About a year ago- my kids would have been 12 and 13- I noticed they were reading the newspaper more- especially my oldest, and I just had her write a paragraph or two about an article that interested her. Sometimes I would pick an event for her to research, and I still do. My son has been a bit slower to take notice in the world around him in that way, but he is watching documentaries more and he is also reading newspaper articles more. I find having the newspaper delivered and sitting on the kitchen table- and both dh and I discussing articles we read in it- just slowly brings that awareness of current affairs into our kids' lives. I wouldn't try and force it with a younger child though. I think they need to be protected from traumatic news and horror until their nervous systems are more developed, and they naturally start developing a curiosity. I prefer the newspaper to a news show also because of the horror that is often on the news- its too much when seen visually, but easier to manage and digest in print form.

I find that self regulation is very difficult for my kids- teens now- and releasing restrictions only increases screen time to an unreasonable extent. I recently cracked down- on myself as well as them. It feels much better for us all. My rule for a long time was an hour a day M-F and 2 hours Saturdays and Sundays. However I wasn't good at monitoring that- I have made sure I am strict on monitoring it again and everyone is happier.

Well, we are not even Christian and we loved it. When I pre-read it for my kids last year, I couldn't put it down! They loved it and they are not too keen on Christian books. But I give you complete permission to have your own taste in books :)

What I discovered is that my kids have great reading comprehension...they can narrate things they read back to me beautifully. BUT, I realised they didn't know how to do those reading comprehension tests. So we bought some reading comprehension workbooks and learned how to fill out the questionnaires and write answers that were going to please the examiner. I think it's a separate skill, and one that nees practice for a kid to whom it doesn't come naturally.

Here in Australia everyone makes nicknames out of peoples' names. Sometimes they are quite rude or wierd or bizarre, but its a friendly thing. I personally don't make a big deal out of it. I recently changed my name back to my birth name, which is Susan. I get all sorts of nicknames..I don't mind. But some people find it hard to remember my name change and some just refuse to change it until I gently remind them. What to do. Sometimes I think things like that are just a message from the universe to stop taking yourself so seriously and loosen up a bit. My kids get called nicknames by their friends. We didn't choose their nicknames for them and that's part of their interaction with the world. I personally think its a form of endearment that people make up nicknames.

Boring.

I had started homeschooling my 7 and 9 year olds a few months before I found TWTM. I was torn between the different philosophies of homeschooling, but was feeling drawn to Charlotte Mason and heading that direction. But then I found TWTM (after reading all the CM people saying bad things about it) and I was immediately certain it was for me. I think what appealed was the high academic standard, but presented in such an organised way- it has meaning, not just random ideas. I had also learned some Latin and some classical literature at school and so I didnt feel immediately intimidated by them. I think it was mainly that I just couldnt imagine giving my kids a better education- this was the ultimate! Since then I have made many changes and I am one who changes things around every year and keeps things interesting for us, and personalised for us. But TWTM is a continual inspiration and I have enjoyed the posts recently about the recent conference, and the 3rd edition of the book.

The class we started Cambridge in had some 9 year olds and I think some 9 year olds would be capable of starting Cambridge at home, as long as you didn't have a preconceived idea of a fast pace. It can be done quite slowly and still be engaging, because the stories are interesting.

I have a policy to only accept requests from people I know IRL. So I have even had requests from people I know through message boards, but i dont accept them.

I think it depends a lot on the pattern of the parent. I am an early riser and energetically done by the afternoon. If I allowed my kids to follow their own inner clock, one wouldnt be up till 11am, and the other would be maybe 8. But it just wouldnt work for me, and I am the key. Their rising time is 7. I like SWB's thoughts on scheduling and afternoon rest times etc, but my kids have afternoon activities, friends on the street after school, one has a job, etc, and so it just works for us to keep to "school hours" to a fair extent. *I* have an afternoon rest time of 1-2 hours, but my kids keep doing their work so that by 3pm they are free to do other things. They dont disturb my rest time, so it works for us all. No way could we get back to work after a rest time for us all- with neighbourhood kids knocking on the door etc. We don't do school all year for the same reason- too much else is happening during the holidays. its a great concept, and in different circumstances- like if we lived in the country- we might do it- but it just wouldnt work here.

Dd14 plays maybe half an hour a day, but its not something I control or make a fuss over, because for us, music is recreational and for love, not "work". Dd has reached a level where the pieces she plays are lovely to listen to, and she will often just spontaneously sit down and play during the day. Ds13 plays piano but is only a beginner so his 10-15 minutes daily practice are not so relevant. But he has played classical recorder for 5 years now and is playing at a high level. He still only practices that for 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week. It sure doesn't sound much, but his teacher, a retired very professional elderly lady who taught recorder for her whole career, has always said its far more important that he have a focused practice, than the amount of time. He progresses well, even with that minimal practice. And I was like that as a child too. Yes, with more practice, they would get further faster, but that is not our priority. No one here is going to be a professional musician, even though we are all musical. Its all about the love of it.

Dd14 is homeschooled largely because by age 9 we could see this was going to be a major issue for her and we didnt want to "lose her" to her peers. Now she is older, it is an issue, but one we work with. She is an extroverted, playful, loving teen who wants to be accepted by her peers, and definitely not just her homeschooled ones. Trouble is, her Scouting peers (Scouts is mixed sex here) go to parties where there is alcohol, and they range in age from 14-18. The answer is simply no, she can't go. But certainly, these issues come up for homeschoolers too.

