Simply Charlotte Mason has a handwriting curriculum called Delightful Handwriting that uses the ZB font. It's straightforward, no-frills and inexpensive, especially if you buy the teacher guide in pdf instead of print to save a few dollars (I think the teacher's guide in pdf was about $8). I bought both the teacher's guide and the student book in pdf, but I pretty much just use the teacher's guide and then design and print my own pages from the ZB website instead of printing from the student book. It's been very successful for DD so far and I'm thrilled with the font and the order in which the letters are taught. FWIW, originally I tried using the student book from ZB by itself but it was a failure because I actually needed some guidance on how to go about TEACHING handwriting - not just what the letters look like. And I didn't like teaching the capital and lowercase of the same letter at the same time - it made no sense to me, but that's the way the student book is structured and I had no idea what I was doing, frankly. Delightful Handwriting has excellent instruction for the teacher, and it teaches capitals first, then lowercase. This has worked beautifully for DD, and for me! If you feel confident in how to go about teaching him and just want to switch fonts, getting the ZB student book would probably work well. Though if your DS started with lowercase and is now switching fonts, beginning with the ZB capitals in Delightful Handwriting and then re-learning the lowercase might also work well, and it would cost about the same if you only buy the teacher's guide (though printing student pages will cost you something in ink and paper). HTH! ETA: Of course I never even considered spending $100 on the ZB teacher's guide - yikes. That's one reason I was so thrilled to find the DH curriculum - it was the ZB font with an affordable teacher's guide - perfect.

No sleepovers. Except for occasional sleepovers for childcare purposes with VERY trusted friends or family members (and "very trusted" would not even apply to a couple of my siblings' spouses, frankly), I see no benefit that outweighs the risk of just-for-fun sleepovers with friends. Sure, I get that sleepovers are really fun and I enjoyed them without incident as a child, but it's just not worth the risk, imo. The reason is simply this: I believe that the easy accessibility and level of secrecy (via the internet) of p-o-r-n in today's society - which was not the case when most of us were kids - is a huge factor in sexual abuse and molestation. And even though I don't parent out of fear, I'm not going to put my precious children in harm's way unnecessarily. A sleepover is a ready-made situation for someone with ill intent (or someone with otherwise good intentions but who is tempted by the trash they've just seen on the internet) to capitalize on the opportunity. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and trust God with your kids' welfare, but I'm not going to risk the severe consequences of sexual abuse for a just-for-fun sleepover at a friend's house. Nope.

Our church has a two-person policy as well, with background checks required. Ideally, we'd like it to be two unrelated persons (for liability/abuse protection) but it doesn't always work out that way. Once our church grows a bit more we'll probably have that in place as a hard rule. Amen, sister!! This has always been my view on children's ministry, and it's my church's view as well. As communicated by our leadership, children are VIP's in our church, as they are to Jesus! About 50% of our congregation (which is diverse in terms of age and life stage) volunteers to be in monthly rotation for Sunday morning kids ministry during the worship service. And the vast majority of workers are either single without kids, parents of teens, or empty-nesters, who understand what an important ministry they're doing in God's kingdom, both to the children and their parents. We almost always have teen helpers in the nursery as well, who know and love the little ones. This is the body of Christ at work, and it is a joy to experience it. I realize that very small churches or church plants or churches with a high concentration of elderly, etc. have unique issues in regard to childcare, but for any church of reasonable size, if it can't sufficiently staff its nursery with volunteers during the corporate worship time at least, it needs to close its doors for lack of Biblical priorities. Another AMEN. YES YES YES!!! This is the attitude with which we recruit our volunteers as well - which is why it WORKS!! This is true, and it would behoove the church to keep that in mind when they view children as mere distractions to the adult "worship experience" (a concept which I abhor). In keeping with the idea of having children underfoot pretty much all the time (LOL!), at our church children of all ages are welcome in the sanctuary throughout the worship service, and I actually keep my 15-month-old with us during the singing because I want her to be exposed to corporate worship from the youngest possible age, as my older two have been. I do draw the line at the sermon, however, and do not expect my little ones to just sit quietly and color if they can go to another room and be taught from the Bible at their own level. My toddler goes to the nursery and my 5- and 3-year-olds go to the children's class, and my older girls return for communion, which is weekly. I know that "children's church" is a relatively new development in church history, but if the church has a building to accommodate a children's class, then I believe it's a valuable thing - not primarily for the parents, but for the children. There are strong opposing views on this - many in my own denomination vehemently disagree, in fact - but that's where DH and I land, and our denomination does allow churches complete freedom on that issue. That said, whether or not someone feels that a nursery is a "necessity" - it certainly is a wonderful ministry to children and their parents and I would hope that out of love for JESUS, people would step up and serve HIM by lovingly serving His precious children.

