Thank you for posting this. I'm always looking for books that give a different perspective. Great picture at your site!

Terri, you must be a later morning person. Dd's music teacher is a late riser; doesn't get up until 10 or 10:30 am. She schedules class at 6:30pm or 8:30pm and wonders why dd and I are sleepy. I'm definitely a morning person. Dd vacilates between early and late rising. If she wants to get on the computer she can be up by 6:30 am, but if it's some lesson she is dreading I have a hard time dragging her out of bed by 9 am. Fortunately dh is an early riser too. If your dc are late risers, I'd say don't fight it. If you can, get up when you feel rested. Oh, Jenny, don't tell me it's old age. I'm old and I'm getting up even earlier than before (5 am); it must be menopause with me. If I stay up past 9:30 pm I have to sleep until 7 am in order to feel rested.

For dd 2nd through 4th grades I used the book Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks, and Meet the Masters at Home Track A: The Complete Art Program for Ages 8-9 for applied art. I used Mommy, It's a Renoir! (I think that's the name of the program with the index cards of masterpieces), Sister Wendy books, and we visited art museums at least once every two months for art appreciation. All this with minimal success, or so I thought. I made her a large easel and she drew and water colored everyday, but what she was mostly interested in drawing Pokemon. I didn't fight it. She likes to draw cartoon-type figures, although very detailed. In 8th grade she took an actual 10-week applied art class where she did very well where she did realistic drawing of people and landscapes, learning one and two-point perspective. She just continues to draw every day too. Barry Stebbing did offer free art lessons (I found it about 3 months ago) on a website I cannot now find. It was an online tape showing him drawing and coloring in fruit. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

I wish we could do this because I love classical music, and we listen to it when we are driving. It distracts my dd too much when doing lessons because she has been trained to "actively listen" to music after 8 years of violin study. I did try it a couple of times, but she told me to turn the music off because she couldn't concentrate on what she was reading or writing at the time.

In 8th grade Dd used Jump In: A workbook for Reluctant and Eager Writers by Sharon Watson. Colleen gave good information that I have to re-read to digest. My dd had a problem with wanting to be "perfect" when she began to write anything. She wanted everything to be grammatically correct from the get go. But she also had a problem with having material to write about. We used IEW but it didn't work for us as she wanted to express her own material - not write what others had written. She did do narration, dictation, memorization a la WTM in early elementary, but she never took to writing. I think she disliked it because of the physical part - she didn't like her hand to get tired, and because she had the perfectionist notion. By 12 she learned how to type, but she still didn't want to write compositions. Jump In helped her because it breaks down writing in doable steps. It is a ready-to-go program that covers prewriting skills, opinion, persuasion, exposition (biography, book report, newspaper article, how-to, compare and contrast), description, narration, poetry. It is written to middle schoolers, but we are going to use it as a reference for high school. In 8th grade she learned how to write a good thesis and the evidence to back it up. She wrote a science fair report that another teacher graded her 100%, and is more at ease writing more than one paragraph. She just needs to write more often now to retain the practice.

We did the labs in the book that were assigned by the Kolbe lesson plans. It's doable. The only problem we had was with the last electromagnetism lab because the nail we had was not long enough or the wire we used was too thick, but it still worked for the first part of the lab.

I don't know if this helps you, since you have three dc and I only have the one . . . When dd was doing early elementary level (K-3) I'd read aloud to her as the subject came up: for Math I'd read a page of a Theoni Pappas book; for Religion a Bible story from the Old Testament or a parable from the New Testament; for History, a chapter of historical fiction, etc. I never scheduled in "reading time." I just did it in addition to the curriculum she was doing. She also read books on her own. Between 3rd and 4th grade level she began to be more independent. But dh and I have always, and still continue to, do a real aloud of one of the classics (a chapter) at night before bedtime (on our bed).

Just wanted to add that the pagination mentioned in the student and teacher's binders was not a problem for us. For example, "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is listed as being from pp 152-164 in the Bloom book; this also applies to the short story "Bride" by Crane (pp 203-213) in the Bloom book. That's because that's the whole story. You'd just read the whole story in any other book. For Tom Sawyer, the teacher's binder mentions page numbers AND lists the chapters. You just need the chapter listings; this also applies to Alice in Wonderland (Carroll), Story of My Life (Keller), All Creatures (Herriot).

"THIS IS THE KEY OF THE KINGDOM" by Anonymous This is the Key of the Kingdom In that Kingdom is a city; In that city is a town; In that town there is a street; In that street there winds a lnae; In that lane there is a yard; In that yard there is a house; In that house there waits a room; IN that roon an empty bed; And on that bed a basket - A Basket of Sweet Flowers: Of Flowers, of Flowers; A Basket of Sweet Flowers. Flowers in a Basket; Basket on the bed; Bed in the chamber; Chamber in the house; House in the weedy hard; Yard in the winding lane; Lane in the broad sweet; Street in the high town; Town in the city; City in the Kingdom - This is the Key of the Kingdom. Of the Kingdom this is the Key.

GAY GO UP, AND GAY GO DOWN by Anonymous Gay go up, and gay go down, To ring the bells of London town. Bull's eyes and targets, Say the bells of St. Marg'ret's. Brickbats and tiles, Say the bells of St. Giles'. Halfpence and farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin's. Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's. Pancakes and fritters, Say the bells of St. Peter's. Two sticks and an apple, Say the bells at Whitechapel. Old Father Baldpate, Say the slow bells at Aldgate. You owe me ten shillings, Say the bells at St. Helen's. Pokers and tongs, Say the bells at St. John's. Kettles and pans, Say the bells at St. Ann's. When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey. When I grow rich, Say the bells at Shoreditch. Pray when will that be? Say the bells at Stepney. I am sure I don't know, Says the great bell at Bow. Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.

Dd did LL 7 and we used the books we had. LL does not require specific editions. The only one we had to buy was the Harold Bloom book Stories and Other Poems for Extemely Intelligent Children of All Ages (which we found at a used book store) because two of the poems were written by Anonymous. Here's a list of the items in that book with their authors. If you'd like, I can find the book we used and post the two anonymous poems. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (Edward Lear) Gay Go Up, and Gay Go Down (Anonymous) The Jumblies (Edward Lear) The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy Bo (Edward Lear) The Floating Old Man (Edward Lear) The Dong with a Luminous Nose (Edward Lear) Night (William Blake) The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (Stephen Crane) A Musical Instrument (Elizabeth Barrett Browning) This is the Key of the Kingdom (Anonymous) My Cat Jeoffry (Christopher Smart) The Lion of Winter (William Shakespeare) Snow-Flakes (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) The Eagle (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

It seems your MIL is just stuck in the "tradition" of institutional school. You won't be able to change her mind. The best thing, IMHO is to ignore her, and to keep doing what is best for your children. It is so angering because she lives so close yet can't see how your kids are thriving.

I'm more comfortable with clutter, but not with dust bunnies, dirt, and dead bugs. I've noticed that I only keep the common rooms (living room, dining room) sterile because I don't like to dust knick-knacks. Two weeks ago I just put away the Nativity creche that was on the living room coffee table. Come to think of it, last time I looked there were little dead brown bugs in the window sill in the dining room, but I can't get to them because the room is full of boxes, books, and "stuff" that I'm going through. Dd 14 yrs old cleans her room when she knows someone is coming over. I'm afraid she got that habit from me. I'm not at ease in a spotless house - the type in home decorating magazines. Dh is so patient. He doesn't mind clutter either. All of us like collecting books, and they are in every room.

http://classicalhomeschooling.com/ The above site has quite a few articles. I hope the link works.

I have one daughter. When we started 1st grade I used to plan everything for the whole year. Wrote it down in a lesson planner. That just stressed me out. I was constantly erasing and rewriting at the end of the every day. You'd think I'd learn, but it wasn't until 4th grade that I decided I was not going to plan every little detail, and have not done so for the past four years. I just take the books of each subject and eyeball the table of contents (if it's a text for Math or Science) and divide it over 36-39 weeks. I pencil in the approximate dates in the table of contents. That doesn't mean we always keep to that schedule, but it has worked for us. With 8th grade we had to be accountable because dd took an outside Science. I had to go by somebody else's schedule. Dd was able to do the work within that teacher's time frame. If I had to do this over I'd not plan 1st through 7th and just make sure she was reading, writing, doing math, doing experiments/exploration, and being read to.

Congratulations to your daughter! We are praying for her!

Interesting about the ability to focus and organize when the ambidextrous person decides to select which hand to use. This doesn't help either, but I remember a classmate in highschool who was ambidextrous. I always envied her at test time because when she got tired using one hand, she'd just switch to the other. I'd just be shaking out my hand until I could get it relaxed enough to continue writing.

I'd say, the Bible and all the books contained in the Great Books set that Mortimer Adler put together. I prefer to read actual books, to be able to go over a passage that strikes me. I dislike reading books online though I'm glad that gives access to out-of-print books; online I can't tell what page I'm on or if I want to go back or forward to some other chapter. I've noticed that when I get together with family or friends they only want to talk about what they did, where they went, how much something cost them, what latest remodel they did, the current celebrity heartthrob, but rarely do we discuss ideas in books. At a recent family birthday, a movie was being discussed; I asked if anyone had read the book, because usually the book is better than the movie. What? A book was written before the movie?

This is probably not what you are looking for, but in 8th grade dd used National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Fifty States, published by The National Geographic Society, 1980. We found it at a used bookstore. She used that in conjunction with Geography, A Literature Approach by Rea C. Berg, Beautiful Feet Books, 1995, and the Holling C. Holling books: Paddle-To-The-Sea, Minn of the Mississippi, Tree in the Trail, and Seabird (last one is world geography). She labeled the maps that correspond to the Holling C. Holling Books as she read the HCH books and the state in question in the National Geographic book. What I liked about the National Geographic book is that it sections the states off by regions in the table of contents, and has a map of the United States opposite that. Each state has its own full page map and (usually) a one-page information like the old National Geographic magazines used to have, basic statistics, and a two page spread of pictures. She found it fun and interesting to read. And if a particular state was of interest to her she found more books in the library about it. We use a literature approach to most subjects.

Thank you all for the links. Twinmom, the body sock/sox looks like the item you linked to. I'm also going to try the no-sew version you mentioned. At an SPD site I had read that it required a length of Lycra that is six inches shorter than the person is tall, but there was no picture. I finally found some pictures and websites that sell them (from $26-80). Over the weekend dd and I went to our local fabric store and bought a length of Lycra, heavy duty nylon thread and a ballpoint needle. I laid it out on the carpet (maybe that made it easier to handle because it didn't slide around much) right sides together so the selvage met; straight stitched 10 inches down from both top and bottom (which leaves a hole in the middle for entering/exiting); straight stitched across the bottom and top. I just have to finish the last straight stitch across the top. The material was actually quite easy for me to handle. We'll see how long it lasts! Dd feels calmer underneath fabric. She does most of her lessons under a sheet or blanket which boggles her Dad to no end. I'm hoping she can use it at summer camp inside her sleeping bag if needed for calming. I don't know how the other girls will respond, but she knows about 4 of the girls who are going.

What size, number needle do you use for Lycra Spandex? Have any of your dear children used a body sock? Dd will be going to summer camp for a week at the end of this month - first time away from us! and I decided to sew her a body sock out of Lycra Spandex swimsuit material. I don't have a sewing machine, and when I sew (infrequently), I sew by hand. She's 14, has never been diagnosed for SPD, but after reading the Out of Sync Child, The Sensational Child, and other similar books I realized she has always shown sensory-seeking behavior. DH and I have met her deep pressure needs with frequent bear hugs, me lying on her, having her carry heavy things. I've never purchased the weighted vests, weighted blankets, nor other items like that. She read The Sensational Child this year and was so happy ("hey, Mom, that's just like me!") and, over the years, has learned to modify her behavior when she is with others. She and I both looked at the body socks and weighted blankets on line and she thinks the body sock will work for her. I'm thinking it'll be small enough and convenient to use at night to calm her down.

Thank you!

We've been doing read-alouds of the classics every night since dd was a toddler. We will continue in high school level classes which she will start this fall. She also reads on her own, but I have always counted the read-alouds as books she has read. We've discussed them together. On the college forum I remember seeing posts about college interviewers asking the student about which books they've "read." If the student can discuss the book, that's what matters.

If you are familiar with both CD and Saxon, could you give me an idea what the Algebra 1 is comparable to in the Saxon Math series? A friend's ds is going to use my ChalkDust Algebra 1 Second Edition (2000) by Larson, Hostetler which dd just completed (she has just finished 8th grade), and she asked me what this book compares to within the Saxon Math series. I'm not familiar with Saxon.

Hi tofuscramble, I don't know about South OC groups. We have a small group of about 4-5 families that meets on Fridays for park day in Placentia, or Yorba Linda, or Anaheim, or Brea, or La Mirada - we're very flexible. Some of us have known one another for 9-10 years. We don't meet for the summer though. I'm still wondering what a "good" group is. That can mean different things to different people. To me, the fact that we can discuss lots of topics honestly would make it "good."