I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing you're looking for, but what about English From the Roots Up? It's basically a program that teaches the Latin and Greek roots to many common words we use in English. hth!

The main thing you need to get started is Teaching Writing Structure & Style (TWSS). These are a series of tapes or now CDs, plus a 3 ring binder that teach you how to teach writing to your kids. Andrew Pudewa is the one teaching you on the CDs, and he is a VERY engaging speaker. Some people also get the Student Writing Intensive (SWI) to go along with TWSS. This is Andrew again, but this time teaching directly to the students. If you're nervous about how to implement what you've been learning in TWSS, this is a way to get your students started. Once they've finished SWI, you and they will be comfortable enough to branch out on your own. You cannot do SWI alone though--you need TWSS to teach you first. SWI comes at 3 levels--A, B, & C. A is for the younger kids, up to about 5-6th grade, B is for middle schoolers, and C is for high schoolers. If you've got kids in all of those ranges, they usually tell you to go with level B and adapt as you go. I hope this was helpful!

We probably spend about 15-20 minutes a day, on average. My kids are making a poetry book as we go along, so that takes a little extra time on the days we start a new poem. hth!

I've never heard of him before, but I just watched the clip and was nodding my head in agreement the whole time. Good stuff!

We just started using IEW's Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization a few weeks ago with my kids, ages 7 & 8. They LOVE it! Just today, we were driving in the car and reciting together the poems we've learned so far. We're really enjoying it.

This past year, my kids were both in Awana on Wed nights, plus church/Sunday school every Sunday. This year we'll be adding music lessons once a week and we're toying with either theatre classes or possibly a sport. They're young so we've been easing them into a fuller schedule.

I'd probably ignore any requests to drop my prices, unless I was seriously desperate to get rid of something.

And this is why I rarely, if ever, take my kids to the library. :glare:

The Velveteen Rabbit and The Secret Garden.

I've got a few that were already mentioned, plus one called, "Sing a Song of Popcorn" that the kids enjoy. We've also started doing IEW's poetry curriculum a few weeks ago and my kids are LOVING it! It's been the surprise of the year so far. It's really fun. hth!

I believe that the standard school system was flawed from it's inception, and that it was created to produce followers, not thinkers. The current system of education, whether public or private, for the most part, follows the same basic pattern, out of necessity. They are attempting to move millions of children through a system and therefore are required to standardize the curriculum, and test to see if what's being taught has been learned. The problem is, that it's rarely leaned. At least not for long. It's learned long enough to pass the test and then promptly forgotten. But everyone smiles and feels good b/c the report card looks good. What is retained, is generally what the kids were interested enough in to learn for good, or b/c they've studied it year after year ad naseum. I believe as a homeschooler, it's my job to create a curriculum that meets my kids' needs. To help them master the basics skills, not just introduce them to it. And to spend as much time as they need, individually, to make that happen. Forget testing (at least in the younger years) b/c all testing does is fill me with pride if they do well and despair if they do poorly. To not be concerned with what the rest of the 8 yr. olds of the world (public school) are doing, but what exactly does my child need to be focusing on. And then to meet them, right where they need it. Not on some arbitrary grade level, but wherever they are, I meet them there and teach from there. At the same time, I want to fill them with good literature, music, art, poetry etc... so that they can recognize and appreciate and study good works. And hopefully a lot of it's fun and creates a love of learning in them. And I want to create thinkers! Most importantly, my philosophy includes the belief that kids must be taught, first and foremost, to honor & obey their parents, and that the parents need to be honorable. I'm more interested in turning out kids who are good and decent and love the Lord, more than I'm interested in having kids who test well. I don't know that my philosophy is called, but those are my beliefs. Unfortunately I don't always reach these goals, and I think they're pretty lofty ones sometimes, but they're my ideal that I reach for.

I wouldn't say that I never second guess myself, but if what I'm doing matches my philosophy about how I think our schooling should be done, then I'm fairly peaceful about our decisions. For example, if I got sidetracked into doing a lot of fill in the blank, multiple choice workbooks, I'd probably not feel very peaceful with those decisions b/c they don't match my philosophy of what I want my kids schooling to look like. But if I'm actively engaged and discussing things with them and doing a lot of reading, and hands on, multi-sensory, mastery based work, I tend to feel pretty peaceful. It matches my philosophy. Does that make sense?

Someone needs to rethink their marketing strategy. :001_huh:

We're in book 2 of AAS, and I have one who struggles with reading and spelling and one who's a natural. My natural loves AAS, mainly b/c of the tiles. We have them on magnets on a white board and he really loves it. hth!

My kids are both adopted, so I know well the feeling. We've been dealing with infertility for 14 years and at times it's tough. The only thing that has dulled the feeling over the years is thankfulness. Thankfulness for what I have in these 2 kids. I'm so busy being thankful that I have them, that it tends to leave little room for complaining that I don't have more. hth! :grouphug:

Funny that you ask this question, b/c just tonight I asked my husband, "Do you ever feel like a failure, b/c I do." And we went on to have a nice long talk and he lifted my spirits so much! I find that when I get a general case of the blahs and the "I can't do anything right" syndrome, he's really helpful at pointing out to me all the things I do that are important to him and our family. Maybe you can sit down and have one of those talks with your dh? It really will make you feel better. And if that doesn't work, you have everyone here. For the record, I'm impressed as all giddy-up that you live and work on a farm. That's hard stuff and then you homeschool too? You're my new hero! :cheers2:

I think a good soup (man that sounds good btw!) with bread and a salad is better than good enough. It sounds heavenly!

We're Sponge Bob lovers in our house. I can't figure out why so many people dislike him, b/c to us, he's ROLF funny! :lol:

My two top picks are All About Spelling and IEW's Poetry Memorization (there's a long name, as is the case with all of IEW's materials, but I don't have it in front of me at the moment.) :D

My dd(8) always says she wants to be a mom and my ds(7) says he wants to be an engineer. Very fitting for both of their perosonalities btw. Carrie

My dd(8) is also dyslexic and we're getting ready to purchase the Barton Reading and Spelling program. I'd advise spending some time at her site and watching some of her demos to see if you like the program. It's pricey, but still cheaper than a tutor. hth! Carrie