I am like others and like to pull ideas from here and there. Love the seasonality of Waldorf, focus on nature and such but as others strongly disagree w/ the philosophy. Love the play things and such for Montesorri although I cannot afford them either. We try to do limited screen time, but do not totally exclude it. I believe in delayed academics, but there are many reasons there nothing to do with the children's soul.

So happy to read this as my son at 6 struggles w/ this as well.

thanks so much I am sharing this with friends

Wow, the audacity of some people! I am impressed by your quick wit as well. I have nursed all 3 kids in public many times and never have had anything said to me. Lucky I guess!

We are doing Gallopping the Globe as well- whenever it finally gets here- it has been on backorder from Amazon- my ship date is sometime next month I believe.

We have an (almost) 6 yo , 3 yo and baby- the youngest 2 don't really specifically watch or ask to watch- obviously. The oldest of course has more interest. We just have antenna which picks up one station- ABC- in the winter pbs and cbs as well. Anyway, generally I let him watch some cartoons on Sat morning. During the week it depends- this week I let them watch a few movies as I was sick and not feeling well- they watched Shirley Temple this am and Ponyo the day before. Usual for us though it is maybe a family movie once a week and perhaps a couple of short (30 min) videos I let them pick out from the library and a bit of cartoons on Sat. My guideline is no more than 10 hrs a week of screen time period. Most weeks we are well below that, this week of course we will be right at that of course. I also don't want him to expect tv to be a regular or expected thing. During the summer it isn't so much of an issue with being so busy with living a life. During the winter it is harder to stick to but we did ok this last winter once we got past the newborn baby stage. I think the big thing is setting a good example yourself and having things to do. And just letting the kids be and figure out how to play and how to be bored. I loathe the princess stuff and commercialism. That being said my little girl loves to dress- up and is automatically and naturally drawn to those sort of things. Of course she also loves frogs and bugs and playing in the dirt. I guess that evens out. I am not a big buyer of toys- I am more of a minimalist- so they know they can ask for whatever but that doesn't mean they will get it- I think once they realize that it nips it in the bud.

Well, I think the idea is quite lovely but I would be really be upset if dh spent that much money and jewelry for me. Nothing to do if we have it to spend or not but I would consider it a waste.

I was going to suggest "4th of July" and "the star spangles banner" by d' Aulaires perhaps

We love BFSU as well. We have done a few lessons but are officially starting come August. I started planning out lessons but then I found a schedule on the yahoo group that I like pretty well so I am just going to use that. I have been working on typing up supplemental book lists and materials lists so I can have everything prepared ahead of time. I haven't exactly decided our schedule yet for everything. We generally do co-op on Fridays- so that is out. I have thought about doing some on Sat.

My diet here is gluten, dairy, soy, sugar/grain free, limited fruit- so similiar. I am of the paleo persausion and found I just feel better eating this way. The toughest thing to me about your diet would be egg-free a lot of paleo alternatives use egg. There is coconut and almond flour for baked goods but without eggs it makes it hard to find any recipes. I would keep b-fasts simple- meat and your fruit for the day. Lunch a big salad w/ some meat or beans/and or nuts for some protein and supper same basic idea. Make sure to get plenty of good fats. Be aware at first that if you were a big carb addict that you will likely go into a 'carb flu' which is no fun.

/ot hijack I bought RS for ds because I think the manipulatives will be good for him as well as I suspect dyslexia- just memorizing facts does not work for him at all. That is the most thorough description I have read of how it works and find it totally intriguing- I am totally a math gal- love it all and the way you described the base 10 math is how my brain works- I sometimes try to explain answers to problems that I do mentally and people look at me like I have 2 heads- it makes so much sense to me that I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it that way :) dh is a math geek in a different way as well- he hated school but he is always programming as well- I am soooo excited to read about this as it sounds like we will both be learning some new tricks- thanks so much for the info. /hijack

I am anxious to read about this as well my son generally LOVES math games.

I think there is a reason there are so many different programs. Different things work for different kids and different teachers. Some people write so well and persausively that it is hard to separate the emotional from the facts. I try to do as pp suggested assess what seems to work w/ ds, his learning style, and my needs and resources and try to look at people that are suggesting various programs and find ones that line up. In the end there is no foolproof way to know what will work without trying some different things and I expect to make mistakes.

Cool, thanks for those links! I know that I will likely have to buy all the books for the Catholic Mosaic as our library generally doesn't have things like that but it is a good idea to get started looking for them now.

I plan on just using RS math but who knows. He also loves playing various math games so I am highly tempted now by the Muggins Math. I hope he loves Math as much as I do!

Oh, Lizzybee I just checked out the Muggins Math and the On Cloud Nine- I had just told dh I was finally done buying hs things sigh.... Just bought the I See Sam readers and those games at Muggins look too cool- would that integrate well with something like Right Start do you know? I have ordered it already but it won't be in for a month or so.

I have a cheap HP combo unit but am hoping to upgrade to a lrger Brother model as the rate at which this one goes through the ink it is not cost-effective to print very much.

I was just getting that message as well- glad to hear it just isn't me I was starting to get worried!

I had that in my cart yesterday but now I cannot get it to come up- UGH!!!

I had it but didn't like it at all. The lay out didn't work for me- seemed to be too much work for me and busy stuff for the kids. I wish I had read about Catholic Mosaic first I think I will look into that more next yr for my now 3 y.o.

Me three! Newbie here trying to figure out how best to organize everything- particularly our science, history and religion which I am pulling together myself.

I have bought A and B planning to start with A in August, my son will be newly 6 then. If it is too slow then I will have B ready- I figure that I always have another child that can go through A and it has great resale value.

That is my thought as well. Pay it forward to someone else who really needs it. We had a house fire a few yrs ago and so many people gave out of the kindness of their heart, I will never forget that and try to be as generous as I can.

We try to have balance in the house. My son cannot read yet so I do allow him to pick out some twaddle books- although I do have a limit on what I will read. For example the Disney Barbie mermaid book they picked out was heavily abridged as I was reading it and I refused to read anymore of the same kind. However, I do read him Magic Tree House and Narnia is on the list of things to read for this year.

I don't particularly care for the font either but my (almost)6y.o. who has hated writing is begging to use it, so that is worth it to me!