Because we are new to this, we are starting in January as well...I will spend December doing remedial phonics and writing work with my oldest, but we are starting in January with the main stuff...I am still deciding how to schedule our breaks...I am leaning towards taking off one week every month throughout the year...My husband would prefer we school for three months then take one month off...Either way is still about 12 weeks off...I will see how it goes...This is going to be MUCH more rigorous than anything we have done so far...I definitely need to work on my self discipline ;)

Thanks everyone...I bought the download for Math Mammoth last night and we will see how it goes...I haven't looked through all of it yet...I bought the light blue series for my middle son and some of the blue series for my oldest...Once I know he is on grade level, I will buy the light blue series for his grade...

Do you mean that you don't add sugar to anything or that you don't eat processed sugar, or what?...I can't imagine being totally "sugar free"...Does this also include maple syrup and honey?...Do you eat Oatmeal plain? Sorry if I am asking many questions...I really need to cut back my sugar intake, but never even thought of being "sugar free"...This has given me something to think about...

My favorite Christmas song is "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole...My mom use to play that Nat King Cole album on Christmas when I was growing up...

I am sorry to hear this Melissa, and for you too Mariann... People have shared encouraging things and I will pray for both of your families...

I am going to use Math Mammoth and started to wonder if it would be enough since I noticed that most use more than one...We are going to start with only that...

I had decided on a math program, but only one...I see that many use more than one... Why do you use more than one?...Does anyone just use one with success?

Thanks so much everyone for your advice...I really appreciate the thoughtful responses :001_smile: I have one more thing to get advice about...My oldest son is 10 and has a September birthday...In a Waldorf school, he would be in the 4th grade because they start first grade at 7, but in a public school he would be old enough to be in 5th grade...I am wondering if along with his "catch up" work should I include some logic since he is old enough for 5th grade or just leave it until next year?...I am concerned about not meeting him where he is developmentally...I am also seriously considering starting our year now, which would give us a January start next year... Again, thanks in advance for any advice...

Thanks for this thread...Since we are new to this way of homeschooling, we will start now and school thrughout this year with breaks...This may put us on a January start next year...My oldest son is already 10 though and will want to switch grades in September...I guess I could just "switch" in terms of name but start 5th grade stuff next January...It won't become an issue until we get to 12th grade I guess ;)

Thanks so much for the advice and thank you so much Elizabeth for the links to your site...I just took a look at lesson one...That is a great resource you have made! Tahara

Hello Everyone...My name is Tahara and I am homeschooling 3 boys ages 10, 6, and 4...We have been Waldorf homeschoolers all of this time... My oldest son is struggling with reading and many concepts in general, so I decided to take a look at another method of teaching to see how to best help him since I have had a difficult time emplementing the Waldorf method...I borrowed "The Well Trained Mind" from the library and really like the ideas...It seemed to explain alot of the problems we have been having... This is where I need help...My oldest son is in the fourth grade and is very far behind...He struggles with reading and writing and many of the math concepts...I just bought the books "An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" and "Writing With Ease"...I am feeling discouraged because I know that I will have to start at the beginning of these books to lay a solid foundation for him...He doesn't mind going from the beginning, but wants to be caught up to 5th grade level next year and I wonder if this is possible... Has anyone else started in the middle with a child who was behind academically?...Does anyone have any advice to give? Thanks so much in advance... Tahara

This is a funny, great thread...Just the break I needed :-) Gerard Butler would play my DH is he could speak without an accent...My DH doesn't have an accent... Tahara