Very helpful! Thank you. We don't have passports, but I did look into getting passport cards for dh and I and taking the kids' birth certificates. Years ago, when I was just age 13, I rode my bike to the Canadian side of the falls from Indiana. Quite an impressive trip and I never cared to go back, but I've decided I'd like the kids to see the falls. Plus I didn't get to ride he maid of the mist when I was there and a part of me still wants to do that. I loved the Canadian side and it was simply amazing.

any advice, tips, must see/do activities so I can form a plan before getting there? Best places to stay, restaurants to try? Best time of year to go?

I think HOD skips some lessons in order to fit it all in. In a reasonable time frame. I also believe they follow the level a suggestions, but I'm not really sure on that. The level a assignments make the writing portions a bit shorter and less involved on the checklist.

Institute for excellence in writing Www.iew.com

I used the newly revised Ancient history book this year and really enjoyed it. I think it would be an excellent direction to go after completing SWI level A. I also enjoy all things fun and fascinating.

You can choose to do the read alouds from only 1 of the packages if you would rather. In your case I would choose to read the preparing read aloud so that the younger child isn't bored with the books when he gets to RTR. You could have your RTR student either skip the read alouds or read them on his own. Fwiw all of my children read the story time books on their own. I am running 4 guides and the oldest 3 are strong enough readers to read them on their own. This frees us up to pick and choose different books to read aloud together during story time.

I would go with level B. It will be perfect for your 7th and 9th graders and perhaps a bit of a stretch for your 5th grader, but you could just require less of the fifth grader than you do of the older 2

You also need to remember that the test that they fail, those topics will be consistently reinforced in the following lessons. For example one of mine failed the test on nouns, adjectives, and articles. I pointed out to her that she did poorly and needed to try just a bit harder to identify the nouns. The next week the lesson was on pronouns, lo and behold, she was easily able to identify all of the nouns articles and adjectives, while she struggled through pronouns. She did much better on the second test after I told her she could have 2 days to work on it. Also keep in mind that the tests are supposed to be open notes. I allow mine to look in their notes as much and as often as they need to.

I downloaded a podcast from books should be free so we could listen to them instead of read them. Would that help?

Putting in another good word for Grammar of Poetry. I also like to use Linguistic Development through poetry memorization for poetry memorization. You can purchase both items through IEW.

Yes. It's totally enough. Of course it's easier in the first half of the book. So you could consider doing 2 lessons per week if your child is up to it. My 6th grader found it plenty challenging even in the beginning.

With the additions and changes they have made and if you use it as written, it would be a stand alone grammar program.

There should be a blue piece of paper in the front of your book with instructions for downloading your ebook. If you order from a supplier other than IEW, you will not be eligible for the no time limit 100% money back return policy. I did return something to them one time and it was no questions asked and I do believe they even reimbursed my shipping. That is a benefit of ordering directly from IEW.

That's what I love about IEW! The downloads are brilliant! just print what u need! Also hey have a no time limit 100% money back guarantee. You can't lose for trying it out!

I've used buttons before to fasten them and I liked them well enough. I just found this really cute PUL for really cheap at JoAnns today and thought if try it out. I also bought a KAM snap press with plastic snaps, which I'd also like to try out, so we will see how it goes.