what perfect timing

So, we are approaching convention season here. I have *plans* tentatively to attend the Midwest convention in Cincinatti on April 1 and 2 if I can sweet-talk Scott into letting me go down alone on Friday and then he meet me there that night while a friend of mine babysits for us for those 2 days. She already said she would watch them, so now I just have to convince Scott that I won't get mugged there and it will be OK for part of a day. If I can't convince him, then I'll go just Saturday with him. Or maybe I'll go to the convention in Indianapolis.

But anyway, I saw over at the Sonlight forums this morning a teaser about the new catalog. The new catalog is always a big to-do over there, and last year I got sucked in when I found out that they had chosen one of the pictures I submitted to them to print in the current catalog, along with taking 2 quotes from the forums about how Sonlight works in our family. I was quite honored by that little gesture, and felt it was just amazing to be recognized in such a way. I didn't submit any pictures for the upcoming catalog, so I haven't been too excited about the upcoming release. Until I saw that teaser.

Sonlight is going to be carrying All About Spelling when the new catalog goes live on April 1st. I planned to purchase this program for the upcoming school year, to help the girls with spelling. I have a dyslexic child in this house, so it is especially important to me that we build a solid foundation in spelling and phonics with her when it is coming so naturally for her sisters. I've tried a few other methods for spelling, including k12 phonics as written, giving spelling lists each week and testing on Fridays (like in public school), and using the k12 phonic tiles and creating my own hands-on method for teaching the subject. Nothing has worked too well for her, so we had decided to bite the bullet and just buy a program that is supposed to work really well with dyslexic kids along with "typical" learners. Since Sonlight will be carrying this program come April, I'll be able to buy the first 2 levels and the stuff to go with it (including a second set of the cards just so that the two kids in each group don't feel like they are competing, and at this point I think only the 2 oldest will be doing this program when we get started anyway unless Kimi shows a real interest in it since she's just beginning to learn to read now).

But this really excites me, because I was hoping that I'd be able to get it with free shipping and I was seriously considering buying some stuff at Rainbow Resource that we don't really *need* but would like (Five In A Row to supplement P4/5 for the youngest kids) so that I could get the price needed for free shipping. But now, Sonlight carries it so I can buy it without any worries about not having the minimum for free shipping thanks to my club membership perks. Now I just wonder if All About Spelling will be eligible for their 10% discount that I also get on most products......... I'm already planning to purchase Rosetta Stone Spanish from them for me to learn the language (hey if I'm going to spend that much money I may as well get free shipping, you know what I mean?) and several other things that do actually qualify for my discount (the Rosetta Stone isn't eligible) so it won't add much to my order even if it doesn't get the discount, but man I can't wait for this particular order to be placed and then shipped next month.

I'm almost as excited about being able to make this order as I am at the fact that we've almost gotten rotavirus out of this house after picking it up at Classical Conversations last week when we went to check it out as a possibility for fall. The fact that we brought home *that* particular bug didn't help me sell it to Scott, so I need to do some serious overtime work on convincing him before we drop $1600-ish on a once weekly co-op to supplement our Sonlight, and praying if its the right choice for us. A big part of why we homeschool is because of Kimi's immune system being so weak, any bug that comes through here she gets worse than anyone else and takes longer to get over it. Her sisters and I are all over this virus already but she is still running regularly to the bathroom and has an upset tummy so she isn't eating so much. And Kimi was one of the first ones to get it, she came down with it just a couple hours after Jojo did on Saturday night and then the other 2 came down with it on Sunday night, then me on Monday morning and Scott yesterday. I'm thinking I may see if I can give her something to help with the bathroom trips.