My two both write mostly on the computer nowadays, which makes editing very easy. Yes, we revise. Rarely does either child need to completely restructure a writing assignment- I would consider that a failure on my part as teacher- but, grammar and punctuation, sometimes spelling errors, sometimes things are written in a way that is unclear and needs to be reworded- these still occur frequently, and I don't completely approve a paper until it is corrected. It doesn't generally take long though. I don't tend to have them write and rewrite assignments, although maybe in the future we will, although I am not sure if it will be necessary. Once an assignment is revised, I print it out.

I am not worried. However, I am keeping an eye on things, we have scanned our budget to see how much of a safety margin we have before our lifestlye has to change much, we have had a couple of conversations about the price rises and how they are affecting us already. Seems like common sense to just stay grounded to our particular situation in relationship to the changing local and world economy. But that's different from "worried". Things aren't bad enough yet to get "worried", to lose sleep over. We don't yet know how bad this is going to get. And I don't think I would be beyond getting "worried" if it got bad.

Lol, we call it mince here in Australia too. The biggest surprise to me about these local terms was 'chooks'. I answered a thread and referred to our chooks, not realising at all that American don't use that word so don't know what it is. We call KFC, Kentucky Fried Chook. We have backyard chooks. Chooks are just chooks.

I am making up my own writing program with my kids, using ideas I have gathered from different programs. But I am catering it to my kids' personalities, keeping the assignments creative rather than dry. At 4th grade, I wouldn't worry too much...maybe work on simple narrations - narrations is an important skill. But, as time goes on, he will need to learn some forms- essays, research papers. I don't think it needs to be such a big deal though. You can actually watch your own child for readiness for the next step. Here in Australia, kids in schools don't usually use writing programs. I was surprised when I started homeschooling, how commonly they are used in the U.S. Programs like TWTM, you must remember, are written to an audience that represents a wide variation of abilities. I found the lack of energy for creative writing a bit disconcerting myself, because creative writing was what made me love English as a student, and it is what makes my daughter love English, and its what gets my reluctant writer remotely enthusiastic about writing. Canned writing assignments dishearten them. It is possible to combine creative assignments with learning skills in writing, by choosing topics that the child is enthused by. I know that is what most writing programs try to do, but they cannot possibly know your own child and what floats their boat. They also cover a wide range of skills- some of which your particular child may already intuitively or naturally have mastered, or is naturally mastering with their creative writing.

Waldorf comes out of the same Classical soil that CM and all the modern neo-Classical forms spring from. They are all variations on a traditional style of education that was "normal" way back. Waldorf is a pretty rigorous education- it's nothing like unschooling . It emphasises respect for the child (like CM), sees childhood as a development through stages (like the modern Trivium does, but a different perspective), it teaches languages, it puts emphasis on studying nature (like CM), and it uses a lot of hands on and artistic expression, not in the sense of "expressing your inner self", but in the sense of honouring Beauty and the need to keep children in touch with that Beauty of life while learning their lessons- which is really a way of integrating left and right brain processes, keeping the child "whole" so to speak rather than th over-development of the left brain which is predominant in education everywhere. I have always loved Waldorf ideas and if it werent for the fact my step daughter had a bad experience with a teacher (just a personality clash) at a Waldorf school, my kids would have gone to one.

Can you do a background check on the guy? I agree that you should trust your instincts and gut feelings, however, perhaps having received the sort of responses you have here, which are overwhelmingly to leave the gym, you could let them empower you to investigate further, check with management, say something....before taking the step of removing your child/ren. And dont take your eyes off her in the class. Can she get another teacher? I must admit though, the things he has said do sound quite inappropriate, and in this day and age, people should know better - it's quite unprofessional. An adult in a teaching situation shouldn't be favouritising, or making comments about prettiness.

You mean you get time to educate yourself completely separately from your kids? :) I just read. And I read what appeals to me at the time. At the moment, I am reading Emerson's essays and loving them. I am learning history alongside my kids and thats enough for me- I see connections everywhere and so much more is making sense. But I dont have the inclination to read about the Ancient Greeks more than what my (Logic stage) kids are learning. I read and I read. I don't try and have a pattern or a schedule, because I usually get a feeling for what to read next, and I just read it. I can't predict now what I will want to read, or feel drawn to read, in 6 months time. I may be totally into something I can't even conceive now. One book at a time. (Although I have plenty more than one by my bedside, my "self education" book is usually one at a time).

Ds12 plays classical recorder, about 4th grade. He plays amazing pieces- on tenor, treble, descant and sopraninos. The recorder itself is a frequently underestimated instrument.

