DH is 42 and would still like that border. :tongue_smilie:

Congratulations! That is one beautiful baby!

I am right in the middle of redecorating my boys' room. They have bunks but I recently changed them to side by side instead because the sheets were impossible to change and the boys were too hot. On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby (while looking for something else entirely), we found some really adorable tin sports decorations that look vintage/weathered/antique and my boys loved them. My oldest loves baseball and basketball and my youngest loves football and soccer and they had one for each of those four sports so we were lucky. I also got a set of hooks (one hook for each ball so they will each have a place to hang their robe and jacket). I wanted bedding that would grow with them so I got them these quilts/shams. Their room is painted a lovely shade of medium blue and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to find a plaid with the brown and red of the tin decorations and the blue of their walls. They get here Tuesday and the boys and I are pretty excited to set everything up. I'm waiting to hang their decorations until the bedding gets here. I think it will be a good room for them, not babyish at all but still taking into account that they are young boys. Maybe I'll post pictures when I finish. I feel a little guilty buying quilts because I'm a quilter but I'm tired and busy and these are great-looking and well-reviewed. I will let the guilt go. :lol:

:seeya: Here I am! We don't do any formal schooling until first grade. Kindergarten is not required and the kids know that they can opt in or out daily. They have all learned to read at their own pace and I'm an oddball in that I don't do reading lessons on any kind of schedule. When they express interest, I teach a bit. If they want to back off, we back off. They ebb and flow and we've had incredible success respecting their natural cycles of learning in this way. I select toys that are brain food and they spend the vast majority of their day playing. When they begin formally begin school in first grade, it's for about 2 hours a day. My oldest will probably be up to 3 hours a day this year.

Thanks! This is even better, because it's the new ones I haven't seen before! Thanks!

:001_smile: I love looking at homeschool spaces. I remember a blog that had a giant list of links to different rooms but I can't find it. Does anyone have it?

Woof woof!! (Milo says thank you!) :D

:lol: We start Monday too. The school table is 100% covered with scattered books and papers but last week I was rearranging the boys' bedroom and playroom, assembling garage cabinets and organizing the pantry. :lol: I was going to be a whirlwind of planning this weekend but yesterday a friend needed me to watch her kids all day so nothing got done. Today is my day!:tongue_smilie: Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! Read The 3 P’s: Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Paralysis. Very eye opening stuff. My procrastination absolutely revealed stuff about me that I hadn't figured out. I remember reading a book once-upon-a-time that described a messy perfectionist and I thought that was such an oxymoron. But when I read the description as being someone who doesn't bother to do anything if it can't be done perfectly, I realized I am the messy perfectionist! It's a little hard on me because my DH is just a plain ol' perfectionist. :tongue_smilie: If you have the time, I would love to hear details about what learning at your house looked like on a day to day basis. What did doing things by the seat of your pants look like to a fly on the wall? :D I know it sounds counterintuitive to consider instructions for spontaneity but a ballpark summary would be enormously helpful. I am especially struck by your statement that your only planning is to get books. Do you do projects? Do you schedule a general time every day to read those books, whatever strikes your fancy at that time, or do you not schedule anything and read whenever the mood strikes?

I think that TWJ is perfect for using exactly as you describe. I would snap up a used copy in a heartbeat if I were you because the hard part of answering the worth question is price relative to how much it will actually help you. Low price plus perfect frame of mind for usage? Snap it up! :D Incidentally, I am using it in the same way. It will give you the tools to create a wonderful writing environment in your home, the Bravewriter Lifestyle, as the author refers to it. We are also using WWE and MCT and I think the BW Lifestyle rounds things out perfectly. My kids are also naturally creative writers and I felt an instant connection with TWJ. I find the book as useful for providing a language arts pep talk as I do for writing instruction. It's one of those that I pull out to read when I get in a funk. (Full disclosure: I bought it three years ago because I knew I would love it and just couldn't wait. I started using many of the principles with my oldest right away though, so it was worth the early purchase.)

OK, this thread is totally cracking me up. It's on DH's to-do list to put sliding doors on the kids' tub because I thought it would be nice to not have to be such a shrieking wretch about splashing. Then I got to thinking that when we sell, someone with a baby or very young kids won't want those doors. Now, thanks to the collective wisdom of the hive, I will save some money and DH's energy and forget about it. I guess I'll just have to teach the kids to not splash, once and for all. :tongue_smilie:

My schoolroom is in the dining room, which can be seen off the living room as soon as you walk in the door. I don't mind but we also don't do formal entertaining. If I were having elegant dinner parties, it might bother me, but mostly we're patio grilling get-together kind of folks. However, because it is constantly visible, it was important to me to have very attractive storage furniture rather than lots of plastic. I wanted it to feel warm and homey and I do think I accomplished that. I actually had the schoolroom in the biggest bedroom for a while (had a spare as my boys share a room) but I decided it was more convenient to HS right off the kitchen and converted the schoolroom to a playroom.

