I remember you suggesting that but I couldn't get more info on it online. Can that be used in one semester?

I am considering doing a semester long state study followed by a semester long California history study, about 16-18 week semester. I'll likely use the wee folk art state study guide or road trip USA. I saw that beautiful feet has a California History guide. Has anyone used it and did you enjoy it? Feedback?

I totally get what you are saying and it drives me batty. My mother is always saying "school is easy for you. You just get it and that's that. You're naturally smart, yada, yada, yada, but it's so hard for me." And if I didn't do exceptionally, as in strait A's in competitive university or grad school, it was because I "slacked off" because "it was so easy for me so of course I should have perfect grades." You know because taking AP and Honor classes in high school without much guidance and only my own initiative since my parents didn't go to college was so easy, as was studying and signing up for my PSAT / SAT tests, applying to competitive colleges without any help other than free work shops at my community college or making good grades. Graduating from Berkeley, getting into grad school, all while being a new mom = easy!

My end goal for homeschool would be that, considering the ability of each individual child, that they would be prepared to start college without taking remedial courses, be that at CC or a 4 year, should they chose that route. However, I am open to other options, including taking time off for a year or two if they are productive or entering a trade program of some sort. My ultimate goal would be economic self sufficiency to support a family for all my kids (girls and boys), but not necessarily affluence. I do hope that we bring back more skilled labor jobs to this country and see a reimgence of the middle class (but I won't hold my breath). So with that in mind I would worry that a trade might not be enough to met that end goal (but neither might a college degree at this point as wages are not keep my up with the cost of living and the cost of tutition is rising. In fact I read recently it's increased by more than 1,000%. Yup! One thousand!) I'm not too concerned with paying for their college. If I can help I will but even if I could pay for all my kids living expenses and tutition for 5 children, I wouldn't. I don't think they'd value their education (from observing this when both seeing peers and working with college kids at CC and UC Berkeley / San Jose State) and would probably do poorer in school. If my kids chose public university and do CC first and then transfer, they'd probably be eligible for financial aid and loans as well as be able to work part time. That's what I did to get through college. My parents did contribute to me getting through school financially but the did not foot the entire bill. And I am ok with that and so should they. I do have a college degree so despite us still being a working class family I hope that's my contribution to help my kids get into college (ie, having the knowledge and ability to research to help them be college ready). That said as a first generation college student my parents did a lot of things right to help me be successful in school like read to me a lot, send me to preschool, put me through private school until middle school, and make sure I did my homework as well as motivated me to take college prep courses and met with the guidance counselor regularity, join student groups to learn about going to college, etc.

So apparently dh as a blue collar worker makes the national average household income alone (and a couple thousand dollars over), but this means absolutely nothing in California, particularly in the Silicon Valley, but theoretically we are, in comparison to the national average, "middle class". And somehow that doesn't make me feel better.

Well, if I could get her take them to a park. She's much more likely to take then to Starbucks, McDonalds or shopping or park them in front of a tv or tablets (including the baby) {sigh} but I suppose I need to "let it go."

I really like these ideas and I think my mom coming to take the kids out in the afternoon after babies nap would be a great help without getting the kids off their routine. It would be great if she could help take the kids to after school stuff or to the park.

Not so sure about that. My father is a flower grower and has been upper management for large growers and owned his own business (sometimes both). Although I would say that's a "blue collar" field, and he doesn't have a college degree (he did two years of college but didn't complete his BA) he has a lot of business knowledge, and knows an impressive amount of knowledge on science and politics since it's related to his work. He also knows a great deal of Latin but he went to private school in Mexico. I suppose he'd fit the description of coming from "genteel poverty", although that's O/T. Anyhow, he can hold an academic conversation very well and his income level is very firmly upper middle class, despite a "blue collar profession". Also it is pretty common in the agricultural business now a days for people in the agriculture industry to have backgrounds in science, business, and agriculture and it's quite common for successful growers to send their kids to college for a BA before coming home to take over the family business.

Thanks for all the feedback. I don't know that bed rest is imminent but I am trying to plan ahead as it's a real possibility, and I am definitely seeing a pretty sharp decline in my energy levels so I am coming to the realization that a pretty major over haul to our routine is going to be happening sooner than I had hoped.

