That is a great article. Like you, I'm left craving more details and suggestions. I started thinking hard about this about a year and a half ago. We are very laid back and hands off about formal education before first grade. I am very comfortable with that. When I started first grade with DS8, I had formal plans for the first time ever. The transition was not a rousing success, mostly because I was fighting my own nature. Six years of a strong belief in the necessity of an environment of learning does not instantly morph into the habit of following a structured plan overnight. That sounds obvious now, typing it out. :lol: I really struggled with it though. My kids learned so much in their early years from just living and playing. I started to realize that the way we learned didn't have to change from completely informal to formal. Yes, there were things I needed to explicitly teach them now, but it didn't have to be devoid of play and inspiration. I decided to focus on adjusting the learning atmosphere from what was appropriate for their early years to something appropriate and more self-serve for their current level of development. (Then I regretted never knowing the details of Montessori environments because at that point I realized I that the kids could have done self-serve paint for quite a while prior to this! :tongue_smilie:) I focus on centers, strewing, and environment. Centers are associated with early learning but there is no reason they can't be made appropriate for older kids. I set aside areas in our home for nature, science, art, reading, etc. I'm big on teacher books. I love homeschooling but I always say that if I had the best of the best teaching in my PS down the street, my kids would be there. Liping Ma would teach math, Charles Pearce would teach science, SWB/MCT and Julie Bogart would teach writing, etc. I would send them to that school in a heartbeat! Here are some of my favorites: Math: Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics, About Teaching Mathematics Language: The Writer's Jungle, MCTLA, The Write Start, The Read-Aloud Handbook, Classics in the Classroom Science/Nature: Nurturing Inquiry (because I don't recommend it often enough :tongue_smilie:), Beyond the Science Kit, Organizing Wonder, Doing What Scientists Do, Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature (a big new-agey but a great resource) History: Social Studies That Sticks, Connecting Children with Children Art: The Art of Teaching Art to Children, Engaging Learners Through Artmaking (check out the web site Teaching for Artistic Behavior) Life: Playful Learning, Mrs. Sharp's Traditions, The Rhythm of Family (and Amanda Soule's other books as well), All Year Round, The Children's Year :iagree: These are great books. :iagree:These books are wonderful. I have about 1/2" of print-outs from this blog. Inspirational stuff! I recently purchased Playful Learning and I think it is a great resource to guide parents in setting up a home full of learning centers. She actually does an online class you can sign up for (6 weeks, I think) where you and the others in class will work on one area a week and report back. I have thought about having a weekly thread similar to that here. You know, for those of us interested in creating centers or learning environments for different subjects, we could have a week for science, a week for art, a week for nature, etc. and post pictures and help each other along. Anyone want to do that? I'm game. :)

Despite DH initially being told he wasn't getting R&R, he is and will be home for dd's birthday in a few weeks! We're going to see the traveling Mary Poppins Broadway show. Also, he got promoted (in an extremely lean year for promotions), so the garage makeover I've been working on has changed from a birthday gift into a combo birthday/promotion gift. OP, I hope things look up for you. :)

I'm using three of the programs you mention. The most succinct way I can think to put it is that WWE and MCT go together here like filet mignon and lobster. Either would be fine on its own but together they make a feast. Brave Writer serves up the the incredibly rich appetizer and sides. I don't think of one thing replacing another. Rather, I think they enhance each other beautifully. It's not the most inexpensive route, for sure, but worth every penny for me. I personally do not feel the need to supplement the grammar in MCT. My kids are falling in love with grammar in a way they never were before. If time reveals that MCT is not enough, we'll do AG at some point in the future.

I have had a ProClick and all its accessories in my cart about 100 times and can't go through with the checkout. :willy_nilly: Every single time I'm about to click that button, I ask myself why I have to have this. Why can't I just use a three hole punch and throw the papers into a (1/2-1") binder. Then I see the beautiful workbook pages Veritaserum has made and think how much prettier they would look as a put-together ProClick workbook. The ProClick books just look so put together, so I keep putting it in my cart. It's in there again. Right now. Someone, sell me? What features make it worth the purchase, besides pretty and sleek? Or is that enough? :bigear:

Beautifully stated. :)

We're using The Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. This one is internet-linked and has a whopping 400 pages, including more detail than the complete Usborne world history volumes. However, if money is an issue, you could just buy The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and call it good for the next 4 years. You can't go wrong either way. I bought the Ancient specific volume because my fact-book-loving sons live for Usborne and DK type books.

