Yes, I, too, have always been of the opinion that children who read (or are read to) a lot will recognize and appreciate the difference between quality and twaddle. I don't want to be too limiting, but I'm still adjusting to the whole idea of homeschooling, so I'm just a little nervous.

Okay, so maybe all I really need is for someone to hold my hand and tell me that it's okay for them to enjoy a little bit of "candy" instead of always having elaborate, six-course meals!:tongue_smilie:

We go to the library every week, and I allow my girls (ages 4 and 2) to pick out a couple of books on their own. It never fails that my four year old gravitates toward the Dora, Bob the Builder, etc. books, which is precisely why I limit the number they get to pick. My girls don't even watch network t.v.; we very occasionally will check out a Dora or Bob video or DVD from the library (maybe 2 times a month). Otherwise, they might get to watch a children's church/Bible songs or Miss Pattycake video a few times a week (i.e. while I shower). We have a number of Disney Princess books at home, mostly given to us as gifts. How do I limit this (for my own sanity, if nothing else) without being a mean ogre mommy? To clarify, we do a lot of reading, and because my graduate degree is in library science, I am already fairly knowledgable about what is considered quality children's literature. We read lots of pictures books and a chapter or so out of a longer book just about every day. However, there's always some "twaddle" mixed in there. What do you do?

I love Maren (Merryn), Anna, Mariana, Bronwyn, Mary Elisabeth. . .

I just wanted to weigh in here as a very new, uninitiated homeschooler. My children are really too young to even go to school, but we do "learning time" here at home. As an adjunct cc instructor, I occasionally have homeschooled students who usually somewhat disappoint me in their writing abilities. However, I should qualify this by saying that I am disappointed in the writing abilities of almost all of my ps-ed students, too. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference. My greatest shock was one semester when I taught developmental (remedial) English and had a girl as a student who had graduated as salutatorian of her public high school class the previous spring. Remedial English!:ack2: When I was a fresh high school graduate (ps), I worked for five years at a public library while I got my bachelor's degree. We had several homeschooling families who were regular patrons. I was always favorably impressed by the children in these families. They seemed to genuinely enjoy reading and were extremely well behaved. I agree with the person who said that most of the time, public school teachers never meet the hs successes. They usually only meet the trainwrecks.

I think my own love of learning (and yes, even school) is one reason I want to homeschool? Is that wrong?:tongue_smilie:I love thinking about what we can do together as a family!

Thanks for the responses! I'm really not too worried about it even for K; I know the consensus (with which I concur) is that the best thing to do for the early grades is to read, read, and read some more. We do that a good bit already. We're working on learning the phonemes (more about what we're doing on my blog). Other than that, we're just reading. I'm just one of those people who obsess about things waaaaaaaaaaay before I should, I guess. It's endlessly fascinating for me to contemplate what's out there. Anybody else?

I am a complete newbie, so please forgive me for asking what are probably very ignorant questions. I have two dds, ages 4 and almost 3. We will probably begin some kindergarten work next year (possibly with both of them, since my almost 3 year old is very insistent on being included in what her big sis does). Therefore, I'm really in no hurry to make a decision; I'm still mulling it over in my brain. Okay, onto my question: I get the idea of classical education. I understand that it's based on three stages of development, and that the student cycles through history during each stage. However, what I don't know if I understand is how different curricula work with this. I have been to a HS conference where I saw TOG and SL firsthand, and both were interesting to me. How are they different? Can someone distill this for me in a short form that I can easily understand? Thanks!:D

I blogged about our week! :) Link is in my signature line!

:D:D:D:D:D

Trying again. . .

Just wanted to checkout my sig line

Thanks, everyone! I'm loving the discussion. Especially thanks to Parrothead for the advice of letting little sis fall in line with big sis since they're so close in age. I kind of thought as much since because the way their birthdays fall, dd1 would start public kindergarten when she's barely five and dd2 would start it when she's almost six. I think it makes more sense to have them only a year apart, but we'll see what things look like when the time comes. We're having a great time with learning time. You can read more about what we're doing on my blog here--http://hopeistheword.wordpress.com I hope to eventually have that in my signature line!:tongue_smilie:

Thanks again, everyone! I am so tickled to be here and participating in such a great forum. I am definitely not forcing her to do anything; she just expects to do what big sis is doing. I do need to help her more with her fine motor skill development, though. One of my problems is that she is left handed and I am most definitely right handed, so things like using scissors (which she wants to do) is difficult.

Thanks, everyone! That's my gut feeling, and really, since the girls are so close in age, what dd1 does, dd2 thinks she can do, too. Her fine motor skills are not there yet, of course, when it comes to using scissors (supervised) or coloring, etc., but she THINKS she can do it!

I thought that thread title might get a few looks!;) I'm new to this whole homeschooling thing, at least as far as anything formal is concerned. We've done a little with BFIAR. However, we started last week learning consonant sounds. While I am not intentionally doing phonics with my two year old, I am including her in what I'm doing with my four year old. We've just always done things this way, and while I'm sure that I could manage to find something to occupy her while big sister's learning sounds, I'm pretty sure it would be a hard sell. My girls are 18 months apart in age, and I'm seeing more and more that it might be a little difficult to separate what they do, especially as they get older. I suppose my real questions are these: a. Is there something truly better for her age that she should be doing during the short lessons on sounds? b. What am I going to do with her when it is time for big sister to officially start kindergarten (next year) and she will be four in a few short months? Thanks for answering a newbie's questions. I have lurked here for a while and know what a wealth of information and wisdom you seasoned homeschoolers can share. Thank you!

Hi! I'm new here!:tongue_smilie:I just wanted to introduce myself and check out how my post looks before I venture out into the bigger forums.:auto: My name is Amy and I am a SAHM and part-time community college English instructor. I have two daughters, ages 4 (May) and 2 (November), and a husband who works in the field of public education. We are planning to homeschool, but I admit that I am coming to that with a good deal of trepidation and angst. I guess I'm looking for some support and encouragement, and as a follower of SWB and the WTM, I thought this would be a good place to "pull up a chair."