I'm not sure if we're WTMish enough to qualify, but here's what my 3rd graders are doing: Math--Rod and Staff 3 Grammar--Rod and Staff 3 Latin--Latina Christiana Writing--Classical Writing-Aesop Spelling--Rod and Staff 4 History--Veritas Greece and Rome cards, Story of the Greeks, Story of the Romans from Nothing New Press, retellings of Odyssey, Illiad and Aeneid, various myths Literature--Ambleside Year 3 Poetry/Memory Work/Art/Composers/Geography--Ambleside Online and Living Memory Science--um, whatever books they find on the shelves that interest them, nature hikes in our area, and interesting DVDs or TV shows. And my son takes weekly violin lessons and practices daily. On a good day, things flow like this: We start around 8:30 with math, then they usually do spelling and copywork/handwriting to practice their cursive. Then we do Latin, Grammar, and Classical Writing together. All of those things should take us less than 3 hours. Then we eat lunch and then we do our history and various Ambleside readings. During rest time, they usually do their independent reading. We *rarely* have more than 4 hours of lessons though. Does that help?

I loved my OB when we lived St. Louis. Dr. D. Elan Simckes http://www.goodgyn.com/ His office is on New Ballas Road (near 270), north of Hwy 40. He delivered my 2nd and 3rd children.

:iagree: My babies have preferred oblique positions, leaning towards transverse. But I saw a chiro through my last trimester with my 4th and baby positioning was so much better. AND my ligaments stayed nice and loose, almost no back or hip pain at all even up to 17 days past due. ;)

We do indeed! At the very least we light an advent candle on our wreath each Sunday night of Advent, sing a hymn together, and have a reading related to the candle (Shepherds, Angels, Bethlehem, etc.). We've also done a Jesse tree in the past and may again. We have no problem with images of Jesus for instruction and in art works. Nor have any of the PCAs of which we've been members. I'm not sure which Reformed denominations hold to that interpretation of the 2nd commandment. I think I remember that J. I. Packer has some interesting things to say about it in "Knowing God". I love advent! The waiting, hoping, thinking of the wonder of the incarnation...

:blush: Not really. Just lucky to call Angelina a friend. And she pointed me to LindaFay's blog.

Here's a post from Angelina on Studied Dictation from her blog. http://angelinainlouisiana.blogspot.com/2008/08/studied-dictation-simply-spelling.html You could search for her posts her on it too. http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/2009/07/dictation.html Here are some great posts by LindaFay from her former "Higher Up, Further In" blog.

We recently moved from North Richland Hills. It's a great area! Wonderful new library, lots of homeschoolers, close to Fort Worth, major highways, other nice suburbs like Keller, Grapevine, Hurst, and Southlake. Really central to everything. :) It was a "Best Places to Live" top 10 city a few years ago, I think. http://www.nrhtx.com/nrhnews_100bestplaces.aspx Hurst might be a better choice for proximity to Arlington and FW. They have a nice library, swimming pools, etc. There's a fantastic homeschool arts program in Fort Worth at the Travis Baptist Church. http://tafaclasses.com/

:lol: That's *exactly* what I said!

I'll just add my agreement about creativity and imagination. My 7 and 8 year olds have just started Aesop this year, and they're having a ball. Their retellings are full of their own personalities and creativity. And since they don't have to start from scratch with coming up with something to write, it frees them to concentrate more on word choice and their own clever changes to the originals. :)

:iagree:

You can't win either way, eh? Draconian or slacker, someone will have your head. :tongue_smilie:

You're one I was thinking of, a fantastic blog of resources, but you haven't blogged really recently (I don't think) and I don't remember seeing "day in the life" type posts on yours. But I LOVE your book lists! :)

Oh your blog definitely counts, Lynx! I should have included it. :D

No, of course not! BUT, those women whom I most admire tend to read a lot (to prepare to teach their students or to improve their own minds), garden, cook, knit, etc. Some teach at coops or online. They just aren't on the computer as much as I am! ;) Or *if* they blog, it's just not about the day-to-day of homeschooling (I think I said that), it's about books, pictures, music, life. KWIM? Not about which Latin curriculum they use or what the day's lesson covered. And I'm not saying that those who do blog who place themselves in the "rigorous classical" box aren't teaching enough or have too much free time. No criticism was meant, I was only thinking of specific women that *I* hope to be more like in my homeschooling or those whose blogs I read and enjoy.

