My sister-in-law created a message that simply said: "Thank you for calling. We homeschool between the hours of 9-3. Please call back when we are finished. Thank you." Personally, we don't have a home phone, but if we did I would most certainly turn off the ringer, cover the flashing light, etc. People will eventually stop calling if they never get you.

Welcome, Linda! I am Nancy and I have been homeschooling for 8 years. I am a New Englander who transplanted to sunny SoCal 3 years ago. See my siggy for the kiddos.

am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, have, has, had, do, does, did, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, could!

J.C. Ryle's Thoughts for Young Men MacArthur's Daily Readings from the Life of Christ

Happy birthday, Susan!!!

This is my favorite, as well.

That's is just fantastic!! Way to go!!!

I shouldn't have even typed mine out. I should have just ditto-ed this! Well said, Staci!

Too much, IMO. You need to plan much shorter lessons for that age. That will help with the dawdling. Children that age just don't focus for that long without checking out. Longer lessons contribute to the dawdling factor (take this from someone who learned that the hard way.) Give your son 20 minutes to get as much math done as possible and then move on. Whatever he didn't finish today can get done tomorrow. Also, I would drop Latin, for sure, and probably Spanish, composer, & artist study...you have plenty of time for that later. .Right now, put on some lovely music and draw or paint together. That's all they need at this age. Don't take the fun out of it by making it academic. And, lastly, I would not have that many outside activities for those ages. It just makes family life way too hectic. We begin outside activities at 9 or 10.

We love Zin, Zin, A Violin, but it would be for the younger ages.

Parsing is listing each word in the sentence and determining its definition, role, classification, and properties. Diagramming is visually lining up how all the words work together in the sentence. Harvey's, I believe is spread out over 4 years in CW: Homer A&B, and Digenes, Maxim & Chreia. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong :-)

I think this is just it. Sometimes it's our ideals that mess us all up. When our kids are little, the ideal is making it through the day having accomplished the necessary, and doing so with a smile on our face and a content heart. It also includes being ready for whatever curve balls come our way, because that's what having little ones is all about. It sounds like you had a perfectly good day. Congrats!

I am going to try first to see how he does with little to no guidance, but may change that plan as we go along. I feel a little green with the whole literature discussion, so I'm sure I will learn a lot as we go this year. I have always told my oldest he is my guinea pig!

*Have the older 2 take turns playing with the younger 2 while you school the other one. My 6 year old plays with my 2 year old for 30-45 minutes every morning in their bedroom. They are only allowed out to go to the bathroom. *Teach the little ones to have quiet alone playtime. Whether in a safe room or in a pack and play or crib. I have found those times crucial for getting schooling done. *Well-timed DVD's *My little ones have always done 'table time' - puzzles, Play-doh, Wedgits, Dot-paints - toys that only come out at that time. *Alternate chore time. Have one do chores while you school the other & vice-versa. *Save history/science/read-alouds for the afternoon quiet/nap time. *Do you have grocery delivery in your area? I just love this! And then, yes, acknowledge that you are in a phase of interrupted life. When my kids were that age, our days frequently felt like one big, long fire-drill. That's OK. And totally normal. Prioritize what you need to get done every day, and then be thankful when there is time for anything extra. They will learn. Never fear. And before you know it, they will be older and more helpful, and days will go more smoothly.

I absolutely agree that SOTW fits all those criteria.

I think that would be fine. My 7th grader's list looks very similar to yours, except we will not be doing as many biographies this year. My plan is to have him keep a copybook with comments, questions, and passages from his assigned reading that he enjoyed during the week, then get together for discussion every Monday. I will have him complete a short narration of the work the Monday after he completes it. I think a narration every day would be too much, at least around here, where my son has an awful lot of writing already assigned in CW and history. HTH,

Yes, we correct spelling mistakes wherever we find them.

The instructions come with the YS kits.

If I were you, I would definitely drop the grammar and spelling and simply do the grammar and spelling exercises in CW. I would also give CW more time. I have found (having taught Aesop twice now...heading into my third time) that 30-45 minutes with the child is sufficient, in order to get the most out of the program. Also, if you are using the workbooks, you will need the time to complete all of the exercises. Then they can work on their writing project alone.

My 2 daughters (9 & 10) recently delivered hand-picked bouquets to 3 neighbors with little notes attached that read, "Have a great day, From your friends." I only found out about it when our 93 year old neighbor walked over with her walker and a note for them, assuming they had left the flowers. I about melted.

No co-op here. I would say if it's not your cup 'o tea, go ahead and drop it.

1st grader: 1.5 hours 4th grader: 4 hours 6th grader: 5-6 hours 7th grader: 5-6 hours

My Father's Dragon books. There are 3...they have been a hit with all of my readers at about age 6-7.

4 Days. We have Fun Mondays here. Art, picture study, recitations, literature discussions, special unit studies, science experiments, etc.

Yes, having Monday free from regular academics allows us to concentrate on that type of thing. So far we've done free-flowing conversation. But this year I am feeling like I need to make it a bit more regimented, especially since I am unfamiliar with a number of the books. I am still working out how to do that.