We always get each of them a new book, so that's on the list. We have Christmas (we don't do many gifts, mainly stockings) and 6yo and 8yo birthdays on the near horizon. Current possibilities for us, mostly because of conversations or requests: - Playmobil (always!) - LEGO (always!) - snap circuits - remote control car - art supplies (more Lyra pencils, specifically) - sewing supplies (request from 8yo) - Clubhouse Jr. magazine subscription - tickets to ballet - games: Set, Albert's Insomnia

This is fascinating. Such a high number of posters who say they were not frequently read to, but also a high number of avid independent readers. I wonder just how skewed this sample is. :) Is a person who loves to read independently from early childhood more likely than average to become a person who is heavily invested in education and possibly more likely to homeschool? The read-to/not-read-to results here don't seem to match the stats we hear from studies (regarding education and adult literary engagement), but perhaps personality and interest in education are weighted in a forum like this as opposed to the general population. Or, perhaps the number of people who were read to in early years to but don't remember it is higher than the number who weren't read to at all. I know I was read to from very young (many conversations with my parents), but have very little recollection of it before older years. So there may be a bit more reading that happened than is being reported from memory? My own early childhood memory is appallingly empty. Anyway, very interesting thread! ETA: clarity

Yes. Each of our kids has an iPod Nano (garage sale finds!) and a speaker which they use daily for audiobooks during quiet time. The iPod remembers the last stopping point and they can just resume where they were the next day. We also use them for travel, etc. By far the best solution we have found, combined with our Audible account.

We quite enjoyed the audiobook of SOTW in the car before I started working through the AG and individual chapters in our school week. I think the books have a lot of value on their own. I like the AG for the booklists and occasionally the extra projects. The narration questions are basically common sense if you are familiar with narration. My kids also really enjoy coloring a picture for each chapter. I think it gives them a visual for the topic. If you are set for booklists and your kids aren't into coloring, I'd say to Google a bit for extra projects on the topics if you want to do some of those. I tend to adapt the ones from the AG anyway and we don't do extras for each chapter. Perhaps unrelated, but I have noticed lately that while they still really love doing SOTW (both daughters would say it's their favourite schoolwork), they are a bit less absorbed in it when we crawl through slowly than they were when we'd listen to the whole book on loop. I think the great strength of SOTW is the story flow. ETA: I take each AG to the copyshop, have them cut off the front part (teacher's guide) and spiral binding it, then make photocopies of the student sheets and save the originals. More $$ that way, but very easy to use.

Amazing thread! Commenting so I can find it later. :)

My parents read to us a lot. I was homeschooled... definitely part of our family culture. :) My mom even made her own "books on tape" for us! They now read a lot to my kids and so do my sisters. Books are a common gift for us. I do think it's shaped the vocabulary/literary reference/shared story aspect of our family.

DP

My kids (and I!) Have loved The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Hilarious and insightful... lots of conversations from that one!

Amen! If women are truly supposed to have choices, then homeschooling should be as free, valuable, and legitimate a choice as any other career. I like to use the term "home educator" in my mind... sounds more professional, if you will, or more accurate, since my focus is the education of my children, not recreating school. Either way, no 'just' about it.

I went through Saxon when I was homeschooled and only in adult years did I discover that I actually liked math. I have avoided it like the plague for my own kids...! Imagine if I get a kid who loves that approach! Don't know if I could handle the flashbacks.

We have Bob Books and they've been great for very emerging readers. I don't use them for 'curriculum' though. They are just one of the few options an early reader can read truly on her own. I take out each level as it seems to fit and let them use at will. They often choose to read to me. Haven't used flashcards, really.

