We *just* finished this beautiful audiobook yesterday. What an unexpectedly delightful book! This year we have ventured into the world of audiobooks, all of which I've purchased on Amazon. (I have a 7 yo boy and a 9 yo girl.) Our favorites have been: The Little Princess - unabridged A Cricket in Times Square The Railway Children Legend of Sleepy Hollow (not the time of year for that now!) A Bear Called Paddington, and its sequel The Secret Garden (radio theater by Focus on the Family) Hope this helps . . . and I'll be watching the thread for more ideas. My kids are now obsessed with audiobooks!

I was going to suggest the same book. Surprisingly good, succinct overview of the many different "flavors" of homeschooling.

I have a 7 and 8 year old this year. I asked a similar question here a few months ago. We have had wonderful success in the last two months doing quite a bit via audiobooks in the car. I got all of these on Amazon, but you could probably find quite a few at your library: The Railway Children (not to be confused with the Boxcar Children - I always do!) The Secret Garden A Bear Called Paddington Cricket in Times Square The Little Princess All five of these were enormous hits - even with me! I was worried that my 7 yo boy might not hang with The Little Princess and/or The Secret Garden, but he loved them both! Audiobooks are my new best friend!! :)

Ditto to all of the above! I've taught 4 kids to read - starting with the first one in 1996 - and this is by far my favorite learn to read program. Excellent!!

So our new (older, but new to us) house has all hard floors, a mix of wood laminate and tile. And while I am very much enjoying that in some ways, I also feel like I could stand to spend a good hour per day sweeping and/or vacuuming. DH suggested I consider getting a Roomba, but I don't know anyone in real life who has one. Are they worth the cost? Any special model or features I should look out for? (We have a long haired dog, so I obviously would need a model that can handle serious pet hair.) How many hours per day does yours run? Where is the best and most cost effective place to get one - Amazon? Bed Bath & Beyond with a 20% coupon? Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.

Earlier this year, we put our house on the market. I knew I needed to do something about our ceramic tile. After 11 years, it looked nasty. I'd spent way too many man hours over the years trying to hand scrub the grout with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, toothbrushes, etc. I found a company on Angie's List who did tile cleaning and color sealing of the grout. Basically, they deep cleaned the ceramic tiles and then put some kind of pre-sealed grout on top of the existing grout. They also did some minor tile and grout repair work. The tile looked literally brand new. After that, I couldn't stain my grout if I tried; everything just wiped up effortlessly. In retrospect, I wish I'd had this done YEARS ago. It would have saved me so much time, energy, and frustration. And although it was somewhat expensive, it was still WAY cheaper than replacing the tile.

Thank you for sharing your samples! Am I right in assuming this is for approximately 3rd grade? I apologize if this has already been discussed, and I've missed it!

I agree. We have finished Year 1 and are starting Year 2 of Telling God's Story. Love the discussions and analysis. In my humble opinion, the author does a great job of focusing on Jesus and what C.S. Lewis would call Mere Christianity (and I mean that as a great compliment). We have not enjoyed the activity guides at all, but then again we're not really activity kind of people. I just don't think the activity guides add much to the curriculum . . . your mileage may vary. HTH.

It would be an enormous treat to meet you and some other Arizona WTM'ers! We just moved back to Phoenix, my home town, after many years away.

Charlotte's Web Tom Sawyer Little Women Wizard of Oz Done. :)

Hi Barb ... read your post and was reminded once again how HARD it can be to parent these young adults (or nearly adults). I completely empathize with your situation and your ambivalence. I've skimmed through the thread and am concerned that your daughter's younger siblings are uncomfortable around him. Really hard to know if that's a true red flag, or maybe he's just a bit socially awkward, kwim? One thing I'm not clear about is whether your two *oldest* girls have met this guy. What do they think of him? If they haven't spent much time around him, I would beg them to come over for a family get together or dinner and have him be there. They might be able to give you some of the perspective you are longing for. And I'm not making fun - my guess is that you might be a little to close to the situation to get a good read on him, and that's why you find yourself doubting yourself. I think we've all been there as moms!

I would do mostly picture books at this age. Check out the K-level read aloud list from Memoria Press . . . it's a great starting point! In my opinion, the best read alouds for this age from your list would be: My Father's Dragon (there are 3 of them, if your child loves them) Mr. Popper's Penguins. Most of the rest are better kept until older. Maybe add Tumtum & Nutmeg. A "new" classic with an old-fashioned feel. There are three of these as well, and it would be easy to do one next year and the rest in 1st/2nd grade. HTH. :)

Definitely!

I agree with you! Sometimes kids are unpredictable as to what they like and don't like. I know every once in a while I try to read them a "classic" and I'm just left scratching my head, unable to appreciate it half as much as I thought I would.

Lots of great suggestions ... thanks! I especially like the idea of Nurse Matilda. Already received the Stephen Fry version of Paddington that I ordered. Good to know several people have recommended it!

Sorry, I didn't mean to compare Despereaux and Dahl . . . I was just acknowledging how differently we can see certain books. I have a feeling we will be fine with Despereaux, to tell you the truth, and I suspect it will end up being a great favorite around here. But it still is helpful to know that some have struggled with it. Good advice to avoid the Despereaux movie. I'm a big fan of trying to read the book before seeing the movie if at all possible! Thanks for all the discussion!

More good advice, thank you. I agree with you on the picture books. We have a separate list of picture books that we do as well. I've been raiding the Memoria Press picture book lists for grades K-3 for several years now, and have found some delightful (unknown to me) classics that way.

Very interesting to me as well! I think we'll have to give it a shot and see how it goes. Neither child is particularly sensitive, but sometimes they surprise you. I truly appreciate the warnings from several people on this thread about Despereaux ... it's helpful to know that it's been problematic for some. I'm actually not the biggest fan of Roald Dahl either - know just what you mean!

Sherry, I just ordered the audio by Fry. Thanks! We too often have 2 books going at a time, and I do aim to make sure there's always something moderately interesting going on for both my kids. A great goal to keep in mind as I plan the year - thank you.

Angela, you make an incredibly good point. THANK YOU! Great advice, just the type of help I was hoping for on this thread. :)

You make a great point about Secret Garden. Very helpful since I am not familiar with either book except the general (vague) plotline. I know what you mean about enjoying the new round of books. DH and I joke that we had to have another set of children so we could have someone to watch classic Disney movies with and read classic children's literature with! It's so fun to do this all over again with another set of kids!

Eagle, it was sweet of you to take the time to "sell" me on the book. It sounds great ... another classic that I have somehow missed. Ok, I think you convinced me! :) And you make a great point about it being a great counterpoint to Half Magic. Thanks so much!

Read Trumpet of the Swan to them about a year ago. Awesome book! Haven't read Five Children and It. Can you tell me why it is a "not-to-be-missed" choice? :)

Thank you so much for your great reply! It is especially good to get some positive feedback on Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I'm almost certain I read it when I was maybe 9 or so, but I just don't remember much about it other than the basic plot. You know, we're all wired a little differently. And I'm someone who is a bit of a box-checker . . . even if I'm the one who's making the boxes! ;) So it works very well for me to schedule out my year, including the supplements and read alouds. We definitely get more accomplished that way, and it has the added benefit of leaving me with a nice record of what we've done for the year. So even though I'm a fairly experienced home educator at this point, making a comprehensive schedule for our year really works for me. I so appreciate everyone's input on this one!! :)

Ok, good to know. I thought it was more of a novel or novella. Thanks!