Welcome to the board. Enjoy your first year!

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood

Some of my favorite studies: The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God by Lisa Tatlock and Pat Ennis God's Priceless Woman by Wanda Sanseri Also, just a personal, line-by-line study of Proverbs 31 will be of great benefit.

I will be doing 1st grade for the 4th time this year. My son is finishing PP up this summer. Here's what's on tap for the year: Memory Work (IEW poetry, AWANA, family Scripture memory - 15 minutes/day at meal time) ETC 2, 3, 4 (10-15 minutes) daily copywork (10-15 minutes) Singapore Math 1B & 2A (20 minutes) FLL 1 & part of 2 (10 minutes) SOTW 3 w/ big sister (30 minutes, 3x/week) My World Science green (30 minutes, 2x/week) read to Mom (15 minutes)

For us, it's the zoo.

BBQ chuck roast sandwiches. Think pulled-pork, but with beef.

This year it would definitely be writing for both time and $$. I have 3 students in three different levels of CW (Aesop, Homer, and Diogenes Maxim) and my oldest is doing the online tutorial.

I think the reason you see the word "pure" is because it is a Biblical word. Titus 2:5 admonishes the older women to teach the younger women "to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." It is also translated "chaste" in the KJ & NKJ. If you check a definition of these words, chaste & pure, you will see that both have references to being "innocent of unlawful sexual intercourse", (this, as the M-W dictionary defines "chaste", a listed synonym of "pure"). I know you are in the camp that chooses not to read the Word of God as literal, but there are many of us who do. Since, then, "pure" is an agreed-upon translation for the original Greek word in the text, it makes sense to use it in this context. Biblically-speaking, not having sex outside of marriage does equal pure. It does give additional information about the person: that they have not given into lust. Of course, for those who consider the Bible to be full of nothing but words (not you, specifically) there will be no impetus to follow them. But for those of us who consider them the very breathed words of the God of the Universe, we will, with the Spirit's help, strive to uphold them, live them out, and teach them diligently to our children.

Well, I voted 'no', but it is because I became a "Bible-thumpin', born-again Christian". They weren't planning on that. :-)

Yes, we do this. My older kids really appreciate the break from schoolwork, and my little guys LOVE the time with older sibs. I don't have them instruct youngers, per se. Usually they just play. We make it happen because it's a priority for us. We are able to be more efficient when the littles are occupied, as well.

We tack them onto the evening chores. Each child has a special chore for each day of the week tacked on to their regular afternoon chores.

I second the stair basket. They actually have baskets that are designed to sit on the stairs. It is my 6 year old's job to empty it at the end of every day. My kids are responsible for bringing their laundry to and from the laundry room as part of their afternoon chores.

We're seeing the Thursday matinee. My husband is taking a 1/2 day and I got a sitter for the 2 little boys. We go straight from HP to see "As You Like It" at an outdoor theater. Can't wait for the whole afternoon/evening!

Here's my favorite: Brazilian Salmon Stew I actually got it here a few years ago. It is super-delicious!

We school 6 weeks on, 1 week off all year, taking most of December and 2 weeks in July off.

CWD.com (Children's Wear Digest, I believe is the name.)

Me too.

For the most part, yes. We have stayed on grade level.

My dd is a rising 4th grader. We have the following planned: Daily memory work (Scripture, AWANA, IEW poetry, math facts, Latin vocab.) Singapore Math 4A/B Latin for Children Primer B Classical Writing: Aesop My World Science (Green) SOTW & AG Vol. 3 Rosetta Stone German Typing Instructor Deluxe Logic: Grid Perplexors Violin

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Bartleby by Herman Melville The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass My oldest 2 and I are going to try to have some round-table type discussions twice a week. I still need to find some notes for discussion - at least for the ones I'm not as familiar with.

We've done both and I would have to agree that SOTW + AG are just perfect for those ages.

I used NOEO Chemistry II this year and we enjoyed it. I felt it was thorough, with a decent amount of experiments and reading. I feel it gave them a good grounding in chemistry. I wouldn't say it was a huge hit, but it did the job.

I know there are others who have gone further in CW than us, but my oldest will be doing CW-Diogenes: Maxim next year. He has completed Aesop A&B, Intro to Poetry, and Homer A & part of B. I LOVE Classical Writing. :-) It is so thorough and rigorous. It is exactly what I was looking for in a writing curriculum. We use Harvey's Grammar along with the supplemental workbooks CW has, and have found that to be rather painless. You may want to add in spelling separately, but we have found addressing spelling within his writing to be effective. My son is a natural writer who enjoys it very much, so keep that in mind, but I am very, very happy with the results thus far. He has a good grasp of finding strong language, substituting, expanding with details, and writing for concision. He has learned outlining skills well and can diagram much better than I ever could. My dd10 is about to begin Homer B. She is not as naturally strong in writing, and frequently takes offense at the critiquing and re-writing portions of her week. But she is also progressing very nicely.

We did this with Latin, as well. The concepts just didn't stick because we went too fast. So we stopped and completely started over again, focusing on memorizing and really understanding the concepts. It was definitely worth it! They have gone on and completed 2 more years of Latin and now have a very solid understanding.

1000 good books list Honey for a Child's Heart