Hello everyone! Would anyone be able to recommend a resource for me to read up on literary analysis? I am not looking for a curriculum, just something I read through & then dip in & out of as needed. I am wanting to build my own knowledge. Thanks for reading

I used to post in the organised christmas forum. I wonder why they got rid of them? My brain fails me now. I met a lovely lady on there called Tammy - we mailed each other Christmas magazines for a couple of years - she is in the US, I am in the UK. We lost touch, too :(

I am so sorry everyone for the late reply! I could not find the topic again until now!!! It wasn't showing in my 'posts' section. HMB is all put together now, thank you. Some great resources listed, thanks.

Was on my list too.... :huh:

Wow, perhaps this was not the best thread to start! It is extremely distracting! I may re-read Mere Christianity & The problem of Pain. Also, I had forgotten that I have recently purchased Reading in the Wild as a summer read for myself...

I am hoping to read The Little Oratory: A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home Plus a 'classic' - no idea what I will choose though. Thinking perhaps a re-read of Wuthering Heights. What is on your reading list?

I am quite organised when it comes to planning for home education, but need to get more organised in other areas of my life. I thought about putting together a HMB, but there are a bazzillion on pinterest, which feels a little overwhelming. Can anyone recommend a link with easy directions & good (preferably, but not essential) free printables? Thanks so much!

Mommymonster thanks for the ideas - I am going to keep going with MM for now whilst I research options & I will implement your idea of a game after her 15 mins are done :)

Pen, thank you for taking the time to make those recommendations - I shall be looking into them.

thebacabunch Thank you *so* much for sharing your ideas & encouragement. You have given me a lot of food for thought & I really appreciate it. I am certainly looking for some frog stickers for a start. so, we have just had a family breakfast meeting. Here is how it went: she just says she hates it, because she doesn't like some of it :o Maths - she finds tricky. This I know. It can take 15 mins to do say, 1/8th page from MM g2. That is ok for me, we just plug on through. We use beans, abacus etc to help every day. She has to be able to move stuff still to work stuff out. Memory Work - she loves :) for those who a re curious, here is what we are doing All the world's a stage from As You Like It - 7 verses.. We are up to 3 verses at present. She likes this - she gets to act the 'mewling & puking' infant & the creeping like a snail schoolboy :) Months of the year (she still doesnt know them) we clap them out some of the grammar definitions from FLL3 - 4 or 5 of them - we made up our own songs / chants & hand movements Skip counting by 3's - she hops like a frog moon phases - we made a flap book type thing & just review 4 x week review continents- the girls test each other ;) planets - they get to say 'your anus' so they love it :o is this just my kids lol!!!!???? review previous years takes 20-30 mins including distractions. She loves it though, so not changing! lol! Grammar - too long she says. I think the last lesson went on r-e-a-l-l-y long! so that is in her head. Will keep my eye on this. we do most of this orally & I often write for her, so will persevere. timeline & history song. She loves spelling ok reading. she doesn't like the book - boring - mc guffey - so we will alternate - one day mcguffey, next day her choice. WWE - she says hard. I am interpreting that as 'requires effort' Xtra maths. ok-ish Science - she loves it! History - she loves Shakespeare - she loves it!!! when can she work on the theatre she is making with her sister some more :) she is excited to perform the paper doll play! So I guess not too bad :) I am feeling quite relieved right now. Forgot to add - we generally have read aloud time on my bed for 30-60mins per night when I get home from work, then she goes off to bed. We read both fiction & non fiction. On thurs we have 'poetry supper' & read just poetry & have a special snack. She *adores* this.

