I am a deep introvert too. I feel very lucky that we have a large home schooling network in our area. I found that out of the larger group there have been a bunch of spin-off groups. Try and see if your area has a regular park day and then commit to go every time even if you don't feel like it. It took me about 6 months of regular attendence to make friendships with a few like-minded moms. I think it helps if the kids and the moms are friends. I have met adults who were homeschooled with serious social issues, but in both families I think it was a result of extreme religous sheltering and overbearing parenting. In one family the son was addicted to pornography and the daughter was scared to leave the house. In the other family both sons ended up on drugs, and one in prison for cooking meth(at least he learned his chemistry). I think the kids would have turned out equally bad in PS.

Does oversocialization count as a problem? :001_smile: Between homeschooling their friend too, playdates, co-op, lessons, relatives, neighbors, and bible study, we have difficulty finding enough time home alone!

For us it was FLL & WWE. I love them. I tried and tried again, but my DD is just not able to produce the answers to the promptings. By the end of every lesson we would both feel like :banghead::banghead: I've given up on trying to make them like the curriculum I love.

I think this would ok if your DS is interested/willing to do all 3. My 3rd grader is doing TT, LoF, and Miquon. She likes a lot of change. When she gets bored with TT, we focus more on the other programs for a while. Just think about his personality and what he can handle, and you should have your answer. We haven't used SM so I can't comment there, but TT and LoF is fine together.

We started it for summer fun, and my girls love it too! Such a cute program.

I think another key factor is just the environmental difference. There are kinesthetic learners who physically cannot learn in the PS environment. For my DD, being forced into a seat all day took all her energy. She did not learning anything in PS. She would come home almost catatonic. She was being disciplined at school for not listening to the teacher. I was very involved (the teacher was very irritated by and unresponsive to this); it did not help at all. Really, there was nothing the teacher could have done in this situation other than separate the kids out by learning styles and teach according to their individual needs. There are factors in PS that no amount of parent involvement can correct. We are also low income plus I'm a minority, but we do not live in the city. The district we live in performs in the 98th percentile on standardized tests. That said, I still feel that my children are receiving a better education at home. Since we live in an suburban area, I often feel pressured to "just get a job and send them to school." The attitude is that I am damaging my kids by not having enough money to furnish them with the lifestyle of those around us. Personally, I think my time investment in their education will pay off far more than me working.

Love! No one boxed in philosophy, teaching method, training principles, etc. can be applied verbatim and produce results that are optimal for individual children. The learning environment must be customized to meet individaul needs. It shouldn't matter where the ideas come from that help create that environment as long as they are supporting the needs of the children.

Glad I could share. :)

