This year I've taken my kids to... 1. A Patrick Dougherty stickworks sculpture at a local college campus (free) 2. The Rembrandt exhibit at our state's Art Museum. 3. The state History Museum and the state Natural Science Museum 4. The Titanic Exhibit at our local Science and Nature Center 5. our state Zoo. 6. (tomorrow we are going to) Mummies of the World Exhibit 7. (next week we are going to) Abraham Lincoln Exhibit at a local living history attraction 8. Colonial Life living history re-enactment 9. Several small county and city historical museums within a 90 minute radius 10. Several plays (Best Christmas Pagent Ever, Freedom Trail and Charlotte's Web) 11. Later in the spring we will go to a Raptor Center (we've been doing birds for nature study this year)

:D:party::hurray:

I'm going! I agree that the offerings aren't as good as last year BUT last year I felt torn between so many good speakers vs. wanting to spend time in the convention hall. This year, I plan on seeing several speakers and plan on buying speakers CD's for some others so that I can have a good amount of time in the convention hall.

You know, I seem to remember that when I looked at Sonlight Science several years ago I had issues with the set up. The books you read during the week do not match up with the video/experiment at the end of the week. How does that make ANY sense? For example, you might be reading about human anatomy that week but your experiment might be on simple levers or growing bean sprouts. (Not a real life example, I just remember it was something totally random like that... ) :iagree:with the others- we are another very happy Nancy Larson Science family!

Here is a great post about the cons of Classical Conversations and why the author made the switch to Tapestry of Grace. http://accidentalhomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/09/from-classical-conversations-to.html

-World history is covered- includes secular and Christian history -Geography -Fine Arts -Vocabulary -Literature -There are philosophy and government electives in the upper levels There is a writing program that goes with Tapestry. It is called Writing Aids- I have not used it yet as my kids are young but I have heard good things about it. I think the level of difficulty you will face will be determined by your natural teaching bent and your child's natural learning style. If you & your children are already naturally inclined towards living books & reading out loud, you will probably have an easier transition. Also, I think it is critical to understand that you cannot do it all- this program is *designed* as a buffet- they are giving you many options to pick & choose from- most people who I see burn out on TOG do so because they try to do it all. You really must be comfortable with cherry picking! I think this article is a must read in order to understand Tapestry, how it was designed, where it is coming from, etc. http://tapestryofgrace.com/blog/2011/03/homeschooling-in-hard-times-money-and-books-part-i/ Here is a quote from that article: What does this history lesson about Tapestry mean to you? Well, understanding how we got to the current organizational framework for Redesigned Tapestry of Grace should give you an “ah ha” moment! It should say to you, “Oh! I guess I don’t really need every book listed on page 4 after all! I have real choices, and they’re all good ones!” You can buy new all of the Primary Books for all learning levels and ride in a Cadillac on your homeschooling road, but you don’t need to feel like you’re sacrificing quality if you don’t. Using used books, or library Alternates will get you just as far, and often with richer scenery along the way! Taking the by-roads that unlisted books afford your family, and teaching students to do Internet research when answers are “not in the book” can develop important skills and self confidence to tackle upper-level assignments in college.

I would love that!!!

Voddie Baucham

Does anyone know if the entire episode is available online? It seems that there are only excerpts available on Oprah's website. I'd love to see it. Chaim Potok is one of my favorite authors- he wrote about Hasidic Jews.

praying here in NC!

:iagree: Our kids will not do youth group and one of our criteria when we were searching for a church was that it not have a youth group.

Another child of an airline worker- my Dad is a retired Captain from Empire then US Airways. :iagree: with this posted- we never, never check bags- not even when we went to Europe for 2 weeks.

:iagree:

Thank you both! This is the one thing I have been stressing about re: this NYC trip.

:iagree: I agree- we love our Select Comfort Sleep Number- we've had it 7 or 8 years with no problems and my Mom and her dh have had theirs over 15 years.

Okay, this is probably dumb question but what do parents of young children do when traveling in big cities and using taxis? I am assuming that they don't haul a car seat all over town, does the taxi have one? Are kids exempt from car seats when they are riding in a taxi? We are planning a trip to NY City sometime in the next year and my youngest will be 3yo. I have traveled in many big cities- NYC, Rome, London, Paris, etc. but all of that was before I had kids so I wasn't paying attention to what parents do.

We stayed slightly North of the Vatican but I wish we'd paid a little more and stayed East of the Vatican. There is so much walking to do that it would have been nice to be closer to our hotel. Also, many things close between 4pm-7pm and it was just to far to go back to our hotel. It would have been nice to be able to go backand wash up, rest for a bit, change our clothes, etc. before heading back out. Most of the restaurants open back up for dinner at 7pm. The catacombs were closed when we were there- it's the one thing I really regret missing! Be careful of going out at night- My Mom was accosted by a pack of gypsies at a bus stop and it was very frightening. The local Italians started hollering and scared them off. Get to the Vatican Museum early, early- lines can be quite long.

No way would I buy it- that woman is crazy.

But in our mobile society, how would that work? As an example- We moved from NY to NC the summer between my 9th and 10th grade years. In NY, the big "grammar" year in English is in 10th grade. In NC, the big grammar year in English is in 9th grade. So I completely missed out on all but the most basic grammar instruction. Without a national core, how do you establish requirements for graduating for highschool without making it so broad as to be useless? Our society is so mobile that I am in favor of some kind of national core standards- at the very least something that says certain subjects are taught in certain grades.

Absolutely can't stand it.

My kids are: Newly 8yo daughter (2nd grade) Newly 7yo son (1rst grade) 4 1/2 yo daughter (Preschool) 22mo. daughter (very, very busy!) 7:30-8:30am Free Play while I check email, think about dinner tonight, switch laundry, etc. Essentially get the house going for the day. 8:30-9:00 Upstairs- everyone dressed, combed, make beds, tidy rooms 9:00-11:00 Kids doing school- Preschool with Savvy while directing Mary's Language Arts, Nathan's phonics, Math for both of them, Handwriting, History & Literature 9:00-10:00 Lyra is napping. I wake her up at 10am. During that one hour I push really hard to get Language Arts, Phonics & Math done while she is asleep. 10:00-11:00 Lyra is up. We start out with her in the playpen in the schoolroom while we finish up. If it doesn't go well then we move downstairs and I take turns with Nathan & Savannah finishing their school work and being out on the deck or fenced in backyard with Lyra. So while one is finishing their work the other is out with Lyra and vice versa. Mary is working beside me all the while. 11:00 All 3 bid kids outside for playtime. I start prepping lunch. 11:30 Lyra & I eat lunch in (relative) peace & quiet. 12:00-1:00 Lunch for 3 big kids. Listen to Suzuki music. Some days I read out loud from our nature selection. Practice piano. 1:00-3:30 Big kids either outside or playing quietly in their rooms. Little girls sleeping. (During this time I am taking a quick nap, working on dinner, laundry, sweeping & mopping the *white* tile floors, other household tasks. Dh likes a neat & tidy home so I use this time to prepare for him coming home that evening.) 3:30 Up for snack, comb hair, bathroom, etc. 4:00-5:00 Finish any history or literature read alouds (1x a week), Science (2x a week), piano lessons (1x a week) 5:00 Kids either outside or watching a netflix video 5:30ish Dad home & dinner. Sometimes we will finish up school from 6:30-7:30 if it is particularly heavy week. 7:30 pj's and bed.

Beautiful testimony. Thank you for sharing!

:iagree:

I wouldn't join either. I take very good care of my books and I know that others do not always do so.

I called Right Start in a hot hover a few months ago- Right Start is our THIRD math curriculum for my 2nd grader but it is absolutely the right fit for her- she loves it! That being said, she is only on Level B. I wanted to go back to make sure she had a good foundation. The lady at RS assured me that she would be fine. B in 2nd grade, C in 3rd, D if 4th and E in 5th. Even with only finishing B this year, she'll finish the entire RS Elementary curriculum by the end of 5th grade. So I actually think that your 2nd grader being partway through C puts him a little ahead.