I thought I would share a link giving a visual on inequality and wealth distribution in America about how the middle class is deteriorating. https://www.facebook.com/lea.lopez.14606/posts/1666727293545218

Well, reading through this thread has been interesting and I have a lot say as it seems the discussion has gone many ways. For one, the difinition of "blue collar" ---- to me this implies traditionally skilled labor that requires a certain degree of training, such as trade school, apprenticeship or learning skills on the job, is, something that would require more learning than just walking on the job but not more than 1-2 year degree program. I would probably describe this as a "tradesman" or "tradeswoman". Generally, these careers require physical labor of varying degrees (mechanic, carpenter, electritiin, plumber, law enforcement, etc). What would traditionally seperate "blue collar" from the "lower class" (I don't like that term but am using it as it's familiar) or the working poor, would be the low level of skill one would need to enter their job, the lack of ability for one to advance in their career, and generally low wages, and could share the similarity of requiring physical labor, where areas traditionally in our country a "blue collar" to me would have been equated with a much more middle class income (which is a whole other interesting topic in what defines middle class and how do we differentiate it from being poor), although usually the lower to mid bracket of being middle class. In the past, career sin these fields could mean you made a similar wage or higher wage than your neighbor with a 4 year degree in some instances. That said, I don't think that applies much any longer in our country. In the part of the country we live, having a career in trade of skilled labor is no longer a ticket to the "middle class." Neither is a 4 year degree (or more) necessarily for that matter (think public school teacher). And I think that is a very sad thing. As a country we genuinely need skilled labor to run and I am the opinion anyone who puts in a 40 hr week (even in a low skill job) should not have to live in poverty and be eligible for food stamps to get by. I think we need to reinvest in creating skilled labor in our country so that the option of not going to college but securing a middle class job is available once again. I think to an extent we have trouble identifying as part of the working class in this country because we lack a real labor party (although the Democratic Party traditionally took up this platform it was long ago abandoned and only ever a poor substitute to a real labor party based on socialist values). And because we are spoon feed the whole "American Dream" and access to the middle class that I would say a lot of peoe identify as middle class when in fact they are not. I would probably lump skilled labor and unskilled labor together as part of the working class or proletariat. I also think because if the government's rhetoric of blaming the poor for being poor most Americans want to close their eyes to the fact that people with a 40+ hr work week and a trade or skilled labor are struggling to make ends meat because it challenges their perception of what the lower class looks like and contradicts the idea that the poor are poor because they are lazy and made poor choices. I also am enjoying the application of class, the proletariat, Marxism, and a working class party being discussed, but than I was a poli sci major at UCB so that would make me excited! As far as the original question- which I think is do you identify as blue collar and homeschool using the WTM as a resource? Hmmmm.....mostly yes. I grew up in a blue collar family with my mother working a lot of various jobs in the service industry or business with job experience and an AA or staying home and my first stepfather being a carpenter and my second stepfather being in law enforcement. Neither had any sort of college degree. My husbands family was definitely blue collar. My father in law was a truck driver and my mother in law worked in agriculture in a packing shed but in a management level job, and had a stint of running a home daycare when her kids were little. My husband is a mechanic and has been in this industry for about 12 years now. I have a bachelors degree, and am working on my masters degree. But since we homeschool and our a young family, I haven't actually worked since having kids, so we are on one income, and that income is "blue collar" so I would say we most definitely fall into the category of "the working poor" despite my husband having a skilled trade and working 48+ hrs a week and me being very productive as a mother to young children. I largely decided not to work because the cost of childcare when I graduated college for two children 2 and under when I would be entry level would have made the odds for me to earn much more than the cost of care pretty low, so I decided to start a grad school program part te instead after taking some time off. Now with only 6 units to complete my masters and two year old and twins on the way I find myself I'm the same boat. I'm not sure when and if I will be using my degree any time soon. Do working class families use The Well Trained Mind that homeschool that in know IRL? Possibly? Classical Education through CC is pretty popular in my area. It's a reference listed to those in CC but honestly I don't think a lit if the CC moms actually read up that much on the classical approach to education and largely relay on the CC model to learn how to use it at home based on conversations I have had with moms in real life, the exception being a handful of CC moms, normally tutors, who do have a college degree, some with backgrounds in education. The families I know who do use WTM or similar models (classical or CM) are generally with mom having a college degree and are generally middle / upper middle class. In fact where I live the majority of homeschooling moms I know IRL have a bachelors degree or higher, although I know some moms who do not, and I think they are doing a great job and don't see any reason they can't do it. I do think moms using this forum and The Well Trained Mind are more likely to have college degrees. I would say this is because they are probably more likely to enjoy the process of researching. However I recommend it as a source to all newbies to check out if they'd like to learn more about classical education and don't see why it could not be useful to famies were neither parent has a degree. That said, I do think perhaps some of the older homegrown curriculum from pre y2k with a more unit study feel might be more appealing for families with larger families and a limited budget. I actually enjoy blending both, using unit studies but giving them a CM / classical bent. The other question I think was would families be interested in a sub-forum for blue collar families (or working class)? Yes! I do think it would be a good resource. I think I often feel I am running into challenges that other homeschool moms are not facing in my area because homeschool is increasingly becoming less common among lower income families (at least in my area) and I do sometimes feel a bit out of place in my homeschool community although I would also say that almost all the moms I know in my homeschool group IRL do sacrifice to live on one income even if their husbands make relatively good money because the cost of living is so high where we live. For example we generally all pack lunches for field trips and park days and try to keep field trip costs low because most families are 1 income families. I also am often trying to stretch my homeschool budget as far as I can. I am blessed to have a charter school option with instructional funds. Some years this is the only way we could possibly afford curriculum and have to use funds to pay for basic office supplies like ink, printing paper, markers, construction paper, etc. We often can not sign up for as many classes or extra curricular activities as other families, and there have been times we are struggling to met our basic needs (paying rent and being able to buy groceries or pay for clothes for our kids). I think the general position of living pay check to check adds a bit of a unique challenge to homeschooling that would be great to be able to discuss in a safe place without feeling judged. For example right now I'm expecting twins, and I have have had people suggest that I get night nurse, or an Au Pair. These are not even options I could possibly entertain. We are struggling to just scramble together the second hand items we'll need for twins. We can barely afford to have them, lol! People mean well, and I think because I am well educated, I can easily fit into both the culture of blue and white collar conversation, so maybe people assume I am better off than I am? However, having 3 children already and now expecting twins, expressing to others how tight money is for us would make me feel vulnerable because the obvious (why are you having more kids!?!). I ask myself the same question, lol....that's a whole other topic....I think it's hard for a lot of people to fathom but I am really good at getting pregnant while actively avoiding it.

