Different jobs and parts of the country are different, too. My husband is a software programmer, and jeans, even jean shorts, were office wear even when he was working in an office. So he'd dress the same every day whether he was going to work or not. :) Likewise, I don't dress up, but I do dress in something I'm fine wearing out in public or answering my door in - not pajamas or sweats.

I have a blue, green, yellow, orange, and pink -- we can almost always find supplies the right color, but it's actually green that's been more scarce for us over the years! If something doesn't come in one of our colors, we'll use black and then colored tape as suggested above.

He could cook those pieces and then make it a buffet where he can put those pieces together on his own plate, but no one else has to. :) I made a cookbook as I was teaching my boys to cook, but it doesn't have pictures. It does, however, have room for some flexibility: http://www.simplifiedpantry.com/new-cooks

I also love Leading Little Ones to God - that's what I use for kids 2nd grade and younger. From 8ish to 11-12 (years old) then I just had them read their Bible on their own and I didn't direct it at all. I just want them to form the habit of reading their Bible daily. If that means they read Revelation every day for a year, so be it. But, we also have family devotions and catechism in Morning Time, so they were getting teaching still. My 12-year-old is just beginning The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study by Starr Meade, which walks a student through the entire Bible. It's not set up like a curriculum, so it's a little tricky to plan out, but I've just scheduled my son to work through it 30 minutes a day, and I'm anticipating it will take him 1 1/2 to 2 years to work through the entire Bible, reading the whole thing, learning about the background and corresponding history and internal connections, and answering some thoughtful questions. Here's more information about it: http://www.exodusbooks.com/details.aspx?id=56114&referral=nrjjsxbm

Yes, I get dressed every day. I am not mentally productive unless I'm dressed. If I'm in pajamas or sweats, I feel like it's a sick day or something and just slouch around the house. I get dressed to my shoes (just slip-ons) and then I am ready to take on the day. I like knee-length or maxi skirts that have waists like yoga pants. Everything I wear is knit, but what I wear around the house is what I wear out, too. If I don't want people to see me dressed the way I'm dressed around the house, why should my kids have to see that every day all day (and my husband, too, because he works from home)? If I care more about them than strangers at the store, shouldn't I care more about how I look for them? That was my train of thought. I have homeschool mom friends who feel similarly but whose personal style is more casual than mine. For them, yoga pants and a cute top is "dressed" and they wear that everywhere & out and about. I think that's great and still the same thing. For me, it's part of taking myself and what I do (even if it's at home) seriously. I find that how I am dressed affects my attitude and my mentality, so that seems like an easy way to smooth the path.

Here's what we did for it: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2014/shakespeare-kids-midsummer-nights-dream

You might also check out the Classical Academic Press catalog online and read what they say about the scope and sequence of their program, or their FAQ comparing LFC with Memoria Press: http://classicalacademicpress.com/product-support/#latina_christiana Or here's the scope and sequence for Visual Latin: http://www.compassclassroom.com/visual-latin/lessons/

I got my 7th grade details ironed out, books purchased, checklist made, etc. etc. etc. This feels like new territory! I'm excited. :) We'll have an Ancients cycle theme for the year. http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/seventh-grade-homeschool-plans

I actually used Beautiful Handwriting for Children instead of GD to teach Italics: http://www.pennygardner.com/italicsbk.html

I like italics because the letter shapes don't change when they move on to cursive.

We're doing anatomy this year, too, with more of a read-and-narrate approach than textbook-and-experiment. You can check out my lesson plans for it here: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/2015-2016-elementary-group-lessons

I use Pam Barnhill's planning pages from her Plan Your Year kit: planyouryear.net

Does your child need spelling still? I would only do spelling if the student has trouble with it. For my fifth grader, I'll just be correcting (and making him rewrite) any words he gets wrong in his writing. Also, "vocabulary" happens by reading and by Latin for us and isn't a separate subject or workbook. I also don't count reading in our school hours, but he reads over an hour everyday in the afternoon and before bed. We do history and science twice a week, not every day. Here's my fifth grader's plan: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/homeschool-fifth-grade-plans

Finally finalized the details of my second fifth-grader's plans and published it on my blog: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/homeschool-fifth-grade-plans Ten is a great age. :)

Child's History of the World as a read aloud or Geography. I'm reading Halliburton's Book of Marvels to my second grader this year, along with mapwork with Geography Songs.

I always find listening to new readers read painful and maddening. Take a deep breath and eat chocolate afterwards. Also, I did find my kids take leaps ahead after a week or three totally off when they were stuck, whether it was with reading or math. Weird, but experientially I've found it true that a break allows more progress than painful plodding.

I like Our Mother Tongue by Nancy Wilson for that sort of thing! The chapters are short and straightforward, with exercises to practice (you might want the answer key, too), and punctuations rules w/ explanations in the back.

Thanks! Here are the links that have the tutorials for and explanations of our binder system: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2012/memory-work-binders http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2012/circle-time-binders-updated-for-2012-2013 And then this page has the index of all the stuff I've written about our memory time: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/memory I just made a video tour of our binder, too: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/help-for-planning-your-circle-time

I have had 3 intuitive early readers and I just found books and had them read aloud to me every day. I could correct their phonics in context and they need the aloud practice to learn to be careful rather than skip too much as we all do when we read silently. For my older two, who were both fluent readers before 6, until they were 7 I had them read aloud picture books - the same ones I would have been reading aloud to them. :) My current 5yo, who is a fluent reader, will be reading Aesop's fables to us, and sometimes while I make dinner he reads something he picks up and wants to read aloud to me. Here's what I'm doing with my K student who is already reading: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/k-1-homeschool-plans He's still going to get some phonics because my 7yo is still working on it. :)

That's great! Yes, my review evidences my roots as an English Major. :)

I choose hymns our church sings regularly so the kids are familiar with them and can participate better in service. :) I do also buy accompaniment CDs and put the tracks on a playlist on the iPod, because our singing does need help! :)

I don't transition to written narration until 4th or 5th grade.

We love everything Cynthia Rylant, plus Little Bear & Frog and Toad.

I am taking that course, too, and have made some adjustments based on her advice, but her flow wouldn't work in our house. Here's what I'm doing: We have a set meeting time to check on work and to ask questions daily, and one longer meeting time once a week for discussion. He does what he can on his own, but except for math, most of his assignments are read, then write about it. He has some independence in his schedule because I don't care what order he does his checklist in, and it's set up so there are daily items and then weekly items (2 history chapters a week, 1 science chapter a week, etc. - I don't care what days he does what, so long as he's ready to talk about them and show me his paragraphs on Friday).

I read Disappearing Spoon as did my 11 year old last year. My 9-year-old started it and didn't care for it. I really enjoyed it. There was one spot where there was a mild sex analogy, but I didn't find it offensive. I wouldn't have even thought twice about it except that I knew my son was only chapters behind me – makes one notice different things. :) I wanted to like Periodic Kingdom but it was very evolution-heavy and super dry. It was a read aloud and it was boring us all to tears. It was such a good trope, but poorly executed - written more by a scientist than a writer, I guess. I started Napoleon's Buttons after Disappearing Spoon, but I didn't think it was as well written, so I didn't continue past the first chapter. Ambleside Online has recently redone their science book list for the middle school years and would be a good place to look for interesting science reading. There are several biographies listed that I have on order. :) Some of the books on my list for my rising 7th grader are Galileo and the Magic Numbers, by Sidney Rosen The Weather Book by Sloane The Wonder Book of Chemistry, by Jean Henri Fabre Ordinary Genius, by Stephanie McPherson