I would also say cuisenaire rods - especially if you have young ones who are just beginning math. A globe is a big one for us (my 3yo just broke ours, so I am having to replace it so it is on my mind - very useful and important around here!). If you are teaching little ones to read - I love my sets of magnetic alphabet letters - that gets lots of use around here! I love prismacolors - but in our house those have become Christmas and birthday gifts - my son even saves his own money to replace his pencils because he loves them so much.

Thanks for the replies - I really like the progym idea - just have not had a lot of luck with CW - I think I tried to start too early for my son, and since we really do not need the grammar portion right now it just did not fit. I saw an IEW presentation at our local curriculum fair - and I really liked the way they presented key word outlining. I need to buy another program like I need another hole in my head :) , and plan to work with what I have and follow the progym, but it seemed like there were some good tools and techniques to be learned from IEW.

I just got an email today saying my copy shipped from Memoria Press :) Just thought I would let those of you know who were waiting for it to come out

I am trying to get an understanding of the IEW process compared to programs like CW and Classical Composition. Thanks!

Here is a link to my post on what we do for tea time. As for tea sets - I have over the years collected mismatched tea cups from antique shops (back in the days before kids :) It is fairly easy to find inexpensive tea cups and saucers from antique stores - and also shops like TJ Maxx and Marshalls often have really cute tea cups for $3-7. I found my littlest a sweet little peter rabbit tea cup at Easter and put it in her Easter basket as a gift, cost about $4. I don't worry about getting a set that matches, since each child really enjoys having their own special cup (and since you have a boy and a girl, to get boys into this you really need to let them find a cup they like - my son picked one from my collection that was "masculine" enough - meaning no flowers :) ) As for a tea pot - I bought my first this year when my daughter had an Alice in Wonderland bday - but I got it at TJ Maxx for $8 - lovely china tea pot!

I agree - while elements of each are very different, they share elements or are complimentary. I think we all take what we like from each approach. Few follow only one "method" or philosophy, especially if you homeschool for more than a year :) I love Waldorf's use of art to teach, and have found it to work very well with my oldest. I like CM's approach to science, music and art appreciation, so we use these concepts as well. I agree with the idea of a rigorous and deep education that teaches a child how to learn, and feel like a focus on the "basics" early on is crucial, so I embrace classical education and especially LCC. That is why pre-prepared studies rarely work for most. I love some ideas from each, I take those things that I love and that I think my children will learn best from, and fit them together to suit us. I like to think we follow LCC mostly, but in imparting that knowledge I use some waldorf and CM teaching techniques (and others). If you do any study on how we learn, or research right v left brain teaching etc. you will see that this is one of the best way to reach children, by engaging them in more than one way.

This is the technique often used for Latin teaching - so I would not see the point of doing it often in English if one was already doing it in Latin. I agree it is an excellent skill, one too often ignored.

yeah - I would have to say I put together my plan, especially in history, but I don't consider what I do "writing my own curriculum". I do like plans like TOG, but have found that at this point that is not the best choice for us (many reasons - I have so many books I would prefer to use than buy new, nothing quite seems to fit our worldview etc) that I feel like I write our history curriculum by choosing our topics, finding the resources and planning projects etc. I think most of us probably create a lot of what we use in that we take all the great ideas out there and put together a plan that works for our kids. I have never followed any one curriculum, or managed to even do any program exactly as it is laid out. That is the beauty of homeschool ! :)

Okay - here is a great little way to teach Roman Numerals, my kids got it in one lesson with just minor review. (this idea comes from Waldorf stories - and from Serendipity site) Tell whatever story you want - Waldorf uses gnomes, but you could use animals, children whatever. The gnomes wanted to count their gems - (squirrels/acorns, birds/seeds, etc). To keep track, they lined sticks up. One gem - one stick, two gems, two sticks, 3 gems, 3 sticks - but then they realized they were going to need a lot of sticks. So one of the gnomes took two sticks and formed a V - this will stand for 5 - see when I hold out my hand and 5 fingers, I make a V (thumb and pointer finger make a V). And one before 5 is four (one stick before a V). Then they continue counting - adding sticks to the five until they get to 8. Again they decide this is too many sticks, so one of the gnomes says - hey, let's cross two sticks to make an X - when I cross my hands across my chest, I have 10 fingers. and of course, one before 10 is nine. This is a very brief way to introduce the basic concept of Roman Numerals, and to get you started. If you introduce the numbers this way, they love it, and it really is easy to learn quickly. I think it is a necessary skill, but not one you need to spend lots of lessons on. Teach it and move on - it will come up again in other situations (outlining, studying the Romans etc.) Serendipity Gnomes and Gnumbers lessons

Phonics of drawing is a good way to have simple lessons laid out for you, minimal supplies, with very good instruction imo. It is very cost effective too - if Atelier is out of your price range. phonics of drawing

Play more outside!!!!!!!

If you are just looking for a fun way to learn the parts of speech and diagramming, I highly recommend The Sentence Family. Here is a link to my description of it several days ago on this board.

you would have to explain some things. I printed the lessons out for us, and we are going to start them in the next few weeks. If he cannot read, you would have to read the instructions so he would know the steps to take.

This is one of my favorite routines in our school day, it makes for a nice bit of down time in the afternoon. We love teatime!

I think the author mentions it was developed for a 4th grade class - but I plan to use it with my 2nd grade dd this fall. The concepts are a basic intro to grammar, so it could be an intro to grammar or a review if you had a child struggling. I think that it would be a fine introduction to grammar at any age - even older ones who are struggling might get into it if they are visual learners or like drawing.

