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.

I bought some printed PUL fabric today. Could someone offer a suggestion on what order to put each layer for mama cloth pads? I like minky fabric for the top layer, then I know the center gets terry cloth, does that mean the PUL goes on the bottom layer? What about the layer in between the minky and the terry cloth? Am I making any sense here?

Have you changed your username and login info recently? I have had no problem re-downloading apps after I had my iPad warranty replaced because I used the same login info, but if you set up new login info then those apps wouldn't be available to you. Understand? Also are your setting for apps set to allow all apps? I know that some of my apps have appeared to disappear when I played around with the restrictions under settings. I realized that if I set he apps to allow only apps for ages 4 and up, lots of my favorites disappeared. :)

I listened to book 1 for about an hour and a half with my son--age 9. He was drawing, I was sewing. It was such an interesting book really. Im actually curious about what happens in the rest of the series. I'm also considering getting a membership so I can get something for me to listen to when I'm up late at night sewing. Just need to decide which audio book to get for me. :) And now we are listening to Peter Pan before going to sleep. Instead of watching a movie with friends. All of the kids are quiet and interested. We listen on the iPad and then have the ability to play it through the TV using the AppleTV, so the sound is good. I really am beginning to love Amazon. We also tried the whisper sync feature and that's pretty cool too.

How often does this sale come around? My son seriously wants the rest of the train your dragon series, but I'm not wanting to spend anothe $25. Lol

I ended up purchasing all 4 of the incorrigible children books...here's hoping we like them. I also bought the first how to train your dragon book, and it is so good! My son wishes I had bought the others too. Lol. The sale better end soon or I'm gonna sink another $40-$50 into audio book. Yikes!

I have the four books for the incorrigible children of Ashton place in my cart. Opinions on these books? The reviews are pretty well mixed on the audible site. Will I need to worry about language in them?

Yep! It's all in my siggy. :)

My brother only came with a starter cartridge...didn't get very far with it. LOL! But my dad has the same brother laser printer and we shared a 2 pack full-size toner cartridge replacement. We each paid $12.50 and that included shipping. Considering that each full-size toner refill will print thousands of pages that's a bargain! My dad actually found the deal, but basically he searched for toner refill brother printer (it's an HL-2280W) to find it. Same with the Canon--it's an MX922--just search for replacement ink using the model number. Last time I purchased for my old Canon which died after 3 long and useful years the ink cost me $9 for 3 black cartridges (including shipping). The MX922 ink is a tad more expensive but not too much. One thing to keep in mind is that the less expensive inks on ebay are not manufacturer brand inks--they are generics. Some people say they aren't good for your machines, but I've not had a problem. And the cost of ink is so much cheaper, especially for printing pictures. My Canon has AirPrint capabilities, so I don't feel bad at all if my kids print pictures whenever they want. Now photo paper...that's another conversation! But I do try to buy it on sale at least half off at Staples--and that's when I stock up. And for the Brother laser, I don't feel badly at all when I need to print a 100 page ebook--especially when I use the duplex feature. It's fast and I come back a few minutes later and the entire document is printed.

For laser printer I recommend a brother...inkjet I recommend canon pixma I use the brother for all b/w printing and the canon for excellent pictures. I find ink/toner for both extremely inexpensive on ebay. It's generic ink so to speak, but I've never had any trouble with it and don't kind printing or letting my kids make copies of stuff if they want to.

I highly suggest Adam Andrews Teaching the Classics. It's a DVD seminar so the kids can watch It right along with you and you can learn and practice together.