I am glad that there are some other people like me on here. :D We are also working through the summer. Reading (because she needs it) and math (because she likes it and I think it makes her feel smart) mostly. We have homeschooled from the beginning, so I don't know how dd would have done in ps, for sure. But, I highly suspect that it would not have been pretty. She had hearing loss from a MRSA infection in both middle ears. The infection was there from 15 months to 2 yrs of age. She had her 6th and hopefully last surgery Sept '09 where they made a new tympanic membrane in her right ear. Her hearing is almost normal now. She always compensated well, but is distractable and doesn't always focus well. The ramifications have included reading problems: lack of auditory discrimination and lack of auditory memory. Her reading is not quite to grade level yet. She does well in math, though. I think that she would have been "lost" in ps even though I think she is quite smart.

:auto: Run for your life! It's the zombie thread! It has crawled out of the grave and wants to eat our brains! :drool: :willy_nilly: It even brought a troll, how quaint. And by troll, I am in no way implying that jarhead is short, nasty and hairy. Not at all :001_tt2:.

Oh, I definitely agree about sippy lids and those kinky straws that come with cups, I always throw away when I never let them sit too long. That didn't happen to me either.:D

We make a lapbook with each 9 wk section. She keeps a grammar/writing notebook that has her wwe and fll stuff in it. Click n read gives us printouts detailing progress in each lesson (I totally love this and file each one). Plus, I can look at the ziggurat made of cereal and shoe boxes, that the ferrets are currently occupying, as proof that we did something in history. ToG has definitely added the hands on stuff that was missing last year. So, yes, It does help me to look at these. I guess reading a lot of these separate little books in history and literature seems so much smaller then a giant history textbook and because of the lighter work load for a grammar age student, I just question myself. In retrospect, I remember nothing other then wearing a turkey on my head :glare: from elementary school history. I know we never covered ancients. I just need to remind myself more that there are a lot of educating years ahead. TOG looks like it will be way thorough and plenty rigorous as we progress into dialectic and beyond. Right now, lapbooks and stories and giant cookie maps of Egypts are sufficient right?

:tongue_smilie:Let's pretend.... Your 5 month old dishwasher quit working and the technicians are taking their sweet time fixing it...err! Anyway, you have been keeping up with washing the plates, bowls and glasses but leave the silverware in a pile in the bottom of the sink. Why? :001_huh: Because you hate washing silverware. So, after a week (or 2, something like that, who's counting, stupid dw technicians) when dd is trying to eat cereal with a fork, you decide to tackle some of the silverware. Toward the bottom you find a wooden spoon (or 2) that is completely covered in mold :scared: and what was once spaghetti sauce (the homemade kind of course)! Obviously, the prudent thing to do in a case like this is to post a poll, assuming I can figure out how. So, seeing as how wooden spoons are somewhat porous, would it be safe to wash it really good and pretend that it never happened, ...which it didn't... because this is all hypothetical. I mean really, who would leave silverware in their sink for 2 weeks? Or, throw it away and buy new ones. So, please answer the poll, and maybe even post embarrassing dish stories about yourself to make the hypothetical woman in the story feel better, assuming she has feelings, being hypothetical and all.

I was wondering what brought about such an interesting question. I know what you mean about who we are vs. who someone thinks we are! I have experienced that before. The me in their head and the real me were very different people. It was a scary kind-of weird. :confused:

Oh wait, I asked dh if I have a nemesis and he replied housework :glare:. Apparently my nemeses has the upper-hand at the moment! :willy_nilly:

I don't think so. Do you? ETA: Perhaps I am someone elses nemesis and they just haven't told me yet!

I have also found that it helps, strangley, that I don't schedule by the day. It would drive me nuts in SL if dd wanted to defy the schedule and read extra chapters etc. Because it would cause me to be on day 2 in one area and day 3 in another. My friend was like "just ignore the days and do it horizontally instead of vertically" Good advice, but it goes against my nature :D. Maybe its a weird OCD thing?

I think that might be the problem :D. I am definitely doing what works great for dd. She loves it, most of it anyway, as much as a child likes school :tongue_smilie:. I just have to constantly remind myself that it is just different from the way I learned. I am constantly re-motivating myself and tweaking to give myself that 'box checking' sensation. I check off every completed lesson to show myself what we are accomplishing. I check off every reader and read aloud on a specially made sheet that I made myself. I create so much work for myself this way. :D I am such a glutton for punishment.

I am not familiar with this type of device. How does it work? Does it go off when a dog barks? Does it bark back or is it a loud horn like noise?

:lurk5:

I am completely convinced that classical education is the way to go! I love the concept. I love TOG. I love WWE and FLL. Now, that being said, there is this disconnect that I am fighting between 2 halves of myself. While I love, not just the concept, but also the implementation of the classical approach I still feel like I am not doing 'school' right. I question rather I am being inefficient. This is so hard to explain :glare:. I went to public school. There was a book for each subject. I had a 3 ring binder for each subject. They were separate and I could go down the line and check off little boxes and it was very structured and box like. I am a total left brain learner (can you tell? :D) and did well in school. The way I am teaching is so different from the way I learned and excelled, I will add. Dd is a total right brain brain learner, as is dh. He totally has that "man, I wish I had been homeschooled and taught this way" type of thing. It just seems less tangible to me. Does that make sense? It seems looser. Does anyone understand what the heck I am saying? I briefly considered textbooks, but I just knew it was wrong for our schooling (even though I also desired the boxy-ness of it). Instead, I started with SL because it was my first experience with non text book learning and it did not go that well (SL is an awesome program, just not for me :001_smile:). TOG has made it a little easier. Which is ironic, because everyone looked at me like I had 2 heads when I said I was going to TOG. Apparently, it has a bad rep for being way too teacher intensive :confused:. Anyway, I still have to resist the slight anxiety that rises within me saying I am doing this all wrong. Sigh.

