ohhh I am curious too about them....

Here in CA ASL is NOT a foreign language becuase it is NOT foreign and can be interchangable with other countires....by no means a lot of countries but it is shared...that is the explaination I got way back when as to why they would only take my french.

I use songlight and dumped CHOW for SOTW becuase I liked it better. There is a list of how to intergrate the two on a list called paulas list. I think this is the link that will get you there but you might need to search around a bit.... http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SLmenu.htm

I buy 90% of my kids (and mine) books at second hand stores in our area. One of the best second hand stores are desert industries which is owned by the Mormon church. I am not LDS but love their store for books. I am shocked at how cheap I can find books. We use sonlight and many of the sonlight selection and hearts of dakota books can be found there for 29 - 79 cents. I also shop two other thrift stores for books...I never pay more than a buck for a book.

Story of the world.... my yahoos beg for it over and over again.

I would not put too much weight on the video game thing...since it has been on the top most popular 500 list of names for the past 12 years....I'm sure you will find other children with the same name and not becuase of a video game. It is a nice name with a good ring to it. My yahoos are 8 and they have two friends with the name.

Don't laugh but we use Astro Turf. We started with bark...= silvers Stredded recycled rubber bark...= stunk to high heavens like smelly rubber and then the cats would poop in it so it got even stinkier. Dirt...= muddy mess voila... astro turf sheet and three years later still as clean as a whistle and always green :lol:

Hummm that's a new one to me...being close to san francisco I guess if they are "light in the loafters" maybe it is a subtle way to send out a message.... No polish for boys in this house... they run at the sight of it! Now the girls..... that is a whole other story...more like how many colors can be put on.... 10!

Heck yeah! and then I would continue to afterschool them... Sure wish we had one here....

Clear plastic pants with leopard leggings underneath (circa 1979). The crotch condensation was not pretty...the pants were not ventilated. I thought I was fashionable beyond all. My mom said that I looked like a street walker...I at the time thought she was just fashion clueless I had no idea what she was talking about ...In hind sight I did look like a hooker...Yikes!

IMHO... I would be sad for whatever is going on with the mom's issue of not being clean... In terms of the kid...well I personally have not met many moms or families that share my committment to giving my yahoos a strong academic foundation. What I like about forums such as this hearing from other moms who are looking at "well training" their kids. I am an afterschooler and not a full time home schooler. I have not many any homeschoolers or afterschoolers yet here in my area that I have clicked with...most seem a little off to me. Yet that being said, I also have not met anyone at my yahoos public school who I have clicked with either. None share my passion of educating kids. The only place I have found shared commonality is here a couple other like minded forums and at the local Kumon center. We go to Kumon twice a week and it is soooooo refreshing to talk with other moms who like me are on a path to build a strong educational foundation for our kids. Am I a snob? Oh yeah....you betcha! Am I an education snob? Oh yeah and so are my yahoos. They are learning to take pride in "learning" and with what they know. I believe it is my job to teach my kids and prepare them to face the world without me someday. I will give them all of the tools to build their foundation but it will be their job to make something out of it when they leave the next. Hopefully they will do something that affords them a great lifestyle and brings them much joy. What it might be? Time will tell..... Alicia in Sacto with twins ....we should meet up some time....

Wow that is impressive!

I love to cut costs and the challenge of saving money. Here is what we do or more like I do since I am the shopper in the family. First we own a deep freezer so I can buy in bulk and freeze. We buy a pig at the and half a cow at the yearly county fair (and I live in the city) We split it with another family and it only costs us about 600 for a years worth of pork and beef. I shop first at walmart grocery store first for veggies and weekly staples Next I hit the local Grocery Outlet stores which are here in the west but I suspect exist elsewhere. It is outlet with bad labels, test products, overurns, or soon to expire items...where else can I buy napa valley wine for less than $3 bucks Then I go to costco for big bulk stuff. I like to by large quantities and then break them apart for smaller storage to freeze We live in the city so I also will frequent the mexican and asian markets for really cheap deals... I am a huge fan of various types of beans (dried are super cheap and last forever) and rice dishes... (rice is also super cheap to buy) Noodles/pasta is another way to feed a lot for a little. Make your sauce...add your little bit of meat and off you go. I am also a huge crock pot fan since I can often take leftovers and create sometype of soup or stew with them. I go everytwo weeks to the bread store outlet (orowheat or rainbow). I can get bread 75% off the retail prices and get a punch card that allows me to get a free loaf of bread for every 7 dollars I spend. In addition after spending 20 dollars I get five dollars credit for anything in the store. It is the only place I buy my bread, bagels, english muffins. dawn in sac - who needs to leave to catch american idol...the only tv that I watch..

