My go-to Catholic homeschooling spot is the 4Real forums. Fantastic ladies and advice there. Very traditional, very Catholic. My hands-down ultimate favorite homeschooling book is Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss. Cay Gibson has written some great resources too - Catholic Mosaic and Picture Perfect Childhood. Oh, and don't forget that Cathy Duffy reviews Catholic curriculum at her site. I could go on and on. There are too many great things out there!

That's definitely too much for my average kids, and far too much for my most sensitive kid. Not only does he have trouble with being away too much, but the transitions are very difficult. One thing I do with my olders is talk about our schedule. At the beginning of the week, I give them a general rundown of the entire week. Every night before bed, I tell them what we are doing the next day. When they wake up in the morning, I tell them the activities for the day and when they will be happening. For example, Sunday I told them that we have Religious Education, a trip to see Grandma & Grandpa, and church planned for the next week. Tonight I will tell them that tomorrow is Religous Education. Then, in the morning, I will tell them that we will be going to Religious Education after dinner. That's three different previews of the schedule, each more specific than the previous. HTH

My viewpoints are based on my childhood experiences. Both dh & I are farm kids from small towns. Our childhoods are ones most people in the U.S. don't see anymore. I will consider my dc to be well educated if they have strong fundamentals in the 3Rs, know how to physically work hard, and can naturally identify problems and create solutions. How am I teaching my kids to identify problems and create solutions? Through real life. I don't know how I would teach this through a book, but maybe I'll figure that out when my kids are older. I challenge my kids to see problems and solutions rather than be complacent with the status quo. I encourage them to create and dream. They have ample free time to be bored enough to get their creative juices flowing and their bodies moving. What does this look like? Well, on a small scale, my kids often climb too high in trees. Instead of calling for me to help them, I expect them to find a way out of the tree by themselves. If they can't figure it out, they call for me, but I don't get them out. I ask them what tools they need to create a solution for themselves. They might need a hand to get a better foothold or they might need a ladder. If they need a ladder, then they need to get their siblings to fetch one. Watching my young kids struggle to move a ladder through our yard is interesting! My 5yo & 3yo regularly explore our grove by themselves, and they get into and out of all kinds of predictaments by themselves. A lot of people on their boards couldn't imagine letting their 5yo & 3yos explore by themselves, but that was how I grew up. It's natural for me. I was milking cows with my dad at 5yo and doing fieldwork as soon as I could reach the petals on the tractor. Children are so capable if we stretch them, and I see that over and over again with the farm kids in our community. We are definitely free-range parents, but I would never allow my kids to do things which would be dangerous for them. My kids work with dh & I on our farmette. We ask the dc for ideas on how to get our work done. I often give the kids a task and tell them to figure out how to get it done. I expect them to fail. We also use games to help develop thinking strategies - card games, board games, puzzles, etc.

:grouphug: This issue is near & dear to my heart. We purchased our old farmhouse last April, moved in October, and were told that our septic needed replacing in December. WHAT? It was a complete slap in the face after our wall-to-wall remodel drained nearly all our cash. We don't have anything left, and we are so not into debt. I don't know what we are going to do either.

We are on the prairie too - border of MN & SD. It's -33 here. Dh just left to run errands, but the kids & I are staying inside. He's buying the barn cats a heating lamp today. It's darn cold, even for a barn cat.

Thank you for this. I was beginning to think I was the only homeschooler in the world with this same perspective.

I keep our current resources in a tote so I can tote it around wherever we want to do school. :001_smile: The tote has my manuals (we don't use any workbooks), clipboards, white boards, writing utensils, math manipulatives, etc. I also have a few bookshelves that hold picture books, pending curriculum, and other resources. Two bottom shelves are reserved for toddler school items - stacking pegs, funtastic frogs, sorting items, puzzles, etc. The best advice I have is to keep your resources limited and declutter often. I just tossed a lot of stuff I like but never got around to using. It feels very, very good to not be burdened by it.

:iagree: That's what we are doing too. We are more relaxed academically so we can focus on application. But, then, we moved to the country so we can have animals, gardens, and all that other hard work.