Can you link this for me?

I was hoping that it could work! My dd8 is a big help with my toddler and both big kids are able to do a lot of household chores & make simple meals. Although my mom would be able to watch the kids if it was absolutely necessary, it's not what I would like to do for a long period of time. For one, although as a homeschooler we can "set our own schedule" I would not feel comfortable taking up to 10 weeks off school before babies arrive and then time off after if we can avoid it. Secondly, the baby does better with routine and structure. My mom does not do that. She's totally fine with baby not napping at all and dragging her out all day and allowing her to snack on mostly junk food all day. She doesn't set limits with any of the kids and never says no. So if the big kids and even the baby now are over a lot, the bad habits follow them home. I have tried talking to her many many times but she doesn't respect boundaries easily, and doesn't really understand why I have a problem. So, suffice to say, I would really only want her watching them of it was my absolute last resort.

My mom live a half hour away. She might be able to pick the toddler up for the day I am thinking and maybe I could get rides to activities for the littles and help on Sat.

I am 26 weeks pregnant with twins and am starting to feel very tired and just generally not feeling well. I am not on bed rest at this point but am grappling with it as a possiblity. I have an ob appointment Tuesday so will definitely talk to my obstitrition about how I have been feeling, and hopefully figure out what's going on. I am just wondering if anyone has homeschooled while on modified bed rest at hr and how they managed. My kids are 8, 6, & 21 months old.