uhhhh mine has not come in less or lighter... it is more and darker and I am a blonde by nature. Its not a ton, but the side mustach stuff and one chin stuff is there. In terms of peach fuzz...I was "sugared" which is kinda like waxing and after three treatments, it is pretty much gone. which I could say that for the others that have stuck around!

The leap frog dvd did it for us in 30 days we played them every time we were in the car. We also used the tree house series

I love love love WTM and have read the book several times.... however.... I am not a homeschooler...I am what I would call a "fill in" schooler or afterschooler. While I love to teach my kids I could not do it five days or even four days a week. Nope I know my limitations and am in awe of those that can do it full time. I give my kids a WTM approach to learning in daily life by surrounding ourselves with good literature that is built on a string foundation and understanding of history. I'm here becuase it is nice to talk with and share information with families that are jsut as committed to their kids education.

I am interested in buying my daughters used violins for them to learn to play. I know NOTHING about violins and am looking for suggestions or guidelines on what to look for in a used violin or what to stay away from. My girls have expressed an interest in playing them but until I know for sure that they will stick with it for longer than two years...I want to go used. Any one care to give their thoughts

I am interested in buying my daughters used violins for them to learn to play. I know NOTHING about violins and am looking for suggestions or guidelines on what to look for in a used violin or what to stay away from. My girls have expressed an interest in playing them but until I know for sure that they will stick with it for longer than two years...I want to go used. Any one care to give their thoughts

I have 8 year old B/G twins and I had both of them tested at the local univeristy. I knew my daughter would do very well becuase she loves school and loves to take tests. Her brother.... whole other story. He is quite bright, I believe brighter than his twin sister....but sitting to take a test on something that does not interest him? Ahhhh that would be "no thank you maybe tomorrow" They were able to get him through the first overview phase of the test in which he scored 99% percentile. When they preformed the in depth of each area covered in the overview...he simply shut down and would not do anything so overall he scored below basic in the 49th percentile. He has a very very short fuse when it comes to testing on a subject. He is my challenge. Very bright...but simply not interested in anything other than what he wants to do which is NOT always an option. The frustrating thing is that when he acts like he does not know I know he knows...it is just at that given moment you will get no where with him. I have found that sometimes I have to break things down into sound bites for him. Nothing more than 20 minutes or he will shut down. Which I had some sage advice, but I too am looking.... At least find comfort in knowing you are not alone.

My two older yahoos are 8 and they preferred SOTW over CHOW. I was syncing them together for history and my son finally asked me to stop reading CHOW and stick with SOTW. He said it was "too simple" Now, my son does love history. Now, I thought CHOW was more geared towards my four/five year olds. It holds their attention more. For what it is worth...I would tend to agree with my yahoos. Old than 6 SOTW and under 6 CHOW samba

Yes aside from Daily kumon and daily reading...the only thing we will be learning (ha we learn everyday but you know what I mean) is science. Looking at the sonlight IG it seems doable to me with room to add in some additional stuff to boost their and my interest. Thanks for your feedback

Thanks Angela I am going to buy the big wall version. it is exactly what I have been look for....but PLEASE share with me where you got your 12 fossils? We are doing a science summer this year and I would love to a set for my yahoos. samba

I have the sonlight book version, but I would like a poster type one that I can place on the wall as a reference. any suggestions of where to start looking.... I can remember seeing one in a college history class... but ath is no help for me now samba

Welcome to this very knowledable group of folks...I am a relative newbie myself. samba

I am thinking about doing a years worth of science in one summer. I bought the sonlight science 1 IG and books and think I can divide and conquer in 12 weeks the 36 week program. Am I nuts? Has anyone else done this? Any suggestions?