That's an interesting angle we haven't explored. How would one go about sifting out the bran? Is there a tool for that? I may have to get it back out and try again. I'll let ya'll know the results if it works. And yeah, that mill is a beast. And crazy heavy too. Edited: I Googled it. I'm going to give it a try.

I have an old school mill that is actually a stone mill that I got from my MIL when she didn't want it any more (google Golden Grain Mill to see what I mean). I have never successfully made good bread with flour from it. It makes the flour pretty fine, and I've made pancakes, muffins, etc. But all my bread from it turns out flat. It's like the gluten just won't develop or something. We've tried sourdough starter, mixed with white flour, etc. Is this a problem any of you have had with home ground flours? Should I just get a newer fancy mill? Or do you have any tips? DH loves baking and the science of it and he hasn't been able to crack it yet.

If you need to, BA online is free for a month now. You could access similar problems to those missing there.

In direct contrast with Gil (although I generally agree), I specifically want a grammar FLL/ALL style grammar program written to the student. I'm happy to teach and tutor the kids, but I hate scripts and it's more efficient for me and my children to let them get to it if they can without waiting for me. Something really academically solid though. There's plenty of light grammar programs out there. With diagramming.

Gswl has free audio recordings and commentary of all the exercises. They have them posted by lessons on YouTube. We've found them very helpful.

I just read this title outloud to my 9yo and she just looked at me like I was stupid and said "no!" So I guess not. My elementary (and to a lesser extent, middle school) goal with history is simply exposure. So even if they are confused now, eventually it will meld together. Also, we listen to the audiobooks in the car with informal discussion and random library books, so we have gone through them a couple of times. That helps.

It's been a few months. LFC A just didn't do it for us. It was just too much. I switched to Keep Going with Latin, the second book after GSWL which dd11 finished already, and it's going a lot better. Everything else is about the same as previously reported. We have been using Drawing the USA, and it's not as good as the drawing the world book. The Drawing the World book had everything in quadrants, which made it a lot easier. The USA book is harder to get the proportions correct. They're getting the gist, but their USA maps still look fairly wonky.

Comparing it to other math programs we've tried (and I've tried many), it is definitely on the "lighter" side of things when it comes to math education. The word problems are all very surface, the math is fairly algorithmic, etc. I use it for my DD11 who struggles with math and needs enough math to get by, but can't handle deeper math. I would say whether it is "enough" depends on your math goals. It is enough to get into college and for the SATs, but if your child has STEM aspirations, they would probably be better served using a program that would provide a deeper foundation and more mathematical thinking. Not that they couldn't do STEM if they use TT, I just think it's not the best for preparing for those types of careers. That said, DD11 is my oldest child, so you can take my words with a grain of salt. But I wouldn't (and don't) use TT for my younger daughters who can handle much deeper and more challenging math.

Our homeschool group is doing an informal FLL competition with a few teams and dd9 is involved. She's loving it. I am thinking I would like to run an official FLL team this fall (not through our homeschool group) for her and some of her friends. I have a few questions. First, how difficult is it for the coaches? I'm wiling to do time commitment and administration and be a resource, but I don't want to be planning weekly lessons and actively lecturing or anything like that. Second, I see that there is a new robot to work with called the Spike Prime, not just the EV3. Do you that are "in the know" have any opinions about which we should go with for a new team? I'm inclined towards the new one because it is slightly cheaper and it seems like the EV3 is sort of old technology, so likely to be phased out. Any ideas or suggestions that way? Any other general advice?

Fiberglass. The gel coat is pretty oxidized, so the hull looks dull, but our first order of business is to polish it and make it shiny again. Otherwise, no dings in the fiberglass and all the hardware and wire rigging are in good shape as far as we can tell. We plan to set it up in the driveway this week and make a list of what needs to be done by the time the weather warms up enough for me to willingly fall in a lake. We also need to replace some wood on the top of the metal rudder, but dh has a wood shop so that should be simple. They're just screwed on. It was pretty cool because even though it is almost 50 years old, it's only had 2 owners and the people we bought it from had all the original paperwork and brochures. They loved it and all their kids grew up using it, but they are in their 70s now and just can't use it anymore.

It's a little daysailer. It's a 15'4" boat called an Advance Demon. It was built in 1971 and they don't make them anymore. We got it for a steal (cheaper than most canoes on our Craigslist) but it is in pretty good shape and the previous owners took care of it. We only need to replace some if the lines and maybe polish the hull. Dh has been wanting to sail again since he got the merit badge in scouts when he was a teenager. So we're going to figure it out. We'll be sailing almost exclusively on lakes. Are there any other daysailing families out there? We want it to be a family affair and plan on teaching the girls now and as they get older. Any advice?

