"Do you want me to put you two into an arena and let you fight to the death?" My 2 boys were fighting and bickering all through lunch. At the height of it, I just blurted this out. (We had just finished studying gladiators a few weeks ago.) They both stopped their bickering and looked at me. My 3year old then said, "What's an arena?"

To the OP, if you are concerned, just send in more than once receipt with homeschool purchases. Their website does say that dated curriculum receipts can be submitted as verification. I just purchased the Creative Suite a week ago with two receipts. Also, as a "just-in-case" measure, I submitted a pdf copy of the summary of my state's homeschool laws on which I added notes and highlighted the parts that back up why I am qualified to homeschool and why I am not submitting a letter of intent as part of my verification (my son is young enough that I don't need to submit one to the district yet). My documents were accepted and I received my serial numbers and the downloads within a day. If you have problems, contact their customer support. Good luck!

I love the idea of the kids having their own book of masterpieces. I'm going to be starting this in a few weeks... can't wait!

Thanks for the ideas! It sounds like it's easy enough to rearrange RSO to fit in with the schedule in ES. I think my kids will like the mixture of the two programs. I think the key with science (and with homeschooling in general) is to stay flexible to the kids' interests, right? Even so, I try to have a general schedule for my own sense of order. :)

For those of you who are using both Elemental Science and RSO, what does your week look like? How do you schedule both together... Do you do science every day? Do you alternate between the two? Do you do both in the same day? Do you try to line the topics up or just follow each book separately? How long does the science portion of your day take? Sorry about all the questions. I am planning on using Elemental Science-Bio for Grammar Stage and RSO Life- Level 1. Any advice from those who've done this before would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

If you want resources for songs and finger plays, timberdoodle.com sells a "Music Box" that has a whole collection of them. It's a little pricey though, so you may want to just look online if you only need a few ideas. I've seen a lady on YouTube do some too. Her channel is called "CullensABCs". Hope this helps!

A lot of people posted that TOG was overwhelming. Did you find this to be the case? Did you have to do a lot of planning beforehand? I really liked the materials and activities that I saw for the rhetoric stage, so I was thinking of using it later on. Maybe I should take another look at what is there for LG again...

My older child was vaccinated on schedule, but for my second I decided to not do some of the shots and then spread out the others that we did decide to do. He did not receive more than 2 each time. Ask your pediatrician if they can work out an alternative vaccine schedule that is more spread out. I agree that the load can be difficult for such a small baby to handle all at once. It may help if you spread it out by at least a few weeks... My son got his at least a month apart. If you feel your pediatrician puts too much pressure on you that you feel uncomfortable, then you may want to change pediatricians. When you look for a new one, interview them and ask if they would allow for alternative vaccine schedules.

What a great and inspiring thread! One of the things we do is surround our kids with books, and try not to buy too many toys. We tell stories, pray, sing songs, go on outings and spend a lot of time together. My dh works early hours and is home by early afternoon, so we have tons of family time together. I wish I could say that I'm always setting a good example though. My biggest struggle is trying not to raise my voice. I was raised in a family where there was a lot of yelling... I'm trying not to pass on this sin to my children. I am humbled and inspired by this thread to be more consistent in giving my kids a positive example to follow. My kids are still young, so it's not too late... Keep the pearls of wisdom coming!

I agree that seeing it is more important than reading it. Seeing a performance brings Shakespeare to life. Reading it (without having seen it) may lead to frustration if a student who is new to Shakespeare gets too caught up in trying to figure out his language. That said, to get the most out of Shakespeare at the higher levels, I would watch it, read and analyze the text, and act it out. I also believe that the reading of Shakespeare should be done aloud... Hearing it makes a difference in understanding it too.

You can do a quiz about how well the guests know the couple. Another variation that my bridesmaids did for me at my shower, is to quiz the bride about how well she know her groom and how he would respond to some questions... It takes some planning. First you would ask the groom some questions (where did you first meet? Where was your first date? What quality of hers do you love the most? What do you thinks her favorite color?) There can be some tougher questions too... (if you were to describe her as a color, which color would she be?) So, then at the party, if she gets it right, she gets a point, if not, a penalty or minus a point.

This is what we have done so far... -Switch out our shampoos, facial and body soaps, lotions, detergents, and cleaners for ones with natural ingredients and without sodium laurel sulfates, parabens, perfumes, and other chemicals. If it has too many ingredients, especially ones that we can't pronounce, we don't buy it. -start using non-fluoridated toothpaste -get a water filtration system that will remove fluoride as well as the other contaminants from our drinking and cooking water. - no more microwave use, we reheat by steaming - no more hairdryers - instead of Tupperware, we use glass for food storage - Eat organic. More salads and green shakes than meat, (eat more raw foods than before) - cook using lower heat in stainless steal cookware - avoid overly processed foods and opt for whole foods -avoid white flour products and white rice ( processed and stripped of nutritional value) - choose cotton over polyester in bedding - no more sunscreen... Try to boost vitamin d levels with supplements and sun exposure - look up natural home remedies first when there is an illness - get a naturopath pediatrician who won't push antibiotics or certain vaccines on our kids. I'm sure there's a whole lot more we can do, but baby steps has brought us here so far.

