I haven't read the article (and don't have time right now). However, our library has definitely seen it's heyday. They just spend 1.5 million dollars upgrading the facility, but in the process sold all the classics. Almost the whole library is filled with twaddle. The programs they offer are more to teach the kids about the relativistic hot topics of the day than about reading or learning. There is a good library about 30 minutes away, but we rarely get over there. Anyway, I wish that our library had fewer Captain Underpants type books and more real, living books. I just buy our books. :seeya:

I am also a Catholic who actually did sign a Statement of Faith that made me feel queasy, but I was desperate to meet homeschoolers. I was in the group for a year. They were nice people, but I now know homeschoolers and don't feel like I should be involved with a group like that. It is honestly the ONLY homeschool group in our area so it is sad that they will only take evangelical Christians. Oh well!

Mater Amabilis also has daily plans.

My kids love the Thornton Burgess books about animals (Bobby Coon, Old Granny Fox, etc). I would link to them, but I am on my phone and technologically idiotic!

I have to disagree with the negative assessments of Montessori methods. She was a physician who observed kids for years. She used these methods with the very poor and got excellent results. This is very similar to CM in that it is meant for all children, not just the wealthy or the very smart. I use Montessori methods for all of my preschool kids (and still use some of it with my 1st grader along with a mostly CM style of education). I love that kids can discover things for themselves. Montessori promotes self-reliability in children and independence. It also is based on a respect for children as individual people. I think a lot of people have problems with Montessori because they don't really know how to present lessons. There are lots of results on youtube. Look and for examples. I have to say that my kids love Montessori. Once you introduce an item, the child can play with it on their own. This really keeps my littles occupied during school. Montessori teaches that the child will continue to play with something until they master it. Sometimes one of my kids will play with a single toy for almost an hour. You can also make a lot of cheap at-home Montessori activities (such as getting two bowls and putting beans in one bowl and allowing the child to move the beans using a measuring spoon). youtube poster has a lot of great ideas. Well, I am not saying that Montessori methods work for every child, but it you go to a truly Montessori classroom, you will see children working quietly throughout the room. They are all enjoying what they are learning and having fun. I know this will not work for every child, but my kids love it!

Have you been to Charleston, SC and savannah, GA? You could stay at Kiawah or one of the other islands.

My son is almost 7. He usually prefers a shower, but he needs some assistance!

Our God wants to heal us. We are all damaged human beings, damaged by our own sins and those of others. I often find it easier to forgive others (even for horrible things) than to forgive myself. God has given me such great gifts, but I still constantly let him down. I realized one day that there are two reasons why I fail to forgive (myself and others): pride and anger. True humility is knowing that you are not worthy of the forgiveness of God, yet accepting his mercy. Pride can work in mysterious ways. A type of false humility is not accepting your own faults. We think that we should be better, be perfect even. This is a type of pride that I really suffered from. There have also been some instances where anger has kept me back. I was so angry at the actions of myself or others that I couldn't truly let it go. I obviously don't know your situation, but let me just give an example. Let's say I had an abortion when I was younger. I might not be able to forgive myself due to pride (i.e. I should have never gotten into that situation. These types of things only happen to "bad" people. I should be perfect.) or anger (i.e. My boyfriend sort of pushed me into it and I am still mad at him. I am angry because I felt like I had to do it because my parents would have reacted really badly. I am angry because I didn't have anyone to help me through this situation. I am angry at myself for taking the easy way out.) I am Catholic and I truly love the Sacrament of Reconciliation. There is so much cleansing from being completely forgiven by God. However, I think a Protestant can also seek this total forgiveness. Tell God (out loud) how sorry you are for what you did. Do some sort of reparation. For example, if you had an abortion (like above), do 10 hours of pro-life work. Be resolute that you will not commit this sin again (it seems like you already are there). Even after God has forgiven you, you must forgive yourself. You must heal from whatever happened. Sure you sinned, but there were probably other hurtful circumstances going on as well. You need to pray for God to heal you and to help you to be released from this pain. This might be a long process, but God will heal you. I truly believe that we only find God in the present. When we are dwelling in regret of the past or in anxiety over the future, we are not living with God. This is the territory of the enemy. What better for the enemy than to keep you from truly internalizing the forgiveness that God has granted you. I know this is easier said than done. Believe me when I say that I have spent many years in the past and in the future and not enough time in the present. It is a conscious choice to choose to live in the present and a habit that you can form in your life. All of this is said in love and, like I said, I don't know your situation. Just know that Jesus loves you. You are made in the image of God. He knew you before He formed you in your mother's womb. He wants to heal you of this. There is nothing that you can do to make God stop loving you. Think of how much you love your children in the limited way that humans can love and then think of the infinite love that God has for you. Let his love wash over you and heal you. Let God take this cross from you. Offer up your suffering over this to God to use how he sees fit and leave your sin at the foot of his cross. He died for your sins. Accept the grace and forgiveness he is offering you! I will pray for you.

I think Gatto needs to be read in light of his life. This is a man who left a high paying job to work in the public school system to try to change the lives of kids. He fought the system and really tried to "educate" kids instead of "school" them. I don't agree with all of his ideas, especially about the Puritans. However, he is passionate about a subject that many people try to dismiss out of hand. I have to appreciate his tenacity. His book Weapons of Mass Instruction is a much better book IMHO. I did not realize all of the problems with public schooling until very recently in my life. I didn't realize all of things that I had been "socialized" to believe. It was very hard for my to overcome some of the programming I received in PS (excessive tolerance for all lifestyles no matter how sinful they may be, thinking that having more than 1 or 2 kids was irresponsible for the environment, extreme feminism where I had to try to be the same as a man, thinking that happiness comes from material success, thinking that I would never have an abortion but I can't tell someone else what to do, thinking that sex was almost mandatory before marriage, thinking you should focus on being happy and get rid of anything in your life that doesn't make you feel good, etc). These things were deeply embedded in me. On top of that, I didn't realize how pathetic my education was. I went to a great college and a top law school, but I have not been educated. Most of my education came from reading great books on my own time. Now that I am preparing to teach my kids, I realize that I have to teach myself first. I just started Analytical Grammar. At age 36, I finally understand what an adverb is! Things have gotten much worse since I was in school. I teach faith formation at our parish. I work mostly with middle school and high school kids. We will often be discussing a passage of Scripture and I will use the Socratic method to try to get kids to go deeper into the meaning of the passage. They cannot and will not do this, even the gifted kids. One time I even had a gifted 8th grader say, "Just tell me what I am supposed to think." That was the scariest sentence I have ever heard. These kids have been conditioned not to think for themselves. In high school, they are given a sheet of paper for every class that tells them exactly what they need to know for the final (although most of the kids don't have to take the final and can choose to keep their grade as long as they didn't miss too many days of school). The best and brightest of our future leaders have not been taught to think or to create. It is a very scary situation. So, I would not throw Gatto out just because he is extreme. He lived this. I know many people who have gone to war who are extreme because they lived it. It is hard for us to understand what they went through. It is the same for Gatto. He presents things in a way that is most shocking because he is trying to open the eyes of people who refuse to see things as they really are. We don't need to be shocked because most of us already have open eyes. However, he has a lot of great things to say. I will not, however, be dropping my 4 year old off downtown in London and having them find their way home... :crying: As far as Alfie Kohn, his book Punished by Rewards is an excellent read. The first half of the book was extremely enlightening to me. I really disagreed with his solutions, but I think the book is worth reading just for the first half. It is very well researched.

Could each of the kids get a disposible camera (or use their parent's phone) to take pictures in the museum. Then they could make some kind of a scrapbook (or poster) where they put the pictures and some information about whatever is in the picture. Or they could draw if they like that more. My kids love taking their own pictures. They could even present them to each other if you meet regularly.

