Super! Thanks so much - this list is just insane and there are so many good things on it... I know it will be of benefit. I wanted to be sure it was okay to share it :001_smile:

Wow - this list is just amazing! THANK YOU to all who worked on putting this together. Now I need to find about 3 hours of extra time to read over everything ;) I'm thinking our local homeschool group could benefit from this immensely... can I link to it somehow (with proper disclosures, of course!) and they would be able to read the posts, or is that not allowed? (Or maybe it won't even work if they aren't members on here?) Can anyone answer that for me?

That sounds like such a great idea... did you know someone else who did this, or is it just something you thought of? I'm just wondering if it's actually an "official" program, in which case there'd have to be some info out there SOMEwhere. Maybe start by contacting the regular Master Gardener program people for your county? I tool the "grown-up" class a few years back, and would LOVE for my kiddos to be able to take it in a simplified version...

momee, sorry for the news you got from Barb (Harmony Art Mom), but WOW now I have a lot of great links for this next year of nature journals!

We recently moved from Tennessee :leaving: (hubby's job change), but we used Gateway Christian School (out of Memphis) as our umbrella school. They are a "real" school, too, but they have the umbrella option... and they are GREAT! You submit your curriculum list when you register for the year, and then there are two semesters for which you submit grades and attendance reports - that's it! Last year (if I remember correctly) it was $45 for the first student and $30 for the second. I might be remembering wrong, but it was very reasonable compared to some of the others we considered. http://www.gatewaychristianschools.com/gatewaychristianschools_004.htm Hope that helps! :)

We do a loose Charlotte Mason approach... using mainly Ambleside Online, plus whatever else I happen to like for that year!

That's odd :confused: It's the same site as homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com, but it comes up as wholesomechildhood.com... (I'm not all up on how all those sorts of things work). Oh well :) Thanks for the reminder, since I had forgotten about it! FYI, for anyone who is interested, you can subscribe and get a "reminder" email every Monday that lists the freebies for that week.

I really like the list. It's helpful for me in that it gives tangible things we (mom and child) can work toward, and it seems VERY well rounded.

Last year we got "A Child's Geography - Explore His Earth" by Ann Voskamp - it looked fantastic! :D For some reason we never got around to using it :001_huh: (lack of scheduling it in on my part) but we plan to "have at it" again this year. I *think* Ms. Voskamp's books were bought out by or picked up by KnowledgeQuest, but I could be wrong... they ARE still available, but I'm not sure from where. I'll look for a link to post... :) http://www.achildsgeography.com/welcome/

Have you considered the Apologia series? I know they have the high school ones, but there is also the Young Explorers series (elementary level) with Astronomy, Botany, Swimming Creatures, Flying Creatures, and Zoology. They are heavy on the experiments, come from a Christian perspective, and you can get the books new for around $30. Just a thought :001_smile:

My boys like most of the stories, though I find some are a bit odd :D

Thanks :) Tennessee is such a great state, and we are so well represented on here!

We're moving (soon, hopefully) to just a shade north of the Big Bend :D .... so waaaayyyyy southwest Texas!

Here's me, jumping in really late to the conversation... We're about an hour north of Chattanooga :001_smile:

We've been reading through Paddle to the Sea this year with my 6yo and 8yo... the "plan" was to read a chapter a week, to give sufficient time to cover some of the extra information during that week. The boys love it so much, though, that sometimes we read more than we planned :D . At this point, I am content to just touch upon some of the extras - I figure we like the books enough that we will cover them again down the road. The main extra thing we are doing now is mapwork, plotting Paddle's course as he travels to the sea. We are keeping a list of all the wildlife he encounters along the way, and I plan to have the boys each pick one or two for a more in depth study. As to your original question about the most beneficial age, I think ALL ages will benefit. If it's basically a read aloud right now, that's great! :) My 3 yo will sit and listen while I read to the older ones, and he is enjoying it. The 8 yo is probably mulling over more than the 6yo, but it is of value for all of them. Use it now, then use it again. I do not have the Beautiful Feet guides for the Holling books, but they look splendid. Maybe in the future...