This was us until this year. My kids were active participating in lots if stuff and they got along well in the extra curricular activities, church, etc., but they didn't have much in the way of friends they were close with. This year they made friends with another family's children and see each other weekly since they attend horse riding lessons together and afterward they have a play date at the other moms house for an hour or so. They really look forward to it and I think not made the difference in them going from acquaintances to friends. We belong to the same homeschool group so we often attend field trips together, too. It was hard for me when I knew they didn't have any friends. It made me question what I was doing a lot!

So your school age kids are 6, 7, 8? You do have a lot of littles so I can see how being consistent is important. I can honestly see both perspectives. On the one hand they are young and doing a lot of hands on learning could be fun for them but at the same time wanting to set some boundaries about how frequent / long visits are as well as doing school verses not going places all the time. If it were me I would probably attempt to still do school and plan one field trip outing for the week and see how it goes. You can always change your mind and do what works under the circumstances. Does she need to visit so frequently / long? Could you discuss that she visit for longer periods only on expected school breaks?

At her age I would not worry to much about what you think would be a better fit and just let her try ballet if it's her preference. For me, in the early elementary years I am looking for exposure, confidence to try something new and an outlet to met new people. Maybe she'll want to try gymnastics next year?

Carol in California thanks for the info I am in the bay are. I'll have to look into that!

Carol in California thanks for the info I am in the bay are. I'll have to look into that!

I didn't read all the other posts but are there other homeschool group options in your area? The first homeschool group I joined didn't yield much in connections for my kids or myself and I felt like communication was a bit limited with the email list. I joined a Facebook group and the communication is better because everyone can easily post events, share info, ask questions and the group is pretty active. Maybe try another group and see if you find what you were looking for?

When I initially transitioned from working part time and going to school with my kids going to daycare to staying at home full time with my then dss7, dd4, & ds2, I think we had some moments were dh felt like I would be handling all the household stuff since he "worked." I pretty quickly had a conversation with him about how if he were hiring a nanny to care for three children it wouldn't be just doing it for free because it was just such an easy job why charge. Then I broke down what I would earn, what we would pay in childcare, gas for my commute, professional clothes, and meals out since I'd likely not have time to pack a lunch as I would be trying to get kids out the door and dropped off before I left. Turns out I'm a bargain! I wasn't homeschooling then yet. We do keep up with day to day tidying and usually get a load or two of laundry done most days. But I did make it clear I would not be also attempting major cleaning while trying to homeschool the kids on a regular basis. Another thing I have told him is he has to decide where he wants to focus my energy. For example he likes that I take the kids to activities so they get opportunities to learn new skills and be around other kids. I told him if I was home more days a week I would probably get more housework done and have time to make dinner before he got home every night, but the kids would be giving up their activities. I do limit activities to 2-3 afternoons a week because I do want to have afternoons at least twice a week at home but ultimately he'd rather have a less tidy home or simple dinner a couple times a week then not have my kids get to do activities. For homeschool dh generally leaves it to me and doesn't question me as far as if they are getting an adequate education. He thinks I am really smart and doesn't worry. I do a CM / classical approach and we often share our school day with him at dinner or in the evenings just because it's what we do. He enjoys occasionally joining us for field trips. He'll sometimes do hikes and then have them do a nature journal on things the find together and try to identify it. He also takes them to do archery and does some "shop" type stuff with them at times like black smithing, simple construction projects, etc. It's nice because it's different from what I would do. I don't think the method of how you homeschool should be relevant in whether or not homeschooling is your full time gig or not though.

Our goal is the former. I would like them to be able to be familiar with Spanish enough to start taking Spanish 1 in 7th grade and take Spanish 2 in 8. Then ideally continue in through high school either doing AP level or taking CC Spanish jr / sr year of high school.

This is what we do and I am not fluent in Spanish so this is probably part of it. I'd like to see us consistently do 15 min a day 4x a week so it's more spread out. I feel like I need more structure.

Most year we do the same from Thanksgiving to the up to about a week before Christmas and then take a 2-3 week break.