I received this in my inbox and just about fell over from excitement lol. Now I have to decide how much I have time for . . . such a tough choices, too!

I love being awake before my kids! I love that quiet hour - bright and cool on a summer morning, cozy and dark in the winter. But one of my kids is up before 6 on a regular basis. 530, I think? I didn't get up before him when he was a baby or a toddler. Once he hit preschool, I packed him some snacks in a lunch kit and set it in his place at the table and that gave me another 20 minutes (backfired once when he and the the dog investigated an entire bag of flour left out,but now that's just a funny story :P). These days, the kids are allowed up whenever they like but they must play quietly in the playroom or listen to audio books with headphones in their room. No breakfast until 630. Their rooms and the playroom is downstairs, so theoretically they aren't even supposed to come upstairs until 630. I still get up around 530 and that gives me time to make some tea, read a little and get my head in the right spot before all the gosh darn happy chatter and hungry requests lol!

awesome everyone! Thanks so much! I have ordered a few of these off of amazon :)

what else would he like? He really, really wants to get better at drawing. He practices all the time. But most of the other step by step "how to draw" books are too complicated and detailed for him at this point. I'm open to DVDs, full on art programs, books, whatever TIA!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! eternallytired, the table was helpful. So great to go to the library armed with a listful of ideas! thanks again :)

The Ivy and Bean series has been what's gotten my dyslexic 9 1/2 yo dd to finally start reading independently. And after all our hard work this year, they're now too easy. Not that I want to take a big jump up since this is for independent reading. What book or series would you recommend next? She also loved (listening to the audiobooks) "Matilda" by Roald Dahl, the entire Ramona series, the entire Henry Huggins series and the "Ralph and the Motorcycle" books. It will probably still need to be fairly straightforward vocabulary-wise (grade three-ish?) and she seems like to real life kind of stories as opposed to fantasy or history. Suggestions?

Another vote for Read-aloud Revival and Homeschool Snapshots, but wanted to add Schole Sisters Your Morning Basket I also listen to some of the Arts of Language podcast from IEW but there are sooooo many, I haven't listened to all of them.

Critter, you guys are about to pass us in French. We're on unit 13, but we move at a snail's pace, despite only doing the oral part lol. Next year is the first year one of my kids are required to do a second language (and Latin isn't an option!!) but I suspect for at least the oldest, if not both olders, we're going to do ASL. But I did order French for Children from CAP because we all loved the Song School Latin. I also ordered Latin for Children A, just in case. If nothing else, I think my language sponge will do it soon, if not next year. Ha. That was long-winded and rabbit-trail-y :P Anyhow. We did math and reading this morning. But my in-laws left at nine-thirty and my mom is still here and it's a beautiful sunny day. We may go and tap birch trees to see if there's any birch syrup. Or build an electric fence for my milk cows :) Ds9 also crammed in building an impressive helicopter and submarine out of lego while ds6 and dd3 played with the lego sharks in a bucket of water on the deck. I'm pretty sure that all counts for something, right? If I get a chance, I may add in some grammar and history, but if not, I'll deal with that next week lol.

Well . . . we got math done and everyone sat down and read for at least 20 minutes (though dd9 did it during her quiet time). That's it?! Oh wait. dd9 and ds9 did spelling early today. Man. I didn't get in from chores until 1030. Need to get more reading in (both older kdis are so close to being done their phonics books it's not even funny), grammar (cause I want to finish the book darn it!) and writing (again, only 1 1/2 lessons left to go!) done. Plus as much history as the morning has time for. . . nothing specific to finish, just don't want to abandon it altogether. It's only just barely april after all . . .