Picking a favorite would be impossible but here are a few we especially love... April Rain Song by Langston Hughes The Land of Storybooks by Robert Louis Stevenson Rickety Train Ride by Tony Mitton I'm taking the train to Ricketywick. Clickety clickety clack. I'm sat in my seat. With a sandwich to eat. As I travel the trickety track. It's an ever so rickety trickety train, And I honestly thickety think. That before it arrives At the end of the line It will tip up my drippety drink. (You can perfectly feel the rhythm of the train when you read this poem! I like to bob up and down when I read it. It's from my favorite book of poetry for very young children, Here's a Little Poem) Kindness to Animals, Author Unknown Little children, never give Pain to things that feel and live; Let the gentle robin come For the crumbs you save at home; As his meat you throw along He'll repay you with a song. Never hurt the timid hare Peeping from her green grass lair, Let her come and sport and play On the lawn at close of day. The little lark goes soaring high To the bright windows of the sky, Singing as if 'twere always spring, And fluttering on an untired wing-- Oh! let him sing his happy song, Nor do these gentle creatures wrong A Worker Reads History by Bertolt Brecht My two personal favorites... When Mother Reads Aloud, Author Unknown When Mother reads aloud, the past Seems real as every day; I hear the tramp of armies vast, I see the spears and lances cast, I join the thrilling fray; Brave knights and ladies fair and proud I meet when Mother reads aloud. When Mother reads aloud, far lands Seem very near and true; I cross the deserts’ gleaming sands, Or hunt the jungle’s prowling bands, Or sail the ocean blue. Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud, I scale, when Mother reads aloud. When Mother reads aloud, I long For noble deeds to do... To help the right, redress the wrong; It seems so easy to be strong, So simple to be true. Oh, thick and fast the visions crowd My eyes, when Mother reads aloud. The Reading Mother by Strickland Gillilan I had a mother who read to me Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea, Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth, "Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath. I had a Mother who read me lays Of ancient and gallant and golden days; Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe, Which every boy has a right to know. I had a Mother who read me tales Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales, True to his trust till his tragic death, Faithfulness blent with his final breath. I had a Mother who read me the things That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-- Stories that stir with an upward touch, Oh, that each mother of boys were such! You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you never can be-- I had a Mother who read to me. (I seriously want the last four lines on my gravestone.) We do tea and poetry almost daily here, right after quiet time. Sometimes it is simple and sometimes it is fancy. I try to keep the snack and poetry selections seasonal. I read some selections while the kids eat and then they each read me a poem they have chosen. We do not make this about purposeful memorization, but because I repeat favorites per the kids' request, I find that it comes naturally for the ones they love most. For poems I want them to memorize, they practice in the mornings as part of our "Together Time." This is the time of the morning when we do our calendar, weather, special/current events, skip counting, etc. We are going to start MCT's Island level this year and I'm excited for that!

For those of you who are interested in sewing with ethically made fabric, check out this page, which lists some good sites. I find that I am most successful when I search "fair trade." The idea is that the workers don't get the equivalent of an American income but rather a fair income relative to standard of living in their own country. The idea is that both the foreign businesses and the workers benefit financially without the workers being treated as virtual slaves. I'm sure it's not a perfect system and that some companies abuse the label but it's probably the best shot at finding ethically produced goods.

http://us.hessnatur.com/shop/showCmsContent.action?contentID=kids&et_cid=13&et_lid=8&et_sub=+organic%20+kids%20+clothes :001_smile:

:iagree:on all accounts. And may I say I am so glad I rejoined the boards so my voice can be heard on such important issues as these. :tongue_smilie:

:iagree: Somewhere I read a great article about how kids start school as divergent thinkers and then we try to fill them up with the right way to do everything, make it all about right answers, and turn them into convergent thinkers. Wish I could remember where I saw that... ETA: Maybe this? It's good reading regardless.

Hate ironing with a purple passion. Thank goodness DH's daily uniform doesn't need ironing. If it did, I would outsource it. I find it particularly amusing that my kids love to play iron! DH jokingly asks how they even know what an iron is. Unfortunately, as a quilter, I must iron. I have to press down my seams and it is absolutely my most dreaded task in the process.

:iagree: :iagree: Furthermore, I believe that highly educated women choosing to stay home serves as a lovely example of education as a worthwhile pursuit in and of itself, rather than merely as means to an end. What a novel concept!

Beautiful book, thanks! I will look for these. Bummer about them being hard to find. :thumbdown: I'm sure it will be even harder here.

Ah, thank you! I quit the boards cold turkey in October because I needed to focus on routines without the magnetic pull of this board. :D I think I've found a good groove and I'm excited to be back. It feels good to be bouncing around ideas again!

I do have this. It is awesome but it frightens me. :lol: Peace Hill Press actually has a video on YouTube showing this lapbook in completed form. It's incredible! Oh, I bought this one a few weeks ago after seeing it on someone's list. You're right that it's rarely recommended though. It is a very pretty, well-done book.

Thanks! I'll look at all of these.

Ooh, I'd love more about this, if it's east to share. I know that sometimes my plans are so messy it would be a lot of work to clean them up to share, so I don't want you to go to any trouble.

Thanks!

Steve Caney's Kids' America is a treasure.