Thanks so much for your help--the other post was helpful too. Laura

Cin, I just posted w/the same question. It is $64 on Amazon w/free shipping. Too bad we couldn't share the TM--I'm just up the road from you on I-71. And thanks to the poster w/the link to the fun Minimus website. Laura

I want to buy Minimus to use over the summer to supplement LC I and II for my 11 y.o. and 9 y.o. I plan on buying CD, but want to know if I can do w/o the TM. Also, one reviewer on Amazon said the CD did not follow the book. Is this true? Finally, I didn't see anything that said that it was ecclesiastical or classical. Thanks, Laura

Janice, What a beautiful sentiment. I think you've made a convert of me. DH has always written in books, and I find it interesting to read what he has written, esp. his college lit. books. It's captures a moment in his life and maybe my kids will feel the same way about some of my beloved books. Laura

I like SWO here for the reasons SWB recommends. It's easy, they do it on their own, there's enough variety for them. In the older ages it becomes as much of a vocabulary workout as well. I have Spelling Power in reserve as a supplement if I should ever feel this working. But, my kids are natural spellers and they have flown through 2 workbooks a year using SWO. Laura

Barbecued monkey off a street vendor in Panama. I should read this thread before any unwanted snacking. Laura

Just think how much money you'll save :tongue_smilie: if you go! Laura

I have laundry boy. Not a gadget or a service, just ds10. DD9 likes to unload the dishwasher, so ds who hated that became laundry boy---and he loved it when I deemed him laundry boy. I can't say he enjoys it, but he gets to watch tv while he sorts (which of course adds time to the activity). We do at least one load a day. He delivers it to each person's room and puts his own away. This is his major chore and it has freed me up considerably, altho I still do several loads a week for various reasons. I do let some of our clothes go thru more than a one time wearing, esp. w/dds who need to change several times a day. ds would never change if I didn't make him. Laura

I regret not letting ds and dd sleep together when they were younger. I never got any rest and I would have if I hadn't gotten weird about it. As someone mentioned ppl have been co-sleeping forever. Now my two dds love sleeping together despite having their own rooms, so we completely rearranged everything, bought a whole new bedroom set for them to share, painted, etc, and dd9 decided she wanted to sleep alone in the new 'guest' room! Good grief. Laura

I'm on the same path you are and am curious to see any answers. We're in the middle of LCII and I've been trying to figure out whether to plan on moving to Henle next year. I am grateful to LC though for the videos b/c ds has taught himself all the Latin he knows. Laura

Memoria Press-they have great articles too.

My kids love any Roald Dahl. They're a bit hard to take at first--you really need to be a fan, but my kids beg me not to shut them off. They are now in love w/Beethoven's Wig for music--there's a series of 4 and are keepers. Amazon has them. We're listening to The Shakespeare Stealer right now--more for a bit older than 5. Just finished Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary--a boy book. HTH, Laura

Caroline, I was wrong. It doesn't come out til this summer--my dh just preordered it. I was just so excited I didn't listen closely. Laura

Caroline, I think the new one comes out this week. I'm supposed to be getting it this Wed (or that's when it ships). It was my Mother's Day present. I'm so excited and am hoping it will be easy to use for this dinosaur. Laura

My ds just figured it out this year at 10 1/2--he suspected b4, but I finally confirmed it this Christmas. I don't like playing up the whole Santa thing, but went along. DD is now 9 1/2 and is getting teased a bit by friends about believing in the Easter bunny--she adamantly defends his/her existence. She also just got $$ from the tooth fairy. I dread it when she discovers and hope she doesn't feel like I betrayed her (esp. when she was being teased). I'm sure dd5 will find out a lot sooner. Laua

I'm still figuring this out, but here's where I'd like to go w/dd9: Math: Saxon 6/5, MUS finish Epsilon, move on to Zeta, then Life of Fred. Latin: LCII LA: CW Aesop B, readings from SOTW, SWO, Grammar??? not sure if CW is enough. I'm tempted to use R&S. History: Finish SOTW 4, restart cycle w/SOTW and D'Aulaires and possibly Famous Men. Squeeze in geography as part of history lessons. Science: Van Cleave--Biology? Art: Drawing w/Children, lots of other misc. art appreciation (tends to be hit or miss). Music: choir and if we can fit it in piano lessons Classical conversations PE: Fencing, martial arts, volleyball, btball, baseball Christine, I agree w/you so much on the getting over the "I've bought it now I have to use it mentality." I bought so much stuff b4 I knew what I was doing and it now glares at me accusingly. Laura

Lisa and Jane, Thank you for your suggestions. This is my first time posting a question here and I knew I would get some great input. Laura

I forgot to post the ages of my kids. I also haven't figured out yet how to put things in the siggy line. DS almost 11 SOTW 4, Saxon 7/6, CW, Van Cleave, SW, LCII, MUS Zeta, Story of the Orchestra, plus lots of other odds and ends DD9 same sources, one grade lower DD5, MP copybook, MUS Alpha, SW A, FLL Maybe something really good in the art/music or science world. These are my weak areas. Thanks, Laura

We do a couple of hours a week on math and lang. arts. This summer we'll do some Latin. I'm hoping using more fun books like Life of Fred and Mimimus will help ease the pain. I'm planning on 2 hours 3x/week of seat work in addition to educational field trips, games, videos as well as reading before bed.

My ds liked Jon Scieska's books at that age---they might be for a higher level reader, but he loved the humor. He read Scieska's autobiography in one setting--laughing the whole time. About the only other thing I could get him to read after his first foray into chapter books like Magic Tree House were non-fiction books-sciency, sports type books. Laura

I won a $20 gift card from an Usborne consultant at a homeschooling get together today. I have enough world history resources, but do you have any other suggestions on what I should buy? Thanks, Laura

We're using Saxon and MUS. We did Saxon every day throughout the school year. We finished last month (I quizzed them orally on the early chapters, if they knew the answers we moved on). Now that we're done w/Saxon (DS 6/5 and dd 5/4), we're doing MUS Gamma and Zeta as review. I'm having them do one worksheet per lesson. If they do well (it's mostly review so they should) we move on. I'm hoping to get to LoF fractions and decimals as more review this summer. Laura

Heidi, I love your room and your boys are gorgeous! Their smiles light up their faces. Laura

How interesting... I have a rising ds6th grader and dd4th grader (and k'er). Here's what I have so far for 6th: Saxon 7/6 and MUS Zeta (and possibly LoF) CW-Homer Latin???? We should be finished wLCII. I'm not sure where to go next. Christian Studies II Famous Men Greece/Rome (refresh w/SOTW w/younger 2). Possibly Runkle's Geography Spelling Power (possibly Spelling Workout) CC And I'm not sure about all the extras. Laura Laura

now I can go to bed (w/curriculum catalog in hand) without feeling so guilty. I've been paralyzed lately w/all the stuff I have and not knowing how to incorporate it into my well-thought out plan (today's plan that is). It's been a huge burden trying to overcome the feeling that since I bought it I have to use it. And there's just way too much stuff to do that. Right now my shopping carts at both Amazon and RR have at least $150 each in them waiting for me to hit the proceed to check out button. I'm new to this board (altho 2d year hs'ing) and have spent every free moment in the evening learning even more from all of you. I keep wondering when I will arrive at the end of the hs curricula universe and know that I've uncovered every possibility out there. Such relief at knowing I'm not alone. And I did pull out one of my supplemental math books this week and the dc had a blast doing math that day (instead of their regular diet of Saxon and MUS). Of course, this just whet my appetite. LoF is in my cart at RR right now. Laura