I went to a talk at a homeschool convention last spring that was given by a college professor (one of the Lukeion Project founders). She said that homeschooled children were, in general, so much more prepared academically for college. She also homeschools her children with her husband. She did say that there were a few areas that homeschoolers need to work on. The main one she discussed was scheduling and deadlines. She said that, as moms, we tend to allow our children to waver on deadlines or not even set them at all. She said, by high school, we need to be serious with deadlines to prepare them for college. I think that it is great that he is facing this now at age 10 and not at age 18 in college (where a slip-up could cause a failure in a class). I think this is a great learning experience for him. It is good that he was mortified. Sometimes shock is necessary. :tongue_smilie: That said, I think that he needs help with this situation. I think you need to sit down with him and make a plan with him to tackle this. He is only 10. You can get him a calendar with the deadlines written on it and break things up. If he has a test in two weeks, he can put that he will study for 15 minutes every day this week and then 30 min every day next week. Or he could make flashcards today and review them tomorrow, etc. I think he needs to learn these skills and they don't come naturally. That said, I am a little concerned for when my kids start taking online classes or go to college. I teach in such a different way than most trained teachers would teach (since I follow a very CM methodology). What is going to happen when my kids have to memorize things (other than Latin declensions and conjugations)? Could they hack it in a traditional educational environment? It's something I need to consider too. BTW, what class is he taking?

This is so true. I was planning on starting myths next year (second grade). My daughter was doing a Cupid handwriting sheet and they were asking who Cupid was. I had a nice illustrated version of Cupid and Psyche. So, we started reading it. In the typical CM style, I just read a few pages and then set it aside for several days (this is much more than a picture book). Anyway, my kids have been begging to read this. After a two minute explanation that the Greeks and Romans believed in a lot of gods because they didn't know that there was just one God, John Paul seemed OK with that. Later that day, he said, "I don't want to marry someone unless they believe in the real God." Good enough for me! :coolgleamA: I do think a lot of people are way too careful about things like this and really restrict their kids in a detrimental way IMHO. As far as the snobbery...I use a CM/Classical method in a town where Abeka is the only way to homeschool. I honestly just don't talk about methods and, when asked, I just say that I am eclectic and use a lot of different curricula. I have a couple of close friends that I hang out with a lot. I am more open with them and she is very open to similar methods. But mostly I just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave. :seeya: I don't think it is worth it to get into a disagreement with anyone. To each his own.

My kids really love the Thornton Burgess animal books. Here is one of them. The chapters are only 2 pages long! Plus, there are pictures you can copy and let the kids color while they read. We always read 1-2 chapters of these books when the kids are eating their snack before bed. My husband loves these books too! We also always read a chapter book while the kids eat lunch. Here are some more of our favorites: My Father's Dragon Boxcar Children series (the first few are really excellent, but there are a few duds) Winnie the Pooh stories Stuart Little Various folktales and fairy tales Mr Popper's Penguins A Bear Called Paddington James Herriot Treasury (don't judge it by the first story!)

We are definitely teaching Latin in our homeschool. I started teaching myself Latin about a year ago and LOVE it. I was actually upset that I had never learned it before. I think teaching a modern language is great (we do a little German since I speak it fairly well), but I will teach Latin for completely different reasons than why I teach German. Here is an article to read that explains why. The second half is in the current MP magalog so I guess they will post it later. Honestly, I think that Latin is the best way to teach grammar since it is such an ordered language. Much of our language is also based on Latin so that is very helpful as well. You also learn it based on the grammar which is a completely different way of learning a language. So, I think it is really up to you. I wouldn't do it to keep up with the neighborhood kids, but I think there are many, many great reasons to teach Latin and with the MP programs you really don't need any prior experience. Just keep a week ahead of your child's lessons!

Wow. That was uplifting. I read the other blog that was cited. The part about everyone learning from home on computers scared me a little. I sort of feel like states are offering free online programs to homeschoolers in order to control what we teach. That might make me sound paranoid, but I have been reading Weapons of Mass Instruction so I am open to conspiracies right now.

They cover the first two conjugations in first form one. I would do first form one and move more quickly through the review sections. You can always call MP. They are very helpful.

