I really appreciate it as well. I have learned quite a bit....and I like learning! :D

I know, but I am cheap!!!! ;) Edited: I just found WRTR on a shelf *duh!,* but in looking through it I do not see anything about cursive. Now, I am confused.

Does anyone have a specific cursive resource they like from this sale? Not that I need to spend more, but I would really like a good cursive resource.

It was great and I find myself energized for today. What was so interesting to me was the amount of conversation we had. Granted, my crew is still youngish (5th, 4th, 4th and 1st), but in asking more "should...." questions I was surprised by how opinionated they were :D. In math we ran into another situation where they were taught a shortcut by a ps teacher. I explained that while they could use the shortcut, it would not be good in the long run and here was why. It was math with character study ;) None of this was distinctly "classical," but it was implementing some principles that had spoken to me at the beginning of this thread. Mainly, reading good literature together (not necessarily historical fiction) and bringing the pursuit of virtue, beauty, and wisdom back into our homeschool.

Today was the first day I attempted to implement some of the very basic things I have learned from this thread. It was amazing! We accomplished so much, but it was restful and holistic. I am still in a bit of shock that it worked. We still spent over an hour on Maths and another hour on science. We did grammar, writing, two (lit and history) read alouds with discussion. I cheated a bit and connected their spelling work to their writing. (ds6 and I also managed to get in all of his phonics, reading, and handwriting) Then they all decided to work on some elective type materials. Dd chose to read up on Greek Gods and Goddesses (she's on a mythology kick), the twins built a 3D model of a cathedral and my little guy went and ran around with the chickens. We also took a lengthy break to run outside and see if we could see Venus during the daytime. I didn't get to our foreign languages or geography, but I am just starting to get back into a grove. I am sure that we will have less idyllic days to come, but today was so NICE!!!! ;) (It was the twins birthday, so dh brought home dinner. I am sure that helped!) ;)

Thank you! I think I have it figured out. :001_smile:

Sorry if this has been asked. Does anyone know how I can put the same book on more than one Kindle? My dd has one and we just got one for one ds. I added a free book to her's and then tried to add the same to his, but it wouldn't let me. They are both registered through my Prime account, but are under different names. I am a little confused. Thanks for any help! :001_smile:

And I think there several incorrect assumptions underlying the argument that engineers and scientists would be better served by a classical education that included less focus on STEM topics. One of these is the equation of a classical education with the ability to write well. The vast majority of people in this world who are excellent writers did not have classical educations, so clearly there are many ways of accomplishing this, other than sacrificing STEM studies in order to study Greek and Latin and read (someone's idea of) Great Books. Secondly, there are people who have had classical educations and who still can't write — my husband is one of them. He had exactly the sort of "rigorous classical education" that people here seem to revere: he attended a private school in Europe, studied years of Latin, French, and German, analyzed "Great Literature," blah blah blah. He feels that he was very poorly served by his education. He remembers nothing of Latin or French and only a little German, and he still can't write well — but he did his doctoral work at Cambridge, and he has patents granted or pending in seven countries. I agree that current school standards have declined significantly in terms of reading and writing — but I would argue that the same is true of standards in science and math. Yes, it's pathetic that so many students graduate HS without being able to write more than a 10-word text to a friend, but I think it's equally pathetic that most students' level of math is barely above prealgebra and few have even the basic comprehension of science necessary to understand current events. I don't really think that more Latin and less science is going to fix the problem. Jackie I agree with a lot of your post. I bolded a few things that I am confused on. I think I missed something in the discussion about either/or in regards STEM and Greek/latin. :confused: I do not see this as an either/or issue. The beauty over on the Circe thread was in finding a vision FOR teaching the STEM subjects....as well as the humanities. The problem I see in PS is that there is so much required that is not STEM or Classical in nature. Anyhoo, here I go rambling away! ;)

Aaaaaw, as one Capricorn to another, thanks! ;)

You know what? He phrased things in ways that I knew people were going to get ruffled over. I remember thinking, "Oh, he is going to get raked over the coals for this one. There goes a great thread." Then I thought about it. Why can't he be encouraged? Why can't he be enthusiastic? Why am I surprised that someone steeped in Classic Lit would write an ecstatic post with an extensive vocabulary? Honestly, I felt pretty small on the inside when I thought about my intial reaction.