I agree. It's so frustrating. :mad:

That's probably true about the oils, unless they say organic in the ingredient list. But unless it's coconut or peanut oil and only used for frying one time (which is probably never the case for mass-produced food) then even if it's organic it's probably rancid anyway, which renders the GMO issue irrelevant for the oil, imo. Fried chips aren't exactly health food, though of course non-GMO corn is much better!

Yes, the simplest way to avoid GMO products is to buy organic (all certified organic food is required by law to be non-GMO). Trader Joe's private label products do not contain GMO's, so even their non-organic chips are non-GMO, and I really like TJ's corn chips. We buy the huge bag of round ones - 32 oz. The organic white corn ones used to be my favorites, but for a while their supplier was overcooking them and they tasted burnt, so I just switched. The round chips are cheaper anyway. My policy is to assume (unless otherwise labeled or indicated) that non-organic corn products are GMO.

Well said. I haven't read this particular book, but changing the paradigm is exactly what I was referring to in my previous post. Character education so easily becomes moralism unless it's saturated with grace and the gospel. :001_smile:

We don't use a character curriculum - at this point we just memorize lots of scripture and deal with issues as they come up. That said, I would highly recommend reading this wonderful book along with any kind of character education, formal or not: Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus

Sounds like you're right on track to me!!!!! I'll chime in with my own version of what some others are saying: There is great danger in comparing your reality to someone else's non-reality. And everything on the internet (not to mention much of what you see of people in real life) is non-reality, because of how much is missing. Unless you are dealing with a close friend with whom you mutually share the good, the bad and the ugly and are privy to the intimate details of each other's daily lives, you really can't know what the other person actually does and doesn't do, or what her life or marriage or homeschool really looks like. And seriously, how many people can you be that close to? Maybe a handful in a lifetime if you're very fortunate. My sister has a wonderful blog with quite a following, and in her posts about personal matters she often seems honest and transparent about her struggles and weaknesses, etc (which she certainly is much of the time), but I can tell you as her sister that her blog does not accurately reflect the daily reality of her life. Not by a long shot. But it comes across that way to her readers, I'm sure, because I enjoy reading her blog and at times I get sucked in and think what a great life she has and wonder how she "does all that". Well, she doesn't. She is amazing and creative and accomplished in many ways, and she is very blessed in many of her life circumstances, but she shares selectively, of course, and only those things she's comfortable being transparent about make it onto the blog. And who would have it otherwise? Only a crazy person would broadcast all her dirty laundry to the world. So, beware of comparisons of any kind - online or in real life. Comparison is toxic in itself, but you're pretty much never comparing apples to apples anyway. :-) And FWIW, I'm not creative or "crafty" either, and I'm comfortable with that. If our curriculum has a craft or a project to go with a lesson I'll usually do it, but otherwise I keep structured crafts to a minimum, because it wears me out and makes me grumpy - LOL! My kids are very happy and creative, and they have supplies to make their own crafts. They can go at it on their own as much as they like, which they do for about half the day without Mama's help (which they obviously don't need). I admire their creations from the kitchen, where my own creative outlet is cooking, which has to be done anyway. Win-win. :-)

