Any age really, I am mostly looking for elementary ages but would love to compile any. :-)

Thanks!!

Awesome, can't wait to check them out! We are running out of the normal classics. My five year old is a little sponge! We read A LOT!! There seem to be a bunch of great ones for girls!! Humph! :-( However, he doesn't seem to mind he has enjoyed The Penderwicks and Pippi Longstocking, etc. :-P

Alright Lori you are going to make me go broke! I am a sucker on vintage books! :-P Do you or anyone know if The Children's Hour is similiar to My Book House series or Collier's Junior Classics. Hate to duplicate too many of the stories, an older lady gave my son one of her Children's Hour books and I was hooked and ended up buying the whole set. Also, trying to decide which I should invest in getting if I get another set or if I should just focus on one book in particular etc. Just want the cream of the crop! Any suggestions?

Thanks Lori! I always love your posts! :thumbup:

Great...keep them coming! :-)

Awesome...thanks! Can't wait to check out! Heard of MyBook House but no experience with it. 😊

I have stumbled on a few really great books lately. I know there are probably so many others out there and would love to create a list. If you know of any good books that are not notable classics that we all know but some "unknown treasure" please list away! Thanks! Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories (found this at a library sale and LOVE it!) Great morals and teachings! Another favorite of ours is The Children's Hour Set!

Well, my son and I loved reading it. It was one of those books that stuck with me. We read it separately but then discussed. He was in 6th grade if I recall. Maybe we are not the norm. :confused1: But we really enjoyed it, I would either do as a read aloud or at least read alongside and discuss it has so many great literary elements.

:iagree: It is harder because having to meet criteria for credits, etc. For elementary-middle school years are not so hard. Just as others have already mentioned have a plan (yet don't be enslaved to it) for me I can't have set curricula otherwise I feel that if I don't check each box I have failed! The type A coming out in me. Eek! Find the right books/curricula that works for you and what you are trying to achieve each year. I read somewhere and is so true that you need to have a plan what you are trying to accomplish before looking at curricula and books. This really helped me... you need a philosophy and to see where your kids are and where they are going. What you want to accomplish this school year not just what you think needs to be covered. You have so many years! Simplify! I have so learned along the way! In regards to scheduling, my kids are very spaced out. I have a Kinder, MS, and a HS which makes it tough so we have had to do the best we can and know we might get interrupted occasionally. :glare: Since my Kinder is an early riser we do our morning time at breakfast for about 20 minutes. It includes memory work, Bible, devotional, etc. Then he goes off and plays for a bit while I have morning time with my older children,which lasts about an hour. We alternate what we cover but everyday is Bible, memory work, a literature choice that we are trying to read through, and then alternate fine arts, poetry, Shakespeare, etc. Then I am back working with my Kinder child for about 30 minutes on Math, Writing, Reading, etc. During this time my two older ones are working on their own work. My oldest who will be in 11th works on his own for the rest of the day and I don't interfere he is self motivated and I just check with him at the end of the week to check his work and see his progress. My MS will begin his Math and if he has any questions he will ask after working with my Kinder. After that he is on his own. I then practice piano with my kinder we eat lunch and clean up. After lunch we have about 30-45 min. reading together and then he reads in his room for another 30 minutes if he gets tired he can take a nap or can play quiet puzzles, etc. During this time I work with my MS with Grammar/Writing etc. or anything else he needs help on and then he is on his own until he gets his work done. At about 1:30-2 we are outside and my kinder is playing until I need to come in and make dinner. My older two come out when they can and they are done with their school work. While my kinder plays for 2 hours I READ! I try to keep up with my kids readings during this time so we can discuss in morning time or when we meet up at the end of the week or whenever we schedule to go over work. Hope this helps. I got a little carried away. :laugh:

Yes, I agree with tm 919. We did not do the writing portion we ended up doing IEW for elementary. I was not a fan of Abeka in the early years to light, not sure about R&S in the early years but really like the MS years. Shurley is not too teacher intensive once you get in the groove and understand the layout. 😊 Good luck in your decision!

