We're in same boat - and started Sequential Spelling this year, so far it's going great! Love that it's on the DVD and gets done without any input from me, and kids get immediate correction of spelling errors (not at end of test, or even - when I'm in charge- a day or two later)

Wow.

following, thanks for the links, Lori D!

Thank you for your reviews of CLE reading! It was really helpful and sounds like just the thing I've been looking for. I'm going to try to find some copies to start my dc for the fall.

Does anyone have experience with both these reading programs? They both look like they have well written and interesting stories to teach character lessons...Does one do this more successfully than the other, in your opinion? I'm also hoping to hear what you've thought of the depth of thought-provoking comprehension questions, that poke the student to do more than write a one or two word simple answer. Do your kids LOVE either of these programs? Do YOU love what they're learning from them? Thanks.

We're in almost the exact same boat! Did CC 2 years ago, have ALL the stuff for it, current 4 dc are even similar ages, and 1 new baby due at the end of the year! Funny, huh? We're not going to do CC this year - the cost is really high for what we're getting, IMO. Also, I know how CC is run, and how to do it CC at home to suit our style better (present with more context instead of as pure lists or memorization sentences), actually did CC at home with 1 other family last year and it worked out great. So we might do it again at home this year, but just our family since our friends moved away...unless we find a like minded family to do it with. IMO it's more fun to do it with another family. =)

I second MEP - it's been plenty challenging for us, and it's free.

My dc learning piano are ds9 and dd7, and we started with Faber (all 3 books) for levels 1-4, then switched to Suzuki for the pure pleasure of the classical pieces. I have zero Suzuki training but listening to the CDs included with the books have really helped us to be able to do Suzuki at home. The kids still do Faber theory. The kids each had their own separate books for lesson, technique and theory, but you could get by with sharing a lesson book, IMO. Best prices for music books that I've found is www.sheetmusicplus, better than Amazon.

Now this is just silly. How in the world can you support this claim?

This really interests me - I've been wondering if there's another competitor to CC anywhere. What's the name of it? Thanks!

My Father's World Mindware Classical Conversations

I want to buy their grade packs for LA for my kids but need to try to save - anyone know if CLE has any sales during the year or discounts or promotionals? Thanks in advance!

These are all wonderfully helpful suggestions - thank you ladies so much! I'm taking notes. People say newborns are easy, it's toddlers who are hard, and I see what they mean, but I feel most sleep-deprived the first year with a new baby. Nursing's been the main problem for me - with not enough milk, I've done the routine of nursing-pumping-supplementing with each child, which exhausts me completely. Not sure I have it in me to do it this time around (at 40, I'm getting old!) I LOVE co-sleeping with babe, since it lets me sleep too, but hubby's worried about the risks of co-sleeping, having heard too many horror stories of babies who've been accidentally rolled over in their sleep, so not sure how that's going to play out. Note to self: Moby wrap, paper plates, CLE LA, blanket stations, sleep or rest, territories, playtime/school, time4learning

Looks like the multiquote button's not working for me tonight, but I want to say thank you for all your replies. I'm pretty new to this forum, and grateful to hear your thoughts. Other kids in the family besides ds9 are dd7, dd4, and dd2 so far. Boscopup, I agree with you about schooling with toddlers being awful. =) But for me, the first year's always been the toughest because of MY level of fatigue and sleep-deprivation (nursing's my main battle...due to insufficient supply, I've gone the route of nursing-pumping-supplementing for each child's first year -- which completed exhausts me). I barely function, literally am a blearly-eyed, pajama-clothed mess all day. Based on my history, I think I'll be able to hs far enough to have discussions on topics and check on what he's learning, but as to checking daily papers, teaching daily lessons, doing hands-on projects...pretty safe to say that's not gonna happen with me, maybe dh can step in and do some of that at night when he gets home but he's pretty relaxed about hs'ing so it's 50/50. acurtis75, thank you for saying it's ok to take care of myself (and the new one). I certainly don't want to demotivate ds9 by piling on more work. He's a happy kid and we want to keep him that way. =) EndofOrdinary, that's a fabulous tip on the Great Courses - and we were recently gifted with some of these from Grandpa, so what a perfect idea to get these out for him. Many thanks for your thoughtful suggestions - I'll plan on talking with him tomorrow about what we should have in our average schoolday, I think he'll love having input on his schedule.

