I'm trying to get myself psyched up to start this over here (would help if the weather would get out of the 90s. . . ) and was wondering about something along these lines: http://lissybug.com/make-your-own-paint-with-water-pages/ The idea (if you don't want to follow the link) is that you prep some watercolor paper with dots of paint (from tubes) and let it dry. Not so great for very detailed work, I'd imagine, but it seems like it might make a good starting point. Any one tried anything like this?

This may catch up with me one day, but I don't exactly plan. We school year-round, usually 4 days a week, but sometimes 5, so there's a fair amount of wiggle room built in. I figure that as long as I have a good sense of what I'm doing for the rest of the week, I'm okay. And for the most part I just "do the next thing," as someone above mentioned. I log what we do every day, and if we've done enough to count it as a school day, I mark it accordingly. 'Course we're only at the beginning of first grade, so who knows. But this worked just fine for K and I don't foresee any serious problems for this year at least.

We're only in first grade now, so take all this with a grain of salt, but I very much do feel I could have used my time more effectively, so I'm going to go ahead and share :). First, I agree with folks who say researching philosophies now is productive, without necessarily deciding early on what you're committing to. I swear, I seriously considered myself in just about every possible camp and with only minimal tongue-in-cheek emphasis described myself at one point as a Waldorf-inflected, unschooling oriented classical homeschooler--all this years before it was really time to do any serious work with my son. I wish I had read more deeply in each philosophy instead of just thinking "ooh, that looks cool to me" or "ooh, that might work with my son at this point." Early in Kindergarten I got on a real Waldorf kick and it started making more and more sense to me (earlier I had dismissed it as aesthetically lovely but a complete mismatch for my son's personality). But it wasn't until I got to reading Steiner himself that I decided it was absolutely, totally not for us--although I still use some of the more "surface level" ideas. Then, after years of just not getting Charlotte Mason, I actually read her work and found that it squared with just about every aspect of our family's religious, moral and educational philosophy. I could have saved myself a great deal of tinkering and aimlessness if I had bothered to read more deeply early on. Second, I wish I had spent more time habituating my son to a rhythm and to a sense that there were certain times we did certain things. This is probably just specific to my kid--he loves to learn but hates to be taught (hence the brief appeal of unschooling for me)--but it wasn't until I sat down to do lessons with him that I realized what a monster I had created. Okay, before anyone yells at me, I don't literally think he was a monster, but it was a ridiculous battle getting him to do even the most enjoyable things--simply because I was asking him to do them. Your mileage may vary by a great deal, but I wish I had started say, around at least two, with a simple daily rhythm. Finally, two resources that may be of use to you given what you said about your religious background and emphases. One, I've learned so very, very much from lurking on the 4real forums (http://4real.thenetsmith.com ), which are Catholic with something of a Charlotte Mason bent, although not exclusively so. Two, a blog (again, from a Catholic perspective) that I love that has advice on everything from early homeschooling to keeping one's house in order (again, not something you may have issues with, but boy oh boy, did I): http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/ . I have found her advice, especially about deciding on what she calls your "vision," to be invaluable.

I've had one explode, and it was my own fault, and I'm not even going to go into details because it was incredibly stupid. I managed to have it explode in an upper oven, i.e., at eye level, and fortunately I had these awesome post-partum reflexes and managed to slam the door shut and contain most of the damage (but yes, I still have some permanent burn marks on my floor).

I've been working on this as well. A few thoughts: I read somewhere something to the effect that the person who gets up sets the tone for the day. I don't know how true that is, but thinking of this in terms of whether I want to be the one (and if necessary cajole myself into a good mood) or whether I want my early-rising and not terribly emotionally dependable son to be the one is a powerful motivator. I go to bed early. Practically religiously. I have bouts of 3-am insomnia, so even if I weren't trying to get up early, this would still be important. In the initial stages of forming this habit, I'm telling myself all I have to do is actually get myself up out of bed and into my chair. I end up doing a lot more than that, but lowering my expectations helps me actually get vertical. If you caffeinate, consider having the substance of choice right there beside your chair or whatever. I'm a tea-drinker, so this means I put something out the night before--in the winter I put a thermos full of hot tea on the side table; in the summer I put out a cup of iced tea (which is obviously no longer iced in the morning but I don't need it cold, cold, cold that early). In keeping with the above, staging the waking-up spot the night before is helpful. I set out my journal, my devotions, my candle and matches (sounds terribly romantic, but actually I use it to keep the light from waking the little one), etc. I can only dream of exercising during this slot! Something to aspire to :001_smile:. . .

I don't know how well this would work on other flooring, but my six year-old plays with his Lego/K'nex mash-ups on a hard floor and I gave him a dustpan to help him put them back in the box. He's more or less responsible for putting them away himself (and if he ever want them sorted, I'm afraid he's totally on his own). Every three days or so I make that one of his chores. Also, echoing the under-bed container suggestion: you don't have to keep it under the bed--ours is just out on the floor. Now, I do keep Legos in a separate room (actually on a separate floor) from the other toys. Can you mark off a space in your playroom with a mat or similar (or my favorite, painter's tape)? Admittedly, even with a clearly demarcated space in a separate room on a separate floor, we have constant Lego creep, but it's minimal.

Miele canister (again). I have the absolute cheapest, but still has the same amazing warranty. I can appreciate some of the features in the upgraded versions, but I (can't believe I'm saying that I) love my vacuum cleaner.

I was starting to think I was the only person who did this! We have a summer, fall, winter, Lent, and spring menu, and we have plenty of exceptions for special days, but this is totally our default and I, too, absolutely love it. My kids in particular appreciate it--I think variety overwhelms them, and dinner time has been much more peaceful with this in place. Also, like the above-quoted poster, it really helps me keep a handle on grocery spending. Finally, since we eat a lot of one-dish meals and stews, I just make lots and then freeze leftovers (in pyrex, so I can just pop them in the oven). So for this particular week, for instance, I have three dinner's worth of meals already in the freezer.

Okay, read the article and found it utterly fascinating. The connection to food in particular was, as someone above said, mind-blowing. Thanks so much for posting this. There's a RadioLab episode on "Choice" that some of you might find interesting (podcast here, if I got the right link: http://www.radiolab.org/2008/nov/17/). It's been a while since I heard it, but I think that this is the place I first heard about the "seven plus or minus two" idea, according to which we can only hold about seven items in our working memory and having to choose between anything more overwhelms us. Funny, I just wikipedia'ed this to make sure I had it right and the article there is claiming that actually the number is closer to two or three. Anyway, I mention this because I try to use this principle in reducing choice throughout the day. For example, the kids have a toy closet that has about five bins and a few other miscellaneous toys. They each get to pick one bin out at a time. I don't know if this is a result or not, but when they play with things, they actually play with them, as opposed to strewing them and then getting out something new. Like one of the previous posters, I don't offer food options--I try to make sure that everyone enjoys the meals in our plan (if it's coming up once every week, it's got to be a hit with everyone), but there aren't other options. Someone mentioned limited wardrobes--I do that too, with everyone but my husband, and especially with myself. For a while I had six outfits, all hung on hooks, and I'd just rotate through them (I also have some dress outfits, etc., but we're talking about everyday decisions here), and I'd like to go back to that once I get out of this even more limited maternity wardrobe :). I've also been thinking about this issue with regards to housework. I'm finally, finally developing a pretty solid routine--one that withstands serious setbacks--and one of the huge payoffs of this is that I have removed big chunks of decision making from my day. My morning thought process used to go something like "okay, breakfast is done. Should I start cleaning up now, or should I make a to-do list? Or should I read to the kids? I'll start by putting the milk away. . .oh, right, I need to empty the dishwasher [puts two plates away]. Ack! I was going to make bread today! And I need to thaw the meat for dinner! Where's my tea? Hurm. . .maybe I should start some laundry. . . ". And then (and now I know why) I would get exhausted and plop down and do nothing and feel miserable about it. I am way too excited about this topic and have way too much to say about it. Fortunately, I now have to go make dinner. . .

Ever since I read The Paradox of Choice I've been somewhat obsessed with this idea. I haven't read the article yet, but I certainly will. Things we've done: We have a very limited number of toys. I meal-plan to the extent that each season we have a 7-day rotation--so that every Monday night, say, we're eating the same meal. We have a pretty detailed rhythm to our days. All this might sound horrifically boring and oppressive, but it's actually quite freeing--and when we genuinely want to be spontaneous, we enjoy it all the more. Birthdays and feast days and holidays make fun exceptions to the above patterns, and seem all the more special without really having to push any sensation envelopes. While I think the Waldorf attitude towards children's choice can be taken to extremes, I also think it's a useful corrective to a lot of thinking out there. I wouldn't say children should have no choice or that their preferences shouldn't be taken into consideration. Young kids can't always tell the difference between one kind of choice and another. For example, "why is it okay to choose what flavor of toothpaste I'll use tonight but not okay to choose whether or not to brush my teeth?" In my house, with my kids, reducing choice has made everything flow more easily for everyone (perhaps even especially my "strong-willed" one). We tried the "give him choices" strategy, and honestly, it really seemed to backfire. Two resources for those interested in this topic as it applies to children: Simplicity Parenting, which comes from a Waldorf perspective but is not doctrinaire, and Charlotte Mason's writings on habit. Must. . . stop. . .self. . . from. . .writing. . .essay. . . :001_smile:. I'll do the responsible thing and read the article before posting any more.

Not that I've seen, though that would be lots of fun. For The Dutch Twins, we did a bit of mapwork, googled some relevant images, and got a few books from the library, but that was mostly off-the-cuff and interest-driven. Oh--now that I think about it it, we also looked at some Breughel paintings and once I tried to reproduce a dish described in the book (not a success, although my son professed to enjoy it). Based on that book, at least, they would lend themselves to some great activities, and if anyone has taken an organized approach to that, I for one would love to hear about it.

We loved The Dutch Twins but stalled out on The Japanese Twins. I think we'll give it another shot eventually. One thing you might consider is that, according to my understanding, the ages of the twins in each story changes and the level of the story changes with them. You probably know this already, but you can take a look at them for free at mainlesson.com. Also, although not free, Yesterday's Classics has at least some of them available as ebooks in very nice forms, complete with the cute, cute illustrations.

When I taught in college I used a fountain pen with peacock blue ink, which stood out plenty in most situations. It took no time at all for my students to start groaning about how much they were coming to fear peacock blue ink. I had heard the "no red ink" idea and so I found this terribly amusing.

Seven :001_smile:. Okay, let me explain. I'm a menu planner type, but I read about the Waldorf-y notion of having each night of the week have a particular type of food, and this really resonated with me. So in a given season we have a rotation of seven evening meals. That sounds incredibly boring, but a) it's actually not, oddly enough, b) I do cook special things for feast days, holidays, birthdays, etc., and c) all bets are off when company is over. It takes me a while each season to settle into a seven-day pattern that works for what the kids are willing to eat (I try not to cater to individual pickinesses overmuch, but if it's going to show up on the table once a week it needs to be fairly popular), but once I do I find it incredibly freeing. Also, this means that frozen leftovers always get used, and it makes shopping almost brainless. I know this isn't for everyone, and in other times in my life, I have been and may someday again be interested in more adventurous cooking. But you might give it a whirl. It's surprising how happy my family is with this arrangement.

Forgive me if these have already been mentioned. I have the attention span of a flea these days. You might look into some Waldorf thinking on this--in a nutshell, what most folks would consider a very early bedtime (think in bed by 7:30). We're not Waldorf-y here, but I've found that a good strategy for both the amount of kid sleep and the level of parental sanity. Many people think that if kids go to bed earlier, they'll wake up earlier as well, but we have not found that to be the case here. Think perhaps about using natural light to encourage more appropriate circadian rhythms? So, for instance, going outside very early in the morning, as close to dawn as possible, even for five minutes or so, and then perhaps a little time outside right before the bedtime ritual. I am beginning to think that the key to "outside activity" for kids is the "outside" part, not the "activity" part. My usually fairly frenetic son calms down immediately outside and does not appear to get any hijinks or energy out, but the overall effect on both his sleep and waking behavior is nonetheless positive. If I understand correctly, these rhythms, which are tied to serotonin and melatonin levels, are set by natural light, not filtered through glass, so actually going outside is key. We had problems with popping up as well for sometime. We emphasized not talking to us--so if he gets up to go to the bathroom, we don't want to hear about it--and had a series of consequences for infractions. He's allowed to look at books for a while, but not to socialize, and that's made a great difference. For us, in other words, we could only do so much to set the stage; in the end it came down to discipline.

I think I've read all the responses, but this may have been mentioned and I missed it: concentrate your decluttering efforts at the sites you do the most work and living, at least at first. This may be common sense, but it's taken me a long time to grasp it. Yes, the closet with the seasonal stuff (Christmas decorations, etc.) is a nightmare and screams at me every time I walk past it. However, I only get in it a few times a year, and I don't even walk past it all that often. It makes more sense for me to weed through my closet so I don't have to dig through pointless clothes every day, or to organize my pantry (also known as the Place Food Goes to Die), even though objectively those areas are more organized and decluttered than the seasonal closet.

Another vote for south of Frankfurt. I lived in Mainz for a year and it wasn't awful or anything, but that area got pretty heavily bombed and rebuilt and isn't nearly as interesting as a result. Also lived in Schwabia for some time, and I don't remember anything about Schwabish Hall (how the heck do you do umlauts in these posts?). My impression of the overall area was that it was nice but not as nice as still further south. It's been waaaaaay too long for me to know about prices, but when I was an exchange student the clothing was amazingly expensive. One thing to keep in mind, though--and this may still be the case--is that at least back in the day Germans didn't go through nearly as many outfits as Americans did. I got by with a pretty minimalist set-up; everything could fit into a hiking backpack. So she may not need that many clothes. Also be aware that (although, again, this may have changed) the laundry set-up also reflected this; very small washing machines and most of the drying was done on lines or indoor racks.

One of my favorite blogs on the planet is: http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/ Most of her kids are past school age, but she has some great advice on homeschooling, housekeeping, child-rearing, and especially living out the liturgical year with one's family. She has an incredible knack for getting to the heart of things and putting the most important, fundamental actions first. This is a real boon for me, since I'm likely to start planning elaborate celebrations for every single event on the Catholic calendar (so, one per day, for the most part :)) and then I read her posts and am brought back to the level of what I actually might be able to do and most should do. Also, not a blog, but have you perused the 4Real forums? They're very inspirational for me--but sometimes too much in the "must plan celebrations for every day!" kind of way. Hope this is coherent. My toddler is helping me type it. ETA: Okay, both of those were already mentioned. Sorry. Blame the helping toddler, please.

My amateur take: 1. For starters, you'll see towards the beginning of each year's schedules (not the booklist link) something like this: To this book schedule should be added daily penmanship , phonics , and math , as well as weekly nature study , art , music , and handicrafts . Foreign language may also be started. Penmanship, nature study, art and music in particular are covered in greater depth on the AO site if you follow those links, and they are covered in ways particular to a Charlotte Mason-style education. My point here is that AO offers a great deal of supplementary information and resources to the booklist. 2. The books are meant to be read along Mason's guidelines, not just willy-nilly and again, AO offers many resources. Specifically, understanding Mason's approach to narration (similar but not quite the same as in WTM) and short reading passages extended over greater periods of time has been helpful for me. 3. You'll see all kinds of recommendations on the site to read Mason's own works, and I really have to add my voice to that particular chorus, as intimidating as that suggestion might be. This is an entire philosophy of child development, intellectual, moral and otherwise--the booklists are just one small part. All that said, I don't see any reason you couldn't use it as a booklist. I've recommended it to friends and relatives who aren't even homeschooling as a source of "books to read to kids." Disclaimer: I've only been toying around with AO so far. We won't be starting Y1 until next month. But the broader ideas about language arts, habit development, etc., have already transformed our homeschool environment.

Got mine off Amazon--the Olympus, which we could just barely afford. But it's been worth every penny. We have hard floors throughout, with three sizable entrance mats. It's worked fine for us without the power brush but we do not have a big, hairy pet, so I can't speak to that. I love the ease of use factor and how light and quiet it is. I read a lot of reviews about the pros and cons of the Olympus before buying and decided I could put up with the cons. The one feature I find to my surprise I really don't like is that the cord is relatively short. I thought this was a kind of weenie complaint when I read it in the review; that's what extension cords are for, right? Well, I now use an extension cord every time I vacuum, and yes, it is kind of a pain. But not a worth-$200-kind-of-pain.

I use it, but I'm fond of off-the-wall locutions (okay, it's an affectation. I enjoy it). :001_smile: Mostly as in, "writ large"--so, say, "that's an example of our family dynamic writ large." I would probably qualify as an "older person" at this point, though. Certainly not "younger". . .

I have had success with aforementioned insanely meticulous vacuuming every day, but it did take more than seven days. Also, we have hard surface floors throughout, which I suspect helped.

We're using MEP Y1--I think we're at lesson 136. We don't supplement, though I sometimes do some oral drill on our non-school days while we're driving around (skip counting, math relays, etc.). Every once in a while I hear the siren call of the Singapore word problems, but I haven't caved yet. We do most of the activities, though like many, we've been doing fewer from the second half of MEP. Sometime an activity is just too involved (and, um, I didn't do the prep) in a non-classroom setting. Sometimes it seems unnecessary (the oral drill mentioned above takes the place of many of the activities for us). BUT I will say that I tend not to skip activities until I have a grasp of their function in the overall program. Often I'll think an activity is utterly pointless only to find that it lays some important groundwork for something several lessons down the road. Yes, we're liking it :001_smile:.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but the Baldwin Project has Amy Steedman's collections of saints' stories online, and here's the chapter on St. Augustine (assuming you mean of Hippo?): http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=steedman&book=garden&story=augustine&PHPSESSID=438c2d284579432db98314e81b7a02fc

Not that I've seen a lot of film versions, but we're fans here of the aforementioned Ingmar Bergman version. It's not what you might expect from other Bergman films--it's very kid-friendly, in my opinion, and charming. My kids are young and I worry a lot about the impact of frightening visual scenes, but (for instance) the dragon at the beginning is downright lovable. I wouldn't say some of the scenes wouldn't create issues in highly sensitive children, but it seems less likely to than many other treatments I've seen. I loved it as a kid and my kids love it.