Could you wear those with semi dress pants, too? They are pretty cute! So they have pretty good arch support?

The dangers are duly noted, thanks! :001_smile: That hadn't crossed my mind!

Hum, possibly good advice. I've spent the last 18 years of my life mostly in places where I wore slip on sandals, so the idea of a shoe with a back doesn't sound very comfortable to me!

I need help. I am waaaaaaaaay out of touch with fashion especially when it comes to warmer clothes! While we've visited the US and New Zealand (where dh is from) not too long ago, it's been 3 years since I've been in a first world nation during the cold months, so I have no idea what's 'in'! We'll be spending 6 months in New Zealand soon and arriving when it's quite chilly during their winter. I will need warm feet and shoes that handle rain OK. While I don't like to spend large amounts of money on clothes, I'm willing to spend a bit more on shoes because of plantar faciitis. But because of that I usually don't own many pairs of shoes at the same time. I also don't want to wait until we get there because I will be cold right away and I can order shoes from the US with shipping for less than you can find the same quality shoes in NZ. So here's the deal. I want one pair of shoes that I can wear all the time with jeans and dress pants that will be cute, comfortable, maybe a little bit fun, etc. What do you all think of these? http://www.amazon.com/Klogs-Womens-Austin-Open-Black/dp/B002NY8O7C/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2QAI14Q1GHP69&colid=3EID5XRRI36CQ I like the black oil because they seem the most versatile, but could probably be talked into something more fun as well. Are these still considered cute????? I would appreciate possible other suggestions, too!!!!! My feet are in your hands..........:001_smile:

I haven't used it yet but I have the first 2 to loosely use with SOTW 1 soon. My ds is actually a pretty good artist so I'm not sure if he'll like the way they show how to draw things or not, but for most kids I think it would be a fun addition. A bit like Mark Kistler's Draw Squad if you've ever seen that. It's nicely presented and fun looking. It also includes some copywork in cursive and a dc could end up with a really nice notebook of drawings and copywork by the end!

Me, too. No company will ever make people totally happy and I think that they do pretty well. In all the years I've followed their website and catalog there are always changes and some people are always upset. Sometimes more than others. Lots of people were upset at the Forum 'poof' but then there was even a huge kerfuffle by those left on the forums about how the product badges were displayed by people's names and how there were people who had done lots of Cores but since they hadn't purchased the whole one from SL they didn't get a badge, etc. Personally, I appreciate that they make changes. Generally I see the changes in curriculum over the years as positive (like adding in SOTW). They add in books they like better when they find them, etc, and they actually listened when lots of people said the LA was too difficult a number of years ago,for example. Yes, they're trying to make money because they're a business, but I think their intentions are good. I really haven't followed the recent thing at all over there but it seems to me like releasing videos, etc, is actually meant to be a fun marketing strategy instead of arrogant. They've always released their new catalog in April to my memory, right? I wonder why people are offended with little hints in March then?

That is a great article! What she wrote here is exactly what I've come to, "We ought to do what works for us, fits our temperaments, and helps us achieve the goals we are working toward." I love LCC, WTM and various CM books but have found that I kind of morph them into what works for us. It's interesting because I've been drawn a bit back towards CM lately (even though I'm not a nature study person-I live in Calcutta after all!!!) and I've found that there are more similarities than I thought with LCC. There are just a few core subjects done every day and then other stuff put in a couple of times a week to round it all out nicely (granted she put in a lot of extra stuff and I don't feel compelled to do quite as much, but I love that it keeps things interesting and encourages the love of learning). Very similar to LCC with a different flavor. To the OP, I don't think Latin study is a must for everybody, of course, but there IS something about it that's been good for our family. My oldest 2 only studied it a few years before they started going to a school and they've surprised me by referring back to it often, how they knew words in class that other kids didn't know because of Latin, how easy English grammar was to them because of it, etc. The thing I noticed about it was that it taught a lot of different skills in one go: grammar, vocabulary, sort of mathematical type thought (I guess logic). It even helped me when I started to study Bengali here since the structure is very similar! I don't regret it and am starting with my youngest in a few months.

I live overseas and have most of my adult life. In Fiji I used SL because of no library (plus I just loved it!). I would absolutely recommend it. This coming year we'll be back and forth from India to New Zealand for periods of time so I have to think about moving everyone back and forth with only 40lbs. of luggage each! I have decided on curriculum ideas myself, made up my own History, etc. with 1/2 of the stuff downloadable from online or on Kindle and 1/2 of it in lighter weight books. Seriously I chose between a couple of options because of how much the book weighed!!! :001_smile: I'll order the book part from bookdepository.com when we get to NZ in June. Hope you figure out what's best for you!!!!

It's a concept that I first heard of through Bravewriter/The Writer's Jungle where she basically recommends a weekly tea party where you focus on enrichment type stuff and make it special. You can read poetry, do art appreciation or draw, read Shakespeare or other sorts of literature, have kids recite things they've memorized to each other, anything really! The point is to just be creative. I've used it get to the wonderful enrichment type stuff that we may not take the time for otherwise. When my girls were younger they would take turns baking something for it or setting the table nicely, etc. It's often been the highlight of the week!

Help yourself! :001_smile: I've read LCC and really appreciate the concept of it but most my ideas here are tweaked from different CM sites. I used SL for a long time and would sometimes be drawn towards other schedules as well. I finally realized that no schedule was TOTALLY what I wanted---so now loosely make my own. The problem is that eventually I have to stop researching and tweaking!

I hadn't thought of librivox. If it's good it could save Mom's throat some! Thanks. I can't take credit for the art idea. I THINK it was off of charlottemasonhelp.com or a similar site. I love Bravewriter, too!

