Thank you Lenora! I keep going to the website and reading about it. I think my youngest two kids are just a lot more hands on and less intuitive than my older three were. I think this program might be a better fit for them than what I 'm doing now. Thanks for your input!

I'm curious to hear about this math program. Anybody use it? How well laid out is it for the teacher? What did you like and not like about it? Thanks!

I'm on the same wave length. Summer is when I try to organize the house. I read A Mother's Rule of Life a couple years ago too and I used to occasionally go to her website too. I feel the need to re-read it. The book It's All Too Much looks like something I'd like to read. I am such a clutter bug and so is my husband and of course the children have taken on our bad habits. I really need a thorough purging!

I'm planning to use it with my high schoolers as the spine for American History. And I got the Hewitt syllabus so I wouldn't have to figure that out for myself. But we are also adding in a Teaching Co. lecture series too to supplement.

You can get spray bottles that have natural enzymes that work well to take away odors. Also washing down the area with some vinegar. At least that takes that pee smell out of clothing in the wash. Good luck!

My dh is thinking of the North Rim. I think he wants to find a central location to stay and then visit the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion. Is that possible? We have a credit with Jet Blue so he wants to use that up to fly to Las Vegas and rent a van and drive from there. The thing is I can not take the heat! But that is muggy Virginia heat (and mosquitos). Maybe the heat out there is drier? I remember once being in Denver Co for a couple days and thinking what nice spring weather they had in the middle of July, only to discover it was in the upper 90's but so dry it felt much cooler to me. We are subtropical here in VA in the summer where the saying is, "it's not the heat, it's the humidity!" I'll be prepared about the sunburn now. Thanks for the warning!

Is it crazy to go see the Grand Canyon in August? That's probably when we can take vacation time. Dh really wants to go. I do too but it sounds really hot and touristy. Will it be?

Oh my goodness! I just went through this! I went through weeks of feeling like this. I felt like my world was closing in on me and I would never get back any joy! We even tried to enroll 3 kids in a private school but thank God it didn't work out. I sobbed like a baby when I realized that I was somehow going to have to continue. Then I went for a long walk completely spent emotionally and somehow, miraculously, I suddenly felt a peace descend upon me. I wasn't even actively praying or anything, I was beyond that! And now the burn is simply gone. It went away, poof! Like that! So from my very immediate experience, I think sometimes we just have to work through these things. Know that 'this too shall end' as my mother would always tell me whenever I was in despair about something. You'll get your bearings once again. I think different people need different things to help them through burn out. I suggest you stop doing any kind of school, pretend they go to school and you are on vacation. Look at baby pictures of them. Tell them stories about how cute they were when they were babies. Do something fun, a fun outing, movie marathon, whatever. Find a sitter so you can go out with your dh. Sleep as much as you can. Read a really good, light novel, listen to music that makes you happy. Take long baths, whatever can relax you. This feeling really will pass. I promise! Just hang in there!

My youngest daughter when she was two reminded my husband and me of a 'Who' from 'Whoville' in When the Grinch Stole Christmas (not the movie but the book.) Now, though, at age 6.5, she is a little Ramona Quimby!!!

When you say writing, do you mean, your 4th grader putting together his own sentences and thoughts or do you mean the physical act of handwriting? For my 4th grader next year, he'll be doing Writing Tales, but he'll probably copy over spelling words every day. He'll be working math problems, filling in his Latin workbook and activity book, doing cursive practice and/or copy work every day, plus he'll have sundry occasional other things to do and he'll be doing art which involves drawing, etc. To me that's plenty for a 4th grader. He's got lots of time to learn to write; no need to push it. I pushed my now 13 year old to do narrations every day when he was in 4th grade and he went from a kid who loved learning to a kid who dreaded reading anything because he knew he'd have to write a narration. So I overloaded him too much, too soon. It took a couple of years to win back that love of learning by easing up. Now he's 13, he writes just fine, though we are going to make it a focus for his 8th grade because I haven't really focused on it. But as someone with the perspective of older kids, even one with dysgraphia, there really is no need to push it. However, each child has his own level so if you feel you could require more writing without difficulty or disrupting your plans, go for it. Just know it isn't necessary in the long run.

But doesn't Writing Tales have grammar and spelling incorporated into it? I'm doing 4th grade next year and ONLY using Writing Tales. I know my son would burn out fast if I added more grammar and spelling onto the Writing Tales program. He also seems to be allergic to writing so I don't want to overload him. My 4th grade is: MCP Math Latin for Children Writing Tales Cursive practice/copy work (10 minutes a day) Religion - Faith and Life text; Bible stories; saints stories History is largely unschooled, though we are listening to SOTW on audio and read lots of historical fiction and nice history picture books with his younger sister, go on fieldtrips Science - 1x a week co-op class Geography/social studies - 1x a week co-op class ASL - 1x a week co-op class P.E. - gymnastics and karate classes; homeschool tennis class in fall and spring Music - piano lessons; From the Top radio show/tv show Art - Christian Heritage Art Curriculum; Phonics of Drawing (he really wants to learn art next year)

I've read it. It's lovely. I've only read Cranford, North and South and Mary Barton by Gaskell and I've loved every one I want to read all her books. I've read North and South at least five times and Mary Barton twice. I had never heard of the other books in the Cranford series that they based the mini-series on. I want to dig those up. The others on my list are: Ruth, Wives and Daughters, and Sylvia's Lovers. I understand there is also a lovely collection of short stories by her. She also wrote the authorized biography of Charlotte Bronte, with whom she was good friends. She was asked by the family to write it.

