SO glad to hear that your kids discussed history even though they're studying different things. We'll always do some read alouds together, but dd's schedule is getting full enough that I don't want to do too many. I want her to have time for just "being". Thanks!

Hmmmm, that may work since by the time I'd consider it an issue (about 5th/7th or 6th/8th) they'll both have read in a fairly wide variety of time periods. Thanks!

Thanks for the look at your school! It sounds like it's working really well. I just don't think we'll have time to do WTM and AO reading. I should make up a list of books for ds thought as there are a few that he'll either miss entirely or that he'll have been so young when we read them he won't remember at all.

Excellent!! Thank you for the review :)

Has anyone used the Medieval & Early Modern set? I'm wondering since that set has different authors than the Ancients set.

I started using Ambleside Online when dd began 1st grade. Up until this past year it has worked fine to combine my children since dd couldn't read most of the books to herself anyway. During this last year, though, she started reading nearly everything on her own so my reading aloud dwindled considerably. This coming year I will only read Age of Fable, Shakepeare, Plutarch & myths/fables aloud so that both children can listen. I've decided to do SOTW 3 + AB with ds so that he's getting his own history/lit & then the following year he'll either do SOTW 4 + AB or AO 4 while dd does AO 6. I'm concerned about the years after that since they won't be able to discuss history & lit with one another if I keep them in separate years. What have you done? Do you just sit down with each one & discuss? I was really looking forward to having discussions with them together, but I don't see how I can if I keep dd in AO. There's just no way that ds could do the work 2 years ahead of grade level & if I sub easier materials for him then it's pointless to do AO. Sigh.

Thank you so much for beginning this amazing thread! I have over 100 pages in a word doc & will need to edit that down b/f I begin printing & highlighting. :)

My parents are both retired ps teachers. My cousin started homeschooling about 20 years ago & they both thought that it was weird, but by the time I was ready to begin they had seen how well her children did & were totally pro-hs. In fact, I once jokingly made a comment about sending dd to K (she wanted to go to school & was giving me a hard time) & my dad was HORRIFIED.

We rarely make ours. I do shake out the sheets & cover & fold them back so I don't have to get into a tangled mess when I go to bed though. Dd sometimes makes hers, but not usually. My mother would be horrified. :D

Huh. I was planning on ordering some of these for the upcoming year, but if that's how they handle problems I may just buy a Thames & Kosmos kit from B&N.

I'm not sure! The stuff in my siggy is what we're getting ready to start in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that we can do 4 days/week of Math Mammoth & 1-2 day(s)/week of LoF. If that doesn't work, I may have her work on LoF during our "off" weeks.

We have always memorized everything together--dd does memorize more quickly than ds. We're going to change to individual binders this year though b/c they have so much material memorized that it takes forever to review even with the index card rotation we have set up. I'm going to use Mnemosyne & will have each child review on his/her own. I think dd will be able to deal with new material on her own; ds will probably need some help from me.

I used the Division books for dd over the past year with dd b/c I felt like RS didn't do enough with that skill. I have loved them too. It's SO nice to just hand her the worksheets & have her figure out what to do on her own. I am *really* looking forward to the fall when she starts MM 5.

I do trust my husband, but it would bother me if he were going to be spending 35-40 hours per week alone with a female apprentice/co-worker. The possibility of there being accusations with no witnesses to back either side would bug me as well.

I do one of three things depending on the day: get up early so that I can exercise & shower; exercise in the afternoon when we're finished with school; exercise in the evening, but before I eat supper. The first option is really the best one for me, but I am a night owl & I haaaaaaate getting up early.

My parents are both retired teachers and are very supportive. My dad was horrified when I jokingly made some comment about sending dd to K b/c she really wanted to go to school. I also have other relatives & friends who are either retired or former schoolteachers & they are supportive as well.

We use the rotations from Ambleside Online. eta: My kids also each have a copy of Poetry Speaks to Children. I bought one for ds for his birthday one year & dd liked it so much she asked for a copy for her bday. Dd also has a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends that she reads over & over again. It came w/a cd of Silverstein reading a few of the poems. I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but these have really sparked a love of poetry in my children.

I voted "yes", but the reality is that in order to get it done I MUST do it every single day. If I skip more than one day it'll throw me off for a week or two. I need the momentum I guess?

Thank you all SO much for the encouragement!! I wanted to be convinced to stay with MCT & I have been. Dd would be very, very disappointed if we changed programs. I am on the list to test SWB's new writing program so hopefully between that & PT we'll have plenty of writing instruction. I'm happy to hear that the instruction in PT is more specific than that of SI. It's good to hear that other people's children are resistant to poetry writing too. ;) We do read poetry every day, but I'd never thought about using it for copywork. We will *definitely* do that! She would love illustrating the poems as well. Maybe I could have her look for whatever element we're studying in the copywork poem. I don't want her to feel like she has to analyze every poem we read, but one every couple of weeks shouldn't mess with her love of poetry. Thank you again. :)

I used MCT Island with my dd last semester. She LOVED it & seemed to get a better grasp of grammar concepts than she'd ever had before. She would be sad if we quit using MCTLA, but I was not thrilled with the writing instruction in Island & am wondering if I need to switch in order to do writing more thoroughly. I have CW-Homer & I have LToW, but I doubt that I'm together enough to do a completely separate writing program. I'm assuming that I can't just buy Grammar Town & skip Paragraph Town since the grammar in the Island series wouldn't have been complete without Sentence Island's reinforcement and introduction of grammar concepts. I am also considering skipping the poetry. I think dd only remembers assonance & alliteration from the poetry book. She wasn't interested in doing the poetry assignments at all. When I'd make her do them anyway she'd sit there forever & barely get anything on paper. Now, we did go through the poetry book kind of quickly, but she's not gifted so I'm wondering if maybe the whole thing is just not within her reach at this point. What do those of you who've used the Town series think?

Thank you!! I am planning on getting HOTS & the Homework book since I don't want to have to dig up supplements the first year, but I guess if it gets to be a bit much the second year (with the added chemistry) I could stretch MPH out to cover more than 36 weeks. Thank you for the info re: topics as well. I'll probably just do the topics in the order Singapore suggests, just for ease of use. Thanks so much for your help!

I am leaning towards getting MPH for my rising 5th grader. However, I'd already decided to do the McHenry books along with some other chemistry resources for 6th grade. Could I do the MPH 6th grade material along with the chemistry or would it be too much? I don't want to buy books that cover a 2-year span & then be unable to use the 2nd year. Thanks!

Mama Lynx does. She's written about how she does it here & on her blog.

I'm in the middle of reading it & the only part I've thought was worthwhile was the geography section. The other subjects have been done both more thoroughly & flexibly by others. I wouldn't buy it again--although her ideas re: learning maps are really good.

I'm a mother of two & *I* don't look at those blogs!!