I found out I'm about 2 months pregnant and in my fear that I won't do a good job at hs'ing during the tough bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived 1st year with new baby, I considered putting my kids into ps and had ds9 take the Raven testing for the Gifted program at our local school. Since then, we found out that the school's gifted program is weak due to lack of funding, consists of 1 or 2 supplementary activities after school per month, and that based on parent donations. So my dh and I decided that I should continue hs'ing after the baby's arrival in Nov, just take things light, not as rigorous, let it be an independent learning year (reading mostly), doing less that requires something of me. Anyway yesterday we got the raven result, my son's score is over the 99% tile. Sooo, I'm at a loss as to what this means. Do I need to change my plan for an easy and light hs year, that focuses mostly on independent reading and self-instruction? He teaches himself pretty well already, is doing Suzuki piano level 4 without formal lessons, math he does independently and grades his own papers, he watches the IEW writing videos and writes his own papers and I edit for spelling, we use the "strew" approach for science and history using library books. Am I doing a disservice to him by not giving him more hands-on instruction for the next year? And if so, what do I need to be doing? I'm not particularly gifted, just "average" so I don't know what he needs. He SEEMS to be doing fine, but maybe instead of taking it easy next year I need to be making plans to kick it up a notch based on the test result? Which means I might need to reevaluate our plan to hs next year..? He has taken classes in Lego robotics and art, which we hope to continue next year...but not much beyond that. Thanks in advance for any advice for our situation.

You've given me a lot to think about! We do have a check-off list for the 2 older ones covering the schoolwork tasks that need to get done for the day, but it's not really scheduled in terms of blocks of time, which would be really helpful to get the others onto a corresponding schedule. That's needed big time, so I'll make it a goal to set it up. I love the sound of your day with all your dc, organized and non-chaotic, with each one getting some attention. I think a schedule and setting it up ahead of time are going to be keys for me to make this work. Going on my past record, I know I'll need to take naps when the baby and other littles nap, so hopefully I can set up a schedule that lets me do that. Thanks so much for taking the time to share these really helpful thoughts!

Thank you for your replies, erikdeb and Kathryn. These are good tips for getting the older ones to pitch in more around the house. It's a comfort to hear practical ways to make hs'ing work with a new baby.

We are expecting dc#5 in October, so it's still early in the pregnancy, but I'm already worried about how I'm going to manage hs'ing when the baby arrives. Other dc are ds9, dd7, dd3 and dd2. With the other dc, that first year's been so tough, feeling so sleep-deprived, tired and 'out of it', that I barely got around to putting on clothes or showering during the day. My older ones ended up watching a lot of tv for several months, which I felt horrible about. I don't want to do that to them this time around. I'm considering ALL options, including putting the school aged kids into public school and the little ones into preschool during the first year of new baby. That's not my preference, I'd love to keep homeschooling, but how can it work realistically during the hard first year? To be honest, caring for the dd4 and dd2 are the most work for me, and what I need the older 2 kids around for (this sounds awful but it's true). Can you please share some ideas on how to homeschool successfully during the sleepy, foggy newborn days? Thanks in advance.

Thank you so much for those suggestions...I've heard of Murderous Maths, and the Why Pi and Great Source math books were new to me and sound really good too! Thank you for the tip about the Usborne math encyclopedias, Korrale. All you ladies make this forum awesome!

My son stumped me yesterday with the question "how did people figure out pi"? We searched the web and found a few answers, but it was hard to know which sites were the best for kids and it also took longer than I had time for! I'd like to buy a good math encyclopedia for my math-loving kids (ages 9 and 7). Can anybody recommend one? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for being so hilarious, laughed out loud. Cuz this is what I do too!

We received neither confirmation of our submission nor update on the competition. This is the first I'm hearing that they've decided. What a lack of communication! Needless to say, my kids didn't get in, but they worked hard to train for it, and it would've been courteous to have at least sent us an email instead of letting us find out this way.

Not that this is our end-goal, but thought this was an interesting and surprising article about what innovative companies are looking for: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html?emc=eta1&_r=0 Basically, to summarize, Google looks for these attributes: 1. General cognitive ability/ learning ability. 2. Leadership 3. Humility 4. Ownership 5. Expertise - least important attribute

Anybody get a confirmation email after submitting their video? We submitted at close to 11pm on the last day (it was a busy day and I had to wait til dh got home), and we didn't hear back anything, not even a "got it" confirmation email from them. Wondering if we should check to see if they got it...

Amazing and inspiring!! 8, if you would be willing to share your secrets of success as a homeschoolers, your approach to hs'ing, I think many of us on this board just starting out would be ALL ears. =) What an awesome finish to your ds's homeschooling journey!! Many congratulations!!