Bolding mine. It's easier here since we have one child and his dairy allergy was diagnosed when he was 3 months old, so he didn't have the experience of eating food he's allergic to. Nuts stay entirely out of the house (anaphylaxis). We have a special shelf in the fridge that has dairy on it and the other shelves are dairy free. We generally only eat dairy after he's in bed (every so often I have to have a cupcake from the grocery store... we don't eat them in front of him). My husband will have ranch dressing at dinner occasionally, but we basically are allergen free at meals. It's a lot tougher with multiple kids and different allergens. After my son's anaphylaxis, we made a rule that food didn't leave the kitchen/dining room. There are some snacks we buy that are only for our son - Enjoy Life chocolates or cookies... expensive!!! :grouphug:

We didn't do SOTW but we did both Greek and Norse myths. We did D'Aulaires Norse first, then Greek, then redid some with Colum. I enjoyed it. :001_smile:

:grouphug:

:grouphug: Sorry about the reactions and dietary changes. We're dairy free and nut free. Our allergist just retired. :glare: So we're deciding who our son's next allergist will be and that's a bit scary - but we're managing for now. Enjoy Life products are free of the 8 major allergens. I really like their chocolate chips. I'm not very fond of their cookies etc, but my son enjoys them. I cook with Earth Balance instead of butter or margarine. I think it tastes good and the sticks work well for baking. I think they have a soy free blend but I think the one we use has soy. I like Food Allergies for Dummies as a reference (although I don't know if it's outdated at this point... food allergy procedures do seem to be changing with whether complete avoidance is the way to go or not). Maybe your son would find reading some allergy books helps him get more control about taking responsibility and managing the allergy. I also agree about viewing the allergies just like any other medical condition. :grouphug:

I think that's why my parents don't enjoy it. They were those kids (in some respects). I dislike most of the characters, but the show's acted and written so well I enjoy watching.

AAS is a spelling program but it's heavily phonics based. My son was already reading pretty fluently when we started using it. It's been very effective.

:confused: Wouldn't that be with the talent search and the portfolio then? From looking at their site, it looks like they want 2 of the 3: IQ, Achievement (can be talent search testing), portfolio.

I don't remember visuals in the IP word problems. In 5A mult/div of 2 digit #s, there are 15 word problems after 10 numbered problems of more basic arithmetic, including showing the distributive property for multiplication as a mental technique. The CWP does have a couple of examples before starting problems though and it is rare that the IP has examples.

I switched to All About Spelling (AAS). My son was a self-taught reader but if he didn't know a word he'd make wild guesses at it. We used SWO for 1st and part of 2nd grade but there was no retention whatsoever. I switched to AAS (started at Level 1) and that's where he's gotten his phonics. It's been wonderful and I've seen really good progress.

The EP books also don't have a lot more practice. In some cases it's a similar amount to the workbook; in some cases it's less. IP is definitely more rigorous than the EP or workbooks. The advantage since you're not using the textbooks is that the EP books have a brief overview of the topic, so there'd be some "teaching" there. The IP books only rarely have any teaching. I haven't seen the "new" CWP books. I think the first few word problems in the IP books are often easier than the CWP initial problems but the later word problems in the IP are similar to the challenge problems in CWP - and the Challenge problems in IP aren't in CWP at all :) IP gives you a broader overview than CWP - which is all word problems (in old version). EP is easy.

There was a thread about pens a couple years ago and some people suggested the Pilot Petit fountain pens. They got discontinued but have come back, unfortunately without as many fun ink colors. I've had good luck ordering from Jet Pens. My son uses the Petit minis and I've gotten hooked on the Lamy Vista. (I swear... this board causes me to spend more money... Hoping to hold out and avoid Beast Academy...)

I'd only checked the Student Book. I see what you're talking about. There are also quite a few other things in a style guide (whether there's a title page, how the margin spacing needs to be done, whether quotes are single spaced or double spaced, and tons of other formatting issues). Someone else will probably pop in and have other ideas... I think on p382/383 the styles shown are showing how the different styles organize the bibliographic info (some with colons, some dates in different locations, etc.) MLA doesn't use footnotes. It looks like the student guide gives info about different documentation types and the teacher guide gives more specifics. But it still can't give everything. At this level (if it's being used before high school), I'd be less concerned with current formatting and more concerned with ideas (documentation and definition of plagiarism). In high school, I'd pick a style guide (most current version of one I picked) and require papers to be used with that format. I think discussing the nitpickings of a style (MLA works cited used to be double spaced as well... don't know if that's still a requirement) really matter at this point. But I do agree that WWS then isn't using MLA (other than in content of works cited).

I may be overlooking it, but I don't see MLA mentioned in that chapter of WWS. I sure wouldn't want to revise every time there's a change to MLA (shudder). It looks to me like this WWS chapter is discussing the importance of documentation. You'd want to pick your style guide (MLA, Chicago, APA) and use it for specifics of documentation, but WWS is showing why documentation is important and how to document. The style guide you require will show specific formatting of documentation. At least that's my best explanation.

I grab a Spectrum math workbook and use some of those pages for addiotionAl practice.

:grouphug: I'm sorry for your disappointment and his. :grouphug:

My husband checks out WiredDeals and that's where he ran across this. Other books haven't been of school interest :)

Amazon is doing some deals in competition with some Android stuff going on and is doing a different book for $0.25 each day. Today (3/11) is The Giver.

