I just taught my 1st grader the six ers(er, ir, ur, wor, ear, our). It took one lesson and I followed up today with a review. Then when we were doing a different lesson he came across it and used his new knowledge to read the word. It was very gratifying for him. We will be completing our phonics program. From everything that I've read, if you give them a strong foundation in reading all the rest will follow. Good luck!

We use a lay midwife. The CPMs and CNMs in my area are around $3500 I believe. I love my lay midwife. She learned birthing through experience as an apprentice to a senior midwife. She knows more about birth than any other doctor or midwife I've ever come across. Good luck mama. An enjoyable birth is something I would make many sacrifices for. It makes a huge difference in your life.

I had four empowering, amazing homebirths that cost us under $2000 each. You are more likely to safely and naturally deliver at home than in a U.S. hospital. I would strongly advise you research your options. The countries with the best birth statistics are the ones that have higher numbers giving birth at home. So safety and finances make homebirth the best choice. Changing America's perspective on birth on the other hand is a whole other story.

These I have or have ordered: Websters 1828 Dictionary (ordered and shipping soon!) Kingfisher History Encyclopedia(white cover) (just received and love it!) Bible (have had since age 8) These I was thinking about for future: Kingfisher History Encyclopedia(red cover) Thesaurus Other Kingfisher Encyclopedias for various topics- animals, human body, geography?, nature, science, dinosaurs?, space? Annotated Mona Lisa Oxford History of Western Music What do you have in the core of your library that is a great supplement or reference to your home schooling? I feel like I'm missing out on some gems. Feel free to give your two cents about any I have listed above too. I would love to hear your perspective. And I have the updated WTM ordered too and I know there are great references in there too.

I just bought the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia(White cover) from a mama on WTM forums. The description was that it was in great condition, the price was $60 and included shipping. I did the amazon comparison and I could have gotten for a little cheaper but not with a personal note of the condition. I've ordered from amazon before when it said it was in great condition and it was filled with highlighting. I returned it. Ordering from another homeschooling mama I felt better than ordering from some random person or invisible company. I sent my paypal money with address(paypal requires you include it) and then she updated paypal with the shipping information. It took awhile but showed up nicely wrapped and in wonderful condition. I even pm'd the mama thanking her for such a wonderful transaction. It did take her some time initially to notice that she had a pm but it was smooth sailing after that. I didn't try to bargain with her because I valued what she was offering and knew it was worth the extra $10-15 to know it was in great condition. Anyway sometimes amazon transactions don't go smoothly either and sometimes selling here can go wonderfully. As far as packages getting lost in the mail....I doubt it. I own a retail store and have things shipped ALL. THE. TIME. and I've never had anything lost in the mail. Sounds fishy to me. Delivery confirmation is a really cheap way to guarentee it was actually mailed.

I have four children, all two years apart in school. So I will be doing two history cycles at a time starting in two years. These first two years are just DS1, then I will start DS2 in two years in ancients, then two years later DS1 and DD1 will start ancients together(DS1 second round with ancients), and then 2 years after that DS2 and DD2 will start ancients(DS2 second round with ancients). Hopefully in two years my DS1 can be able to do a subject/assignment without my complete involvement while I teach his brother, and DS2 will play or something while I teach DS1. It does sound easier to just lump them all together but I like the concept of teaching from the beginning of history to the present.

I'm not against anything. I probably won't end up learning an instrument. Tried that as a kid and just wasn't that into it. Possibly because I really wanted to play the drums and my mom wouldn't let me so the fire fizzled out. But I'm encouraging my children too and I can't wait to listen to them on Christmas Eve in twenty years as I sip hot chocolate and have the warm fuzzies while they play The Christmas Carole. Anyway they(4yr & 6yr) start Piano on Wednesday. :D Both are interested in the guitar too but I've told them they have to learn the piano first, which is what the instructor I called recommended for their age. Anyway I'm good with everything else. I'm in school and have biology this semester and there were several dissection books on the recommended list. I was not thrilled in middle school about the frogs and worms. I can barrel through it as long as I get gloves and something to prevent splatter. We don't do nature walks but it's just not the right neighborhood for that. The boys have soccer and play in grandmas back yard. We need to get our backyard renovated... The 6yr is in a homeschool enrichment once a week and they have PE so there's that too.

Great! Thanks, I've been looking for something.

I got the kids what is packaged as lapboards. They are dry erase boards that have the lines for learning to write letters! I'm thrilled! We've only been homeschooling since Monday and I was already tired of rewriting those lines and dashes 1000 times on our blank dry erase board. Not to mention we only have one which slowed our lesson time down. I also picked up some bingo games, stickers, and readers. I was temped by a lot more. I thought I'd share my find like I did in the store- SQUEAL! :hurray: Anyone else have a great find?

I was so excited last week when someone shared a link for the National Geographic Kids(ages 6-14). I was thrilled this morning to get an email from mamapedia about their newest deal of National Geograhic LITTLE Kids(ages 3-6). As many of you I have a range of ages with my children, from 4months-6years so something geared toward preschool is great for us. The deal is for a $10/year subscription. You can get another $3 off of that if you use coupon code NATGEOLK3. $7 is a great deal! Click the link below for more details: http://deals.mamapedia.com/deals/national-geographic-little-kids-one-year-subscription?ref_data=national-geographic-little-kids-one-year-subscription&ref_id=440105&ref_type=bw3

I'm struggling with this. We will probably be doing CC on Monday(will decide this Saturday), homeschool enrichment program on Tuesday, and school at home Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We started this week and I really don't see how I'm suppose to expect them to remember there phonics with four days off..... Evenings are out with cub scouts and soccer though. We really want to have weekends off too. We'll see. I don't have all my curriculum yet so we are just doing a little bit. Easing them with a slow start. :D

Wow this is amazing! Thanks for sharing the link!

My husband's aunt had her boys reading at age 3 using Dettmer's program so we purchased it and start next week(4.5yr and 6yr boys). In the program it talks about using enrichment and, for example, recommends purchasing Phonics Fun which is a set of games. I'm still reading through it so I don't know the program completely. It is intimidating but it looks like they are detailed instructions. Hopefully I can do this. I had a hard time learning to read in PS so I'm self conscious. Then I had an amazing fourth grade teacher who inspired me to read all that summer and forever after. I hope that I can inspire my children. They love when I read them Harry Potter with fun voices. Teaching phonics won't be as entertaining though.....sigh.

I'm interested too!

We ordered too! Thanks so much! I got two emails right after I ordered from them. :D

We've used the base 10 blocks and it's worked really well. My 6yr old can count up to 100 and I've just found out he is no longer intimidated by subtractions. I laminated the Saxon math flashcards and he's been doing great with those. Anything he can't do in his head he will use the blocks. So 12-4 for example, he will count a stick of blocks(10) and then he will add 2 more. Then he counts all 12 blocks to make sure it's right. Then he will remove 4 and count the blocks remaining. We also have counting animals which we started with too. His brother likes to play with those so we don't use them as much. The blocks stick together which helps with counting I think.