We're using Duolingo together as a family to jump into Spanish. Each one of us has an account and we compete against each other for points and such. It has brought a very light-hearted, silly atmosphere to a rather intense, challenging school year. We're loving it and plan to do no formal Spanish until we're either finished with the Duolingo lessons or run into an issue that requires it before moving on. Having studied (and loved studying) French for many years, I'm familiar with formal study methods, but am finding this a perfect intro for us at the moment. It's catchy, it's fun, and it's something we're all doing together. It will hopefully continue cultivating a love for Spanish so that my boys will naturally want to continue when we do come to formal lessons. As far as making it stick, I suggested to the boys to read EVERYthing aloud, whether it requires it or not, as it will help their pronunciation. I also suggested that they visualize objects for the words as they're reading aloud. They've improved greatly in the few days since the suggestions, so that's working for them. Also, I let them know that it's great to "redo" (review) the easy stuff as much as they want. When I can remember, I ask them for something we've learned, like "How would you say that you're eating an apple?" Or I'll wake them up with "Buenos dias," or tuck them in with "Buenas noches." For me, applying it to daily life is what works, but in small doses as we've only just begun, really.

What a beautiful picture (takes a beautiful subject to get that!). I'm no gymnast, but can certainly tell she puts some effort into her form!

I, too, went back to Tide after the homemade just wasn't getting the smells out or keeping our brights bright (even with oxyclean). I tried several different ratios of borax to fels naptha, but it wasn't worth the shorter life span of our clothing (smelly and dingy). Was pretty bummed...I like making my own products and feeling self-sufficient--but I rank smelling clean (not like my husband's sweaty armpits) higher on my list of priorities.

I'm so excited to see someone recommend these books!!! I recently purchased them for my boys because I loved them so much when I was younger. I can't wait to start reading them again.

GSWL is a great intro. We've switched to Visual Latin and are loving it (videos and worksheets). I can learn as they're learning now and not have to freak out over pronunciation. The boys find the teacher funny, too. ETA: It might be a little above a first grade level.

My boys are in MUS Gamma right now and bored to tears. While I'd love to accelerate through it, these math facts are so important to really get down pat. Thanks to this thread, I finally took a peek at LoF, and have to say I think this just might fix the dreary atmosphere that presents when math time rolls around each day. Thank you!!!

Salt Potatoes

This is what we do, too. My boys are 8 now, but we still require this and it has been very helpful along the way. :iagree: I was going to ask this, too.

Number one thing...I would have started earlier and not bothered with the couple of years of public and private school first.

Y'all are a whole lot smarter than I am. Today would have been a perfect day to cancel. Bring on the wine.

We don't make notebooks, either. We did start out trying, but it just didn't work out. My boys have a great memory for science, so I'm not incredibly worried about it. The next BFSU book, I've read, has a lot of built-in review, too.

Oh, this is so sad...and I can totally relate. The best marinara sauce any of my family has ever had is now (lovingly) called Mom's Angry Sauce. That was back before we had the kids cleaning the kitchen...LOL

I like my dishes in one piece, too. :) If one of the boys is careless and breaks something because he doesn't feel like doing the dishes, he earns dish duty until he learns to do it right (if it continues, he will have to pay for the broken dishes with his own money). Same with dishes that are left dirty. True accidents are different, but I know that game all too well. They learned to do the dishes well, pretty quickly! No one wants to be called back, time and time again, to rewash a dish...or earn another day of dish duty. As for the problem with height...we use a stool. ;) Anything on top shelves, I most eagerly put away for them. It's the least I could do if they did the dishes and put most of them away. Heck, if they still couldn't reach the cabinets with a stool, I'd still be happy to put them all away - as long as I don't have to wash them! LOL

Is this kind of behavior (the oops, sorry stuff) just directed toward DD2 or others, as well?

With kiddos those ages (in signature), you shouldn't be doing any of the cleanup, right? My boys are 8 and do almost all of the kitchen clean up. Cooking is far more doable if you don't have to clean up afterwards yourself...