Hi ladies! Just wanted to pop back on and say hi. These past six weeks have been so ridiculous. I'm trying not to let it bother me that we haven't done a ton of formal school. Now, I think we can finally get back to it but I've modified some of my plans so I don't feel panicky lol. Today is ds's ninth bday! Starting our modified spring schedule tomorrow. We now have one milk cow, six pigs and lambs and calves being born every day. Who needs science curriculum anyhow, right :P

Thanks Missy! Looking through the reading lists and descriptions, I *think* level 2 might be a better fit. I'm not sure he'd be up for dictations or a lot of writing. Course, I've never tried it with him, but he's young lol! Although he's listened to 1/2 the books on the reading list (I have a houseful of audio book addicts) but I don't suppose that matters since he enjoyed them and isn't against re-listening to stories. Anyone else have any thoughts?

I'm looking ahead for next year. I have a fairly advanced first grade boy. He's a very good reader, a few years ahead I'd say, maybe late grade 3 or into grade 4. An adequate speller, he needs some rules pointed out, then he's got them, so I think AAS is overboard for him. He can print well for mid-first grade so I'm not against starting cursive, nor am I against staying with printing for now either. He's been sitting in on First Language Lessons 1-3 as well as WWE 1&2 as well as CAP Fable for the past three years, so he's got a great ability to comprehend and narrate and has got most of the parts of speech lists and their definitions memorized. But like I said, typical wiggly boy. I can't hand him a novel and expect him to read it. He still needs pictures. Loves Bill Peet, loves Peter's Railway Series, loves Life of Fred elementary and can read those independently cover to cover on his own. I need to get him working on a semi-independent way to keep up his grammar, work on his spelling a bit, and continue to build up his stamina in reading and writing. Of course I expect to work on him for a bit each day - maybe a la CLE style? - but also complete a good chunk on his own, as well. I have CLE 201 and 202 but I was underwhelmed (on his particular behalf, anyway, I think it's a great program in general). I think I want it to be literature based for him. I'd prefer it was more secular than not. I was considering both LLATL and ELTL. I saw the ELTL thread and was intrigued. I liked the idea of him listening to an audiobook while following along in the actual book because he has an issue with getting the emphasis correct on bigger words - ones he hasn't encountered before (for instance MonaPOly instead of MoNOpoly, you know?) Any other suggestions? Can anyone compare those two programs?

Well, I'm back from all my gallivanting (train ride to Prince Rupert and back one (extra long) weekend, then a trip back to my hometown to celebrate my Oma's 90th birthday the last (extra long) weekend). Hoping to make a good dent in our school in the next few weeks before we're hit with the next crazy few weekends - we have a normal weekend coming up, followed by pretty much a month of ridiculous with two (related) three-day seminars for all the adults requiring grandparents to come stay with our kids so we can attend, three birthdays (including dd's 3rd!), one week-long visit for dsd with her dad, Easter long weekend), a trip for me and the boys to Calgary for a five day visit with very good friends and week where dsd is visiting her auntie in the Lower Mainland. Oh, then ds's 9th bday and then a weekend visit from a high-stress friend. I'm seriously contemplating dropping the rest of RSO's chemistry and going about a more relaxed nature study via the Nature Connection (I think that's what it is?). We're 2 lessons away from finishing W&R Fable so I'm hoping to be done that by next week (or maybe the week after). DSD is three lessons away from finishing REWARDS. DS6 is only a few lessons from finishing AAS1 and MM1. So my "imperative" workload is about to drop and I won't pick anything up for a month or so. So that helps. But really. How did I get so busy?! Is it weird that I'm also looking forward to the annual reading test I do for the kids every year? All three of them have progressed quite a bit, I'm pretty sure they've improved by a year from last year, but since dsd is behind by a grade level or so, I always hope we manage to close the gap lol. DS8 seems to be finally snowballing a bit as far as reading goes. It's just not so much of a struggle for him as it has been. And DS6 is just amazing. So nice to finally have a natural reader after the struggles of my first two lol. That's still months away though. One more random thought: I think I've decided I won't be attending the conference in our province this year. Well, since it's held only an hour from my hometown, I may combine an afternoon in the vendor's hall with a visit with the kids to my parents' but I won't do the seminars. They weren't bad last year, but it's just not really right for me. There are no more secular conferences within a few provinces (or even states!) from me. Critter, I love that your kids can work for their Nana! Sigh. Maybe some day my kids will manage that too . . . As my kids get older, I'm more appreciative of their younger years, which also makes me appreciative of their current ages since I feel like I have better perspective of how quickly it changes. At the same time . . . it sounds delightful :)

I agree that ADHD should be the first thing to tackle, just wanted to add in that I found some of the resources on this page helpful re dyslexia: http://homeschoolingwithdyslexia.com/

Well. I've been MIA for a few days. Had to run to the Lower Mainland (7 hour drive) and back on Friday Saturday. Some stressful stuff happening right now to add on the fact that from now until April 6, every weekend is booked and each of them is a long weekend as far as school work goes. I'm trying not to stress about that since there's really not much I can do. To be fair, one of the weekends is my dd's 3rd bday follwed immediately by my bday, then easter, the the followin weekend is ds's 9th bday lol. But still, even bday's require some work, right? We got a pretty full day of school in. I'm thinking for the next month, we may drop the science curric and go with interest led reading/documentaries. I'd like to finish the periodic table of elements, but beyond that, I may just do nature study and finish chemistry next year. Or not. I NEVER *don't* finish a book so this is a huge deal for me lol. I've already decided that next year I'm gonna with RS4K Physics because it's at most 14 weeks and I want to get more nature study done. So if I have eight + weeks of chemistry, that might be too tight. Remind me of this if I can't resist *having* to finish it!! tomorrow is town day, and a coffee with a neighbour, so no school, not even in the coffee shop. wednesday morning, I *think* I'll do school, but then ds and I are leaving on our Train Adventure. We're riding a real live train to Prince Rupert on the coast, staying for two days, then riding the train back to our nearest big city. It's a 12 1/2 hour train drive each way! Should be a blast, but I for sure won't be back till next Monday. Just wanted to check in and say I'm thinking of you all since I'm not on as much as I have been :)

Blah. Super un-motivated today. Would way rather just curl up with a good book. Unfortunately, even when planned, that never turns out like I'd like it to: Kids fighting, house falling down around my ears, supper looming and no plan and I feel a little gross from sitting around all day. So. I guess I need to do what we need to do: Math block LA Block (Grammar, phonics w/two older kids and independent reading, spelling with the youngest, writing, memory work and Read Aloud) Then, after lunch, outside play and quiet time, some science, typing or cursive and piano practice. Will do history if I don't procrastinate the start of school in the afternoon lol Looks like I'm also taking an impromptu business-ish trip to the lower mainland with Dh, so leaving tomorrow afternoon. Need to do laundry!

Oh Soror! I love "Last Child in the Woods" I try and reread every spring to refocus my summer plans. Do not over-schedule and over plan! Let them outside to be wild on the ranch :) I shoudl dig out my copy . . . I may have loaned it out to a friend. AFM: I have gotten derailed over our week long school break :( Time to get back in the saddle! Still in progress: Oliver Twist (WEM reading) History of the Medieval World Life at Home What do Buddhists Believe? Swiss Family Robinson (with my boys) At the Sign of the Sugar Plum (with all the kids for history) Little House on the Prairie (family-wide read-aloud) Picking up Girl at War from the library tomorrow and of course have now added 3 more books to my "see if I want to add to my reading list" list lol!

So my ds is using items in 2nd/3rd grade level, but I still call him 3rd grade since that's where he'd place according to his age. For what it's worth, I suspect mild dyslexia and for all intents and purposes, that's how I teach him. To finish third grade: Math: We're about to start CLE 300. Only a week or two of 210 left. Hoping to complete 305 before June 30th, but we'll just go until a booklet is done somewhere around there. Language Arts: Finish AAR level 3. Depending on timing, we may or may not start AAR 4, mostly likely it will wait until September. Finish AAS 3? Not sure on this. He's currently only in step 6 and moves approximately 1 step a week, hardly ever less. Finish FLL 3. Ha! This one I'm firm on lol Finish CAP Fable. We're going through this fairly slowly, having started in September and are about 3/4 through. So we'll finish this and maybe move on to Killgallon to finish the year. Extras: Finish Ecoutez Parlez 3. (oral component only) Finish to chapter 30 of SOTW 3 with lots of Canadian add-ins Finish at least the Table of Elements in RSO Chemistry, may continue on to Molecules or move in to Nature Study with the arrival of spring Finish Song School Latin 1 (mostly oral as well, and mostly for my first grader and toddler. They adore it!) Finish Apple Press Geography for grades 3/4 Grade Four: Math: Finish CLE 310 and move on to CLE 400 until as far as we get Language Arts: Not sure at this point if we'll do CAP Narrative 1 or WWE3 or Writing Strands 2 or 3 or something else! AAR4. May move on to REWARDS Intermediate after that or just call phonics done - see how it goes Finish AAS 3 and start AAS 4 FLL 4 Extras: Contemplating RS4K Physics for science . . . I'd like to do SOME formal physics, but I know that 36 weeks of Chemistry seems like too much this year! RS4K is only 10-14 weeks :) Then maybe we can do something else "scientific" for the rest of the year Finish SOTW 3 with lots of Canadian extras, then do provincial history next spring and take advantage of our awesome historically significant location! Apple Press maps for grade 4/5? Not sure . . . As for languages, also undecided. Like I said, oldest dd is dyslexic, younger is possibly dyslexic, so languages are not their forte or their passion. We starting a sign language class next week so we'll see how that goes and make some language decisions based on that. My (then) 5th grader is required to study a second language so we'll have to choose one of the three: ASL, Latin or French. May continue one, two or all three with a their younger siblings who have no such challenges and love SSL. Might try out French for Children and/or Latin for Children or just tackle Song School Latin 2 depending on who is involved.

Hmmmmm . . . I should add that I'm lucky enough to have a shared office with my partner. In it, I keep "to do this year" stuff in a big dresser: science supplies, a drawer for each kid to keep future books (Math Mammoth 4B while we're working on 4A etc), printer paper since this is where our main computer and printer are. I've also claimed the closet and I keep all our spare office supplies and my own homeschooling/educational reference books, craft supplies I don't want out in general population (hello glitter!!). I also keep the yearly binders here - Every few weeks I empty out the kids' binders into their own personal yearly binder (with tabs per subject) and refill them from the same binder. Also, in my bedroom closet I've stashed a small book case for books that we won't be using this year but I have a use for. Specifically books or programs that my older kid(s) have used that I'm waiting for the younger kids to be ready for or really great books I think we'll use for a certain era of history or field of science we're not in this current year. I keep my school room for current, every day (or at least every week) things only! The way I do things, there's really quite a lot of STUFF. And I use the library for so much too!

Well, I guess we're actually going to do a bit of school. It's a long weekend here in BC so the IL's want to get on the road bright an early to beat the worst of the traffic. So maybe we won't do our breakfast morning time reading and spelling, but we'll tackle math and LA after they leave at the very least, then on to history, science and typing/cursive this afternoon. How many melt downs do we predict? And who? The toddler? The 9yo (going on 15)? Or me? :P. If I'm expecting them I can deal with them better lol! Today I think dd9 and I will tackle what's left of MM division chapter. We started it last fall when it became apparent that we really needed to work on multiplication and then we just kind of went crazy with that up to multi-digit multiplication and we never did get back to division, though I think it will be fairly straightforward for her now that her multiplication is practically mastered. I've ordered her a full year of CLE 400 though I don't have a solid plan for it yet. Should she start at the beginning and accelerate through stuff she knows? Start in 406 or 407 and back track as needed? I'll wait until it arrives I guess, and in the meantime there are a few pages from ds8's CLE 300 I could photocopy since I know from previews that there are a few things she's not familiar with even in the very first booklet. Happy Monday everyone :)

