We started afterschooling this year too, after noticing that ds7 and dd5 were just cruising at school...we started afterschooling with piano & Korean from beginner's level, and supplementing with math drill worksheets. I feel like it's good for their brains to learn languages like math, piano and Korean (I consider math and piano a type of language). We also try to do some read-alouds but I haven't been as good about doing that. Anyway, it hasn't always been 100% success (my kids were happy with the way things were before, no surprise :001_smile:), but going better as I gain confidence with it and keep at it. We'll start homeschooling after this year is through, so hopefully we'll still be alive to tell how it's going!

Oh my, how wonderful! Had no idea all these free resources were out there...thanks so much for bumping this!!

Wow, this is brilliant! How do you begin to teach your children to do that? Was there a particular geography that was helpful?

Wow, that's neat! Love how you "ghosted" the covers too, easier to find the right book! Thanks for sharing :001_smile:

Thanks everyone for your replies! I think we're leaning toward CC this year...maybe not ideal but the best option I could find. Looking forward to homeschooling! :001_smile:

Ditto for us, and hope to add in history timeline, all their times tables (almost there), improve in speaking conversational Korean...whenever I think it's too much, the kids won't be able to do it, they blow me away by doing it quicker and retaining it better than I do. I have ds7 and dd5...I guess their brains really are like sponges at this age! Mine's kinda like a petrified old rock :lol:

Rootsnwings, your babies are gorgeous! :001_smile: My ds learned his mult. tables the same way I did, boring rote memorization. First, we started out by having him write up the times tables in his own hand (I think him writing it up himself was important since he worked through figuring out the answers when he did that), just one or two number families at a time, for example today we reviewed the 5's and 6's, and he gets some time to study them for awhile, and then while I'm cooking dinner he recites them back to me (ie. "6 times 1 equals 6, 6 times 2 equals 12", etc). I used to ask with random multiplication problems, but that's too much work for me, now I mainly have him recite the table. For some reason, he really likes moving around while doing his times tables, usually walking circles around our living room or jumping off our hardback chairs. This used to drive me batty, and I'd constantly ask him to sit still, but recently I've read that there's research to suggest that people actually learn better when they're changing up their environment or doing something physical...so now I've done a 180 and encourage him to move or do whatever he wants during his times tables. =) But yeah, we do need to review pretty frequently, twice a week or so.

Hmm, you may be onto something there! Have you heard about the recent study that showed that people retain information better when they change up their environment? I grew up elementary through adulthood studying at a desk in my room, but maybe I would've been a lot smarter if I'd moved my location around! :lol:

LOVE love love this! Mental note to self to get on that with dc. :lol:

Where do YOU do homeschool with your kids? Does it matter whether there's a dedicated spot in the house like a separate "school room", or if it's just on the kitchen table? We're going to start our homeschooling adventure this year for my ds7 and dd5! I'm very excited, but wondering where to set up shop. My DH thinks our large dining table is the best place to homeschool since it's the biggest table in the house and the room is bright with lots of natural light, and has bookshelves that can be used for hs'ing. But I'm worried that since we eat all our meals at this table, we'd be alternating clearing books and dishes from the table ALL day long. And mentally, wouldn't the kids focus on school better if they're in a space fully dedicated to being the school spot? However, it would be a lot of work to try to turn another area of our small house into school (options are to turn half our small bedrom into school, or entirely redo a dark spare room, however we do have family stay with us several weeks a year so it would sometimes need to be converted back to being a spare room, and then we'd have to find another spot for school anyway). What has worked for you? Where in the house do you homeschool? :bigear:

I'd love to hear replies too...haven't figured out how people keep things organized. I'm a mess with papers & curricula everywhere, and we haven't even officially started homeschool yet! :glare::D

I don't have an answer for you, only another question. I'm where you were 4 years ago, about to start SWR. Just bought the books (SWR and WISE guide) and intimidated by how teacher-intensive it appears, and the steep learning curve (looks like I have to spend quite a lot of time studying the method first and get it under my belt before teaching it). Is this the case, is it a very labor-intensive program? The 2 classical schools in our area use SWR exclusively, which is why I purchased it. But now I've also learned about Phonics Road through this forum, and wondering if I should just eat the cost of the SWR materials I've purchased and go for Phonics Road instead. My kids are 5 and 7 yrs old, and learned spelling with Abeka thus far, and we're NOT going to continue with that, so they'll have to learn something new anyway, should I choose Phonics Road or SWR?

Love these quick meal ideas! :001_smile: We have a rice cooker and it's always in use, either cooking rice or keeping it warm. It takes about 2 hours for it to cook brown rice so I set it in the morning or night before, and whenever we're ready to eat, just fry up some eggs, pop a bag of frozen veggies (we like green beans or chopped broccoli) into the microwave for 5 minutes, scoop up some brown rice and dinner's on the table in 10 minutes flat. And it doesn't hurt to have some kimchee or dried seaweed laver (we love Korean food) to add some flavor! :tongue_smilie:

LOL! :lol: Yes kids can be so stubborn, can't they?! I see it already in my 13month old :glare:...But I'm encouraged there are other moms who are NOT giving in on important battles and can win the game of chicken with their kids! :tongue_smilie:

The same situation here for us! My 2 kids are in a small Christian school now, but the school is closing at the end of this schoolyear, so hence our decision to homeschool next year. We've been afterschooling this year (piano, math and Korean) and it's been going pretty well which makes me hope that we can do it full time. We shall see how it goes! Would LOVE to meet other parents who might be interested in starting a co-op, similar to ones I've seen in other towns, so that we can have the fellowship of other parent teachers and kids working together, instead of each family reinventing the homeschooling wheel. I just haven't found any co-op with the classical Christian education vision in the San Jose area, and this is the 10th largest city in the US, so there's gotta be like-minded folks out there, right?

Thanks for your friendly replies Leeyeewah and JenneinAZ! I'll check out the yahoo group and parkhoppers sites. So glad to get connected to other homeschoolers!!

Just sent you a PM Carol! Looking forward to talking with you!:001_smile:

We're just starting our homeschooling adventure and looking for other homeschooling friends for playdates, possible co-op schooling, or anything in between! We live in San Jose (Willow Glen area). I've got 2 kids who'd love some to meet some new friends for fun and learning, and I think it'll help them to not feel like they're the only homeschoolers in town! My son, who is turning 7 years old at the end of this month, is fun-loving, book-reading, and loves playing outside. My daughter is turning 5 next month, loves to color and read. Both are delightful (most of the time!). We'd love to meet any of you in the area!

The italicized cursive is very pretty, I saw it also when we visited a Classical Christian school in Oregon, all the kindergarteners were being taught that instead of regular "ugly" cursive...however I don't know that Penny Gardner's writing is the one I like, she has a strange 2 stroke method of writing letter "e" that seems strange and easy to misform for a child, IMHO. I'm going to call that Oregon school to find out what method they used...