So many great ideas here! I'm going to have to bookmark these for sure! The hard part is choosing one to implement... Then again, if after a year I decide to change to a different system, I'm sure my kids will welcome something new at that point.

My ds5 has been listening to Hide Em In Your Heart as part of HOD-LHFHG and he really likes it. Each song is preceded by a brief introduction and a child's recitation of the verse. The tunes themselves are short and catchy. Since it worked well, I bought vol.2 to do later on as well. I haven't heard the others, so I can't comment on those. Hope this helps.

I think I will first try what you have been doing lately-- 3 days of MM and 2 days of MEP and the next week: 2 days of MM and 3 days of MEP. Plus Miquon daily... We'll see how it goes and adjust as necessary. I like the idea of having the teacher manual on the iPad. Thanks for giving me a time reference. I'm glad it won't take the entire 45 minutes that is on the lesson plans. That's great advice! I have to keep reminding myself that this is the benefit of homeschooling-- we don't need to finish in ___ time, because everything should be individualized. Thanks for all the advice, guys!

Adding to Cleopatra's post... I used to teach high school English, and when we studied this book, I had the students analyze each of the battles, looking at the preparations (whether or not Beowulf wore armor, selection of weapons, who he brings into battle with him), speeches, and outcomes (including rewards). Basically when Beowulf trusts God and gives glory to God, he wins easily. When he starts to take pride in his power and wealth (hence taking glory for himself), he has less confidence (as seen in his armor, weapon choice and who he takes to battle with him) and struggles in battle. His burial at the end is a pagan one. I would probably not teach this to young kids because of the violence. This would be worth studying at the high school level when the student has 1) the maturity to handle the imagery, 2) the analytical skills to pull out Christian themes and distinguish them from pagan ones, and 3) a better understanding of the historical context to validate the work as something worth studying. The OP's question-- is there any Christian value in reading Beowulf?-- would make a good essay question or discussion topic for someone in the Rhetoric Stage.

AO and SCM both have schedules of artists and composers for such studies. AO also includes lots of free online resources and tips. I haven't done these yet, but would like to incorporate them into our schedule this year. I wish I had artist and composer studies as part of my own education... I'm excited to be able to learn alongside my kids!

How do you schedule your weeks? Do you do 2 days each of MM and MEP (alternating) and one day of Miquon? Or do you do a little Miquon each day on top of one of the other two? I don't plan on lining up any of the program contents... Do you think that will be ok? Or would it confuse the kids? Also, since MM and MEP are both complete programs, how long did it take to finish both? If you alternate days, did you change the pacing (1 MEP lesson per day, 1-2 pages of MM a day) in order to finish in a year? Lastly, how long does it take a student to go through all of the Miquon books? I read somewhere that it's roughly 2 books a year, but I've also read that some kids finish Miquon before starting another program (which suggests that they finish it faster?). I know Miquon is discovery math, and the pacing is really up to the child, but I just want to get an idea of how long others have taken to complete the program. Thanks for helping this newbie out!

That's a great idea! Thanks!

Look into AAT (advanced allergy therapeutics) or NAET. Google them and go get your allergies eliminated. http://Www.allergytx.com has a list of clinics worldwide as well as a description of the treatment. It is worth a try. I had pretty bad allergies to pollen and had them eliminated (or at least drastically reduced) a couple years ago. My 5yo nephew had his dust allergy eliminated in one session, and it hasn't come back! Seriously, it's worth a try! Also you may want to read Raymond Francis' book- Never Be Sick Again. He had a ton of sensitivities and allergies also, but by changing his diet and lifestyle (mostly switching out the products he uses) he was able to get better.

I like #2...be patient and assume student is doing his/her best. I also have to remember that sometimes fidgeting does not mean my child is not listening...

Wow, these are all great ideas. I'm definitely going to implement many of them this year as I start out. Thanks for sharing... Keep em coming!

Wow! I'm bookmarking this. Thanks for the link!

Thanks for sharing this! What a great idea to implement the classical method of learning to Bible time. I also like the personal notebook idea. Definitely want to implement this at home... Better yet, to have my husband do it. We've been talking about having him lead a family devotions time, and this sounds very doable. Thanks!!!

After reading more of what your situation is, I want to repost and suggest the Needak Rebounder again. Look into it. Seriously, this thing has health benefits like you wouldn't imagine. It is exercise that begins at the cellular level, because it is bringing oxygen to all of your cells (with very minimal effort on your part). All you need to do is hop on and gently bounce for a couple minutes at a time to start receiving benefits. There's a book that comes with it called, "Rebounding for Better Health". The Table of Contents lists the following under the subheading "Therapeutic rebounding"-- Arthritis, Cancer, Cardiovascular Concerns, Chemical Sensitivities, Constipation, Diabetes, Edema, Incontinence, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Osteoporosis, Sagging, bagging & Wrinkling, Varicose Veins, Vision, and Weight Loss. It improves digestion, kidney, spleen and functions as well as your immune system, circulation, stress management, etc. Research it and see what you can read about it. You may also want to read Raymond Francis' book: "Never Be Sick Again" and check out his website: http://www.beyondhealth.com for more help. A lot of what he says makes sense.