I meant helpful but autocorrect corrected to that which I use most often. Sorry, I thought you were being a smarty pants (not serious) by suggesting french cursive. Almost 12. He already knows how to form all letters in dnealian so I'm not planning on changing styles on him.

No. Not felpful!

EdPo: I am waffling between cursive workbooks for Oldest. Do I want Rythm of Handwriting Cursive Book or Character Handwriting Beginning Cursive (D'nealian)? For reference, he knows how to form most letters from memory and signs his name in cursive on everything. He can read cursive, just isn't used to writing in it regularly.

Send some Krissi's direction! They still need it, right?

Oh good! I thought I somehow missed a day somewhere and that would not be a good thing this week. I'm trying to get everything ready for the new school year to begin next week. Willy Nilly!

Night night. Or morning morning? It's technically morning here by about 20 minutes.

We don't school year round or 7 days a week, but we have a LOT in common on how the day to day schedule goes! The bolded in particular. I'm copying your number 6 because I need to be more diligent in that area. I never would've thought about taking a picture to show my littles where everything should go!

My way is certainly not the way many prefer, but it helps me stay on track and sane! I use what would be done if my kids were in public school as a sortof guideline in the respect that schoolwork is happening Monday through Friday and specific subjects are being done on a specific timetable. Our school day begins and ends at the same time every school day like clockwork, at which point I can focus more on my household duties. I don't have the luxury of help from family or friends, either. I literally have to sit my almost 4yr old and 2yr old in chairs at our diningroom table and have them color, draw, play with manipulatives or playdough while teaching my 11yr old grammar. I teach math while the youngers are down for a nap after lunch. I have my oldest read his history lesson aloud to me and the youngers to give the youngers practice at sitting still and listening. We do art as well as science demos/experiments as a family. You can make it work with or without outside assistance, but you have to know your goals, prioritize them, and make the necessary adjustments in order to get there.

Coffee time! Rise and shine!

There's a book? Or are you talking about the syllabus?

Someone pass Jean the cupcakes!

Noooo! Eggs are expensive! Use water balloons. Cheaper.

I don't love it on days/weeks when we're facing major hurdles, but I 100% do not regret and have no plans to change our decision to homeschool. It's hard work, but I get to teach from a Christian viewpoint which is very important to us and I get to discuss things happening in the world around us in an age appropriate, God honoring way rather than allow the school system and state to dictate what/when. There is nothing comparable to seeing a child start reading on their own and knowing you helped facilitate that. I agree with @HomeAgain on middle school age not being as enjoyable, though, because the drama and hormones are raging at that stage.

Can the spines be cut down to size? I was hoping to bind some workbooks that are closer in size to regular lined notebook paper, but proclick spines are only 11 or 8.5 inches for standard size printer paper.

I had no idea that was even a service available. That's awesome!

YES!

Yes, but for some insane reason, this thread just CANNOT be ignored! 🤣

I like the older curriculum threads, too. Just not the "when should children stop bathing together" and "nekkid vs naked" type threads. To me, those belong on the chat forum rather than plugging up the first page of an educational forum. But now that I know this basically used to be the chat forum and see how many potential ways there are to stumble onto an old thread, I can absolutely understand and give grace.

I never knew what the newspaper icon was for. I've only even figured out how to @ikslo in the past year and thought that was awesome! I pretty much stick to general education and k-8.

Ok. This makes sense. I think I might've even done the same thing a couple times when I was new here, too. I don't dislike zombie threads so please don't think I do. That actually wasn't my point. I'm just noticing such an influx of noneducational ones that are about such random topics and didn't understand why. Thank you for confirming what I suspected @Slache and @Jean in Newcastle

1,2,3,4,5 zombies just on the first page! Most of which aren't even relevant to a general education board. Was there not a chat forum back in the day? I think we need a permanent thread: Newcomers Welcome! We are so happy to have you here and hope to be a source of knowledge, help, and encouragement to you as we have many seasoned homeschoolers on the boards from every background you can imagine. Feel free to post and ask away. All we ask is that everyone be respectful, try to keep to the topic of the original post (or create a new thread), and please pay attention to the date of the original post before responding to a thread. There have been many many threads resurrected recently that are more than a decade old that are starting to plug up the boards unnecessarily. Thank you and happy homeschooling!

I don't remember ever saying we school year round. We start at the beginning of September and aim to finish by the end of May. We don't take anywhere near the number of days off that our local public school does so we finish ahead of them even though we start about the same time.

I get the kids in the kitchen and let them help cook a big breakfast to start off the day.

Which laminator do you use? Same one? If so, I need to see this laminator. Caffeine does not slow down any of mine. It makes them all but run up the walls and across the ceiling. Remember the accidental caffeine-laden rootbeer floats? Never again will I neglect to check the label on rootbeer.

What do you like to use for covers? I see that laminating cardstock is a popular choice.