:iagree: I was thinking about this discussion this morning, and I have to agree. I don't think education makes a person or propels them into some sort of special position. I think that the ability to identify problems, create solutions, and work hard is the key to developing people like the founding fathers. Education can help pave the way, but it certainly isn't the end-all, be-all.

Maybe you could ease into the week? I know some people have Fine Arts Friday, so we started to have Marvelous Mondays. We ditch the 3Rs that day and focus on nature walks, crafts/art, composer studies, etc.

:iagree:

I found taking things for the kids to do during mass became way to distracting for us and for the people around us. Now, we sit in the first pew so the kids can see everything (instead of looking at butts in front of them) and we don't take anything to fiddle with. Our snacks don't get dropped, our toys don't make banging noises, and the kids don't fight over whatever we had brought. By the time they are 4yo, they can easily sit/stand/kneel for the hour. My 3yo still struggles, but he's a young 3yo and he's getting much better. I hold my 1yo, and her feet don't touch the floor. If she gets down, it's over. :tongue_smilie:

For 1st and 2nd, we have used Faith & Life as a text. It has worked well for us. Our primary teaching is living the liturgical year fully at home and learning through fabulous Catholic picture books (many are found in Catholic Mosaic by Cay Gibson). This year I finally purchased a mini mass kit from Our Father's House, and I will also be using Moira Farrell's Home Catechesis lessons. Both of these resources are Montessori style and both can be found here. For the younger ages, I think these booklets are great in addition to bible and saint stories. And if you are looking for a wonderful Catholic homeschooling board, the 4Real forums are incredible. You will find many, many resources for living the liturgical year on those boards.

Can you have the 11yo and 8yo step back from RCIA for a while and have them attend the regular RE program with same-aged kids? If your younger kids love the RE classes, maybe that would be a good "holding" spot for the older two until they are ready and willing to join RCIA again. At the worst, they would learn about the Catholic church and being a Christian. I can't see why the DRE would have a problem with them in the regular RE classes. I'm sure it's not common for kids to skip to the middle, but I can't think of why it would be against the rules. My RCIA experience left a lot to be desired, so I completely understand where your dc are coming from. I look at it like this - my kids go to church every Sunday. They hear the mass every week. Everywhere we go, we can find the same mass. They are automatically at home in any Catholic church. The sights, sounds, smells, and rituals of the mass are becoming a part of their souls just by sitting in the pews every.single.week. Every three years they will have had the entire bible read to them. We sit in the front pew, and I deal with the toddlers, and it's not easy, fun, or enjoyable. We attend without dh about 1/2 the time as he is either serving in the reserves or serving as a lector. You know what though? When I'm in the back with a naughty toddler, my 7yo and 5yo sit in the front by themselves and they participate without me. You can do it!!! :grouphug: ETA: When my dh was in Iraq, I attended a church which had a nursery. That was a lifesaver. Maybe you can find a church with a nursery or even a cry room? The cry room is a great thing if you have a crawler or new toddler and other littles to watch as well.

In Minnesota, if an adult has had their parental rights terminated AND has any other children living in the home, the district attorney/child welfare people AUTOMATICALLY take the other children (regardless if bio children or not) out of the home once they find out that the prior rights were terminated. The problem is finding out about children living with these adults. My dh is in the midst of trying to sever parental rights of an abusive couple right now. This particular couple has been moving around the state to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Dh feels that he may these kids' last hope to get out of the abuse since the parents will flee to another jurisdiction once this trial is over. :angelsad2: It's just so sad and frustrating.

Honestly? I would get the Playmobil guys. If you can't get them before Christmas, maybe you can give him a coupon to let him pick out which set of knights he would like. They have a selection. My guys like to each have different sets of knights that match so their armies can fight each other.

Our UPS people are wonderful. They always leave our packages inside our house as do the mail carriers...and anyone else who stops by with something. I wonder what they would do if our house was ever locked? I wonder if we can lock our doors. :confused: Love my TinyTown!!!!