I have two different yogurt makers and use the instant pot as well. I like them all. In the instant pot, I use 8oz mason jars filled with yogurt milk in it rather than just filling the pot (we like smaller servings). I heat up the milk in the instant pot using the first yogurt setting, let it cool down for a few hours, add a large spoonful of regular yogurt with live cultures, mix it in with a wisk, and pour it in all the jars/cups. I make a gallon at a time. Then I let it incubate all night and put it away in the morning. I've found yogurt to be very forgiving and this almost never fails me. It does help to use whole milk, though.

Gotchya. My two that are doing BA did either all or most of Miquon first, which I believe goes through 3rd grade level and is very conceptual. They had math facts down or were in the process of working on math facts (dd7 still has to do Xtramath daily, dd9 is proficient enough that I don't make her). They had very basic fraction knowledge and decent place value understanding.

I've been using it for a few years now. I'm not sure what you mean by which concepts. We use the books in their entirety, and they cover normal math topics plus some for each grade. My 9yo is about to start level 5 and has completed the program up to that point. Dd7 is almost done with level 2. I'm very familiar with many math programs as a result of an in depth search for my oldest special needs dd over several years (Saxon, CLE, Miquon, Math Mammoth, MEP, TT, Gattegno, Kitchen Table Math), and I have been impressed with the hidden review in BA. All the problems are very carefully chosen. I wouldn't say BA is for every kid, but for some kids it is absolutely wonderful. I will likely use it for the 4yo when she's ready too.

I have found that BA has enough review built in for my kids. It doesn't look like review, but it is there. They have to use previous concepts to complete new problems, and each year also builds on previous info taught. I have my kids mainly do the workbooks and then BA Online as review. So on any given day, they do 30 mins in the workbook on whatever section comes next and 20 mins wherever they want in BA Online (so long as they are working towards new stars). This is working very well and I won't be changing it for these specific children any time soon. That said, we did do math facts practice with Xtramath daily (the 7yo still does) for simple fluency.

We have used Hoffman since before the Kickstarter and I got lifetime memberships for all my kids then (including my then infant, who will start next year at 5yo). I have nothing but good to say about them. It is sort of targeted at young kids, but the quality of instruction is so good that I would probably go ahead and use it for an older kid. My oldest is about to "graduate" from it. She's almost done with the last unit available and I don't know what I'm going to do with her. Printing it all out is definitely tedious and I don't find that part particularly user friendly. I wish there was an easy way to print the sheet music for all the units separately since I'd like to have my kids go back and easily practice old pieces, but oh well. One of these days I'll just go in and do it manually. They are constantly improving the program, and appreciate feedback. So be sure to share any thoughts you have with them.

For 3yo, I had a series of intentional apps and educational shows I considered "school" for them. These taught them their letters/sounds and to recognize numbers. I HATE flashcards and the apps taught them in more fun ways than I ever could. We do a lot of informal teaching too and they sort of pick it all up. We also occasionally read books or their sisters read them books and have tons of audio books. By their 4th birthday, they have enough phonetic awareness to begin OPGTR. This has been true for 4 out of 4 of my girls. At 4, we do Miquon Orange/c-rod activities for math, OPTGR for reading, and a handwriting program. It takes less than a half hour a day. My current 4yo also likes pretty workbooks, so she has some of those she can work on when she wants, but they are more for fun than school. They listen to tons of audio books and continue playing educational apps. So far, it seems to be working and is pretty low key. Honestly, I consider the years of 4 and 5 to be sort of an extended Kindergarten, where my goal is to make sure they begin to understand and manipulate basic numbers and to get them reading as fast as possible. The only difference between 4 and 5 at our house, is at 5 they also start piano. That has worked for my kids so far and I have no regrets (except my oldest dd with math, but she has some diagnosed learning issues).

You can upload files on Google music (we also have a subscription) but alexas don't play Google music. So our kids have an Echo dot and a Google mini each in their rooms. One for music/uploaded audiobooks and one for Audible. It's dumb but it's what works. And since you can get each for $20 or so, it wasn't that expensive. We have SOTW loaded on Google music and that's our primary way of listening to it. Along with a few other audiobooks we have that aren't on audible.

