awesome! thanks for the links, ladies. I'm off to look at your blogs!

I've started a homeschooling blog! http://homeschool.rebeccareid.com. I also started selling some of my homemade products on teachers pay teachers: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Rebecca-Reid. So.....I'm looking for other homeschoolers who either blog or sell products on TPT! Send me your links so I can check you out! For my blog, I am trying to write at least one post about homeschooling and our progress each week. Also if I get a chance, I'm trying to add in some other interesting things each week, like a giveaway of one of my TPT products, another resource for homeschooling that I've loved (i.e., curriculum or websites) or a freebie that tpt sellers or homeschoolers could use. I hope it's a blog others will find interesting. It's hard to get the word out there, though, so hence this post in hopes that you will all share your own sites with me too! I feel like I'm blogging in to a void for the most part. And I really do want homeschooling feedback! Thanks in advance for sharing your own sites too! Rebecca

THanks! I'll send you a message. I don't think I can send the file via DM though, so you DM your email! Rebecca

I am pondering making up a series of book studies for historical fiction early readers and picture books. My son is currently doing the American revolution, so I am making up something for SAM THE MINUTEMAN, level 3 I Can Read book about Lexington. It has 18 questions with page numbers after them (one set with a place for short answers, one set with multiple choice answers), a page with a few vocabulary words to learn/review and/or enter your own unknown words, and five pages of organizers to put thoughts together, including one asking to distinguish fact from fiction (this is something my son really needs help on!). Is this something you, as homeschooling parent, would be interested in? Would you ever pay for something like that? I have been selling some of my worksheets (not this one but other ones) on Teachers Pay Teachers, which seems to be mostly public school teachers, but I'm curious on what homeschoolers would like too. And I don't know if there is a desire for something like this among homeschoolers, since I at least seem to get away from worksheets for the most part. And yet, I could see myself making a series of these book studies to correlate to the different things we're learning in American history. We are pretty much just learning American history through fiction and picture books, and it's been a lot of fun so far! If you have a child reading at the 1st or 2nd grade level and you are doing American history/Revolution right now, would you be interested in trying it with you child and giving me feedback on it? I'll send you the in-progress product for free now. Send me a Message. Only caveat is that I really do want feedback on what works for you and or child and what you like or don't like. Anyway, thanks for any thoughts on what you, as a homeschooling parent, would like in terms of American history packets for K-2nd grade in general. Rebecca

I am so excited to hear this.I think I know what I'm doing next year!!

I am definitely going to do WWE1 for my ds's 1st grade year. I will probably add in LoE Essentials (we're working through LoE Foundations right now) for additional spelling/phonics review. He's reading fluently. I posted the other week asking if you all thought grammar was necessary in first grade...and now I am definitely thinking it is. So my next question is how much grammar is there in LoE Essentials? We will probably take 2 weeks per lesson so it may last us a long time. Would I need something else for Language Arts grammar and vocabulary? I feel silly asking if it's necessary one week and asking if it's ENOUGH the next week..... Maybe that's a clue that this will be the right amount? I'd appreciate feedback for those who've used Essentials, especially from those who used it at a slow pace for younger kids.

I t second grade for my then 4 year old. Hated it. Felt like busy work. Not much actual critical thinking.

I'd say NO, there is no need for elementary students to STUDY poetry, just read it, listen to it, enjoy it. POETRY SPEAKS TO CHILDREN is a nice anthology with audio CD.

We will probably start 1st grade in September but I might wait until we've finished our kindergarten (we're slow on the history these days) before we start these. Language Arts: WWE1, maybe LoE Essentials at a slow pace (we are working with LoE Foundations right now), lots of reading aloud together and personal reading Math: Miquon Blue and Green History/Social Studies:: SotW 1, with audio and AG. We will also finish off American history in some way, and play stack the states to practice geography :) Science: on demand, plus enrichment class at co-op Fine Arts: piano at home as I get a chance, art at enrichment co-op, Health and Fitness: homeschool swim and gym, fitness games at enrichment co-op Other: Salsa Spanish and Mango through the library

I gave up on doing more formal revolutionary war studies with my k-er...just letting him watch liberty's kids and calling it history...hence the desire for more educational material to supplement the cartoons....

Ok, I promise I won't keep posting here, but here is another Billy Collins poem that tries to put things in perspective. Don't tie a poem to a chair and beat meaning out of it, but just read it. http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/001.html Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

oops wrong post

I LOVE poetry and I second what the PP says. I love those particular books too. I second what others have said. Find songs you like and listen to them. Find silly kid poetry and read one a week. Maybe try this poem by Billy Collins "On Turning Ten." http://www.billy-collins.com/2005/06/on_turning_ten.html. Your eight year old may relate to that. I think that people have this stiff notion of poetry, when really, as PP says, poetry is just a way of approaching the world with emotions. It doesn't have to be Shakespeare or Robert Browning. It can be a lot of fun. Rebecca

I started using the social studies in the fall -- but when I found some typos and wrong information, I said, forget it. I would not rely on it on it's own. The quality is just not there. But then I'm picky about those kinds of things for any curriculum. I haven't looked at the LA.