I have a Gr. 2 right now. She is able to read MTH books and more, but she's a January birthday, so an 'old' Gr. 2. That said, I find that reading a beginner's novel and accurately reading the instructions for a math lesson are two verrrrry different things. You can't skim math lessons and I can't leave her alone with schoolwork lessons/instructions. We use: - An hour of morning time together that includes Bible reading, prayer, memory work, journaling, and read alouds. - HWT Cursive. I confirm that she can form the letter correctly and then she does her 2 pages and I check them. - Explode the Code. I explain any new sounds and then she does 2-3 pages independently and I check them. - GWG 2 - I explain the new concept, go over the exercises for that lesson. She does them independently and I check them. - Calculadder - I set the timer and she does the exercises, then I check them. - MM2 - I explain the concepts, work a problem or two, then let her proceed. This is her most teacher-intensive subject. Sometimes I can then let her work through the remaining problems, sometimes I need to keep explaining and helping. It varies. This adds up to about 2.5 hours work, including the hour of morning time. 3 hours if it's a 'sticky' day. I find that she can have a certain 'emerging' type of independence right now. I cannot send her to a different room with a list of things to get done. She does everything at the kitchen table and while she is focused on work for something that I have explained, I can wash dishes or hold a toddler or pull out lunch or explain something to my first grader. I'm around to answer any questions and to get involved again if she's having trouble. We use a spiral notebook where I write down a list of the assigned pages for each subject each day and she checks them off. It helps me to keep on track without on the fly decisions, she knows what to pull out next, it gives a defined list so she can see what needs to be done, and I find it is teaching her to move through her work in an organized way. I hope to see this habit grow so that each year becomes more independent. This is much the way I remember being home schooled. That's all the skill subjects... for content, we are all together doing SOTW, art, or science studies, etc. She does read the related library books on her own sometimes. In two hours of free time, she will usually play with Lego or Playmobil, work on an art project she comes up with, play dress-up games or create a 'show' with her sister, or read. We are almost totally screen free except occasional family movies, but I know that if we weren't she would always choose that option. :) We have tons of audiobooks and she listens to those a LOT. HTH! ETA: We found Explode the Code 4 to be viciously painful last year and in the future I will skip that book. 5 has not been an issue. :)

I'm doing WTM science, adding in my own stuff. This year is zoology, so I asked the girls what animals they'd like to learn about. I grouped those into mammals, birds, etc, and noted the DK pages to read for each section. Then I printed out a bunch of pages that went with the topics we planned to hit and I put them in the girls' binders. We are now working through and they seem to like it. We read the encyclopedia entry, discuss the animal group, coloring/workbook pages, then watch YouTube docs and read library books. It's been great. That said, mine are early grades and I'm not sure how this will work out for other topics. Mainly I just commented because I like the ideas in this thread and want to be able to find it later! ;)

This. I do spiral notebook checklists each day and once we are done our Bible/Morning Time, the girls start working through those lists. They are at the kitchen table, so I can direct them and I'm nearby if they get stuck. If one of the things is more of a me-teaching subject and I'm not available, they move on to the next thing. It works well for getting through a lot while I'm managing a toddler. I'm training the toddler to sit quietly for Bible Time, so that is rarely interrupted. Often I ask one of the girls to take a break to play with the toddler while I teach the other, then we switch. The lists are part of a routine - - Kids up, dressed, beds made at 7:30 - I aim for breakfast by 8ish and Bible Time starting at the table by 8:30 - By 9:30 we are generally on independent work and they just move through the list until done, then they have free time. (Gr. 1&2) - Lunch between 12 and 1 - Quiet time 1:30-3:30 - Free time and chores - Dinner generally around 6 - Bed at about 8 The meals and quiet/bedtimes create a frame and the school days flows between it. For me, its the perfect balance of schedule and routine, though the times for things change with different seasons/babies.

My husband is very supportive and involved. But I basically do academics. He asks the kids about what they are learning. He strongly affirms what we are doing, to me, to the kids, and to anyone else. He listens when I verbally work through curricula choices or concerns and he gives feedback (as I do when he talks about his work). He will do an academic project with them if I ask him to. We decide together about things like moral and character training, households rules, family schedules, extracurricular commitments, etc. I research and decide all curricula, daily homeschool routines, homeschool commitments, etc. I run big things by him a lot - I like not being on the hook for all the major decisions on my own! He's an active parent in this lifestyle. So far, so good.

We haven't changed anything. Happy dance!!! I have adjusted some writing in Brave Writer style, since I bought TWJ and read it through this month. Love. It has influenced the way I use some of our other curricula.