:iagree: Truth is they wont remember much in a few years anyway and you will wonder why you were so concerned :001_smile:

I went to a good private girl's school with a classical bent (eg we had to do a year of Latin) for much of my childhood and in many ways it was a great education.....for my mind...but not for my heart. I was not reached as a person at that school. I am fairly bohemian naturally, i think, because I always remember being like this :), but I felt completely like a fish out of water at that school. I had friends, but i felt my whole education was a waste of time, and I just wanted to grow up and be free of it all. All the constraints, other people telling me what to do. I have always had a strong sense of inner guidance, and disliked outer authority. I would have loved homeschooling, and probably being a natural learner to some extent, with some structure. I would have enjoyed putting my teenage years to more practical use, and I would have thrived if I had been allowed and encouraged to be creative. The academic stuff was all fine...we read great books (The Hobbit, The Crystal Cave, The Odyssey)...but it wasn't a balanced thing. I wasnt treated as a whole person in a wholesome way, and I really had to repress myself, who I really was, to survive in that environment where everyone seemed to have different goals to me. The kids, too. I probably would have been better off in an alternative school like a Waldorf school where individuals are more catered to, and a "head, heart, hands" approach is taken.

Never in the mornings on school days. It interferes with school too much. The kids have activities several afternoons a week so I do errands while I am out and about anyway.

I guess we all act a bit "freer" when dh is not around, because he is fairly protective and a bit of a disciplinarian. I tend to be the more funloving, free spirited adventurous parent, wheras he is the one who holds the anchor, and notices when lights are left on unnecessarily, or they are not doing their chores. He can be very strict. But he is also the present giver, the Santa Claus. He loves to buy presents and do things for us. So all in all, I think we all - me included- are a bit different when dh is around. He is much more the strong "parent" where as I tend to prefer to be more on my kids' level unless I need to slip into a stronger parent role. They are more likely to come to me to talk, to share things. But he relaly makes us all feel safe and cared for.

I read a great book something along the lines of The Dog Whisperer and it made so much sense to me, but my husband had already intuitively trained our dog that way, anyway. The gist of it is that the dog needs to be at the bottom of the pecking order in the family- it will be happiest there. So you don't let it up on the couches, because it also needs to be physically lower than everyone else, including the kids. You never let it put its teeth on skin while playing. And basically, you be pretty strict with it. Our dog is amazingly obedient, and subservient to us all. It took a couple of years of consistent training but she has never been to school. It annoys me when i see people treating their dogs like children. Dogs are happier and behave better when they are treated like dogs, and every human in the family is above the dog in the family pack. That was the gist of it, but there were probably many techniques for training that i didnt need because our dog was already well trained because my husband has no problem being the pack leader, and regularly makes sure our dog knows it! And because she is so sweet and well behaved, and tuned in to us, too, we just adore her and she gets lots of attention.

I believe its a pretty serious addiction, and you will be much healthier for giving it up, so good on you for doing it. Its toxic stuff. However, my suggestion is that you need to cut down over a couple of weeks, if you don't want to have the headaches. Its an addiction, right? Your body is freaking out. So stop slowly. Or, drink coffee or tea, with some sugar in it, to help. But do it before you get the headaches. And, drink LOTS of water. Your body will need to detoxify and the water will help. The fact that you get severe headaches should be telling you something, anyway. If you need some more motivation, read this for starters: http://www.321recipes.com/aspartame.html

:iagree: Apart from the going to the dictionary part :001_smile:. Usually they ask me instead of a dictionary, but I am encouraging them to use an online dictionary at least. I have tried vocab programs and every time I feel it is busy work. There seems to be so little retention for the amount of time they take. They have a great vocabulary though, people often comment on it, and I put it down to lots of reading over many years. Latin seems to help in the recognition of roots too.

At school around here kids learn quickly to act like they don't like their parents- my kids told me about it years after they left school, that they actually like their parents, as if that was wierd, so I questioned them further. At school, noone liked their parents. How sad. I am so grateful my kids like me :001_smile: The first thing that came to mind when I read the OP though was "read lots and lots of books".

Yes, I have read a study about this...about the effect of the diet and the food environment of the grandmother and its affect being passed down several generations. Wouldnt have a clue now where I read that though, but it is a very interesting concept and it would be great to see the research.

I was breastfed for 6 months here in Australia (1967). My husband was also breastfed for 6 months (1954). My aunt breastfed my cousins for much longer though (1970s)...they were toddlers when she stopped...she is a doctor, she must have realised the health benefits. My mother thought it was awful that the kids would run in from the sandpit to have breast. She was wise enough not to criticise me though! I tandem breastfed my two (including through pregnancy) until the older was 5 and the younger was 3.5. My grandmother lost her breastmilk when she (unintentionally) got pregnant with my mother when her baby was only 2 months old. So my uncle was only breastfed briefly,and I always though it interesting that he has major health issues, weight issues, sinus issues. Probably he was put straight onto cows milk at that tiny age, since they lived on a farm and had a dairy cow. I breastfed my two long term knowing it was good for their health, and they have both been very healthy kids with no allergies at all even though their dad has allergies.

