I'm seeing a definite theme here. :001_smile: I'm definitely appreciative of the insight. I think I just finished 10 years (one would think I would know, but I haven't had my coffee just yet. . .) But, I'm grateful for the frankness expressed here. Feel free to add more.

This is actually a question for "old-timers". When a person comes up to you and asks what they should take into consideration regarding whether or not to homeschool, what are considerations that pop in your mind?

I know this is an "old" post (couple of months anyway), but I was looking for a blog roll (I know they come out occasionally), and happened on this one. Mine is in my siggie (life, kids, school, schedules, thoughts, etc.) Looking forward to view some of yours!

Thanks, I'm looking into the suggestions, and anyone can feel free to throw more out there (like from South America?)

Well, I can't get the K9 to work. And grounding and restriction used to work, except a lot of his work now requires the use of the 'net, and I work with my other kids in another room so we don't distract him.

:lurk5:

Hi all, I'm creating a unit study for next year (studying the world). . .feeling a might bit overwhelmed. . . One of the things I would like to do is to give the parents (this is done in a co-op) who would like extra reading for their children (grades 4-5). Therefore, I'm looking for good books that relate to each "continent". Preferably stories with excellent descriptions of locales. i.e. (maybe?) Island of the Blue Dolphins (Australia & Pacific Islands) Heidi (Europe) Oh, and while I'm at it, I'm also looking for good poetry from each "continent" also. Any suggestions?

Does anyone know of a way you can ban websites for certain times? i.e. I want to ban YouTube and Facebook from 0900-1500 every day. I think I can do it through my router, but I'm not 100% sure, and I thought I would ask here to see if anyone knows of a quick and easy way to accomplish the task. Thanks.

What are you looking for? Technically you can find any outline map without copyright and take it in to your local office store and have it blown up. (I've done this many times.) Or you could go here: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps.htm and print off your own to assemble. HTH

I have been asked to teach a unit study at my co-op next year. They are looking at a "social studies" type unit study v. "literature" or "science". This year, I did Paddle to the Sea and Tree in the Trail with Beautiful Feet. I realize I could do Minn of the Mississippi and Seabird next year; however, I'd like to move on. . . Does anyone know of a good world type unit study? One that is "do-able" in a co-op setting and preferably one with a "spine" akin to the Hollings books. (A book or two that every family could purchase and read throughout the year used as a jumping point for our study.) This makes a course spine like Galloping the Globe, not practical. And I'm not sure Around the World in 80 Days will hit the mark either; yet, I'm checking on that this weekend. Have you any thoughts / suggestions?

Thought I would ask here for ideas. I co-teach economics at a co-op. ("Co-teach" implying that I'm a glorified assistant.) The main teacher has requested that I put together a year-end project that would be worth 30% of the final grade. I have some ideas: personal life plan (micro - budgeting), production (creating a good and marketing it), and investment. However, I thought it would be wise to get some other ideas. Anyone have any to throw out there?

Boys who aren't receptive. . .who'duvthunkit! (Sorry, drowning in boys here. . .) There seems to be something about mothers and sons, especially in the teen years. My theory is that partly they want to get out from under "Mama's apron". My other theory is that they are male. . . How does your husband feel about this? How does he want to handle it? Sometimes, it has to come from the man. Is your son bothered, at all, by a low B? My thought with this one is that kids have a general idea of what they believe is "acceptable", and if a B is "acceptable" to him, then anything you say is just going to be "harping". My oldest son didn't want to hear anything from me during his younger teen years. He's 19 now and out of the house, on the far side of the country, and he calls or emails at least weekly asking for advise on such and such topic. It's all stuff I covered with him before, but he turned a deaf ear because . . . Really, I'm sure it was a multitude of reasons (I'm old, female, don't have a clue myself, what's it matter to him at this juncture of his life, etc.) Having boys, and all their friends around. I've notice something very unique to men. They don't want the village. Even grown, mature men, will bristle at a village mentality. (They won't readily offer advice, get a little freaked if someone asks for it, and certainly don't want to have emotional conversations with other men.) Men tend to count their "village" as their family and they are quite content with that. I'm not saying to stop offering advice. But sometimes it really takes a special push on your part to determine where your child is and where they are coming from to find a crack and make an impact. Even then, it may just take time and maturity on their part before they can "listen".

I'm constantly distracted! Sadly, I never get distracted by something small - like send out an email in response to a requested recipe from a friend. I get distracted by another large project - like create a brand new year-long economics unit with writing assignments. Which means I'm forever dealing with a "danger zone" of the previous project which may have been "declutter the living room". And I "declutter" by throwing everything out where I can see it before putting stuff away and boxing up all the stuff to go. Truly, it's a wonder my husband has stuck with me for over 20 years. . .

We are nearing completion of a kitchen remodel. We did not do well in regards to schoolwork. I could have gone somewhere, but it seemed there were always questions that arose that the contractor had to get answers from me ASAP. (We have a 1920s house, so *something unexpected* came up on a daily basis.) A good number of questions were of the have-to-be-there-to-see-it variety. We did basics when we could, and because we are in a co-op we did all the work that was required for it. I wish you the best in your endeavor. You will probably be much more successful than I.

This is an old post, but thought I would comment. You need to first know that this course is being taught by me at a co-op (6 students in my class), and I did not have any say in the matter over the book we are using. I have never liked Notgrass (samples), so would not have purchased it to use on my own. I seriously dislike it. The kids in my class find it incredibly boring. I'm forever reading the book and then spending exhorbitant amounts of time coming up with some way to better describe concepts. In my mind it is completely set up for the memorize / file dump technique of test taking. Which, as a student I excelled at. . .however, as an instructor I would prefer my students to actually walk away with some knowledge. That said, everyone I've spoken to that has used and liked Notgrass programs in the past will probably like this one just as well.

