Dude that sucks. I am glad you posted here. Now stick around. Visit often. There are tons of great people who will go out of their way to help you. It will take some time and research, but all is possible . . . you just have to take the time to find it. (Coffee helps!) Do the Y if you can, try the Scouts and get it for free and any other thing you want to, and DONT feel one bit bad about it because THAT is why the program exists. It exists for you right now. AND what a wonderful thing that is. (Pride really just stands in our way doesn't it? What a waste of our brain power. Truly. ) There is so much you can do for free it is amazing. All the links from Hunter and others already mentioned. Digging through Ambleside Online is an experience for sure. I'm not sure what I might have that you could use, but let us know what you are looking for and needing so we can help out if we have it. I'll be looking at a few things to possibly add for enrichment here because of your post so thank you for reaching out, now I have a chance to learn about other resources too which is super cool as I don't always have the time to surf here as much as I would like to. Keep us posted.

The huge ones they sell in the freezer section of the grocery stores, Walmart and Target that hang on the ends. . . If you've tried them how long do they really keep things frozen? How long will ice cream stay firm in them? Is it just a cold-enough-bag to get them home type of thing? Would it keep pizzas or ice cream frozen for 4 hours on a road trip?

Classical Logic and Rhetoric Minds The Colony of Classical Logic and Rhetoric Minds The ride of the psychotic horse through the burning stable. :)

On hearing about all the great stuff in the first edition of TWTM, I'm excited to say I've just bought it! :hurray: Can't wait for delivery. :) I've met a family who are just starting on their research of home school phase since their kids are still in diapers, and I will be buying them a copy or two as well. (They have been glitzed by all the online curriculums out there and think that's all there is to it . . .)

I would buy high school only book in addition to the 4th edition :) and need more info on how to transcript and taking college classes early, and all the particulars for high school like others have already mentioned. For some reason I am more concerned about this than anything else, and am thinking about sending them to our private christian school for HS rather than tackle this.

I ran across this a few months ago and wanted to post it in case anyone had interest. They have a few free online courses here if anyone has an interest. I've no idea if they are any good, but it's nice they offer them. http://online.hillsdale.edu/dashboard/courses

And then the flip side. Parents who don't take their kids to the library, don't have books on hand, and don't read in front of their children ever and just watch TV wonder why their kids aren't avid readers?

Yes more great titles. Keep them coming! :hurray:

Hey thanks everyone for your ideas. Super fab. While the book lists for the kids are long and researched, I never get to make one for me. Just started one in my One Note! :)

I have a few days coming up next week where I will have time to myself. Did I say that? Who said that. . time to myself. Wow. What nice 3 words those make when put together like that. :laugh: I'm heading to the library and need some ideas. I'll dig up the 52 books thread but thought I'd ask for shouts. What have you read this year that you have really enjoyed? Up for anything other than horror :ack2: , and drippy romance.

My sister-in-law was over yesterday and got a big kick out of my boys. The younger boy is a little afraid of being in the basement by himself so he asked his brother to go with him to get a book he had checked out from the library. Said older brother was reading a book at the time so he went along, reading as he went slowly down the stairs. Then they both came up the stairs, reading as they came up them. They sat together on the couch and discussed the books they were reading and asked if they could read the others book when they were done with their own. (Henry Huggins and Beast Quest). Kind pleasant responses were given and they went back to reading. She commented on how the kids in her neighborhood are engrossed in their video games to excess since its summer. Makes me feel good. :) (We do have video game time allotted each week, but it's not a main focus.)

This spreadsheet is super impressive Whitehawk. Puts my attempt at planning to shame! :) I see many former teachers with the same type of layout. How long has it taken you to put together?

I've been messing around with this and am confused. If I want to add a pic directly into the body of the post (not as an attachment or a link) how can I do that? I've tried using both HTML and BBC code linked to my photobucket account (with the proper code). What am I missing?

How can unvaxed people transmit diseases to others who are vaccinated if they are protected from the vaccines? This part does not hold water with me and makes some of what I hear in the media sounds so ridiculous. Truly the only people unvaxed can transmit to are the unvaxed. I'm not being punchy I would really like someone to answer this with logic and actual facts not opinions or what you want the answer to be. You can't claim the vaccines work and then accuse those who don't have them of making those that do have the vax ill with what the vax was supposed to protect you against. Are we just talking about babies in the first 12 months? Ok I can see that a possibility, but again, that is not how this agenda is pushed out there. It is "everyone is at risk because of those who do not vax" which to me sounds paranoid, pushing fear, and totally contradictory -- which causes my red flags to go up. I'm for parents rights to decide, vax on a slower schedule like the one I had growing up and I love my constitution. This bill is a test to see how it goes. Then it will follow nationwide, without exceptions, home schoolers too.