And that's where you do the best you can. (rereading... and meaning "you" as "one" ;) ) I do the research I can and then pick something and say, "This is the best I can do at this point," accept it, and move forward. And I think we can do a "good enough" job. Or at least that's what I tell myself because I see continuing to homeschool through high school. But I also am using a text at the cc that the department selected - all math instructors who also teach from the text - that I still will tell students not to read one chapter of because of poor explanations and there's one point where I will say the text is wrong. It's that sort of thing that I see in my outside job that makes me more aware in my homeschooling of all that I don't know... if you see what I mean. When my son starts writing essays, I'll be asking a friend who has taught English for years to look over some of them. I don't have the years of experience that she does to judge what an appropriate grade is. In some ways it may be my personality type to constantly question and reassess what I'm doing (I do it with my cc classes regularly as well). I definitely see a number of posters doing some pretty amazing things with their kids and I want to learn from them. So I love these boards as a resource. I also know how much time it takes me to do a good job (or what I consider a good job) in my cc courses, and I know I can't do that in all the subjects for my son, especially as he gets older. I think that's where the people who talk about the need for expertise are coming from (at least it's where I am). I don't see it as a reason to throw in the towel though... but I do appreciate those who discuss it. It helps put things on my radar that I might not have otherwise thought of.

I've been trying to avoid posting in these threads, but I do see a problem here. Without knowing a good bit more, how do you know that the text is a good one? When I first taught calculus, I had taken it and courses far beyond it. In prepping my lecture notes, I use the textbook picked by the department but also used additional textbooks to triangulate and see if an explanation was better in one book than in another. I've taught beginning and intermediate algebra from easily 10 different textbooks over the years. I've used at least 3 versions of Lial texts (to use an author often mentioned here). I'm teaching from a Lial text now and I hate it. There was one beginning algebra text with her as a lead author that I adored. So, absent prior knowledge in the subject, how do you judge the text? There was a post recently (different thread) about science and questioning whether a child's answers were correct since they didn't match the text exactly. Many people said they accepted paraphrases. Again, absent an understanding at a greater level, how do you know the paraphrase is okay or not? As an example, if someone defined a "prime number" as "a number with two factors", I'd mark that wrong. It's crucial that a prime number has exactly two factors. Absent the "exactly", the definition is wrong. (And I can explain why.) To someone who doesn't know why that's essential, I can easily see them saying the definition I gave as "close enough". For me, I know what I'm capable of in the subjects I do have some mastery with. I also know how many gaps I have in subjects I don't have the same level of mastery in. That's where I see the need for experts in those subjects. I know that some of the teachers I had were amazing. I can't replicate that for my son. So I see the disadvantages he'll get by homeschooling. I also see the advantages he gets in the areas I do have mastery. So I do the best I can (as I think we all do) and make the best choices with the best information I can get. In order to make the best choices, I need a TON of information (because that's how I work). When we have threads where people post for rigor and others jump in getting defensive, it's annoying. I wish that wouldn't happen. I want to hear how others determine when a subject is too out of their reach for what they want for their kids. I want to hear what physics book regentrude recommends - because I don't have the qualifications to judge that. (And I'd still get another book to read as well.) I get scared some at the idea of homeschooling high school, but I think I'll be doing it. I love looking ahead to see what's available and to have things I'm thinking of in my long term planning. I really appreciate the posts from those who are giving their kids the education I hope to give my son.

One other thought for you... I don't know if you'd want to break it down between undergrad and grad degrees and between elementary and secondary certification. For example, I have undergrad subject majors in math and English (I'm odd... couldn't overlap a single course other than general ed). I got my graduate degree that was half education courses and half math courses (secondary certification and a MAT degree). I think you might want to keep polling simple... but also think about what exactly you're trying to figure out. I think there are other sites where you can set up polls (multiple questions) and you could then post here and ask people to go there and do the poll for you... Then you could break things down more... My education credits are (undergrad/graduate) I am (or was) credentialed for (elementary/secondary) and have a space for comments... but that also may be more than you would want or need. Personally, I tend to think that some college does help with homeschooling. I'm regularly grateful for my double major. I believe I wouldn't be able to do as good a job if I didn't have the undergrad degrees. I also am grateful for the graduate experience and the years I've taught at the cc. I'd still love to see education departments at colleges abolished and all undergrad degrees in education eliminated - but that's my experience.

Just because you qualify doesn't mean you should borrow. Be aware that the hassles of owning a home add to the expense... Termite bond, pest control, new roof, new water heater, repairs... You really want to be sure you have an emergency fund and some cushion in your bills. And avoid ARMs like the plague. We also have our property taxes and insurance payments fluctuate so our house payment changes some each year due to escrow. Congratulations on moving to buy. It is exciting...but be careful not to get carried away.

If you have a pdf document, you can email it as an attachment to your kindle email address and type "convert" in the subject line. You can find your kindle email address on amazon in your "manage my kindle" information.

Thanks for the info. Nasty! :grouphug: My son was diagnosed with a dairy allergy at 3 months. We carried Epis after the roll reaction with whole body hives and were very glad to have it when he had the cashew anaphylaxis. Bi-phasic too :( We never had any testing done since his reactions were clear until last summer when we had skin tests done. Still saw major dairy reactions, so he may not outgrow his dairy allergy. And our allergist retired... so we're meeting with a new one tomorrow. Blech.

And thus my envy... the tree nut allergy is the one that gave us an anaphylaxis, but the dairy allergy is the one that affects our day to day life so much more. If you can handle dairy in baked goods, you might be able to eat out more! Makes travel much easier. My son's worst dairy reaction (before we learned to get REALLY good at reading labels) was to a roll. So... :party: for you guys! How old is yours?

I haven't used them, but my cousins were homeschooled with Calvert materials back in the 70s and 80s. They both had a great education, so I think the program is pretty solid.