Trust me, it is possible to still homeschool. Lots of good posts so far, so I just want to add encouragement. We have ten, oldest is eleven and youngest is 3 months. Hard, of course, but possible if you're willing to make tough choices. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just so I am clear, are you looking for something to replace Saxons meeting program? Or are you just asking about it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What are your favorite homeschool or classical education podcasts? We are big fans of Sarah McKenzie and Quiddity, but many of the other podcasts we followed have gone dormant. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With our younger children we always prioritize history over science. The caveat is that I am referring to formal instruction. History can and should be taught early and often as a part of the classical methodology and is frankly required to pass on western civilization to my children (which I consider to be an aim of classical education, as opposed to progressive or pragmatic education that is so rampant in the school system). We do very little science with younger children, simply because the scientific method is beyond the grasp of most grammar stage children. Science at this stage should focus on nature walks and generally installing a love of nature and creation. This doesn't really take a curriculum (and there aren't many that fit the bill, anyway). Hence, I never ask questions about it on the board :) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We switched to TOG as a survival tactic. With so many children, we had to have everyone on the same subject matter, albeit at different levels. SL was perfect when we started - it gave us confidence to branch out and start with TOG two years later. In our experience, TOG has way more activities than anyone can do in a week. We can only get to ten percent of all the embodied learning and extra projects. It's pretty in depth! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have had all kinds of luck with timed math tables like you will find in the Saxon methodology. We just make it a fun competition-against-self game and celebrate like heck if they can shave a second off their best time. We started with MUS but have moved to Saxon. Saxon is much more comprehensive. Think of it as a good opportunity to teach your child to take the long view - not fun, but important.

On a classical education message board, you are unlikely to find many people who will encourage you to be an unschooler. Instead, focus on only a few subjects well (the seven liberal arts) and leave the rest by the wayside. This will cut down the time you are "doing school" and hopefully give everyone a break.

I heard on a podcast from SWB that the third edition was a significant upgrade from the second. I can't remember exactly why, but you can check out the latest Read Aloud Revival podcast if you want to hear it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We use IEW for writing in addition to RS. This starts in 4th grade for us. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amen

Our children enjoy them, but they don't fit within our "embodied learning" model where we try to integrate as many subjects as possible. In the case of geography, this is primarily done in conjunction with the history being studied at the time. Hence, the Daily Geography workbook is only used as extra drill work about once or twice a month.

R&S would be our choice. In addition, we find that dictation exercises do wonder for spelling. It helps contextualize the exercise.

The Dangerous Book for Boys has a great chemistry set - our boys really enjoyed the demonstrations.

What about keeping them from picking at scabs? Does that impact it? I always heard it did, but it might have been mom's scare tactic...

If it's legal in your area, and you are confident that their worldview will not negatively impact your children, then I think it's a great idea. We might be able to afford it, but I am not confident to find a person I want teaching my children.

Plenty of nudity, but nothing inappropriate. Your children will follow your lead on how to handle illustrations like this.

We love the idea of lap books and did them plenty when we only had one child in HS. Now with seven in HS, we simply don't have time. We rely on draw and caption and coring maps as mentioned above.

We do the quiet time and it is essential with ten kids. We had to train the littles to nap and the older littles to not leave their room. For us this mostly involved allowing them to play with toys quietly in their room, nothing electronic. I would coach you to stay away from using movies or a tablet every day for this. It will turn into a habit you will want to break.

We do the quiet time and it is essential with ten kids. We had to train the littles to nap and the older littles to not leave their room. For us this mostly involved allowing them to play with toys quietly in their room, nothing electronic. I would coach you to stay away from using movies or a tablet every day for this. It will turn into a habit you will want to break.

We are fans of the Apologia method, although we generally choose to skip the experiments. Science in the classical model in the grammar stage is about installing a live for nature and learning basic facts and classification. Apologia does great with this. We especially appreciate the notebooking approach that allows kids some good interactive time to drive home the lessons. We started with Botany, but I think most start with Zoology.

DH goes to work and is surrounded all day by women who are dressed to the nines. Our belief is that it's important for DW to be out of PJ's in time for DH's arrival home in te evening. Even before that, not getting dressed sends a message to the kids that we aren't taking our day seriously. Part of training them to be successful adults includes a morning routine of cleaning up, doing chores, and getting dressed for the day. I know not everyone shares our views on this, but it seems to work so far! DH certainly appreciates it... :)

Congratulations on the wonderful news of a new baby! Aren't aurprise blessings wonderful? From the big picture, the most important thing you can do is act excited about your new child in front of your other children. They will follow your lead on how to think about new life (as in, is it an oops or an unexpected blessing?). Second thing is to recognize that you can choose to virtually no "schooling" with dd3. That is very young to do anything besides start phonics and read beautiful literature out loud to your family. Even if you had dreams of making vast swaths of progress through kindergarten material with dd3, this is the time to step back from that and recognize that goal is no longer viable withy your new, beautiful baby joining you. As a family of ten children (seven from K-6 and three littles, including a newborn), here are some other tips: 1 Go minimal on courses. All your kids NEED at this point are math, reading and literature. Everything else is optional for a first grader. Mastering these three will go farther than mostly mastering many courses. As Christopher Perrin teaches: "multum non multa." "Much not many." 2. Teach your youngest to play on their own in their room. Can they play without you around? That is frankly necessary to our survival right now. It takes training (read: crying), but it is worth it now and in the future. 3. Audio CDs of beautiful literature (AA Milne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Beatrix Potter) can give you a break while teaching great vocabulary and cadence. Hopefully these help. It is very difficult, but everything that is worth attaining is difficult to attain. You will look back with fondness on this time.

Long Story Short and Old Story New are really fantastic. We do them as a family but they can easily be done alone with a strong reader.

Chalk board Chalk Crayons Colored pencils Wood no 2 pencils Sharpener Spiral notebooks Printer paper White drawing paper Printer/copier/scanner plus ink Manila folders and banker boxes to hold anything not in the notebooks Laptop for mom and dad

Our preference is to grade right away, but logistically with seven in school at home this is impossible. Almost all of the grading/revising is saved for DH in the evenings.