Coming back to say we also did Stone Fox. And it was There's a Tarantula in My Purse, not Owl in the Shower. As a side note, we wrote Jean Craighead George (author of My Side of the Mtn. and Tarantula...) and she wrote us back. It was a quick e-mail exchange, but it was really cool for the boys and it was a personal letter. Kind of cool! :) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh The Matchlock Gun The Hobbit

We have done Shiloh, My Side of the Mtn, There's an Owl in the Shower, The Seven Wonders of Sassafrass Springs, 5 Children and It and The magician's Nephew as a boys and books bookclub. Frindle was on my radar if we did it again. One of the things I found helpful when choosing a book was to use Amazon's recommend feature for books we had enjoyed. It generally lists 15-20pages worth of books to glean from. I have more suggestions, but typing on my little keyboard is killing me!

More :grouphug: Your little one is so, so new and everything is so overwhelming right now for all. It will take a while before your new normal sets in (and it always took me a long while!), be gentle w/ yourself. Spend time playing games, reading stories and letting yourself adjust. Slowly your little one will become more predictable and you will be able to structure life and school a bit more. I think by the time fall rolls around you will pleasantly surprised at how do-able school will be w/ your little one. Really. Then next fall when you are facing school w/ a toddler you'll think back to those "easy" newborn days. ;) At least that's how I feel! LOL HTH

Oh yes my kids snack! Not offering them a snack is just setting my house up for miserableness. Really. They have a (what I consider) substantial breakfast, a snack around 10-10:30, lunch around noon, an afternoon snack and then dinner. AM snack today was carrots, hummus and homemade banana nut muffins. That is typical. I usually try to get one veggie in the AM snack, a protein and often a "munchy". My children a very active and really being to wilt when they are hungry. I can see the brain function diminish when we get close to snack time. Veggies are always available to eat, fruit is a little more limited, but really my kids eat very healthy, balanced diets, so I don't limit it a lot more like have a veggie, then a fruit instead of multiple fruits back to back.

:grouphug: It is really tough to reconcile your expectations w/ reality. My oldest was a huge, huge lesson in that for me and it was hard! I think Jackie made some excellent points. I will say that this year has been our best year (3rd grade). He has been able to focus a little more (but is still highly distractable!) Reading in particular really took off for us the latter half of the year and that has been huge! I really feel like it is a fine line. I can beat myself up over the fighting and battling w/ my child in those early school years, but I also see the benefit in persevering and consistently giving the message that school is important and something we do. He does love to learn, some subjects more than others. I think a big part of our successful year was finally finding good curriculum fits, getting a good rhythm in place, lots of breaks and just general maturing. The boy brain is wired differently than the girl brain. Recognizing and adjusting for that in my teaching probably helped as well. Don't underestimate what can be learned and accomplished w/ lots of hands on learning! If that makes it more enjoyable for him--do it!

I ordered from them for the 1st time a few months ago. It seemed to be the cheapest place to order R.E.A.L Science and a few of the things I needed to go with it. Amazon is my downfall. My goodness Amazon gets some cash from me! edited to actually answer the ? LOL I spent less than $100

Yes, I'd really love to hear more about how this looks in your house. Spell it out for me! LOL Do you do this with all of your subjects? I have always been drawn to this idea in Waldorf, but just can't wrap my brain around the realities and how it really looks. Please share more!

Funny you mention history, as one class I was kicking around was "It Changed History" and exploring different time periods through significant inventions/concepts (ie the assembly line).

We have a small group that meets once a week during the school year. We usually do some sort of science and then another class that is teacher choice. I am not feeling very inspired right now (probably b/c I have been doing all of our plans for next year) and thought I'd see if anyone here had a fantastic suggestion for a class. There are 6 9-10 year old boys that I need a class for. I also need to plan a class for younger siblings (6-7) and am thinking I will do something centered around Burgess Bird book, but I am thinking the bigger kids may want something else. I only need to plan for 4 weeks and class is an hour. So, did anyone teach a really interesting class this year or have a child take something they really loved?