I don't see it now! Wow, that was fast. I hope it comes back. https://smile.amazon.com/Breville-BOV900BSS-Convection-Brushed-Stainless/dp/B01N5UPTZS/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?hasWorkingJavascript=1&keywords=breville+smart+oven+air&qid=1575035393&sprefix=Breville+s&sr=8-3 Eta: Wait, when I search on Amazon for it I can see the coupon in the description before clicking. Maybe it doesn't show for me since I already used it?

It's $350 on Amazon right now with an $85 off coupon so a total of about $270. I just picked it up. 😊

Thanks! I need to look into those. Maybe making some kits up with instructions would be a good Christmas gift for certain of my girls.

I don't know if they'd be able to fit him into the very specific hourly playing schedule they've created for tomorrow, so at any point they'll know whose turn it is. It took hours of negotiating and planning. 😁

I just showed these to Dd7 and she knew immediately who they were. Cute! We have quite a collection of Pokémon plushies, but none home made. I have personally made a pikachu, Eevee, and Ash costumes for Halloween though. And the girls did write and perform an original musical called "Pokémon the Musical" that was quite adorable.

That was my daughter. My kids are fairly Pokémon crazy and there's a new Pokémon game for the Switch coming out tomorrow. They've been counting down days for months. I realized a few weeks ago that there was no way I'd get anything done on Nov. 15th. We're ahead of my planned schedule, so I promised that if they were good and not whiny for 2 weeks during school, we could cancel that day. I never would have imagined myself cancelling school for a video game back in my "daydreaming about homeschool days." 😂

I've just gone through and read the original Calvert thread and have a lot of thoughts. 1. First, many new homeschoolers do look for the quick and easy thing. That's totally true. But I think a lot of those new homeschoolers wouldn't have been homeschoolers at all years ago and that's a factor of there just being so many more homeschoolers now. It's selection bias. I think there are likely just as many homeschoolers who think deeply about educating their children as ever, it's just instead of being a large faction, they are now a small faction. So if there were 3/10 homeschoolers before thinking deeply, now there are 3/100. It doesn't mean that those 3 don't exist, but it does mean they don't always get heard. Many of those new homeschoolers aren't doing it for philosophical reasons. They are doing it for lifestyle reasons and most plan on homeschooling for only a portion of their children's school careers. It's great that they have the options they do, but they aren't the same people as those that usually frequent here. 2. New options and new curricula aren't a bad thing. I LOVE that we have so many options to choose from. That we aren't limited by the main big publishers and that I don't have to invent the wheel. I feel like a lot of what was said on that thread made it sound like "new" = "bad". Even screens/independent don't equal bad to me. My girls do math facts practice, some math, some writing, some foreign language online. In a lot of ways it's much more efficient for them and me. I don't hold flashcards to teach letters or help them memorize 3x12. Instead they can play games that are every bit as efficient time-wise but more fun for them and less work for me. That's not a bad thing. I do then sit with them and use manipulatives and do a reading lesson and discuss problems. So it's not all screens. But screens and "new" aren't bad. Or even "less" than previous methods. It all depends on how they are utilized. 3. I still consider myself a "young" homeschooler even though I've been involved on here for 10 years. All of my kids are still in Elementary school. But I have literally no intention to outsource everything in High School. Maybe a subject or two per kid depending on their needs. So not all up coming homeschoolers do that or plan on doing that. 4. Living an exceptional life takes exceptional people. And I feel like exceptional educations are the same way, in whatever for mthey take. A lot of what people were describing homeschooling ideals to be were really what their version of "best" was. I think by definition, most people don't aim for best. Most people aim for good enough or sufficient. Which is why there's so few people striving for those deep educations or thought that we're talking about. We can't get disappointed when not everyone is as dedicated or focused on this aspect of life as we are. It is possible they have different priorities or they are just getting by in other ways. 5. There was a lot of "kids these days" kinds of comments about homeschoolers. But I distinctly remember conversations going back to when I first joined this forum 10 years ago about people wanting "free and easy" homeschool resources. It is not new. Just louder because homeschooling as a whole is more prevalent. As a fairly young homeschooler, I don't really appreciate people saying that all new and young homeschoolers want is easy. Some do. Not all. I think there will always be a place for rigor and depth and quality parenting. That's all for now. I've been wanting a good education discussion lately. I recently read One Room Schoolhouse and Knowledge Gap and have been thinking about educational paradigms a lot. I just haven't been able to come up with a good discussion question to start one yet.