I agree with this. Our local high schools read 4 books a year for English. I find that ridiculous. With my kids, it has never been an issue. They were both early readers, and have both always been strong & voracious readers, despite one of them having Dyslexia. They have always read above grade level. So, our rule has always been that at least 50% of what they read has to be at or above grade level. That way, they are still allowed to read the books that would be of interest to kids their age, but are also constantly stretching themselves to read more challenging books. Considering both reached high school reading & comprehension levels in early elementary, I'm not at all concerned about their ability to handle college.

This likely won't be a popular suggestion, but I have seen it work. Often, showing them that Shakespeare is still quite relevant helps a lot. This is easily done by first showing them some of the many modern movies based on Shakespeare's plays, like 10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew) & Romeo & Juliet with DiCaprio & Danes. This may be enough to get them interested. You can then move to better performances & reading the plays. Another option would be to, instead of starting with the same ones they use in ps, choose ones based on your kids' interests. For ET1, I chose Julius Caesar & Antony & Cleopatra, due to her strong interest in ancient civilizations. I also chose Taming of the Shrew simply because I knew she'd like the story. We did a whole year of English focused on Plays & Poetry. It included the above mentioned Shakespeare plays as well as others (Death of a Salesman, Ibsen, Pygmalion, etc.). We watched multiple versions when possible, as well as reading them. We compared & contrasted the different versions. She now reads Shakespeare (and Ibsen) for fun. Prior to my forcing her to read them for English, she had no interest in Shakespeare or plays in general. Maybe she would have loved Shakespeare, even if I had forced her to start with Romeo & Juliet, like our local schools do. However, I doubt it. I think that starting with ones I knew she would like, went a long way in her gaining an appreciation for Shakespeare right away, instead of just slogging through them the way so many of my classmates did.

This was our original plan when we switched. We all really enjoy tea, so I figured it would work. however, it has been way too hot for drinking tea lately. I'm hoping to have dinner be tea with light snacks during autumn, winter, and the beginning of spring, when it is cooler.

I am thankful that I know how to cook/bake/grill, organize & plan, use tools, do basic home maintenance, handle money, sew, and so many other things. I wish I knew how to read music.

I don't think specializing has to be separate from a well-rounded education. I don't/won't ever cut back on a subject I feel is important. However, if they want to cut back on a course they asked to add in, I'm fine with that. If they want to add extra courses or make their courses even more rigorous, we'll do that. I want them to get a well-rounded education. They are expected to take Math, Language Arts/English, Art, Music, Science, and History every year from K on. They start a foreign language by 2nd or 3rd grade. They have to take Geography for several years. They take all of those subjects in elementary & they carry on through High School. However, they can ask to add courses. They can ask to add specific topics to a course. They can do that any year. Even in elementary, I am more than happy to incorporate their interests, as long as it doesn't mean short changing a required subject. They know, if the courses they asked to add start to interfere with their work in any required course, those extra courses will be cut. They could just pursue their interests on their own time, and with some of their interests they do. However, the more academic ones & ones related to what they want to do with their lives, they often ask to add to the school day. I have a very hard time saying no to things like extra Science courses or additional Math programs. Unless I really have reason to believe that something they want to add to the day will disrupt or interfere with their required work, I will let them try whatever they ask to add (as long as we can afford it). I want to encourage them to follow their dreams. However, I also need to make sure that they are prepared for life after graduation, which includes life skills, job skills, and being prepared to get into & succeed in any college they want. So, I strike a balance between courses for a well-rounded education, skills they'll need in life, and specialization in the areas they hope to pursue as careers. It takes a bit of work, organization, time, and effort, and the kids don't have the short days many homeschooled kids have, but we maintain that balance quite nicely.