Hello everyone, sorry have just seen this thread - somehow I have managed to post this question twice! (posted on kindle - I will blame that!!) Thank you for all your replies - I have added more info in the other thread

OhElizabeth thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, I do think she perhaps is on the 'spectrum' She is very similar to myself at her age. Getting a diagnosis is tricky in the UK, because she is not in school. I am not clear what the benefit would be - I take her very much as I find her, my lovely, active, very literal child. I confess to feeling somewhat berated by your comments. I care very much about the education of my daughters. That is why I homeschool. As an example, I use WWE because I can pull it out & use it, I don't have to prep ahead & plan copy work/dictation. I work part time & as much as I would *love* to follow the example you gave for c/w/dic it is too much for me right now. Life has been exhausting the last few years, with school, work & a very serious illness my husband has been through. Perhaps being exhausted is making me feel a little sensitive. I appreciate that 'tone of voice' is missing from a post on a message board.

Thank you again everyone for the responses. I have skimmed through them because I am supposed to be prepping for this mornings work ;) Just to confirm what KathyJo said, she has just turned 8. She was 6 when she started school. She does very little writing for school - we do most of FLL orally - I do the writing for her. She writes the sentence in WWE - perhaps a sentence for history (1x wk) Memory work, she probably 'enjoys' most - it is quick paced & active Given her choice - I think she would play on the computer/ watch TV. She enjoys being outdoors & bug hunting :) I make time for this during the week. We go for a big family walk 1 or 2 times a week. I would like to make this happen every day, but I also work part time, so it would be difficult. I have tried to follow her interests before - we looked at frogs. I read to her, she enjoyed that. We kept tadpoles (do that every year anyway) she loved that. She still didn't want to write, or do any maths surrounding frogs :) She wanted to colour in quite a 'cartoonish' print out of a frog. That wasn't really my idea of an education for a 7 yr old We work as much as possible in 15 min chunks (have a sand timer) She just doesn't like it. Going to chat with her this morning & will report back... Thnks again for the support. It is great to be able to vent & not be told to just 'unschool' & let her do what she wants to all day...(watch tv!)

Mandylubug - yes, something needs to change. I am going to have a good chat with her, observe her & take it from there thanks again everyone. Please keep talking to me :)

see that is the thing - I do not require lots of writing Science- we are using REAL science earth & space. We do not use the worksheets though - we have begun interactive notebooks - last week she drew a picture to represent what she had learned. History - SOTW II - read the stories, did colouring page, looked on our globe, began our SOTW lap book, which she likes doing (& required 1 dictated sentence) Shakespeare - I read aloud from some picture books about the globe theatre then we brainstormed making a theatre in which we can put on 'mini productions' of the play we are learning about. We have begun to make the theatre & have done the cutting & papier mache part & are up to painting. (plan is to read a few versions of the play, find the main narrative thread & act it out in 60 seconds with paper dolls - I got this idea from the BBC website) so no, very VERY little writing....

not sure it is a developmental stage - she has always hated it! (been schooling since she was six)

Thanks for the replies everyone. WWE - she actually got a buzz from this last week as she has started dictation (our first week back to full schooling)- & she felt proud of herself. Memory work - well not sure what to say. It is important to *me* & it is the part of the day when I get the most movement in (jumping, clapping, actions etc) Ellie, please may I ask how you teach your dc 'facts' without memory work (or what format does your MW take) Last year I had a revelation that, no, school does not have to be 'fun'. But that she actively *hates* it???? She does have interests - she loves to find out about animals & tell me about them for instance - but she does get the chance to do that outside of other schoolwork. I feel it is really important that she gets a good foundation in skills. I do not have the knowledge or time to be coming up with lots of unit studies or what ever to teach skills through (my own grammar, fo example is poor - so I am relying on curriculum to teach that skill) Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughtsI do appreciate them. I like the 'suck it up, buttercup'! I don't think it helps that all the other HS'ers we know are unschooling....

