Another vote for Long Story Short. We just read the section together, discuss and the kids copy a verse. First thing every morning.

I just listened to Andrew Pudewa on the read aloud revival podcast talk about his late reader - 12+ He said that - and I'm paraphrasing - deciding not to stress about it doesn't mean you stop working on it. You just keep going with what they CAN do and be calm. He said that he came to the point where he accepted that some people have to read through their fingers (braille) and maybe for this kid, his severe dyslexia meant that he had to mostly read through his ears. So they did a ton of audiobooks and just low pressure worked on treating the dyslexia.

What? Your dh naps and games while you homeschool and entertain his mother? I am trying hard not to judge your dh harshly here...

Oh gosh, I am so very sorry. :grouphug:

Okay, I only know about the Holocaust through my cultural literacy - movies, news, reading on my own etc. I never learned about it at school. We had hardly any history, unless you took an elective in high school (I didn't.) My education was not neglectful. I graduated top 15% of my state. This is the difficulty in drawing a line. How sheltered is too sheltered? Of course this can be exacerbated by homeschooling but it is not the direct cause or consequence of homeschooling.

Yikes! See, this is not what I wanted to hear! Nice to know I'm not alone though.

Yes! Some things do still set off that tingly let down feeling!

Oh that's really annoying!

I've always weaned before falling pregnant again, the quickest was about 9 months from weaning until pregnancy. I don't tend to fall pregnant easily - only one of my children was conceived without intervention. Pregnancy had no effect, except to re-increase the volume! Anyway, just curious really! Thanks for the replies guys!

I've just finished listening to the Dorothy Sayers mystery books and loved them!

Lol! I have often thought that I could have made a killing in the time of wet nursing... In an apocalypse I'll be rocking in the corner or taking my cyanide pill, no thanks. Honestly, it's getting annoying and I'm sick of being sore!

Thanks for your reply! Did it just randomly stop?

Yeah. Whacked out hormones. Stupid body.

Haha, my superpower! :)

Just a curious question. My youngest child is 4. I breastfed him until around 14 months. I still have milk, leakage and soreness pretty often. In fact, from breastfeeding my first child 12 years ago, the milk has never fully gone away. Doctors seem pretty unconcerned. I've had a mammogram and breast ultrasounds within the past couple of years so I don't suspect anything serious (my sister had breast cancer at age 29). I'm 33 and have borderline pcos according to a fertility specialist a decade ago. The constant tenderness and random leaking is getting on my nerves!

Sounds lovely Scarlett!

wow! exciting!

If he's comfortable with narration, dictation, basic grammar and mechanics then he's probably fine skipping Aesop. Grammar covers types of sentences, punctuation, 8 parts of speech. The writing projects in Aesop are rewriting Fables, focusing on dialogue and descriptive details.

My bold - I agree.

Okay, my 7th grader is a pretty natural, creative writer. She had completed WWS1 before starting Homer. She did Aesop level about 3 years ago. We're doing the Older Beginner's track and it's just at the right challenge level. I only use the Core Homer text, it's not laid out like other teacher guides like lesson 1, 2... it's laid out by day and skill level. So each week, on Day 1 you're working on narrative skills (Theon's 6). So on day 1, you go to the Day 1 chapter and work on the next lesson/skill level. When I got my Homer Core text I wrote out the first 4 weeks of lessons to get my head around it. I'd heard all about the difficult to implement stories but I've found it pretty simple after putting in that work. My current 5th grader is doing Aesop this year, he struggles with writing, but he's doing very well with it, likes it and will move on to Homer probably in mid-6th or 7th.

Haven't read all the replies yet, I'm using Homer this year with my 7th grader and I love it. It's great! I read through the homer manual over the summer and got my head around it. I'm using it with our own books/passages rather than the student workbooks. Okay, going back to read the thread properly.

The only families I know that are skirting educational neglect have either already tried school and found it worse and/or have other severe issues which would be exacerbated by dropping them into school.

I had my babies through public hospital midwifery programs. I didn't pay a cent. These options are only available for low risk pregnancies. My first two children were born at one hospital which had a birth centre run by midwives, you were looked after by a team of midwives according to who was on shift. The birth centre had access to the gas as a pain relief option. With my first birth, I had to be transferred to the non-midwife labour ward due to complications - needing an induction. The midwives fought for me to come back after my straightforward birth, because the birth centre had private rooms! I had post-birth complications with #2 (same birth centre) and was rushed to theatre - a positive of in-hospital midwife birth centres - and again the midwives fought for me to come back after the spinal tap wore off. For #s 3 & 4, I used a different midwifery program through a different hospital. This. Was. Amazing! It was a caseload midwife program, which means that you are assigned to a midwife who you see for every single appointment and who does her best to be at your birth. The could deliver at the hospital or at home (I did one of each). If you delivered in hospital you had access to the gas pain relief, but not at home. I loved my midwives, we built up a great rapport, we trusted each other so I felt really supported. Best option ever!

We don't really censor music, but I do tend to discuss the more interesting options lol. We've actually had some very good conversations. When one of my sons was 3, he would sing along with rage against the machine in his car seat!

Could one of his friends from soccer or gym be a language tutor? Maybe, for example, Billy's dad could do a half hour tutoring session after soccer twice a week. That kind of situation will double up on language learning and connection making, with the added bonus of probably spending more social time with a friend. Just throwing out an idea. It must be hard to get your head around such a big possibility!