is very much the same as it was when they had the living books. I'd add more specifics but since you are looking at a different program than one we've used I can't comment other than this and the quality we have been happy with.

To get less ground beef, you'd want to have the brisket and short ribs and roasts. Typically if if want more group beef I have those put in. All the butchers we've used over the years have been super helpful in helping us decide what types of cuts we want. So if you'd like less ground beef then I'd ask when they call for the cuts what they suggest. Have an idea of what you typically like to cook. Also know what type of steaks. Things like filets are not always a given with some butchers. I always make sure to request those.

With my DS who sounds like your DD, I do this. My other three can work together or quietly at the table rotating while needed and DS is in his room, reading, playing and have his free time. He likes having that first. Then after lunch, he will work with me while the others have their freetime. For the most part it does work well. It is just tiring for me as I'm introverted and definitely need my me time in the afternoon. But at the same time since he is more content and compliant, I'm not as worn as I am when we schooled all together. I am beginning to give him some work to do on his own in the mornings like listening to books or reading an assigned book, getting specific chores done, practicing different skills, but for the most part we do his work together in the afternoons. I've been slowly adding him into our morning schedule for a few together things since I know once I have our fifth in a few months, I"ll need more breaks than now.

We are also currently using it and enjoying it. There is a lot to print. I did end up printing it all since we can do it inexpensively. My DS is in 4th grade using it and for the first time ever he has been asking to do grammar rather than throwing fits over it, so for us its a win. He also seems to be retaining it. The hands on things are really nice. I have two other kids eyeing it wondering when they can do it too. We spend anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes a day on it, not following the schedule, but working as we can on it. We plan on finishing it in a year - 18 months.

If it's just for labeling some things around the house I'd get someone else to make them off of etsy or a local crafty person. The machines are expensive if just used for a few labels. But if your daughter would use it for more it could be worth the investment. I have an older circuit and really like it but would actually suggest a shilouette instead. I think it has more capabiiities to customize at a lesser cost (after machine). I haven't looked st cost comparison lately so I'm not sure which is less expensive. You could check local crafters who may be selling theirs or watch for sales at local craft stores for least expensive options.