If its worth $100, I would try ebay. I am a big chucker myself (I just gave away boxes of books I could have sold but its just not worth the time, trips to the post office, unreliable buyers who dont pay for weeks etc ). But for a one off item worth $100, I would sell it.

I let things go like that, unless bringing it out from the back of the closet inspires me to start it again.

My first labour started with waters breaking on the Saturday afternoon, very mild contractions till the Sunday evening when the hospital called me in and induced me. Dd was born at 1am on the Tuesday morning. I think the issue is more whether the baby is in stress. Dd never was, the whole labour. She was 3.5 weeks early, too. Ds was born in 90 minutes, and had muconium which meant he was stressed.

It seems like they eat non stop. I am trying to implement only 1 snack time between breakfast and lunch, but my ds13 is growing rapidly and is hungry at least once an hour! I am trying to implement a rule because dd14 is too sedentary to snack so much as she has been. But mainly, they snack on fruit so its not too bad. We dont have biscuits or sweet snack foods in the house.

I dont fall into the category at all, but I can understand people coming here....its just a darn good place for homeschoolers to hang out. I am not aware of any other boards as good as these even for general homeschooling conversation. And perhaps the classical flavour actually contributes to that, especially for people who have a high standard but dont subscribe to the classical model for various reasons. Just musing.

Until this year I could never get my son to do workbooks. He has LDs and reading the instructions was a huge issue. This year, finally, he seems to be able to manage them much better.....so I am taking advantage of it!

I am not going to be of much help, but I use Ambleside because its free and I can tweak it as much as I like, or use just parts of it, mix and match with TWTM, LCC, whatever. I haven't seen the other programs you mention because I think you have to pay for them? I am using the AO/HEO year 7 this year because I have always wanted to try AO and this year lined up with our medieval history year, and everyone says year 7 is a good year. We are loving some of teh books, and others we dropped. I tweak everything. I dont use all the AO methodology because I have teens, although I have used plenty of it over the years- copywork, dictation and narrations galore. I tried the schedule and I didnt like it much so I made my own. As you can see, buying a program just wouldnt work for me :)

I do my own planning but I still find that many subjects don't involve much planning. Most of my planning involves coordinating history and literature, and writing assignments related to them. Other than that, its just fitting it all together into some sort of schedule and timetable. I sit down during holidays with all the books around me and line up pages and topics etc and write it all down on paper, then transfer it into a page in Word on the computer.

If you were going to use Cambridge you would go to Book 4 i think- because you would have learned all the grammar already. I don't know about Henle.

I am sure Laura will chime in but I think she was intending on going to Cambridge 4 after SYRWTLL3. It is a reading program and so promotes fluency. We have already used Cambridge a lot before LP so if we get that far in Latin Prep, we will probably use Cambridge 4 too.

I have been utterly spoiled! I received a beautiful drum, which I had vaguely been wishing for and must have mentioned. But then at swap meet this morning my dh also bought me a medieval dress and cape (we are into the SCA). But the biggest surprise for me was my son. I had whispered to dh that it might be a good idea for him to help ds13 get me a present or at least make me a card- we are trying to train him to think of others more and he had never done anything for me before. Ds wasn't happy about being asked- probabyl felt embarrassed, but then when we got home from swap meet he called me and showed me what he bought me- the most beautiful stained glass candle lamp. Dd14 had painted me a beautiful watercolour picture and bought me a lovely card saying something like "I dont always like everything you say but I really appreciate that you believe in me!". It was sweet. I truly felt spoilt.

I seem to remember SWB suggesting indirectly that Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings was analyzing a really good book to death. (that is a year long study of LOTR with unit studies on related topics). I have always understood that SWB felt that preserving love of reading is important and over analysis of literature might destroy love of reading......however, that is still going to be different for each family and child. In our case, LLfrom LOTR was a bonding experience for us as a family- we did it mostly orally together. I dont disagree with SWB at all and I find her view very freeing...but I felt the benefits outweighed the disadvantages and I think it is important to take your own family context into consideration. We didnt analyse anything else that year.

My uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 54- given 3 months to live- when he started urinating blood and found he had a tumour on his kidney. The kidney was removed immediately and in the hospital he was busy reassuring everyone. He was a very loving man who had had some deep spiritual experiences in his life. He had been orphaned as a child and grew up in a group home. A unique man. He was Buddhist. He had also had a near death experience many years before, and had no fear of death- he knew it wasnt the end. He knew the power of love and of meditation and prayer. He signed up for an experimental treatment that was soy related- he was a terminal patient and wanted to be of service, to make his death of use. Meanwhile, he came and visited me on the other side of Australia, and phoned me every now and then just to stay in touch and tell me he loved me. I was his niece- he had a wife and adult children, and he stayed in touch with many, many people regularly, making sure we knew how much he loved us. The cancer spread to his heart. But he lived 3 years more, after being given 3 months- and he was active, though tired- the whole time. He knew for many months that he could literally die at any minute, as a piece of the cancer broke up and entered his heart. When it eventually happened, he was holding my aunts hand and he just went, in the ambulance on the way to teh hospital. Uncle had wanted his body to be left alone for 3 days, as is common in Buddhism, and the ambulance officers agreed to take him home and put him in his bed! It was truly an amazing thing to have known him. The stories I have heard of people recovering from terminal illness usually involve a life changing realisation, and complete change of heart. In his case, he just became selfless and loved as much as he could.