Actually I would love to know too...I must admit after having seen the Apologia General Science book, I completely wrote off all of Apologia as completely unusable by most secular folk. The Christian POV was too embedded in it to just read around or avoid. But I haven't seen the Zoology. Biology etc ones. I would certainly like a secular version!

We have a bit of a routine- start with maths, move onto Latin, English etc. Ds12 gets started on his own, but truth is, he usually needs help with maths. If I give him a list, he will do what he can on his own. Your Calvin has always sounded like a pretty bright cookie though. My ds struggles for a lot of things and seems to need more one on one than dd ever has. I am going through a phase of handing things over more though. I have always done lots of reading aloud- I am cutting back, expecting more from them both. I do tend to just have them both finish what they are doing, or stop if its convenient, and do history or our other together subjects, when it is convenient for me. I value independence and leading them to being able to work alone, and dd13 works mostly alone, but ds12 still needs me a lot- not my choice, I would rather he be able to do the work alone- but what to do, that's why I homeschool.

How old are your children?

We have LOVED SOTW and used them from when my youngest was 8 and my older just turned 10. We spent a year on each and they were our spines for 4 years, finishing recently when ds was 12 and dd13. Particularly if you havent done a lot of world history before, these books are awesome....for us adults especially! So many pennies dropped! I think it is easy enough to beef them up if you want, but all we did was add historical fiction. When they got to the stage of learning to outline, I didnt use SOTW- sometimes I used the Kingfisher Encyclopedia, sometimes just other books they were using. I can't imagine using KHE as a spine though- so dry compared to SOTW. I would have to say SOTW has been the absolute best thing we have used homeschooling. It has provided a flavour to our years, and we always linked our literature to our history year. The only down side is the jumping around from place to place, in order to stay in chronological order....but now that we are on our next time back to Ancients, I am doing it differently and staying in one place longer. I agree with the others, not so good for highschoool because of lacking critical analysis, however, if a kid hadnt had much history, I wouldnt hesitate to hand them SOTW to just read through, and it will give them a great overview.

For that age I would use Latin Prep together. Its funny.

The main reason I havent used AO more before now is because I really like the 4 year history cycle and i could never work out which years would work properly for us. But this year I looked at Year 6 and 7 and thought, yes, I can make this work. So I am presently using the Year 6 Ancients books, as well as any pre7 books we havent read, with my 12 and 13yos, and we will start Year 7 of HEO in about October when my kids will be almost 13, and 14. Then I will probably have to do a mish mash of the next 3 years, over 1 year, because I want to do "Rennaisance" (or TWM cycle year 3), and then use HEO Year 11 (which is 20th Century history) when my daughter is in Year 12 and my son is in Year 10. It may not work- it may well be too advanced for my son- but I will just adapt for both. That is my present plan. All subject to change :) Many people use AO years several years below their child's grade level. For me the priority is doing the 4 year history cycle (for some reason. I don't know why but I just really like it and I want to get my dd through it twice!). There are so many resources connected with AO, and Yahoo groups, I am sure you could ask more questions there or find information you need. I think there is a page on where to place your child.

I have had this discussion many times, and I think my dd, who is very bright and capable, is only now, at nearly 14, really in the Logic stage. It hasn't been sudden though. Ds12 is distinctly thinking differently from a year or two ago, but I think my kids are both fairly late maturers (they seem to be on the physical level too). It is gradual, and I like the 4 year cycles SWB has set up (which I have alway seen as somewhat artificial constructs, but useful). It's not like she expects kids to be "in" the Logic stage deeply...they will just be slowly changing and its time to change the style of work gradually. It doesnt mean you already have to be thinking logically....it comes when it comes and they can be guided gently to start making sense of the world they are becoming more and more aware of. (In Waldorf philosophy I think it is the year they turn 9, kids supposedly come out of the cocoon they have been in in their early childhood, and start really seeing the word as it is, which can be a shock for some kids.) And, I must admit, i did hold back with my son. Although my daughter didn't seem to be remotely interested in thinking deeply about her work, she could do Logic puzzles as easy as anything. Yet her brother thinks and discusses more deeply, and comes out with amazing insights, yet Logic puzzles are soooo hard for him. And maths is slow. He is really a right brain thinker.