My dd is in the orange book right now as well, but we just switched to Ordinary Parent's Guide and she is doing great. I originally tried OPG, and it was not working for us...at all. One of my friends gave me Hooked on Phonics so we started the yellow book, and it helped so much. I figured we would just be sticking with HOP, but once we got to the orange book her progress seemed to slow down quite a bit. I think sometimes they just need a change in style. If we hit a rut again, I will probably pick up in the orange book where we left off.

This is our schedule: We start in late July, take a 1 week break in October, and then go until Thanksgiving. We will take from Thanksgiving until New Years off, and then take another 1 or 2 week break in March. Any of the programs we are using that are 36 weeks will end in May, but we will keep doing math, reading and maybe one other subject through the summer months. In July we will start the next "grade" and start all of the other subjects again. We live in the desert, so it is actually too hot to do anything in the summer anyway. My kids can actually play outside in November and December so we take more time off then. It has worked great so far this year!

My SIL is about 10 weeks pregnant with twins, and she started bleeding this morning. She is at the doctor now, but I haven't heard anything yet. Please pray for her and those two little babies, that they would be safe and healthy. She had a very traumatic miscarriage last year, and it would just be devastating if it were to happen again. Thanks!

I'm so sorry about your son. I don't have any legal advice, but hopefully this will make your son feel better. I had a friend in high school that was in a horrible car accident with a big gas truck (luckily it was empty). One of his many injuries was that 4 of his teeth were knocked out (the top middle). He was 16, so he also could not get permanent teeth. They gave him a retainer that had fake teeth on it, and when he was wearing it you would never have known they weren't real. That was over 10 years ago, so maybe now they have something even better. :grouphug:

This website is a great idea! I would definitely be willing to help. :001_smile:

I would go almost anywhere in the western part of the US for a conference that focused on education. I am a Christian, but that is not what I'm looking for in a conference. I already know my worldview, but I would love to hear more about different educational philosophies, etc. If I could make it work, I would definitely come from Arizona! I wish I was going to a conference this year...I want to go to the vendor hall so bad! :D

:iagree: Not talking about something doesn't make it go away. At this point, I seriously doubt that Ken Ham,etc. will stop this campaign that has been started. I for one appreciate that this issue was brought to my attention on this board.

:iagree: Arizona! I would definitely be willing to help if SWB came to Phoenix. I am not going to our conference because there was not even one class that I wanted to go to. Sad:glare: And I don't want to pay $60 to go to the vendor hall, even thought I really WANT to go to the vendor hall.

My dd loves to write! She still doesn't love to read (I'm hoping soon!), but she loves drawing and writing letters. We started using ZB K when she was 4, because if she was going to be writing letters I wanted her to learn to do them the right way before any bad habits formed. We finished the book fairly quickly, and so I bought Abeka Handwriting K for her to use next. I didn't want to move onto the 1st grade book, because she is technically not even in Kindergarten yet. Well, I cannot wait to get back to ZB. I haven't used the other programs you mentioned, but I am a big fan of ZB after using something else. If my other kids were using it, I think I would just keep them all on the same program. The ZB Kindergarten book was great!

If this was the closest one, I would definitely drive from Arizona to go to this.:001_smile: And I know plenty of people in the LA area who would want to come too!

I am curious if the negative comments were from people who had not actually read the books. Maybe that is why they were taken down. I personally only want to hear comments from people who have actually taken the time to read the books for themselves.

There are so many things! The first things that come to mind... TOG - all 4 years, so that I could just have them to look through, as well as all the books that I would need for TOG! Discovery Streaming

This made me laugh! I will go to the mall because I need shoes or something, and just come home with a Barnes & Noble bag. I probably should set a budget for homeschooling, but I haven't yet. I'm not done buying for next year, and I would be frightened to add up what I've spent already. Luckily, my dh says to get whatever we need. OK, I will! :001_smile:

:iagree: I need to stop reading about this! It makes me so frustrated. I have read Peter Enns book, and I don't see how anyone could say it is unchristian. SWB and Peter Enns are not the only ones being attacked by the same community of people for teaching that the most important thing about Jesus is that he loves us. That's it! I don't know how the earth was formed, how many days it took, or if Adam was an actual man. And btw, neither does Ken Ham. Everyone has theories and everyone interprets the Bible differently. When are people going to realize that they are blatantly attacking other people about something that probably doesn't really matter, and doesn't affect anyone's salvation. It just feels like they are saying that "if you don't believe exactly the way I believe, then you are not saved." God made us diverse, and I believe he wants us to have diverse opinions. He made us to think for ourselves, which is why a classical education is so appealing. He could have made us so that we had no choice in the matter, but he gave us free will to decide what we believe for ourselves. We have the choice to believe in God and follow Jesus, which I believe is the only thing that really matters. I guess maybe that is what this argument is really about. It seems like some Christian communities are so afraid of people thinking for themselves. It's sad.