My DD decides on content, and then I structure time. I have a cornucopia of resources that she has dabled in. She knows which she enjoys more. We have regular meetings where we review the content she's chosen, and then we plan what she wants to do for the next month. She has her own planner to record her choices. Sometimes she structures her own time by asking me to help her fill in her week, but usually she will just look at her goals and say what she wants to start with. This month she is spending most of her time swimming because she wants to try out for swim team. Things she chose this last spring include Spanish, Latin, Astronomy, various math and language arts resources, SOTW2(she LOVES this), logic (I made her a custom spiral notebook filled with her favorite activities), and bible study. She has a file crate filled with independent seat work. In there are grammar sheets, phonics sheets, Miquon workbook, Daily Word Problems, Daily Geography, homemade logic workbook, Spanish workbooks, R&S math worksheets, and spelling. She will work from there on her own, especially if we are going to my parent's house for the day. I set up 10 large workboxes that I use to store the curriculum we will be working from that month. My YDD has a few boxes too. This makes it easy for them to see their options and choose what they want to do. They also have open access to art, manipulatives, and games. I then facilitate whatever they are doing. ODD still likes checklists so I will make her one, but I don't force her to do everything she puts on there. In the past I would have flipped a lid if DD spent an entire morning working on Spanish. I would have shoved my checklist under her nose and said something like, "come on kid, we have 20 other things to do before 2pm!!!" LOL Now I see how much she truly loves learning. She loves all her subjects so much she can't decide which is the best. When I used to say it was time for school she would moan and look gloomy. The funniest part is that she is doing most of the things I want her to do anyway! What it looks like schedule wise is usually 2 large blocks in the morning; generally one elective and either L.A. or math. Then the afternoon is a spattering of reading and independent work. Some mornings we will just spend on the couch reading literature, LoF, family devotions, or history and science books. Now you could say that none of that is in the TJed books, and that would be true. And some of those things we may have chosen to do anyway. However the reality is that I didn't have the inspiration or ideas to structure our home school this way until AFTER I read TJed. There is a deliberateness that didn't exist before. I am more tuned in to examining and predicting my DD's behavior so I can come up with ways to empower her and inspire her. I also now permit and sometimes lead rabbit trails from our literature. Before it was just read and discuss. Now I ask more questions and expand on ideas. For example, when we were reading the beginning of Swiss Family Robinson we repeatedly discussed the meaning of procurement since it kept coming up. When we got to the part about the lever, a concept my girls didn't fully understand, we stopped reading to procure parts to make a lever. Another thing I allow during scheduled time is a game my girls made up called "level up." They have free reign of extra workbooks and old school textbooks. They use this to teach each other. My oldest drills the youngest on phonics and math facts. It is really quite charming. It has become their favorite game and now they involve all the neighbor kids. I even have other parents donating their kid's old school books to the game. My 8yr old is leading this group of 6-8 kids and they are all learning during summer break! She also leads them in money-making schemes, haha. The current business is making friendship bracelets. She has hired her friends to do the work for her. They may not be making any money, but at least the wheels are turning. These are endeavors I want to encourage.

I gave some examples of practical application of Keys 2, 3, 4, and 7 in my post on page 2. You are welcome to read that.

I would recommend Miquon with cuisenaire rods and a base ten set. The visual demonstrations help the right-brain kids link the math concepts to the left-brain language abilities. This has worked wonders for my 8yr old with dyslexia/ADHD and tracking issues. I love education unboxed. She has put together amazing video explaining how to use the manipulatives. http://www.educationunboxed.com

I read the Keys to mean focus on classics, not textbooks. Keep your focus on this not that, but not to exclude the other. That is unfortunate that the original was not balanced. I can see how that would create some huge problems. I went and read your blog so I can see where you are coming from. I don't think the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater though. I just take what I love most about TJed, WTM, LCC, and CM, then I structure our home school accordingly.