Does anyone know of any worksheets or review pages to go with the Liberty's Kids videos? I just found the liberty's kids website that has games for kids but I was hoping for something non-computer to work with. Thanks Rebecca

Very well said. I already am re-evaluating next year. I'm a part of three home school groups: one a co-op we do 3 out of 4 weeks, one a social group for special occasions and field trips, and one that is a co-op but we don't do the classes, just the fun social things with them. When it comes to a holiday week, all the social only groups get together and it really is too much!! So we definitely need to back off in the coming weeks and months. You are right, 5 year olds can only take so much!

CLARIFICATION: I did not make him color ALL the valentines. That was the plan. But it quickly became apparent that was not going to happen. He did as much as he could and I just put candies on them. I will definitely reconsider the store bought packages for next year...

Mandy, Thank you for that! We lived in Australia when my ds was born, so your comment just hit the right spot for me -- love that book! Yes, he made it on the computer and then colored them. I think he did 5 really well, 20 not so well and I just taped candy on the the rest...

It was just an awful week in terms of school. Three different Valentine's day get-togethers with different friends. More than 50 valentines to color. And a cranky kid who just wanted to play and whine about every little thing I asked him to do from collecting the laundry to clearing the table, not even to get started on SCHOOL. And the bottom line is we got NO school work done at home all week. My five year old is very advanced so I don't know what I'm so stressed. He can read. He usually likes to do math. He can tell you all about the ear (which is what he learned about in his enrichment co-op science class this week). He DID put his face in the water at homeschool P.E. on Tuesday. There is progress over last week, I suppose. But I have nothing to show in terms of mother-directed schooling this week. Nothing that I can see. I know it all is okay in the long run, but I still just feel it was a wasted week...This is the week I felt for the first time that I really WANT to just send him out the door to public school and take a deep breath in the peace and quiet of my home (ha! with my baby that won't happen, but maybe it will be a little quieter!). Any one else getting a little bit of February burn out? Anyone with a KINDERGARTNER? If it's this hard this year, what will I do NEXT year?! Rebecca

lol when I saw this topic, I started thinking of Tom's adventures and trying to figure out the best one. When he tricked his friends in to painting the fence? Or maybe when he witnessed his own funeral? No, definitely getting stuck in the cave with Becky. :) Enjoy. It's one of my favorite books. I can't wait for my little guy to be old enough to enjoy it too!

I use miquon. you can download all the books at currclick and print out the pages you use. So you could try one book and see what yo think. I don't refer to the lab annotations all that often unless I can't figure out what I'm supposed to be teaching. But then, we're only on red book (book 2) so maybe that is why :)

Yesterday, the winners of the 2012 Cybils awards was announced. See the list of winners here. The CYBILS are awards given by book bloggers (panelists are parents, teachers, librarians, etc) to the best books published in the past year based on merit, illustration (for the picture books), and kid lit appeal. I noticed that two of the winners -- WONDER (middle grade fiction) and FRIENDS WITH BOYS (graphic novel) -- have main characters that were home schooled and are attending public school for the first time. Have any of you other home schooling parents read them? How do they approach homeschooling (positive or negative)? With all the buzz surrounding WONDER, I was intending to read it myself at some point but haven't yet. I'm just curious what you all thought of them if you have read them and how they portrayed homeschooling. Rebecca (In the interest of full disclosure, I was a panelist to help determine the seven finalists for the fiction picture books this year and last year.)

Thank you for all of your feedback! I appreciate it. I think I will add something else in to the mix. Maybe I'll try LoE Essentials (I can download 10 chapters at a time for $15!) to keep some spelling in the mix and take a week or more per lesson to see if it will be a good fit. We're not done with Foundations yet, so I'm not in a rush yet. If I do Writing With Ease, with dictation and so forth, do you all consider separate handwriting program to be necessary? Or just add in additional sentences now and then? Would that be enough?

My son is a young K-er this year. We've been doing LoE Foundations (and LOVE it!) and he's doing great at Miquon, alternated with Singapore. I'm giving him a light American history, and we do Science on demand and at an enrichment co-op. He does art at co-op too. He also is in a weekly homeschool PE class. He's already reading at a 2nd grade level by the way. For next year, I'm planning on doing these things. I won't start until we finish our American history (I'm going slow) and LoE Foundations. I might drop Singapore, but is Miquon alone enough math for this age? I started with Singapore because I got the first levels cheaply. But it is pricey it seems. Also, I really don't like the look of First Language Lessons and I can't find a grammar that I like. Is it "okay" to just do writing and skip formal grammar instruction in first grade? LA: WWE 1, reading great books together, creative writing throughout the week as desired. Math: Miquon Blue and Green Social Studies: SoTW 1 (CDs to listen to as we're driving everywhere! as well as the Activity Guide for when we feel like it) Science: on demand and an enrichment course at co-op. Physical Education and Health: homeschool p.e. through park district, health instruction in daily life Fine Arts: Art at co-op, informal piano and singing instruction at home Other: informal Spanish instruction I'm a big fan of taking things as he needs it. But I would like a little feedback on this. It doesn't look like much, but since my little girl is getting to that age where she's going to be in everything, I feel like this is about as much as I can reasonably handle next year! Thanks for your ideas. Rebecca

http://edu.wyoming.gov/Programs/standards/foreign_lang_content_and_standards.aspx this is where the lessons are, and salsa videos themselves are at GPB.org/salsa