I am really developing a fond respect for the Somervilles (TOG). I was quite impressed recently when some *stuff* from this board overflowed onto the TOG board, and they handled it (from my limited pov) professionally and responsibly. I just found myself impressed by the whole thing. Marcia Sommerville seems very real about her homeschooling journey and does not come off all "fairy dust and rainbows." KWIM? And I can't ignore the fact that dd asks to do our 'Tapestry stuff' (dd's words). I am also pretty loyal to the curriculum Singapore Math. I have been astonished a few times by dd's grasp of math concepts that I thought would be asking a bit much for her to understand and then she would surprise me.

Dd has a savings account.

My dh works for the city and we are blessed that he has great job security. They did institute a hiring freeze a yr ago. They also stopped cost of living increases AND merit raises. Not only that but our insurance was downgraded, while the cost increased :glare:. So, we have been mildly effected.

My dd has high cholesterol (skinny as a rail, more active then a jack rabbit, and eats great, but... :glare:) her cardiologist said that doctors do not medicate children this young. The meds have not been studied long term in children. So, I can't imagine what it would be unless it is not prescription. Yes, I would call.

My friend did experience this with her son. His scores were lower then she would have liked, but it was not that big of a deal because he was still well above the minimum percentage. I think there is more than enough "room" in the score window if this is the curriculum that you want. I do know others who use MUS and they have never said that it was an issue. You can always do a test prep at the end of the year if you are really worried about it.

This is so true. I think every group has those that don't represent the others well. I can handle the ones that mean well and then there are the others... I was driving our church van a few yrs back and a male youth leaned his head out the window and started barking at people! :eek: I was horrified and reminded him that we were in a van with our name, phone # and denomination plastered on the side of it! Way to represent :glare:. I think he was hopped up on Mt. Dew.

It is also my understanding that the good old days are gone. :crying: I also don't get it. Yes, I know CFCs are bad, but is there really enough exhaled from asthmatics after using an inhaler to cause damage when weighed against the life and well being of all the people who rely on these inhalers? I am legitimately asking. Is there a study that quantifies this. I am all for alternatives that actually work.

Wow, it looks great. Thank you!

I totally agree, as an adult, I can understand, define and explain my faith. A child with little discernment cannot. Rather others agree or not, it is my prerogative to raise my child within my faith. Now, if the person teaching my child science can only teach it from perspective x because that is all they know and it is differnt than my perspective then it becomes confusing to the child. In a co-op all the parents participate in instruction in one way or another. My co-op is not a "social group". I go there for PE, art, and science. I want them taught as close to my own beliefs as possible. I don't want to go home and say "now remember when the teacher said xyz, well we don't believe that etc" If I wanted that hassle, I would put my child in public school. SOFs prevent people from erupting into debate in the middle of the science class or history class. For goodness sake, could you imagine what would happen if you had all the parents here in the same history class? If Bill were there we would never get past the book selections/curriculum. :D (not picking on Him, I swear! It is not about exclusion!!!!! It is about educating the children. We all have different ideas how it should be done. Thus, the SOF! Some say x subject does not need to be from a christian perspective. Fine, that is your opinion and right. BUT, maybe I want it to be that way. We would openly disagree and would have a hard time settling that in the middle of a class full of kids! That is why the statement of faith exists. It settles all this up front.

I believe that absolute truth exists. Is what I believe always on the right side of it? I, don't know. But, I believe it exists. The existence of absolute truth is not necessarily the same thing as absolute right and wrong, though. ETA: Getting all philosophical here... what I believe to be true does not make truth. My belief is not made true by virtue of it being what I believe. I hpoe that I believe what I believe because it is true, not the other way around. Even if every person on the Earth denounced this "absolute truth" I don't believe that it would cease to be so. Whew, I hope everyone can follow that.

I am in agreement with a lot of what you are saying in regards to respect and what not. And as far as the issue with the op there is a fine line that is hard to walk when it comes to respecting others beliefs and talking about your own. There is equal right on both side and should be respectful restraint exercised when appropriate. I think the dilemma comes when you say "everyone is allowed their own belief system and that should be respected." I agree, but for a Christian being allowed to follow our belief system involves the desire to tell others about what we believe to be "the love of Christ." It is the cornerstone of the practice of evangelical Christian faith. So, to say that Christians should not "tell/harass* (i will get to this in a minute) others is to deny us the practice of our faith. When you believe that Christians should not evangelize YOU are imposing your belief (of NOT evangelizing) as superior to our belief (of evangelizing). Which, ironically, is what people complain about Christians. Now, I agree that no body should be harassed! Please read that line again. What do you consider harassment? To remove it from religious grounds: If someone tells me about this awesome curriculum they use and how they know it would work great for me..blah, blah...If I have already looked at it and rejected it, I say no thank you..not my brand :001_smile:. KWIM. But for some reason when a conversation, like my example, remotely crosses into the religious area, people throw a fit. I say none of this in a snarky tone. I desire peaceful understanding on all sides. Please understand that this whole "how dare you talk to me about Christianity, don't harass, that is rude etc." thing is to most Christians what the "socialization argument" is to most homeschoolers. :D

I switched from SL to Tapestry of Grace a year ago. We are in the grammar stage, but from looking at the upper levels it appears to be strong in lit analysis plus it is definitely more than a reading list. Don't let the website scare you. It can seem overwhelming. In fact I turned away from TOG twice before finally going for it. Look at the free 3 wk sample. Look at the tutorials.