This is what Classical Liberal Arts Academy's Classical Arithmetic course is. Proofs and rules first. Application second. It is studied by students as young as 7 and as old as college/adult.

"Memorize the Faith" is a great book, but surely you don't mean you are considering it for your 3 year old, your "littlest"? My husband really enjoyed it and your older two might as well. For some people, this method of memorization really clicks.

At my mother's church they have a monthly potluck, but the dishes are assigned. If you are in the main dish group you will be told to bring lasagna one month or chicken and rice the next month. So there is just one main dish, although twenty or thirty pans of it (with varying recipes and levels of um, culinary expertise). I think this is a neat idea. My potluck pet peeve is when people take such large portions that my own family doesn't even get a spoonful of the dish I brought. I've had that happen a few times. :(

Call it good. I think most people drop it after fifth grade, age 10 or so.

I also recommend CLAA Grammar I. My 7th grader finished both LCI & LCII and CLAA Grammar is a whole different ball of wax. Challenging and enjoyable. I highly recommend it! And at $125 for the online course, a real deal. See the link here http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/Courses/TRIVIUM/ClassicalGrammarI/index.htm

No. My 12 yo does not have a fb page. There is no way to make a fb page for an under-13 child without falsifying some part of the registration information.

Right, by "scandal" I meant an average person and their situation rising to the level of a well-known leader's notoriety...like it makes the newspapers. Not just that a few people, or even quite a few people, gossiping about them. But again, this is probably part of why the practice was changed and we no longer have public confession (in the Catholic Church) as a regular part of our sacramental lives. It only becomes necessary now when a public person commits a serious sin that affects the public--for instance in cases of priests abusing minors, vulnerable adults, committing other serious sins, etc. And this is also why some prominent Catholic politicians have been called out by some Catholic bishops for publicly advocating moral opinions contrary to Catholic teaching--such as Nancy Pelosi, et al, working to extend abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and so on. This is considered a public sin and requires public repentence (thus far, not forthcoming).

Yes. $15 per child with family cap of $40, includes music CD but no t-shirt. We generally ask families to pay about half the cost of the programs we offer. The other half is paid for out of the general parish budget. We do the same for Sunday School and 1st Confession/Communion preparation. A small amount of monetary investment usually encourages to show up regularly because they paid for it and want to get their money's worth, even though it's a small amount of money. :) Free everything often leads to a lack of repsect for the hard work others put into the programs. But of course, if someone asks for a waiver for financial hardship or if they volunteer in a leadership role for VBS/RE, then tuition is waived, no problem.

...and it still applies today in some situations. I'm Catholic. Generally, in modern times, private sins require private confession (with the priest), and public sins require public confession. So when a well-known leader steals or commits adultery or curses someone out in public those things require public apology...if done in the church, it would be called public confession. (In the Catholic way of things, a priest would need to be present to hear the confession and to absolve the sins sacramentally.) If John or Jane Smith commit one of these sins and it's not caused a scandal (become public) then it shouldn't be dragged out into general knowledge. That might be relative to the size of community one lives in. But anyhow, it was a practice of the early church and generally done before baptism...and the assumption was that once a person had chosen this life (Christianity) with all its dangers and the seriousness of this decision, that their zeal for holiness would keep them from choosing to sin again. But over time, Christians did fall into sin and repeated public confession was put aside in favor of private confession for many of the reasons mentioned in this thread previously. And yes, if done, it should include all sins that are of serious matter, done with sufficient reflection and full consent of the will (definition of mortal sin) not just the sexual sins. Confession venial sins regularly is good for the soul as well, but mortal sins need to be confessed asap whereas venial sins you usually wait until your next regular confession.

Kimchee (kimchi) -- but really, that's just Korean coleslaw. :D

Jane, my dd 12 is enrolled in Grammar I. In fact, she just started it this month. We've done Prima Latina, Latina Christiana I and II, so my daughter is fairly familiar of the basics and how Latin is set up. She is enjoying the lesson. It's challenging and well done. Maybe someone else who has progressed further can give you more input on the other lessons. It starts with teaching classical pronunciation and later on introduces ecclesiastical pronunciation. Out of every complaint I have heard of regarding the CLAA, none of them have been about the content of the Grammar program. Occasionally there are proofreading goofs that are brought to Mr. Michael's attention and soon corrected but nothing factually incorrect. Although I am not a Latin scholar and my experience is limited to teaching LC and learning Wheelock's Latin in college, so you know, take that with the usual understanding that this is my opinion. As for being required to take Catechism, I think that is only true if you are intending for your student to progress beyond the basic level of classes and of course if you were seeking an eventual certificate of completion of study from the CLAA. If I remember correctly, a student may take just a single course without other obligation. See here under the section marked "Extern Students": http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/admissions/index.htm So if you just wanted to enroll in Grammar, I don't see that there's any problem with that.

Lynn, that looks like hilarious fun but it's not for me. My husband on the other hand...I am going to have to hide all knowledge of this event from him. :D I already lost him two days this week to a rowing regatta.

Or you could look at it this way. Other programs are interesting in being successful businesses and in keeping customers and thus are more interested in telling you what you want to hear and providing gracious customer service. William Michael is not interested in those goals personally or for the CLAA. "Intellectually bankrupt?" That is laughable. He does criticize other programs but only because they claim to be "classical education" which now I think it is obvious they are not. Priscilla, MODG = Mother of Divine Grace Catholic homeschool program run by Laura Berquist, author of "Design Your Own Classical Curriculum." HTH

Did you get tested for any other problems? I am no expert, but I had whole slew of issues with my monthly cycle before being diagnosed with celiac disease. CD is an autoimmune disease and can cause infertility and abnormal cycles (among other things). Six months after going gluten-free, my monthly complaints were nearly gone. For the first time ever in my life, I had 28 day cycles and no more of the symptoms as you described above (heavy clotting, many days of bleeding).

Yup. This will be our third year doing Latin. Also primarily using LCC even though I plan to afterschool this year. My oldest child has gone through Prima Latina, LCI and 3/4 of LCII. This year I'm starting her and my next one on CLAA's Grammar I. One of our big accomplishments this year was that everyone (but the 3yo) finally memorized the Pater Noster! Woo hoo! We love Latin.