I'm not in the market for purchasing these at the moment but this is the cheapest price I've ever seen them for! It's the paperback version but it's only $89.49 for the 11 book set. Seems like this could benefit someone! (Of course, I'll feel silly if this isn't the great deal I think it is, but thought I'd take the risk of passing it along anyway! :001_smile: ) Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/History-US-11-Set/dp/0195327276/ref=br_lf_m_1000663551_1_2_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=books&pf_rd_p=1289710662&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000663551&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1QG80X07TZWBSZD0S7GE

I love these threads! It's awesome how we can all tweak to our dc's needs, etc. So much more out there than when I first started homeschooling. For my ds: LA: Intermediate Language Lessons Bravewriter 'Arrow' (he'll use the books as his readers, includes dictation, writing, etc.) Spelling Wisdom-Copywork Bible: He will read daily from http://pennygardner.com/bible.html Greenleaf Guide to Old Test. History -together Scripture memory World History: SOTW 1 with Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, Augustus Caesar's World, Usborne World History and related read-alouds Lively Latin 1 Classical Studies: Memoria Press Greek Myths Math: Strayer Upton Practical Arithmetic 1 and part of Life of Fred Elem. Science: Apologia Elem. Zoo 2 with workbook American History: Once or twice a week 'This Country of Ours' Art: draw one picture from nature and one picture from literature per week Weekly tea time: Ambleisde poetry selections, Shakespeare for Children, Marvels of Science, etc. P.S. I've never used either but I would probably choose Biblioplan between the two to try!

Interesting. I haven't been on the SL forums much recently so didn't know there was a kerfuffle. When I read the email about the changes I thought, "Oh, they're going back to the way that some stuff used to be," because things used to be more integrated with the core, the LA now sounds more like it used to be, and it wasn't that long ago that the core came with the Bible already included. That being said I haven't purchased SL recently because I've found that now that I kind of know how to do things I like planning my own curriculum better. We use SOTW as a spine and I have lots of fun looking at many sites and picking and choosing other stuff. Some of them are: simplycharlottemason.com Amblesideonline.org memoriapress.com charlottemasonhelp.com greenleafpress.com easyclassical.com And I ask opinions of people here!

Perspective is a beautiful thing! You're obviously doing something right. So glad you got some encouragement!

I have Practical Arithmetic 1 (Strayer Upton) and plan to use it with my ds in about 6 months. I love the looks of it! Very......practical. :001_smile: Just a nice, solid, useful little book. I may do Life of Fred as a supplement. There are some old threads about PA but I haven't seen anyone talk about it for a while. Haven't seen the other site before.

You're seeing the heart of it! I think as we buy curriculums for this and that we think we must do them every day for an hour or our dc will fail. I think back to my elementary public school days and each year there was some everyday stuff but mostly there were lessons on history, science, etc, 2-3 times per week that weren't overwhelming. I even had teachers who read to us aloud after lunch, etc. If we really cut through to the basics then we have time to do the 'extras' which is the stuff that makes the experience rich and actually a more rigorous education at the same time. Books that are not CM like The Latin Centered Curriculim are teaching the beauty of this as well. You've been given excellent advice already. Wish I'd read this thread when I first started! Like others have said I would work towards shorter lessons (even if that means coming back to finish math later), work on Mom to make learning a lifestyle, and maybe take one hour per week to have a tea time where you read some fun stuff, look at art, read a poem, read a short biography of a scientist, etc (not all on the same day), to whet your appetite for more. Schedules on sites like Ambleside, Simply Charlotte Mason, charlottemasnhelp.com really help me to see what kinds of things to do for each age level even if I don't use the same books. Somewhere I saw at the top of someones scheduling page this quote by St. Augustine that I love, "I learned most, not from those who taught me but from those who talked to me." That's the heart of CM to me as well!

Wow, hadn't seen that before. It looks great! Would love to hear from someone who's used it as well.

Which Classical Studies class is it? I'm a very CMish/4 year cycle history homeschooler but would jump at the chance of my ds in a Memoria Classical Studies class-if the price was right. We'll be doing the Greek Myths materials at home this year since it fits into his age range in CM and WTM. If you think that the price is too high you could always use the materials at home, too!!!!!

Strayer Upton Practical Arithmetic and Life of Fred.

We're starting a 2 stream history soon, too. My 9yo has been in school for a couple of years so isn't in a cycle and wants to start again with Ancients. I'll be using SOTW 1 and other books as our 'main' history. My ds hasn't had ANY US history, however, since he hasn't been living in the US and I'd like him to gently get some of that now without waiting for the later SOTW volumes. I think I've settled on This Country of Ours http://www.amazon.com/This-Country-Ours-H-Marshall/dp/116148227X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330272776&sr=8-1 I just LOVE the way it reads out loud (find my voice naturally becoming animated, etc) and will last us a couple of years reading a couple of times per week. Others I was considering that look good as well were: http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/stories-of-america-volume-1/ or http://www.queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html

Thanks for pushing me back in that direction because I didn't really ever use it and had almost forgotten that I had purchased it! :001_smile:

Thanks for the reminder! I'd read Walk the World's Rim with my older kids but hadn't thought of it in ages. Will have to put that on my 'must read' list for later with my youngest!

This is the book that my mom made me take breaks in reading from when I was a kid because I was so distraught! :001_smile:

I love finding companies that go out of their way to be helpful and are easy to work with. Almost 4 years ago I purchased Lively Latin 1 but at that point my Dyslexic son needed too much help in other areas and Latin got dropped. I stopped homeschooling a year later and forgot all about my Lively Latin log in, etc. I'm starting to homeschool my youngest again soon and wrote the company asking if there was any chance that my purchase was still good......... It is!!!! I have my log in details and am good to go! She answered a couple of other questions as well. So pleased!!!