There are so many, but as far as being a parent/teacher (and back when I was a church worker), I love Deuteronomy 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." This is the passage I think of when we're literally outside walking and talking about the Bible...it motivates everything I do in raising my children.

When I need a name, we're "Veritas Academy." I don't need to use it too often, though. I'm not sure my children even know the name of our school, now that I think about it! :)

I guess "adorable" isn't a breed? That's what he (she?) is, though!

I'm a day late, but my summary is finally up!

That totally made my day! :)

I remember the thing we read that I hated the most (Tom Jones), and my favorite book (actually a play)...The Emperor Constantine by Dorothy Sayers. I would have to put a lot of effort into remembering anything we read. I remember what we read junior year really well, though! I am also ecstatic, because while answering this question, I looked up the long out-of-print and always way-too-expensive-to-buy-a-used-copy The Emperor Constantine, and discovered that it was reprinted a year ago, and I can finally buy my own copy. I am such a nerd! :tongue_smilie:

I would do something fun with it, I think. I have money budgeted for next year's things, and I try not to worry about next year now, anyway, so I wouldn't want to use it for that (unless for some reason, I really thought money would be tight next year). So, I'd rather get something cool for now, like some educational games, or a microscope, or puzzles, or maybe go on a cool trip. Although, most of the places I want to visit require way more than a weekend! :)

Week Two

I took my middle DD when she was three, because I noticed she was having problems. I took everyone else after I got her glasses...they were 7, 6, and almost five at the time, I think? Since the oldest also ended up needing glasses, I wish I had done it sooner...I'm thinking by reading age, if not before. Of course, I also needed glasses at age four, so I guess it should have been obvious to me that early eye visits are a good idea!

Should I mention that Kahlua has a peppermint mocha variety that you can find around Christmastime (or, if you're lucky, all year because for some inexplicable reason, the store didn't sell it all)? I think that some special coffee might be in order here one of these days!

Ticket to Ride is my favorite game...I don't even care which version; we have them all! It's the game we always get out when we have friends over. Really, any of the games by Days of Wonder would be a good choice. We also like the Thurn and Taxis series, and the ones based on The Pillars of the Earth. Carcasonne is also popular here, as is Settlers of Catan. We're big board game people!

I love Advent! It's my very favorite time of year. I do buy a Lego Advent calendar every year, but we also do a Jesse Tree and an Advent Wreath. This post sums up most of our Advent resources (although it is almost two years old...I can't remember if I've added anything else since I wrote it!), and this one gives an idea of how the routine actually works on a daily basis.

The King's Beer

I try to plan something monthly. It doesn't always work out that way, but then again, there are some months where we go on more than one field trip, so I guess it all evens out. The only real roadblock to our field trips is admission to some places we'd like to go...there are just too many of us to pay large admission fees! I either find things related to what we're studying (like going to Cahokia Mounds when we learned about the Native Americans, or hearing an astronaut speak when we learned about space), cultural events (ballet or music performances, usually), or something seasonal (like apple/pumpkin picking). The only technology that I use for field trips is researching things online before we go!

We begin at 8:30, which is pretty much the earliest we can get started, because I have to take my 6-year-old son to his school before that.

First week of the new school year!

Art on the Square...and I'm not really even an "art person!" This is a little outside our immediate area, but we also love going to the Fall Festival at the Saxon Lutheran Memorial. At Christmastime, Christmas on the Hill and Christmas Traditions are on our list of events we have to attend every year. Plus, going to a Cardinals game is a must-do!

Older DD was a *very* young four, and the reason we started homeschooling in the first place. Younger DD was also four, but closer to five. And, just to mess my own vote up, oldest DS was a fairly young five!

We had a great first day! I started a new tradition, we did some work, went to the library so the children could get their own library cards and check out books, and then had our first field trip of the year...apple picking. It was awesome!

Thanks! The funny (and kind of sad) thing is that after I rearranged everything, my six-year-old son, who has autism and goes to public school, decided he wanted to stay home with us. That's not an option for him, and he's never even asked before, because he loves his school so much. I figure that our classroom looks so fun, that he just wants to be with us!

Having just been through it, I say newborn is more difficult. Not physically, obviously (and I have high-risk pregnancies), but I have not been able to figure out how to keep my students from being distracted by their baby sister! She's almost five months old, now, and they're still just as enamored with her as they were the day she was born. It's so hard to get anything done with her around to be loved on, and now that she's doing so many new things, it's even worse! They want to watch her and be with her constantly, which makes teaching a bit of a challenge. At least I'm no longer huge and uncomfortable and exhausted (well, not as exhausted...she's still not sleeping well at night!).

Shameless bump because it's the first day of school! :001_smile:

We are, too! No exciting breakfast plans, but after we finish our work, I'm going to take them to the library to get their very own library cards, and then I think we're going to go apple picking. I'm really looking forward to this school year!

Thanks! The bookshelves (and cabinet) are from Target...if you look closely, there are actually two slightly different styles of bookshelf, because I've been adding about one a year over the last four years. They were really easy to put together, but they're holding up well, especially given the $18 (on sale) price tag! The alphabet banner came from the local teacher supply...it was the first thing I bought when I put our original school room together. I wish I had the "before" pictures on my computer...it's fun to see how much things have changed. We started with just the table, two chairs, and a bookshelf in our guest bedroom, with just the alphabet banner and maps on the wall. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in four years!

I spent a lot of time this summer moving our school room from our spare bedroom into our playroom, which is considerably larger. I don't know how to post photos directly, but I did write up a blog post about it, and I figured you all would share my excitement in how it turned out!