I sing, tap (percussion.), and play a little piano.

I let them sleep unless we need to be somewhere. DS is up by 8:30 and DD by 10.

Exactly my thoughts!:D

I list the kids ages in my signature so I don't always have to list them in every post. I said I did not plan to drop SM. I wanted more info on the program because I don't want two full math curricula. I want a fun supplement. Knowing that the elementary books are supplemental in nature helps. That is not the impression I got from the LoF website. It made it seem that the full program could be stand alone. That's what I wanted to know. I am looking for supplement without busy work.

I don't really want an age, I am wondering more - how many years after your child started printing did you wait to start cursive? My DS started writing letters at 18 months. He was writing grocery lists at 2.5. Writing letters to people as we dictated correct spelling to him at 3. Last year we worked a little on good penmanship. This year I am focusing on it more as we do dictation for spelling. He can have BEAUTIFUL handwriting. He starts his "e"s on the right at the bottom instead of at the middle of the loop on the left. Otherwise he makes letters correctly and efficiently. He wanted to start cursive, so we did. I wrote his name and he copied it beautifully. Yesterday we learned i and t and today we ran them together. He is doing really well. He is only 6, but he has been writing for 4.5 years. How long did you wait? How did the transition go? I print, I do not write cursive. I HATE cursive. I had a traumatic experience with my 5th grade teacher and cursive. Once I completed 5th grade and was no longer required to use cursive, I went back to print. I don't want to cause any problems for my son with either writing method....I would love to hear some stories of younger students learning cursive. (In PS we learned in late 3rd grade, early 4th).

I have an 8 gig nano, it was not enough for me. So I bought my 32 gig iTouch. If I was just using it for music to listen to for fun, 8 would be enough. I however teach dance and theatre...I have a lot of music for work on there! I also have all of our Classical Conversations practice cds and SOTW audio CDs for Vol 1 loaded on it. We do not have a cd player in our car or house....just iPod hook ups :) That, plus my music and I have it over half full :)

I am anxious to see the results of this poll! ;)

Yes, please! I would also like to know what the generalizations you were comparing were.

I emailed a seller once when I bought multiple books from one place. They lowered the shipping.

Just like with the state of education itself, I think there are good and bad schools for social aspects. I do not think that the school environment is the ideal method of socialization for children.

I think there are some deplorable school districts in the US, there are also some amazing districts. We have 2 top notch and 2 really good districts around us. We also have 4-5 very bad-deplorable districts. All within 30 minutes of our house.

We currently have two, we would like to have 2 more.

I think homeschooling is different for each family. I picked the options that we use, but I think I accidentally clicked one that we don't do...oops. But, I can see how all would be homeschooling for different families, and possibly for ours as they get older. The important thing is that the parents are selecting an education that is considered by many to be non-traditional. They are not in a "school" for 7-8 hours a day.

I have been part-time outside of the home since before my son was born. My job also requires some work from home. My current hours are 4ish to 8:30ish 4 days a week, and 6-7:30 one day a week. Some days at least one of the kids comes with me, one day I have them both. DH sets his own schedule, he works mornings/afternoons, and is home before I leave. Today, we are both home :) That actually makes school A LOT harder...

I put that we would decide year by year and kid by kid. I would like to do both all through high school, but if they need something different, I also want to be flexible.

I have gone to bed two hours early the last 4 days.....today, I slept in an extra hour. I have felt awesome! I also started taking vitamins daily for the last month.

Reading aloud takes a lot of practice. My 6 year old reads his grammar lesson to me daily. This in his independent reading level. When I read him a book in his instructional level, I have him read the first paragraph of each chapter, sometimes two. He also does musicals, he reads aloud from a script regularly. Daily practice leads to fluidity and eventually, story telling abilities. Mix it up with the level. You will get more personality in reading an easy book and mote struggle with a hard book. Both are important to developing read aloud skills. This also helps with public speaking.

I agree with the pps, pick a history spine and do mapwork for geography. I found blank world and US maps at a teacher supply store. I can just copy and reuse all I want. We also do SOTW, so I don't need my maps yet. Social studies fits with history nicely. It is really just a study of town/city, state, and country identifications, with some world cultures and minimal geography. A full history program would more than cover that. For your kids, if they read well, history and science can cover their formal reading. Have them read aloud some so you can check their pronunciation. When they read silently, have them narrate. Assign x minutes of reading they select, don't narrate that, they can use some for book reports. Don't make all of their reading "school." You can get integrated grammar and writing programs. Also, do some block scheduling. History MWF, science TTh, spelling 3 days. Grammar/writing, math and reading daily. It is not so much when you combine and spread it out. *you don't have to finish the books, ps classes rarely finish a book. *ps does not cover everything everyday. If they do, something suffers.

I was first, I was the angel. My sister was trouble. My parents agree.

Breakfast: bacon for me, yogurt and bacon for the kids. Snack: Toffee studded snicker-doodles (yummy!) Lunch: leftover spaghetti for me, chicken nuggets for the kids Dinner: Crock pot chicken enchilada filling, rice, and beans....the enchilada fillings is a total experiment :) Today's distraction...everything under the sun for DS...he cannot concentrate for more than 2 minutes today! So unusual! For me, lots of work to do and I am ready for the weekend already. No birthdays....

:iagree: :lol:

I am getting a slow start today....no breakfast yet, but I am contemplating a crockpot dinner. I have limited supplies, I will need to be creative.

Yes.....how?!?!

If you can diagram a sentence, you can understand it. It is really helpful when you are reading more difficult material. If you have a lot of experience with diagraming, you can start to lockout the parts of a sentence without trying. It makes it easier to match phrases with the word they modify or complement. It tales a lot of practice. It also males editing for flow and grammar a lot easier.

I was never going to Homeschool....now I wouldn't have it any other way. :)