I know several INTP homeschool moms and they are all using Ambleside Online. :) In fact, the group of ladies who wrote it are predominantly INTPs - exhaustive research, not the most organized website. :)

There are certainly differences based on the number and ages of kids, too, or the number of other things going on. Even for me, I find myself outsourcing more or starting with someone else's plan more than I would normally as I add more students. "Who is this telling me what to do" is how I feel every time I look at my plans. :)

Just like everyone should. :)

Awesome! Thanks for that feedback, okbud. The INFJs I know are not ones that make up their own plan, so perhaps I let my experience with individuals color my generalization about the type. I will be looking back over my books and editing that section. I wonder if the self-doubt I have seen (I've talked several INFJs through homeschool choices) is because they have multiple children and want to do what's absolutely best for each one and feels pulled in multiple directions. INFJs hate conflict though; refuting people on the internet is more an INTJ thing to do. ;)

Any other Myers-Briggs nerds here? I know there are. :) I just posted a LONG post about the style of each Myers-Briggs type, along with their strengths and weaknesses. I think it helps so much to know your own type and to lose the guilt of not "measuring up" to the ideal of some other type. We can't be it all and do it all. If you play to your type you'll feel more energized, less guilty, and less angsty. Pair that with knowing your kids' types suddenly you have mind-blowing clarity. :) More posts are going to follow, including the right book on classical education for your personality type. :D Because it's just too much fun to pour over my books and condense it all into a system - I am an INTJ. This is what I do for fun. :) http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2016/homeschool-personality Does it ring true for your type? How do you express your own personality in your homeschool?

Aww, thank you for the references! I do have a short free guide on how to start small with a Circle Time habit. I think it's a great way to kick off the day together. It's hard to be grumpy with each other when singing. :) http://www.simplyconvivial.com/memory

No school room here: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/homeschooling-without-school-room-shelves

1. More coffee, yes. 2. Take a break week, every year. www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/year-round-homeschooling 3. Laugh. http://www.scholesisters.com/ss1/ and http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2016/homeschool-sanity

I teach grammar and writing without a curriculum. I wrote about how I do writing here http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2016/teach-writing-without-curriculum and I have a grammar post coming up. :) For science and history I don't use a curriculum, either. We just read good books (I'm fond of the M.B. Synge titles and Apologia Explore Creation series) and narrate. :) Even though Apologia is a curriculum, we treat it like a normal book. I don't do the notebooking, we don't do the activities, we just read and narrate. The kids color a related Dover Coloring Book page while I read.

Any recommendations? We'll be reading The Tempest after we're done with Julius Caesar (here's the plan I'm using: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2016/shakespeare-kids-julius-caesar)and I haven't yet seen a movie version of The Tempest that sounds like it will be appropriate, but I haven't previewed anything yet - I'm just going on reviews. Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of The Tempest movies? I'd appreciate recommendations! I'm in the "Shakespeare was meant to be seen" camp, so I think seeing it performed should come before reading the text (we read a children's adaption first). Thanks!

I love the Pathway Readers. We used TATRAS phonics, which teaches most words as phonetic and not sight words. We started with Bob Books set 1, sounding out even the "sight words" and then did Pathway Readers and my kids were able to sound out the words in First Steps. I just tell them, "ai says eh in this word" to get them through words like said.

Outsource it without guilt. :)

I think there is a "natural bent" aspect to it, as you stated in your first post, but I have noticed a strong correlation between the two. I don't know if we can manufacture or guarantee varied interests or avid reading (though I've also see a strong correlation with screen time, too), but I think writing expectations should follow the language bent we see overall - and I think we can address the bigger picture then and not just the mechanics of writing. Finding ways to broaden interests or encourage reading (or maybe even story analysis of movies) will indirectly but certainly help with writing ability down the road. They're linked and related, even when the topics they're writing about aren't. I'm also big into Myers-Briggs personality typing, and I think there are some personality types definitely wired more toward the doing and present-moment living than the thinking and writing. Writing is much more about thinking skills than mechanics. If they're doers rather than idea people, writing is going to be much more difficult and may not come easily. That doesn't mean it's something to give up on (just like head-in-the-clouds idea people need social skills), but it's a natural tendency to acknowledge and work with rather than fight and ignore.

Before I started out, I had multiple homeschool moms who were nearing the end of their road say they wished they hadn't been curriculum hoppers. They wished they'd done their research before they jumped in and stuck things out through the hard times, because learning can be hard and sometimes you have to stick it out and pull through. Mostly they regretted jumping math curriculums so often. I think we should change if there's a real problem or need, but also be discerning in knowing whether jumping ship is the answer or just tweaking the routine or the expectations or whatever. The older the students get, the more changing things is difficult and costly. Not simply costly in monetary terms, but costly in the kids learning to expect that they can demand a change whenever something gets hard and they don't want to do it anymore.

When facts were slowing mine down, I gave them review single-digit fact sheets to do instead of their current lesson and required xtramath.org every day. Until they passed xtramath multiplication & division, they couldn't move on in their book. We posted their scores every day on our white board. It took two months, but then they started clipping along in their math again because the grunt work wasn't slowing them down. It was totally worth it!