I have no experience with anything else, but we are loving Right Start Level A. I can tell that DD is not naturally wired to be the stereotypical "math person" (she is more of a free spirit/artistic type) but she loves doing math because RS is very hands-on and it's fun (with very little written work at this stage). Not that all learning has to be fun, but this curriculum is. The spiral approach has worked very well for my DD so far. I wish I had learned math this way, and I find myself looking forward to her math lessons myself! I've also heard that Right Start Level B is a favorite for a lot of people, and I guess next year I'll find out why. :-)

I read a library copy of TWTM (2004 edition) about two years ago. I really need to get my own copy now so I can mark it up, and I've read on a couple of threads here that some people prefer the first or second editions over the third, and I'd prefer to get a used copy of an earlier edition if it will suit my purpose. My oldest is in K, and I am pretty comfortable with my curriculum choices at this point (much of which is PHP), so what I want from the book is mainly the general road map and inspiration. Is there any reason why I would need to spend the extra money for the 3rd edition right now? If not, which earlier edition should I get? Thanks!

I smell a rat. This response is quite obviously just a two-faced PR stunt. There is no way the co-sponsor of this bill would be all of a sudden reworking it and saying it is simply about protecting children from abuse and starvation. And she's saying she wants to "work with" with the homeschooling community that her bill is forcefully attacking? Hogwash. We'll see what she really thinks as this plays out.

From what I can tell, ZB is marketed primarily (exclusively?) to schools. That's why the teacher guide is $100 retail. I have no idea what's in it, but there's no way it's worth a hundred bucks for a homeschooler. Since I like the ZB font, I actually tried just using the K student book with DD and it was an utter failure. It introduces capitals and lowercase of the same letter at the same time (which doesn't make sense in terms of building skills since the strokes aren't related). It also had no teacher instructions, of course, and I personally really needed that - like what's important to focus on, pacing, etc. I was really frustrated until I decided to scrap it and find something else. So, I went on the hunt and started over with Charlotte Mason's Delightful Handwriting. It's awesome. It uses the ZB font and teaches the letters/strokes in an order that makes perfect sense in terms of developing and practicing skills. DD is thriving with that now. The teacher manual is great, and I find the tips and comments to be very helpful. I bought the teacher guide and the student book in the pdf version. I would have bought the student book in the print version but I already have lots of handwriting practice paper that I bought from ZB, plus I can make and print my own pages from ZB's free program, or of course from the pdf of the student book. I'm only teaching K, so I'm not sure what you'd do for your 2nd grader. I think CM has a cursive edition now if he/she is at that point, but I'm not sure of the details on that. You can check out this curriculum at http://simplycharlottemason.com/.

I started teaching my just-turned 4yo with OPGTR and it was smooth sailing. She had no preschool whatsoever - just from playing around with me with her alphabet she could recognize the letters (probably just capitals) but only knew how to pronounce a few of them, if any (I can't remember). She also had no trouble blending...I had no idea that was an issue. I really like the methodology of OPGTR but I agree that it's boring, so as soon as DD knew all the consonants and short vowels I started her on BOB books, which were a big hit. And as soon as I have more money I'm planning to get some of the MCP practice readers suggested by SWB. We do a lot of supplementing with other books, but I see no need for another method/curriculum. My 3yo (who will be 4 next month) wants to start reading, so I'm teaching her the letter sounds via OPGTR and we'll take it one step at a time. She and her older sister are very different, so I'm keeping loose expectations. Since you already have OPGTR, why don't you just try it with your younger DD and see how she does? You might find that she picks it up well, and you could spend your money on readers instead of another curriculum. If it doesn't work well, ditch it for something else...but at least you'll know for sure and not waste your money.

