Yep! I'm in New Orleans, but we are Texans (hope to be back there soon!).

I use Spalding for spelling only with my nearly 6yo twins. We use a bit unorthodoxly (is that a word?), but it takes us no more than 15min, usually less. I don't know how many years it will take us to get through the list, but I can't imagine longer than 4th grade or so? After that, I plan to discontinue spelling as a subject, unless one of them shows a specific weakness in that area, which I do not anticipate.

I switched our focus to spelling and having them read aloud to me for practice.

I used Phonics Pathways with great success with my twins. It would be my first try if I ever had another kiddo to teach reading. It was a miserable fail for my older son, though, so it doesn't work with everyone.

I have a service who comes every other week. Linda is the owner and she brings 3-4 other girls with her. They clean my house super thoroughly floors, bathrooms, dusting, kitchen, changing sheets, etc, but we have to have it tidy before they get here (which is the hardest part!!). Because there are so many of them, they are FAST which is what makes the difference for me. I have tried a few other people that I didn't stick with, since they worked by themselves and had to be in my home a lot longer. I like to get out of the house for them, and I just can't vacate the house for 5-6 hours on a weekday. I pay Linda a LOT! About $150/cleaning, but she is, IMO, 100% worth it. eta: I found Linda by asking around in my homeschool group. She cleans for at least 4 of us.

oh, but wait. I think those both at least involve either divorce, parent death, or abandonment. Whoops! Nevemind.

I skimmed the lists, but I didn't see any Kate DiCamillo listed. I love Because of Winn Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux!

I think the answer to this lies in doing not nearly as much in terms of quantity as you're probably thinking in each of those genres. Your kids are roughly the same age as mine (except I have no babies/toddlers) and we're planning to do AO Y1 next year. It schedules the poetry, Burgess, shakespeare, good lit (which in Y1 *is* fables and fairy tales), etc, but if you go look at the Y1 schedule, you're reading maybe one Burgess story a week, three abridged Shakespeare stories a year, one poem a day, etc. So you're covering it all, but not covering all of any one thing, if that makes sense. I think that with 2 short morning read aloud sessions, we'll still have plenty of time for our fun kids' books like Mr Popper's Penguins (on my list for next year!) in the afternoon, which I also value! We'll see, though. It'll be an experiment for us!

My twins are reading fluently and well above grade level, so I've already stated them on spelling, using Spalding. It's going well for them, so I plan to just keep on keeping on. My 6yo DS struggles more with reading and spelling. I am using AAS with him.

HWT K

I love every bit of this, for example: http://www.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=91808&departmentRedirect=true#department=166&color=1021

navy is one of my favorite colors on newborns! I love to knit navy hats and booties for baby boys.

copywork & narration

We're having a wonderful K year! I did get to everything I had planned (and maybe even a little more?). We have done Five in a Row (continuation from PK), plus 3Rs. Everyone is progressing in reading and math, some faster than others, but that's OK. Overall, very pleased with our progress.

I'm intentionally not starting SOTW 1 until 2nd grade, and I'm leaning toward planning 2 years to get through it. Do whatever you want to do and don't worry about being "behind"!

planning on math games and fact practice, plus reading

I would booster an 8yo unless she passes the 5-step test (in the link above). I would not harness an 8yo.

No, I don't think Jana or John David are in relationships.

They are replacing them with a very comparable product, though--still cubbies! http://gizmodo.com/heres-why-ikea-is-discontinuing-everyones-favorite-sh-1527126312

Yep, clear rubbermaid type bin. All mixed together.

I thought I replied to this! My daughter is named Hazel, so obviously I'm OK with "old lady names". I love Mabel Ruth. :thumbup:

I am a happy FIAR user, and Ping is one of my least favorites. I really wish they'd put another unit up on their website as the sample one! I remember the book from my own childhood, and I don't find it offensive with the spanks even though we're not spankers ourselves, but it's not popular in today's society, and that's OK. I do find that the vast majority of the FIAR books are of high quality, teach valuable life lessons AND solid academic lessons, and many have become household favorites. I agree with Susie, though. It's totally OK if FIAR is not for you! You don't have to wonder what you're missing. Do something else and enjoy it!

We've been enjoying Salsa Spanish, too.

I'll have three first graders next year (1st grade-ish, anyway). They'll be doing the following for LA: all: listening to good books (AO Y1 inspired list) the two who are reading fluently: reading aloud to me daily from some source (maybe library books, maybe something specific like CLE nature readers or McGuffy, undecided) continue with Spalding (spelling) Queens language lessons (copywork and narration will count for handwriting and composition) the one who is not reading independently: AAS (spelling) AAR (phonics) ETC (phonics, plus I'm happy to discontinue this if it stops being enjoyable for him. I don't think he needs it on top of AAR.) HWT (handwriting)

Can I vote "none of the above"? I checked both 100 Easy Lessons and OPGTR out of the library, along with Phonics Pathways, when we were getting started, and I much preferred Phonics Pathways. I used it with great success with my twins, who are now reading at ~3rd grade level at the end of K.