:iagree: I agree with this wholeheartedly. DS8 stopped at book 5 and I wish I would have stopped him at 4. He read 5 but he didn't enjoy it as much as the first few. He still loved it and would have kept reading. He just could not relate to the teen angst. I started to get the feeling that we were actually depriving him of the true, all-encompassing enjoyment he could experience if we waited a bit longer. DS is not terribly sensitive and could have handled the books. (DD6 is super sensitive and I stopped her after she read book 1. Aragog and the basilisk in #2 would have had her in my bed every night!) He just wouldn't have received maximum benefit by reading them at 7-8, and certainly not 5. How is a young child supposed to grasp the theme of books 6/7? Souls splitting? Horcruxes? The lessons in the later HP books are not to be missed, but they are almost sure to be missed by the little kids whose heads they would sail right over. I vote wait until they can fully appreciate and enjoy, not necessarily due to the propriety of the subject matter, as I think kids can differ there. Sorry though. You were looking for those who made the opposite choice. :lol: :leaving:

:iagree: I love that feeling of having at least one back-up of everything. Not only is it good for times when the budget is low, it's great for when the family gets sick and you can't get out. We ran out of toilet paper the last time we all had the flu. That was not a pretty trip to the store. :glare: Also, having spare toothbrushes is good for when someone drops theirs in the toilet. I know that firsthand. :lol:

I fill the freezer with meat, because that is typically the most expensive part of our diet and would be the hardest thing to purchase if we were broke. I keep lots of frozen berries and veggies also. For the pantry, baking staples and beans. I also like to buy ahead for nicer canned/jarred goods when I've got a bit of extra money. So, when my electric bill goes down a good $100-$150 in the Spring and Fall, I sometimes use that extra money to stock up and allow myself the luxury of things like jarred roasted bell peppers, canned chiles, artichokes, olives, etc.

I kind of feel like this. My life is richer than I ever could have hoped, but completely different than I envisioned. I didn't disdain those who dreamed mostly of marriage and children. That just wasn't on my radar. My parents' marriage was not a great example of marital bliss so they didn't really sell me on the "Happy Family" package. :tongue_smilie:I dreamed of love, but I didn't think about kids and the concept of family at all. DH cured me. I met him, fell in love and thought, for the first time ever, that I had found a man with whom I wanted to raise a family.

She would be thrilled to have landed such a sweet and handsome husband but she would pass out cold straightaway when informed of her future career choice. :lol:

:iagree: My two older kids also do this occasionally. For them, it is strictly a matter of reading ahead and understanding faster than they can physically get the words out, so sometimes the words change. I actually do it too. I know when I am reading, I don't read one word at a time. I sort of see all the words in a sentence or paragraph at once and know what it says. It's pretty obvious that they are reading that way too. A couple of years ago, my DH's Granny (who taught both high school English and speed reading for many years) informed me that I was a speed reader. Well, I'll be darned. :tongue_smilie:At any rate, I think it's actually a sign of a child being a strong reader, if that makes any sense at all. If the comprehension is there, I wouldn't worry at all. If dc are reading aloud to someone for the pleasure of the listener, I do insist that they slow down and read each word carefully.

You are not alone. I will not be noting the anniversary with my kids. I'll probably shed more tears over it and remember the horror of that day, but not with the kids. I realized how hard 9/11 was for me to talk about when Bin Laden was killed. I had some age-appropriate news footage of that event which I screened and let the kids watch (about 30 seconds, in all). Then I tried to talk to them about this bad guy and how the U.S. military hunted him down and got him because he did a terrible, terrible thing to America. I just about lost it. I could not tell them about the events of that day. I personally think that is waaaaay too horrifying for little kids to hear about.