We've just started Aesop and we are doing R&S Spelling 4 (though fairly independently). My kids think it's fun and it takes them very little time. I spend more time talking analyzing the words I choose from CW than on the R&S words for the week. For handwriting, we've worked through a cursive program and since that's a new skill we do it separately (though combined with copywork, some of which does come from Aesop). Does that help? Jami

In my experience, most of the homeschool mothers who are really rigorously educating their children using classical methods do not have the time (or desire) to blog about the day to day details. They're too busy teaching! Now there are some fantastic, inspiring blogs out there by mothers who are giving their children rich educations, but I'm not sure some of them would be placed into the "classical" box. I think of Linda Fay's blog http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/ which is no longer being added to. It's amazing, but I suppose technically it's Charlotte Mason (who is classical if you ask me). Blogs that challenge me and that I read regularly for ideas about education (call it classical or otherwise) are Angelina's http://angelinainlouisiana.blogspot.com/ Andrew Kern of the CiRCE Institute http://quidditycirce.wordpress.com/ and then I tend to follow the links in their sidebars to other thoughtful, like-minded educators (homeschool and private school). Jami

:iagree: Very well said.

Well we know she advocated a single reading of a book/lesson, so FIAR would probably not make the cut. People are welcome to love unit studies, FIAR, MFW, etc. as much as they like. But calling such pre-packaged programs CM when she clearly says she dislikes such things is not respecting her authorial intent. IMHO.

Two thumbs up here, Judo, if you need another vote in favor of the CD. My three love it, especially my 5 year old.

I'm on my 4th year of Texas living. I grew up in Nebraska (brrr, winter) and then lived in St. Louis, MO for 6 years after college. I loved St. Louis with 4 real seasons and the city life itself, but I've learned to really appreciate aspects of Texas-living. I was in the DFW area (North Richland Hills) until this past July and now live in Austin. I love the Fort Worth (NRH, Keller, Southlake) area. It's a great place to raise a family and home school! *quick wave to vkay* Now we're in Austin and since we're still really getting settled, I still have limited experience with this area. But we're enjoying the more urban lifestyle (a bit more like St. Louis in some ways) coupled with a healthy appreciation for natural beauty that we find in the people here. There seems to be more emphasis on parks and common shared spaces here in Austin than in DFW, shared spaces that aren't focused on shopping anyway (much as I, too, love the Southlake Town Center). But I've found Texas in general to be a very easy place to home school. The cost of living is very reasonable, which certainly helps with raising a family. We're far from our families, so that makes it a challenge to completely love living here. I was very thankful that I was able to work with a midwife in a birth center for my last baby, which I had no option to do in St. Louis. But yes, there are bugs and fire ants. :P

I'm totally going to come hang out with you in CO one of these days. :lol: We'd get along just fine. :D Michele, my three are close in age and play together for hours each day without too much trouble. I'd think with enough unstructured time and neglect (the good kind!), your boys would start playing more. Or they'd sit there bored. ;)

Katie Fforde is a fun choice. Her novels are kind of like modern Doris Day movies. Very predictable if you read more than a couple, but a nice snack when you need that in a book.

It starts teaching Multiplication/Division around chapter 40, that's the first introduction to multiplication facts. Other than skip counting, R&S 2 didn't do anything with multiplication facts, so your dd should be fine. :)

My sister is my best friend, I'd have to say. My parents introduced us. ;) We didn't become truly close friends till after we were both married though. I have close friendships with a couple of people from the churches dh and I have been part of. And then I have a couple of very dear internet friends that I talk to online most days and go to for advice and support about school, parenting, marriage as much as I do my sister.

Wow. That is quite possibly the most horrifying thing I've read on this board. :001_huh: