Hi there, I'm specifically interested in the Abacus part of your message. Is it a Japanese abacus?(one row of heavenly beads and the rest are below) And how are you teaching your children to use it? Thanks!

I'm loving our Life Of Fred books, in Algebra he says he's more complete than even Saxon. All three of my children love the fractions book, and I'm planning on ordering the next three books within the next couple of months! Carrie:-)

Here's an idea, too. There's a book called "Cursive First." It gives great reasoning behind teaching cursive first. Cursive was taught to children as their "way to write" until map printing was used at an older age. Students usually revert back to the first way they were taught, when older. Also, when children are first being taught, cursive isn't hard. Young students can concentrate on handwriting skills, and then when the child reaches 3rd grade, they aren't having to spend their time learning a new skill. Cursive First works with the clock face. Look at anyone who's about 70 or so, and see their beautiful handwriting, and you may very well be convinced:-)

Hi there, I see tons of people here use CC. Is this where you all mostly post? I see hardly anyone just chatting about CC on the portal or on the CCC. I also joined a CC interest yahoo group. I'd love to find the best "secret" group that CCers are posting on. We're starting on Wednesday, and I have been scrounging for the place that people are posting about their first weeks, hoping to learn from those who are "going before me." Thanks! Carrie:-)

There's also a Classical Conversations Interest Yahoo group. Carrie:-)

Although there is no official cd for the cards, there is a list of tunes (ok at least one list) that has tunes which work well for the cards. Carrie:-)

I wouldn't vote for someone who believes that abortion should be legal. I don't care for Obama, outside of the fact that he's really good looking, and I don't like what I hear about concerning "earlier ps education." I actually believe that if they don't trust parents to raise their children, they should offer voluntary parenting/ early childhood education for parents. I then believe that who ever wants to go....goes. Pretty soon, they'll be offering childcare from birth. As for abortions, if you don't care for the children who haven't even seen the light of day....how are you going to care for the rest of your people? Carrie:-)

Newberg...Yay...have you checked out the homeschool offerings at George Fox? We would if we lived over there:-)

Hey there, Who else lives in the Salem, OR area? Carrie:-)

Can your husband take him to work? Otherwise lots of physical labor with him having a good attitude every night (or morning) with Dad. Also, lots on the weekend. Physical Labor (hard) is VERY important to preteens and teens. If he won't do work, have dad wake him before he goes to work. (You have to be willing to make them work until they are exhausted.) My husband offered to do this with my daughter (9) and it's great. Dads can be great motivators, especially boys! Carrie:-)

Wow, now my husband shouldn't feel so bad with what I spend! Carrie:-)

My girls and I are doing LOF together. Fractions now, Decimals and Percents, later. It's actually fun!

I think Life of Fred is great, too! We have just ordered the fractions book and we've orally done 10 chapters. We don't start school until Sept. My 13 yr old loves it, especially. She's in ps, but wishes she could use Fred! I'm thinking of ordering Algebra 1, so we can do it orally for family time. Don't know if it'd work, but it looks good. Also, I want to do some Living Math Books, too. I also saw some cool templates that you can use for Algebra. They were free...where were they?? Carrie:-)

What kind of offense? <Maybe it was stat... r*pe? If so, I actually have a friend who's husband has that conviction, and it just isn't the same as some of the others. Besides that big protective dogs! :-) Carrie:-)

So, what's the National Latin exam? What level do they have to be to pass it? We're using Henle; hopefully that would work?

Remember that you don't have to tell her it's third grade. You can keep her in fourth...and just do 3rd. That's one of the beauties of homeschooling! Carrie:-)

I was wondering about making it magnetic, too. If you actually try it and it works, I'd like to know. I've also heard that the board is better if you use liquid nails to adhere the whiteboard to cheap "plywood" or something like this(let dry with heavy objects on top to get it really secure) and then screw in the whole thing to the wall. I'm jealous that you got to hear Leigh speak. Are you in Colorado??

I just heard that it's fine to switch back and forth. There are just about 6 differences with sounds. V and W sounds C -v-CC? and a few others. I'm having my daughter do Classical with Classical Conversations and Ecclesiastical with Henle. She's 10, and I think she'll be fine.

Tanglewood has a great one to download.(for printing) You may be able to figure out how to copy just the pages you want and use it just one your computer, too. I really like it, there are all kinds of different forms and you purchase just once.(It was under $10 I think)

If you're flipping through them for review, I've heard it's easier to punch two at the bottom, and then flip over than 2 at the top and then pull each card over. Are you laminating them, too?

We use the VP cards with our Classical Conversations(CC) homeschool group.(Slightly different order than VP, CC goes purely in Chronological order) You can laminate them and I hear that it's better to have them hole punched in the bottom (2 punches) instead of the top for easier flipping over. We memorize 8 a week for 24 weeks, so that we get through the whole stack every year.

Hi Mom2OregonBoys, I'm not sure if Classical Conversations is for you, but there's on starting in Medford! Contact: Jason Bull (541)734-7188. This info is straight off the CC site. I have a whole email that I will pm you about CC. (It's family oriented, and both your children would attend at the same time.) Carrie:-)

Thanks for all the responses! I enjoy them, and also looked over at the threads for the different math, which I don't exactly understand what it is. You all seem to know what it's all about:-) My daughter is in 5th now, so I'm sure soon, I'll be tossing Math Curriculum names around. Before, I assumed that she'd do Saxon, but it's a form of torture to her. (And she's good at math!) Thanks again!

There is a forum, if you are a CC tutor. If you are, you can ask your state director for the address. Otherwise, there's a CC interest Yahoo group.(public)

Hi:-) I sent you an email with my phone number, but in case it ends up in spam, the meeting is this Friday (August 8th) at 7pm meeting at Immanuel Reformed Church 4653 Sunnyview Rd NE Salem OR 97305 I will be going through the Trivium stages, so what basic Classical Education is based on...and how Classical Conversations as a weekly program can fit into the Education goals that you have for your family. CC is very family oriented, and so with this in mind, your younger children are welcome to come and be with the group as we go through the lessons. CC has a great grammar program and we do lots of fun activities, songs and experiments in the process. Carrie:-)