I think that our society is obsessed with specialization. I remember a Circe talk by John Hodges where he says that he is a music professor, but that the art history professors won't talk to the music professors even when they share a building. It seems to me that there is too much focus on specialization even in the PS. They do Chemistry with a chemistry teacher, English with an english teacher, etc. There is no overlap. I personally want to raise up whole children who are fully formed. I want their lives to be integrated. I also believe that kids need to be exposed to a wide variety of activities and subjects to find out what their passion is. Of course, I think kids should be given ample time to follow a passion. This is one of the pluses of homeschooling. We have more time in the day for this! My son LOVES gymnastics. He spends a lot of time each day flipping around. He also loves coloring and art so he spends a lot of time doing this. But we still do math, science, literature, etc... I think we need more fully educated people in this world and fewer specialists, but that is just my opinion...

I think that our society is obsessed with specialization. I remember a Circe talk by John Hodges where he says that he is a music professor, but that the art history professors won't talk to the music professors even when they share a building. It seems to me that there is too much focus on specialization even in the PS. They do Chemistry with a chemistry teacher, English with an english teacher, etc. There is no overlap. I personally want to raise up whole children who are fully formed. I want their lives to be integrated. I also believe that kids need to be exposed to a wide variety of activities and subjects to find out what their passion is. Of course, I think kids should be given ample time to follow a passion. This is one of the pluses of homeschooling. We have more time in the day for this! My son LOVES gymnastics. He spends a lot of time each day flipping around. He also loves coloring and art so he spends a lot of time doing this. But we still do math, science, literature, etc... I think we need more fully educated people in this world and fewer specialists, but that is just my opinion...

I understand exactly what you mean. I want our faith to be a huge priority, but I also don't feel the need to discuss religious imagery during math. :closedeyes: I don't use Seton so I can't comment exactly. However, it has to be good for her to constantly see these images even if you don't discuss them. I have found that the best ways to incorporate our faith into our learning are these (and I am also Catholic): Follow the liturgical year. We celebrate a few saint's days each month. These threads are AWESOME. Also, I have a liturgical year cookbook and use this website. We read picture books about the saint or a story about them in a compilation. Go to daily Mass. We only have daily mass 2-3 times a week so I try to go when they have it. Family prayer. We try to pray a decade of the rosary or some other prayer every night (but it happens more like 3 times a week). We also pray the Angelus at noon daily. We read a lot of the Neumann Press books and other stories about Saints. I think you were trying to do something else with this post so here is my real answer. :lol: One of the things I am realizing after two years of homeschooling is that I am pretty much completely rejecting the school model. I was expecting this at all. I do an almost completely CM homeschool (and classical). I even have some unschoolish leanings which really, really surprises me. :eek:

I also recommend Poetic Knowledge. It is an excellent book (although I am not even half way through reading it). Another wonderful book is Four Cultures of the West. I am currently reading this as well and nothing has enlightened me more than this book when it comes to understanding why our schooling differs so much from the way that I want to homeschool. It is a decidedly Catholic book so you might want to take that into consideration if you don't want that. It is an excellent book though!

I completely agree. Sometimes it actually helps with a new subject when you have read a book or story about that time period or place.

I have also found these videos to be wonderful. I also suggest reading CM's sixth book: Philosophy of Education.

I use almost completely CM methods and since we have switched, our homeschool is so much more relaxed and my kids are learning so much. I am doing a very classical version of CM (not much different than her education since she did a basically classical education). My kids will definitely learn Latin and probably learn Greek. We will read books about Ancient Greece and Rome. I think the two can be combined very well. Although I don't think you can do WTM the CM way. They are pretty different. I hope that you find the balance you want! This is an awesome blog. Also, I love the booklists at Mater Amabilis, HUFI, and Ambleside. I absolutely love Simply Charlotte Mason. I just found the Tanglewood site. This is a great mix of Classical and CM.

My son is almost done with RS B. We do Ray's New Intellectual Arithmetic once a week for word problems. We also do Miquon almost daily for extra practice. We also play the math games from RS to learn math facts. That sounds like a lot of math, but it isn't really. We do RS for about 20 min 4X week, miquon 3-4X a week for about 5 min (1 side of a sheet), and Ray's 1X a week for about 10 min (1 section of word problems). We do the Ray's orally. I could see how using SM CWP would be a good idea.

I am using it for pre-K with my daughter right now. She just turned 5. I wouldn't wait. My son started first grade with Miquon Red.