I prefer to shop for Christmas all year, so I don't have to wait until the last minute. However, some years that isn't possible. So, if I only have a few months, I figure out how much I can take out of each paycheck, and that determines the budget. We don't do a lot of presents, though. Usually, it's one or two presents each & a family gift or two (the family gifts are generally board games, trip to museum, etc. If you'll be shopping at nearby stores, have your Christmas budget in cash, to help prevent overspending. If you'll be shopping online, see about setting up an extra bank acct just for that. We made a list of the activities we want to do for the Christmas season. It is a list of almost 30 things. It includes books for family read alouds, movies to watch, charitable acts (donate toy to Toys for Tots or food to local pantry, etc.), and other activities (e.g. building a snowman, driving around looking at the Christmas decorations, going to the Festival of Lights our city does each year). Then, we try to do as many of them as we can, and usually finish most of the list. We made sure to only include ones that really matter to us, eliminating anything that was overly stressful or not enjoyable. For baking early, plan it into your weekly grocery shopping budget & your weekends. Be realistic about how much extra you can spend each week on baking supplies & about how much baking you can do each weekend. I also buy ahead as much as I can for food for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. $100+ on one meal doesn't seem so bad when it is stretched out over multiple weeks, instead of added to the weekly budget all at once. We do e-cards for all holidays & birthdays, only sending actual cards for those who I don't have email addresses for or are not on FB. The few that get actual cards for Christmas are family, like my grandpa, not acquaintances or people we only communicate with using Christmas cards (I've known people who send cards to people they haven't spoken to for 20 years & the yearly Christmas cards are the only communication they have with them). There are many places that offer free e-cards. The free ones are often basic, but I prefer that to spending $50-100 on cards & postage. Hopefully, some of this helps.

Lunch is our big meal, but dh is home for lunch. He takes leftovers to work. For dinner, the kids & I have small stuff - leftovers, sandwiches, fruit, veggies, cheese, eggs, etc. Even on weekends, when dh is home, we all eat small stuff for dinner. I really prefer it this way. It has gotten me to start eating earlier in the day, and stopped me from late at night (I used to not eat until dinner & then eat small snacks really late). It also just seems to work better for all of us. If your dh is ok with switching to lunch being the main meal & something small for dinner, there should be no problem. I understand family meals being important. They are really important to us, too. However, it doesn't have to be a big meal. You can all sit down to eat a small, light meal of a veggie tray, soup, small salad, sandwiches, fruit & cheese tray, light omelet, etc. You can still have that time together, talk about your day, & enjoy each other's company. There is no rule that a family meal has to be a large one. Now, if you or your dh have an issue with the fact that having lunch as the main meal would mean he only gets fresh, home cooked meals on weekends, eating out or having leftovers all week at work, then you might want to leave dinner as the main meal, or consider changing to breakfast. This is actually one of the main reasons we switched to lunch. My dh's work schedule changed & he would only be home for dinner on weekends. I didn't like the idea that he would only be eating leftovers except on weekends.

AAS has worked wonderfully for ET2. We really like the multi-sensory approach, as it helps to cement the concepts. We even added in having him sign/fingerspell the words, since it makes him slow down to think about the sounds/letters. I know some people think AAS is "gimmicky" and have read complaints about the low levels of the words, but that's because it isn't about memorizing the spelling of those specific words. It's about learning the rules of spelling & sounding out words and then applying them. Which, imo, makes it much better than the typical programs that just have them memorize a list of random words. As for being "gimmicky," I assume those people are talking about the tiles & multi-sensory approach, which isn't gimmicky at all. It's because AAS is O/G based. The entire program is based on methods proven to help people with Dyslexia. So, I would recommend AAS, especially for a child with Dyslexia. We spend a week per step (a pace I force since he flew through last year). It still will be 2 levels this year. We stretch it out over the week. Each day, we start with review of 10 each - sound cards, phonogram cards, key cards. We use the cards from previous levels, as well, to ensure the extra review & retention of those concepts. Friday is just review. After the regular review of each day, we also review charts and a stack of word cards. I have no experience with Barton, so can't compare it with AAS. However, I can recommend AAS as something that has worked quite well for my kid.