I bought all three books a few weeks ago, but I haven't had a chance to really look through them. I read the intro of the parents book, and I was very impressed. I think we will really love it! My dd loves to color and do crafts, so I think the activities will suit her as well.

KathKath, Here is the link They are the archetype ledges, 3' for 19.95 and 2' for 14.95. I have had to tell my son to not pull down on them several times, but so far they have held up well. I also have two that I use as book shelves, and I love them! :001_smile:

I love our shower board "white board"! We've had it up for almost 2 years now, and it is still going strong. I use markers, but I haven't had any problem with ghosting. I clean it with expo spray (about $3 at Target) and a washcloth. I'm interested in trying the dry erase crayons though. I had never heard of those. We bought ours at Lowes, and they will cut it for you for free. I think it was around $13! My husband screwed it into the wall, and that was it. Here is a pic... http://ourclassicalchaos.blogspot.com/search/label/homeschool%20room scroll down and it is under the reading corner picture. I wanted to have somewhere to hold markers and flashcards, so I bought picture ledges from Crate and Barrel. My board is 5', so there are actually 2 ledges up there (2 and 3'). It has been a great addition to our homeschool loft!

I started AAS with my dd5 last November, and we got through Step 5 before we took a long Christmas break (all of December and a couple of weeks in January). I was a little worried we would have to start over after such a long break, but she did great. I spent one day reviewing, and then she jumped right into step 6 with no problems. :)

My dd sounds just like yours. She turned 5 in Dec. and is doing HOP as well. She was constantly asking me how to spell words, so I decided to start AAS. It is definitely not too hard for her, and she seems to enjoy it. I'm sure it helps that it is such a hands on program. I would definitely recommend giving it a try and if it seems like too much then you could just back off for awhile.

My dd started asking to learn to read when she was 3, but I put it off until she was 4. We started with L27 in OPG since she already knew her letter sounds, but I quickly saw that this book was not for her. Whenever I pulled out the book she acted like someone was torturing her. We just stopped for awhile, but she was still asking to learn to read. I started using Hooked on Phonics, and there was a huge difference. She is reading quite well, and there are no more tantrums when I get the book out. :001_smile: I definitely wouldn't have started so young if she wasn't asking, but I think younger children need something a little more exciting than OPG. IMO!

I have printed tons of stuff from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/. She has great toddler printables!

I bought SW when my dd was 4, because she kept asking me how to spell words all the time and so I decided it was time to teach her to do it by herself. After looking through SW, it seemed like it would be too boring for her since she was so young. I then ordered AAS1, and it is a great program that my dd really enjoys. She loves the letter tiles, and the progress charts! The program has helped tremendously with her reading as well. I think we will end up using both (SW for practice), but from looking at both programs I would recommend AAS1 more. Although if there are budget concerns, then SW is considerably cheaper.

I grew up using Abeka at a Christian school, and like you my grammar was excellent but my writing was weak. I go back and forth with the idea of using Abeka, because I think it is important to really know grammar. I will probably try FLL first, and if that doesn't go well then I may give Abeka a try. I still haven't looked into R&S, but I guess I should. What other curriculum is being used for early elementary?

Finally did the last two weeks. Hoping to get to this week tomorrow! http://ourclassicalchaos.blogspot.com/2010/11/k4-weeks-14-15.html

I love this program! I mostly use it for gathering ideas. I have a Homeschooling notebook with a page for each subject, and then when I see something that I know I will want to look into later I just copy it in. My fave thing is that you can copy pictures so easily. I am also using it right now to plan preschool for my son. I am going to be doing a letter of the alphabet each week, and so I have a page for each letter to organize my ideas and the great ideas I see on other people's blogs, etc.