Okay - I will try to explain (this is why I finally broke down and bought it, and am so glad I did :) ) It is one book. It is not really "lesson plans" in the way you would think of it Jessica, it is more of a guide. By that I mean it does not schedule out - do this on day one, do this on day two etc. It gives an overview of the method (several pages of how to use the guide) - which is basically, introduce a story (provided in the guide) and draw a picture with it (very basic stick figure drawing, but lots of color). The types of sentences are 4 different family members which you introduce through short stories. Each family member resembles the type of sentence (for example, Mrs. Interrogative is an old woman bent over with a cane in the shape of a question mark and she asks questions all the time). The kids learn the personalities of each of the characters, and there are some ideas for games to play with sentences. Then there is a story to introduce each kid - the parts of speech. An example would be - the first two kids are twin boys - verb and noun - there is a picture of each child and a description - "Verb" is a very active child who always wears red and can never keep his cap on. "Noun" is a very observant child who spends his time observing and naming all of the things around him. Each character is linked to a color, and certain qualities which instinctively make you think of the part of speech they represent. Finally, at the end, the guide explains how to introduce basic diagramming, using a brilliant concept (in my mind) of "putting all the words to bed" and links the parts of a diagrammed sentence to the kids (verb and noun sleep in beds that share a headboard - diagram the noun and verb side by side etc) . We have been using the Ruth Heller books with my son, and I really enjoy them, but this to me is a better first introduction. My plan is to use this with my dd next year to give her a good grasp of the different parts of speech, then move on to the Heller books (since they go into more detail in types of verbs etc.). So, it is not just a book to read - but it gives all of the stories and ideas you would need to present each part of speech, then ways to proceed into diagramming in a more concrete way - good for those grammar stage kids :) I envision it being something we could do once a week, and you could spend small amounts of time on it, with the kids doing illustrations as reinforcement. I like it because I am finding that my kids respond really well to the waldorf approach to some subjects. While I do not embrace Waldorf philosophies, I find that the use of drawing in areas such as grammar and math improves their attention, retention, and interest. This book gives that element of drawing which appeals to me, and is completely secular in it's approach so it is usuable by anyone. Hope that helps!

Boy are we there!!! :) My 7yo dd's response to everything is, "but mom, that's too hard, I can't!"

Yeah! I usually tell the shop - what amazes me though, is that usually the response is a shrug and an "oh well", and the sign stays up - like they really don't care.

Great example - today I saw a review of a wine - the flavor had "suttle" overtones of berry :)

I just got The Sentence Family - which takes a drawing approach to teaching grammar. It introduces the 4 kids of sentences and the parts of speech as a family - each person having unique qualities to that specific point of grammar. It is really quite well done, if anyone is looking for a fun way to introduce the parts of speech and beginning diagramming. The Sentence Family curriculum

The teacher in me always comes out when I am in stores (it is amazing to me how often a store will have a sign displayed with gross spelling errors). I know it is easy make a mistake like that, but once you stand back and reread a sign you have written for a store, don't you think someone would notice major mistakes in spelling?

I used to be a Creative Memories consultant, and I know that at times they had various sticker sets for different parts of the world - I think they had some for Spain, not sure about the others. But you might check to see if you can find a consultant in your area and look at a catalog of their current sticker sets. Other than that, here are a few sites that you can order stickers of the flags from different countries. Good luck! flag stickers site more flag stickers

I agree - this blog always inspires me when I am lacking in beauty in our homeschool!

If you are okay with a program that includes Bible stories, look at Hands on Homeschooling - the 4 year old program does letter sounds, folder games, very "standards" based preschool activities. It has a very well laid out schedule, with monthly plans, weekly and daily activity plans. Lots of cutting, pasting, coloring ideas. Sounds like the sort of thing you are looking for. You could just add in read alouds to this to make a very good program. The site has sample lesson plan pages so you can get a very good idea if it is a program for you. Hands on Homeschooling

My opinions (FWIW :) ) I have both, and struggled to use SWR as a teaching reading tool, and failed (and decided I hated it and would never use it again!). I got AAS because it seemed simple to implement. We used it for a few weeks, but found it not all that interesting. My final opinion is: I do NOT like trying to teach a child to read through writing and spelling - it has not worked for my kids. That said, now that they are reading, I am implementing SWR as a spelling program, and am beginning to like it. I liked the "idea" of AAS, and the letters etc - but really, all of that can be done with SWR - in fact, the way my dd learned to read this year was to use a magnetic board and magnet letters - I taught her a few phonogram sounds at a time, and we spent weeks just forming different word combinations with the letters. Then when she could begin to blend sounds, we started ETC, and now she is beginning to do the SWR spelling lists. So, while I have taught 2 kids to read without SWR, I will continue using it for spelling, and I found the concepts helpful (to me) in teaching my kids to read. With the next ones I plan to just focus on teaching phonogram sounds using letter tiles, bean bags, magnetic letters and whatever else is in the house, then move on the SWR after they are reading CVC and silent "e" words etc. I do teach them all the sounds for each vowel, but then we just focus on the basic short sound when we first start reading words. By the time we move on to long vowel words, they have transitioned smoothly, since they already know the 3 sounds of "a". So, while I do not consider myself an "advocate" for SWR, I have decided it is the best tool for me, and AAS just does not do it for me. I think SWR would be a great remedial program and I know there are others who have made it very successful as a reading program - me, I am sticking to my magnet letters and ETC :)