So many of these my kids have grown up on. I can't imagine waiting until they were older to show them movies like Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Jurassic Park, or Never Ending Story. ET1 has been addicted to Labyrinth since she was a baby. The first time she saw it, she was only a few months old. I was watching it & she started crying. I picked her up & was trying to calm her down. Then, David Bowie came on the screen. She stopped crying and just stared. After that, whenever she was having trouble sleeping, I just had to put on the soundtrack & she'd calm down and fall asleep. Silver Bullet is one of ET2's favorite movies, as is Jurassic Park. Both have watched the BBC 5hr P&P. ET1 will be reading the book this coming school year, and will then watch the BBC version & the Kiera Knightly version, to compare & contrast. I wasn't really impressed with the movie, but figure it will be good for comparing & contrasting how different film adaptations of a book can be.

Well, as someone whose children regularly do school for 6-8 hours a day, I realize that there are many possible reasons. They could have focus issues. That time could include several breaks. They could be doing extra work, by choice. That time could include watching educational videos, playing educational games, read-alouds, fun projects, or experiments. The child could be struggling. The child could just be a slow worker. Basically, I would think that it is not my place to judge, since I don't their situation. However, that could be largely due to people assuming that I work my kids too hard, push too much, etc. In our case, it's that my kids are very academically-minded. They do many subjects each year, including ones that they have asked to add to their day. They do work well above grade level, because they work at their own pace & are naturally accelerated. We do many projects, activities, experiments, watch lectures & documentaries, and incorporate games. The kids are not overworked, still have time to follow other interests outside of school time, and play on their own & with friends. Yet, people hear that they are doing 6-8 hours of school in elementary grades & they assume that I am pushing too hard, forcing work that is too challenging, forcing page after page of busy work, etc.

Mostly, a lot of newer (late 70s & newer) horror movies. They all ready watch a lot of the older, black & white ones. Real Genius Pump up the Volume The Doors Tombstone I don't know. It's hard to think of specific movies right now. We already allow them to watch so much. Just about everything I would list, ET1 can watch now. So, I'll get a few years watching all of them with her. It'll be about 4-5 years before ET2 is allowed to watch them.

We do most of our work after lunch. My dh works 2nd shift and leaves shortly after lunch. ET1 is doing pretty much independently & plans her own breaks. ET2 does Science, History, or Geography (Science & History each 2 days a week & Geography one day) & 1 hour of quiet reading time in the morning. We plan 2 hours for Science, History, and Geography. If we spend less time, he takes a break until reading time. We take a 1 1/2hour break for lunch, which the kids either spend outside or playing on the computer (dependent on the weather). All of ET2's other subjects are done after the lunch break. We usually finish at 5 or 6pm. That includes another 2 breaks after lunch, usually 30 min each. The kids tend to get distracted by their dad being home, which is why most of ET2's subjects are after lunch. Both kids have ADHD, so breaks are necessary or we have massive meltdowns.

We are a household of artistic/creative people, and have a whole room dedicated to storing our art supplies. We have tons of stuff. So, this year, I just needed to pick up a few things that were running low. I got clay, colored pencils, wood for wood burning, supplies for leather working, and some more calligraphy paper. That's all we needed this year. The list of what we keep in stock includes (but is not limited to): paint brushes, palettes, canvas, paints - acrylic, liquid watercolor, watercolor, tempera, glass paint colored pencils, watercolor pencils, calligraphy pens, calligraphy markers, drawing pencils several types & sizes of paper - scrapbook, origami, drawing, etc mosaic materials wood stain, wood burning tools, wood leather working tools, leather, leather stain beads of various sizes, shapes, and materials, bead looms sewing materials, several fabrics, yarn for crochet many types of adhesives cameras clay, clay tools, plaster We have never used a formal program for Art. I make sure they are exposed to a lot of artists & their works. We cover Art History & Appreciation in our own way. They try out at least a few new media & techniques each year. They continue with what interests them and can quit what they don't enjoy (as long as they've tried it).

I'm just speaking from my experiences. I prefer mastery, and both my kids work better with it. I understand that some people work better with spiral or incremental programs. They just don't work in my experiences with them, though. They don't for us, but I'm glad they exist for those who do prefer/need them.

I wasn't fond of Stuart Little. I can't stand the Little House books, and neither can ET1 (ET2 hasn't read any of them). I couldn't even finish Watership Down. It was just too boring.