This thread is giving me some great info - our science curric is the last one I've been humming and hawing about. I'm not a science-y minded kinda person, so I need something to hold my hand along the way. I see some really great science stuff out there for homeschoolers but why does it all have to look so... I dunno what the word is I'm looking for. Childish? The fonts kill me. I have to really work at it to look past how goofy the fonts tend to be in order to see the content in the samples. I know it seems nitpicky but it has been driving me bonkers.

We are having very similar temps. -44C and up to -13c tomorrow! But we get snow as the trade off lol. I believe we are about to get dumped on - 10-15cm of snow. I completely agree - warmth trumps any sense of style in the really cold months. I have big but warm as heck snowboarding boots, wear my ski pants just about everywhere, and bundle up!

I don't handle it well. It's brutally cold here this week and psychologically it kills me. Physically, too, ever since I threw my back out a couple yrs back.

Ha! I hadn't even realized I called it Dark Blue. Someone had referred to it as that earlier in the thread and I must have just continued with it lol. I shouldn't post before I've had adequate morning caffeine :p ETA: The hole filling for us is when we use the Blue series, because coming out of PS my kids have a lot of gaps in their math skills. Not enough to go back a grade level in the work texts, but the Blue has been good for us to pull out those particular skills and cover them quickly. The PDF downloads (if this is important to anyone as it was for us) also include replacement money chapters in a couple other currencies. Being in Canada, this was a great reason for me to pick PDF over a printed book.

I don't know if you have this option in your state, but my province has put online all of the curriculum guidelines that the schools follow. Basically, it says "by the end of 2nd grade, student should be able to: " and lists off all of the skills and abilities they should have coming out of that grade. I printed them off for the core subjects just to refer to should I ever be concerned if they are following generally the schools (we just started homeschooling and I am not going to be foolish enough to say that there will NEVER be circumstances that require them to go back to school). When my son did the placement testing for MM, he also failed his grade level. So we're actually just going to whip through from the beginning and slow down as we hit his "challenge point". As I'm going through all of this, I compared what he will know by the end of 2nd Grade MM to what his former classmates will at the end of 2nd Grade Public School? And he will be ahead, he will in fact be going into 3rd grade requirements. So I'm satisfied. He was a bit miffed at first that we started at Grade One stuff, but I said "it's just the first level - so we're going to start at the first and work as hard as we can - in homeschooling grades are not the be all and end all". And so he's fine now.

I got the full set on the HSBC the last time it went on sale. I'm glad I did -the dark blue series has been great I think light blue would be enough though, particularly if you don't have many holes to fill (that's why I have liked the dark blue series as subject intensive hole fillers lol). I think when I got it I paid $125 or so for the full deal from 1st to 6th grade which is a good deal IMO. ETA: I messed up which colours were for which lol (we haven't touched math over the holidays so I'm forgetting already haha).

This.

I'm pretty far north of Toronto but I found my local fb group by asking on the Ontario Homeschool Facebook group.

It matters to me. In all areas of my consumer life but definitely in my homeschool purchases. I'm new to homeschooling, and have been doing a fair amount of buying and looking into curricula so I have tried to be careful about what I am buying. I was on the fence about a couple of LA programs, and the stellar customer service I received from one vs the canned responses given to me by the other - tipped the scales. The service was great from one, and I feel confident that I will have great support as I work my way through the program so I outputted a little more money and purchased from them. Also, I'm in Canada and most of the curricula providers are in the US for the most part, and if someone doesn't have a good rep for their shipping and support, it makes it a nightmare getting things to me here. SO I am careful about who I buy from if time and money are important. And, I just generally think that if people are not supporting their product to the best of their ability, then I don't want to award that with my money. There are times though, that it's the only option and you have no real other choices. But where possible, I always try to find a product that is going to work and a provider who will also work.

Weird. I was playing Monsters University and the start button worked for me to save. Hmm I'm not sure then.

Health: Lose 25 lbs and find a way to finally recover fully from a herniated disc that has plagued me for the last year and a half. Getting back in shape will help my back. Fun/Hobbies: Finally want to learn to knit and sew. Socialize more at our place - I love throwing parties but I just have not in so long and I miss it. Parenting: Stop raising my voice as much as I do. Self-Education: Take a writing class Spiritual: Get to a meditation retreat Financial: Tighten the budget. Shop locally more than I have been the past few months. Home Management: Reorganize our apartment and figure out a smoother flow to our days.

To confirm, if you hit the start button it will give you an option to save the game :) my kids just got this from their bio-dad for Xmas. It's a fun game actually.

Lol I just asked my 7 yr old and he says he just hit the start button and look for the word save. I feel like you will probably have tried that, so I just asked my kids to turn the game on so we can see how to save.

I would return it to whomever it belongs to. There must be ID of some sort in there with a name at least. I wouldn't even keep the cash (although I can understand the temptation to do so).

Aw mama I'm sorry. I'd be sad too. It's time to rally the (healthy) troops and delegate some of the to do list. There's an awesome thread on here right now about Xmas morning casseroles! Maybe your older kids could help you prep one this evening and just pop it in the oven in the morning. But most of all, take good care of yourself.

Ooh!! I love Boxing Day sales and love supporting Canadian businesses - I may just get myself a lil somethin'

How about books or a few 3d puzzles? Those can fill up some space under the tree. Or just not buy more! I am sure they will be happy with their presents. If you don't need more then don't buy more :)

I saw some hair chalks at toys r us actually. And justice. You could check a local beauty/hair supply outlet if you have one in your town.

Mine works a lot also (Mining Engineering), but in his free time he snowboards, skateboards, plays video games. Most of our free time, we do things with the kids but once in a while he'll go spend a day with the guys and go paintballing or we'll go hiking. ETA he also likes to golf but doesn't get to do that as often as he'd like (we have a pretty short season here lol)

I have heard that this pope is more progressive than most so maybe there is hope.

Well darn.

As a former catholic, it is a rare thing for me to say that I agree with a popes words. It's inspiring to see and hear this. I'm on my phone so I only read the first half of he article tht you linked but definitely want to read it more in depth when I'm sitting at my laptop.

Hubster left here at 9am and just got into London a few mins ago. That trip usually takes us 5 MAYBE 6 hours. He said the roads were brutal, and when they stopped in Vaughan at the rest stop to take a break there was no power anywhere around them - he said you could hear tree branches cracking every once in a while. Crazypants.

Oh gosh...that is brutal. I know here in Sudbury we've sent down a crew of our hydro guys to help and I know many other communities are doing that also. Hope it's on long before that. Geesh, I hope you guys have a way to keep warm or somewhere to go. But this close to the holidays... so sorry mama, what a pain in the rump. :grouphug:

I'm north of the ice storm, but we are getting some SERIOUS snow accumulation up here today. My fiance had to drive from Sudbury to St Thomas for a funeral (which is tomorrow) and I'm a nervous wreck waiting to see if he gets there okay. It took him 4 hrs to get from Sudbury to Parry Sound which normally takes us 2 and a half at most. He's driving back up here for xmas eve, and it cannot come soon enough. My kids (they are not biologically his but he's a father figure to them) are a mess today. They remember when I was driving alone with them and we went off the road and got into a serious situation with them, and my oldest is a wreck right now. He's like a lil old man, pacing and looking out the window and asking if my fiance has texted me recently lol. We've been baking a lot today, and just trying to keep our minds off it. Hope you guys are okay - I have a couple of friends who've been without power for some time, and are getting pretty stressed. Hang in there, and stay warm and safe!