We are just entering the world of long division. :cool: So we've finished Primary and are into Intellectual and Practical Arithmetic, which are to be used simultaneously, according to the Manual of Methods. It took me awhile to realize that it's really important to go slowly and to achieve mastery of each operation and each fact family before moving on. The word problems are great and the review lessons really help to solidify the concepts.

My plan as of right now is to continue on until it's time to start higher level math. I'm not sure if we'll cover everything in all the books - there's some stuff that would probably be unnecessary aside from historical interest. But everything that is relevant in this century will be covered. Of course if things ever change around here and I see that one or more of my kids needs a different type of program then I'll reevaluate. But for now it's working beautifully so we're going as long as we can.

Are you asking me or the OP? I don't mind answering - just don't want to butt in if the question's not directed to me. :)

I have Ruth Beechick's parent-teacher guide, which is helpful to figure out how to pace things and how to plan, but it's not an essential piece for me. The Eclectic Manual of Methods, however, is very important to have because it gives clear direction as to how to go about teaching the basic concepts and how to progress through the lessons.

We use Ray's for our spine. We've read a couple of the LOF books, but they were more of a fun supplement rather than an essential piece of our curriculum. Ray's stands alone just fine. ETA: we use cuisinaire rods for manipulatives and the videos at educationunboxed.com are invaluable for learning all the different ways that they can be used to introduce and reinforce concepts.

My problem is also fatigue and a short temper. I've found that it's really really important for me to let go of expectations and not focus on checking off what's planned for the day. I have to prioritize carefully and be ok with letting the rest go. There are some days that are great, other days when nothing happens and more often than not most days we at least accomplish one or two things, but not as much as my ideal. Audiobooks are a lifesaver and having lots of math and other educational games around is great too. I'm like duckens, who mentioned above that she had lots of hip pain. Mine has already kicked in with gusto and I'm finding myself on my hands and knees a lot too. But I will say that it is great for getting me to spend focused time with the youngest kids because often times when I'm not in pain I tend to put off playing with them in favor of whittling away at my endless to-do list. I think that taking it one day at a time, sometimes even one minute at a time, and doing the best you can in the moment is really all you can do and somehow the little moments add up and you find that a lot more learning goes on than you expected. :) Congratulations to you and all the others who are expecting!

I'm also a blog reader and I enjoyed the Scholé Sisters while it lasted. I wonder if part of the problem contributing to the lack of homeschooling blogs by moms with experience is just that those who are new to it are excited about it and want to share. I've heard it said before that those in the trenches don't exactly have the time to share. I don't know... just speculating really. I'm sure there are lots of factors involved. I don't read many blogs that are about curriculum or are always trying to sell something. I prefer personal. My own blog isn't really about homeschooling. I do write about it occasionally because it is a part of my life, but I've only written about it a handful of times precisely because I don't have a lot of experience yet. I do wish that when I write things about homeschooling people would comment and give feedback, but there doesn't seem to be much of that happening except on more commercial blogs. That's kind of what I was hoping for from Scholé Sisters - a community that could give feedback and ideas and encouragement and support, but it didn't pan out.

Following with interest! :lurk5: (Sorry I don't have anything to contribute.)

You know, in one way it's comforting to know that we aren't the only people with a dog who tries to escape. When I first posted I was half afraid that people might post saying it's a shame we never trained her well enough. I'm getting the message loud and clear - we have to secure our fence (which I think we've figured out a way to do for now) AND we have to supervise AND we need to make sure she's getting enough physical and mental exercise so she'll have less energy to put toward trying to get out. I thank you all SO much. I'm glad I had a place to ask this question and receive help instead of criticism. :)

Sorry that you're grieving. :( I hope that today is a better day.

I'm using this one.

I keep it very simple - one proof a day and I work out that proof every day until I can explain it to someone myself without getting confused. At first I just tried reading through each proof and if it made some sense I would go on to the next one. But I found myself having to go back and look at past ones again and again because I'd never properly understood. That was really getting me in trouble because they build on each other. I may not every make it all the way through, but really there's no rush. I have no test to take and no deadline to meet. I can just enjoy geometry because it's beautiful, and that's reason enough. :)

Congratulations!

I'm up early again today. More by accident than by design, but still - at least I didn't roll over and go back to sleep. I got my Greek and Euclid in and even managed to walk the dog before everyone woke! Hoping I can read a little history, but not sure if that will happen. We have a busy day ahead.

So funny that you mentioned this because I just clicked over here after visiting St. Spyridon's Website for some other lectures. :) Today was a loooong day and I'm totally read for bed. But I did manage to get up early and get some of my reading and studying in, so I'm glad about that. I got Greek reading and vocab, Euclid and Arabic done.

My guess is that she *would* be inspired because you're wise enough to be teaching the kids you have in front of you rather than trying to make them for some preconceived notion of what a "good" morning time is supposed to be.

Thanks! I'm definitely going to look for that. I read PL just this past year so I want to read this while it's still fresh.

If you read through the whole series you'll see that she talks about how it started and how it evolved over the years. You don't have to start with Shakespeare and Plutarch. :) Just choose things that your family will enjoy and then you can gradually broaden their horizons.

I just realized that this is probably why I hate menu planning so much! (can't believe it's taken me so many years to figure that out! :rolleyes: )

Do you think it would make a difference if the questions were more specific? Like if you had said "Is it all right with you if I close the garage door?" , maybe that would have come across better. I don't know. I ask questions in order not to boss/manipulate, so I definitely don't hear questions put to me in that light, but I can see how wording might make a difference.

I'm pretty sure Charlotte Mason said that making decisions is one of the greatest efforts in life. I guess that's why she was so big on habit training. :)

I did not post much last week nor did I really do much reading/studying. I really need to get back into getting up early before everyone else. That seems to be the only way I can be consistent. Maybe that should be my goal this week!

Omg CS Lewis wrote a preface to Paradise Lost?! Where can I find that??

Teaching from Rest

It can be overwhelming, but it's also lots of fun to choose what will be part of it. Ours sort of developed organically in the sense that I simply expanded on something we were already doing. We had been reading the Bible and lives of the saints daily at breakfast, then I saw the SCM scripture memory system and so decided to add in scripture memory. Then we branched out to poetry and once we started using SWR I added phonogram review to this time. After awhile it was getting rather long for breakfast time so I moved it to a bit later in the morning after breakfast was over. Now we start with morning prayers first. From there we kept what we'd been doing but also added in rotating content subjects using the resources I'd already decided on for the year. For poetry I randomly picked poems I liked from The Harp and the Laurel Wreath and as the kids have developed a taste for it they sometimes request poems that they'd like to learn as we come across them. We learn one poem/scripture passage at a time. We say it together every day (actually it's usually me reading it aloud and them listening) until they can recite it back to me perfectly. Sometimes this takes a very long time, other times they learn quickly. It really depends on the length of the piece and how well they are paying attention. I give it plenty of time to really sink in. Then it moves behind the next tab based on the SCM system linked above.