Gaskell dealt with lots of death in her own life, so her books reflect a lot of her own reality. I read the first book of three they have adapted. As I recall things turn out well for Jim Hearn and Martha though I don't remember anything more specific than that. The doctor and the Rector's daughter must be from another book because I don't recall that story. I think though based on my dim memory of the book Cranford we are in for some happy surprises for Miss Mattie. But don't quote me on it!

I just read the thread about Plaid Dad's librarything on his blog. So I went to the website to check it out. Maybe cuz I'm sick and my brain is fuzzy I was kind of puzzled. What exactly does librarything do for one? It sounds really onerous to enter all that info about one's books into it and to what purpose? I must be missing something. I have thousands of books. I am really compulsive about it and need to cut down and give away lots of them. Would library thing really help me get organized about my books or would it just add to the chore of sorting and winnowing?

Raining like crazy here in Northern VA. We just got a puppy too. Very hard to housetrain a new puppy in the pouring rain! And on top of it we've all come down with sore throats and colds, so no one feels like doing anything except drinking tea and watching TV. Blah! Come out, sun!

Hmmm. I don't see why this may mean the end of your marriage. It just seems that your dh is uncomfortable with lots of physical contact because he's been influenced by bad experiences and you are not. I would just try to explain gently that all touching is not abusive. Maybe you need to work on communicating without becoming defensive. I would respect the fact that he sees things differently because of terrible things he experienced. I would just keep trying to gently work through your differences and seek outside help if necessary. I think also that we are not supposed to give marital advice here so maybe I'm breaking the rules by responding.

I have, but I have supplemented them with appropriate reading. The experiments and activities I think are best for 3rd through 5th, however, if you have your child read about the subject matter in a book or text that is their correct grade level, they'll learn a lot.

I love this board because I get to hear about programs/curriculum I never hear about anywhere else! This program looks like exactly what I need. My kids have been clamoring for 'real' art lessons. Thanks so much!

Hi Angel, Here's a review of Artes Latinae. http://www.love2learn.net/languages/latin.htm I don't know if it's parts to whole, I think it sort of approaches Latin blending a parts to whole method as well as a whole to parts, if that's possible. I think it would be excellent for a visual learner. First you have the computer program but in addition the workbook that goes with it uses little cartoon drawings through out. The print is smaller than I would like, though it didn't bother my son.

No, no, you're right. It isn't literally the same sentences but they are so similar for exercise after exercise that it FELT like doing the same thing over and over again. The other thing is that if just using Henle you really can't enjoy reading Latin. You can study Henle for months but can't read a Latin inscription or quote that you stumble across because you simply haven't been given the vocabulary. I appreciate the logic of his approach but it just didn't work for us. I guess we just need more bells and whistles. We are all ADD here anyway! LOL!

Okay, just my two cents again and take it for what it's worth because I have never gotten through a whole year of high school Latin on my own. I've always had to resort to an outside teacher. BUT one of the reasons was Henle. We tried to do it with the MODG syllabus. It is boring to tears, at least for us and it was very time consuming. It's true you don't get hit with lots of new vocab words. That means that you dissect basically the same sentences over and over again. We found it tedious beyond words. A different tact that I would take is to finish up Latin for Children through all the levels so that your dd has a solid start in Latin and then get the computer program Artes Latinae. This is the equivelent of one year of high school, it is self teaching and it is much more interesting than Henle. We have the program and we love it. The only problem is that I've been stretched too thin to really monitor my son while doing it so we petered out on it. Then I found out that someone near us is going to be offering Latin so we decided to go to an outside class. If that class hadn't popped up though, we would gotten back on track with Artes Latinae.

Bummer! But is it a question of just picking and choosing or do you run into the busywork if you insist on doing every activity? Or do you more or less have to do every activity to effectively do the program?

Hi Angel, As someone who has grappled with Latin for years, I hear your frustration. The thing about Latin is that you absolutely must drill thoroughly. You can't get sloppy on it. This has been a hard fact for me to learn as consistency in anything is hard for me. We are using Latin for Children right now for my 9 and 13 year olds. We use the dvds and watch them to introduced a lesson and then about every other day as reinforcement. On the alternate days I use flashcards that I made up on index cards and a white board easel. I use the flashcards for vocab and the whiteboard to have the kids write out declensions and conjugations. We also just got the activity books. So our pattern has more or less worked out as: first day - dvd and workbook, second day, flashcards and activity book, 3rd day - dvd review and finish up workbook, 4th day-flashcards and activity, etc. We move on when I feel they really know the stuff thoroughly. As for foreign language credits for high school, I can only tell you how we are doing it. I am requiring for our high school at least one year of High School Latin. My oldest took the equivelant of a high school latin class over the course of 3 years in 6th, 7th and 8th. She's now studying Spanish at the local community college. My 15 yo is going to take a homeschool Latin class next year but when he starts driving, he too, is going to take the modern foreign language of his choice at the community college. Not all colleges accept Latin as a foreign language. Many want the language to be a modern one, so I personally think it is best to get some solid Latin under your belt (because it will really make learning other languages easier and teaches grammar and vocabulary so well) and then pick a modern foreign language. My 2 cents.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I was wondering if any of you have used Great Science Adventures in a co-op situation or just at home. I stumbled upon them and I like that they are multi-level. They look like you make lapbooks from them. The experiments look very do-able. Anybody have any experience with them? Thanks.

it is an inter-faith co-op so we have people from many faiths, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Christian, Catholic and seculars as well, so probably it should be something that is easy to secularize, if it is a Christian program. Thanks!