Sorry, this is a laser printer. :) Checking out the ebay site! Any other suggestions welcome! Our starter cartridge is clearly fading, and I need to print another text so I don't want light ink, otherwise I'd stretch this one longer for standard printing stuff. :)

I need a new cartridge. Do I spend $45 on amazon for a genuine one, or take a chance with a cheapo fake?

I probably would have started SL later to combine all those kids, tbh! And even so, I think the nest would have to be on a different level than the rest.

Yes, prime just gets you free shipping on any size order, not special discounts. The check and prime are there to show you that that product qualifies for prime shipping. Not all items do, only ones from Amazon as the vendor.

My son uses MUS and it has been perfect for him. It would be hard to switch curricula midway through, at least not until after zeta I think, but I am not concerned bc he is thriving. Math used to be a fighting, screaming, cry fest and when we switched, that all stopped. His test scores are superb in math, even in math conceptions, so even though it seems they are lighter in word problems, *something* is working out right. This year for fractions we are adding in LOF for a little something extra and different.

Lapbooks are little side projects that help you go in more depth in some subjects, books, etc. it's easier if you google it. I'm not sure how to explain lol! For projects I was thinking maybe some big things to with history or something? Idk, I'm thinking all kinds of manipulatives, maps, etc?

You may even be able to find a refurb on the apple site for $300!!! I would totally go for an iPad. What about special projects? Lap books? For Language Arts, can you add all the lit he will read? Audiobooks? Foreign language? Fancy computer program for it? What about the homeschool Spanish academy or whatever?

This will be our first year having a kid do two simultaneously, MUS and LOF. He has gone through a MUS book in less than a school year in the past, so this will both stretch it out and give an aspect of fun and different perspective for him. He will do 3 days of MUS and 1 LOF...should be fun. He loves to read so I think it might be a hit (I hope lol.)

I have 3 cute spinning organizers I got at target a few years back in the $2 bin. They are great bc I can put colored pencils, scissors, glue, etc all in one holder. I have markers in one but quite frankly markers are too fat for it. How do you keep yours?

Which is hysterical, bc we went from Singapore to MUS, LOL!!! Every kid is different! :D But yeah, I wouldn't stress Primer stuff. We didn't even do real math in kindergarten around here! We worked on reading and some handwriting and playing. Whatever is over his head now may be just right next year. ETA: My kids are doing two different programs...one uses MM and one uses MUS...so I like them both! They are just very different curricula for very different children. ;)

MM will likely hit those topics early too. Take it easy, and make sure you are going over and teaching the topics to her as well. The pages for MM can also be very overwhelming, and I imagine it would be worse with a learning disability. One your child learns the material, it ecomes easier to supplement....though I never found the need. You can print up extra practice sheets on the MUS site. This is the first time we will supplement, and we are using Epsilon and supplementing with LOF fractions. Ie never used the elementary levels, but I would imagine they would be a nice side by side program. We are going to do it on Fridays.

Everything will be reviewed, so I say move forward! :) That said, I'm not sold on FLL3 & 4 yet...it's all pending DD's test next year. DS did terrible on that section of his CAT, mainly bc there wasn't enough written work on correcting, finding parts of speech, etc. I don't feel like he truly learned/retained from it. This year we didn't do much grammar at all, except Daily Grammar Practice workbook, for a month or two at the end of the year (health issues with my youngest meant we only got through25 lessons of FLL4) and he did amazing.

This isn't a bad deal though. http://www.staples.com/Brother-Refurbished-EHL-3070CW-Digital-Color-Printer/product-nr_322268 No auto duplex or photocopies, but it does print color. Adding: I'm just figuring when things NEED to be in color, I will outsource those pages to Officemax or DH's work or something!

The color ones all look really pricey. :tongue_smilie: I've opted to forgo color.

Fighting Ground! LOL thanks for filling in the holes in my tired brain last night!

There are some amazing deals on Brother Laser printers right now. I know Staples has an all in one for $99. Between sale paper and the ink being so cheap, it cost me less than $5 to duplex print Elemental Science's 260 page student book. Adding I also printed Math Mammoth b&w with it, and it cost me practically nothing. I'm going to go have it spiral bound, too. :) Oh Lively Latin too. And I bought it used for $15 so I figure the 800 pages or so for 2 kids will be under $20. Not bad!

We did AS1 with 1st and 3rd. Pick and choose what you like from it. We had fun, but we never finished...sort of hit the rev war era and stayed there, lol. We added a ton more books we found. A few books were not so appropriate, IMO, like Birchbark House (opening scene is a baby all alone, her village ravaged by smallpox...we read Naya Nuki instead) and one other Avi war book (just a bit gruesome to me, a kid's parents are killed and the protagonist has to bury them.) I can't say it was the best curriculum we ever did, I was annoyed mid-way by the format of it all, and the fact that it didn't seem like many books were really pre-read, but the kids enjoyed what we did. You don't need to bother with the WP exclusive read aloud book...can't remember the name.

Wow, cool stuff!

I found these. http://www.iheartnaptime.net/updated-back-to-school-printables-k-12/ Love this idea!!!

Thanks. :D I had to physically write them in the thread bc I could not think about them straight!! :ack2:

My eyes are crossing from all the similar book names. The ones scheduled in logic stage are DK Encyclopedia of Nature and Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia. UISE is an extra source, but also better for 4th and 5th graders. Am I right? LOL I have several One Small Square books too from doing WP AW when they were smaller, which is where the animal encyclopedia comes from. I have some other books from that too...we are probably set except for books about plants!

Also, I guess I just print another copy of the student guide and change the reading assignments? I have the DK Animal Encyclopedia and the Usborne Little Encyclopedia of the Human Body....I think I could sub these for my younger one, and I bet my 4yo would be thrilled too bc she LOVES animals.

Not a bad point. If we swap things and do Earth Science in 7th/9th (since some high schoolers do that in 9th), then Biology 8th/10th, we probably aren't too far off. Hmmmmmm.

How does it work when your younger one gets to logic stage? I'm thinking of combining my 5th and 3rd graders in Biology, modifying it for mostly the younger. I know there are a lot of helps in the logic guide to do so. My question is, if we go through it this way, what happens when she hits 7th grade and has finished them all? I also worry about her not getting all out of it that she could and thus missing out. It would be great to keep them on the same subject though! I am currently planning to use RSO Life with my DD just so they are on the same general topic (I happen to already own it, picked it up used at convention for $6 and figured why not?) Thoughts?

That's good! OfficeMax has the same deal this week. I got it and LOVE it!