:iagree::iagree::iagree: Thoughtfully picking out a gift and then giving it is a joy to the gift-giver. Receiving a gift is a joy to the gift-receiver. Why is anticipation automatically considered a good, positive thing? Why are people who don't like anticipation wrong? If someone doesn't like surprises and anticipation, why would you try to control their feelings about it? If not wanting to be surprised is controlling, then I would think that making someone else be surprised (who doesn't want to be surprised) is controlling as well.

:iagree: For some, surprises and anticipation are a joy. For others (like me) surprises and anticipation are NOT fun. For me, knowing that I am going to be surprised is the equivalent to being teased. It brings out the same emotions and feelings. It's just not nice. My oldest dc is just like me. She has the same tolerance of surprises as I do, so I don't tell her that I have a surprise for her. We give her gifts, of course, but I don't tell her that I've bought her something to be opened later and I don't put wrapped presents under the tree. It just wouldn't be kind to her. And, yes, I would certainly clean the bathroom top to bottom to release the torment of a surprise. This thread brought out intense emotions.

This is the castle that my boys have and love. It was discontinued a couple years ago, and with that, the knights as well. :crying::smash: My guys need new knights and they want the same ones, but we can't get them unless we pay $$$$. I am starting over with the Playmobile knights this year. Most of them are sold out online right now, but you can still get some sets from Playmobile.com. Those knights are the same size as the Imaginext ones. I also ordered generic Playmobile horses b/c knights need horses. :001_smile: Older boys play with our castle when they visit, so I would think an 8yo would still like it. I know my 5yo is drooling over a more complex Playmobile castle, so we will probably upgrade sometime in the next year.

Ironically, I was just discussing how wet snow is with a local farmer. I was asking him if the corn out by the elevators was dried already and then if it snows, is it still dry? The answer is "yes." Anyway, he told me that 12 inches of snow = 1 inch of rain. So, two feet of snow doesn't seem like that big of deal??? I don't know if he's right, but maybe it makes you feel better.

I think it's easier to keep them occupied and out of naughtiness if they are helping me. My 19mo helps me with throwing away dirty diapers, putting wet laundry in the dryer, setting the table, carrying laundry baskets (so cute!), picking up toys, wiping up spills, emptying the dishwasher, and telling the big kids when dinner is ready :001_smile:. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of. As soon as she can hold the dustbuster, she'll start using that. I think the others were young 2s when they started cleaning with the dustbuster.

This sounds a lot like our life, except we love it!! Our extremely rural town has a small grocery store, one movie theater, and a quaint library. We are the only homeschooling family in town with young children. The two others in the area have high schoolers. The only stoplight in the county is five miles out of town in the middle of a cornfield, and we drive an hour to get to a big city of about 10,000 people. We live on 5 mature acres just outside of our TinyTown. The only difference is that we love where we live. We don't have all the big city amenities available, but we have other things that are so much more (for us). It's like stepping back into the 50's. I love being able to run into our grocery store (and the other shops on main street) and leave my kids in a running van outside. I love that everyone knows us, and they know my kids. My kids are more than safe with all those eyes spying on them!!! We don't have other homeschoolers around, and I do miss that. But, we have found public schooled kids to be wonderful friends. We have at least one playdate every week, and the other parents are great about transporting their kids. Since we all live in a rural area, we all realize that we must drive. My kids even participate in public school events (our public school is tiny - only 25 kids/grade). They go on all the public school field trips, parties, and special events. Last month they rode school buses to watch a Dr Suess play, and sometimes my kids go in for lunch and recess. All that to say, rural living has many, many advantages. City living has many, many advantages. It all depends on what you want for your family. We love the slow-paced, community-centered life in our TinyTown. We were out of our element when we lived in San Antonio.

It would depend....do you live in a winter climate? A 45 min commute in MN/SD can easily double during the winter. If it's a true 45 min commute, we would have a hard time turning down the acreage. But, we live on 5 acres, so I guess we're biased. :001_smile:

My kids all figured out how to climb out around 18m. We either transition them to a twin bed or a toddler bed. I put a child safety doorknob thing on the inside of their bedroom door. That way they can't get out of their room unless I open the door for them. They quickly realized that when I put them in their beds, it is sleeping time. My youngest falls asleep on the floor sometimes (the first one to do that), but she is quickly learning that the bed is more comfortable spot to sleep.