Yup! I've seen plenty of English lessons that have the student write a letter; and some math lessons involving converting patterns (such as hieroglyphs). Depends on your dc, but in our house that enthusiasm doesn't come along all that frequently, so I try to go with it when it does.

I really like that one, too.

Just finished Treason's Harbour (O'Brian) and am reading The Samurai's Tale to keep up with ds. :D

Evenings: Ranger's Apprentice Book 2 School: Otto of the Silver Hand; just about to start Tikta'liktak for the younger two

My 8th grader is challenged. He likes it. The program schedule is to read 2 lessons, complete 1 lab, repeat. It could be almost entirely self-teaching. (My ds likes lots of hand-holding.) The science appears to be quite solid. It is clearly written from a Christian POV. We don't find it overly religious, however. Hope you get lots of feedback!

13yo did TT Pre-Algebra Lesson 13: Dividing Whole Numbers with Zeroes. 9yo missed math today. The plan was MathQuest 4, p. 30 & 31: Adding Groups of 10, Estimating Sums. 6.5yo did MathQuest 2, p. 84: Estimating and making groups of 10.

Learning clocks can be very handy.

I think this might be the answer. It's certainly one of the reasons Rainbow Science works so well for us: somebody else sent us a kit with everything already in it. :D Maybe you could gather a big box, do a big shopping trip, and breathe a sigh of relief for the rest of the year. ETA: Are the labs not scheduled in Apologia?

Karyn, ADS in Burnaby, B.C. ordered this one from HomeScienceTools for us.

My dh has terrible allergies and asthma. He had this same horrible virus and someone recommended NeilMed. He's never been better!!! I total second the nasal flush. I used it, too, and think it helped.

This was me a few weeks ago. Running the humidifier and taking cold and sinus meds let me get some sleep. Hang in there!

Congratulations! A chance at a shot like that just doesn't get any better. What a great experience. Here are some favourite recipes. Happy Cooking! WILD GAME BRAISE 2 T cooking oil 2-3lb meat salt & pepper 2 large onions, sliced 1 ½ c water Slice meat and brown in oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add water, onions, sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cover. Bake at 325 for 1 ½ to 4 hours. For longer cooking, may need to add more water. Makes meat super tender. Serve with a bit of HP sauce or make gravy with drippings. STEW 1-2lb meat 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1 medium onion, chopped 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper ½ tsp basil 2c tomato juice Combine all ingredients in dish. Bake 2 hours at 350 or 5 hours at 250. VENISON PARMIGIANA I’ve used moose as well, it’s all good. :0) 1-2lb meat 1/3c dry bread crumbs 1/3c Parmesan cheese * (I don’t like it, never have it, just increase bread crumbs to 2/3c and continue. I guess it's not really Parmigiana then. ;-) 1 egg, beaten 1/3c cooking oil 1c chopped onion 5 ½ oz Tomato paste 2c water (I just fill the tomato paste can 3 times) 1t salt ¼ t pepper ½ t oregano 1t sugar Mozzarella cheese, grated Cut meat into serving size pieces. Dip in egg, then crumb/cheese mixture (or just crumbs). Brown in cooking oil. Transfer to greased 9x13 dish. Saute onion, add more oil if necessary. Add tomato paste, water, salt, pepper, oregano and sugar. Stir and pour over meat. Grate cheese over top. Cover and bake at 350 for 1-1 ½ hours. HOMESTYLE STEW 2lb stew meat 3T cooking oil 4c water 2 medium onions, chopped 1T Worcestershire sauce ½ c ketchup 1t salt 1t basil 2c carrots, sliced 3c potatoes, diced 1c frozen peas Brown meat in cooking oil. Add water, onion, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt and basil. Cover and simmer about 1 ½ hours. Add carrots and potatoes. Boil about 15 min. Add peas and boil about 3 min. Serve. OVEN BARBECUED STEAKS 2lb steak salt & pepper 1c brown sugar 1c ketchup 2t Worcestershire sauce Put steak in roaster, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Combine remaining ingredients and spoon over meat. Cover and bake at 300 for 2-3 hours.

:hurray: I am so happy to hear this. Well done! I bet you're all super-motivated to keep going. Congratulations!!!

We love this, too.

Thank goodness my dd isn't the only one to do this!

I once bought something like that: a 50-sheet notebook of 'RediSpace Transitional Notebook Paper'. I think it was by Hilroy. Good luck!

My kids like the games in the Scaredy Cat Reading System.

We went to a birthday party for a young girl who asked for cash instead of presents. She wanted to keep saving up for her own horse. It was a pretty big party because she had invited so many school friends... and then didn't want friends of friends feeling left out. I thought it was sweet.

The final Anne of Green Gables book, Rilla of Ingleside, chronicles Anne's family's journey through WWI, particularly through the eyes of her youngest daughter. (And it's Canadian, of course!) It should be right at your dd's level. I remember reading All Quiet On The Western Front in grade 8, I think. It told of WWI at the front from the viewpoint of a young German soldier. Sending you a pm with a couple more Canadian resources.

Teaching Writing Structure and Style (TWSS) is a set of DVDs plus seminar workbook that teaches the parent/teacher how to teach IEW. If watching them was enough for you to be comfortable pulling writing assignments from your other subject areas (science or history), then that's all you need. If you knew someone with the DVDs, you could even just buy the workbook and borrow the DVDs. After that, it's up to you. You can start your student with a theme-based book that supplies assignments and incrementally teaches your child all the IEW techniques. Or you can start with the student DVDs, Student Writing Intensive (SWI), for their grade level. Andrew Pudewa teaches your child directly. We started with TWSS and a theme-based book. In hindsight, I think it would have been ideal to begin with SWI, as my son really connected with Andrew's teaching when he watched TWSS with me. There are more ways to teach IEW than there are to skin a cat, I'm sure!! No wonder it's so confusing. I've seen people mention they've just done SWI or just done the theme-based lessons and had great success. That sure makes it hard to decide which option would suit you best, doesn't it? You could ask on the IEW yahoo loop group - they are very helpful. I believe they usually recommend TWSS + SWI or alternatively TWSS + one of the theme-based lessons. I hope some of that helped. Good luck!!

:iagree: I would finish up Explode the Code (or another phonics program) and then begin Spelling Power. If CLE has grammar I would not double up. Pitch one. In fact, with all you have listed, CLE seems altogether redundant. BUT... if you really love CLE and the only thing you want to change is the handwriting, you are allowed to do that, other posters' preferences are just that. Do what works for your child and you. :D (Easier said than done, I know only too well.)

I think at least some of the cause is oversheltering. People do not know what actual abuse looks like. And if they don't, who wants to be the one to tell them or show them? So people like the WalMart clerk have heard about naked kid pictures, they know they should be a good citizen, but they don't know the difference between the melodrama going on in their head and the real thing.

Yes and yes. I highly doubt it. I dunno. Could there ever be enough? Probably not, so I guess it's just more of the FlyLady mantra: "Do the best you can with what you have and do it NOW."

Ick! I feel for ya. My kids are finally better, now I have this nasty head cold. I can't smell, taste or hear. I'm down to two working senses and at my age, eyesight is not what it was, lol. To top it off, my poor old body is getting really confused with this heat combined with the beginning of hockey season. :tongue_smilie: I'm so sorry your little ones aren't well. Hope they feel better soon.

http://www.barefootmeandering.com/homeschool/