I tried uploading a Word and a pdf version of the file -- they are both too large. If you are still having difficulties opening them from the blog site please pm me, and give me your email address, and I'll email them to you (please list your preference as to Word or pdf). Yes, the activity guides do have a correlation in there. I discovered though, that a number of chapters have you reading the same encyclopedia references again and again, while others were not getting covered at all. That drove me beserk. . .and thus explains my insane attempt to create this correlation. A previous poster is correct, the KHE is for the older red book, but the correlation lists all the topic headings, so that may allow you to "update" it quickly. Hope that helps.

right. . . Guess I forgot to say some things that are worth mentioning. It's 90 degrees today; we don't have A/C. We are talking about a remodel in August, which tends to be our hottest month. So, soup. . .isn't our best option. (Which is really too bad, as I have a lot of cold weather crock-pot meals.) I did consider freezer meals (I've never done them before). I guess my big question is how would it heat up in a microwave? I didn't mention the size of my family before (or the sheer quantity they eat), but this will be something to consider in the food plan. Maybe family dinners are going to have to go by the wayside. We have a charcoal grill. Hubby is very traditional in cooking on the grill (only meats, and only "typical" meats -- bbq or burgers). I'm willing to be creative, but I need ideas / recipes as I'm not a fly by the seat of my pants chef. I think I'm going to have a re-train myself. I only see microwaves as a re-heater, and a popcorn maker. I need my "box" reconstructed. . . My closest family member is 300 miles away, so going to cook at their house isn't an option. However, a lot of ideas I will need to look into more, so please keep them coming.

We bought our current home almost 6 years ago, and the kitchen (AKA closet) was, at the time the first thing on our to-do list, and we had some money set aside at closing. . . And then, we had a waterfall in our dining room (not intended), a gas leak, other roof leaks. . .DH decided to retire from the military and completely change careers, which required 2 years intensive study (and no income). The kitchen will require a major remodel (structure!) We had a guy come over last night, and it's looking like it's a doable project in the near future (about a month). Which means, I'm hitting planning mode, and the main thing I'm going to have to plan for 6 weeks is meals -- without a kitchen. I will have access to the frig, microwave, crock-pot and grill. (Oh, and a small freezer downstairs.) Sandwiches and salads are NOT big in my family. Oh, I know we're going to have to bite the bullet, but I'm hoping for some help??? Would it be worth it to buy something else (hot-plate / dutch oven / something?) Any recipes or ideas you wanna share??? Anything?? (desperation and pleading in my voice)

I need help! So, first let me list my "resume". I've sewn a skirt in home-ec (complete with zipper), a couple of pillows, a maternity dress, a machine-quilted "basket-weave" quilt, and my wedding dress. Notice, only one quilt. Also, notice a lack of sewing experiences, and a complete disregard for starting slow. So, my current project idea is to make a hanging quilt of the United States (political map). (Yes, we are studying American history next year.) I have asked a number of quilters that I know, and all of them say they wouldn't touch that project with a ten-foot pole. And, I don't get it. . . My idea is to cut the states (individually) and "applique" them onto the fabric. I was thinking a narrow zig-zag stitch for borders. Obviously, I will lose some detail in borders, but I still think this is do-able. . . However, as stated previously, I lack experience. Therefore, I come to you (before I start stitching), for your thoughts and wisdom. Please? Anything?

Thanks! I need all the hope I can get. . .

Oooh! Can I get a copy of your FLL 3 sched (when it's finished)? :D My boys will be in FLL 2 this year, but if I could save time on FLL 3. . .;)

I totally can relate to this!

:lol: "inexplicable" is known as "human" Thanks for pointing it out. I'll fix it on the morrow, but till then I can have a good laugh at myself for failing to identify that!

Congrats to you and your hubby too! (I just did the graduation tedium, er, ceremony. . .)

Would this fall under "advertising"? I just don't know, so I'll give it a shot. I've been getting a lot of hits on my blog recently, and all of them seem to be going to my schedules. (Which is fabulous given that is the whole reason I put them up there.) They are free and available for your use as you see fit. I do get a number of questions regarding them though, so I thought I would answer them here (most of my hits originate from this forum). They are formatted similar to SL's instructor guides. (No, I don't use SL, but I did try them once.) They are in MS Word format and easily edited. Why the detail? We were military when I started creating them, and moving frequently. I was getting sick and tired of having to re-create a system for each state we moved in, so I finally grabbed rules and regulations for each of the 50 states regarding homeschooling and found the strictest of those to use as my standard. (That was about 10 years ago, so things may have changed.) Yes, unless noted otherwise, I did create each schedule myself. (Yes, my husband groans about it; and rolls his eyes. . .) No, I did not copy the SOTW guides for the encyclopedia correlations. Yes, I did own the SOTW guides; however, my kids (and I) were getting irked with being directed to the same encyclopedia entries multiple times, and not getting to others at all. (I have no plan to update this particular piece, as I own all the "old" books.) Yes, I do take 3rd parties’ schedules that are offered and post them on my blog. I started sharing my schedules to spare other homeschool moms the grief of making them (“do unto others. . .â€); thus, it only makes sense to me to allow others to do the same. I do “vet†the schedules I receive, because I need to keep my space “cleanâ€, (it is limited after all). Therefore, I won’t post a copy of a schedule that only has minor differences. I think that covers the majority of the questions I receive. I hope all of you have a fabulous upcoming year.