Please can I ask for some thoughts / advice / wisdom please. My just turned eight year old hates school. She has always hated school. I haven't taken it personally, but today she was at a woodwork class at a DIY shop & the lady asked her what was her favourite lesson . She replied none. She hates them all. Now I am taking it personally. This is my fault& I really don't know how to fix it. Mon-Thursday mornings are pretty much the same ; math mammoth, WWE, first language lessons 3, spelling power. We spend approximately 20-30 mins on memory work. Last year we learned CC history song (ancients) this year we are learning the medieval part. She reads aloud from her mcguffey reader. After lunch, Mon we do science, tues. She goes to grandparents while I go to work. Wed we do SOTW thur we are doing Shakespeare ( this is new this year. We are reading a child's version of a play each term - we have 3 terms.) She has begun to make a theatre for her Shakespeare lessons which I think she enjoyed. Fri are fun days - field trips, play dates, catch up anything missed in the week, artist study, nature walk.something of that nature. She is schooled by me, at home with 10 yo sister. So where am I going wrong?? What could I do to improve how she feels about her work? I did feel the material s were a good fit for her, although I know FLL goes over her head a lot of the time... Forgot to mention we began formal schooling when she turned six. She is very active so I get her to move as much as possible. TIA!

Please can I ask for some thoughts / advice / wisdom please. My just turned eight year old hates school. She has always hated school. I haven't taken it personally, but today she was at a woodwork class at a FIT shop & the lady asked her what was her favourite lesson . She replied none. She hates them all. Now I am taking it personally. This is my fault& I really don't know how to fix it. Mon-Thursday mornings are pretty much the same ; math mammoth, WWE, first language lessons 3, spelling power. We spend approximately 20-30 mins on memory work. Last year we learned CC history song (ancients) this year we are learning the medieval part. She reads aloud from her mcguffey reader. After lunch, Mon we do science, tues. She goes to grandparents while I go to work. Wed we do SOTW thur we are doing Shakespeare ( this is new this year. We are reading a child's version of a play each term - we have 3 terms.) She has begun to make a theatre for her Shakespeare lessons which I think she enjoyed. Fri are fun days - field trips, play dates, catch up anything missed in the week, artist study, nature walk.something of that nature. She is schooled by me, at home with 10 yo sister. So where am I going wrong?? What could I do to improve how she feels about her work? I did feel the material s were a good fit for her, although I know FLL goes over her head a lot of the time... Forgot to mention we began formal schooling when she turned six. She is very active so I get her to move as much as possible. TIA!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I have been thinking about what everyone has said & also about dd. I would say she has lied to me about 5 times. I think that some of those times she is trying to get away with something, but as soon as she is questioned further, she goes all coy & says, that, not that isn't what happened, or, yes, she did do something. Hoping this makes sense!

I would really appreciate thoughts on how to deal with this... DD who is 7 yo has recently told me lies a few times. Nothing terribly 'serious' in content - for example she told me something had happened, which, to an adult was a little unrealistic. I probed a little & she came straight out & said 'yes, I made it up'. She has also done it in a slightly more serious context.. " R, did you do X?" "No mum" until further questioned, then she readily confessed. (But what she had done wasn't something wrong/naughty, IYSWIM?) I am at a loss as to how to handle this for the best. At the time I told her it was very wrong to lie & I was glad that she had told me the truth, but I did not give any consequences. Thoughts greatly appreciated.

I need some help to get my home in order! We will be starting our new school year in September & my plans are almost finished. During our Summer break I will be going through the house, getting rid of 'stuff' & giving it a good clean. But I need to find a system of keeping my house in order that will stick. I have two daughters whom I homeschool & I also work part time. Please can you share your routines if you do most of your housework on Saturdays & smaller jobs through the week. TIA!

thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread, it has been most helpful.

Ruth, dd & I are attending an Indigo Natural Dyeing workshop this weekend with a lady who is very knowledgeable in natural dyes. I will run the 'everything turning to grey' past her & see if she can see any solutions...

Sorry I was not clear earlier - I wrote in a rush. She wants to write a book :) All about guinea pigs. It does require a depth of understanding as you say.