For my two older boys we used Shurley all the way through elementary. What I like most about it was: the jingles (that really stuck with my kids they can still quote them in HS :-) and how it was nicely laid out and explained well for us who's grammar was lacking when starting to homeschool are kids. :-) I would compare it to Saxon Math. It is not too loved, but WORKS!! We left Shurley and did a variety of grammar programs for Middle School but my favorite older one is Rod and Staff and Abeka in the HS years. I liked Shurley because it laid a great foundation the only thing that it does not teach is diagramming which Abeka does and Rod and Staff which I think should be done before ending formal grammar. Hope this helps. :-)

I have tried to keep a schedule but lately it has gone out the window and we are on survival mode. This year has been so stressful being out of the house three days this year has been way too much! I need to be at home where I can have order. I can't handle my house a mess because I am OCD. :-P I have had to learn to let some things go while homeschooling but have learned this year that too much running around makes home not a restful place to be. So I am listening into all the suggestions. Thanks for everyone taking time to post! :D

I am listening in to this thread can always improve! :-) In regards to exercising I try to walk/jog 3x week on the treadmill and then I do a toning video 3x week. I try to get up before my 5 yr. old because if I don't do it in the morning it won't happen. However it only lasts 20 -25 minutes but it has kept my weight off. I don't have a ton of time but just a little bit makes a big difference! I am kinda embarrassed to tell you the video I use but hey it works! It is the Biggest Looser workout, after my youngest was born it took me a little longer to bounce back and needed to loose 30 lbs. It really worked well and I loved that it was only about 20 minutes (because shame I know I don't always follow their warm up/cool down stretching I just do a quick one. :-) Also for me as long as I don't eat past dinner I will not gain weight. Maybe you can try that tip too! ;) It can be hard though and I cheat about once a week! :sleep:

Well for what is worth my son started using it when he was 3 1/2 yrs. old my sister is teacher and let him play with it when he wanted. He probably played it 3x week for about 30 min. at a time. I wouldn't let him play longer than that. He loved getting his eggs to play his games! He finished Reading Eggs right before his 5th birthday. Just me reading to him a lot and him using Reading Eggs he is now reading at a 2nd grade level easy and I didn't teach him any phonics! It was amazing! I don't know if it was Reading Eggs or him just figuring it out on his own but he loved it! Right before his 5th birthday I took the plunge and purchased a year worth hoping to get him into Math Seeds and work some more on his math skills since he loved it so much. He has done great. Yes, some of the things might be too easy but you can have your child take a test in the beginning and have them start where they need to be. I found Reading Eggs express very difficult for a 5 yr. old but he has been plowing through it and amazing me! I highly recommend it especially if she seems to like it! HTH :-)

I am using as an elective and calling it Biblical studies/ apologetics

Another fan of Derek Owens. We have had great success with him. My kids have taken courses from Geometry-Calculus. My husband was a math major in college and has been so impressed with my kids work. Unfortunately hubby doesn't have the time to homeschool math and well, I don't go past Algebra I. :tongue_smilie:

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Yes, that is the one! Thinks I'll try that!

Curious to see if this is enough for one year of Greek looking at HS credits? Where would you go after completing this? Curious looking at options and my son wanted to take 2 yrs. of Greek after his LONG study of Latin! Or if you have any other ideas, he would be doing it on his own self study. Thanks everyone!

If you are talking about during the school week? Definitely 1! :-)

Thanks for all of your ideas! Going to do some digging. :)

I think I have seen that somewhere before. Have you used it or know of anyone who has? Will look into it again! Thanks!

So my son would like to get HS credit for a philosophy class and I have been looking into the best books to include. I am familiar with Sophie's World, also looking at Abolition of a Man (Lewis) and Six Great Ideas (Adler). Trying to keep to a Christian philosophy. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!!

You should check to see if you can arrange a scheduled room. Our library does, I was able to call in the summer and arrange a room for one day a week scheduled out for the whole school year. They only allowed it once a week and since his class is in the morning we have lucked out getting a room as a walk in on the second day. It really helps. :-)