No kidding! I have to sheepishly admit to liking these videos a little bit more than Khan Academies. Especially for the younger crowd.

I read both threads and the spinoffs. :tongue_smilie: Thankfully I caught the mega one at the beginning, which made the reading load a little easier.;) I did find that I *could* have taken offense at either one, if I took what people were saying as some sort of judgement on my homeschool. Truthfully, in both I found parents excited about the visions for their homeschools. I learned great things from both. I do lean more towards the vision described in the Circe thread, because of my nature. I appreciated that it was illuminating a way for me to bring concepts I do treasure (wisdom and virtue) into the STEM subjects. I also appreciated 8fillstheheart's encouragement about using math and science textbooks....especially in the upper levels. In the STEM thread, I was struck by a poster saying she needed to focus on humanities with her STEM strong student, because this was going to be the last time he would HAVE to study humanities type subjects. I do find myself a little perplexed at some posts on this thread. :confused: Anyway, I truly hope there are more threads in the future that contain such a wonderful dialogue between homeschoolers. :001_smile:

I bought this set a couple years ago at a used book sale for 1.00 a book. I love it! As a read aloud some of the language was tricky and we had to do quite a bit of discussion on the term "savages." OTOH, I have found it invaluable because of the prints and illustrations. I also really appreciated that it wasn't staunchly YE. I am finding this set to be a great Logic age version of SOTW. (Although, I would still love a logic age version of SOTW ;))

I think this is the point. ;) We are not seeing something concrete. We are revealing in the fact that it is not concrete. ;)

Somone linked me to a great fractgions video last week. I just wen to the math mammoth site and was trying to find the videos. I can not locate them. I wanted to see if there were others that were as helpful. Can someone help me? From the home page where are they located? Thanks!

Ooops! Read the title wrong. :)

Yes, please! I just found this site (linked through a thread helena started on a similar topic). http://www.weeklystorybook.com/files/lang-guide.pdf

...who was it? I was thinking of doing something like this over the summer and was trying to gather info. Anyone else have thoughts or suggestions? :D Any good discussion guides or teachers helps?

I can never get the camera to work for me. :confused: It is always a still shot.

*snort!* Of course you did!!! :lol: ;)

I thought I would take it since recently converting to Eastern Orthodox. :D I got 1. Orthodox Quaker (100%) 2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (89%) 3. Eastern Orthodox (84%) :confused: Interesting. ;)

Well I confused myself on my last Azure Standard order and accidentily bought 10lbs of dried WHOLE peas..not split. :tongue_smilie: I have never cooked with dried Whole peas before and feel a bit overwhelmed. How do I use these?

Welcome! :001_smile:

Your post has made me smile from ear to ear! :D I have one just like that. On an aside, we have been able to take him back down to a much lower dose and only one medication, since bringing him back from ps. :party: He is still making all sorts of funny voices in the other room, but I love hearing him happily chirping away.

mo2, I am really glad you asked this question! Although Christian, I really struggle with hearing "christianese." especially in regards to homeschooling. These pocasts have been healing for me, because they have allowed me to envision a homeschool journey that incorporates my faith. I can only imagine the difficulty that is present in being a non-christian homeschooler in a very "christian" world. ;) It is hard enough when you are not the right kind of christian. Anywhoo, I was reflecting on this last night and was thinking about something a friend said. She was talking about the world Pre-enlightenment. How there was not this division between Christian music and secular music, Christian art and secular art. There was just "good" music, art, literature from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds. After the enlightenment, things "of the world" took on a negative connotation for Christians, therefore we have these separating out. It seems to me that the Classical method seems to try to go back to the time before this separating out occurs. ....just rambling now. :D Great question! and one even this christian homeschooler was asking herself. ;)