I dont think many of the anti-TJed posters have actually read the books. If you look on the TJed website, they actually recommend different math curriculum. If I remember correctly LoF and Saxon are on the list. No where in the books does it say "do not use curriculum." I've read 2 of the books and am starting on Leadership Education. I plan to continue the use of classical curriculum and mesh it with TJed. The main point of it is to inspire your kids and plant seeds so they believe what they are doing is their own idea. For example, last Sat. morning when my DDs woke up I was reading Jane Eyre. I excitedly talked about the story line. They decided for their movie that day they wanted to watch Jane Eyre (they are still too young for it as a read aloud), and they spent the day playing "Jane Eyre". This plants a seed for them to grow from, and hopefully in a few years when it's their turn to read it they will want to because they already have good memories/feelings associated with it. The parent study has to take place when and where the children can be a part of it so they can see the benefit of it. Another example is that I took up drawing again so my kids can see how much practice, patience, and hard work go into making something worthwhile. The focus of TJed is more on mentoring than anything. I think it is important to mention that mentoring involves pushing your mentee out of their comfort zone in order to grow. If the parent is sitting around all day waiting for their kid to be inspired, then they are not doing TJed. The kids are expected to do hard things. My kids are still too young for me to say whether or not it has "worked", but I see how the method has made my 8yr old happier and more excited about learning. We have a monthly meeting where we discuss her subjects (that she chooses) and what she needs for the next month. Then I plan lessons and prepare her independent work. Then I schedule blocks of time and they choose what we do within that time. TJed works very well with WTM or CM. In the Companion, Jeppson introduces the idea of adult classes. I adapted this idea to the needs of my 8yr old and it has been a HUGE hit. We started with a Personal Habits course that worked on basic skills like setting her alarm, managing the time it takes for morning and evening chores, and taking care of her personal hygiene. There is a positive consequence for completing each course. After they complete a certain combination of courses they are promoted within the family and receive a new title. My girls think this is the best thing that ever happened to them. Some of the courses I made for them are Junior Chores, Household Safety, Baking, Cooking, Grocery Shopping, Sewing, and Adult Chores. It should take several years to complete all that. The goal is for the child to have all those skills before high school age so they can focus on their studies. My advice would be to read the books objectively and take what is of worth to you and disregard what is not. I was persuaded by these boards to NOT read TJed. I was even trying to convince a friend not to read it based on some posts by those who have posted in this thread. Then one day while I was at my friend's house I picked up the book and started paging through. I found a lot of good info. I borrowed TJed and TJed Companion, and I'm so glad I did! Some of the ideas I gleaned from the philosophy have been great for us. I don't personally know anything about the character of the author, but the content is sound. Use common sense people. TJed is not extreme unschooling, LOL.

I'm starting to homeschool myself, and I'm trying to figure out what my options are. Omnibus looks good, but I'm wondering what else is available? What I'm looking for is something to guide me through the great books with some background information, discussion questions, essay topics, and a regular schedule to keep me accountable. I don't necessarily need the Christian studies since I do an in-debth bible study already. I'm also aready reading through history using SWB and Durant. I'd like to avoid packaged literature or programs that require a specific translation. I already have many of the great books in my home library. Thanks!

We have a couple of these books, but I had not yet read them. After this thread I pulled them out to read, including Buffalo Bill, which was mentioned as being the worst. I find nothing wrong with these books. I guess that makes me a racist??? And not worthy of having other children play at my house? I am black/white/hispanic/comanche. I found the books to be very factual. The only line that I would have brought attention to is the one in Buffalo Bill that says something about the Indians being jealous of the white men wanting their land. All I have to do is ask the kids what they think about that, and they would be able to form their own thoughts on whether or not that viewpoint is valid. IMO, the "rightness" or "wrongness"of the historical events can easily be evaluated by the children. I found no subtle agenda here.

I agree with this. We try to avoid one-sidedness and deal with the facts. Many modern texts over-emphasize multiculturalism, diversity, and political correctness in a way that makes kids believe America was founded by evil oppressors. It paints a picture as though only Europeans have been responsible for slavery and exploitation throughout the world. This view downplays or ignores completely facts like Africans sold other tribes into slavery. This is what I was taught and believed for many years, and did not learn real history until I started reading history as an adult. Evil is a human condition and is not exclusive to any one people group. If anything, all this multiculturalism only works divide people by pointing out how different people groups are instead of focusing how we are all basically the same.

Despite all the modern PC texts, our entire culture is still completely saturated with subtle racism. I personally would keep the books. They are a piece of history. It is the little girls parents job to talk to her about race. As a parent I concern myself more with modern brainwashing like Barbie cartoons. They are a perfect example of the bias that most people never notice. It never dawned on me what affect they may have on my DD until it was too late. When she was six she started having self-esteem issues. Then one day she started crying and told me she wished that a friend of mine(white) was her mother instead of me(mix). She had somehow decided that being white was beautiful, acceptable, preferable etc, and that having dark features was something to be ashamed of. That's when I realized that all those cartoons she was watching did not have any characters of color. Only blond haired Barbie ever wears pink(every girls favorite color). In the Prince and the Pauper, the brown haired girl is naturally the one living in poverty. Our culture is filled with tons of this stuff. We don't have tv anymore for this reason....among others. Dáulaire would be the least of my worries.

