Can you recommend some favorites? There are so many on sale right now. Do you think buying sets on sale is likely to be cheaper for us in the long run? We really love watching documentaries on Netflix, but they leave a lot to be desired. All you get is an hour of information usually and they typically cover very broad topics.

Have any of you mixed elements of the Montessori method in with the WTM / classical education method? I'm currently taking an online course from a Montessori teacher. It gives me all the Montessori albums to work from. I'm planning our "Montessori preschool" right now. I really think I can combine elements of Montessori with a classical education quite well. I plan on starting DD in piano (or violin?) lessons when she is around 4-6 years old, and I was thinking I could decorate our homeschool / music room with prints of famous artwork and have children's versions of books we will be covering later. (I actually just found an awesome big board book of all the Greek myths / stories on sale at my local grocery store of all places.) For the different Montessori activities, I can introduce DD to famous artwork, people, buildings, etc., by using matching games and memory games. :001_smile: I'm not sure how to meld the rote memorization stuff with Montessori, though... Has anyone done this? I would love to hear ideas.

I'm just wondering if any of you have used courses from "The Great Courses" with younger kids (grade school.) DH and I just discovered these and really really want to get some. :D I'm wondering around what age DD will be able / ready to watch the DVDs, too. If she won't be ready for this sort of thing until middle school, I will hold off on the science DVDs and buy ones that are a bit more timeless, like the art or history ones.

Thanks! That is very good advice. It is likely way too early to know what she will be like as she gets older. Everything I've read suggests that IQ is largely hereditary, so if that is true she *might* be a bit accelerated and I don't want to let her down! I know she is only four months, but even now I try to figure out what to give her to play with. For instance, that cone sorting toy isn't for kids her age but it is her absolute favorite now and she'll spend 15-30 minutes several times a day playing with it. I bought it early because I thought maybe she'd be ready for it soon. Otherwise she'd be bored with her rattles (which are much ignored these days.) It is OK with me if she is "normal" and isn't accelerated at all. She could even need extra help in certain areas and that is OK, too. I just want to do a good job. DH and I were talking about it the other day and all we want for her is to be happy. It doesn't matter to us if she does anything really different, has any special talents, or goes to some Ivy league college. I'll definitely enjoy her. I am already shocked and a little sad because of how fast she has grown in just 4 months!

It sounds tough to me. I don't know what I will do if DD is ready before 18 for college. I thought I'd let her go to a local college while younger, but what if she wants to go to a really good one? I never attended a "real" college, just a military campus program and some community colleges. I tried for one semester, but it wasn't for me. 16 weeks for one class is really hard for me and so is staying interested. I want my daughter to hopefully have more self-discipline in her studies than I had at college. College also let me down, though. I thought it was going to be really challenging and that my professors would expect so much more of me. Maybe I just never went to good enough colleges. :confused: I thought you learned to write by reading and then writing. I do feel like I have gaps in my knowledge, though. I don't really remember anything I learned about grammar and I am sure I make errors when I write. That said, I love writing and some of my professors seemed to think I was good at it. I can write a lab report or a research report and use the voice I am supposed to use because I've read those kinds of things. I love researching and writing articles for my websites, too. The Well-Trained Mind is telling me I need to really focus on grammar and my experience has been that it is reading that really makes a good writer. This program has the child reading a lot, though, too. Maybe most kids do need grammar and others can just pick it up by reading. I'm not sure. It sounds like your kids just picked it up, but they are obviously very gifted. What do you think? Your son will have a lot of fun. DH does that stuff as a hobby. We have yards and yards of neon green cloth, a ton of props and costumes and all the lighting sitting out in our garage. ;) I am secretly really excited to homeschool because of all the things you just mentioned. I can not wait to go to more living history museums, art museums, etc. I am so excited to get to make weekly trips to the library again and get to delve deeper into interesting subjects because my kids want to learn about them. I can't wait to go on roadtrips so they can see historical places. I hope they love this as much as I do! :lol:

I like the Mists of Avalon. It gives more power to the women. Though I am not too sure what age group it would be appropriate for.

Right outside Jacksonville. Green Cove Springs / Middleburg area. But DD is only 4 months old. ;)

Wow! It sounds like you provided a lot of opportunities for them to learn more about what they are interested in. I hope we can do that for our kid(s). I am actually really excited to learn with DD because there is so much I don't know and so many books (classics) I want to read. :) Was it hard to let your daughter go away like that? I don't know if I could do it! I have 80 college credits and have no intention of going back any time soon. I was bored out of my mind and couldn't settle on one major. I don't want to waste any more money. If DD wants to go to college, I hope she can attend classes when she is ready instead of having to do it later. Did you use the classical method to formally teach things like grammar? What kind of stuff do you and your husband do now to stimulate your minds? I think my husband is like me, too. School was bad for him. I feel like I missed out and maybe didn't do all that I could have. I dreamed about getting a PhD before I got pregnant, but I'm not interested anymore and can't pick a subject anyway. I pursued a singing career before I got married, but I am happy I left that industry. I'm teaching myself a bunch of things right now. I'm focusing on making websites, organic gardening, learning about teaching DD, learning to cook better and take care of our new house, and making homemade cleaning products. I'm really interested in "radical homemaking" at the moment. ;)

Maybe I shouldn't be posting in this forum just yet, but I will anyway. DH and I know we want to homeschool our kids. We only have one DD so far and she is only 4 months. I am reading The Well-Trained Mind on my Kindle. It talks about starting from birth when it comes to teaching your child, but I am worried about pushing DD. DD is only 4 months, but she LOVES books, loves being read to and wants to try to turn the pages (and put them in her mouth, of course.) She sits completely unassisted, rolls both ways, likes me to help her pull to stand and is trying to crawl already. She was very alert at birth and has been ever since. She has this cone sorting toy and she sits there and takes every one of the shapes off of it, one and a time and puts them down. That toy and books are her favorite. She babbles, but not that much. So, in short, she seems to be somewhat advanced for her age. I tested as gifted when I was a child, but my parents decided to keep me in the regular class because they were worried I'd be too challenged / frustrated. They decided they'd rather I be the best in the class. School was a really horrible experience for me and it killed my love for learning until I had an amazing humanities teacher at a community college when I was 22. I don't want this to happen to my kids. I often feel like 13 years of my life were wasted and that I have so much catching up to do. I also don't want to be a pushy mom. How can I strike a balance between showing / teaching my DD things that are developmentally appropriate for her (and challenging enough) while avoiding pushing her? I worry about accidentally holding her back, too, like my parents did to me.