We played with Prima Latina in 1st and 2nd grade. We concentrated on learning the prayers, which my kids really enjoyed. This year (3rd) we've started Latina Christiana and it's going great so far. :)

Off the top of my head... Riki Tiki Tavi or Secret Garden Other Kipling Stories would give the perspective of an Englishman on Indian landscape and culture.

Tiptoeing in to say something negative... I really disagree with WTM about reading abridged, jr. versions of classic books UNLESS the retellings themselves are a high literary quality (Sutcliffe's books, Lamb's Shakespeare, etc.). There are SO many wonderful, wonderful books for 3rd graders that were written in the "modern" period, even if not set in the historical period you're studying. Save Dumas for 7th, 8th grade and beyond when he can be really enjoyed (I read all the Dumas I could find at my library in 9th grade and loved him!). And read real books for now with your kiddo. :) MHO and all. ;)

You might enjoy the ideas from this blog. The author uses Ambleside for her Morning Times. http://morningtimemoms.blogspot.com/

Actually...;) Early Modern English.

I'm going to quibble a bit here. Sayers is pretty clear in her essay that Latin is necessary in the model of education she's suggesting. She also has another essay (speech) focused on the centrality of Latin in her own education. http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/sayers/sayers1.html And from "The Lost Tools of Learning": "Let us begin, then, with Grammar. This, in practice, means the grammar of some language in particular; and it must be an inflected language. The grammatical structure of an uninflected language is far too analytical to be tackled by any one without previous practice in Dialectic. Moreover, the inflected languages interpret the uninflected, whereas the uninflected are of little use in interpreting the inflected. I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this, not because Latin is traditional and mediaeval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labour and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least fifty per cent. It is the key to the vocabulary and structure of all the Romance languages and to the structure of all the Teutonic languages, as well as to the technical vocabulary of all the sciences and to the literature of the entire Mediterranean civilisation, together with all its historical documents. Those whose pedantic preference for a living language persuades them to deprive their pupils of all these advantages might substitute Russian, whose grammar is still more primitive. (The verb is complicated by a number of "aspects"—and I rather fancy that it enjoys three complete voices and a couple of extra aorists—but I may be thinking of Basque or Sanskrit.) Russian is, of course, helpful with the other Slav dialects. There is something also to be said for Classical Greek. But my own choice is Latin. Having thus pleased the Classicists among you, I will proceed to horrify them by adding that I do not think it either wise or necessary to cramp the ordinary pupil upon the Procrustean bed of the Augustan age, with its highly elaborate and artificial verse-forms and oratory. The post-classical and mediaeval Latin, which was a living language down to the end of the Renaissance, is easier and in some ways livelier, both in syntax and rhythm; and a study of it helps to dispel the widespread notion that learning and literature came to a full-stop when Christ was born and only woke up again at the Dissolution of the Monasteries."

I'm so glad they were helpful to you, Dianne. I've been on the pendulum swinging back and forth since our oldest was born and both of these articles are ones I return to for peace. I'm reminded that children are indeed a blessing and a gift and it's always wrong to not trust God. But He also calls us to be wise stewards and to parent well and calls women to submit to their husbands. My husband increasingly believes that he is the best dad at our current family-size and that more would not be wise. I certainly want him to feel that he can train and bring up the children we already have. He also knows my limits better than I do I think. I'm always going to be mush at the thought of babies and tend to overlook that there are 18 years of parenting asked of me, not just baby cuddles. ;)

Here's John Piper's article on the subject, a view I tend to agree with: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1440_Does_the_Bible_permit_birth_control/ I also appreciate Doug Wilson's thoughts on the subject. Though I suppose there will be those here who do not. :) http://credenda.org/issues/18-4husbandry.php Both articles seem to me very balanced, thoughtful ways to think through family planning issues as Christians.

B is 8 and seems to have similar tastes to your 7 year old L. He does love Redwall, he listened to several of the dramatized audiobooks before he was ready to dive in and read them for himself. Have you guys discovered "The Mysterious Benedict Society" and its sequel? Those were probably the biggest hit for read-alouds this year. My kids just love them. Oz and sequels are also great suggestions, there are lots of those. There are a couple of sequels to "The Cricket in Times Square" that I know B has enjoyed. Also Dick King-Smith books (Babe, Martin's Mice, etc.) Both kids recently read a sweet book about two mice called "Tumtum and Nutmeg".

I attended a 3 room school from K-3rd grade. Kindergartners started in January, which was also when the 2nd graders moved up to the next room and 4th graders to the 3rd room to join the 5th graders. If I remember correctly there were 10 of us in Kindergarten that first year, 4 kids moved away and so in 1st grade we had 6 students and the 2nd grade had 2 students. It was really pretty great for students that needed to work up or down a grade. I don't remember a lot about particulars, but I was a strong reader and spelle, knew my math facts really well and had listened to many good read-aloud books when I moved into a larger school system in 3rd grade. :)

Well you just made me feel better about my day... :grouphug: ;)

A book you might find helpful... http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Math-Clueless-Bob-Miller/dp/0070434328/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249670064&sr=8-2 He has one for the GRE as well. It's a pretty helpful guide. :001_smile:

I think there's a wide variation of what kids are reading at age 7, or at least there has been between my first two. At 7, my son was still getting comfortable with Magic Tree House, Time Warp Trio, and other easier chapter books. He was decoding pretty well, but was intimidated by size of books. My daughter, however, is just 7 and has been reading books at the Narnia, Oz, Secret Garden, HP levels for over a year now. So it sounds to me like your son's decoding is just fine. But both my children have always been able to comprehend read-alouds that were above the level of their decoding, particularly if my husband reads them. I agree with Abbey, maybe challenge his read-aloud comprension a bit more (Audiobooks are great for this!). Maybe things like pre-reading would also help. If you were to "set the stage" of a chapter or book so that he kind of knows what to listen for in the story and doesn't have to work hard at figuring out all the elements of the story. :)

Well in the general context, she starts out by talking about educating ourselves to be able to have those great conversations with our children as they reach their teen years. Right? SWB says, "If you can't have that conversation with your child, then who is going to have it? You are going to have to outsource it to somebody else. Is that really what you want to do? As you try to carve out a small amount of time to educate yourself, think about your priorities—both now, and for the future." But then she goes on to make the point that there's more to it than learning *for* our children, to be better teachers, we're humans made in God's image, that means we need to cultivate our humanity for its own sake. Learning to read contemplatively and think deeply are important parts of growing as humans. The checking email is more related to her earlier point about electronic distractions. Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio has a wonderful talk on CD available from the Circe Institute about how electronic distractions make it so challenging to really read and think in quiet and depth. I'll link it in a second. http://208.112.22.17/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=C&Product_Code=CD200713&Category_Code=kmyers Here's the Myers talk, it's about communication technologies causing restlessness.

I'm not sure, but I think there were some cutting and pasting errors in the online article. I haven't seen the print article yet (hopefully the post office is forwarding my copy after my move!). Unless its just my computer making a muck of the article's spacing and capitalization....

3 of my 4 have preferred oblique/transverse positions--I recommend spinningbabies.com and a great chiropractor to do regular Webster manipulations as well. We did this with my 4th and she was in a great position (the chiro also helped minimize ligament aches and pains which was a great bonus. ;))

That's exactly the dynamic here, Angela! Though my dh is a bit of a foodie and cooking creatively for him goes over big. But that takes my being willing to branch out beyond meat and potatoes and learn new things! But the cleaning and daily house stuff...we just all pitch in and do it when it has to be done. I certainly have NO trouble leaving a messy kitchen to curl up with a good book (blog, MP3, etc.).

We really like Zooreka by Cranium as a EuroGame for kids in the style of Settlers. DH is the game player here and it's enjoyable enough for him. We like other Cranium games as well. Chess is a favorite, as is Mancala. Carcassone: Hunters and Gatherers is simple enough for my 7 and 8 year olds. Sequence for Kids is one of my 5 year olds favorites.

You are terrifying me, Aubrey! I finally got my three to 7, 6, and 4 and then went and had another one! :001_huh: My little one just started crawling and pulling up and I'm nervous. Very nervous. ;) Now you've got me REALLY scared of life with a toddler while homeschooling. Does your little guy nap? Can you get an hour or two of work in during that time? We've got at least one chunk of time usually in the morning where I can count on a decent nap. The last time I had a 1 year old and also had a 3 and 4 year old, I didn't do much more than play, color and read. And by the time I wanted to start real Kindergarten work, Sophie was 3. :grouphug: I think I survived the years with several littles by being really strict about naps/rest time. That gave me time to clean things up. Bedtimes have always been really early too. Any chance the littles could go to bed an hour or two before the bigs and you could do school then?

My mom recently recommended "People of the Book" and I really enjoyed it. :) It reminded me of A.S. Byatt's "Possession" with its two narrative threads.

Several I've heard via CD or MP3 and routinely revisit for motivation and encouragement-- Andrew Pudewa Andrew Kern SWB Doug Wilson Nate Wilson Ken Myers Emily Fischer James Daniels Martin Cothran Vigen Guroian John Hodges http://wordmp3.com/ is a great resource for speakers from the Veritas and ACCS conferences and http://circeinstitute.com/ carries CDs from their past conferences.

Ignore this, I see you're being induced today, good luck to you! You might ask about Master Gland herbs. http://www.natureshealthypeople.com/natures_sunshine_herbs_products/mastergland.html Based on the earliest ultrasound (supposedly most accurate), I went 17 days after the due date with my last baby. At 42 weeks my MW was required to do a biophysical profile ultrasound and that looked fine. She had me take the Master Gland supplements starting the day before I actually went into labor. But it's hard to know if that's what really got things moving, I was 100% effaced and 4-5 cm dilated for a couple of days. Even once I was in active labor it took breaking my water to fully dilate, my dd was just angled funny. Good luck. I hope you can have the birth you're hoping for. My 4th baby was my first with a MW and in a birth center and it was wonderful for our family. :)

Truman State University here. B.A. History in 1999. Dh B.A. Philosophy in 2000. :D

They just have the 2 daughters. 2 daughters who were scheduled as babies and seemed to do fine with it. So the rest of the world gets "God's plan" from their expertise. :glare: