Hi, everyone! Thanks to Patty Joanna for sending me a link via FB. Let's see: Currently reading Bishop Ware's The Orthodox Way; PJ had recommended The Orthodox Church when I was "searching" and curious, and I devoured it. Last night we had our priest and his family over for dinner, which was a blast. My DH and he had several hours to talk. DH has been *wonderful* about all of this, has attended every DL with us, even though he isn't 100% sold on Orthodoxy. There is no one thing that he has rejected, even if some elements--the usual suspects: praying to/communicating with saints, icons, the Blessed Virgin Mary, etc--seem so foreign and "Romish" to him. The upside is that he really, REALLY likes Fr. Patrick; they're two of a kind, personality-wise. I keep praying and praying. The kids and I are ready to be catechumens--we're just waiting on Daddy. Can't wait for Mass tonight for the Presentation of the BVM. Honestly? As a Protestant, I don't recall EVER longing for the church service during the week between Sundays. Ever. Oh--I should mention, if it sounds like we use different terminology from the rest of you, that we are a Western Rite parish. We use the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great, so the entire "sung Mass" is in English. But we're fully Orthodox, I assure you. :hurray:

I agree. By contrast, Mr. Michael does not: Though he does not forbid Protestants to study in the CLAA, he doesn't believe that an "anti-Catholic" will last long in any of CLAA's advanced courses. Further, he considers it a "waste of time" if a parent spends "half of their time explaining to their children why they don't believe half of the stuff taught in the courses." To sum up, he believes that "we [that is, Catholics and Protestants] can share hymns and holidays, but we really cannot share genuine classical education."

:001_huh: But...isn't this thread why you joined the board here yesterday?

Sigh. If you read this thread, you'll note that (a) Drew has not participated in the thread at all and should therefore not be held accountable for the fact that he hasn't laid out his objections to CLAA here (or anywhere else, so far as I know, beyond the corporal punishment issue, which came up quite some time ago on the LCC Yahoo Groups list) and (b) Chris has already said that he's happy to PM his 10-page treatise on CLAA to anyone who asks him for it. I assume that somewhere in those 10 pages, you'll uncover his objections.

Aw, shucks, dearie! :grouphug::grouphug:

That was my experience as well. I contacted Mr. Michael directly and was told that an "anti-Catholic" (which I am emphatically NOT, as I believe my Catholic friends will attest) wouldn't last long in any advanced course at CLAA. But hey--that's honest and forthright: I wasn't put off by that. It was the forum that put me off CLAA completely.

No, although CC provides memory work in some core subjects. But "cover" them? No.

YES--so glad you asked! I use the Spatula Spreader every.single.day. http://www.cutco.com/products/product.jsp?itemGroup=1768 It cuts AND spreads--hummus, mustard, peanut butter, whatevah. It is AWESOME. AWESOME!! It's the one and only knife you need for lunch. :cheers2: ETA: I received mine as a wedding present nearly 12 years ago and have used it almost every day since then. I've never sharpened it, and it's just as sharp now as it was then. Wish I could say the same for myself. :001_huh::D

He might like The Sign of the Beaver, My Side of the Mountain, Men of Iron, or Adam of the Road. :001_smile:

We spent between an hour and 2 hours a day doing first grade. :001_smile: ETA: This doesn't include read-aloud time (another 1-2 hours a day, total) or "quiet" time, which is usually 2 hours a day spent in their rooms listening to audiobooks and drawing.

Oh. my. GOODNESS--my daughter would love to do this! Thank you!

:iagree:

Mr. Popper's Penguins! Oh, it's so very delightful....

:iagree: Focus on those phonics. One other thing: For whatever reason, A Wonder-Book was a HUGE hit here, whereas they were somewhat less enthused about the stories and pacing of Tanglewood Tales. Weird.

I know Lynx uses FLL with littles--and so do I, because Lynx is my hero. :D

I don't know the ages of your kids, obviously, but if you've got youngers (5 and up), they might enjoy Clara Dillingham Pierson's "Among the ___ People" series. It includes forest, night, meadow, farm, and pond critters. My daughter LOVED every one of the books and can't wait to re-read them with her younger brother. They're available from The Baldwin Project/Yesterday's Classics. Oh--caveat: Folks who don't like talking or otherwise anthropomorphized animals need not apply. ;)

I love the Lambs' stories; my dd has consistently preferred Nesbit. The Coville adaptations are so beautifully illustrated--they've always been a hit with both kids (nearly 7 and nearly 5). Williams' comic-strip style was just visually unappealing for my dd. My library doesn't have Garfield, but I'm fairly certain that he wrote the BBC animated Shakespeare tales--and they're terrific. Both of my kids LOVE those. (You can find them on YouTube.)

http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/

We have this one, and both kids love it. :001_smile:

Caveat: I've only got littles, so I can't help with the 7th grader. :001_smile: SPINE: SOTW2 Supplements: Our Island Story (Marshall) This Country of Ours (Marshall) Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Baldwin) D'Aulaire's Norse Myths Viking Tales (Hall) Celtic Myths (Jacobs) Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (Hastings) Trial and Triumph (Hannula) Otto of the Silver Hand (Pyle) Men of Iron (Pyle) The Little Duke (Yonge) Marguerite Makes a Book Life in the Middle Ages: The Church Cultural Atlas for Young People: Middle Ages Saints: Lives and Illuminations (Sanderson) Saints: More Lives and Illuminations (Sanderson) Saint Valentine (Tompert) The Legend of Saint Nicholas (Demi) Across a Dark and Wild Sea The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica Sindbad (Zeman) Adam of the Road D'Aulaire's Leif the Lucky Cathedral (Macaulay) Chanticleer and the Fox (Clooney) The Door in the Wall St George and the Dragon (Hodges) A Medieval Feast (Aliki) The Canterbury Tales (Cohen) Joan of Arc (Stanley, Poole) D'Aulaire's Columbus Follow the Dream (Sis) Starry Messenger (Sis) Louise Vernon Prot Reformer bios Good Queen Bess (Stanley) Bard of Avon (Stanley) Shakespeare and the Globe (Aliki) A Midsummer Night's Dream (Coville) Macbeth (Coville) Tales from Shakespeare (Lambs) Sir Francis Drake (Gerard) Little Pilgrim's Progress (Taylor)

My 6yo dd and 4yo ds LOVED Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus. Loved them. Also HUGE hits were D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and the Orchard Book of Roman Myths (McCaughrean), some of which touch on those topics. 4yo couldn't get into Padraic Colum, but my 6yo LOVES The Children's Homer (especially the audiobook read by Robert Whitfield for Blackstone Audiobooks). Rounding out the best o' the best was Theras and His Town. The only misstep was, strangely enough, In Search of a Homeland. I think the problem was that the pictures were too "abstract" (fuzzy, IYKWIM) to be able to hold my 4yo's attention, and he's just too distracting to "leave behind." So we had to drop it. If you do make it through Homeland, though, be sure to check out clips of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas on YouTube--particularly Dido's Lament. My kids LOVE to watch Dido's swan song. They're sick that way. ;)

Oh, for crying out loud. Is this willful misunderstanding, or what? I think it's a good thing to remember the sacrifice of those who died defending our tomorrows even on days that are not TECHNICALLY Memorial Day. Can we at least agree on that? And what on earth difference does it matter where pqr has lived or is living now? Many--most?--of those whose lives are on the line RIGHT NOW are not in fact in the contiguous 48 states as we speak. Here's a thought: Let's all step away from our keyboards and take a moment today (or you could wait until the official Memorial Day, if you insist) to read "In Flanders Fields." Unless such imperialist, "pro-war" sentiments are repugnant to you. In which case...I got nothin'.

Tell her to get over herself. No--wait! Bad idea! Why does it matter what she thinks about Latin? She doesn't have to study it. Why do YOU think it's important? That's all that matters. :001_smile:

HITS: Phonics Pathways AO Year 1 reading list FLL 1 WWE 1 SOTW: Ancients and supplemental reading Child's Story Bible New American Cursive Right Start and Singapore Math MISSES: Rod & Staff math Galloping the Globe

ElizabethB has phonics lessons online on her site; check her sig for link. I found R&S math 1 to be absolutely open-and-go. My daughter hated it because it was a worksheet a day and interminable (from her perspective) drill, but it was certainly easy on me. (Can't speak to the higher grades, as we jumped ship to the VERY teacher-intensive Right Start.) The WWE1 workbook is incredibly easy, too--and it has the advantage of being much loved by my daughter. That covers phonics, math, and writing, which are the essentials. For history, just pick up SOTW and read it aloud to them all in the evening before bed. (I've found that my kids are pretty willing to listen to ANYTHING that allows them to stay up a little bit later.) Alternatively you could purchase SOTW audiobooks for them if you can't handle all of that reading. The activity guide has GREAT comprehension and narration questions; you can hand them the coloring pages if you want. That covers history. For science, hand the olders the Christian Liberty Nature Readers. Hey--science and reading practice together! Woot! For the youngers, just don't worry about it right now. Primary age kids won't be "behind" if they don't do science every week. Honestly. And here's a :grouphug: for mom. :001_smile: