:( That is heartbreaking.... I know exactly what the OP means. Today was our first day of homeschooling and last night I felt so sad and the schools in our area haven't even gone back yet. When they do, I am going to avoid FB for 3 months - maybe even going out because ppl sure have strong opinions on homeschooling! But I am really sure we have made the right choice for our kids/family so I have to remind myself of that... often. Maybe there will come a day when DD asks to go to PS until then I get to watch her learn and grow, read for he first time, share the moment when she really gets something. Today we snuggled on the couch and read until I was hoarse.....I'm so grateful for moments like that.:001_wub:

Thank you - fun to have the same start date? How did it go? Thanks so much Kristen! It went pretty well though trying to entertain our 10m old at the same time was a little tricky! I like your perspective re: kids having bad days in PS too - will keep that in mind! I'm glad yours has been going well. BTW, your blog was one of the first I came across when I discovered Classical Ed/WTM - it's fantastic. Love to see what you are up to!:D Thanks Alison - so far so good!

Aiming for 8:30/9 here.

:grouphug:

Still waiting for books, and the add-ons and I still haven't typed up my planner but, the time has come! I have read and re-read handbooks, laminated everything that moves, and picked out the read-alouds we are going to start with. We did a really fun 'orientation' today, DD got her Shultute, and did some fun activities and we start with the 3 R's tomorrow! I can't quite believe it! I'm so nervous! :tongue_smilie:

:bigear:

Thank you all so much! It is so helpful to see what others are doing and how you are laying it all out I am new to home schooling and this forum and it ROCKS! I love it here.:D We been doing random read-alouds here and there, and sometimes a chapter book at night but I'd love to get more organized. Love the suggestions. So with this is mind I'm thinking of doing four read-alouds a day (in addition to the subject books for math, history, science etc) Something like: Breakfast: Poetry ( e.g A Child's Garden of Verses) Lunch: Illustrated Classic, Treasury/Collection, or Classic ( e.g James Herriot or Charlotte's Web) Afternoon: Short Fable or Fairy Tale Evening Family RA: Fun Book ( e.g. Burgess Bird Book or Harry Potter) All others will be picture books that they choose ( usually a lot of them as we have book baskets all over the place!) the ones in brackets are the ones I am thinking of starting with. I love the idea of taking it in turns to pick the family RA - so I am going to set up a shelf for that. DD4 loves animals and nature stories, magic stories, fairy stories, detective type stories, fairy tales and books with girls as the main character or heroine, mysteries and fantasy. Any suggestions for this age group (she will be 5 in December and can happily curl up to listen to a longer book but the odd illustration is also appreciated)? Also I have no idea what type of read-alouds for the subjects like math, science so any suggestions there would also really help us out.:D

Thanks both of you. I am going to try a mix of books - picture book in the morning, treasury or illustrated classic in the afternoon and a family read-aloud of a classic chapter book or something similar in the evening. She loves books and story time so I don't want to put her off by reading something that is way over her head and not at all interesting but then she'll probably tell us if she is enjoying it or not and I can take it from there.:D

Thanks everyone, I'm really excited to get the book now so we can get started. I ummed and ahhed about it for some but I think it's going to be a great fit for us. After looking at the TOC it seems so logical and my way of thinking. :iagree: I think DD does too! I overheard her yesterday talking about being a scientist and 'doing discoveries'...it was too cute.

Oh you are certainly not alone! I'm STILL looking up more things to add...how do you stop the insanity?:lol:

Does anyone read abridged/adapted versions of classics (or other book/tales) to their younger ones? Why/why not? What if they were interested in the storyline/characters/plot but were too young for the unabridged/unmodified version? Anyone have any experience with the Usborne Illustrated Stories from [e.g Shakespeare, Grimm, Hans, Dickens] books?

Anyone done this and if so, how have you done this? I'm thinking of combining Elemental Science Intro and BFSU. I'd probably use BFSU as the structure/spine and ES to supplement and do science like this once or twice per week but wondering if it will work. (I haven't got either one yet - still undecided - so I don't quite know how it will work!). Since Spy Girl also love nature and animals I also want to include a nature/animal study once or twice per week but wondering if this is going to be serious overload!:confused: How easy would it be to combine BFSU with other programs?

As the title suggests, how many read-alouds do you typically have on the go and how to you organize that? Do you read a chapter book at night and picture books or other literature books during the day? Is it better to read from one book several times a day or have say 3 on the go at once? ( e.g. one in the morning, the second in the afternoon, and the third one in the evening)?

Thank you! That's really helpful.:)

Thank you - just looked up Dollar Deals and that looks great! I also scored a great deal on all five of Peggy Kaye's books recently at a used sale and bought them all for $25!:D

Oh that sounds SOOOOOOO fun! What a great idea! I think we are going to start this on Oct 31st and try it for a bit....gives us some time to prepare and Spy Girl enough time to get into the rhythm of school and we love Halloween - this will be the icing on the cake! I could barely sleep last night for thinking of ideas!:D ETA: I joined all the yahoo groups and had about 100 welcome emails this morning, lol.

Just checked out both threads - thanks so much for sharing - it looks so much fun!

:lol: well that would be chunky then...

Oh that's a great idea too - going to hunt down some golfy friends ;)

That's a great idea - I'll probably be doing this!

Wow! This is so completely amazing!!! I have joined all the groups and now reading it all through with hubby eagerly in toe...this is so us! DD 1 LOVES HP and I was watching it as I was in labour with DD2 so, naturally she is a HP fan too!;) Just when I though all my homeschool planning was done....here comes another crash course - I have um, 2 days to figure it out before we go camping! Thank you all SO much for posting this. I love this forum! Super!:D

I'm a nervous newbie too! I like your idea of starting with the 3 r's and adding a little over the weeks I might just have to try that. Good luck - I'm sure everything will be just fine.

Oh those are great thank you! Might have to pick a couple of pink ones up just in case - anything pink always motivates her if needed!:D

Great - thank you! You just cut my supply list in half! :D

Thank you both. Part of me wanting to write it out here is that I need a reminder to take it easy. I have also stuck up a big sign on my mirror that the 3R's are the most important this year and everything else is an extra...so hard to remember that though! They do some writing of letters and words in both Jolly Phonics and Peter & Jane books but I was thinking of adding some free printable writing sheets and incorporating copywork into our other subjects - would that work versus a program?