I have fibro and also have good/bad days. My question would be how is dad's mental state? I know I personally can force myself to get up and cook, clean and teach even when I feel really, really bad....as long as I am mental handling things. But pain can make you very short tempered and grouchy. Here are some things I would recommend to have on hand for bad days: time4learning.com (though this can become expensive) clicknkids.com If he/she does well in math, maybe even starting on TT3 Tons of books...sometimes I don't want to get up off the couch and teach a "curriculum", but it isn't too hard to just sit there and read. I don't know much about lyme disease, so I'm not sure if headaches are a problem. SOTW on audio CD Audiobooks Math manipulatives (cusinaire rods, base 10 blocks, pattern blocks) Children can use these with very little instruction for play and to assist in solving math problems. My 5yr old can use the rods to solve her Miquon math labs without my assistance(as long as I tell her what the goal is) Something short and sweet for LA....maybe Queens Language Lessons or LLATL? Workbooks that are pretty independent: Daily Geog, Daily Word problems, most handwriting programs fall into this category. Single player logic games....like ThinkFun games. My DDs love these. If they want a foreign language, Power-glide can be done independently. SOS also makes a computer version of French and Spanish. Nature Study/notebooking is a great option for science. It can be done whenever and they wouldn't have to worry about falling behind. Maybe add some living science books that mom can read as bedtime stories? It would be great if mom could set up all the lessons when she's home so everything is open and go for dad. I use a filefolder system for my 8yr old so she can work independently and workboxes for my 5yr old. HTH!

Have you checked out Christian Kids Explore series? I love Apologia, but also wanted to keep the WTM science cycles. So we will be using CKE Chemistry with Zoology 1 in the fall. The CKE is broken into small parts that I think are suitable for 1 or 2 days a week. The experiments use mostly common household items. The series says it is made for older elementary/middleschool, but IMO can be used with kids as young as five. If it were my only science I would add on extra reading for older kids, but since you are already doing Apologia I think it would be a nice, light addition.

I don't have any input on your question, but man does that look great! I may have to try it out. I really need to spend less time on these boards. :lol:

We are using R.E.A.L. science odyssey - Earth and Space. I'd say a little more than half of it is Astronomy. We really like it. It is pretty much an open-and-go curriculum. At the beginning of the semester I've just been going through the supply list in the front to make sure we have everything. Most items used are common household goods. There are short readings at the beginning of each section. She has a suggested reading list at the front, but we just use Apologia and a couple of Kingfisher/Usborne Astronomy books for reading.

Pros: Easy for mom, little to no prep time, DD likes it, can be used without the workbook, DD can do mostly on her own if I'm busy We also do WWE2 sometimes, HWOT and extra grammar practice sheets. I really like that if i don't get to the supplemental stuff, LLATL still has enough of everything to cover all our bases. I think it could be used alone for most kids. My kid has learning issues so we need to supplement. The workbooks do have review questions and enrichment activities for kids that need more practice. Cons: the literature studies aren't as comprehensive as I would like. That may not be a con for everyone. I just ordered the Memoria Press guides and plan to do 2 deeper literature studies each year. Some of the copywork/dictation passages aren't the best choices IMO. This has been my experience with the yellow book, but after looking through some of the older levels I think they improved on their selections. The workbook is enormous. I split it into two parts and had it spiral bound.

We love the Touchphonics letters. They are a bit pricey though. I didn't buy all the junk they have to go with them, just the tiles. http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?seriesonly=8800M

I would skip the 1st grade Daily Geography. From what I could tell the activities were almost identical to the Beginning Geography book. You may want to go to the Evan-moor website and look through the different books they offer. My kids will be moving from Beginning Geography to Daily Geography grade 3. At their site, you can also order just the student books for $7.99 which is really nice. We don't need the overheads and answers so it is a big savings for us.

This it what my DH tells me too when I whine about anything. It is a nice reminder.