Not quite, no. We're at 88 right now. I am smack between Austin and Waco and only get Waco stations. I'm warmer than they are, but I'll accept their forecast. Monday: 86/59!!!!!!! (It's gone down since this morning!!!) Tuesday: 88/59 Wednesday: 90(boooo!!!)/61 Thursday/Friday blah blah blah eeking up again to the low/mid 90s I'll take it. The lows in particular are making me giddy. Slow and steady... We'll get there! In winter we're the envy of all. :lol:

AKA me in about 6 weeks? :lol: I can only speak for myself but I will compare it to when a dehydrated person lost in the desert happens onto an oasis. Sips just don't satisfy like gulps. :tongue_smilie: In other words, I imagine they've found their happy place. :D

:lol: Sounds like me. I did start burning a pumpkin candle today... YES!!!! :lol:

Sad but true, yes, it helps a lot. :lol: Thanks! Thanks! I like to think my good ol' dog Milo just looks so darn handsome, people's eyes are magnetically drawn to the left instead of the right. A little ploy I used to detract attention from the low post count. :tongue_smilie: :lol: Sadly, no. DH's R&R starts soon. I've got about 3 weeks to lose some stress weight. Anyone have any tips? :tongue_smilie:

Welcome! I got a bit ahead of myself though. We will wake up to 68 on Monday morning ("cold" front comes in Sunday) and 62 on Tuesday morning. Still, I'll take it! Barring extreme humidity, the windows will remain open until we hit 80. Seriously, right? For months I have been looking at the temps at nightfall thinking this was just a terrible, mean joke.

So jealous! We'll get there eventually. And then we'll be there at 73 all winter when everyone else is sick of snow. :tongue_smilie: :lol: I actually did go dig through my closet to find my favorite sweatshirt. No joke... I am going to set my alarm for 7 am on Monday, get up, throw open all the windows and sit outside on my swing with a cup of coffee until my sweatshirt is no longer appropriate. :D

If you get a few activity books, you can pick and choose when to add on. I like to add on when my energy level is high and our pace of life is slow. Here are some good ones for American history. Steve Caney's Kids' America (check your library) The U.S. History Cookbook (You have to eat anyway, right? Might as well make it part of school. Two birds and all that...) These books are also good supplements for young kids. A little history, a few recipes. Do you have any historic music? That spices things right up around here. My kids love Colonial Fair. I'm bummed at the selection of Ancient music. Can't wait for the Middle Ages. I also liked to match up handicrafts with history (pottery for Native American studies, quilling and embroidery for colonial times, knitting for the Revolutionary War, quilting for pioneers and Civil War, etc.). Your dd6 might love this and even your ds4 could do basic embroidery with a safe needle. Also, if you search my user name and American history, you will come up with embarrassingly long lists of resources for art, handicrafts, music and other go-alongs. We tend to overdo things. :tongue_smilie: Love your blog, by the way. :)

:lol: To be fair, most of that was before we started school. Plus, I'm 7 months into a year-long deployment and in dire need of adult discourse. I'm tired of being the only rational person in this house. :tongue_smilie: Thanks for the welcome!

I hope the rest of the state is cooling down too! This has been the longest summer of my life. :lol:

Honestly, I look at people who have been here a long time but have low post counts as worthy of admiration for having such a high level of self-control. This I apparently do not possess. :lol:

JCPenney has an enormous selection and I would be shocked if they didn't have a big Labor Day sale this weekend. I would start there. You can look online, as they will probably have a greater selection than in store. I do like to see fabric in person though so I like to look online and then call to see if it's in store to view (for true color, thickness, quality, etc.). Also, you can try Country Curtains (they're not all country). I love IKEA but I don't know that they have a big tablecloth selection. Kohl's has pretty table dressings (plus huge, seemingly constant sales) but I've never purchased curtains there. Good luck! I love decorating. I need a valance for my boys' room, so thanks for reminding me about curtains. Off to look...

:lol: That is hilarious. My post count is so sad after leaving and returning. :nopity:I regret having my membership canceled instead of just taking a break. I look so...new. :tongue_smilie: