Yep - that I'm the parent, they are the child and what I say goes. :lol: Seriously, I don't feel like I need any reason not to have my kids dress up and trick or treat other than that we, as a family, don't participate. I'm not obligated to participate in any holiday (even Christmas). :) That said, to answer the OP, we don't celebrate it but I don't have a problem with others who choose to.

I believe in the same sovereign God you do. :) And for me, faith is key, however, just simply knowing God has planned my life for me isn't necessarily fully comforting. He could have quite a bit of suffering and pain ahead for me and/or my children and dh. I know God would go through it with me and give me all I need to deal with it, but that doesn't negate the fear. Fear is normal and we can see that by how often scripture addresses it. We will struggle against the flesh until we're with Him, and for some, fear can truly be our "thorn".

Hugs to you, Rebecca. You know I can relate. I sometimes wonder what is worse - the fixation/obsession on the issue or the fear and sometimes downright terror it causes me. It's a downward spiral fast if I can't snap out of it quick enough. Very helpful thread! I especially love Laurie4B's thoughts!!

My oldest is TOO dependent on me and I've been trying to steer and direct her more and more away from that (not the other extreme, but trying to find a healthy balance for her age and what we are comfortable with). I can see the reading aloud through high school being great for some kids, but with her, I'm not sure. I'd still want to continue other read alouds (biographies, good fiction, historical accounts, missionary/church history etc). Like others who have commented, I'd want to continue to plan discussions with her on what she reads - and that would mean I'd need to be keeping up with it by reading some of it on my own. :)

Thanks for all your thoughts on this! Yes, the opportunities for discussion from reading together are great! Though much will depend on how I choose to do our next history cycle. My oldest will likely do 8th to 11th, which would be grades 5th to 8th and 1st to 4th for my youngest. Having ALL of them together for that round (and unless I use TOG which isn't gonna happen :tongue_smilie:) is such a big age spread... For Biblioplan, yes, my oldest reads the literature herself (and my 3rd grader reads the K2+ books herself). I read from the spines and dh reads the literature for family read alouds.... Thanks again!

For history, we're using Biblioplan with SOTW3...for science, we use the Jeannie Fullbright books (CM style science)...and I'm wondering, can I stop? :lol: Seriously though, at what age or grade level do you think a child should transition from being read to? I'm a strong believer in continuing to read aloud as a family activity all types of books, but I'm starting to feel like my 6th grader in particular should be reading all her assigned academic work to herself. I love SOTW (and I love learning a lot alongside of them) but I'm getting a bit weary of how much the completion of their school days hinges on me basically taking their hand and leading them through these two subjects. If I don't pull the books down, read them, hand them their activity/color sheets, ask them narration questions etc etc etc....it won't get done. I don't mind this with my 3rd grader really. I think I'm just trying to figure out if it's even good for my oldest anymore. Moving towards independence in her studies makes me think that mom no longer reading them to her needs to happen.....

bump

So Michelle, did you skip R&S Math 7 and go to Math 8 for your 7th grader? Can you tell me why - is 7 unnecessary (assuming 8 covers it better?)...

I hope they chime in because I'd love to stick with R&S if so! :) Thanks!

I'm sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum, but I did a search on Rod and Staff math and didn't find much on this (maybe it's buried in some of the zillions of threads)... My oldest is in R&S Math 6 this year. I had a helpful discussion about it with my sil whose husband was a math major in college as well as a high school math instructor for 3 years. They used R&S for their son up until grade 6 and changed (cannot recall the name of the program as she said it's an older video based program not many homeschoolers use) because it doesn't give good algebra preparation (and only goes up to grade 8 or did they just add a grade 9 too??). Anyway... I know we don't want Saxon. I'm not overly excited about MUS. I'd really like to use the same type of format R&S has (traditional, mastery based). I don't want to move into something that would just throw the both of us (thinking Singapore but I could be wrong). I'm not particularly strong in math, but thankfully dh is... Has anyone used TT for algebra only and then moved on to another math program for high school? I'm not wanting heavy/advanced math. But I don't want "math light" either. LOL Help?

You're all very creative! It's been fun reading how everyone came up with their school names. :)

Donna! LOL We have several of these...and I miss them. The girls are too old for them now and so far Ian hasn't taken to them. Yes, thinking of a name for our school - we have to file for our state in another week...

Very cool! :)

:lol: I agree it's a minor point. I think we already have our name picked out but am waiting for feedback in another thread that so far hasn't had replies - http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129174 . hehe

Yes - and this is the first year I will be filing myself (instead of the umbrella school filing for us - we're in CA). :)

If you follow a CM approach, does your school name reflect it? If so, please share it! Thanks! :)

Curious. We've used "Academy" up to now. We're changing the name of our homeschool this year because we're no longer operating under an umbrella school. I think we're leaning towards using "School" instead of "Academy" but I'm interested in hearing about others' reasons for what they choose. Thanks! :)

hmmm Maybe I should start another thread? LOL

bump :)

We're going into year 6 of using R&S math and I typically schedule evens or odds for each lesson and typically I have them do each lesson. I'm curious if most do this... Also, do you schedule a lesson every day (M-F)? I'm wondering if I could try to do 4 lessons per week, skipping every 5th lesson. Just wondering! TIA! :)

Very nice! :D

And a fun bonus - in the planner itself is a coupon for next years planner to be used by March 31st - only $19.95. :)

I got the planner last week. It's beautiful! LOVE IT! I think it will work wonderfully for us. I write in it with a mechanical pencil (gotta love a perpetually sharp pencil ;)). ***Just a head's up - It's designed to schedule up to 4 kiddos, so for those with more, it's not going to be as useful.

I was Reformed Baptist for 10 years until I really went crazy and became a Presbyterian. :lol:

I think it's simply that she figured that's what most people would recognize and reply to here. I don't think she was chastising anyone for using it - simply that she was pointing out she isn't warm and fuzzy over it. :) I'm not either, but it isn't offensive to me and I get why it's used.