I just looked at these in her booth in Cincy. Makes me wish my kids were younger. Lol!

What a great idea! I'm in.

This is my main problem with Circe. I'm not a Christian, and while I appreciate the values and virtues of the Circe mindset, the religious component always turns me off.

Okay, just read through some more, and see that you are concerned about other people's opinions. If you want, you can do a search of some of my very first posts on this forum many years ago, when I was the one excitedly researching homeschooling, and my husband was the one with all the doubts you're having. Four years later, he can't find a bad thing to say about homeschooling, and neither can most other people who know my children. They are bright, articulate, polite young men, who are no more weird than the next 9 & 11 year olds. You will always have people asking questions about homeschooling. My husband now chats it up with other parents about how awesome it has been for us. You will always have people questioning the socialization, the friends, the ability to get into college, yada, yada, yada . . . Guess what? Those people are not in charge of your kids. You and your wife are. You need to work together to do what is best for your entire family. The other people can rear their own children and keep their noses out of your business. You don't have to answer to them.

I haven't read any of the other comments, yet, but I just wanted to say that public school is nothing at all like it was when you attended. Nothing. Secondly, I suggest you read some homeschooling books, like The Well Trained Mind, to get an idea of what your child's education could look like. Thirdly, check out all the activities and opportunities for homeschoolers in your local area. Just last week, my kids went to co-op on Tuesday, a homeschool meet up at a trampoline place on Wednesday, and went to a homeschool egg hunt on Thursday. All the museums, metro parks, and libraries in my area have homeschool programs. I bet you will find there is more to homeschooling than what you have imagined.

Wow, scary. :sad:

Never heard of them. I'm in Ohio. They look cool, though.

:hurray: That's awesome!

Legos, wrappers, crumbs, pencils, cups.

Happy for you!

:grouphug: Glad to hear this one was easier.

Making a kite, making a windlass, making garden decorations, making mosaics, painting furniture . . .

I'm in a similar place with gluten-free. People think it's a fad. I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome 20 years ago. As soon as I stopped eating gluten, then irritable bowels went away.

Same here.

This is how I feel about it, too. You can strike a balance between Classical homeschooling and being a Modern Child. We do it quite well at our house. Letting go of some unrealistic expectations help, too. No one can manage trying to do all things and be all things at once. I've had both my kids in school, and it was a lot more struggle and worry than it was worth. And the supposed excellent education of our highly rated school district wasn't there, either. That said, there are some great programs that work great for certain kids. You may want to give one a try and see how it goes.

Yikes. I missed the last step and crashed into the opposite wall a few years ago. I landed hard on the floor. My kids came running and they thought I was laughing because I was crying silently from the pain. I hope your bruising heals up quickly. :grouphug:

This is perfect.

I put my kids into public school briefly this fall. I spent the summer getting the "caught up" on cursive and a whole bunch of other things, particularly in math. Turns out they didn't do cursive at our "very good" local schools. And my kids were bored stiff because they were not learning any new material. At all. I wouldn't sweat it.

That you still won't have everything figured out in your 40's and 50's.

NPR mostly. BBC occasionally. Random clicking around on the internet occasionally, too.

My boys' attitudes toward school have definitely become more negative over time. They now try to negotiate with me about getting out of school assignments in favor of things they'd rather be doing. I approach school as their job and their responsibility. They can't do the fun stuff until they've complete their obligations. I choose stuff that I think will interest them, but as another poster said, I'm not going to break my back to make every little bit of it fun.

My kids were fairly early readers, I think. My older son started reading at 3 and was reading small chapter books in Kindergarten. My younger son was reading by late 4 and was reading first readers in Kindergarten and small chapter books in 1st grade. Reading is so individual, though. There are factors which help, like being read to at an early age, and exposure to books, but some kids just aren't ready until they are older.

I bit the bullet and did a major book purge a few years ago. I don't regret it at all. I live in an area with fantastic libraries, though, so I'm rarely ever without something I need for school.

I know! I feel the same way. I've ordered patio furniture, even, because I can get the free shipping. I hardly ever go shopping anywhere anymore. I don't really use the streaming, but ordering what I want with no minimum and free shipping (on most things) is totally worth it.

On The Free Dictionary, there is a little speaker icon. You can click it to hear the pronunciation. Here is a link to one German word. Look in the upper left corner for the speaker. http://de.thefreedictionary.com/entgegensetzen Edited to add- Sorry, apparently it only gives pronunciation of certain words.