Jean, I hear you! My oldest is also working really hard but isn't progressing like I feel she "should" (whatever that means!). For all intents and purposes, with anything language-related, I consider her third grade, rather than fourth. It makes me feel better about where she that way. It's tough because her younger brother is actually in third grade and she's acutely aware of stuff like that, but it helps that he's not flying through things with ease either - though managing to stay on grade level. I guess I just try and focus on "forward progress" and not "grade level". I know you know that, but it bears repeating. AFM, my in-laws showed up yesterday afternoon, semi-unexpectedly. Or maybe more like last minute notification. So our week long holiday has been extended by a day. They usually leave fairly early on the day they leave, so I may just pick up school as soon as they're gone. I'm excited because I think we're going to start doing a little reading and math at a coffee shop on Tuesday mornings. There's an awesome book/cafe/yarn shop in town with a lounge area with big tables, armchairs and a chess board. I'm gonna give that a whirl and see how it works for an hour or two. Hoping that's not too much to ask from the two year old? I'll pack her a care kit. Fingers crossed! Another exciting thing: Just found out that the sewing centre offers sewing classes. Gonna see if they have anything for kids, or even better, would be interested in either a small homeschool class for day time or kids' class for early afternoon on Tuesdays since we're in town anyhow. If all else fails, maybe we could get dd9 private lessons if it wasn't too expensive. Finally, third exciting thing: Organized homeschool sign language classes on Friday afternoons. It's with a "neighbour" (only a half hour down the road as opposed to an hour all the way to town!) who has raised 18 children of whom 14 use sign language. She's taught a lot of classes, ran day camps etc so I think it should be a ton of fun. We're going Friday afternoons with some homeschooling friends and did is super excited :)

I'm actually pretty pleased with our current layout, but we've been home schooling right from the start and my kids are much younger than yours, so this is probably different from what you need. Opposite of you, we eat in our "formal" (as we get :P) dining room every night and the eating area in the kitchen is where we homeschool. Things I really appreciate: - Lots of shelving so I have everything I need almost without moving. I take an extra 3 minutes to go get something and they're all gone - either literally out to play or lost to a major case of the sillies with each other lol. Not incredibly pretty but I also added in a few of those smaller plastic drawers to fit in the shelving for smaller items like school supplies and reference sheets. And we have a ton of plastic shoeboxes for math manipulatives. I also have books stored in groups in baskets (one for each kid for their independent reading, one for history books, one for morning time, etc) - We have a giant window with a great view of the Fraser River. Not a lot of traffic, but some awesome sightings of eagles, geese, deer, sheep and the odd feral cat lol. I adore the natural light (and it only gets morning sun which is also nice) and it makes a great back-up white board to mix something like math drill up a bit every now and then. -It's close to the kitchen and has a roomy closet just off the hall for "school toys" for the little one and art supplies for everyone. -It's decently roomy. We've filled it up with a small computer desk, a salvaged old-school school desk and a medium sized table in the middle. But we can all fit without too much squeeze as long as we're not all moving around at once lol. And while it's not blocked off from the rest of the house (as in by doorways and sound proofing) the other living areas of the house are visually blocked off to minimize distraction. -Enough wall space for a few maps, AAS whiteboard and room to diplay works of art :)

So now I'm getting a cold. And the two youngest have it as well :( Critter, you're looking for a workbook style calculus? or just any calculus. And what about Algebra 2? Does Keys to . . . cover that already? Undecided how to spend my day. I have a few things on my list I've been procrastinating over all week, that should probably be done first lol.

Gak! Thursday already! My week off is slipping away :(. I've gotten a ton done, I think the next day or two will be about fun and relaxation - and a few phone calls I've been procrastinating about. Sigh. I really dislike making phone calls.

Maybe just the name lol? I'm sure it's been around for eons, this is just a way to differentiate it from all the millions of pre-laid out planners. :)