bumping, I would LOVE to hear about this!

Yes, we have a DVD player.

Yes, the church edition has crafts/games/take home pages, etc. And it's SO easy to set up!

Just have to say, I LOVE "What's in The Bible" curriculum by Jelly Telly (company founded by the guy who started Veggie Tales.) I used it with a group of 30 kids between 5-10 and it was great. So much great theology and Bible, and so fun! As a teacher, I loved that it was very low-prep but didn't sacrifice the quality of the content.

I saw this volume in the library today.....wondered if anyone has read these? http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-caw-astral-weeks25-2009jan25,0,1579872.story

We're going to try Expedition Earth from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com in the fall.

Seterra.net has a great free geography software to download. We use ZacBrowser and Kidzui for our younger kiddos. Great safe way for them to browse to educational games.

I'm going to be ordering their Stories to Short Chapters LA and their 4th grade LA to use this fall. I'm excited about it, I think they look great.

I've been looking forever for good italic cursive printables that are free! I FINALLY found some, so of course I want to share the good news! :) http://www.copycatbooks.com/free_c_printables

I would suggest giving them a call. They're very helpful on the phone.

I'm planning on trying out the WP language arts for my 1st graders and 4th grader in the fall. I think it looks pretty good!

I think I really want something like THIS- but from a Christian worldview..... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596734205/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_g14_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=13YKXEQ54FNKBC0V989X&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 I just really want something more worktext-y.....I am SO over experiments. I will have 4th grade and 1st grade kiddos in the fall. Thoughts?

Curious to see if anyone has used these for Bible with their kids......considering it.... http://www.notgrass.com/notgrass/Draw-to-Learn-K-8/

Check out Five in A Row. Definitely check out the preschool stuff from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com. She's got 2 different downloadable curriculums for preK that are so cute, and affordable.

The curriculum from the Veggie Tales creator is called "What's In The Bible?" and it is AWESOME. The content is amazing, but done in the same goofy fun way as VT was. They have a curriculum version for churches, but just a regular DVD version for home use. The whole family will enjoy watching, and I bet even the adults will learn something! :)

We have it and absolutely love it. There's enough in there for kids of every age to do both print and cursive, and you can print as many pages as you want. It helped cursive FINALLY "click" for my dd. I wish we had found it a long time ago!

I specifically asked WP about her blog post about the map issue, and they said it had been taken care of.

bumpity bump :bigear:

We just did Horizons math for K. I wasn't a fan. I don't feel like there was enough practice of the basic facts. It had DS doing 73-3, when he didn't have a grip on 6+4. It seemed a little backwards to me. I was thinking about Math Mammoth for 1st, but I'm open to suggestions....I just want something that will get them really solid with their addition and subtraction facts. DD (3rd grade) didn't get as solid with those as she should have and we're paying the price now.

Ditto on Stack the States, amazing!

We're going to do Expedition Earth in the fall, and planning to do Road Trip USA this summer (parts of it.)

Has anyone used this new Apologia Bible program? http://www.apologia.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=42

I'd love to hear about this too!

My main thought is that teaching our kids there's a time and a place for certain things is a huge life skill. I'd sit down and tell him that you love and appreciate his personality and sense of humor, but there's a time to be goofy and there's a time to get work done, and remind him that he needs to obey you. Let him know there's plenty of time for him to play and be silly outside of school time. After that conversation, I'd say make a schedule so he's aware how much time you have allotted to each subject. Sit down with him to do a subject, and let him carry on, and when the time's up, just say, "Well honey, the 15 minutes I had set aside for spelling are over. I'm going to go work on some housework, just let me know when you're finished." And walk away. Sitting there without an audience will likely get boring real fast. You may have a day or so where he sits there for a loooooong time......and where his other activities/privileges have to disappear in order for him to have time to get his school done. But after that, I'd think it would sink in. Another more outside-the-box suggestion would be wait till there's something he wants- say just before a meal or snacktime- and you can stand there in the kitchen in front of him with the steaming bowl of macaroni or the yummy granola bar in your hand and crack knock-knock jokes for a loooooong time. When he gets REALLY frustrated with you and wants you to knock it off and give him his snack NOW, you'll have a great teachable moment conversation about him knowing now how YOU feel. :)

Check out Artistic Pursuits. We're going to try one of their books for fall and it looks pretty good!