We have 3 of the 4 x 8 boards from Home Depot mentioned above. Super awesome to have that much space to leave things up for a week down two on the sides (Latin/French vocab, states/caps and their facts, even multiplication facts for memory work are posted down the sides for reviewing). Wish they were magnetic but cant beat the price for this size. We have a 2 x 3 magnetic board on the floor they can sit at for spelling work with the tiles. It can be a problem getting the marks off when left too long so ya know, and the linked post above gave me a few new things to try on it, as the EXPO cleaner just doesn't get the job done. I'm off to try rubbing alcohol right now!

I don't like her. LOL

Would you really use it, and how many days per week would you use it? I am talking with my library about getting this and it's a very good possibility -- and am trying to vet it's use (actual real usage) to see if it's something they can continue to offer full-time for free. They are offering a free trial thru the summer if you want to check out all there is going on there. Lots of content, but I'm not sure if folks here would like it/use it/need it. You can access the free trail from the co-op and browse: https://homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/discovery-education-streaming-plus-free-trial/?c=1 If you would use it, please let me know honestly how many times per week you would use it. Thanks

I'd like to add to our apps and programs for fall, and have read here and there people getting them for free from various places (library or their PS system). If you've done this please list your program and where you got it from. I'm curious! Has anyone had success getting Discovery Streaming from a free source? We are having fun with our free trial but man that sucker is expensive (even on the co-op).

http://www.currclick.com/product/95745/Geography-Terms-Activities I don't usually post these, but I opened an email up today from this place and thought it looked great for a summer activity, or to fill in time during the year when they need to work on their own. It's $1 right now, and after checking it out, way worth it to me! Thought someone might use it.

I see Splash Math is 40% off this weekend for Father's Day. Does it go cheaper thru the co-op before schools start in the fall? I'm just wondering if it will go lower on the co-op or somewhere else. . . .

These are all great ideas, thanks so much for reaching out. I will look for Teaching with Lobel book on a sale for sure but I'm not sure how low it can/will go, and am reviewing MP, VP and Peak with Books. I have an amazing book list I found on my PC that's labeled Master Trade Book list K-5. I think it's from Core Knowledge I'm not sure. So many content and for fun reads I could get lost in it! Can I just be a curriculum planner/researcher and not ever get around to the teaching part?? LOL

My 5YO girl is going to be in K. Wow where is the time going. She is reading around 3rd grade level, and writing very nicely in manuscript. I want to take time to plan for her over the summer, so she can have fun activities to do, without it becoming too much to organize. I have quite a few FIAR books, but don't want to get so lost in the projects that it slows us down from reading all the great books we could read in this year. I always mean to look up fun unit studies and print a whole bunch of things off, but I never complete it. (Where is my twin???) I have never tried the MP enrichment which might be good at either K or 1 level given where she is reading, and looking for other thoughts. Again, I want to do some fun crafts and projects but not so many it becomes a burden. There are so many wonderful picture books to read, I'm really jazzed thinking about just reading reading reading with her, and having her read to me as we work on more phonics. Example: We read Ping a few times in a week, then painted a paper plate like a duck, and read a book about ducks. That was about right. A stray unit printout here or there would be fine. She read this book to me last night, and I found this link to comp questions (which other than "what did you like about the characters or events" I'm not always so good at on the fly) so I'll be searching for more of these paired with some of the books I know we'll be reading. ******Anyone have any other suggestions for free comp links or company products that go with picture books like the one shown here? I have no idea if this even exists. ! Would love to find this type of thing for the Lobel books. And Little Bear. http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/The_Lion_and_the_Little_Red_Bird ****** I'm taking the book lists from Spalding and a few other sources (never checked AO for K so new to that) so we'll have the classics, but open to the more recently published picture books too. If I don't plan for her now she will get lost in the shuffle once fall comes. And I don't want to bore her with things below her ability. Help please?

You're welcome. Sorry I should have posted the link and was at the water park.!

For those who may be looking for the recitations that include science, math, and history in addition to grammar (not just the grammar ones), I called them and they put them back up on the website yesterday and listed under recitations. They labeled them 3rd and 4th accelerated.

I decided to start Prima Latina now with him 4 days a week and start memorizing roots in prep for EFTRU. We'll see how long it takes to get comfortable with PL, then we'll move into LC1 when ready. We'll try the one year track first, and if we need to back it off we can. We do alot of memory work, (and it's finally all organized yeah!!!!) so I'm curious to see how this will add in. Will it be super hard or just like any other thing we've added. Thanks for all your thoughts and opinions!