I bought ours on-line. I don't have the complete set, but a pretty good chunk of them. The elusive Rise of Industry and it seems like 1 or 2 more I am missing. I cannot believe someone snagged the entire set for $20!! WOW!

The couple of times I took Zrytec for my allergies. Also, if I haven't eaten well, particularly if I haven't had sufficient protein or too much chocolate. And lack of sleep or too many late nights will put me in a fuzz. Hope you feel better!

My 4 year old will be doing MEP Reception, Learning letters/sounds, HWT and I planned several units on various themes (i.e. community, all about me, ocean life and we do an author study each year, so she'll participate in that). This is only b/c she demands to do school! LOL Much to her disdain I am not teaching her to read fast enough ("Mama, I can't only read 'the' and my name, you need to teach me more words to read!"). Phew, that 3rd one of mine! :)

I always ask if I can strip the bed and re-make it on the morning we are leaving. My MIL is like a PP and prefers to wait to do sheets at her convenience. I also gather all of our towels and washcloths in a pile or in the laundry room ready to be washed. I offer to help in the kitchen, prepping food, cleaning up after dinner etc. I also agree w/ the PP who said to try to get out of the house with your own family. This is something I really appreciate when we have guests, a little down time of our own and not having to share our house for a bit! We really enjoy having company, but it is disruptive and I do get overloaded, as do my children, with the constant being "on", so having a break is nice for all! Have fun!

Anyone else have any thoughts, especially on the Cornerstones of Freedom books? I need to finish an Amazon order and am wondering if they are purchase worthy. Thanks for your thoughts on the DK book. :auto: (for my daughter watching me)

Ok, mine came today and I just don't love it! :confused1: It just seems so cumbersome and overwhelming! Maybe I just need more pictures b/c I am a sucker for the Lakeshore Learning catalog. :blush: I am curious do people use it by subject or read through the tome? What sort of gems have you found through the catalog? I really *want* to like it, so maybe I am missing something and just need someone to enlighten me!

We had the audio and my son really loved listening to it, although we used it in the summer following the year we read STOW 1 as a review. We really enjoyed snuggling on the couch for our history reading from STOW. I also liked being right there w/ my son to discuss as we read and felt that led to a deeper history experience than listening to the cds.

I am a history lover, as is my DS. I buy a lot of history books, although this year I did spend money beefing up other areas. Living math books, some science books 9my oldest DD is loving science), biographies and more books, books, books! Apple mama to the crew: DS(9.5), DD(6.5), DD(4) and sweet little bit, DS (18 mths.)

I am popping out of lurk land to get some thoughts on a history spine. We will be studying 1800-present using Guest Hollow's American 2 with tweaking. This will be for my rising 4th grade son. My rising 1st grade daughter will also tag along (as well as my other 2 littles, who basically just create havoc while we try to work!) I have a decent collection of 'living' books that I have picked up in preparation for next year, but we really like having a consistent thread to use. On another thread I saw someone mention the Cornerstones of Freedom series and they looked good. Someone also recommended the DK American History Encyclopedia (can't remember the exact title). Both of those look very appealing to me. My library does not carry the Cornerstones of Freedom books, so I am trying to figure out if they are purchase worthy. I really like having books on hand, so if they are good books I am ok buying some. Can someone who has used the series speak to this? Is the DK book overkill or a nice addition to the Cornerstone books? Is it similar to the Kingfisher and Usbourne history encyclopedias (both of which we enjoy) in set up? We have used STOW and may do a little supplementing w/ that, but I would like something that we could read together or DS could sometimes read by himself, hence the appeal of the Cornerstones of Freedom books. We also have a collection of the Drama in American History books, but I think we'll save these for the next go 'round. I also have several Hakim books (I think I have a problem!), but again we'll likely save those for the next go 'round. So, does anyone have any thoughts or advice? If there is a series I have missed please let me know! Whatever we choose needs to be secular and stand the test of time, as we will likely use it with the youngers as they get older and we cycle back through history. Many thanks! Apple mama to the crew: DS(9.5), DD(6.5), DD(4) & sweet little bit, DS(18months)