We do it 6-7 days a week, but it consists of me reading to them and discussing.

Hurricane Ike, not to be outdone by Hurricane Gustavo, has absolutely devastated Haiti. If you'd like to help, please see this link Lambi Fund

My boys (14 and 12) love Age of Empires and the 9yo has just started to get into it herself. When we recently finished "Genghis Khan, Mongol Warrior" they played Mongol herds for quite a while.

Someone rep this womyn for me! Yes! This is it for me.

Maybe one is a god. :)

We frequently make banana bread out of bananas that are oozing liquid. But down here, we have 2 days before bananas are overripe. And that is keeping them in A/C.

*cough cough* Tooth Fairy takes them *cough* (they get thrown away immediately or uncomfortable questions are asked when they are found - not that it has ever happened *cough*)

My 14yo says X-Box 360. My 12yo says X-Box 360 (but he heard his brother's answer first)

I don't believe in any god, but I'd love to talk to Lewis and Clark for a while.

The first thing that popped into my head was "a pair of testicles, no scrotum". I wonder if I'm the only one...

I thought I was done and I know we won't have another because of DH, but I really think I could squeeze one more in. I'd love to have another baby around, especially since the youngest will turn 7 soon.

I'll sway the bell curve WAY out of the park. :) My 14yo and 12yo go to bed whenever they want to - generally around 3am or so. They have asked me to wake them at 3pm if they're not already up by then. They do math and copywork at their leisure and then I read and we do history and discussion from around 10pm to midnight. Or 8pm to 10pmish.

Holy carp you guys are going to have some well-read kids. :) Thanks everyone for contributing to the list - I had some of them marked to read this year, but it looks like I have a LOT more research to do.

Go to the first link and page down and read the comments. I didn't even download it, so I can't help there. I thought others might be interested in the software, but I wasn't. :) Also, try the software maker's site.

Well, we do have US citizenship, but we'll hit the highlights and study Mexican history at the same time.

I watch these sites daily, but today seems to have good offerings. Always read the comments first, I'm going to download it and see what I think... At any rate, since Around the World in 80 Days is on our list of books to read this year, and part of the Sonlight list, I thought it appropriate. http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/around-the-world-in-80-days/

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/document-suite-2008/ "Document Suite 2008 is training courses and quizzes creator, very fast and easy to use. With DS 2008 you can complete multiple tasks in knowledge management, such as building eBooks and CHM Help packages, creating courses and quizzes, adding/deleting/changing string information in sets of files."

Well, it sure sounds shocking. But my kids have all seen the next sibling born (except the youngest, obviously) and we are frequently, naturally naked (showers, changing at night - 300sqft, 6 people, some of which is taken up by beds, sofas, etc. - you're not with much privacy) and all the kids have, little by maturity level, had ongoing talks about reproduction, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, etc. All as they expressed interest, in the moment kind of things. I certainly would not censor my kids stuff (and haven't since they were around 5) but instead see what their needs were about it. I know my 14yo would have no problem but my 12yo is VERY prudish and I think he'd not want to see it. So, I'd simply check in with my kid and see what they wanted to do about the intercourse photo/graphic.

Well, I've never read WTM, so I suppose it is time. :) I think we'll stick with Writer's Jungle for writing, my own questions and WTM for discussion and see if Lively Art does anything for us. Thanks everyone for their thoughts - all my materials arrived yesterday (you have no idea what it is like to order stuff in June but not get ANYTHING until someone brings it down to you) and I am in heaven going over everything. The girls are ready for Ancients study but the boys are still on Core 5 so I'm scrambling for the girls now... EEEEK! I think I might just buy the SOTW activity guide and ask the seller to scan the pages for me. EEEEK! :)

If anyone has a moment, can they email me the link? Even when I purchase from CurrClick I have to have their TS staff email me the stuff I've purchased - they say my ISP (Hughes) doesn't work well with their downloading software. So, if you have a moment, I'd really appreciate it. jamnkats at gamil (you know, gmail)l dot com

They both just had birthdays if that makes a difference. They have always been radically unschooled and have never done any formal academics at all. We have always had a very rich print life and I read to all 4 kids daily. At least an hour to each set. This year we're starting on formal academics for the boys (older 2; 12 and 14) and I'm looking for something other than my "mom" questions and analysis. Whenever I read books to the kids we go over vocabulary, plot points (foreshadowing? metaphor? what do you think will happen next? why do you think he said that? what do you think could have been done differently? etc.), and some applications to real life (what would you have done, why do you think he thinks that, how would you feel, etc.). But I'm guessing there is much better analysis out there and I'm not really sure what I'm wanting for the kids (mainly the boys, I think my questions are still good enough for the girls; 8 and 6). I know of TTC but it is out of my price range. I've looked into LL7 and LL8. Almost all of our literature is direct from Sonlight or Gutenberg project. I need something that does a better job than I do of literature analysis and prompts interesting discussion. I know Lightening Literature is considered "light", but my boys have never had punctuation, grammar or writing instruction, so I'm thinking it might be a good introduction? I'm really interested in their World Lit I and II also - but I think it might be too advanced for the boys? I've tested the 14yo for vocabulary and he reads at a college freshman level; I think the 12yo is on level or above. I don't get the Sonlight IGs so we don't follow a schedule or do their LA stuff. We have been doing Tuesday Tea Times (THEY ADORE IT) and Friday Freewrites and I have Writer's Jungle coming along with The Lively Art of Writing (I think that's the name). I won't force them to do any academics but I will lightly encourage them and encourage them to challenge themselves. Which is why we find ourselves in academia right now. :) I'm not interested in doing any formal grammar right now and we may simply hit it with a foreign language (I'm doing OPOL hit and miss (One Parent one Language) and we'll be doing the Destinos Spanish series). Maybe next year once they have a year of academics under their belts. I've tried to encourage the 14yo to start a journal but he really isn't interested and they regularly do more drawing than writing during Friday Freewrite. So I'm thinking that the people who are dissatistfied with LL7 and LL8 for composition are proving the point that it is probably just right for us. :) So what do you think? Right now we're finishing up Sonlight Core 5 and will go to Core 6 when we finish. Would LL7 or LL8 be a good fit and if so, which one? Should I do the same LL with both boys (so far they are both doing Core 5 and both doing TT Math 7, both doing the same copywork, both reading some of the same books). The 12yo has better comprehension than the 14yo but the 14yo *gets* stuff better than the 12yo and very often will see my (adult) POV in my analysis when we talk about stuff we're reading. We generally go through 1 historical fiction and one non-fiction history book a week, and they read another book on their own each (their choosing from our "library"). This is what we're doing now: (girls, 8 and 6) Land of Oz books I read daily + something from Core 1+2 and many other books they pick to read. Writing and drawing and crafts as they desire. Lots of play. Listen in on the boys' books I read to them. (boys 12 and 14) TT Math 7 (they decide how much daily), copy work, non-fiction from Core 5 (or Gutenberg) and fiction from Core 5 (I read an hour or so daily), Friday Freewrite, they read as much as they want (about a book (the 14yo frequently will do a book a day) or two a week). Materials coming and will be adding: Artistic Pursuits once a week or more depending on what they want to do TOPS weekly Core 6 (will replace Core 5 they are already doing) Writing Jungle (not sure if this will add anything to what they're already doing) considering LL7 or LL8 (I personally would LOVE LLWorld Lit I and II) considering Critical Thinking or put that off for next year Destinos and daily Spanish immersion (we live in Mexico so the only addition will be the Destinos videos and maybe workbook stuff; still not sure if I'm going to do this) So it doesn't look like adding LL will be too much for them (I know many are cringing at such a light workload but I want to start really slowly as they've never done formal study before) but do you think it is a good fit and if so, which level? I'm thinking of both LL7 and LL8...

My 14yo and 12yo's are both using Math 7 which is their very first foray into formal math. We have never done any formal math to this point, but instead they got a lot of math from everyday life. TT recommended Math 6 but we were able to do the 1st 10 lessons free of Math 7 and they seem to be having no trouble with it. They decide how much to do each day (it seems to be about 10 minutes) but they are doing it each and every day. Right now the 12yo has decided he wants to memorize his times tables so we're working on that but the 14yo has decided he wants to forge ahead without memorization of times tables. Without ever having the concept of memorizing times tables I found that they had already memorized a number of the 2's and all the 5's and the 10's and random other combinations of numbers. While my boys never tried other math programs the 14yo was astounded at how easily he understood some concepts explained in TT that I had tried, to both our frustrations to explain. And I have definitely heard that on the boards over and over, that TT explains things really well. Why not try the 1st 10 lessons and see what he thinks? http://d30063190.purehost.com/free/starthere.asp

What is the homeschool freebie of the week?

I have never tried to lose weight before, but after 4 kids and not losing any babyweight (but instead continuing to pile it on) and approaching 50, I decided in May that something had to change. So I joined sparkpeople and simply started exercising daily (or at least 6 days a week). I started walking 40 minutes a day and now I'm up to 70 minutes. I also started tracking my food intake for the first time in my life. We already eat very little processed food but you can still eat a kilo of homemade banana bread and shockingly not lose weight! :) Tracking food intake (and as such, knowing what I'm putting into my body and then chosing to put LESS into my body), knowing what a portion size is and upping my exercise has allowed me to lose 10 kilos (22 pounds) since mid-May. My goal is 67-70 kilos and I'm at 80 kilos (but after my daughter's birthday yesterday and the immense size of apple pie I ate, I may have gained back all those 10 kilos :)) now. I have oatmeal+egg, cawfee, raw sugar for breakfast, brown rice and beans and or some such combination for lunch and a salad with chicken and either corn tortillas or homemade WW bread for dinner. Pretty much that is the general menu. It doesn't sound like much but it was a slow process to this point and if I want to eat more, I eat more. I just track it and make sure I don't overeat each and every day. The site is completely free and has many articles and information about changing your lifestyle. They are totally NOT into diet. Since I very much do not believe in diets but instead in making life-long changes, this is the site for me.

it's a bag. (voted other)