I went to the national Greenville Convention in 2010 and 2011. I went in 2010 as a total newbie when oldest DD had just turned 4 (on the advice of a friend I went a year BEFORE I had to make decisions about curriculum, etc.) so I was just getting my feet wet and browsing curriculum and I loved it. I found it to be very helpful and inspiring, especially the seminars. Last year I went to a few seminars and did more browsing in the exhibit hall - after looking at curriculum online it was great to see things in person and talk to the vendors. I solidified my choices for K and looked at some additional things for the future. So, it was a good experience and I'm glad I went both times. DH went also and it was fun for us to do that together. That said, I'm a Greenville local, so there's no travel time or cost for me - just the registration. It's worth the $50 fee and I'm planning to go again this year (if I can figure out what to do with my kids!), but if I had to pay for travel and hotel it wouldn't be worth it. I loved it the first year especially (and there were some really great speakers that year, including SWB, and I had my MIL to watch the kids for both days) but now that I've gotten my feet wet I feel like I can get the help and support I need in other ways. It IS helpful to see curriculum in person (at least for me), but if you are clear about your curriculum choices already, you might want to carefully look at what seminars, etc. are offered to see if those would justify the cost in time and money. HTH!!

I can't say for first grade, but I talked with SWB personally at a homeschool conference a couple of years ago, and for K she told me to just do reading (phonics), handwriting and math...and lots of read-alouds. So, that's all we do and it's been great.

I may not be saying anything new here, but I'll chime in anyway. I have a master's degree in music, and I share the opinion of others who've said that the best thing is to LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!! My kids (5, 3 & 1) love to listen to classical music. They have no clue about composers or anything - they've just been exposed to it since they were born (along with other genres) and they dance and sing along and make up words to the melodies and stuff like that, and that's exactly what I want at this age. One of my favorite music quotes is from Igor Stravinsky, who said: "The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music. They should be taught to love it instead." DH is an artist, and pretty much all the same principles apply to art. Since we're introducing a few new mandatory subjects for first grade next year as it is, and since my kids are exposed to music and art naturally by DH and me, I'll probably wait until 2nd grade to do a formal music/art appreciation curriculum - which I have no intention of designing myself!! Harmony Fine Arts is something I've started looking at - does anyone have experience with this curriculum??

NO WAY. I'd love to have some of my expenses covered, but I'll happily pay for my own stuff and keep my freedom instead.

I'm planning to go at this point but I'm a bit disappointed in the speaker line-up this time (I'm still a HS newbie so I like the seminars!). If they offer the $10 for the exhibit hall I'll definitely do that but I'm waiting to see the full seminar list before I sign up for the whole thing.

I'm a local, so I have no idea about hotels, but parking was easy and convenient both of the last two years I've gone.

Keeping it simple here, too. I started K this year with my oldest, and we are doing reading (OPGTR, which we started a year ago), handwriting (ZB K) and math (RS, which is only two lessons per week). We also do read-aloud storytime every day. Occasionally we'll do structured crafts, cooking/baking, and outings, but almost everything other than the 3 R's is interest-led at this stage. DD5 and DD3 also get some unstructured science stuff when they spend the day at their grandmother's house once a week, just because grandma thinks it's fun and wants to contribute something educational. Other than that it's mostly free play in our home and I love it. So, I feel very relaxed about the whole thing. And since money is very tight I'm not really tempted to go overboard anyway. There are a few supplemental things on my wish list (phonics readers, CM art prints, some classical music CD's) but if we don't get them this year, oh well. What we're doing is enough, and I'm happy with it.

:iagree: Our TV is used only for videos/movies - it's been that way our whole marriage - we just don't care about TV (except I do wish I could watch the Olympics - without commercials!) and of course that's what our kids are used to. Something we did recently had pleasant results I wouldn't have expected. Our girls (ages 5 and 3) used to watch a 30-minute video every day right after breakfast while I got some chores done. I did that partly to just get it out of the way and then turn it off for the rest of the day (except for their special "movie night" once a week). A couple of months ago I decided to change their video time to the afternoon before dinner so I could use the threat of losing the video as leverage/discipline, and because I wanted to make the transition to homeschooling easier by starting the day with reading instead. Well, this is what surprised me: After just a couple of weeks, the girls stopped asking for their video before dinner. For some reason it just went off the radar. They're too busy playing or whatever and all of us have just forgotten about it (me included). They quickly adjusted to their new morning routine and it has really helped their behavior in general. They do still have their weekly "movie night" with popcorn and they can choose a feature-length movie if they want, and they are very happy with that. It's something special for them to look forward to and not a daily part of our family life, which is great.