I was going to ask about sleep too. A couple of my kids have severe declines in self-control when they are not getting enough sleep. Another is the allergies. It is surprising to me how eating something seems to affect the behavior of one of my kids. FWIW, it sounds maddening, but the current situation does sound like it calls for her being close to you and you just needing to be willing to hear her talk all the time or finding some good CDs for both of you to sing along with as you work (or do whatever you do).

I haven't done Lego Robotics, but I'd read it as him making up a problem in his mind (instead of using a problem that has been mentioned in the application or on their website or in any of their samples). I think the solution would ideally be both workable and imaginative, but I suppose that it might not be realistic or feasible. One problem that has already been solved with animals is if you have weeds, bring in goats to eat them. Another is if you need to haul a cart up a hill, have a horse pull it. So, I'd picture something along those lines. Realistic if possible, but not necessarily. Like, perhaps if you need to get samples of air pollution in higher levels of the atmosphere, attach a sensor to an eagle or something. It isn't totally realistic and would actually be much more complicated and specific than that, but I'd think for a kid that might well be a decent answer (fleshed out). HTH

If we didn't use other programs too, I'd say that it wouldn't be pushing it much to do 3 books in the year. It is designed for doing 2/yr, I think, but it is not time consuming. I'm thinking of doing 2 with other things, but the kids would prefer more of the other things, so I'm not sure. I will skip to Narrative 2, though. Thanks!

My kids were 7 and 9 when we did Fable. My 9yo is my most reluctant writer and it worked well to get things going. My 7yo was able to handle it too.

If your kids are comfortable writing a bit, I'd think you could skip Fable. It was really great for us - it got my kids who were intimidated by writing long pieces (didn't do it), writing them fairly painlessly. I am glad I didn't start higher up because the level of demand for writing (amount) was just right for us.

Well, I don't think politics is allowed, but briefly, he's more liberal than Obama (even the fiscally conservative side in Canada is about as liberal as Democrats). ETA: I shouldn't get into details.

We have used Fable and liked it. We do other things too, and while I would like to continue using W&R, since it isn't our exclusive program I'd rather not do all of the books (and if we did, it would put us finishing when my kids are 30 or so ;) ). If we skip Narrative 1, is there a little review of its contents in Narrative 2? It looks like there is, but I don't want to naively skip a really important book. Thanks.

I think you will be more satisfied if you get your DD writing (or you writing) the expected work in a notebook. 1 page a lesson, usually. Not tons of stuff, just the cliff notes on what is to be done. FWIW, that piece is not simple, but it is not super complex either. Would you be more satisfied if your child was doing something like following the Royal Academy of Music, so you could get an idea of what level they are working at? Could YOU choose a book for your child to progress through? Something from Ferber and Ferber, perhaps? Or does your teacher have a plan, but you don't perhaps see it?

I did it with a 4 and 6 yo, and they both loved it and it worked great. I also have not done one level a year, so it has stretched out and it has not been a problem bumping into intense stuff too young. So I suppose part of it is also knowing yourself - if you will for sure do it in one year, each year, then it gets a bit tricky/mature too fast. If you might end up spreading it out more, it works well to start young. You could always take a year off to do early American (or whatever country you are from) history before getting into the trickier stuff.

We've generally done 2-4 pages a day (4ish days a week) and made it through each level in a school year. For us, somehow we have missed a month or so somewhere in there each year (got the books late, took a long math holiday over Christmas, etc.), so we've had to go a little heavier (4-5 pages some days) at times and that has been too much for my particular child. It really depends on how hard the day's problems are. The beginning of a unit - 4 pages is easy to do in one sitting. The end of a unit - way too much.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

I'm sorry for your loss, Aimee.

We lived in our house and moved directly once our house sold. The house we were buying was thankfully not in demand, so it all worked out well for us. Keeping the house ready all the time made me pretty much crazy (with 3 small kids and 2 dogs). I would not want to do it again if I could avoid it. So much stress.

I actually thought about doing what you are doing - I understand both sides of this: why a number of people have reacted somewhat negatively, and I also understand why you need it and the good it will likely bring to you and your family. I have friends who thrive on being out of the house a lot and busy. And they homeschool. I find it impressive. I have found that when I am out many days, and/or when we have a lot going on outside the house, it is hard to get our "work" done. For a 6yo, that likely isn't as big of a deal. It gets a lot harder as there are more kids and they need to do more time and attention intensive learning in things like math. It sounds like you understand that things may change as the kids age and time passes, but I'll put in there the idea that I have late elementary students now and they need me almost as much as they did when they first started - maybe more. So as they age, unless you have amazingly focused older kids, you may find it hard to carve extra time out for higher level studies (and/or you'll have a lot less time because you'll be schooling more kids). But that is in the future. For now, you have an exciting plan that sounds overwhelming to me, but which may well be perfect for you. For SOTW and your DH, have you considered the audiobook with the Activity guide? It is an easy way to do it.

We did Fable last year in the fall - check the ToC - I believe it is only 12 or 13 weeks of material. So it would be quite easy to do it with another program. I haven't used TC, so I can't help you on that.

I'm sorry.

Well, almost. ;) Not quite, though, so perhaps it is an issue of a different country as well. There are definite international cultural differences, but I wouldn't think that the TY note culture would be a part of that (as there is a large bit of cultural overlap, with Canada seeming to put emphasis on how very polite everyone is, if anything I'd think it would lean the other way towards excessive notes, not less).

I think the level of acceptable thanks was the issue. I wasn't doing it for big occasions, but for gifts. I have/had always felt that when someone gives a gift (over $10 or so) a thank you card was appropriate. Also, for other things like favors/help doing larger household tasks/ etc. It's been a long time since this happened (I'm getting old!), but it's what I can remember of it. I *think* big occasions weren't considered an issue, and considering it all more now that I am older, perhaps it was a person I shouldn't have listened to at all. It was quite surprising, and it did seem to fit with what I was experiencing from the people around me. I will admit I was left thinking it was a social class issue and if I continued to send thank you notes it would be me inadvertently advertising my wealthier/more educated background and causing others to feel guilty in some way.

Shortly after I moved to the West Coast I was chastised by people for sending Thank You notes. I was told I was violating the social order and I needed to stop. I didn't totally stop, but I did slow down a lot and then having kids I've slowed down even more about it. It was quite surprising to be chewed out for expressing gratefulness, and I really didn't know what to make of it. I am not sure if it really is a regional difference, or if it is a social class difference (my social circles changed upon my move as well).

Sometimes people register for things they don't expect to receive as gifts, because the store gives a 15% or so discount on anything that is on there but you don't receive after the wedding. But generally, I try to find something I really am glad to have, or I think really suits the couple, and don't worry about the $$ of it.

Odd, I didn't get anything. I spend a fair bit. Maybe it isn't apple-related enough?

This is only tangentially relevant, but I came across this documentary last night about kids in the UK being sent to boarding school at 8. So crazy different from what we do with homelearning. As far as the OP's situation, I don't know what you ultimately should do, however I do caution you about considering very strongly if you ever decide to keep your child home again to avoid something they are anxious about. If you are choosing to start over and re-structure what life is like, it would build towards a better foundation, but if you are keeping her in school it leaves a confusing and difficult message about if she can handle the things that she fears.

TumTum & Nutmeg

Why has our society gotten to a place where people need to make these kinds of speeches? I agree with the author (that the shaming is horrible and we as a society should support instead), but I am also left wondering why this person feels the need to act like everyone's mother and tell them how they should behave. Maybe I'm not expressing myself well, but I wish less and less things would go viral - rants about the death AND rants about people ranting about the death. It all seems so ridiculous for people to be spouting off their opinions to the void of cyberspace and expecting something from it. Rants on either side are just going to be "preaching to the choir".