Magic School Bus is a huge hit here. I occasionally will allow a run of it from Netflix (we have no TV), when we are sick or whatever. The last time I did this, my daughter followed up by giving me a detailed description of how cells work, based on what she'd learned in one episode. I count it worthwhile. :)

Also glad to hear the responses! We are using GWG 2 this year and it seems to be sticking well. My daughter enjoys it. I'd love to keep with it, as it is so straightforward, open-and-go. I'm thinking about using it every other year, though. Cathy Duffy suggests this, saying that GWG is a great program, but it repeats a lot. I'm thinking of using it for 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th. This also fits all little more with the BraveWriter concept of hitting grammar less frequently. In the off years we would do more work with copywork and dictation, discussing grammar through that avenue. Just some thoughts I've been 'percolating'. :)

I would argue that the young ages, even up through kindergarten and early elementary, are the times when children MOST need to be spending the majority of their time in their home and not in a different place. Those are some very formative, bonding years and there is so much that serves them and their best interest by being at home. The opportunities for personal growth, independent exploration, and family nurturing are just so much higher than in an alternate program. There are many many ways to give them group experiences and social opportunities without sending them away for the majority of their waking hours five days a week. ETA: If your daughter will be reading before she gets to kindergarten, all the more reason not to put her in a program where much of the focus will be on teaching the majority of the children to read. Think of the joyful learning experiences you can share with her, tailored to her level, if she stays home!

I connect and add the apostrophe between. It's such a small mark.

We have what we've always called "Bible Time", but it's actually that plus a bunch of other stuff. I currently have Gr. 1 + 2 and a toddler. We eat breakfast, which I always finish long before the kids do. So while they finish, I read a Bible chapter. Then someone prays (using a little photo album I put together to remind them of prayer requests). (10-15 mins) We then have memory work - some "facts", a longer Bible passage, a new poem, and a review of a previous poem. (10ish mins) Then they pull out journals and either dictate something to me (on a topic I suggest, generally), write something brief, or do a piece of copywork. While they illustrate their journal entry, I read aloud. (25ish mins) After that, we switch to individual skill work. I've found that if I start while everyone is happily captive around the table, we are much more consistent about doing this daily. The toddler sits through Bible and prayer (often still eating) and then either listens or roams and then comes back to 'write in his journal' (super cute!). He seems to love the rhythm of listening to the memory work... possibly because of voices in unison? So... what I mean by all this is that it's worked well to keep some elements consistent (Bible, prayer, memory) and rotating other things I want to include. So the read aloud, for example, could be a composer bio, a chapter from our current book, poetry, etc. The journal time could be telling about something they did, doing copywork (in the journal, often from memory work), etc. I'm mixing that up more, inspired by Brave Writer.

. Makes me laugh... my husband tells our kids the story about the year the only thing he'd say he wanted for Christmas was socks. So he got a pile of socks. He was thrilled. I would not have been thrilled. ;) We tend to mix utility and fun gifts, both for kids and adults in our family. Books get given a lot, but not core curriculum items. Their peers don't get their schoolbooks for Christmas and I don't want to make homeschooling unnecessarily odious to my kids. Art supplies, museum passes, snap circuits, books related to a subject that interests them (or that I'd like to encourage), new shoes (of a non-basic type that they might want, beyond the basics), clothes if it suits that kid, etc. I feel like you have to know the kid. Almost everyone has utility items they wouldn't mind and some they wouldn't want for gifts... sensitivity is key?

I haven't worked with those packages in specific but in general I've found that I don't end up using someone else's schedule, so all the tweaking required means it's not a time saver for me. I'd rather prepare my own plans ahead of time than spend my planning time adapting curriculum or my year adjusting things as I go. That is, however, a personality thing, I think. :)

We've been very happy with HWOT. We just use the workbooks none of the other pieces... never been a problem. It's a pretty obvious progression. The hand is not my favourite, but it is clear and I can already see my oldest's own cursive hand developing from that starting point. We started with Getty Dubay because I liked the cursive look, but the print was more complex. It added frustration to the printing process for little ones.

Poetry is part of our morning time - I chose about 8 short poems for the year (one-ish per school month) and we work through them. The girls are early elementary, so there's a lot of A.A. Milne, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. I read the new poem for a couple of days and we talk about anything that occurs to us, or I explain unusual words. No deep analysis. Then we memorize stanza by stanza, which is normal for us because they are used to long Bible passages and other memorization during that time as well. We work on the new poem and review one old one... always under ten minutes for sure. I've been surprised by how much they love the poems and love knowing them! Milne and Stevenson especially come up in our read alouds as well and they love it when we read a poem they know!