We have been formal schooling since my dd was almost 3 because this is something SHE wanted to do. There were a few days when she was not interested but those were very few. I count formal schooling as Math and Phonics/reading with some writing,science, history, and art thrown in. Do I regret it, no. So many times over the last few years I have been criticized for "pushing' her and "why not let her just play". I would stop and look at what I was doing and realize I wasn't pushing but instead feeding a starving child. To her, school was play. She has no "hatred" for doing school. She is 6 now and still loves learning. She knows how to go find answers to her questions and she can take part in where her studies lead her. I don't think this will change as she gets older. The key to not feeling any regret is when I look back I know I did not push or force the schooling on her. She was ready for school as an older 2. We kept it her pace and still do.

We are doing a transitional year for 8th grade, trying to get him ready for high school: Bible Latin Grammar Writing Science Government/Economics Pre-Algebra He does Nature Studies, electronics, stratagy games and cooking for extra curricular stuff.

Is there a hall closet you can put the games? I would also get clear plastic boxes for school supplies so they ar not loose. Go through your shelves and purge the loose paper and get book ends to keep things upright. Box up old curriculum not in use and store it someplace else. You could put curtains or a roman shade type thing. Roll the shade up to expose the book cases during school hours to make a school room and lower them at the end of the school day to revert back to a dining room. Keep all school related boxes and bins behind the curtain. To keep the walls from looking cluttered, I would remove all un-needed pictures.

I hijacked my bedroom closet for all my craft storage(jewlry making, scrap booking, knitting, quilting, sewing, drawing, needlepoint, and so on). I put a cheap book case in there for all the magazines and books related to the crafts. I bought several drawer units on wheels (the cheap plastic kind with see through drawers). These are great because when I want to work on a project, I just roll out the bin and have it next to me where ever I go. They also keep the dust off your stuff. The bins are great if you don't have much space or not much craft supplies yet. Another thing you can do to keep things organized (at least in your head if nothing else) is to buy a notebook for each craft and divide it into sections: materials, projects completed, and ideas, and keep a post-it pad nearby. I keep a running list of all my materials on hand so I know what I have when I am getting ready for a new project. The post-it pad is for listing things that need replacing (sort of a grocery list of craft supplies). I take a picture of all the things I make and put it in the projects completed section along with notes on any changes I made to the pattern, material used, and a sample of the actual material used if possible. In the ideas section, I sketch colored pictures of what I would like to make along with what type of materials I would like to use and what pattern I would use (if any).

These are the things I try to cover in a week: Math* FLL* WWE* Spelling reading* History Science Bible* French Art Music Nature Study We do just the starred subjects each day, the other things I will do either 3, 2, or 1 day a week depending on the week. Some of these subjects and be checked off my list without a big long lesson...ex: we listened to the Flight of the Bumble Bee on You Tube (listening for individual instruments) and painting bumble bees and flowers after watching(and discussing) a bumble bee going from flower to flower in our garden, from just these few things we had our nature study and art and music lesson for the week. Not every week gets all the things marked off though, if I get the core subjects taught each day then I am happy. I just make a new check list for the next week. There is so much I want to include in my children's school, but realistically I cannot. I try to decide certain things I would like to cover beyond the core subjects for the year. I write them down at the beginning of the school year and visit the list monthly. I know I cannot do it all so I take tiny bites out of my list. Sometimes I have to figure out alternative ways of getting a subject into my childs day...bedtime, bathtime, car rides and Saturdays are times I might incorporate the 'extras' I want to include. We don't get everything I want to cover done, but what I don't cover one year I add to the next years list again and hope to get to it.

Embarrassed to ask....whats a flash mob?

My boys found some large sheets of particle board in the woods the other day and dragged it all home with great plans to build a dog house for the dog. Naturally I told them the wood was no good and naturally they ignored my observation. Yesterday they started their building project, but just a few minutes with a saw and they agreed the wood was junk. So how do 2 teenage boys solve the problem of getting rid of large sheets of lumber...sledge hammer it. They spent hours seeing who could make the biggest hole (boys always have to one up the other). They also came up with several games ....make an X and see who can hit it, put a log under the wood and a ball on top and see who could launch the ball the highest in the air, and more games that kept them going until dark. So much entertainment from free wood and a heavy tool. Boys :rolleyes:

What FLL are you using? The lessons do get more involved as you go through it. At first it took us 2-3 minutes to get through a lesson, but now it is taking us about 15 minutes or more.

:iagree:I bought the WWE 4 after reading TWTM, reading about it here, and because SB seems to know what she is talking about. My son has gone from having no idea what to say in 3-4 sentences about a passage to getting the picture of what to write. He still needs some prompting but now understands what narration of a passage looks like and has started to apply it to other readings.

If your looking info on how to write a narration paragraph, I suggest the Writing With Ease book. It holds their hand as they learn how to narrate. We are using book 4 and at first my son had no idea how to get 3-4 sentences about what he just read. The first few weeks of lessons walked him through the thinking process with a series of 3-4 questions creating a 3-4 sentence paragraph he was to write on his paper. We are now at the point in WWE4 that the questions have disappeared but it will prompt him on what to focus on....Give 3-4 sentences telling what he looked like, what he did, and where he went (this sort of thing). It is helping his brain process exactly what he needs to focus on to get a good narration. If your looking on just a general how to write program, then I would agree with a previous poster and suggest Writing Strands 3. As she said, it starts then out with 2 words, but over the week they are building it up to a detailed sentence. The next lessons start them out very small but build to paragraphs, then different type of paragraphs and so on. Very step by step...but little steps so as not to overwhelm.

My son used Calvert for 7th grade and absolutely loved it. From a teaching perspective, it was extremely easy to use, literally an open and go program. Scripted lesson plans make it easy to get your mind focused on what to discuss (which I needed at the time since I just had a baby). For the student, lessons are short but full. The writing assignments were varied in the type of writing they needed to do and were across the curriculum, so there was always some type of writing going on (but not overwhelming, it was well choreographed). The history, as another poster mentioned, was dry and if I was to do this now (with out a newborn) I would add to it with with other resources. My son enjoyed the literature choices as well as the discussion. I found it to be a enriched literature program with vocabulary, discussions, projects, and comprehension questions that were not all regurgitating the facts. (It was this program that got my son to actually look at classic literature as not some boring old books). I agree with the other poster about the English text, it was good. Calvert also has computer skills lessons that are coordinated with the other school work to show how each skill can be used in their work. I forgot to mention, the manuals are written to the child at that level, so it is encouraging independent work. I did not use the services provided so I cannot comment on how those work or the quality of them.

I've used the Time Travelers:New World Explorers two different ways, exactly as given and bits and pieces to supplement. Both ways worked really well for the child I was using it with. I did not however just read the pages for the lesson. I used the info pages as a guide and grabbed books from the library to read about the given topics.